Arqa

Coordinates: 34°31′50″N 36°02′45″E / 34.53056°N 36.04583°E / 34.53056; 36.04583
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Arqa
عرقا
City
UTC+3 (EEST)
Dialing code+961

Arqa (

Arabic: عرقا, romanized: ʿArqā; Akkadian: 𒅕𒋡𒋫, romanized: Irqata) is a Lebanese village[1] near Miniara in Akkar Governorate, Lebanon, 22 km northeast of Tripoli
, near the coast.

The town was a notable city-state during the

Alexander Severus was born there. It is significant for the Tell Arqa, an archaeological site that goes back to Neolithic times, and during the Crusades there was a strategically significant castle
.

Names

It is mentioned in Antiquity in the Amarna letters of Egypt-(as Irqata), as well as in Assyrian documents.

The Roman town was named Caesarea (of Lebanon/Phoenicia) or Arca Caesarea.

History

Early Bronze

In the Early Bronze IV, the Akkar Plain had three major sites in Tell Arqa, Tell Kazel, and Tell Jamous.[2] The cultural focus had been towards the south and southern Levant, but now changed with more influence from Inner Syria and the use of copper.

Middle Bronze

In the MB I the Akkar Plain still saw smaller settlements being added near Tell Arqa and the region reach its highest population density in MB II.[3]

Late Bronze

Amarna Period Irqata (c. 1350 BC)

Further information: Amarna letter EA 100

Arqa has the distinction of being a city-state that wrote one of the 382 Amarna letters to the Pharaoh of Ancient Egypt.

The

Gubla). Eventually, the king of Irqata, Aduna was killed along with other city kings, and also the 'mayor' of Gubla, Rib-Hadda. Rib-Hadda's brother, Ili-Rapih
, became the successor mayor of Gubla, and Gubla never fell to the Hapiru.

During Rib-Hadda's lengthy opposition to the Habiru, even the city-state of Irqata and its elders, wrote to the

EA for el Amarna
).

The letter is entitled: "The city of Irqata to the king".

This tablet-(i.e. tablet letter) is a tablet from Irqata. To the King, our Lord: Message from Irqata and its el[d]ers. We fall at the feet of the king, our lord, 7 times and 7 times. To our lord, the Sun: Message from Irqata. May the heart of the king, (our) lord, know that we guard Irqata for him.
When the [ki]ng, our lord, sent
'A[piru]
had taken [from] the king,'they wa[ged] war with us against the enemy of our lord, the man whom you pla[ced] over us. Truly—we are guarding the l[and]. May the king, our lord, heed the words of his loyal servants.
May he grant a
gift to his servant(s) so our enemies will see this and eat dirt. May the breath of the king not depart from us. We shall keep the city gate barred until the breath of the king reaches us. Severe is the war against us—terribly! terribly! -EA 100, lines 1-44 (complete)[citation needed
]

Hellenistic and Roman period

Alexander Severus
from Caesarea ad Libanum (Roman Arqa)

After the death of

Alexander Severus was born at Arca during a stay of his parents there.[5]

Crusades period

At the time of the

Nur ad-Din, atabeg of Aleppo
, in 1167 and another in 1171.

It finally fell to Muslim forces of the Sultan

Baibars in 1265 or 1266. When Tripoli itself fell in 1289 to the army of Sultan Qalawun and was razed to the ground, Arca lost its strategic importance and thereafter is mentioned only in ecclesiastical chronicles.[citation needed
]

Later period

In 1838,

esh-Sheikh Mohammed.[6]

Ecclesiastical history

Arca in Phoenicia became the seat of a Christian bishop in the

metropolitan see of Tyre
.

Of its bishops, Lucianus professed the faith of the

Leo I the Thracian to protest about the murder of Proterius of Alexandria.[7][8][9]

No longer a residential bishopric, Arca in Phoenicia is today listed by the

Antiochian Rite in Syriac
).

Latin titular see

The nominally restored diocese has had non-consecutive titular bishops as a Latin Catholic

titular bishopric
since the 18th century.

It is vacant, having had the following incumbents, all of the lowest (episcopal) rank :

Maronite titular see

Established as Titular Episcopal See of Arca (Arca dei Maroniti in Curiate Italian); promoted in 1933 as Titular Archiepiscopal See of Arca in Armenia, in 1941 suppressed, but restored in 1950 as Titular Episcopal See of Arca in Phoenicia.

It has had the following incumbents, all of the lowest (episcopal) rank :

  • Abdallah Nujaim (1950.07.25 – 1954.04.04)
  • Archbishop-Bishop
    of Nossa Senhora do Líbano em São Paulo of the Maronites (1988.02.27 – 1990.06.09)
  • Antioch of the Maronites
    (Lebanon)

See also

References

  1. ^ "Municipal and ikhtiyariah elections in Northern Lebanon" (PDF). The Monthly. March 2010. p. 22. Archived from the original on 3 June 2016. Retrieved 3 November 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  2. ^ Thalmann 2007:221
  3. ^ Thalmann 2007:221
  4. ISBN 978-0-67401683-5
    ), p. 77
  5. ^ S.M. Cecchini, "Tell'Arqa" in Enciclopedia dell'Arte Antica (Treccani 1997)
  6. ^ Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, 2nd appendix, p. 183
  7. ^ Michel Lequien, Oriens christianus in quatuor Patriarchatus digestus, Paris 1740, Vol. II, coll. 823-826
  8. ^ Konrad Eubel, Hierarchia Catholica Medii Aevi, vol. 7, p. 86
  9. ^ Pius Bonifacius Gams, Series episcoporum Ecclesiae Catholicae, Leipzig 1931, p. 434
  10. ISBN 978-88-209-9070-1
    ), p. 837

Bibliography

  • Jean-Paul Thalmann (2007) Agricultural practices and settlement patterns in the Akkar plain (Northern Lebanon) in the Late Early and Early Middle Bronze Ages. Pp. 219-232 in : MORANDI-BONACOSSI, D. (ed) Urban and Natural Landscapes of an Ancient Syrian Capital

Sources and external links

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