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46-641: The average elevation of the plain is around 400 m. It gradually slopes up from east to west. The plain can be divided into northern and southern parts. The northern part extends from Nizip to Manbij . This part is surrounded by the Aintab plateau from north and west. It is traversed from west to east by the Nizip, Merzimen (Bozatlı), and Sajur rivers. It is inhabited by a Turkmen density in addition to Arabs and other ethnic minorities. The Turkmen call this plain Barak plain after

92-501: A Turkish and TFSA offensive. Lequien names ten bishops of Hierapolis. Among the best-known are Alexander of Hierapolis , an ardent advocate of Nestorianism , who died in exile in Egypt; Philoxenus of Mabbug , a famous Miaphysite scholar; and Stephen of Hierapolis (c. 600), author of a life of St. Golindouch . In the sixth century, the metropolitan see had nine suffragan bishoprics. Chabot mentions thirteen Jacobite archbishops from

138-543: A city in the northeast of Aleppo Governorate in northern Syria , 30 kilometers (19 miles) west of the Euphrates . The 2004 census gives its population as nearly 100,000. The population of Manbij is largely Arab , with Kurdish , Turkmen , Circassian , and Chechen minorities. Many of its residents practice Naqshbandi Sufism . During the Syrian Civil War , the city was first captured by rebels in 2012, overrun by

184-531: A hub for trading in looted artifacts and archaeological digging equipment. In June 2016, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) launched an offensive to capture Manbij, and by June 8 had fully encircled the city. On 12 August the SDF had established full control over Manbij after a two-month battle. By 15 August, thousands of previously displaced citizens of Manbij were reported returning. On 19 August 2016,

230-601: A part of the wall that enclosed the lake has survived but no ruins of Atargatis' temple remains. Some ancient Roman military stele also exist. Ruins of the southern wall that enclosed Atargatis' temple still survive. The walls of the city still exist but have been plundered. The Ottoman government resettled the area with Circassian refugees from the Russo-Turkish War in 1878. As of 1911, its 1,500 inhabitants were all Circassians. Armenian refugees settled in Manbij during

276-500: A prudent man who, falling into the hands of robbers, sacrifices all that he is carrying, to save his life, and forfeits his possessions by way of ransom. If however it has already saved its life by self-castration and is again pursued, then it stands up and reveals that it offers no ground for their eager pursuit, and releases the hunters from all further exertions, for they esteem its flesh less. Often however Beavers with testicles intact, after escaping as far away as possible, have drawn in

322-406: A rock with large busts of a male and a female with two eagles below them. Another rock had three figures sculpted in low relief . Volney who visited the place in 18th century mentioned that no remains of Atargatis' temple existed. Alexander Drummond noticed walls of a square building which he said was Atargatis' temple and also a base in the building which he identified as an altar. Travellers in

368-550: A wider European audience. An English translation by A. F. Scholfield has been published in the Loeb Classical Library , 3 vols. (1958-59). Various History ( Ποικίλη ἱστορία , Poikílē historía )—for the most part preserved only in an abridged form —is Aelian's other well-known work, a miscellany of anecdotes and biographical sketches, lists, pithy maxims, and descriptions of natural wonders and strange local customs, in 14 books, with many surprises for

414-796: Is 7.8 °C (46.0 °F) and the average high temperature in August is 38.1 °C (100.6 °F). The snow falls usually in January, February or December. Manbij is served by two major roads, Route M4 and Route 216. There is no airport near Manbij, the nearest is in Aleppo . 36°31′39″N 37°57′19″E  /  36.52750°N 37.95528°E  / 36.52750; 37.95528 Claudius Aelianus Claudius Aelianus ( Ancient Greek : Κλαύδιος Αἰλιανός , Greek transliteration Kláudios Ailianós ; c.  175  – c.  235 AD ), commonly Aelian ( / ˈ iː l i ən / ), born at Praeneste ,

460-576: Is told by others, and even that he does not believe them. Aelian's work is one of the sources of medieval natural history and of the bestiaries of the Middle Ages. The surviving portions of the text are badly mangled and garbled and replete with later interpolations. Conrad Gessner (or Gesner), the Swiss scientist and natural historian of the Renaissance, made a Latin translation of Aelian's work, to give it

506-574: The Armenian genocide . In autumn 1915 Djemal Pasha ordered an establishment of a camp for about 1000 families of the Armenian Clergy . In January and February 1916 the sub prefect of Manbij ordered the camp to be cleared and the Armenians to be deported to Meskene. The destruction of pre-modern Manbij has been attributed to its resettlement by Circassians and Armenians. Before and in the early years of

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552-463: The De Dea Syria , the worship was of a phallic character, votaries offering little male figures of wood and bronze . There were also huge phalli set up like obelisks before the temple, which were ceremoniously climbed once a year and decorated. The temple contained a holy chamber into which only priests were allowed to enter. A great bronze altar stood in front, set about with statues, and in

598-734: The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in 2014 and finally captured by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in 2016, bringing it into the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES). Since 2018, after an agreement with the SDF, the Syrian Arab Army has been deployed on the city's periphery as a buffer between the Turkish occupation of Northern Syria and the AANES. Coins struck at

644-613: The Loeb Classical Library . Considerable fragments of two other works, On Providence and Divine Manifestations , are preserved in the early medieval encyclopedia, the Suda . Twenty "letters from a farmer" after the manner of Alciphron are also attributed to him. The letters are invented compositions to a fictitious correspondent, which are a device for vignettes of agricultural and rural life, set in Attica, though mellifluous Aelian once boasted that he had never been outside Italy, never been aboard

690-630: The Manbij Military Council issued a written statement announcing it had taken over the security of Manbij city center and villages from the SDF, of which it is a component. Today Manbij is self-administered by the Manbij City Council, co-chaired by Sheikh Farouk al-Mashi and Salih Haji Mohammed, as part of Shahba region within the de facto autonomous Federation of Northern Syria – Rojava framework. While public administration including public schools has regained secular normalcy after

736-512: The Mongols under Hulagu destroyed Ayyubid Manbij, which was consequently abandoned by its Turkmen and Assyrian inhabitants as they migrated to Aleppo . Manbij's ruins are extensive but mostly belong to the later period of its history. Most of the monuments of Manbij are gone, because it is a strategically important place at a group of crossroads, unlike Cyrrhus whose bishop was under Manbij. Henry Maundrell who visited Mambij in 1699 noticed

782-467: The Syrian Civil War , Manbij had an ethnically diverse population of Arab , Kurdish , Turkmen , and Circassian Sunni Muslims , many of whom followed the Naqshbandi Sufi order. The city's socio-political life was dominated by its main tribes. Tribal leaders served as the mediators and arbiters of major disputes in Manbij, while the state's security forces largely dealt with petty offenses. The city

828-525: The Various History is a classical "magazine" in the original sense of that word. He is not perfectly trustworthy in details, and his writing was heavily influenced by Stoic opinions, perhaps so that his readers will not feel guilty, but Jane Ellen Harrison found survivals of archaic rites mentioned by Aelian very illuminating in her Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion (1903, 1922). Varia Historia

874-614: The tympanum in her hand. Other coins substitute the legend Θεάς Συρίας Ιεροπολιτόν Theas Syrias Ieropoliton within a wreath . In the third century, the city was the capital of Euphratensis province and one of the great cities of Roman Syria . It was, however, in a ruinous state when Julian gathered his troops there before marching to his defeat and death in Mesopotamia . Sassanid Emperor Khosrau I held it to ransom after Byzantine Emperor Justinian I had failed to defend it. The Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid restored Manbij at

920-457: The 19th century had recorded some of its ancient remains, but now almost all of them, including Atargatis' temple, its sacred lake , colonnades , Roman baths , Roman theatres , walls and churches built by the Byzantine Empire as well as madrassas built in the medieval era, have been destroyed. The sacred lake of Atargatis has disappeared and has been converted into a football field. Only

966-526: The Byzantine emperor Romanos Diogenes captured it, defeated the Mirdasids and their Bedouin allies, killed the city's inhabitants and plundered the surrounding countryside. Romanos later withdrew due to a severe shortage of food and supplies. It was later captured by Seljuk Sultan Malik-Shah I in 1086. In 1124, Belek Ghazi tried to annex Manbij, after he had imprisoned its emir Hassan al-Ba'labakki, but he

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1012-467: The Elder , Theopompus , and Lycus of Rhegium , but also other authors and works now lost, to whom he is thus a valuable witness. He is more attentive to marine life than might be expected, though, and this seems to reflect first-hand personal interest; he often quotes "fishermen". At times he strikes the modern reader as thoroughly credulous, but at others he specifically states that he is merely reporting what

1058-605: The Greeks as Hieropolis ( Ἱερόπολις , Hierópolis ), the "City of the Sanctuary", and then as Hierapolis ( Ἱεράπολις , Hierápolis ), the "Holy City". This worship of Atargatis was immortalized in De Dea Syria which has traditionally been attributed to Lucian of Samosata , who gave a full description of the religious cult of the shrine and the tank of sacred fish of Atargatis, of which Aelian also relates marvels. According to

1104-544: The ISIL episode, a reconciliation committee to overcome rifts created by the civil war was formed, and international humanitarian aid has been delivered, the democratic confederalist political program of Rojava is driving political and societal transformations in terms of direct democracy and gender equality . Reconstruction after devastations of civil war combat remains a major challenge. Until October 2019, when US and other Western forces withdrew from northern Syria, Manbij

1150-523: The Legislative Assembly of Manbij approved the elected co-presidents who then took office. During the meeting the departments of the committee members, co-presidents and committees were determined after speeches and evaluations. 13 committees were determined. The 13 new committees include 71 Arabs, 43 Kurds, 10 Turkmen, 8 Circassians , an Armenian and a Chechen . On 1 November 2018, Turkish and US troops began joint patrols around Manbij along

1196-585: The Macedonian conquest, as it seems that the city was the center of a dynasty of Aramean priest-kings ruling at the very end of the Achaemenid Empire ; two kings are known, 'Abyati and Abd-Hadad. The fate of Abd-Hadad is not known but the city came firmly under the Macedonian empire, and prospered under the rule of the Seleucids who made it the chief station on their main road between Antioch and Seleucia on

1242-500: The Sajur valley. The ancient Zeugma on the Euphrates is found in the northern end of the plain. 36°34′17″N 37°56′36″E  /  36.57139°N 37.94333°E  / 36.57139; 37.94333 Manbij Manbij ( Arabic : مَنْبِج , romanized :  Manbiǧ , Kurdish : مەنبج , romanized :  Minbic , Turkish : Münbiç, Menbic, or Menbiç ) is

1288-524: The Syrian army had entered Manbij, a claim that was disputed by other sources the same day. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that the Syrian Army was still outside of the town. On 15 January 2019, a suicide attack in Manbij claimed by ISIL left at least 19 casualties. Among them, four U.S. military personnel were reported dead and three wounded. One of the dead was a U.S. Army soldier, one

1334-593: The Tigris . The temple was sacked by Crassus on his way to meet the Parthians (53 BC). The coinage of the city begins in the 4th century BC with the coins of the priest-kings followed by the Aramaic series of the Macedonian and Seleucid monarchs. They show Atargatis either as a bust with mural crown or as riding on a lion . She continues to supply the chief type even during imperial Roman times, being generally shown seated with

1380-645: The city before Alexander's conquest record the Aramean name of the city as Manbug ( Mnbg , "Site of the Spring"). For the Assyrians it was known as Nappigu or Nanpigi. Its name was hellenized as Bambyce ( Ancient Greek : Βαμβύκη , Bambykē ) and recorded by Pliny as Mabog ( Classical Syriac : ܡܒܘܓ , Mabbog or Mabbogh ). As the center of the worship of the Syrian fertility goddess Atargatis , it became known to

1426-513: The coveted part, and with great skill and ingenuity tricked their pursuers, pretending that they no longer possessed what they were keeping in concealment. The Loeb Classical Library introduction characterizes the book as "an appealing collection of facts and fables about the animal kingdom that invites the reader to ponder contrasts between human and animal behavior". Aelian's anecdotes on animals rarely depend on direct observation: they are almost entirely taken from written sources, not only Pliny

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1472-595: The cultural historian and the mythographer , anecdotes about the famous Greek philosophers, poets, historians, and playwrights and myths instructively retold. The emphasis is on various moralizing tales about heroes and rulers, athletes and wise men; reports about food and drink, different styles in dress or lovers, local habits in giving gifts or entertainments, or in religious beliefs and death customs; and comments on Greek painting. Aelian gives accounts of, among other things, fly fishing using lures of red wool and feathers, lacquerwork , and serpent worship. Essentially,

1518-538: The end of the 8th century, making it the capital of the frontier province of al-Awasim . Afterward, the city became a point of contention between the Byzantines, Arabs and Turkic groups. The Arab chieftain Salih ibn Mirdas captured it circa 1022, making Manbij, along with Balis and al-Rahba , the foundation of his Mirdasid emirate . At the time, Manbij was one of the most important fortresses in northern Syria. In 1068,

1564-410: The forecourt lived numerous sacred animals and birds (but not swine) used for sacrifice. Some three hundred priests served the shrine and there were numerous minor ministrants. The lake was the centre of sacred festivities and it was customary for votaries to swim out and decorate an altar standing in the middle of the water. Self-mutilation and other orgies went on in the temple precinct, and there

1610-645: The front lines of the Euphrates Shield rebel territory and the Manbij Military Council . The joint patrols were seen as part of a "roadmap" for easing tensions between militants in the region and tensions between the two NATO allies. On 28 December 2018 the YPG asked the Assad government via Twitter to protect Manbij from attacks by the Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army . The Syrian government's media said

1656-415: The moral lessons they convey; others because they are astonishing. The Beaver is an amphibious creature: by day it lives hidden in rivers, but at night it roams the land, feeding itself with anything that it can find. Now it understands the reason why hunters come after it with such eagerness and impetuosity, and it puts down its head and with its teeth cuts off its testicles and throws them in their path, as

1702-479: The name of a Turkmen tribe . In Syria it is called the northern Manbij plain. The southern plain extends from Manbij to Maskanah. It is bounded from west by the Dhahab valley and Lake Jabboul . In the south it is joined by the arid steppe of the northern Syrian Desert . Irrigation based agriculture has been practiced in the plain since ancient times. Archeological remains from the paleolithic have been discovered in

1748-455: The ninth to the twelfth century. One Latin bishop, Franco, in 1136, is known. Hierapolis in Syria is the nominal see of three Catholic successor titular sees: Manbij has a cold semi-arid climate ( Köppen climate classification BSk ) with influences of a continental climate during winter with hot dry summers and cool wet and occasionally snowy winters. The average high temperature in January

1794-632: The surprising lore, which offers unexpected glimpses into the Greco-Roman world-view. De Natura Animalium is also the only Greco-Roman work to mention Gilgamesh . On the Nature of Animals (alternatively "On the Characteristics of Animals"; Ancient Greek : Περὶ ζῴων ἰδιότητος , Perì zṓōn idiótētos ; usually cited by its Latin title De Natura Animalium ) is a collection, in seventeen books, of brief stories of natural history. Some are included for

1840-594: Was U.S. Navy sailor Shannon M. Kent , one was a U.S. Department of Defense civilian working in support of the Defense Intelligence Agency , and one was an employee of Valiant Integrated Services, a contractor supporting American operations. During the 2019 Turkish offensive into north-eastern Syria , following the withdraw of US and other Western troops from northern Syria, the Syrian Arab Army and Russian Military Police entered Manbij to preempt

1886-460: Was a Roman author and teacher of rhetoric who flourished under Septimius Severus and probably outlived Elagabalus , who died in 222. He spoke Greek so fluently that he was called "honey-tongued" ( μελίγλωσσος meliglossos ); Roman-born, he preferred Greek authors, and wrote in a slightly archaizing Greek himself. His two chief works are valuable for the numerous quotations from the works of earlier authors, which are otherwise lost, and for

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1932-536: Was also a hub for Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve training of new SDF recruits in the fight against ISIL and other Islamist militias in Syria. On 26 February, the United States announced its support for the security of the Manbij Military Council. The United States also reportedly sent special forces and several military convoys to Manbij after the announcement. On 12 March 2017,

1978-522: Was an elaborate ritual on entering the city and first visiting the shrine. The Arameans called the city "Mnbg" (Manbug). Manbij was part of the kingdom of Bit Adini and was annexed by the Assyrians in 856 BC. The Assyrian king Shalmaneser III renamed it Lita-Ashur and built a royal palace. The city was reconquered by the Assyrian king Tiglath-Pileser III in 738 BC. The sanctuary of Atargatis predates

2024-581: Was first printed in 1545. The standard modern text is that of Mervin R. Dilts (1974). Two English translations of the Various History, by Fleming (1576) and Stanley (1665) made Aelian's miscellany available to English readers, but after 1665 no English translation appeared, until three English translations appeared almost simultaneously: James G. DeVoto, Claudius Aelianus: Ποικίλης Ἱστορίας ( Varia Historia ) Chicago, 1995; Diane Ostrom Johnson, An English Translation of Claudius Aelianus' "Varia Historia" , 1997; and N. G. Wilson, Aelian: Historical Miscellany in

2070-688: Was hit and killed by an arrow during the siege. The Crusaders never captured Manbij during their 11th–12th century invasions of the Levant , but the Latin Church archbishopric of Hierapolis was re-established in the town of Duluk by 1134. By 1152, Duluk and Manbij were captured by the Zengids under Nur ad-Din , who reconstructed and strengthened the city's fortress. The Ayyubid sultan, Saladin , conquered it from its Zengid lord, Qutb ad-Din Inal, in 1175. In 1260,

2116-427: Was relatively liberal compared to other Sunni Muslim-majority cities in the countryside of Aleppo. During the civil war, on 20 July 2012, Manbij fell to local rebel forces who thereafter administered the city. In December, there was an election to appoint a local council. In January 2014, forces from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) took over the city after ousting the rebels. The city has since become

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