The Sanjak of Zor ( Turkish : Deyr-i-Zor sancağı ) was a sanjak of the Ottoman Empire , which was created in 1857. Some of its area was separated from the Baghdad Vilayet . Zor was sometimes mentioned as being part of the Aleppo Vilayet , or of the Syria Vilayet .
119-452: The capital was Deir ez-Zor , a town on the right (i.e., south) bank of the Euphrates , which was also the only considerable town of the sanjak. At the beginning of the 20th century, the sanjak had an area of 38,600 square miles (100,000 km), and an estimated population of 100,000, mostly Arab nomads . The capital itself was just a village before becoming the centre of the sanjak. After
238-535: A sator square ), Palmyrene , Hebrew , Hatrian , Safaitic (proto-Arabic dialect), Pahlavi , Parthian , and Middle-Persian . In such a multicultural city, languages used by people didn't tell of their ethnicity. Dura-Europos was founded by Greek settlers. So, it is not surprising that the vast majority of the inscriptions are in Greek, and about 800 Greek texts are known so far. These are dedicatory inscriptions, graffiti , and documents on papyrus and parchment. Greek
357-454: A Doric colonnade and an altar in the middle. At the end of the second century BC it burned down. A naiskos (small temple) was built in its stead, but it was never finished. In the middle of the first century BC the temple was rebuilt: a courtyard complex was created, in the middle of which stood a new temple, with an anteroom and three-aisled cella. The temple was rebuilt several times before the city fell. A statue, found in its ruins, represents
476-510: A Greek-titled office in the Roman army, worshipped a local deity and offered his dedication in Greek. Some documents that were found are evidence of a local tradition of people having several names: for example, a Greek one and a Semitic or a Persian one. One of the examples is Dura parchment 19 (P. Dura 19) (dating from first century AD), which records the division of a house inherited by four brothers from their father. As Baird wrote: The father
595-429: A ceiling tile of Heliodoros, an actuarius (an official responsible for the distribution of wages in the Roman military), there is a Greek inscription that identifies the man by name and occupation. The use of Greek to identify a Roman official is typical of the multicultural environment at Dura-Europos. Another example is an inscription that reads: "... brave in campaigns, mighty in wars, dead..." These words are part of
714-452: A consular representative nowadays" to the Euphrates stronghold, in order to approve of the frescos. Because of the dry desert climate, numerous documents on papyrus and parchment have been preserved, materials that otherwise would have little chance of surviving for millennia. The documents were found under the brick ramp built against the western wall, where they were especially protected. In
833-457: A developed epigraphic habit, representative civic government, sophisticated bureaucracy, and its own mint (bar one short episode). The administrative center ("palace"), patterns of land ownership, royal cult, and state officials show, however, it was more than a fortified army community, isolated from its local and imperial environments. Its location and dependent territory gave Europos a dynamic and self-generating potential to expand and develop into
952-481: A great caravan city is modified by the discoveries of local manufactures and traces of close ties with Palmyra . Dura-Europos is now seen as owing its development to its role as a regional capital. After the siege and destruction of the city its names were forgotten by local people, and the site was known as Salihiyeh , "a name thought to refer to Saladin". In Ottoman times the ruins were known as Qan Qal'esi , "Castle of Blood". Pierre Leriche, excavations director of
1071-654: A liturgical text written in Hebrew (on a parchment), the available textual sources from the synagogue consist of inscriptions and graffiti, which are more or less evenly divided in Aramaic (22), Greek (19) and Persian (12 Middle Persian, 'Pārsīk', and 3 Parthian, 'Pahlavīk'). [...] Most of the Persian ones were written on the wall paintings themselves and record appraisal on the part of visitors from elsewhere. Their presence can be explained by assuming that Mesopotamian Jews had sent someone "like
1190-552: A military campaign under the command of Omar Pasha (Croatian) consisting of 500 soldiers to subdue the tribes in the Euphrates region. The campaign reached Deir Ez-Zor city and fought against the city's residents, where 16 Ottoman soldiers were killed. After the Ottoman army subdued the city, Omar Pasha recruited 16 young men from the city to replace the Ottoman soldiers killed. In 1864 the city revolted against Ottoman rule, and Soraya Pasha,
1309-453: A pregnant woman, and many were wounded by bullets and shrapnel from Airplane bombs. All of this was to pressure the people to surrender the revolutionaries. When the French realised that the bombing did not convince the local people to give up the revolutionaries, they threatened to arrest the women of the revolutionaries, their mothers and sisters until the revolutionaries surrender themselves to
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#17328560722661428-649: A primary school that started teaching English. Fadel Al-Aboud remained mayor, During this period, Fadel Al-Aboud and a number of leaders of the Baggara tribe, Agedat and other tribes represented the Euphrates region at the Syrian National Congress held in late June 1919 Which declared on 8 March 1920 the independence of Syria and establishment of Arab Kingdom of Syria and the appointment of Faisal Ibn Al-Sharif Hussein as King. The people of Deir ez-Zor sought to get rid of British rule and wrote their wish to
1547-419: A woman's figure, probably Artemis , dressed in hunting garb. Only the upper part was found, both arms having been broken off. Historian Susan B. Downey writes that the statue has "an Amazonian aspect by the fact that one breast is left bare". There is a crescent-shaped necklace on the statue, and a veil of unusual form. There were at least three Palmyric temples in the city. The Temple of Bel (also known as
1666-644: Is difficult to find in the architecture of Dura-Europos, in figurative art the influence of Parthian art is felt. In 114 AD, the Emperor Trajan occupied the city for a couple of years: the Third Cyrenaica legion erected a "Triumphal Arch" west of the Palmyrene Gate. Upon the death of Trajan in 117, Rome relinquished Mesopotamia to the Parthians, but Dura was retaken by the Roman army of Lucius Verus during
1785-454: Is not well attested to, and the few Parthian inscriptions seem to date to Roman times. Middle Persian is attested primarily by two parchments and numerous graffiti in the synagogue. The texts must date from the short time when the city was ruled by the Sasanids. Historian George Kilpatrick described the linguistic diversity as follows (from examples of graffiti from the synagogue): Apart from
1904-404: Is recorded as having the Greek name Polemocrates (his own father and grandfather also bearing the names Demetrius and Polemocrates, respectively), and amongst the younger Polemocrates' sons, all had both Greek and Aramaic names, for instance Demetrius, also known as Nabusamus. The document records the concern with noting patrilineal descent – descent along the male line – and a pattern of sons taking
2023-479: Is shown by a visitor's inscription, in Hatran (an Aramaic language), that is addressed to the god of the city of Hatra named Šamaš . Otherwise, a striking number of inscriptions in the temple, some of which were scratched into the walls, were made by women. There is an inscription from the first half of the first century AD that mentions the consecration of a chapel. A number of other inscriptions date from 69 AD. Some of
2142-457: Is specifically described as being 'ruined'": Fiey is more plausible in his suggestion that the History was written at a monastery that had grown up on the site of Mar Ma'in's cell at Shadba (=Shadwa, Shadbo), 6 miles from Europos, and on the basis of this he is able to give c. 636, the end of Byzantine rule in that area, as the terminus ante quem , since the author is clearly writing at a time when
2261-607: Is the largest city in eastern Syria and the seventh largest in the country. Located on the banks of the Euphrates River 450 km (280 mi) to the northeast of the capital Damascus , Deir ez-Zor is the capital of the Deir ez-Zor Governorate . In the 2018 census, it had a population of 271,800. Ad-Deir is a common shorthand for Deir ez-Zor. In Syriac , Zeʿūrta ( ܙܥܘܪܬܐ ) means "little"; hence, Dīrā Zeʿūrta means "small habitation". The current name, which has been extended to
2380-440: Is the only ancient historian who mentioned that the city had two different names. Isidore's account helped to identify the site, because both "Dura" and "Europos" were not unique names for that region. When the town was founded, agricultural land was allotted to the members of the garrison, the size and quality of the allotments according to military rank. As the historian Paul Kosmin wrote, during its early history Dura-Europos
2499-475: Is written in extremely beautiful script. C. Bradford Welles describes the book as de luxe and dates the copy to the 2nd century AD. Dura parchment 10 (P. Dura 10), the fragment of a harmony of the Gospels, is particularly interesting. It is perhaps a fragment of Tatian 's Diatessaron . There was also a prayer in Hebrew. The texts shed light on daily life in the city. In Parthian times, documents were dated from
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#17328560722662618-635: The Abbasid era, Deir Ez-Zor grew. The agriculture in the region prospered because of advances in irrigation. The small town, now called 'Deir Al-Rumman,' did not record any significant events during the decline of the Abbasid state and the ensuing Mamluk period until its destruction by the Mongols in the thirteenth century. The first Ottoman era extended from the date the Ottomans entered Syria in 1517 until 1864, where
2737-699: The Arab government in Damascus , The Iraqi officers of the Iraqi " Al-'Ahd Party " in Damascus wanted to occupy Deir ez-Zor to make it a base to liberate Iraq from the British occupation . So they appointed Ramadan al-Shallash as governor of Raqqa to be a step to liberate Deir ez-Zor, Officer Ramadan al-Shallash came and occupied Deir ez-Zor with the help of her people and "Albu Saraya" clan, and British troops withdrew on 27 December 1919 to
2856-671: The Arsacian era and from the Seleucid era. Interesting is the appearance of women in the legal documents of the Parthian and Roman periods, which indicated that they acted independently and did not need a male advocate, as they did in the Mediterranean region. Many Greek documents are in the Attic dialect and have few grammatical errors. Since most of the texts are legal documents, this shows that most of
2975-538: The Deir ez-Zor Vilayet . Many different romanizations are used, including Deir Ezzor , Deir Al-Zor , Deir-al-Zour , Dayr Al-Zawr , Der Ezzor , Deir Azzor , Der Zor , and Deirazzor . Archaeological findings in Deir ez-Zor indicate that the area has been inhabited since the ninth millennium BC. While the current location of the city has not always had a significant population, it was always an urban area, usually subordinate to more powerful cities, such as kingdoms like
3094-464: The French colonial forces entered Deir Ez-Zor on 9 November 1921, the region was locally ruled by Fadel Al-Aboud, a member of an aristocratic family; after a while, protests and demonstrations against occupation broke out, A group of French armored vehicles and dozens of soldiers encircled the house of Fadel Al-Aboud, where he was arrested and transferred to the military airport of Deir al-Zour and then transported by military aircraft to Aleppo , where he
3213-592: The Grand Vizier in Istanbul . Its ruler ( Mutasarrıf ) was granted wide powers and its area was extended to include the city of Raqqa and Hasakah . The rulers ( Mutasarrıfs ) solidified security, especially during Arslan Pasha's reign, and were interested in organizing and planning the city, building schools and streets and established the first public park. They also built bridges on the Euphrates and some mosques and encouraged afforestation and they used boats to cross
3332-692: The Islamic State during the Syrian Civil War . Originally a fortress, the city was founded around 300 BC as Dura ("fortress" in Aramaic), at the intersection of an east–west trade route and the trade route along the Euphrates. The city was called Europos by Greeks in honor of the origin of Seleucus Nikator , who founded it and was born in Europos in Macedonia. In ancient times, either designation stood alone;
3451-529: The Roman–Parthian War of 161–166 . The townspeople, however, retained considerable freedom as inhabitants of the regional headquarters for the section of the river between the Khabur River and modern Abu Kamal . The historian Ross Burns states that, in exchange, the city's military role was abandoned. Its original Greek settler population was increasingly outnumbered by people of Semitic stock; and by
3570-596: The Temple of Artemis Azzanathkona , documents of the Cohors XX Palmyrenorum , which was stationed here, were found in a room that apparently served as an archive. The texts offer a unique view of the organization of the Roman army on the eastern border of the empire, and include a religious festival calendar, various letters—some of which are in Latin—daily reports on troop movements, and various lists of names. Although
3689-466: The " Haj Fadel Government ". The government continued until the arrival of Sharif Nasser, the cousin of prince Faisal Bin Al-Hussein , on 1 December 1918, and Mar'i Pasha al-Mallah on 7 December 1918. On 11 January 1919, the British army occupied the city via the Iraqi border and annexed it to Iraqi territory. The British government took care of the security and cleanliness of the city and set up
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3808-511: The 1st century BC, it served as a frontier fortress of the Parthian Empire. The entirely original architecture of Dura-Europos was perfected during the Parthian period. This period was characterized by a progressive evolution of Greek concepts toward new formulas in which regional traditions, particularly Babylonian ones, played an increasing role. These innovations affected both religious and domestic buildings. Although Iranian influence
3927-476: The Byzantine emperor controlled the area. Another piece of evidence is a single coin, of the Roman emperor Constantius II , that indicates some activity in the 4th century or later. A Yale–French expedition also found seven lamps dating from fifth century. Because of these finds, historians concluded that the city wasn't abandoned and that there is "firm evidence that not only did activity continue at Dura—even if it
4046-589: The Byzantines who were besieging Homs heard about the army coming from Iraq, they withdrew from Homs. Saad ordered Iyad to invade Upper Mesopotamia , which he conquered in 17 AH, including Deir Ez-Zor. At the time, Deir Ez-Zor were adherents of Christianity and Judaism. There was a Christian monastery in Monastery of the Hermits, which became Omari Mosque. Many of the town's Christians left or converted to Islam . During
4165-553: The Euphrates, including the colony at Anah , in 253. The sixth-century historian Peter the Patrician wrote that Odaenathus approached Shapur I to negotiate Palmyrene interests but was rebuffed and the gifts sent to the Persians were thrown into the river. The date for the attempted negotiations is debated: some scholars, including John F. Drinkwater , set the event in 253; while others, such as Alaric Watson , set it in 256, following
4284-455: The Euphrates. They reformed the tax system and introduced European uniforms into the city and did not generalize it. The era of the Zor Sanjak lasted 54 years, where 29 Mutasarrıfs successively ruled it, the most recent being Hilmi Bey, who left the city with the Ottoman army on 6 November 1918. The continuous change of rulers (Mutasarrıfs) and lack of resources and disruption of conditions in
4403-466: The Europeans of Seleukos Nikator' (κωλονεία Εὐροπαίων Σελεύκου Νεικάτορος)." The good state of preservation of these buildings and their frescoes was due to their location, close to the main city wall facing west, and to the military necessity of strengthening the wall. The Sassanid Persians had become adept at tunneling under such walls in order to undermine them and create breaches. As a countermeasure,
4522-723: The Federation held its first meeting in June 1922 in the city of Aleppo and issued resolution No. / 1 / to form the Federal Government, Subhi Barakat , who is close to the French colonial authorities, was elected president of the federation. There were contacts between the leaders of the Great Syrian Revolution and some patriots of Syrian east area as Mohammed ِAl-Ayyash , who met in Damascus with Dr. Abdul Rahman Shahbandar , leader of
4641-469: The French colonizer, and insulting Wali Deir al-Zour Khalil Isaac, who was cooperating with the French. In June 1922, under the pressure of the Syrian people and the continued demonstration, Gouraud declared the creation of a Syrian federation on a federal basis between Damascus, Aleppo, and Alawite state , provided that the Federation should have a president elected for one non-renewable year, The council of
4760-541: The French military construction departments in Syria and Lebanon would leave accompanied by their French driver Deir Ez-Zor on its way to Aleppo. He instructed his brother Mahmoud to set up an ambush in Ain Albu Gomaa on the road between Deir Ez-Zor and Al-Raqqa , where the highway runs through a profound valley and has a narrow stone bridge. If each of the criminals who committed this terrible offense deserves dying once,
4879-432: The French, when the news arrived to the revolutionaries, they emerged from their hideouts and surrendered themselves to avoid arresting their women. Dura-Europos Dura-Europos was a Hellenistic , Parthian , and Roman border city built on an escarpment 90 metres (300 feet) above the southwestern bank of the Euphrates river. It is located near the village of Salhiyé , in present-day Syria . Dura-Europos
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4998-457: The Greek gods Zeus and Artemis . There were shrines, dating from the 1st century AD, dedicated to Mithra , to Palmyrene gods, and to local deities. In 216 AD, a small amphitheater for soldiers was built in the military area, while the new synagogue, completed in 244 AD, and a house of Christian worship, were embellished with frescos of important characters wearing Roman tunics, caftans, and Parthian trousers. These splendid paintings, which cover
5117-472: The Greek name of their grandfathers. They are described as Europaioi, 'of Europos', a designation of place which [...] is generally assumed to indicate citizen status. Fragments of parchment scrolls with Hebrew texts have also been unearthed; they resisted meaningful translation until J.L. Teicher pointed out that they were Christian Eucharistic prayers, so closely connected with the prayers in Didache that he
5236-452: The Iraqi border. On 27 December 1919, Ramadan al-Shallash took over the administration of Deir Ez-Zor as a military ruler, and his authority was nominal and the real ruling was to the city's notables, and they were not satisfied with his actions. Hence, they took him out of the city after two months. After the Battle of Maysalun on 24 July 1920 and occupation of Damascus by the French forces,
5355-584: The Kingdom of Mari , which rose in the third millennium BC. During the third millennium BC, the Amorites settled the area and established the kingdom of Yamhad , one of whose urban centers was the city of Deir Ez-Zor (alongside Mayadeen , Qars, and Tarka and its capital of Aleppo ). The city didn't suffer during the succession of major empires (such as the Akkadian and Assyrian Empire ) when some military campaigns by
5474-438: The Ottoman empire affected negatively on the urban, economic, cultural and social activity of the city. The outbreak of World War I in 1914 brought calamities, with many young people being recruited, famine] and disease spread, livelihoods were confiscated, trade stopped and agriculture declined. But in the opinion of historian Abdul Qadir Ayyash, Deir ez-Zor owed its civilization to the Ottoman rulers despite their mistakes. At
5593-491: The Ottomans found Deir Ez-Zor a small town on the upper Euphrates and chose it as a center for their employees and settled in some of tribal sheikhs to protect the trade route between Aleppo and Baghdad and The tribe members began to visit it to communicate the men of power and buy their needs. Some Arab and European travelers visited it and described its construction, economy, and the nature of its inhabitants. According to
5712-469: The People's Party, and discussed with him the issue of extending the revolution to the Euphrates region and opened a front against the French to disperse their forces, and ease the pressure on the rebels of Ghouta and Jabal al-Arab , after returned Al-Ayyash from Damascus he started to arouse the enthusiasm of the people of Deir ez-Zor and invite them to fight, and agreed with his brother Mahmoud to go to
5831-558: The Roman garrison decided to sacrifice the street and the buildings along the wall by filling them with rubble, to bolster the wall in case of a Persian mining operation. So, the Christian chapel, the synagogue, the Mithraeum, and many other buildings were entombed. The Romans also buttressed the walls from the outside with an earthen mound forming a glacis , sealed with a casing of mud brick to prevent erosion. As J.A. Baird writes, "the threat by
5950-420: The Roman province." The military importance of the site was confirmed after 209 AD: the northern part of the site was occupied by a Roman camp, isolated by a brick wall; soldiers were housed among civilians, among others, in the so-called "House of Scribes". Romans built the palace of the commander of the military region on the edge of a cliff. The city then had several sanctuaries, beside the temples, dedicated to
6069-536: The Romans became aware of the threat, they dug a countermine with the aim of meeting the Persian effort and attacking them before they could finish their work. The Persians had already dug complex galleries along the wall by the time the Roman countermine reached them. They managed to fight off the Roman attack, and when the city defenders noticed the flight of soldiers from the countermine, it was quickly sealed. The wounded and stragglers were trapped inside, where they died. (It
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#17328560722666188-514: The Sasanians was keenly felt by the Roman military, and what had been a walled city became a fortress—literally, in that it became a defensive place. A huge embankment was built against the interior of the city walls to hold back the Sasanian incursion, deliberately and with great effort involving the methodical destruction of buildings and the moving of many metric tonnes of earth, ruining a huge swathe of
6307-618: The Sassanian tunnel, the tunnelers ignited a mixture of sulfur and pitch , producing a cloud of poisonous gas, sulfur dioxide , which killed 19 Romans and 1 Persian, one of which was carrying a coin dated 256, allowing the dating of the siege. Archaeologists excavated the scene in the 1930s. In 2009, tests showed the presence of sulfur dioxide inside the tunnel. An archaeologist at the University of Leicester suggested that bitumen and sulphur crystals were ignited to create poisonous gas, which
6426-438: The Syrian army and withdraw the soldiers from the mounds of the village of Majdal Anjar in violation of the decision of the Syrian National Congress , on 24 July 1920, French troops began to march on the orders of General Goubeier (By order of General Gouraud) towards Damascus, While the Syrian army stationed on the border was retreating, and when General Gouraud) asked about this matter, replied that Faisal's message by accepting
6545-522: The Temple of the Palmyric Gods) was built in one corner of the city wall, in the third century BC. Several construction phases can be distinguished in the building. The plan consisted of various rooms ranged around a courtyard; the actual temple stood to the north and was later marked by four columns. This temple was once richly decorated with wall paintings. There was also a shrine here, which probably contained
6664-431: The architectural features of the ancient city. Its location on the edge of empires made for a commingling of cultural traditions, much of which was preserved under the city's ruins. Some remarkable finds have been brought to light, including numerous temples, wall decorations, inscriptions, military equipment, tombs, and even dramatic evidence of the Sasanian siege. It was looted and mostly destroyed between 2011 and 2014 by
6783-429: The area, so it was necessary to have a strong authority for protecting the city and its people and that led Al-Hassan who was the mayor to form his first government in the city and asking all tribal leaders in the villages and surrounding districts to support him and pledge allegiance to him. One of the priorities of this government was maintain the security and running the affairs of the city. This government later known as
6902-510: The attacks of Wahhabis in 1807; it was repeatedly plundered and destroyed by the Bedouin because the Ottoman Empire had not subdued them as it was preoccupied with its wars and the corruption of its sultans and officials. The city's people armed themselves with guns and organized a national army to defend the city resulting in the decline of the Bedouin attacks. Still, its negative effects were
7021-421: The beginning of World War I in 1914, the Ottoman empire began systematic campaigns to kill and displace Armenians . Beginning April 1915, this was carried out through massacres, forced deportations, and displacement, which were marches under harsh conditions designed to lead to the death of the deportees. Researchers estimate the number of Armenian victims as between 1 million and 1.5 million. Deir ez-Zor
7140-425: The buttress had been successful — but to pass under it and penetrate the city. This tunnel was built to allow the Persians four abreast to move through it. It eventually pierced the inner embankment and, when the ramp was completed, Dura's end had come. As Persian troops charged up the ramp, their counterparts in the tunnel would have invaded the city with little opposition, as nearly all the defenders would have been on
7259-520: The cemetery. The temple could have been a first port of call for caravans coming from Palmyra. A cistern next to the temple may have served to water pack animals. Remains of wall paintings were found in the temple. Three inscriptions are particularly important. The oldest of them, written in Palmyric , dates from 33 BC (year 279 of the Seleucid era) It is the oldest known inscription at Dura-Europos; and when it
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#17328560722667378-462: The city (referred to by the excavators as the agora ) and which occupies the northern part of H2 Block, was built on roughly the same principle. The temple complex had a large courtyard in the middle, a monumental entrance, and a sanctuary with a pronaos (portico) in front and three naoi (chambers) at the back. There were numerous small rooms around the courtyard, some of which were probably shrines that were consecrated to various deities. A relief on
7497-601: The city of Deir ez-Zor was in a state of chaos and insecurity, which prompted Al-Hassan to form his second government, Which has done great services in protecting the city and maintaining the security of its people despite its limited capabilities. This government continued its work until 23 November 1920, when it was dissolved by a decision of the French occupation authorities. King Faisal left Syria for Hauran then Haifa and from there to Como in Italy then to London in October 1920 at
7616-401: The city, Egyptian rule remained until 1840 when the authority of the Ottoman returned to the city, Perhaps the most prominent feature of Ibrahim Pasha's rule is the proliferation of weapons among the city's inhabitants, especially rifles, known as "Brahimiyat," which constituted a major tool to defend the city and repel Bedouin attacks. On 2 January 1858, the Ottoman government launched
7735-546: The combination of " Dura-Europos " is modern, and was coined by Franz Cumont in 1922. Dura controlled the river crossing on the route between Seleucus's newly founded cities of Antioch and Seleucia on the Tigris . Its rebuilding as a great city after the Hippodamian model, with rectangular blocks defined by cross-streets ranged round a large central agora , took place in the 2nd century BC. The traditional view of Dura-Europos as
7854-420: The cult image. A small sanctuary of Bel, consisted of a single hall, was also found. The Necropolis Temple was built in 33 BC and, according to the inscriptions, was dedicated to Baal and Yarhibol . The temple was just outside the city and probably was maintained until the city's abandonment. Although the temple was located in the city's necropolis, it was built prior; and the cult there had no connection to
7973-440: The description, "Its houses are adjacent over an artificial hill, and its inhabitants are strong, polite, and welcome guests. Their crops were wheat, barley, cotton, and corn, along with orchards full of fruit species, including palm trees, lemons, and oranges, the chess game is common among elders". Deir Ez-Zor has repeatedly been subjected to Bedouin attacks for looting and has been greatly affected by these attacks, including
8092-501: The desert. Some evidence of a Sasanian presence at Dura after the sack of the city was found, but is limited to several coins, and some burials. Many buildings apparently stood empty for a time before they collapsed: a house in a part of the site near the river that was excavated by the Franco-Syrian expedition in the 2000s had its floors covered in disarticulated rodent skeletons and owl pellets, apparently from time when birds inhabited
8211-448: The destruction of Dura-Europos. Clark Hopkins , the field director at Dura-Europos in the 1930s, opened his book The Discovery of Dura-Europos with an epigram: After the siege and victory by the Persians in AD 256, the record is blank. The mute testimony that remained was of a site desolate and forlorn, where the lonely and level sands covered the bones of the city and stretched away across
8330-549: The documents found mainly regard administration (in Latin) and business (in Greek), some literary and religious texts were found in the city. Only a few documents can be dated with certainty to the time of Parthian rule. Only seven of them are definitely dated. They are written in Greek but use the Seleucid calendar. Among the literary texts there is a fragment by Herodotus and one by Appian . The Herodotus fragment comes from his 5th book and
8449-556: The emperors were destroying entire urban centers for fear of future rebellion , as Deir al-Zour was too small to be considered a threat. In the third century BC, Alexander the Great crossed the region and built the city of Dura-Europos . Although influenced by Greek culture , the Aramaic language remained prevalent in the city. When Syria came under the Roman Empire in 64 BC, Deir Ez-Zor
8568-468: The emptied homes. Coin hoards were found, which indicate that people hoped to return to the city. Historians argue whether Dura-Europos was completely abandoned after the siege of 256. Lucinda Dirven wrote that, according to Ammianus Marcellinus , Dura-Europos was a deserted town when Julian's army passed there in 363. There is evidence from a Syriac document called Life of the Martyr Mu'Ain , dating from
8687-426: The epitaph of Julius Terentius, tribune of the twentieth Palmyrene cohort. As historian Jennifer Baird wrote, Julius is known better than most of the Roman soldiers who were stationed at Dura, as he is recorded in papyri from the military archives as well as from a painting, depicting him with his men. His Greek funerary inscription was found in a house near the centre of the city, apparently incomplete—as can be seen,
8806-938: The fall of the Ottoman Empire in 1918, Ottoman forces withdrew from the area leaving a no man's land . The region was subsequently occupied by Iraqi nationalists representing the Arab Kingdom of Syria in Damascus , and after the Paulet–Newcombe Agreement in 1923, it became part of the French Mandate for Syria . Kazas of the Sanjak: 35°20′00″N 40°09′00″E / 35.333333°N 40.15°E / 35.333333; 40.15 Deir ez-Zor Deir ez-Zor ( Arabic : دَيْرُ ٱلزَّوْرِ / دَيْرُ ٱلزُّور , romanized : Dayru z-Zawr / Dayru z-Zūr ; Syriac : ܕܝܪܐ ܙܥܘܪܬܐ, romanized: Dayrāʾ Zəʿōrtāʾ)
8925-648: The fifth century, that a Christian (perhaps Byzantine ) hermit lived there during the time of the Sassanid emperor Shapur II (c. 379). J. M. Unvala wrote that "The fortress of Doura-Eropos is mentioned by ancient authors like Polybius , Isidore of Kharax , Lucian , Ptolemaeus , Ammianus Marcellinus , Zosimus the Cosmographer of Ravenna . It is also mentioned in the Acts of the Syrian Martyr Mar Mu'ain, who lived in
9044-454: The first century BC, the city was predominantly eastern in character. The city regained its importance as a military outpost, when the Romans established it as a starting point for the conquest of the territories of Osroene , and as an outpost for expeditions against the Parthian empire and their capital on the Tigris in 198 AD. The city was later a border post of the Roman " Kingdom of Palmyra ". In A.D. 194, Emperor Septimius Severus divided
9163-539: The gang leader Mohammed ِAl-Ayyash deserves hanging twice. Officer Bono 1925. When the military vehicle arrived, the revolutionaries attacked and arrested the officers and took them with their car after they took their weapons to a desert called "Al-Aksiyya", and threw them with their driver in one of the abandoned wells where they died. The French were incensed for losing contact with their officers and began an extensive campaign including planes to search for them and when they found their bodies and inquired from
9282-465: The government house (Dar Al Saraya), a military barracks, a hospital and some trade markets. Some of the arrivals from Urfa settled in the city to help Khalil Bey Saqib with the administration, as well as starting campaigns to settle the Bedouin in urban centers on the Euphrates. In 1868, the Qaimakamiyya was transformed to the Zor Sanjak , which did not report to the wali but reported directly to
9401-420: The governor of Aleppo, sent a military force to suppress it. After the campaign, Soraya Pasha came to Deir ez-Zor He made it the center of the district's headquarters ( Qaimakamiyya ), and he returned to Aleppo after appointing Omar Pasha governor, whose rule did not last more than 6 months. Khalil Bey Saqib was appointed as Kaymakam of Deir ez-Zor after it was annexed to Aleppo. During his reign, it established
9520-431: The grid pattern of streets, where merchants lived, scribes wrote and Jews worshiped in the same block, not far from a Christian house-church as well as shrines to Greek and Palmyrene deities. Scholars said the different religious groups seemed to maintain their distinct identities. The Temple of Artemis Nanaïa was perhaps the oldest temple in the city. In the Seleucid period there was a temenos (a walled, sacred area) with
9639-460: The important, wealthier, and more complex settlement it would become. In 113 BC, the Parthian Empire conquered Dura-Europos, and held it, with one brief intermission, until 165 AD, when it was taken by the Romans. The Parthian period was that of expansion at Dura-Europos, an expansion that was facilitated by the town's losing its function as a military outpost. All the space enclosed by
9758-514: The informants about the names of the revolutionaries , they sent a large military force equipped with heavy guns and planes to attack the Albu Saraya clan and blockade it. French planes began bombing the clan villages with a devastating bombardment where the houses were destroyed, as were children and women and killed. Livestock was destroyed, as well as farms and crops. Civilians were killed, among them "Hanash Al-Mousa Al-Ani," "Ali Al-Najras," and
9877-412: The invitation of the British royal family , Upon his departure, the monarchy in Syria ended and began the French Mandate era. In July 1920, French General Henri Gouraud issued an ultimatum to the government of King Faisal , known as the "Gouraud ultimatum ", he set four days to accept it. Although the Syrian government accepted the ultimatum and accepted the demands of General Gouraud to demobilize
9996-411: The last section was not carved, but the painted guiding lines are preserved. Whether his wife, Aurelia Arria, or the person she commissioned to create this, did not themselves survive to complete the memorial, we do not know. While it is incomplete, this shows a Roman tribune commemorated with a Greek inscription by his wife. Also, it is virtually unique at Dura, where no tradition of funerary commemoration
10115-617: The martyrs who died in that area by the Ottoman Turks . The city later became a pilgrimage destination for hundreds of thousands of Armenians on 24 April each year, after being declared in 2002 by Catholicos Aram I of the Armenian Orthodox of Cilicia as a pilgrimage to the Armenians. Trouble broke out in the city of Deir al-Zour after the Ottomans left on 6 November 1918, where people began looting and stealing from each other across
10234-411: The province of Syria to limit the power of its previously rebellious governors. As a result, Dura became part of the new province of Syria Coele. In its later years, it also attained the status of a Roman colonia, which, by the third century, was what James (Henry Breasted) calls an "honorary title for an important town." He suggests that the "Roman authorities wanted to present Dura as an important city of
10353-520: The region as part of death marches, the liberation that they achieved ultimately benefited the city, increasing population and growth rates. Historically, the city of Deir ez-Zor has been a special place for Armenians in Syria and the Armenian Diaspora . The Armenian genocide Memorial Church , which was officially built in 1991, includes a museum containing some remains, collectibles and maps for memory of
10472-405: The road between Aleppo and Baghdad began to revive it and get it out of isolation. Young people start traveling to Hauran with the beginning of the spring for trading or work and then return in the early fall; they also travel to Aleppo , Baghdad, Mardin and Urfa for trading. In 1831 Ibrahim Pasha took over Deir ez-Zor and annexed it to Hama Sanjak and appointed Maejun Agha governor of
10591-451: The same clan. The Bene Gaddibol clan is well documented in Palmyra, where belonging to a clan was an important part of one's identity. In Dura-Europos clan membership obviously lost its meaning, and two people from different clans could appear together in inscriptions. In Dura-Europos, their identity was their common Palmyrene origin. The Temple of Atargatis , which is south of the centre of
10710-405: The sanctuary of the temple shows the goddess Atargatis , with a lion on either side of her, and her husband Hadad nearby. A cult standard is depicted between the two deities. Atargatis was the mother of Adonis ; Hadad and Adonis could also be worshipped here. Various inscriptions by ancient visitors tell of the people who visited the sanctuary. That the temple was frequented by people from Hatra
10829-427: The service of the revolutionaries and reporting news and information to Mohammed ِAl-Ayyash about the situation and movements of the French and their activities and the timing of their military operations. This helped Al-Ayyash guides the revolutionaries to strike the French forces. In early June 1925, the translators informed Mohammed Al-Ayyash that a military vehicle carrying four French officers from France to inspect
10948-455: The shrinking of the city. Still, the isolation benefited the city's people because they relied on themselves to make many of their needs and those of neighboring villages, such as axes, spears, swords, gunpowder, and weaving cotton. When security was relatively stable, the commercial convoys started passing through the area, and Deir ez-Zor was a station for them, providing them with food, feed, and comfort. The khans were established in it, and
11067-412: The site in early 2000s, opposes the name Dura-Europos, because it "obscures what he sees as the fundamental Greekness of the city" and proposes to use "Europos-Dura" instead. The city was probably built on the site of a previous town; a clay tablet dating to King Hammurabi of Hana 's times, 1900 BC, refers to the place as Da-ma-ra . It is the only cuneiform writing found at Dura; no other evidence
11186-415: The site". There is no written record of the Sasanian siege of Dura. However, archaeologists have uncovered striking evidence of the siege and how it progressed. The buttressing of the walls would be tested in 256 AD when Shapur I besieged the city. True to the fears of the defenders, Shapur set his engineers to undermine what archaeologists called Tower 19, two towers north of the Palmyrene Gate. When
11305-541: The strength and size of the armies of the Byzantine Empire , Abu Bakr ordered Khalid ibn al-Walid to march with half of the Iraqi army to the Levant and command the armies there. Khalid set off with his army towards Sham and opened Bosra and then defeated the Byzantines at the Battle of Ajnadayn . After Umar ibn Al-Khattab became caliph in 13 AH (634 AD), Khalid was replaced by Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah . Abu Ubaidah
11424-507: The surrounding region, indicates an ancient site for one of the Early Christian secluded monasteries spread since the persecution times and Apostolic Age throughout Mesopotamia . Although Deir ( ܕܝܪܐ ), which is Arabic (borrowed from Syriac) for "monastery", is believed to have been kept throughout the various Medieval and modern age renamings, Zor , which indicates the riverbank bush, appeared only in some late Ottoman records of
11543-426: The time of Shapur II as follows: men madabra da doura "from the fortress of Doura"; madinta hada xarabta metkaria doura "the ruined city called Doura". Sebastian P. Brock describes the story of Mu'Ain as "The History of Ma'in of Sinjar , a general under Shapur II (309–79) who converted to Christianity and suffered as a confessor ". He quotes Jean Maurice Fiey regarding the dating and place, and notes that "Dura
11662-403: The tower and adjacent walls to subside. However, Roman countermeasure bolstered the wall and prevented it from collapsing. This brought on a third attempt at breaching the city wall. A ramp was raised, attacking Tower 14; but, as it was being built and the garrison fought to stop the progress of the ramp, another mine was started near the ramp. Its purpose was not to cause a collapse of the wall —
11781-468: The ultimatum had reached him after the deadline. on 24 July 1920, the Battle of Maysalun ended with the loss of the Syrian army and the death of the Minister of War Yusuf al-'Azma , After its control over the entire Syrian territory, France resorted to the fragmentation of Syria into several independent states or entities: The city of Deir ez-Zor, Raqqa and Al-Hasakah were followed to Aleppo . When
11900-454: The villages of the Albu Saraya clan that living west of Deir ez-Zor and which have a strong friendship with his father Ayyash Al-Haj , to form revolutionary groups with them to strike the French forces. Al-Ayyash managed to form a revolutionary group of thirteen armed men who were ready to take any military action against the French forces, They are: Some Syrians working with the French at translation centers, and others were secretly at
12019-425: The wall, attempting to repel the attack from the ramp. The city was then abandoned, its population deported. The siege was notable for the early use of chemical weapons by the attacking Persian army. During the siege the attackers dug several underground shaft mines under the city walls. The Romans dug tunnels to reach the mines and fight the diggers underground. In one such tunnel, when the Romans broke through into
12138-457: The walls gradually became occupied, and the influx of new inhabitants with Semitic and Iranian names alongside descendants of the original Macedonian colonists contributed to an increase in the population, which was a multicultural one, as inscriptions in Greek , Latin , Hebrew , various Aramaic dialects ( Hatran , Palmyrene , Syriac ), Middle Persian , Parthian , and Safaitic testify. In
12257-459: The walls, testify to the richness of the Jewish and Christian communities. The population of Dura-Europos is estimated at 10,000-15,000 people, at the most; more conservative estimates say that the agriculture of that region could only support a population of about 5,000-6,000 people. The city received the status of " colonia " after the year 254 AD; official documents called the city "the 'colony of
12376-413: The writers were well educated in the Greek language. On the other hand, a letter dating from the third century that was sent by a person from the village of Ossa shows more deviations from the classic Attic. Still, there is no indication that any dialect of Greek peculiar to the city, a "Durene" dialect, developed. The languages used by different people show how multicultural the city was. For example, on
12495-658: Was a small, marginal village known as Azdra, which the Romans made the center of the region and founded a strong military garrison. Deir Ez-Zor came under the reign of Queen Zenobia of Palmyra in the third century, within an autonomous federation of the Roman Empire. After the end of the Ridda wars in the Arabian Peninsula , Abu Bakr sent four armies to the Levant , led by Yazid ibn Abi Sufyan , Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah , Amr ibn al-Aas , and Shurahbil ibn Hasana . Because of
12614-468: Was able to fill lacunae in the light of the Didache text. In 1933, among fragments of text recovered from the town dump outside the Palmyrene Gate, a fragmentary text was unearthed from an unknown Greek harmony of the gospel account—comparable to Tatian 's Diatessaron , but independent of it. John Noble Wilford compared the ancient city with modern New York: New Yorkers would have felt at home in
12733-515: Was captured by the Sasanian Empire after a siege in 256–257 AD . Its population was deported, and the abandoned city eventually became covered by sand and mud and disappeared from sight. Dura-Europos is of extreme archaeological importance, and was called the "Pompeii of the Desert". As it was abandoned after its conquest in 256–57 AD, nothing was built over it and no later building programs obscured
12852-650: Was found and published in 1935, it was the oldest known Palmyric inscription anywhere. The names of the founders of the temple are known: Zabdibol, son of Ba'yashu, and Maliku, son of Ramu. Zabdibol came from the Bene Gaddibol clan, Maliku from that of the Bene Komare. The donors were obviously Palmyrians who lived in Dura-Europos. It is noteworthy that the donors come from two different clans. In inscriptions at Palmyra , when different donors are named together, they come from
12971-583: Was found. The ancient settlement was probably deserted for a long time when Dura was found. The earliest mention of Dura-Europos can be found in the Parthian Stations by the geographer Isidore of Charax (c. 26 BC). ἔνθεν Δοῦρα, Νικάνορος πόλις, κτίσμα Μακεδόνων, ὑπὸ δὲ Ἑλλήνων Εὔρωπος καλεῖται. [Then comes Dura, the city of Nicanor, a foundation of the Macedonians, called Europos by the Greeks.] Isidore
13090-457: Was found: no funerary inscriptions, and, unlike its more famous Syrian neighbour Palmyra, no funerary portraits. One more interesting example is an altar of the local god Yarhibol . On it there is an inscription in Greek: "[For] the god Yarhibol, Scribonius Moucianus, chiliarch , made this as commanded." It is notable because it shows that a man who bears a Latin name, Scribonius Moucianus, and holding
13209-622: Was founded around 300 BC by Seleucus I Nicator , who founded the Seleucid Empire as one of the Diadochi of Alexander the Great. In 113 BC, Parthians conquered the city, and held it, with one brief Roman intermission (114 AD), until 165 AD. Under Parthian rule, it became an important provincial administrative centre. The Romans decisively captured Dura-Europos in 165 AD and greatly enlarged it as their easternmost stronghold in Mesopotamia , until it
13328-480: Was imprisoned in the castle and during his imprisonment he met with the leader Ibrahim Hanano , In June 1922 he was released and returned to Deir Ez-Zor. Later, Fadel Al-Aboud was sentenced to exile to the city of Jisr al-Shughour after he was accused of preparing a revolt against French colonialism in protest against the military campaign by the French army against the Bukhabur tribes that refused to pay taxes to
13447-469: Was neither entirely a military outpost nor a polis, but something in-between: Out of this meager evidence, the early settlement of Europos emerges as an entity ambiguously situated between a simple fortress and a full polis . The absences are striking. As far as can be perceived, in terms of civic architecture and urbanism, third-century Europos lacked a temple, gymnasium, theater, and a "Hippodamian" street plan. In terms of sociopolitical phenomena, it lacked
13566-484: Was only sporadic and cannot confidently be associated with permanent settlement—but that contact with the Mediterranean, though certainly even more sporadic, continued as well." Dura-Europos was a cosmopolitan society, ruled by a tolerant Macedonian aristocracy descended from the original settlers. In the course of its excavation, over a hundred parchment and papyrus fragments, and many inscriptions , have revealed texts in Greek and Latin (the latter including
13685-760: Was ordered to complete the conquest . He took Damascus , Baalbek , Homs , Hama and Latakia . After the successive defeats of the Byzantine army , the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius requested the help of the Arab Christians in Mesopotamia . They mobilized a large army and headed towards Homs, now the base of Abu Ubaidah in northern Syria , which they besieged. Heraclius also sent soldiers from Alexandria . Omar ibn al-Khattab wrote to Saad ibn Abi Waqqas to request support Abu Ubaidah with forces from Iraq, who were then organized under Iyad ibn Ghanm . When
13804-443: Was primarily the language of business and seems to have gained in importance, especially after the Roman occupation. It is believed that the upper class of the city, in particular, was still Greek in Parthian times. Palmyric is known, with certainty, from various inscriptions on monuments from 33 BC. It is believed that a small number of Palmyric traders lived in the city, and in Roman times there were also soldiers from Palmyra. Parthian
13923-470: Was the coins found with these Roman soldiers that dated the siege to AD 256.) The countermine was successful, for the Persians abandoned their operations at Tower 19. Next, the Sassanids attacked Tower 14, the southernmost along the western wall. It overlooked a deep ravine to the south and it was from that direction that it was attacked. This time the mining operation was partially successful, in that it caused
14042-582: Was the last destination of the forced displacement of Armenian convoys and the scene of killings and slaughter by the Turkish gendarmerie , where the Ottoman authorities planned to exterminate Armenians. These plans failed because the people of Deir ez-Zor regretted what happened to the Armenian men, women, and children, prompting the mayor Haj Fadel Al-Aboud to help protect them and provide them with food, housing, safety and livelihoods. Despite Armenians coming to
14161-509: Was then funnelled through the tunnel with the use of underground chimneys and bellows. The Roman soldiers had been constructing a countermine, and Sasanian forces are believed to have released the gas when their mine was breached by the Roman countermine. The lone Persian soldier discovered among the bodies is believed to be the individual responsible for releasing the gas before the fumes overcame him as well. Shapur I destroyed not only Dura-Europos, but also other Palmyrene trade colonies along
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