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Kingdom of Osroene
(Beth-Esro / Esro-Eyne)
By: Hanna Hajjar
Osroene (or Osrhoene), was an
ancient kingdom in northwestern Mesopotamia occupying an area between the
Euphrates, Tigris and Khabur rivers and lying across the modern frontiers of
Turkey and Syria. During its golden
age this kingdom reached the cities of Malatya (Melitene) in the north, Nisibin
(Nusaybin) in the east, Zeguma close to Birtha (modern Birecik) in the west,
Sinjar (Singara) on the southeast, and Harran (Carrhae) on the southwest.
Map#1: Osroene Map #2: Bible
Lands Map #3: Roman Empire
The kingdom of Osroene commanded
not only the great strategic highway from west to east which followed the
southern edge of the Assyrian plateau from Sinjar to Zeguma, but also that
section of the trade from Asia Minor to Mesopotamia, which passed from Malatya
to Harran. Osroene was therefore in
a strong strategic position during the wars between Rome and Parthia from the
first century B.C. to the second Century A.D. and formed alliances at different
times with one or the other depending on the ambitions of its kings and the
national interest of this kingdom.
There are several theories about
the origin of the name Osroene:
1.
The name of the kingdom is a compound name, and is derived from Esro-Ayne
(meaning the Ten-Chiefs). The story
goes back about 2600 years, where after the fall of Nineveh in 612 B.C. (the
capital of the Assyrian Empire) the Assyrian King Ashur Uballit (II) along with
ten of his army chiefs, retreated with part of his population westward towards
Harran, heading towards Hdatu the western provincial capital of the Assyrian
Empire {modern Arslan Tash near Urhoy (Urfa)}.
This is confirmed by the Russian Historian Dr. Matviev who says in his
book History of the Assyrians, that the kingdom of Osroene was founded by the
ten Assyrian chiefs who called their kingdom Esroyo which later became
Esro-Eyneh (the Ten Chiefs).
2.
The second theory about the origin of the name of Osroene is that during
the time of the Assyrian Empire, the tenth battalion of the Assyrian army was
stationed in the region of Hdatu. When
the capital Nineveh collapsed, the only battalion that survived was the Tenth
Assyrian Battalion of that region. Thus
this territory was called Esronoyo (meaning the Tenth) or Beth-Esroyo the (Place
of the Tenth).
3.
The third theory about the origin of the name of Osroene, goes back to
the Ten tribes of Subartu the origin of the Assyrian Nation.
The Turkish historian Dr. Shemsettin Gunaltay in his book Sharq Tarihi
(History of the East) traces the Kingdom of Osroene to the ancient On-Asurilar
the {Ten Assyrian (tribes)}, and he states that the Kadim Suryanilar (Ancient
Syriacs) are the descendants of the Subari Asurilar (Subartu Assyrians).
(See: Tarihta Suryanilar, by: Rev Gabriel Aydin, 1994, Page 18).
4.
The term Ondaligh used by the Suryoyo/Assyrian community of Urhoy for
their meeting place (after Sunday mass) is a compound Turkish word consisting of "On" meaning "Ten", and "Daligh"
meaning "Branchs" in other words the Ten Branches, (i.e. confirming
the above three theories).
Regardless which theory you look
at, they all trace the origin of the Kingdom of Osroene to the Assyrians.
The
Syriac/Suryoyo community of Urhoy, when they were still living in the city of
Urfa/Urhoy (prior to 1924), they called themselves “Asori” and similarly the
Armenians and the Turks called them Asori (i.e. Assyrian).
In the Doctrine of Saint Mor Adai
(St. Addaeus) (one of the seventy disciples of Jesus) who was sent to Urhoy by
our Lord Jesus Christ to heal King Abgar (V) Ukomo. Mor Adai states that the Sharireh D'Urhoy (the councilmen of
Urhoy) were also referred to as Chiefs (i.e. the same military title that their
Assyrian ancestors carried). In the
doctrine of Mor Adai, it is also mentioned that Mor Adai went forth to the land
of the Assyrians (referring to Osroene) to preach the Bible:
“FROM
THE HOMILY ABOUT THE TOWN OF ANTIOCH.[6]
To
Simon was allotted Rome,[7] and to John Ephesus; to Thomas India, and to
Addaeus
the country of the Assyrians.[8] And, when they were sent each one of them to
the district which had been
allotted to him, they devoted themselves[9] to bring the several countries to
discipleship.”
“THE
TEACHING OF ADDAEUS THE APOSTLE. [1]
And
such as became disciples received from him ordination to the
priesthood,
and in their own country of the
Assyrians they instructed the people of their nation, and erected houses of
prayer there in secret, by reason of the danger from those who worshipped fire
and paid reverence to water. (3) Moreover, Narses, the king of the Assyrians,
when he heard of those same things which Addaeus the apostle had done, sent a
message to Abgar the king: Either despatch to me the man who doeth these signs
before thee, that I may see him and hear his word, or send me an account of all
that thou hast seen him do in thy own town. And Abgar wrote to Narses, (4) and
related to him the whole story of the deeds of Addaeus from the beginning to the
end; and he left nothing, which he did not write to him. And, when Narses heard
those things which were written to him, he was astonished and amazed.”
Mor Adai also makes reference to
the spring festival of Nison (April), which was celebrated in Urhoy.
This festival is the Assyrian New Year Akitu Fest, which is celebrated on
the beginning of Spring (March 21st, and ending after 13 days on April 1st,
according to the modern calendar) of every year.
According to the official records of Urhoy we find out that the people of
Urhoy kept on celebrating the Assyrian New Year Akitu Fest up till the 6th
century, where the Byzantine Emperor Anastasius banned it in 502 A.D. This
proves that even though the kings and the people of Urhoy adopted Christianity
from the time of the King Abgar (V) Ukomo and on, yet they kept on celebrating
their national holidays and feasts all the time even during the time of the
famous saint Mor Afrem. It took the
military force of the foreign Byzantine Emperor Anastasius to abolish Akitu Fest
and force the Assyrian people of Urhoy to comply reluctantly.
When King Aryu of Urhoy come to the
throne he expanded the original Council of Ten which was founded by the Ten
Assyrian Chiefs of the King Ashur Uballit (II), from 10 to 12 members to include
the King and the Crown Prince (but the name was kept as the council of Ten).
After the fall of the Kingdom of Osroene, this tradition was kept alive,
and the Council of Ten remained in power (representing the people of Urhoy) with
its new 12 members. Those members
were democratically elected by and from the people of Urhoy.
Later when the Turkish language replaced the Syriac language the name of
this council was translated to Turkish as Ondaligh (still meaning the place of
the ten), this is still in practice among the Assyrian/Suryoyo (Syriac Orthodox)
community of Urhoy in both Aleppo Syria and Beirut Lebanon, where their meeting
place is still called On-Daligh. On the other hand the royal title of King of
Osroene was stripped of its political power, and transferred to the Syriac
Orthodox bishop of Urhoy who was then called the Bishop of Osroene.
The capital of the Kingdom of
Osroene was Urhoy (modem Urfa) also known as Edessa. The origin of the name Edessa goes back to when the second
wave of Assyrians arrived after the fall of Nineveh in 612 A.D. It was then that
the new Assyrians gave the city the name Edessu (meaning New, in cuneiform
Akkadian/Assyrian), (compare the parallel to what happened in America, when
people from England arrived at the east coast of the new continent, and called
it New-England). Edessu is
pronounced as Edesso is in the western Syriac dialect and Edessa in the eastern
Syriac dialect, and this is the name that reached the European.
As to meaning of Urhoy, it is a compound name consisting of Ur-Hoy, which
is written in Syriac as (Olaf, waw, reesh, he, yud) ur-hi, where “ur” means
“Light” in ancient Akadian/Assyrian, consequently the full meaning is “She
is the Light”. Another
explanation is that “ur” means “City”, in that case it means “She is
the City”. Other scholars believe
that the 4th letter of Urhoy (in Syriac) was originally a “Het”
instead of a “he”, and in that case it would mean the “City of Life” or
the “Light of Life”.
According to
several Syriac saints and scholars: Mor
Afrem (St. Ephrem), Mor Yaacoub D’Urhoyo (St. Jacob of Edessa), Mor Bar Ebroyo
(St. Bar Hebraeous) and also St. Isodore, the city of Urhoy (Urfa) was built by
the famous King Nimrod who also built Nineveh, and Babylon.
King Nimrod is mentioned in
the Bible (Genesis, 10:8-12): 8.
Nimrod: He began to be mighty one in the earth. 9. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord.
10. And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and
Calneh in the land of Shinar. 11.
Out of that land went forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh, andthe city Rehoboth,
and Calah. 12. And Resen between Nineveh and Calah: the same is a great
city.
When the king
Ashur Uballit (II) died, his Ten Assyrian chiefs took over the power and
established a “Council of Ten” for running the state affairs, and this was
the first democratic system in the Middle East.
This council kept a low profile so as not to provoke the Neo-Babylonian
Empire and later the Persian Empire. They
ran their internal affairs with a system close to the modem parliamentary
system, which was known as Bet-Esroyo. The council of Bet-Esroyo kept on running the affairs of the
city of Urhoy even after the fall of the kingdom of Osroene to the Romans.
Later when the Turkish influence became stronger and little by little
replaced the Syriac language, the name Bet-Esroyo was translated to Turkish, as
On-Daligh ("On" in Turkish means "Ten" and "Daligh"
meaning "Branches") in other words it literary means the "Ten
Branches". This tradition is still carried on now (2600 years after if
was established) by the Assyrians who trace their origin to Urhoy (Urfa).
The last member of the Assyrian community had to leave Urhoy (in modern
Turkey) reluctantly on 10 March 1924, (or face a massacre).
The whole community moved to Aleppo Syria where they founded a
neighborhood, which they called Hay-Assyrian (i.e. meaning: the Assyrain
Quarter, “H” being the 6th letter in Arabic).
Others also moved to Beirut Lebanon also settled in two neighborhoods,
which they called Hay-Assyrian (in both Al-Bawshriyyeh, and Al-Ashrafiyyeh),
from there the community was scattered all over the world.
In Aleppo the
hall where the Suryoyo/Assyrian community hold their meetings after the Sunday
mass is called Ondaligh. Similarly in Beirut the hall where the members of
Jam'iyat Al-Nejmeh (the Star Association) hold their meetings is also called
Ondaligh, and similarly the meeting hall of the church in Al-Ashrafiyyeh
Beirut.
How does the
modern Ondaligh compare to the ancient Beth Esroyo council?
1.
In Aleppo it had expanded to include all members of the community
(Congregation), everybody is invited to attend, however the Majlis Al-Milli
(church council) runs the show with the guidance of the local priest.
On the other hand in Beirut if is independent from the church (since
Jam'iyat Al-Nejmeh is a government licensed organization), there the adult male
members of the community of Urhoy can vote and elect the leaders of the council
who will run the affairs of the organization.
The ladies have their own auxiliary branch of the same association
elected by the adult ladies of the community.
2.
Their job is promoting and preserving the culture of the community, as
well as planning and directing the social and economical activities of the
community; similar to the way it was done during the days of the Kingdom of
Osroene. The only difference that
in the old days when Osroene was an independent kingdom the “Sharire D’Urhoy”
used to be involved in military and political decisions too.
3.
In all modem Ondalighs, the same old concept is still carried on (i.e. it
is a place where people gather to exchange ideas, present new ideas, criticize,
plan for the future, analyze problems, and offer solutions, exactly the same way
the ancient Ten Chiefs and Sharire D'Urhoy did.
4.
The Ondaligh concept exists only among the community of Urhoy (Urfa) of
the Syriac Orthodox Church. This
proves that other communities of Syriac Orthodox Church did not have this
tradition; in addition the non-Assyrians who lived in Urfa such as the Turks,
Kurds and Armenians did not have this tradition either.
5.
The Ondaligh has nothing to do with the so-called 10% tax that some
non-Assyrians are promoting. Because
if that was true, how come the other members of the Syriac Orthodox Church don't
have this tradition, where the people from Urfa the only ones that were taxed
while all the rest were tax exempt? Plus
the fact that the term Daligh (Branches) does not relate to taxation.
It is also important to note that
between the year 131 B.C. and the year 216 A.D. (for almost 375 years) Osroene
was an independent kingdom, ruled by kings that belonged to its own Assyrian
people. This raises the issue of
national identity of citizens of Osroene. Since
any citizen of Osroene would have been an Osroenian citizen (if not a foreign
visitor). In other words this
raises a new issue concerning the identify of Syriac scholars and saints of
northern Mesopotamia, for example: The
philosopher Bar Daisan he should be referred to as Osroenian or Assyrian, and
not Syrian as some people claim (Although the name Syrian evolved from the name
Assyrian). And if we follow the
Syriac history closely, we find out that after the fall of the Osroenian kingdom
to the Romans, the name of Osroene was retained, and the title of the Osroenian
king was transferred to the bishop of Urhoy (although the bishop had no
political power). This raises an
important issue of identity, since it is more correct to call St. Mor Afrem an
Osroenian rather than the Syrian (see map of the Roman Empire during the kingdom
of Osroene). Similarly all other
Saints who lived through the period of the independence of Osroene.
The territory of Syria during that time was limited to the western side
of the Euphrates. During the
Roman/Byzantine Empire Syria was a Roman Colony (i.e. a province) ruled directly
by foreigners (who were) Greeks or Romans from their provincial capital Antioch
(founded by Antiochos one of Alexander the Great's successors).
The term Syria is a variation form
of Assyria, its territory covered West of the Euphrates river and had nothing to
do with Nisibin the birth place of Mor Afrern, nor Urhoy where he spent most of
his life and Mor Afrem never lived west of the Euphrates so technically he was
never a Syrian. Even up till now
(in the 20th century), the common terminology used by the people in modem Syria,
is that they would ask a person if he (or she) is from the Dakhel or the Kharej
(i.e. inside or outside in Arabic) of Syria? The Dakhel region is referred to as the territory west of the
Euphrates River, and the Kharej is East of the Euphrates (i.e. Mesopotamia or
the Jazere region). This goes back to
thousands of years when the territory between the two rivers Euphrates and
Tigris was refereed to as Beth-Nahreen (Mesopotamia). It that was outside
the territory of Syria, that the Romans drew its borders. Our
Suryoyo Assyrian people come from the region East of the Euphrates River (i.e.
the heartland of Assyria), and not from region of the Syrian Desert west of the
Euphrates River (i.e. the heart land of Aram).
The only reason why Biblical Syria
was associated with the territory of land of Aram (or the Syrian desert west of
the Euphrates), is due to the fact that during the Roman period Syria as a Roman
colony or province was limited to west of the Euphrates and as such it coincided
with the territory of Aram. And
since the New Testament was written during the Roman period, then the Roman
borders of Syria were considered and that meant replacing the name of the land
of Aram with Syria. Our Suryoye
people lived mainly in northern Beth-Nahreen so they were not called Syrians
then; they were identified as Assyrians or Osroenians.
The Assyrian roots of Urhoy go back
much prior to the second major wave of Assyrians who come to Urhoy offer the
fall of Nineveh, it goes back to the time when Urhoy was founded, where Mor
Afrem, Mor Jacob Urhoyo, Mor Bar Ebroyo, as well as other Syriac writers and
scholars, state that Nimrod was the founder of Urhoy, Nineveh, and Babylon.
And up till now the citadel of Urfa is still called Nimrod Kalasi
(Turkish for the Citadel of Nimrod), the two famous columns in the citadel are
still called the Columns of Nimrod, the hills around Deir Mor Yaacoub south of
the city walls, are called the Hills of Nimrod, and the mountain that over looks
the city of Urhoy (Urfa) is called the Mountain of Nimrod, as well as the Holy
Mountain of Urhoy. Also the region
around Mardin and Urhoy/Urfa was the heartland of the Ten Subartu/Assyrian
Tribes, one of their famous centers was near Resheyno (Ras El-Ayn) not far from
Mardin next to Tel Halaf.
There is a popular mythology about
Nimrod and Abraham, however the dates don’t fit since the there is 12
generations between both men (refer to the Bible (Genesis), so it can't be that
Nimrod and Abraham lived during the same time there was never any rivalry or any
challenge between them since Nimrod was long dead before Abraham was even born.
The only explanation that could be concluded is that whoever promoted
this myth, tried to boost the status of Abraham by creating a story where he
challenged the famous King Nimrod.
Another Interesting point that I
came upon is the prophecy of Baba of Harran (who also prophesized the coming of
our lord Jesus Christ too). This
prophet foretold the coming of Jesus 200 years before the birth of Christ, in
addition he had another prophesy that said:
A king will come from the west, to Azzuz and will get killed in Azzuz.
This prophesy was fulfilled in 217 A.D., (i.e. almost 400 years later)
during the time of King Abgar (X) Severus of Osroene who was tricked and invited
to Rome by the Aramean emperor Caracalla (the son of the Aramean Emperor
Septimus Sevirus who was born in Syria), when king Abgar (X) arrived there, he
was executed. With his death
Osroene was proclaimed as a Roman colony in January 214 A.D..
Two years later Emperor Caracalla come to Urhoy and spent the winter of
216-217 A.D. and in spring, during his visit to the temple of Azzuz in Harran,
he was assassinated by Osroenians who joined forces with a group of Romans, to
avenge the death of their king.
There is a famous mosaic in Urhoy,
which depicts a royal banquet dated 278 A.D.
The similarities between it and the earlier Assyrian bass relief of the
victory banquet in the palace of the King Ashurbanipal 668-630 B.C. in Nineveh
are striking, which proves that the art and traditions in Urhoy were the
continuity of the ancient Assyrian ones. In
both artworks we see the following similarities:
Banquet of Urhoy (278 A.D.)
Banquet of Nineveh
(668-630 B.C.)
1. Both men are lying down.
2. Both men are carrying a cup.
3. Both their women are sifting next to them.
4. In both pictures an attendant is fanning the man.
6. In both pictures there are incense burners.
Striking similarities that
eliminate the possibility of coincidence.
Map #1:
The Kingdom of Osroene (132
B.C. - 244 A.D.) (~375 Years) (By: Hanna Hajjar).
Map #2:
The Bible Lands. (Courtesy of
Broadman Supplies).
Map #3:
The Roman Empire (120 A.D.),
(Courtesy of Dalton). #41 = Kingdom
of Osroene, & #46 = Roman Province of Syria.
For more Maps please click:
http://www.digitator.fi/roma/framesets/set_maps_full.htm
http://www.digitator.fi/roma/maps/_derived/map1.htm_txt_Map_whole.gif
http://www.digitator.fi/roma/maps/_derived/map_of_syria.htm_txt_Map_Syria.gif
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