The Hellenistic Settlements in the East from Armenia and Mesopotamia to Bactria and India. Getzel M. Cohen

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СКАЧАТЬ however, who the founder was. There are at least two pieces of evidence—both problematic—that can be brought to bear on this question.

      An inscription found at Rome says Nikator founded the settlement at Nisibis: πόλιν παρ’ ἱρήν, ἣν ἔδειμε Νικάτωρ | ἐλαιόθηλον ἀμφὶ Μυγδόνος νᾶμα.¹ Note, however, that there is no mention of the actual name of the settlement. As for the founder, Mommsen suggested emending Νικάτωρ to Νικάνωρ.²

      Pliny (NH 6.117) says: “item in Arabum gente qui Orroei vocantur et Mandani/Mardani Antiochiam quae a praefecto Mesopotamiae Nicanore condita Arabs/Arabis vocatur.” Unfortunately, we cannot definitely identify either the Nikanor³ or the Antioch⁴ mentioned by Pliny. It is quite possible that the Nikanor in question was the Seleucid official who also founded DOURA EUROPOS. In the years before the battle of Ipsos in 301 B.C., Babylonia formed the heartland of Seleukos’s empire. Thus, the founding of EDESSA in 302 B.C.—and possibly DOURA EUROPOS and Antioch in Mygdonia around the same time—would have provided an important defensive barrier in the north, if the region was already under Seleucid control.⁵

      It is unclear whether there was a royal mint at Nisibis in the early third century B.C. E. T. Newell tentatively raised the possibility that there might have been a mint there as early as the reign of Seleukos I Nikator. On the other hand, A. Houghton and C. Lorber claimed that no major mint could be identified at Nisibis until the reign of Seleukos II. The mint was then active under Antiochos III. There is no extant royal coinage under Antiochos IV Epiphanes. However, during his reign the city issued quasimunicipal coins with the ethnic ΑΝΤΙΟΧΕΩΝ ΤΩΝ ΕΝ ΜΥΓΔΟΝΙΑΙ. Following this, royal minting continued: Demetrios I produced coins there. In addition, Timarchos (during his revolt against Demetrios, c. 162–160 B.C.), as well as Alexander Balas and Demetrios II, may also have minted coins at Nisibis.⁶ The appearance of the Dioskouroi on some of the coins of Nisibis provides evidence for the importance of these divinities there.⁷

      The ethnic ΑΝΤΙΟΧΕΩΝ ΤΩΝ ΕΝ ΜΥΓΔΟΝΙΑΙ on the quasi-municipal coinage has prompted the suggestion that Antiochos Epiphanes refounded—or renamed—the city. However, O. Mørkholm correctly noted that the appearance of these coins provides only the terminus ante quem for the foundation or refoundation and not the precise date for that event.⁸ Nevertheless, in the case of Antioch in Mygdonia we may have some additional evidence. According to Julian (Or. 2.62B), the city was named for “King Antiochos” (italics mine). This information excludes Seleukos Nikator as the person who gave the city its name, because his father, Antiochos, was not a king. It does leave open the possibility that a later Seleucid king—quite possibly Epiphanes—named it for himself or for his father. It is quite possible, therefore, that—as happened at EDESSA—Seleukos founded a colony at Nisibis and Antiochos renamed/refounded it.

      The only other extant information about Hellenistic Antioch is given by Polybius (5.51.1), who says that during his pursuit of Molon, Antiochos III stopped at “Antioch in Mygdonia” for forty days; this happened in 221 B.C. We do not know if Polybius was using the toponym retrospectively or if the town had that name in 221. If the latter, then obviously Epiphanes would be excluded as the founder. In later times we know that the city was called Antioch by the Greeks but Nisibis by the natives.⁹

      The city was variously known as Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐν Μυγδονίᾳ (Polyb. 5.51.1); Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐν τῇ Μυγδονίᾳ (Strabo 16.1.23); Ἀντιόχεια Μυγδονική (Plut. Luc. 32.3); Ἀντιόχεια τῆς Μυγδονίας (Theophylact Simocatta 3.6.1; Theodoret Hist. Eccl. 755 [PG 82:917]); ἡ πρὸς τῷ Μυγδονίῳ Ἀντιόχεια (Ioannes Lydus De Mag. 3.34); and Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ᾽Επιμυγδονία (Joseph. AJ 20.68). Plutarch says the barbarians called it Νίσιβις and the Greeks called it Ἀντιόχεια Μυγδονική (Luc. 32.4). Among the victors of the Panathenaia in 166/5 B.C. was Menodoros the son of Artemidoros, an Ἀντιοχεὺς ἀπό Μυγδονί(ας).¹⁰

      Nisibis was located at the foot of Mt. Masios (Tur ‘Abdin), on the Mygdonios (modern Jaghjaghah) River at the site of modern Nusaybin.¹¹

      * * * *

      In general see Tcherikover, HS 89f.; J. Sturm, RE s.v. “Nisibis 1”; Markwart, Provincial Capitals 62, 64; Honigmann and Bosworth, EI s.v. “Nashibin”; Orth, Diadochenzeit 130; M. Mango in Bell, Tur ‘Abdin 142; Bousdroukis, Recherches 30–34; A. Primo, AClass 80 (2011) 179–84.

      1. For the inscription found at Rome see CIG 6856.5–6 = IG 14:1374 = IGUR 3.1151 = I. Estremo Oriente 3 = Euphrat 505.

      2. For the suggested emendation of Νικάτωρ to Νικάνωρ see Mommsen in Kaibel, Epigr. 549; and Rostovtzeff, Kondakov Institute (1938) 104 (“corrected perhaps correctly into Νικάνωρ”). The emendation makes sense. We may note Rostovtzeff’s observation that Nikanor was a rather common name (102–3). We may also note that Isidore of Charax (1) referred to DOURA EUROPOS as “a polis of Nikanor.” Furthermore, the use of Νικάτωρ in CIG 6856—if it is being used as the epithet for Seleukos I—is certainly problematic. Normally one would expect the king’s name, rather than just the epithet alone, as here. On the principle of lectio difficilior, therefore, I would be inclined to (reluctantly) accept the reading as it appears on the stone. The extant information relating to NIKATOR IS in Cyrrhestice/ northern Mesopotamia, NIKATOR in Assyria, and *NIKATOROPOLIS in Babylonia does not provide any further assistance for resolving this difficulty. SOTEIRA in Aria or Parthia provides an example of a settlement whose toponym may possibly have been derived from the founder’s epithet. On the other hand, the toponym may relate to a sacrifice in commemoration or hope of deliverance from danger or sickness, or for a festival in the commemoration of same; see Appendix VIII.

      3. Four possibilities emerge in the attempt to identify the Nikanor mentioned by Pliny: (a) Nikanor I was the general of Antigonos I Monophthalmos, satrap of Cappadocia; (b) Nikanor II was an officer of Demetrios I Poliorketes whom we encounter after the battle of Ipsos in 301 B.C.; (c) Nikanor III was a nephew of Seleukos who, Malalas (8.10, CFHB 35.150) says, was given control of all of Asia (along with his brother, Nikomedes) by the king; (d) Nikanor was simply an error for Nikator, i.e., for Seleukos. See further DOURA EUROPOS, n. 6.

      Rostovtzeff (Kondakov Institute [1938] 103–4) suggested that Nikanor III probably founded Doura Europos before 294 or 292, when Antiochos was put in charge of the eastern satrapies. He also noted that Seleukos’s founding of EDESSA in c. 302 B.C. suggests a similar date for Nisibis; see also Jones, CERP² 216–18. Contra: Tarn (GBI² 7 n. 3), who identified the founder as Nikanor I and denied that Antioch Arabis = Nisibis. See also Grainger (Seleukos 96ff.), who was bothered by the “multiplication of Nikanors.” He noted that Appian says Nikanor I was killed in 311 B.C. (Syr. 57). However, observing that Appian is not always reliable, Grainger suggested that Appian might have been wrong—hence Nikanor did not die in 311 B.C. but in fact lived on. Grainger then constructed two possible scenarios with Nikanor founding Doura Europos and Antioch Nisibis as an employee of (a) Antigonos or (b) Seleukos. Neither the basis for the reconstruction (an error by Appian) nor the possible scenarios are convincing. Finally, P. Bernard has focused on Antigonos (in Topoi Supplément 1 [1997] 185–86 n. 181). He remarked: “On a tendence à l’oublier, car la plupart de ces foundations [i.e., in northern Mesopotamia] ne sont pas identifiables, soit qu’elles aient été immédiatement rebaptisées par Séleucos à son nom ou à ceux de ses parents et de sa femme . . . soit qu’elles aient porté des noms empruntés aux villes de la Macédoine, qui empêchent de reconnaitre si leur fondateur est Antigone ou un Séleucide. Les sources anciennes ont cependant gardé le souvenir СКАЧАТЬ