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

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СКАЧАТЬ in the Steppe (Ann Arbor, Mich., 1993) 149 (“one of the largest mounds in the Balikh valley”). The Gazetteer to the Barrington Atlas notes “Ichnae = Tell al-Sadde(?)” without further comment; see map 89, B4.

      KALLINIKON

      According to the Chronicon Paschale (330, CSHB 4.1), Seleukos II Kallinikos (246–226/5 B.C.) founded the town of Kallinikon in the first year of the 134th Olympiad, i.e., 244 B.C. The same attribution is given by Bar Hebraeus (Chronography 38, trans. Wallis Budge), who dated the founding to the reign of Ptolemy III Euergetes (246–221 B.C.), by the Syriac Chronicon Maroniticum (40 [47]) and by Michael the Syrian (5.6 [78]). The last says: “Seleukos Kallinikos built cities on the banks of the Euphrates, he called one after his own name, Kallinikon, and another Carchis (i.e., KIRKESION)” (trans. Chabot). On the other hand Libanius (Ep. 21.5, ed. Förster), who refers to Kallinikon as a stathmos near the Euphrates, says the town was named to honor the Sophist Kallinikos of Petra, who lived in the third century A.D. and was murdered there.¹ Ammianus (23.3.7), who described Kallinikon as well fortified, also noted its importance as a commercial center.

      It is not clear whether or not Kallinikon was simply the renamed NIKEPHORION (Raqqah) or was a separate town.² In 1926 Tcherikover observed that the problem of Nikephorion-Kallinikon was insoluble but expressed the hope that archaeological or numismatic discoveries could some day throw further light on the question. No such evidence has yet appeared.

      In the mid-fifth century a.d. Kallinikon was briefly renamed Leontopolis.³

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      In general see Droysen, Hist. 2:742f.; Chapot, Frontière 288f.; Tcherikover, HS 86f.; Weidner, RE s.v. “Nikephorion 2”; Ulbert in Archéologie 291–92.

      1. For the Chronicon Maroniticum see E. W. Brooks and J. B. Chabot, Chronica Minora II (CSCO 4, Scriptores Syri IV). For other literary references to Kallinikon see, for example, Procop. Arc. 3.31, Pers. 2.21.30, Aed. 2.7; Zosimus 3.13; Theophylact Simocatta 3.17 (ed. de Boor and Wirth); Theodoret Hist. Rel. 1276 (PG 82:1472); The Chronicle of Zuqnin (trans. Harrak), e.g., pp. 51, 114, 165, 192, 194, 195, 231, 233, and Harrak’s note.

      2. Droysen (Hist. 2:742f.) distinguished Kallinikon from Nikephorion. Chapot (Frontière 288f.) suggested they were identical; see also Weidner, RE s.v. “Nikephorion 2”; Brodersen, Komment. 162; and Ulbert in Archéologie 291. Tcherikover noted (HS 87) that the argument for identifying the two cities was based on the fact that (a) Nikephorion is not mentioned in the literature after the third century A.D., and (b) Kallinikon is not mentioned before the third century A.D. Hence it could be claimed that Nikephorion was simply renamed Kallinikon. However, as Droysen pointed out, the argument is ex silentio. Furthermore, although both cities are mentioned in connection with the Euphrates (Libanius [Ep. 21.5, ed. Förster] refers to Kallinikon as “near the Euphrates,” περὶ τòν Εvφράτην; Isidore describes Nikephorion as “by the Euphrates,” παρ’ Eὐφράτην; Pliny [NH 6.119] places it “in vicinia Euphratis”; the Chronicle of Zuqnîn 165 [trans. Harrak] says that “Hishâm the Caliph built a bridge over the Euphrates opposite Callinicum”), this does not demonstrate the two cities were identical. After all, it could simply mean there were two cities—Kallinikon and Nikephorion—that were on/near the Euphrates.

      Droysen also called attention to coinage from the reigns of Gordian and Gallienus with the legend ΝΙΚΗΦΟΡΙΩΝ (Mionnet, Supplément 8:414f., nos. 72–73). He pointed out that the existence of coinage of Nikephorion from the time of Gallienus—when the Sophist Kallinikos was supposedly alive—demonstrated that the two cities were distinct (on Kallinikos see A. Stein, Hermes 58 [1923] 448–56). Nota bene, however, that the attribution of the coinage to the settlement at Raqqah has not been confirmed and is highly doubtful (see NIKEPHORION, n. 4). On the danger of citing the evidence of coins attested only in Mionnet see KARRHAI, n. 2.

      In favor of a separate identity for Nikephorion and Kallinikon are the different traditions regarding the founder of each town. For Nikephorion the tradition recorded either Alexander (Pliny NH 6.119) or Seleukos Nikator (Appian Syr. 57). For Kallinikon the Chronicon Paschale specified Seleukos II Kallinikos. One, of course, might suspect the Chronicon of ex post facto reasoning in assigning the settlement to Kallinikos. One should note, however, that Bar Hebraeus (Chron. 38) also placed it in the period of Kallinikos’s reign. On the other hand, Bar Hebraeus equated Kallinikon with Raqqah. Musil also believed the two towns were separate and that Nikephorion was destroyed as a town in the third century a.d., remaining only as a suburb of Kallinikon. In support of this he noted the following (Middle Euphrates 327): “the Arabic writers, especially the poets of the era before the Abbassides, . . . mention two towns of the name ar-Rakkatan, calling one the ‘black’ or ‘burnt’, the other the ‘white’ ar-Rakka. The white town of ar-Rakka they call also by the name Callinicus, from which I conclude that the ‘black’ or ‘burnt’ town was ancient Nicephorium.”

      I have noted elsewhere (NIKEPHORION Contantina/Constantia) that Ouranios (in Stephanos, s.v. “Nikephorion”) equated Nikephorion with Constantina (the modern Viranshehir) and that Hierokles (714.2, 715.1) and George of Cyprus (894, 897; see H. Gelzer’s comment in his edition, p. 153) distinguished Constantina from Kallinikon but located both in Osrhoene. In short, there were two different cities named Nikephorion: a southern one in Mesopotamia (modern Raqqah) near the Euphrates and a northern one in Mygdonia (Constantina) on the Edessa-Nisibis road at modern Viranshehir. Kallinikon cannot be equated with the northern Nikephorion. Whether it can be equated with the southern city remains unclear.

      3. For the renaming of Kallinikon as Leontopolis see, for example, Hierokles 715.1; George of Cyprus 897; Chronica Edessenum LXX (CSCO Scriptores Syri Versio III.4, p. 8, trans. Guidi); Chapot, Frontière 288 n. 5; Honigmann, RE s.v. “Leontopolis 6.”

      KARRHAI

      From Diodorus (19.91.1) we learn that in 312 B.C. there were Macedonians settled in Karrhai.¹ It is not clear whether Alexander or Antigonos I Monophthalmos had settled them.² Antigonos may have minted Alexander coinage at Karrhai. Coins continued to be produced under Seleukos I Nikator.³ In 65 B.C. the inhabitants of Karrhai, whom Cassius Dio (37.5.5) described as Μακεδóνων τε ἄποικοι ὄντες καὶ ἐνταῦθά που οἰκοῦντες, gave assistance to Pompey’s general, L. Afranius.⁴ Dio’s Greek, incidentally, appears to suggest that in the first century B.C. there were Macedonians living both in Karrhai and in the surrounding region. Karrhai was located south of Urfa (EDESSA) at modern (and ancient) Harran.⁵

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      In general see Weissbach, RE s.v. “Karrai”; Tcherikover, HS 89; Sinclair, Eastern Turkey 4:29–43; Billows, Antigonos 295–96.

      1. Nota bene that the text of Diodorus reads ἐπεὶ δὲ (sc. Seleukos) προάγων κατῳντησεν εές Μεσοποταμίαν, τῶν ἐν Κάραις κατῳκισμένων Μακεδóνων. Diodorus was certainly refering to Karrhai in Mesopotamia rather than Karai or the villages of the Karai in Babylonia (Diod. 17. 110.3, 19.12.1; Weissbach, RE s.v. “Karai”; see also Bosworth, Legacy 231–33 against J. K. Winnicki, AS 20 [1989] 77–78).

      2. For Alexander as founder see Berve, Alexanderreich 1:296, 2:669; for Antigonos, see Billows, Antigonos 295f.

      Some coins of Caracalla from Karrhai bear the legend COL(onia) MET(ropolis) ANTONINIANA AUR(elia) ALEX (andriana) (e.g., Eckhel, Doctrina 1.3:508; Cohen, Médailles Imperiales² 4:239, no. 926; BMC Arabia, etc. 85, nos. 16–70), a reflection of Caracalla’s veneration of the Macedonian king (Herodian 4.8.1). See also, for example, СКАЧАТЬ