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

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СКАЧАТЬ he located on the east bank of the Euphrates, was renamed Nikatoris by Seleukos.¹

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      In general see Droysen, Hist. 2:728; Tcherikover, HS 55; Honigmann, “Hist. Topog.” 20, no. 326; Fraser, Terminology 359.

      1. For the suggestion that Seleukos Nikator refounded Amphipolis as Nikatoris see Dussaud, Topographie 461; and Jones, CERP² 216. Tcherikover (HS 55) placed Nikatoris—without comment—in eastern Syria. See also NIKATORIS in Cyrrhestice.

      Note that Fraser (Terminology 359) claimed that Stephanos s.v. “Nikatoris” referred to DOURA EUROPOS. In support, he cited Stephanos, s.v. “Doura”: πόλις Μεσοποταμίας, ὡς Πολύβιος πέμπτῃ. Polybius 5.48.16 says that Molon “occupied Parapotamia as far as the town of Europus and Mesopotamia as far as Dura” (trans. Paton). As Walbank noted (Comment. 1:579), this Doura should be identified with the town on the east bank of the Tigris (cf. Polyb. 5.52.2; and Ammianus 25.6.9). See also J. den Boeft et al. in Comment. on Ammianus 25.6.9. The exact location of Doura on the Tigris is not known.

      NIKEPHORION CONSTANTINA/CONSTANTIA

      In addition to NIKEPHORION near the Euphrates (at modern Raqqah), there was another Nikephorion in Mesopotamia. The latter was located farther north, at some distance from the Euphrates. Our only unequivocal source for this settlement is Ouranios (in Stephanos, s.v. “Nikephorion”), who remarked that Nikephorion was also renamed Constantina and that it was περὶ ’‘Εδεσσαν.¹ (The Suda s.v. “Nikephorion” repeats the information in Stephanos but refers to the settlement as “Constantia.”) The Syriac name for Constantina was Tela. In this connection G. W. Bowersock pointed to a previously unnoticed passage in the Syriac life of Rabula of Edessa that confirms Ouranios’s testimony. There Tela is described as “the victorious city of great renown.”² We may therefore accept the identification of Nikephorion-Constantina-Tela on the Edessa-Nisibis road. It is generally agreed that the town was located at modern Viranshehir.³ The toponym suggests that Nikephorion quite possibly originated as a Hellenistic settlement that was founded by Seleukos I Nikator.⁴

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      In general see Mannert, Geographie 5.2:286–88; Droysen, Hist. 2:689; Dillemann, Mésopotamie 254–55; Bowersock, Late Antiquity 128–34; and NIKEPHORION (Raqqah); Sinclair, Eastern Turkey 4:191–93; Biffi, Strabone 165.

      1. Strabo (16.1.23) refers to a Nikephorion, which he locates in Mygdonia. It is generally agreed that Mygdonia was the region of northeast Mesopotamia. Nevertheless, in Strabo’s narrative the extent of the territory of Mygdonia is problematic. He says it reached west and southwest to the Euphrates at Zeugma and Thapsakos and north to include Tigranokerta, a far larger area than normally believed. This has prompted the suggestion that Strabo was misinformed (see further Weissbach, RE s.v. “Mygdonia 5”). Whether or not Strabo was mistaken in his description of the extent of Mygdonian territory, we may note the cities he assigned to this region: Chordiraza, Sinnaka, Nikephorion, Antioch Nisibis, Tigranokerta, and Karrhai (see also 11.14.2). Antioch, Tigranokerta, and Karrhai were considerably removed from the Euphrates. The same was certainly true for the location of Sinnaka (see K. Regling, Klio 1 [1901] 458; id., Klio 7 [1907] 390; Marshall, Crassus 159f.). The location of Chodiraza is not known. In any event, we may note the following: (a) the fact that—where known—these cities were located at a considerable distance from the Euphrates leaves open the possibility that the Nikephorion included by Strabo with this group was likewise far from the Euphrates; (b) Viranshehir—the site of Constantina-Tela—is located near Edessa, between Antioch/Nisibis and Karrhai. It is possible, therefore, that the Nikephorion mentioned by Strabo was the northern one.

      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 and placed both towns in Osrhoene. Neither, incidentally, mentioned Nikephorion. Obviously if Nikephorion was renamed Constantina it could not have been previously renamed KALLINIKON. We are therefore faced with the following possibilities: (a) Ouranios erred in equating Nikephorion with Constantina, or (b) there were two different cities named Nikephorion: a southern one in Mesopotamia on the Euphrates mentioned by Pliny (modern Raqqah) and a northern one in Mygdonia east of Edessa that is (possibly) also recorded by Strabo (Constantina). I believe that Ouranios was not in error (for Ouranios’s reliability see Bowersock, Late Antiquity 128), and that there were two cities named Nikephorion, and Ouranios was referring to the northern town.

      

      2. In 1797 K. Mannert called attention to the Ouranios passage in Stephanos; he raised the possibility that there had been a second Nikephorion in Mesopotamia and suggested the identification of Nikephorion with Constantina/Constantia (Geographie 5.2:287–88). Mannert was followed by Droysen (Hist. 2:669). Dillemann mentioned the Ouranios fragment and also raised the possibility that there were two Nikephorions in Mesopotamia (Mésopotamie 255). M. M. Mango noted—without further comment or reference—the identification (in Bell, Tur ‘Abdin 154). In 1997 Bowersock also called attention to the Ouranios passage and by reference to the passage in the Syriac life of Rabula of Edessa convincingly confirmed the Nikephorion-Constantina connection (Late Antiquity 128–34).

      On Constantina/Constantia see, for example, M. M. Mango in Bell, Tur ‘Abdin 154; Mango, ODB s.v. “Constantina”; Pollard, Roman Syria 291.

      See further, Markwart, Südarmenien 428.

      3. For Tela see Bowersock, Late Antiquity 132. For the probable location of Nikephorion-Constantina-Tela at Viranshehir see Millar, Near East 209 (“Constantia or Constantina, may well be Viranshehir”). See also Mango in Bell, Tur ‘Abdin 154; Mango, ODB s.v. “Constantina”; and Pollard (Roman Syria 291), who accepted the identification without reservation.

      4. Founder. Bowersock has reasonably suggested that Seleukos I Nikator may have founded Nikephorion Constantina (Late Antiquity 131). Earlier, Rostovtzeff remarked (Kondakov Institute [1938] 104) that Seleukos I Nikator’s founding of EDESSA in 302 B.C. as well as his possible founding of DOURA EUROPOS and ANTIOCH in Mygdonia around the same time provided an important northern bulwark that protected the Babylonian heart of his empire. If he founded Nikephorion as well this would have further strengthened the protective wall around Babylonia; but this is speculation. Note, too, that the date of Seleukos’s acquisition of northern Mesopotamia—before or after Ipsos—is not definitely known; see further EDESSA, n. 2.

      The suggestion of Dillemann that Anti och Arabis (Pliny NH 6.117) was one of the ancient names for Viranshehir is not convincing (Mésopotamie 78).

      NIKEPHORION (RAQQAH)

      There are two traditions regarding the founder of Nikephorion.¹ Pliny (NH 6.119) says Alexander ordered it founded because of the advantageous location; Isidore of Charax, who described it as a “Greek polis,” also ascribed it to Alexander. On the other hand, Appian (Syr. 57) included it in the list of foundations he attributed to Seleukos I Nikator.² According to Tacitus (Ann. 6.41), Nikephorion—along with ANTHEMOUSIAS and other cities—was founded by Macedonians and had a Greek name. Cassius Dio says (40.13.1) that when M. Licinius Crassus was preparing for his campaign against the Parthians Nikephorion was one of the “Greek poleis” that supported him.³ According to Dio, many of the Greek and Macedonian colonists in the region regarded the Romans as “philhellenes.” Coinage with the legend ΝΙΚΗΦΟΡΙΩΝ survives from the reigns of Gordian and Gallienus; however, the attribution of the coins to the Mesopotamian city is doubtful.⁴ It is also not clear whether Nikephorion was renamed Kallinikon in the third century A.D.⁵

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