Edessa, Mesopotamia

Edessa (Greek Ἔδεσσα, Arabic الرها) was a city in Upper Mesopotamia, founded on an earlier site by Seleucus I Nicator ca. 302 BC. It was also known as Antiochia on the Callirhoe from the 2nd century BC. It was the capital of the semi-independent kingdom of Osroene from c. 132 BC and fell under direct Roman rule in ca. 242. It became an important early centre of Syriac Christianity. It fell to the Muslim conquest in 639, was briefly re-taken by Byzantium in 1031, and became the center of the Crusader state of the County of Edessa during 1098–1144. It fell to the Turkic Zengid dynasty in 1144 and was eventually absorbed by the Ottoman Empire in 1517.

The modern name of the city is Şanlıurfa (Syriac: ܐܘܪܗܝ‎ Urhāy, Armenian: Եդեսիա Yedesia or Armenian: Ուռհա Uṙha), in Turkey's Southeast Anatolia Region.

The earliest name of the city was Adma (Aramaic: אדמא‎‎, also written Adme, Admi, Admum) recorded Assyrian cuneiform sources in the 7th century BC. A Hellenistic settlement was founded on the location of the Syrian town by Seleucus I Nicator in 304 BC, named Edessa after the ancient capital of Macedonia, perhaps due to its abundant water, just like its Macedonian eponym.

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