Documents for "Ancient History, Middle East":

• Accad see Akkad.

• Agade ancient Mesopotamian city: see Akkad.

• Akkad ancient region of Mesopotamia, occupying the northern part of later Babylonia. The southern part was Sumer. In both regions city-states had begun to appear in the 4th millennium BC In Akkad a Semitic language, Akkadian , was spoken. Akkad flourished after Sargon began (c.2340 BC) to spread wide his conquests, which ranged from his capital, Agade, also known as Akkad, to the Mediterranean shores. He united city-states into a vast organized empire...

• Antakya see Antioch , Turkey.

• Antioch or Antakya , city (1990 pop. 124,443), capital of Hatay prov., S Turkey, on the Orontes (Asi) River, near the Mediterranean Sea, at the foot of Mt. Silpius. Antioch is the trade center for a region where grains, cotton, grapes, olives, and vegetables...

• Aradus islet and town of ancient Phoenicia, the modern Arwad or Arvad, N of Tripoli 2 mi off the Syrian coast. It was the most northerly of the important Phoenician centers.

• Arbela town of ancient Assyria. Its name is sometimes given to the battle fought at Gaugamela, some 60 mi (100 km) away, in which Alexander the Great defeated (331 BC) Darius III. Arbela is the modern Erbil...

• Ariana or Aryana , general name for the eastern provinces of the ancient Persian Empire. It was used to mean the regions S of the Oxus (modern Amu Darya) River; the regions to the north were called Transoxiana...

• Arkite in the Bible, the Canaanite tribe centered around Arka or Arca, a town near the E Mediterranean Sea NE of Tripoli. Arka, called Arca Caesarea and Caesarea Libani by the Romans, was the birthplace...

• Assur see Assyria.

• Assyria ancient empire of W Asia. It developed around the city of Ashur, or Assur, on the upper Tigris River and south of the later capital, Nineveh.

• Astacus see Nicomedia.

• Baalbek ancient city, now in Lebanon, 35 mi (56 km) NW of Damascus. Originally it was probably devoted to the worship of Baal or Bel, the Phoenician sun god, although no traces of an early Phoenician...

• Babylon ancient city of Mesopotamia. One of the most important cities of the ancient Middle East, it was on the Euphrates River and was north of the cities that flourished in S Mesopotamia in the 3d...

• Babylonia ancient empire of Mesopotamia. The name is sometimes given to the whole civilization of S Mesopotamia, including the states established by the city rulers of Lagash, Akkad (or Agade), Uruk, and Ur...

• Babylonian captivity in the history of Israel, the period from the fall of Jerusalem (586 BC) to the reconstruction in Palestine of a new Jewish state (after 538 BC). After the capture of the city by the Babylonians...

• Behistun Inscription or Bisutun Inscription , cuneiform text, the decipherment of which was the key to all cuneiform script and opened to scholars the study of the written works of ancient Mesopotamia. The inscription in Old Persian, in...

• Bisutun Inscription see Behistun Inscription.

• Bithynia ancient country of NW Asia Minor, in present-day Turkey. The original inhabitants were Thracians who established themselves as independent and were given some autonomy after Cyrus the Great...

• Boğazköy or Boghazkeui , village, N central Turkey. Boğazköy (or Hattusas as it was called) was the chief center of the Hittite empire (1400-1200 BC), which was consolidated by Shubbiluliuma (fl. 1380 BC). Hugo Winckler...

• Boghazkeui see Boğazköy.

• Byblos ancient city, Phoenicia, a port 17 mi (27 km) NNE of modern Beirut, Lebanon. The principal city of Phoenicia during the 2d millennium BC, it long retained importance as an active port under the...

• Caesarea Mazaca ancient city of Asia Minor, also called Caesarea of Cappadocia. As Mazaca it was the residence of the Cappadocian kings. The city was renamed (c.10 BC) Caesarea by Archelaus, king of Cappadocia...

• Caesarea Palestinae city, NW ancient Palestine, c.20 mi (32 km) S of Mt. Carmel. It was taken (104 BC) by Alexander Jannaeus, leader of the Maccabees, and was made (30 BC) the capital of Herod the Great. The Jewish...

• Caesarea Philippi city, N ancient Palestine, at the foot of Mt. Hermon. It was built by Philip the Tetrarch in the 1st cent. AD Its site (Paneas) had long been a center for the worship of Pan. Jesus was in the...

• Calah or Kalakh , ancient city of Assyria, S of Nineveh and therefore S of present Mosul, Iraq. Known as Calah in the Bible, it is the same as the ancient Nimrud, named after a legendary Assyrian hunting hero...

• Cappadocia ancient region of Asia Minor, watered by the Halys River (the modern Kizil Irmak), in present E central Turkey. The name was applied at different times to territories of varying size. At its...

• Carchemish ancient city, Turkey, on the Euphrates River, at the Syrian border, c.35 mi (56 km) SE of Gaziantep. It was an important Neo-Hittite city and was prosperous in the 9th cent. BC before it was...

• Caria ancient region of SW Asia Minor, S of the Maeander River, which separated it from Lydia. The territory is in present SW Asian Turkey. The Carians were probably a native people, but their region...

• Carrhae Roman name for the ancient Mesopotamian city of Haran. The name Carrhae is best known because of the battle of Carrhae in 53 BC M. Licinius Crassus (see Crassus , family) was defeated by the Parthians,...

• Cassites see Kassites.

• Celaenae ancient city of Asia Minor, in Phrygia, near the source of the Maeander River, in present-day W central Turkey. In the days of the Persian Empire, Cyrus the Great had a palace there, and Xerxes I...

• Ceramic Gulf see Ceramicus Sinus.

• Ceramicus Sinus or Ceramic Gulf , ancient name of the Gulf of Kos, or of Kerme, SW Turkey, an inlet of the Aegean Sea. The celebrated city of Halicarnassus, capital of Cappadocia, was on the gulf.

• Chaldaea or Chaldea , properly the southernmost portion of the valley of the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers. Sometimes it is extended to include Babylonia and thus comprises all S Mesopotamia, as in the Bible. The...

• Cilicia ancient region of SE Asia Minor, in present S Turkey, between the Mediterranean and the Taurus range. It included a high and barren plateau, Cilicia Trachia or Cilicia Tracheia, and a fertile...

• Citium ancient city of Cyprus, on the southeast coast, the modern Larnaca; also called Cition. Of Mycenaean origins, it was a major port with valuable saltworks and an important center under Phoenician...

• Clazomenae ancient city of W Asia Minor, 20 mi (32 km) W of present-day Izmir, Turkey. It was one of the 12 Ionian cities of Asia Minor. The city was founded on the mainland but was later moved to a small...

• Colchis ancient country on the eastern shore of the Black Sea and in the Caucasus region. Centered about the fertile valley of the Phasis River (the modern Rion), Colchis corresponds to the present-day...

• Colossae ancient city of SW Phrygia, Asia Minor, S of the Maeander (modern Menderes) River, in W Turkey, 4 mi (6.4 km) E of Denizli. It flourished as a trading town until eclipsed by neighboring Laodicea...

• Commagene ancient district of N Syria, on the Euphrates River and S of the Taurus range, now in SE Asian Turkey. Its metropolis, Samosata, was founded by Samos, the king of Commagene, c.150 BC The fertile...

• Ctesiphon ruined ancient city, 20 mi (32 km) SE of Baghdad, Iraq, on the left bank of the Tigris opposite Seleucia and at the mouth of the Diyala River. After 129 BC it was the winter residence of the...

• Cunaxa ancient town of Babylonia, near the Euphrates River, NE of Ctesiphon. It was the scene of a battle (401 BC) between Cyrus the Younger and Artaxerxes II , described by Xenophon in the Anabasis. Clearchus , Spartan mercenary leader under Cyrus, chose to attack the Persian left wing (under Tissaphernes), which he completely routed and pursued. When he and his Ten Thousand returned, they found that...

• Cuth or Cuthah , ancient city of Mesopotamia, near Babylon. The inhabitants, when settled in Samaria, introduced the worship of Nergal. In later times the Jews called the Samarians Cuthites (2 Kings...

• Cyzicus ancient city, NW Turkey, at the neck of the Cyzicus Peninsula. Strategically located, it rivaled Byzantium in commercial importance. Founded (756 BC) by Greek colonists from Miletus, it was a...

• Decapolis [Gr.,=ten cities], confederacy of 10 ancient cities, all E of the Jordan, except Scythopolis. The others were (according to Pliny) Dion, Pella, Gadara, Hippos, Gerasa, Philadelphia, Damascus,...

• Dorylaeum ancient city of N Phrygia, Asia Minor, now in NW Turkey. It was an important trading city of the Romans but later fell to ruins. At this site on July 1, 1097, the Christians of the First Crusade...

• Doura ancient city, Syria: see Dura.

• Drangiana ancient country, part of the Persian Empire, between Aria on the north and Gedrosia on the south. It was conquered (330 BC) by Alexander the Great and incorporated into his empire. Drangiana is...

• Dur Sharrukin see Khorsabad.

• Dura or Europus , ancient city of Syria, on the Euphrates River and E of Palmyra, sometimes called Dura-Europus or Dura-Europos. Founded (c.300 BC) by a general of Seleucus I, it prospered. In the 2d cent. AD the...

• Ebla an ancient city located in N Syria 34 mi (55 km) S of Aleppo. First excavated in 1964, the ruins of the city were discovered in 1973 by an Italian archaeological expedition from the Univ. of Rome...

• Ecbatana capital of ancient Media , later the summer residence of Achaemenid and Parthian kings, beautifully situated at the foot of Mt. Elvend and NE of Behistun. In 549 BC it was captured by Cyrus the Great. It possessed a royal...

• Edessa ancient city of Mesopotamia, on the site of modern Şanluurfa , Turkey. It emerged in the 4th cent. BC as Orrhoe, or Arrhoe, and was later named Edessa by Seleucus I of Syria. From c.137 BC it was the capital of the independent kingdom of Osroene. It later...

• Elam ancient country of Asia, N of the Persian Gulf and E of the Tigris, now in W Iran. A civilization seems to have been established there very early, probably in the late 4th millennium BC The...

• Ellasar see Larsa.

• Erech see Uruk.

• Eridu ancient city of Sumer , Mesopotamia, near the Euphrates, S of Ur (in present-day S Iraq). Excavations conducted from 1946 to 1949 revealed that Eridu was the earliest known settlement in S Mesopotamia and dated from...

• Europus or Europos, Syria: see Dura.

• Fertile Crescent historic region of the Middle East. A well-watered and fertile area, it arcs across the northern part of the Syrian desert. It is flanked on the west by the Mediterranean and on the east by the...

• Gadara ancient city of the Decapolis, the modern Umm Qays (Jordan), SE of the Sea of Galilee. Extensive ruins mark the site. This Gadara must be distinguished from Gadara, the capital of Perea, which was...

• Galatia [Gr.,=Gaul], ancient territory of central Asia Minor, in present Turkey (around modern Ankara). It was so called from its inhabitants, the Gauls, who invaded from the west and conquered it in the...

• Gerasa Gerash, or Jerash , ancient city of the Decapolis, 22 mi (35 km) N of Amman, in present-day Jordan. According to Josephus it was captured (83 BC) by Alexander Jannaeus, king of the Hasmonean dynasty, and rebuilt (AD...

• Gerash ancient city: see Gerasa.

• Gordion see Gordium.

• Gordium ancient city of Asia Minor, in Phrygia and later Galatia , now in Turkey, 50 mi (80 km) SW of Ankara. It was the capital of Phrygia from c.1000 to 800 BC Excavations conducted since 1950 have revealed Hittite, Phrygian, Persian, Gallo-Grecian, and...

• Halicarnassus ancient city of Caria, SW Asia Minor, on the Ceramic Gulf (now the Gulf of Kos) and on the site of the modern city of Bodrum, Turkey. Halicarnassus was Greek in origin, but there were Carian...

• Hanging Gardens of Babylon see Babylon.

• Haran or Harran , ancient city of Mesopotamia, now in SE Asian Turkey, 24 mi (39 km) SE of Şanluurfa. It was an important center on the trade route from Nineveh to Carchemish and the seat of the Assyrian moon god...

• Harran see Haran , Mesopotamia.

• Hattusas see Boğazköy ; Hittites.

• Heliopolis Syria: see Baalbek.

• Hierapolis ancient city of Phrygia, W Asia Minor, 7 mi (11.3 km) N of Laodicea and on a plateau 500 ft (152 m) above the Lycus valley (in present-day Turkey). Devoted to the worship of Leto in ancient times,...

• Hittites ancient people of Asia Minor and Syria, who flourished from 1600 to 1200 BC The Hittites, a people of Indo-European connection, were supposed to have entered Cappadocia c.1800 BC To the southwest,...

• Iconium ancient city of Asia Minor, the modern Konya , Turkey. In ancient days it was at various times in Phrygia, Lycaonia, Cappadocia, and the Roman province of Galatia. It was visited by Paul, who converted part of the Greek and Jewish population...

• Idalium ancient town in Cyprus. It had a well-known temple of Aphrodite. An inscription in Phoenician and Cypriote, found on a temple site at Idalium, gave the key to the Cypriote language. Idalium is...

• Ipsus small town, ancient Phrygia, Asia Minor. Antigonus I , who had summoned his son Demetrius to his aid, was defeated and slain there by his rivals Seleucus and Lysimachus in 301 BC The battle of Ipsus...

• Isauria ancient district of S Asia Minor, on the borders of Pisidia and Cilicia, N of the Taurus range, in present S central Turkey. It was a wild region inhabited by marauding bands. When the capital,...

• Isin capital of an ancient Semitic kingdom of N Babylonia. The city became important after the third dynasty of Ur fell to the Elamites and the Amorites (c.2025 BC). The phase from c.2025-c.1763 BC is...

• Issus ancient town of SE Asia Minor, now in Turkey, 5 mi (8 km) NW of Dörtyol. Located near the head of a gulf (the modern Gulf of Iskenderun), Issus was on a narrow strip of land backed by high...

• Ituraea ancient country on the northern border of Palestine. Jetur, the son of Ishmael, was its founder. Ancient geographers are not agreed as to the exact limits of the country. The inhabitants were...

• Iznik see Nicaea.

• Jamnia biblical Jabneel and Jabneh [Heb.,=God causes to build], ancient city, central Israel. Its modern name is Yavne. A central city of Philistia, the Bible refers to its walls being destroyed by Uzziah. It was pillaged by Judas...

• Jarmo see Mesopotamia.

• Jerash ancient city: see Gerasa.

• Jericho [Heb.,=fragrant, or city of the moon god], Arab. Ariha, town (2003 est. pop. 19,000), West Bank, in the Jordan valley N of the Dead Sea; nearby is the site of the ancient city of Jericho. Jericho is an oasis watered by a number of springs, and the town...

• Kadesh ancient city of Syria, on the Orontes River. There Ramses II fought (c.1300 BC) the Hittites in a great battle that ended in a truce.

• Kalakh see Calah.

• Kanatha see Decapolis ; Kenath.

• Kassites or Cassites , ancient people, probably of Indo-European origin. They were first mentioned in historical texts as occupying the W Iranian plateau. In the 18th cent. BC they swept down on Babylonia , conquered the region, and ruled there until the 12th cent. BC, when they returned to the Iranian plateau. They remained more or less independent until the beginning of the Christian era, when they...

• Khatti see Hittites.

• Khorsabad village, NE Iraq, near the Tigris River and 12 mi (20 km) NE of Mosul. It is built on the site of Dur Sharrukin, an Assyrian city (founded 8th cent. BC by Sargon), which covered 1 sq mi (2.6 sq...

• Kish ancient city of Mesopotamia, in the Euphrates valley, 8 mi (12.9 km) E of Babylon and 12 mi (19 km) east of the modern city of Hillah, Iraq. It was occupied from very ancient times, and its remains...

• Lachish city, S ancient Palestine, SW of Jerusalem, in present-day Israel. It is mentioned in the Tell-el-Amarna letters and was one of the Amorite cities allied against the Gibeonites and destroyed by...

• Lagash or Shirpurla , ancient city of Sumer , S Mesopotamia, now located at Telloh, SE Iraq. Lagash was flourishing by c.2400 BC, but traces of habitation go back at least to the 4th millennium BC After the fall of Akkad (2180 BC), when the...

• Larsa ancient city of S Babylonia, in modern Iraq, 30 mi (48 km) NW of An Nasiriyah. It was the biblical Ellasar (Gen. 14.1). When the last king of the third dynasty of Ur was overthrown (c.1950 BC) by...

• Little Armenia see Cilicia.

• Lycaonia ancient country of S Asia Minor (now in Turkey), between Galatia and Cilicia on the north and south and Phrygia and Cappadocia on the west and east. Passing successively to the Persians, Syrians,...

• Lycia ancient country, SW Asia Minor. Egyptian sources ally the Lycians to the Hittites at the time of Ramses II; the Lycians spoke an Anatolian language. Lycia was frequently mentioned by Homer in Greek...

• Lystra ancient city of Lycaonia, S Asia Minor, in present Turkey. The Acts of the Apostles reports that it was visited by Paul and Barnabas. An ancient altar found there mentioned the city and helped to...

• Maachah or Maacah both: mā´eke , ancient city-state of Syria, S of Mt. Hermon. It was held by Arameans in biblical times. The inhabitants are Maachathi or Maachathites. It is mentioned several...

• Mannaeans ancient people of Asia Minor, occupying the region E of Assyria and SE of Urartu, in present-day NW Iran. Their kingdom, which flourished in the 9th and 8th cent. BC, seems to have acted as a...

• Mari ancient city of Mesopotamia (modern Syria). It is on the middle Euphrates, south of its junction with the Habor (Khabur). The site was discovered by chance in the early 1930s by Arabs digging...

• Marib ancient city, Yemen, SW Arabia, 140 mi (225 km) inland at an altitude of 3,900 ft (1,190 m). It was one of the chief cities, perhaps the capital, of Sheba. It was the site of a dam, built in the 6th...

• Mazaca see Caesarea Mazaca.

• Medes see Media , ancient country of W Asia.

• Media ancient country of W Asia whose actual boundaries cannot be defined, occupying generally what is now W Iran and S Azerbaijan. It extended from the Caspian Sea to the Zagros Mts. The Medes were an...

• Megiddo city, ancient Palestine, by the Kishon River on the southern edge of the plain of Esdraelon, N of Samaria, located at present-day Tel Megiddo, SE of Haifa, Israel, near modern Megiddo. It was...

• Mesopotamia [Gr.,=between rivers], ancient region of Asia, the territory about the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, included in modern Iraq. The region extends from the Persian Gulf north to the mountains of...

• Mitanni ancient kingdom established in the 2d millennium BC in NW Mesopotamia. It was founded by Aryans but was later made up predominantly of Hurrians. Washshukanni was its capital. Mitanni controlled...

• Moab ancient nation located in the uplands E of the Dead Sea, now part of Jordan. The area is unprotected from the east, hence its history is a chain of raids by the Bedouin. The Moabites were close...

• Myra ancient city and seaport of Lycia , S Asia Minor (now S Turkey). The Acts of the Apostles reports that the city was visited by Paul. According to tradition, it was the see of St. Nicholas. Ruins...

• Mysia ancient region, NW Asia Minor. It was N of Lydia and its coast faced Lesbos. Mysia was not a political unit, and it passed successively to Lydia, Persia, Macedon, Syria, Pergamum, and Rome.

• Nabataea ancient kingdom of Arabia, south of Edom, in present-day Jordan. It flourished from the 4th cent. BC to AD 106, when it was conquered by Rome. The history of Nabataea consists mainly of the...

• Naksh-i Rustam see Persepolis.

• Naqsh-e-Rostam see Persepolis.

• Nicaea city of Bithnyia, N Asia Minor, built in the 4th cent. BC by Antigonus I as Antigonia and renamed Nicaea by Lysimachus for his wife. It flourished under the Romans and was the scene of the...

• Nicomedia ancient city, NW Asia Minor, near the Bosphorus, in present-day Turkey. Refounded (264 BC) by Nicomedes I of Bithynia to replace Astacus as his capital, it flourished for centuries. The Goths...

• Nimrud see Calah.

• Nineveh ancient city, capital of the Assyrian Empire, on the Tigris River opposite the site of modern Mosul, Iraq. A shaft dug at Nineveh has yielded a pottery sequence that can be equated with the...

• Nippur ancient city of Babylonia, a N Sumerian settlement on the Euphrates. It was the seat of the important cult of the god Enlil, or Bel. Excavations at Nippur have yielded the remains of several...

• Nuzi site near Kirkuk, N Iraq. Thousands of clay tablets unearthed there bear inscriptions said to have been made by the Horims (or Horites) of the Bible. The tablets, which are in Akkadian, reveal...

• Nyssa name of several ancient cities devoted to the worship of Dionysus. The best known of them is a town of Cappadocia, Asia Minor, near the Halys (now the Kizil Irmak) River. It was the residence of...

• Osroene ancient kingdom of NW Mesopotamia, in present-day SE Turkey and NE Syria. Edessa was its capital. It broke away (2d cent. BC) from the Seleucid empire and formed a separate kingdom. It came under...

• Palmyra ancient city of central Syria. A small modern village known as Tudmur is on the site. An oasis N of the Syrian Desert, 130 mi (209 km) NE of Damascus, Palmyra was important in Syrian-Babylonian...

• Pamphylia ancient region of S Asia Minor, on the coast between Lycia and Cilicia, in present S Turkey. Its chief cities were Attalia, Side, and Perga. Pamphylia was not a political unit, except in the...

• Paphlagonia ancient country of N Asia Minor, between Bithynia and Pontus on the Black Sea coast, in modern Turkey. A mountainous district with the Halys as its chief river, Paphlagonia had a string of Greek...

• Parthia ancient country of Asia, SE of the Caspian Sea. In its narrowest limits it consisted of a mountainous region intersected with fertile valleys, lying S of Hyrcania and corresponding roughly to the...

• Pasargadae capital of ancient Persia under Cyrus the Great. Its ruins lie 54 mi (87 km) by road NE of Persepolis, in present Iran. The buildings of Cyrus include a temple in the form of a tower; the remains...

• Patara ancient Mediterranean port of Lycia , S Asia Minor (now Turkey). It was a Dorian colony, and became the seat of the Lycian League (167 BC-AD 43). According to the Acts of the Apostles, St. Paul visited Patara. Extensive excavation of...

• Perga ancient city of Pamphylia, S Asia Minor, 10 mi (16 km) NE of the modern Antalya, Turkey. It was the seat of an Asian nature goddess. St. Paul came here on his first journey (Acts 14.25). The ruins...

• Pergamum ancient city of NW Asia Minor, in Mysia (modern Turkey), in the fertile valley of the Caicus. It became important c.300 BC, after the breakup of the Macedonian empire, when a Greek family (the...

• Persepolis [Gr.,=city of Persia], ancient city of Persia, ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid empire under Darius I and his successors. The administrative capitals were elsewhere, notably at Susa and Babylon. The ruins of Persepolis lie 30 mi (48 km) NE of Shiraz in a fertile plain of the Pulvar River, with strong natural mountain defenses. There are ruins of the palaces of Darius I, Xerxes, and later...

• Persia old alternate name for the Asian country Iran. The article Iran contains a description of the geography and economy of the modern country and a short account of its history since the Arab invasion of the 7th cent. This article is concerned with the history of...

• Phenicia see Phoenicia.

• Philadelphia name of several ancient cities. One was in Lydia, W Asia Minor (now W Turkey). At the foot of Mt. Tmolus and near the location of modern Alaşehir , it was founded in the 2d cent. BC by Attalus...

• Philistia region of SW ancient Palestine, comprising a coastal strip along the Mediterranean and a portion of S Canaan. The chief cities of Philistia were Gaza, Ashqelon, Ashdod, Ekron, and Gath;...

• Philistines inhabitants of Philistia, a non-Semitic people who came to Palestine from the Aegean (probably Crete), in the 12th cent. BC Their control of iron supplies and their tight political organization of...

• Phocaea ancient city, W Asia Minor, N of Smyrna (Izmir), in present Turkey. It was northernmost of the Greek Ionian cities. In the 7th cent. BC it grew into a maritime state; its chief colony was Massilia...

• Phoenicia ancient territory occupied by Phoenicians. The name Phoenicia also appears as Phenice and Phenicia. These people were Canaanites, and in the 9th cent. BC the Greeks gave the new appellation...

• Phrygia ancient region, central Asia Minor (now central Turkey). The Phrygians, who settled here c.1200 BC, came from the Balkans and apparently spoke an Indo-European language. A kingdom, associated in...

• Pisidia ancient country of S Asia Minor, S of Phrygia and N of Pamphylia. It was a mountainous country, traversed by the Taurus range. Its warlike tribes maintained their independence until the country...

• Pontus ancient country, NE Asia Minor (now Turkey), on the Black Sea coast. On its inland side were Cappadocia and W Armenia. It was not significantly penetrated by Persian or Hellenic civilization. In...

• Ras Shamra see Ugarit.

• Saba see Sheba.

• Sabaeans see Sheba.

• Samaria city, ancient Palestine, on a hill NW of modern-day Nablus (Shechem). The site is now occupied by a village, Sabastiyah (West Bank). Samaria (named for Shemer, who owned the land) was built by King Omri as the capital of the northern kingdom of Israel in...

• Samosata ancient city of N Syria, on the Euphrates. It was founded c.150 BC as the capital of the Commagene kingdom. Taken by the Romans in AD 72, it was of some importance in later Roman times. The Arabs...

• Sardes see Sardis.

• Sardis or Sardes , ancient city of Lydia, W Asia Minor, at the foot of Mt. Tmolus, 35 mi (56 km) NE of the modern Izmir, Turkey. As capital of Lydia, it was the political and cultural center of Asia Minor from 650...

• satrap governor of a province (satrapy) of the ancient Persian Empire. He was nominated by the king and given extensive powers. Darius I reorganized the privileges and duties of his satraps in the 6th cent. BC; the number of satraps varied from 20 to 28 during his reign. To prevent the concentration of power in one man's hands,...

• Seleucia ancient city of Mesopotamia, on the Tigris below modern Baghdad. Founded (c.312 BC) by Seleucus I, it soon replaced Babylon as the main center for east-west commerce through the valley. The city...

• Sheba biblical name of a region, called in Arabic Saba, of S Arabia, including present-day Yemen and the Hadhramaut. Its inhabitants were called Sabaeans or Sabeans. According to some passages in Genesis...

• Shirpurla see Lagash.

• Sidon ancient city, one of the great seaports of the Phoenicians, on site of present-day Sidon or Saida (1988 est. pop. 38,000), SW Lebanon, on the Mediterranean Sea. It was one of the oldest Phoenician...

• Sippar ancient city of N Babylonia, on the Euphrates in present Iraq, 20 mi (32 km) SW of Baghdad. It was one of the capitals of Sargon and had a great temple to the sungod Shamash. Excavations begun in...

• Sogdiana part of the ancient Persian Empire in central Asia between the Oxus (Amu Darya) and Jaxartes (Syr Darya) rivers. Corresponding to the later emirate of Bukhara and region of Samarkand, it was also...

• Soli ancient city of Cilicia, SW of Tarsus, in present-day Turkey. It was founded c.700 BC by colonists from Rhodes. An important port at the time of Alexander the Great, Soli was destroyed in the 1st...

• Sumer and Sumerian civilization . The term Sumer is used today to designate the southern part of ancient Mesopotamia. From the earliest date of which there is any record, S Mesopotamia was occupied by a people, known as Sumerians, speaking a non-Semitic language. The questions concerning their origin cannot be...

• Susa ancient city, capital of Elam. The site is 15 mi (23 km) SW of modern Dizful, Iran. It is the biblical Shushan, and its inhabitants were called Susanchites. From the 4th millennium BC, Elam was under the cultural influence of...

• Susiana see Elam.

• Tadmor ancient city: see Palmyra.

• Tekoa or Tekoah , ancient town, S ancient Palestine, S of Bethlehem. It is on the edge of a desolate country; to the east the land drops off precipitously to the Dead Sea. It is mentioned several times in the...

• Telloh see Lagash.

• Thapsacus ancient city, N central Syria, on the Euphrates. It was at a ford in the river, which was the chief crossing for many hundreds of miles and was used by various conquerors, including Alexander the...

• Thyatira ancient city of Lydia, now Akhisar, Turkey. It was one of the Seven Churches in Asia and was known for its purple dye (Acts 16.14).

• Tralles ancient Carian city, W Asia Minor. It is the modern Aydin , Turkey.

• Transoxiana see Sogdiana.

• Trogyllium promontory, W Asia Minor, jutting out into the Aegean Sea just S of Samos. The Acts of the Apostles reports that St. Paul stopped there.

• Tyana town of ancient Cappadocia, at the northern foot of the Taurus range, in present S central Turkey. A powerful military fortress and a prosperous commercial center as early as the 5th cent. BC, it...

• Tyre ancient city of Phoenicia , S of Sidon. It is the present-day Sur in Lebanon, a small town on a peninsula jutting into the Mediterranean from the mainland of Syria S of Beirut. It was built on an island just off the...

• Ugarit ancient city, capital of the Ugarit kingdom, W Syria, on the Mediterranean coast N of modern Latakia. Although the name of this city was known from Egyptian and Hittite sources, its location and...

• Ur ancient city of Sumer, S Mesopotamia. The city is also known as Ur of the Chaldees. It was an important center of Sumerian culture (see Sumer ) and is identified in the Bible as the home of Abraham. The site was discovered in the 19th cent., but it was not until the excavations of C. Leonard Woolley in the 1920s and 30s that a partial...

• Urartu ancient kingdom of Armenia , centered about Lake Van in present-day E Turkey. It was the biblical Ararat. Urartu flourished from the 13th cent. to the 7th cent. BC, but was most powerful in the 8th cent. BC, when it ruled...

• Uruk or Erech , ancient Sumerian city of Mesopotamia , on the Euphrates and NW of Ur (in present-day S Iraq). It is the modern Tall al Warka. Uruk, dating from the 5th millennium BC, was the largest city in S Mesopotamia and an important religious...

• Xanthus ancient city of Lycia , W Asia Minor, in present Turkey. On the Xanthus River, it was besieged and taken by the Persians (c.546 BC) and centuries later (c.42 BC) by the Romans. Both times the inhabitants destroyed their...

• Zela ancient city of Pontus, NE Asia Minor. There Mithradates VI defeated Triarius c.67 BC, and in 47 BC Julius Caesar defeated Pharnaces, king of Pontus, recording the victory in his famous dispatch "Veni,...