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Tur Abdin
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===Antiquity=== Tur Abdin was referred to as the "Land of the Arameans" in the inscriptions of [[Ashur-bel-kala|Assur-Bel-Kala]], indicating that some territories west and northwest of Assyria were considered to be inhabited by Arameans.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Niehr |first=Herbert |url=https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Aramaeans_in_Ancient_Syria.html?id=sW_AAgAAQBAJ&redir_esc=y |title=The Aramaeans in Ancient Syria |date=2014-01-13 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-22943-3 |pages=340 |language=en}}</ref>[[Image:Mor gabriel portal inscriptions.jpg|thumb|Portal of the [[Mor Gabriel Monastery]]]] [[File:MuttergotteskircheHah.JPG|thumb|[[Syriac Orthodox Church]] in [[Midyat]]]] The [[Assyria|Assyrian]] king [[Adad-nirari II]], who came to throne in the late 10th century BCE, removed the [[Arameans]] from political power in the Kashiari mountains (Tur Abdin).<ref>{{cite book | first = Georges | last = Roux | title = Ancient Iraq | edition = 3rd | year = 1992 | publisher = Penguin | isbn = 9780140125238 | page = 283, ”…and dislodged from the Kashiari mountains (Tur ‘Abin)…“ | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/ancientiraq00roux }}</ref> In the 9th century BCE, [[Ashurnasirpal II]] described crossing the plateau of Tur Abdin (which he calls "Kashyari") on his way to attack the region of [[Nairi]], more than once.<ref>From Kibaki I set out and approached Matiate (Midyat). Matiate and its villages I overcame . . . For six days in the midst of the mighty mountain of Kashyari (Tur Abdin) - a difficult country . . . I worked that mountain with iron axes . . . Then I caused my chariots . . . to pass over it . . . I passed mount Kashyari and came a second time to the lands of Nairi.</ref>{{sfnp|Radner|2006|pp=287-299}} He erected a monument in [[Matiate]], modern-day [[Midyat]] in Tur Abdin, which remains to be found.{{sfnp|Radner|2006|pp=299}} His successor, [[Shalmaneser III]], also crossed Tur Abdin.{{sfnp|Radner|2006|pp=288}} Most ancient monuments in Tur Abdin are [[Christianity|Christian]], but as attested by Ashurnasirpal II, the area has a pre-Christian history. Older names of the area indicate that the people living here worshipped [[Assyrian religion|Assyrian deities]].{{sfnp|Palmer|1990|pp=28-29}} Arches on the north side of the churches in [[İzbırak, Midyat|Zaz]] and [[Barıştepe, Midyat|Saleh]] suggest pre-Christian buildings originally stood on the sites.{{sfnp|Palmer|1990|pp=29-30}} [[Assyro-Babylonian religion|Ancient Assyro-Babylonian religion]] is believed to have survived in the region until as late as the 18th century.{{sfn|Parpola|2004|p=21}} In 586 B.C. the prophet [[Ezekiel]] mentions the famed wine of Izlo, on the southern edge of the plateau of Tur Abdin, in his prophecy against Tyre.{{Citation needed|date=June 2023}} The Mor Gabriel Monastery, the oldest [[Syriac Orthodox Church|Syriac Orthodox]] church in the world, was founded in 397 by the ascetic Mor Shmu'el (Samuel) and his student Mor Shem'un (Simon). According to tradition, Shem'un had a dream in which an Angel commanded him to build a House of Prayer in a location marked with three large stone blocks. When Shem'un awoke, he took his teacher to the place and found the stone the angel had placed. At this spot [[Mor Gabriel Monastery]] was built.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://ww38.turabdin.info/timeline/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150419160012/http://turabdin.info/timeline/|url-status=dead|title=turabdin.info|archive-date=Apr 19, 2015|website=ww38.turabdin.info|access-date=Jan 30, 2023}}</ref> In [[Late Antiquity]], the area was part of the [[Roman Empire]]'s [[Roman province|province]] of [[Mesopotamia (Roman province)|Mesopotamia]] and an important centre of [[State church of the Roman Empire|Roman Christianity]], called in {{Langx|la|Mons Masius}} or {{Langx|la|Izla|label=none}}.<ref name=":0" /> The Tur Abdin was fortified by the [[Roman emperor|emperor]] [[Constantius II]] ({{Reign|337|361}}), who constructed the fortress of [[Rhabdion]] to defend it during the [[Roman–Persian Wars]].<ref name=":0" /> After the failure of [[Julian's Persian War]] in 363, the Tur Abdin became part of the [[Sasanian Empire]] along with the remaining territory of the five [[Transtigritine provinces]] and the nearby strongholds of [[Nisibis]] and [[Bezabde]].<ref name=":0" /> The numerous monasteries of the Tur Abdin eventually became part of the [[Church of the East]] organized at the [[Council of Seleucia-Ctesiphon]] in 410. They mainly took the [[Miaphysite]] position of [[non-Chalcedonian Christianity]] after the [[Council of Chalcedon]] of 451. After a period of persecution by the [[Chalcedonian Christianity|Chalcedonian]] [[state church of the Roman Empire]] and during the [[Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628]], the monasteries of the Tur Abdin enjoyed a particular prosperity under Arab rule in the latter 7th century.<ref>{{Citation|last=Mango|first=Marlia M.|title=Tur ʿabdin|url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195046526.001.0001/acref-9780195046526-e-5621|work=The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium|volume=|pages=|year=2005|editor-last=Kazhdan|editor-first=Alexander P.|orig-year=1991|edition=online|publisher=Oxford University Press|language=en|doi=10.1093/acref/9780195046526.001.0001|isbn=978-0-19-504652-6|access-date=2020-12-15|author-link=Marlia Mango|editor-link=Alexander Kazhdan|url-access=subscription}}</ref> The fortress of Rhabdion was mentioned by the 6th-century Greek historian [[Procopius]], while the 6th-century ''[[Notitia Antiochena]]'' and the work of the 7th-century Greek geographer [[George of Cyprus]] both attest that '''Turabdium''' was an [[episcopal see]].<ref name=":0" /> The bishop of Turabdium's seat was probably the village of Hah, in which were, besides the functioning 6th-century monastery, several ruined churches including the [[cathedral]].<ref name=":0" /> The Tur Abdin became part of the [[Rashidun Caliphate]] in 640, during the [[Muslim conquest of the Levant]].<ref name=":0" /> The Syriac Orthodox communities flourished under early Islamic rule; nearly 30 structures are known to have been wholly built or rebuilt in the following 150 years, during which most of the villages' churches were built.<ref name=":0"/> After the Council of Chalcedon in 451 AD, the Syriac Orthodox Church split from the Greek-speaking Byzantine mainstream. They were then "severely persecuted as heretical [[Monophysites]] by the Byzantine Emperors", according to [[William Dalrymple (historian)|William Dalrymple]], which led the Syrian Orthodox Church hierarchy to retreat to the "inaccessible shelter of the barren hills of the Tur Abdin."<ref>{{Cite book|last=Dalrymple, William.|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/43137270|title=From the holy mountain : a journey in the shadow of Byzantium|year=1998|isbn=0-00-654774-5|location=London|pages=91|oclc=43137270}}</ref>
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