THE GRECIAN EMPIRE Hellenism.—What would have happened had Alexander lived we can only guess. Under the Seleucids Babylon was moved across the plain to Seleucia; but before long the central authority was transferred to the other side of Mesopotamia, Antioch or else where—a fateful move. It is improbable that cuneiform and the Babylonian language continued to be used in Mesopotamia during the Hellenistic period, as it did in Babylonia, where it was cer tainly written as late as the last century B.C.', and may have been a learned language till the second Christian century'. Unf or tunately there are not native documents from the pre-Christian Hellenistic period. That the Hellenizing process went as far as it did in Syria is unlikely; and even there Aramaic remained the language of the people, even in the towns (cf. Still, Greek influence was considerable. This would be mainly in the towns, the growth of which was quite a feature of the Macedo nian rule in Mesopotamia (Pliny, vi. 3o, § This is seen in the Greek names which now appear : such are Seleucia opposite Samosata, Apameia ( = Birejik) opposite Zeugma, Hierapolis ( = Membij), Europus, Nicatoris, Amphipolis ( =Thapsacus, or near it), Nicephorium (er-Rakka), Zenodotium (stormed by Crassus), all on or by the Euphrates; Edessa (q.v.) on the upper waters of the Belikh, Ichnae (perhaps Khnes, above the junction of the Qaramuch with the Belikh). These are all in the Osroene dis trict; but Nasibin became an Antioch, and as its district was known as Mygdonia (from Macedon) there were doubtless many other Greek settlements. To a less extent the same influences would be at work in towns called even by Western writers by their real names, such as Batnae, Carrhae (Charran), Resaena.
Mesopotamia naturally had its share of suffering in the strug gles that disturbed the time, when Eumenes or Seleucus traversed it or wintered there. It was invaded and temporarily annexed in 'For the history from the time of Herodotus onwards, see Ritter, Erdkunde, x. 6-284.
'M. Streck, Klio, vi. 222 seq.
'Probably the latest cuneiform document of certain date is a contract of 68 B.C. (cf. Klio, vi. 223 n. 3).
G. J. F. Gutbrod, Zeitsch. f. Assyr. vi. 26-33; cf. M. Streck, Klio, vi. 223 n. I.
'See E. R. Bevan, House of Seleucus, i. 219-222, and references given there.
245 by Ptolemy III. Euergetes in his rapid expedition to beyond the Tigris. When Molon revolted on the accession of the youthful Antiochus III. (224 B.c.) he entered Mesopotamia from the south. Antiochus skirted the northern highlands by way of Nasibin. In Mesopotamia a large part of the army of Antiochus VII. Sidetes was destroyed in 130 B.C., and the Syrian kings did not again seriously attempt to assert their rule beyond the Euphrates. When Phraates II. turned the Scythians against himself, however, even Mesopotamia suffered from the plunderers (Joh. Antioch, in Muller iv. 561). The immigration of Arabs must have been going on for long. About this time they even founded a dynasty in Aramaean Osroene (see EDESSA).
It was perhaps a Parthian governor of Mesopotamia who was called in to help Straton of Beroea against Demetrius III. ; but before long Mesopotamia (especially the district of Nisibis) was attached to the growing dominions of Armenia under its ambi tious king Tigranes, perhaps with the consent of Sinatruces (Sana truces). The lost territory, however, was recovered by Phraates III., and Mesopotamia was guaranteed to Parthia by the treaties of Lucullus and Pompey (66 B.c.). It was traversed, however,
several times by Roman troops crossing from Armenia to Syria, and Parthia's declaration of war against Armenia involved it with Rome. Gabinius crossed the Euphrates (54) ; but the command was assumed by Crassus, who, though he seized Ichnae, etc., and Raqqa (Rakka), fell near Carrhae (53), and the Parthian dominion was confirmed. The tragedy of the Ides of March saved Mesopotamia and the East from a great campaign by Julius Caesar, and it was at the hands of Ventidius Bassus, and west of the Euphrates, at Gindarus (north-east of Antioch), that the Par thians received the check that put an end to any real rivalry with Rome. Mesopotamia narrowly escaped being the scene of the struggle when Antonius in 36 finally decided to make his dis astrous attempt against Phraates IV. by way of Armenia. In A.D. 36, Tiridates found support in his attempt to secure the throne of Artabanus III. in Mesopotamia, and it was there that he saw his army melt away. The expedition against Rome of Vologaeses I. (q.v.) of A.D. 62 reached no further westwards than Nisibis, and in 66 a peaceable arrangement was come to. Of the half-century that preceded Trajan's great oriental undertaking not much is known. When in 115 Trajan entered Mesopotamia from the north no serious resistance was offered, and it became a province as far as Singara. The woods at Nisibis, the headquarters, provided material for the boats with which in 116 he crossed the Tigris. Hatra, an interesting fortress which seems to have been Aramaean, fell, and the army advanced to Hit, where it found the fleet that was subsequently transferred to the Tigris. For the revolt that occurred while Trajan was on the Persian Gulf, in which the Jews had an important hand, Nisibis and Edessa suffered capture and destruction. Hatra successfully withstood siege, however, and Hadrian abandoned Mesopotamia, setting the boundary at the Euphrates. Again for half a century there is not much to relate. Then, when Vologaeses, yielding to his growing discontent, took advantage of the death of Antoninus to invade Armenia the Ro mans were victorious (164), and after the storming of places such as Nicephorium, Edessa, Nisibis, western Mesopotamia was once more Roman as far as the Khabur, Carrhae becoming a free city and Osroene a dependency.
By this time Christianity had secured a foothold, perhaps first among the Jews (see EDESSA), and we enter upon the earliest period from which documents in the Edessan dialect of Aramaic, known as Syriac, have been preserved. Unfortunately they con tain practically nothing that is not of Christian origin'. On the death of Aurelius, Hatra aided Niger against Septimius Severus in 194; Osroene rose against Rome, and Nisibis was besieged and other Roman places taken ; but Septimius Severus appeared in person (195), and from Nisibis as headquarters subdued the whole 'The earliest inscription in Syriac yet known dates from A.D. 77, and was found at Serrin (opposite Kal'at en-Najm) by von Oppenheim.
country, of which he made Nisibis metropolis, raising it to the rank of a colony, the Sinjar district, where Arabs from Yemen had settled, being incorporated. On his retiring everything was undone, only Nisibis holding out ; but on his reappearance in 198 the Parthians withdrew. Again the Euphrates bore a Roman fleet. Hatra, however, was besieged twice in vain. Peace then prevailed till Caracalla's unprovoked attack on Parthia in 216, after he had reduced Osroene to a province. On his assassination near Carrhae (217), Macrinus was defeated at Nisibis and had to purchase peace, though he retained Roman Mesopotamia, reinstating the princely house in Osroene.