Early ChristianityEarly Christianity, or Paleochristianity, describes the historical era of the Christian religion up to the First Council of Nicaea in 325. Christianity spread from the Levant, across the Roman Empire, and beyond. Originally, this progression was closely connected to already established Jewish centers in the Holy Land and the Jewish diaspora. The first followers of Christianity were Jews who had converted to the faith, i.e. Jewish Christians. Early Christianity contains the Apostolic age and is followed by, and substantially overlaps with, the Patristic era.
HarranHarran (Sumerian: Ḫarrānu; Ḥaran; Ḥaran) is a rural town and district of Urfa in southeastern Turkey. It is approximately southeast of Urfa and from the Syrian border crossing at Akçakale. Harran was founded at some point between the 25th and 20th centuries BC, possibly as a merchant colony by Sumerian traders from Ur. Over the course of its early history, Harran rapidly grew into a major Mesopotamian cultural, commercial and religious center.
County of EdessaThe County of Edessa (Latin: Comitatus Edessanus) was a 12th-century Crusader state in Upper Mesopotamia. Its seat was the city of Edessa (modern Şanlıurfa, Turkey). In the late Byzantine period, Edessa became the centre of intellectual life within the Syriac Orthodox Church. As such it also became the centre for the translation of Ancient Greek philosophy into Syriac, which provided a stepping stone for the subsequent translations into Arabic. When the Crusades arrived, it was still important enough to tempt a side-expedition after the siege of Antioch.
ArameansThe Arameans, or Aramaeans (𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; אֲרַמִּים; Ἀραμαῖοι; Ārāmāyē), were an ancient Semitic-speaking people in the Near East that was first recorded in historical sources from the late 12th century BC. The Aramean homeland, sometimes known as the land of Aram, encompassed central regions of modern Syria. At the beginning of the 1st millennium BCE, a number of Aramean-ruled states were established throughout the western regions of the ancient Near East.
PalmyraPalmyra (pæl'maɪrə ; Palmyrene: (), romanized: Tadmor; Tadmur) is an ancient city in the eastern part of the Levant, now in the center of modern Syria. Archaeological finds date back to the Neolithic period, and documents first mention the city in the early second millennium BC. Palmyra changed hands on a number of occasions between different empires before becoming a subject of the Roman Empire in the first century AD. The city grew wealthy from trade caravans; the Palmyrenes became renowned as merchants who established colonies along the Silk Road and operated throughout the Roman Empire.
BardaisanBardaisan (11 July 154 – 222 AD; ܒܪ ܕܝܨܢ, Bar Dayṣān), known in Arabic as ibn Dayṣān (ابن ديصان) and in Latin as Bardesanes, was a Syriac-speaking Assyrian Christian writer and teacher with a gnostic background, and founder of the Bardaisanites. A scientist, scholar, astrologer, philosopher, hymnwriter, and poet, Bardaisan was also renowned for his knowledge of India, on which he wrote a book, now lost. According to the early Christian historian Eusebius, Bardaisan was at one time a follower of the gnostic Valentinus, but later opposed Valentinian gnosticism and also wrote against Marcionism.
MardinMardin (Mêrdîn; ماردين; Merdīn; Մարդին) is a city and seat of the Artuklu District of Mardin Province in Turkey. It is known for the Artuqid architecture of its old city, and for its strategic location on a rocky hill near the Tigris River. The old town of the city is under the protection of UNESCO, which forbids new constructions to preserve its façade. The city had a population of 129,864 in 2021. The city survived into the Syriac Christian period as the name of Mt.
TatianTatian of Adiabene, or Tatian the Syrian or Tatian the Assyrian, (ˈteɪʃən,_-iən; Tatianus; Τατιανός; ܛܛܝܢܘܣ; c. 120 – c. 180 AD) was an Assyrian Christian writer and theologian of the 2nd century. Tatian's most influential work is the Diatessaron, a Biblical paraphrase, or "harmony", of the four gospels that became the standard text of the four gospels in the Syriac-speaking churches until the 5th-century, after which it gave way to the four separate gospels in the Peshitta version.
SuruçSuruç (ˈsuɾutʃ; Pirsûs; ܣܪܘܓ Sruḡ) is a rural district and city of Şanlıurfa Province of Turkey, on a plain near the Syrian border southwest of the city of Urfa. Suruç is situated in a fertile district that is well-suited to growing fruits and grapevines. It is centrally located between the Euphrates on the west and Urfa and Harran on the east; it is about a day's journey from both cities (using pre-industrial transportation). This traffic brought it some degree of commercial prosperity as well.
RaqqaRaqqa (ar-Raqqah, also ) is a city in Syria on the left bank of the Euphrates River, about east of Aleppo. It is located east of the Tabqa Dam, Syria's largest dam. The Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine city and bishopric Callinicum (formerly a Latin and now a Maronite Catholic titular see) was the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate between 796 and 809, under the reign of Harun al-Rashid. It was also the capital of the Islamic State from 2014 to 2017. With a population of 531,952 based on the 2021 official census, Raqqa is the sixth largest city in Syria.
