Edessa

School or library · Imperial capital

ancient city in upper Mesopotamia, modern day Urfa, Southeast Turkey

Location: 37.1457, 38.7840 · Pleiades 658457

What this place is

School or library — the School of the Persians, and Ephrem's teaching after he came over from Nisibis — closed by the emperor Zeno in 489
Imperial capital — the Abgarid kings' capital and the seat of the kingdom of Osroene, until Rome made the city a colony early in the third century

Who is recorded here

Jude the Apostle travel · AD 44
Addai of Edessa death · AD 50
Addai of Edessa birth · AD 100
Ephrem the Syrian death · AD 373
Jacob Baradaeus death · AD 578
Jacob of Edessa death · AD 708
Aggai death
Cyrus of Edessa birth
Q13050680 death
Q13050680 birth

What happened here

Thaddeus at Edessa AD 35
Ephrem leaves Nisibis for Edessa AD 363
Ephrem organises the famine relief at Edessa AD 372

In art

File:Urfa Castle 01.jpg — Bernard Gagnon

About the place

Edessa was an ancient city (polis) in Upper Mesopotamia, in what is now Urfa or Şanlıurfa, Turkey. It was founded during the Hellenistic period by Macedonian general and self proclaimed king Seleucus I Nicator, founder of the Seleucid Empire. He named it after an ancient Macedonian capital.

From Wikipedia, retrieved 2026-08-14 · CC BY-SA 4.0