Artemita

Author:Laxman Burdak, IFS (R)

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Artemita in Apolloniatis was a Greek city in what is now eastern Iraq that was already settled during the Assyrian Empireand later flourished under the Parthian Empire.

Variants

• Artemita = Ancient Greek: Ἀρτεμίτα
• Chalasar (Parthian Stations by Isidore of Charax)
• Artemita (Pliny.vi.30)

Jat Gotras Namesake

• Artiman = Artemita (Pliny.vi.30)
• Chalawaria = Chalasar = Artemita (Pliny.vi.30)

History

Though its location is probably near to the confluence of the river Radānu to the Tigris, on a route along the Tigris northwest of Seleucia. According to Isidore of Charax, it was crossed by the river Sillas (Diyala) and is located about ca. 90 km from Seleucia, and was already known since Tiglathpileser III in Assyrian cuneiform sources (second half of 8th century BCE) as Kār Aššur and later as Chalasar (Tabula Peutingeriana, Manî).<refTacitus, Annals, 6.41.Karlheinz Kessler, Kār Aššur, Chalas(s)ar, Artemita. Assyrische Festung und griechische Polis in der Apolloniatis, in Mélanie C. Flossmann-Schütze et al. (eds.): Kleine Götter — Große Götter. Festschrift für Dieter Kessler zum 65. Geburtstag. (= Tuna el-Gebel 4). Brose, Haar 2013, S. 273–285 ISBN 978-3-944207-02-5.</ref> Later it was settled again under the Greeks (Macedonian), but might have been considered Parthian. In AD 31, It welcomed the Arsacid pretender Tiridates II.

Artemita was the birthplace of the historian Apollodorus of Artemita.

Mention by Pliny

Pliny mentions Mesopotamia.... The whole of Mesopotamia formerly belonged to the Assyrians, being covered with nothing but villages, with the exception of Babylonia¹ and Ninus.² The Macedonians formed these communities into cities, being prompted thereto by the extraordinary fertility of the soil.

Besides the cities already mentioned, it contains those of Seleucia³, Laodicea⁴, Artemita⁵; and in Arabia, the peoples known as the Orei⁶ and the Mardani, besides Antiochia⁷, founded by Nicanor, the governor of Mesopotamia, and called Arabis.

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1 The great seat of empire of the Babylonio-Chaldæan kingdom. It either occupied the site, it is supposed, or stood in the immediate vicinity of the tower of Babel. In the reign of Labynedus, Nabonnetus, or Bel- shazzar, it was taken by Cyrus. In the reign of Augustus, a small part only of Babylon was still inhabited, the remainder of the space within the walls being under cultivation. The ruins of Babylon are found to commence a little south of the village of Mohawill, eight miles north of Hillah.

2 Nineveh. See c. 16 of the present Book.

3 On the left bank of the Euphrates, opposite to the ford of Zeugma; a fortress of considerable importance.

4 Its site is unknown. Dupinet confounds it with the place of this name mentioned in the last Chapter, calling them by the name of Lor.

5 Pliny is wrong in placing Artemita in Mesopotamia. It was a city of Babylonia, in the district of Apolloniatis. The modern Sherbán is supposed to occupy its site.

6 Burnouf, having found the name of these people, as he supposes, in a cuneiform inscription, written "Ayura," would have them to be called Aroei. The Orei are also mentioned in B. v. c. 20.

7 This Antioch does not appear to have been identified.

In Parthian Stations

Parthian Stations by Isidore of Charax, is an account of the overland trade route between the Levant and India, in the 1st century BCE. .....2. From that place begins Apolloniatis, which extends 33 schoeni. It has villages, in which there are stations; and a Greek city, Artemita (Chalasar); through the midst of which flows the river Silla (the modern Diala). To that place from Seleucia is 15 schoeni. But now the city is called Chalasar.

See also

• List of ancient Greek cities

References

Back to Jat Places in Iraq