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SAMOSATA (Eau6vara, -arum, Ptol. v. 1...

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Originally appearing in Volume V24, Page 117 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SAMOSATA (Eau6vara, -arum, Ptol. v. 15 § r 1 ; See also:Strabo xvi. 749)  , called in Arabic literature Sumeisat,l is now represented by the See also:village of Samsat, occupying a corner of the See also:ancient site . On a broad See also:plain 1500 ft. above See also:sea-level, See also:Samosata practically marks the See also:place where the See also:mountain course of the See also:Euphrates ends (see See also:MESOPOTAMIA) . When the See also:water is high enough it is possible to descend in a kelek in one See also:day to See also:Birejik . The rocky See also:banks contain many ancient See also:cave-dwellings . The See also:stele found there and published by Humann and Puchstein (Reisen in Kleinasien u . See also:Nord-Syrien, See also:Atlas, See also:plate xlix . 1-3) shows that it was at an See also:early See also:time a Hittite centre, probably marking an important route across the Euphrates: whether or not it was the place where later the See also:Persian " royal road " crossed the Euphrates, in See also:Strabo's time it was connected by a See also:bridge with a See also:Seleucia on the Mesopotamian See also:side, and it is now connected by road with Severek and Diarbekr and with Rakka, connecting further, through See also:Edessa and See also:Harran, with other eastward routes . The Hittite sculptured See also:object referred to above 1 Not to be confused, as Yaqut remarks, with Shamshat, the classical Arsamosata (Ptol. v . 13).shows influences of an See also:Assyrian type (P . See also:Jensen, Hittiter u . A rmenier , 1898, 13) ; but no See also:cuneiform See also:text referring to Samosata by name seems yet to have been published . Kummukh, however, the See also:district to which it belonged, was overrun by early Assyrian See also:kings .

In consequence of revolt it was made an Assyrian See also:

province in 708 B.C . When the Assyrian See also:empire passed through the hands of See also:Babylon and See also:Persia into those of the successors of See also:Alexander, Samosata was the See also:capital of Kummukh, called in See also:Greek Commagene . How soon it became a Greek See also:city we do not know . Although its ruler See also:Ptolemy renounced See also:allegiance to See also:Antiochus IV. the See also:dynasty of Iranian origin which ruled at Samosata, described by Strabo (l.c.) as a fortified city in a very fertile if not extensive district, allied itself with the Seleucids, and See also:bore the dynastic name of Antiochus . There, not See also:long after the little See also:kingdom was in A.D . 72 made a province by the See also:Romans, and its capital received the additional name of Flavia (See also:Suet . Vesp . 8; Eutrop . 8 . 19), the celebrated Greek writer See also:Lucian the Satirist was See also:born in the and See also:century (see LUCIAN), and more than a century later another Lucian, known as the See also:Martyr, and See also:Paul called " of Samosata." The remains of a See also:fine See also:aqueduct that once brought water from the See also:Kiakhta Chai, which begins some 6 m. above the See also:town, are probably of the 3rd century A.D . (Geog . Journ. viii .

323) . Under See also:

Constantine Samosata gave place as capital of Euphratensis to See also:Hierapolis (Malal . Chron. xiii. p . 317) . It was at Samosata that See also:Julian had See also:ships made in his expedition against Sapor, and it was a natural See also:crossing-place in the struggle between See also:Heraclius and See also:Chosroes in the 7th century . Mas`udi in the loth century says it was known also as Karat at-See also:Tin (" the See also:Clay See also:Castle ") . It was one of the strong fortresses included in the See also:county of Edessa (q.v.) . In the 13th century, according to Yaqut, one of its quarters was exclusively inhabited by Armenians . It is now a Kurdish village, which in 1894 consisted of about zoo houses, three of which were Armenian (Geog . Journ. viii . 322) .

End of Article: SAMOSATA (Eau6vara, -arum, Ptol. v. 15 § r 1 ; Strabo xvi. 749)
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