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NISIBIS (Nasibina in the Assyrian ins...

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Originally appearing in Volume V19, Page 710 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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NISIBIS (Nasibina in the See also:Assyrian See also:inscriptions) , an See also:ancient See also:city and fortress in the See also:north of See also:Mesopotamia, near the point where the Mygdonius (mod. Jaghjagha) leaves the mountains by a narrow See also:defile. The See also:modern Nezib or Nasibin consists of some 4000 inhabitants, largely See also:Jews, who pay See also:tribute to the Shammar See also:Bedouins. The neighbourhood, we are informed by Arab writers, was at one See also:time richly wooded, but is now somewhat marshy and unhealthy. According to the Arabian geographer, Yaqut, See also:Persian scorpions were thrown into the See also:place when it was besieged by Anushirwan; hence their number to-See also:day. The See also:church of St See also:James, belonging to a small community of Jacobite Christians, and a few pillars and blocks of See also:masonry are the only remains of the former greatness of the See also:town. The site of Nisibis, on the See also:great road between the See also:Tigris and the Mediterranean, and commanding alike the See also:mountain See also:country to the north and the then fertile See also:plain to the See also:south, gave it an importance which began during the Assyrian See also:period and continued under the Seleucid See also:empire. From 149 B.C. to A.D. 14 Nisibis was the See also:residence of the See also:kings of See also:Armenia, and there See also:Tigranes had his treasure-houses. The place figured frequently as a frontier fortress in the See also:wars of the See also:Romans and the Parthians, its See also:brick walls being unusually thick and its citadel very strong. Ceded to the Parthians by See also:Hadrian, it became a See also:Roman See also:colony (Septimia Colonia Nisibis) under Septimius See also:Severus. It was heroically defended against See also:Shapur (Sapor) II., who unsuccessfully besieged it thrice.

In the See also:

peace made by See also:Jovian, however, it passed into the hands of the Persians, who established a strong colony there (A.D. 364). Nisibis See also:early became the seat of a Jacobite See also:bishop and of a Nestorian See also:metropolitan, and under the See also:Arabs (when it continued to flourish and became the centre of the See also:district of Diya'r Rebi'a) the See also:population of the town and neighbourhood was still mostly See also:Christian, and included numerous monasteries. Arab geographers and travellers of the See also:middle ages speak in high terms of the gardens of Nisibis, and the magnificent returns obtained by the agriculturist. According to Mokaddasi (ob. 1024), acorns, preserved fruits and manufactured articles such as carriages and inkstands were exported. The town was so heavily taxed by the Hamdanid princes at See also:Mosul that the Arab tribe of the Banu Habib, although See also:blood relations of the Hamdanids, migrated into See also:Byzantine territory, where they were well received, accepted See also:Christianity, attracted other emigrants from Nisibis, and at last began to avenge themselves by yearly raids upon their old See also:home. See also:Ibn Ilaukal goes on to say that finally the Hamdanids took See also:possession of the town, confiscated the estates of those who had emigrated, and compelled those who remained to substitute See also:corn for their profitable See also:fruit crops. This destroyed the prosperity of Nisibis, and the district, no longer protected against See also:nomad tribes, became a See also:wilderness. Nisibis (Nezib) appeared for the last time in See also:history in 1839, when the Egyptians under See also:Ibrahim See also:Pasha defeated the See also:Turkish See also:army under See also:Hafiz Pasha on the 24th of See also:June in a See also:battle at which von See also:Moltke was See also:present.

End of Article: NISIBIS (Nasibina in the Assyrian inscriptions)

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