Beth Garmai, (,
Middle Persian
Middle Persian, also known by its endonym Pārsīk or Pārsīg ( Inscriptional Pahlavi script: , Manichaean script: , Avestan script: ) in its later form, is a Western Middle Iranian language which became the literary language of the Sasania ...
: ''Garamig''/''Garamīkān''/''Garmagān'',
New Persian
New Persian (), also known as Modern Persian () is the current stage of the Persian language spoken since the 8th to 9th centuries until now in Greater Iran and surroundings. It is conventionally divided into three stages: Early New Persian (8th ...
: ''Garmakan'',
Kurdish: ''Germiyan/گەرمیان'', ,
Latin
Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
and
Greek: ''Garamaea'') is a historical
Assyrian region around the city of
Kirkuk
Kirkuk (; ; ; ) is a major city in northern Iraq, serving as the capital of the Kirkuk Governorate. The city is home to a diverse population of Kurds, Iraqi Turkmen, Iraqi Turkmens and Arabs. Kirkuk sits on the ruins of the original Kirkuk Cit ...
in northern Iraq. It is located at southeast of the
Little Zab
The Little Zab or Lower Zab (, ''al-Zāb al-Asfal''; or '; , ''Zâb-e Kuchak''; , ''Zāba Taḥtāya'') is a river that originates in Iran and joins the Tigris just south of Al Zab in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. The Little Zab is approximatel ...
, southwest of the mountains of
Shahrazor, northeast of the
Tigris
The Tigris ( ; see #Etymology, below) is the eastern of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of the Armenian Highlands through the Syrian Desert, Syrian and Arabia ...
and
Hamrin Mountains
The Hamrin Mountains (, ) are a small mountain ridge in northeast Iraq. The westernmost ripple of the Zagros Mountains, the Hamrin mountains extend from the Diyala Governorate bordering Iran, northwest to the Tigris river, crossing northern Sala ...
, although sometimes including parts of southwest of Hamrin Mountains, and northwest of the
Sirwan River.
The name "Beth Garmai" or "Beth Garme" may be of Syriac origin which meaning "the house of bones", which is thought to be a reference to bones of slaughtered
Achaemenids
The Achaemenid dynasty ( ; ; ; ) was a royal house that ruled the Achaemenid Empire, which eventually stretched from Egypt and Thrace in the west to Central Asia and the Indus Valley in the east.
Origins
The history of the Achaemenid dy ...
after a decisive Macedonian victory in the
Battle of Gaugamela. An alternative explanation for the name's origin suggests that it may have been derived from a people, possibly an Assyrian or
Persian tribe.
The region was a province,
Garmekan, under the
Sasanians. It was a prosperous
metropolitan province centered at
Karkha D'Beth Slokh (
Kirkuk
Kirkuk (; ; ; ) is a major city in northern Iraq, serving as the capital of the Kirkuk Governorate. The city is home to a diverse population of Kurds, Iraqi Turkmen, Iraqi Turkmens and Arabs. Kirkuk sits on the ruins of the original Kirkuk Cit ...
), It had a substantial
Assyrian population who mostly followed the
Church of the East until the fourteenth century, when the region was conquered by
Timurlane, who conducted massacres of the indigenous Assyrian population of what is today Northern Iraq, Southeast Turkey and Northeast Syria.
See also
*
Beth Garmaï (East Syrian Ecclesiastical Province)
*
Assyria
Assyria (Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , ''māt Aššur'') was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization that existed as a city-state from the 21st century BC to the 14th century BC and eventually expanded into an empire from the 14th century BC t ...
*
Assyrian people
Assyrians (, ) are an ethnic group Indigenous peoples, indigenous to Mesopotamia, a geographical region in West Asia. Modern Assyrians Assyrian continuity, share descent directly from the ancient Assyrians, one of the key civilizations of Mesop ...
*
Assyrian Church of the East
The Assyrian Church of the East (ACOE), sometimes called the Church of the East and officially known as the Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East, is an Eastern Christianity, Eastern Syriac Christianity, Syriac Christian denomin ...
*
Asuristan
Asoristan ( ''Asōristān'', ''Āsūristān'') was the name of the Sasanian province of Assyria and Babylonia from 226 to 637.
Name
The Parthian name ''Asōristān'' (; also spelled ''Asoristan'', ''Asuristan'', ''Asurestan'', ''Assuristan'') ...
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Beth Nuhadra
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Assur
*
Adiabene
*
Osroene
Osroene or Osrhoene (; ) was an ancient kingdom and region in Upper Mesopotamia. The ''Kingdom of Osroene'', also known as the "Kingdom of Edessa" ( / "Kingdom of Urhay"), according to the name of its capital city (now Urfa, Şanlıurfa, Turkey), ...
References
Sources
*
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Further reading
*
{{Sassanid Provinces
History of Kurdistan
Provinces of the Sasanian Empire