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Perrhe (
Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...
: ) was an ancient city in the kingdom of
Commagene Commagene ( grc-gre, Κομμαγηνή) was an ancient Greco-Iranian kingdom ruled by a Hellenized branch of the Iranian Orontid dynasty that had ruled over Armenia. The kingdom was located in and around the ancient city of Samosata, which ...
. The remains of the city are located in the modern suburb of Örenli (previously the village of Pirin or Pirun) in the northern section of
Adıyaman Adıyaman ( ku, Semsûr) is a city and district in southeastern Turkey, and the capital of the Adıyaman Province. The inhabitants of the city are mostly Kurdish. Etymology An unverified theory is that the former name of the city ''Hisn-Mansur'' ...
, Turkey. Some authors identify it with
Antiochia ad Taurum Antiochia ad Taurum (lit. "Antiochia at Taurus") ( grc, Ἀντιόχεια τοῦ Ταύρου; lit. "Antiochia of Taurus") was a Hellenistic city in ancient Syria east of Mount Amanus of the Taurus mountain range. Later identified as 'ad Tau ...
.


History

According to the 1925 excavations of the Swiss anthropologist
Eugène Pittard Eugène Pittard (1867–1962) was a Swiss anthropologist notable for his work ''Les Races et l'Histoire'' published in 1924. Early life Pittard was born in Plainpalais, Geneva, on June 5, 1867. Even as a child, Pittard showed a predilection ...
, Pirin was already inhabited in
Paleolithic The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic (), also called the Old Stone Age (from Greek: παλαιός '' palaios'', "old" and λίθος ''lithos'', "stone"), is a period in human prehistory that is distinguished by the original development of stone to ...
times. In antiquity, Perrhe was one of the four core cities of the kingdom of Commagene mentioned in inscriptions, along with
Samosata Samsat ( ku, Samîsad), formerly Samosata ( grc, Σαμόσατα) is a small town in the Adıyaman Province of Turkey, situated on the upper Euphrates river. It is the seat of Samsat District.Marash Marash (Armenian: Մարաշ), officially Kahramanmaraş () and historically Germanicea (Greek: Γερμανίκεια), is a city in the Mediterranean Region of Turkey and the administrative center of Kahramanmaraş Province. Before 1973, Kahra ...
and Doliche. It lay on the route from the capital of Samosata over the
Taurus mountains The Taurus Mountains (Turkish language, Turkish: ''Toros Dağları'' or ''Toroslar'') are a mountain range, mountain complex in southern Turkey, separating the Mediterranean Region, Turkey, Mediterranean coastal region from the central Anatolia# ...
to Melitene. On account of a profuse spring, which was already famous in ancient times and which now issues from a Roman fountain in the middle of the town, Perrhe was an important staging post for travellers over the mountains. On the late antique Roman route map, the
Tabula Peutingeriana ' (Latin for "The Peutinger Map"), also referred to as Peutinger's Tabula or Peutinger Table, is an illustrated ' (ancient Roman road map) showing the layout of the '' cursus publicus'', the road network of the Roman Empire. The map is a 13th-ce ...
, the town appears as the second stop on the route from Samosata, after Comana. Under
Antiochus IV Antiochus IV Epiphanes (; grc, Ἀντίοχος ὁ Ἐπιφανής, ''Antíochos ho Epiphanḗs'', "God Manifest"; c. 215 BC – November/December 164 BC) was a Greek Hellenistic king who ruled the Seleucid Empire from 175 BC until his dea ...
(r. AD 38-72) Perrhe was refounded as the
polis ''Polis'' (, ; grc-gre, πόλις, ), plural ''poleis'' (, , ), literally means "city" in Greek. In Ancient Greece, it originally referred to an administrative and religious city center, as distinct from the rest of the city. Later, it also ...
of Antiochia on the Taurus. A votive relief of
Jupiter Dolichenus Jupiter Dolichenus was a Roman god whose mystery cult was widespread in the Roman Empire from the early-2nd to mid-3rd centuries AD. Like several other figures of the mystery cults, Jupiter Dolichenus was one of the so-called 'oriental' gods; th ...
which was found in the city's necropolis in 2001 derives from this period. In AD 198/200, the city probably contributed financially to the construction of the Severan Bridge. A floor mosaic found in the city indicates the importance of the place during Christian times. Under the
Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantin ...
, Perrhe was a bishopric. In the Middle Ages, the city lost significance in the face of the town of Hisn-Mansur (modern Adıyaman).


Description

Perrhe/Pirin is reached from the city of Adıyaman by travelling along Atatürk Bulvarı along a signposted route via Sakarya Caddesi. After about four kilometres, the necropolis appears on the left, stretching along the side of the street for almost a kilometre. After that one reaches the former village of Pirin. In the centre of the village is the Roman water fountain with a stone vault covering a water channel. Remains of the city walls also survive. The vast necropolis contains free-standing
sarcophagi A sarcophagus (plural sarcophagi or sarcophaguses) is a box-like funeral receptacle for a corpse, most commonly carved in stone, and usually displayed above ground, though it may also be buried. The word ''sarcophagus'' comes from the Greek ...
and simple vaulted burial niches, as well as catacombs, which often contain several rooms, with vaulted niches dug out of the cliff face and irregularly separated by pilasters. Most of the graves are grouped together in sections accessed by stairs carved into the cliff face at various points. Some of the tombs have remains of reliefs still surviving in front of the entranceways, but there is no other decoration.


Excavation

Otto Puchstein Otto Puchstein (6 July 1856, Labes – 9 March 1911, Berlin) was a German classical archaeologist. From 1875 to 1879 he studied philology, classical archaeology and Egyptology at the University of Strasbourg, where his instructors includ ...
and Karl Sester visited the town in 1882, as Puchstein recorded in the volume ''Reisen in Kleinasien und Nordsyrien'' ("Travels in Asia Minor and North Syria) which he co-authored with
Carl Humann Carl Humann (first name also ''Karl''; 4 January 1839 – 12 April 1896) was a German engineer, architect and archaeologist. He discovered the Pergamon Altar. Biography Early Years Humann was born in Steele, part of today's Essen - Germany ...
. In 1925, Eugène Pittard discovered a Palaeolithic settlement at Pirin, which he investigated further in the following years. In 1945, İsmail Kılıç Kökten continued these investigations and found many new objects. Friedrich Karl Dörner and Rudolf Naumann carried out investigations of the village of Pirin and the necropolis in 1938 in the course of their expedition to Commagene. They found only a little
spolia ''Spolia'' (Latin: 'spoils') is repurposed building stone for new construction or decorative sculpture reused in new monuments. It is the result of an ancient and widespread practice whereby stone that has been quarried, cut and used in a built ...
and a recently exposed floor mosaic, of which a single field consisting of an abstract pattern and an amphora with handles survived. This was further uncovered later and investigated by Hasan Candemir and Jörg Wagner in 1975. They were able to work out that it belonged to a
Basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building gave its name ...
with a 10 metre wide nave and two 3 metre wide side aisles and they dated the mosaic to the fifth century AD on the basis of its motifs. Dörner and Naumann also documented new sections of the necropolis. Excavations undertaken in this necropolis by the Adıyaman Archaeological Museum under the leadership of the museum director Fehmi Erarslan brought to light the aforementioned votive relief of Jupiter Dolichenus, along with numerous other archaeological, epigraphic and numismatic finds.
Engelbert Winter Engelbert may refer to: *Engelbert (name), including a list of people with the name *Herr Engelbert Von Smallhausen, in the British sitcom Allo 'Allo!'' *Engelbert, Netherlands, a village in the municipality of Groningen, Netherlands See also *Eng ...
of
Münster University Münster (; nds, Mönster) is an independent city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'') in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a state distr ...
's has worked on the epigraphic finds and the relief at the museum in collaboration with
Margherita Facella Margherita is an Italian feminine given name. It also is a surname. As a word, in Italian it means " daisy". Given name As a name, it may refer to: * Margherita Aldobrandini (1588–1646), Duchess consort of Parma *Margherita de' Medici (1612 ...
of Pisa and
Charles Crowther Charles Crowther (1831 – 17 March 1894) was a member of the Western Australian Legislative Council from 1873 to 1887. Born in Lincoln, England, in 1834, nothing is known of his ancestry or early life. In December 1850 he arrived in Western ...
of Oxford.


Bishopric

Perrhe was a bishopric in the
ecclesiastical province An ecclesiastical province is one of the basic forms of jurisdiction in Christian Churches with traditional hierarchical structure, including Western Christianity and Eastern Christianity. In general, an ecclesiastical province consists of sev ...
of
Hierapolis Bambyce Manbij ( ar, مَنْبِج, Manbiǧ, ku, مەنبج, Minbic, tr, Münbiç, Menbic, or Menbiç) is a city in the northeast of Aleppo Governorate in northern Syria, 30 kilometers (19 mi) west of the Euphrates. In the 2004 census by the Centr ...
.Entry on ''catholic-hierarchy.org''
/ref> As ''Perre'', it is a
titular bishopric A titular see in various churches is an episcopal see of a former diocese that no longer functions, sometimes called a "dead diocese". The ordinary or hierarch of such a see may be styled a "titular metropolitan" (highest rank), "titular archbis ...
of the
Roman Catholic church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
.
Joseph Marie Henri Belleau Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the m ...
OMI is a hereditary noble title (''kabane'') of ancient Japan. It was given to the descendants of the Imperial Family before Emperor Kōgen. Along with ''Muraji'', ''Omi'' was reserved for the head of the most powerful clans during the Kofun period. ...
held the titual bishopric as
Apostolic Vicar Apostolic may refer to: The Apostles An Apostle meaning one sent on a mission: *The Twelve Apostles of Jesus, or something related to them, such as the Church of the Holy Apostles * Apostolic succession, the doctrine connecting the Christian Chu ...
of Baie de James (
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...
) from 1939 to 1976.


References


Bibliography

* Friedrich Karl Dörner, ''Der Thron der Götter auf dem Nemrud Dağ''. 2nd Edition. Gustav Lübbe, 1987, pp. 61–64 * Fehmi Erarslan: "Die antike Stadt Perrhe und ihre Nekropole," in Jörg Wagner (Ed.), ''Gottkönige am Euphrat. Neue Ausgrabungen und Forschungen in Kommagene.'' Von Zabern, Mainz 2012, pp. 146–150 .


External links


Research Centre for Asia Minor - Perrhe
{{Coord, 37, 47, 30, N, 38, 18, 04, E, type:landmark_region:TR-02, display=title Archaeological sites in Southeastern Anatolia Ancient Greek archaeological sites in Turkey Roman sites in Turkey Commagene History of Adıyaman Province