had resisted Rome; but Mesopotamia was overrun, Nisibis and Carrhae being taken (233). It was immediately, indeed, " recovsusan” ered by Alexander-Severus, and retained, whatever pg, ,“ was the precise success of the war; but Nisibis and Carrhae were retaken by the Persians in thereign pf Maximin. Under Gordian III. in 242 Mesopotamia was entered by a great Roman army which recovered Carrhae and Nisibis, .and defeated the Persians at Rhesaena; but when Gordian, after a difficult march down the Khabixr, was murdered at Zaitha below Circesium, Philip the Arabian (244) 'made the best terms he could with Shapur I. Whatever they were, the Roman garrisons 'seem not to have been really withdrawn. A rest for Mesopotamia seems to have followed; but in 258 Shapur, tempted by the troubles in the Roman empire, overran the country taking Nisibis and Carrhae, and investing Edessa, and when Valerian invaded Mesopotamia he was eventually made prisoner, by Edessa (260). After Shapur's cruel victories in Syria, however, he was defeated by Odaenathus, who relieved Edessa, and Mesopotamia' became for ten years practically part of an Arabian Empire (see PALMYRA), as it was to be four centuries later. In consequence of the revolt of Zenobia Mesopotamia was lost to Rome, and the Euphrates became the frontier. Aurelian overthrew the Palmyran rule, but he was assassinated'before he could carry out his intended expedition against Persia, Probus was assassinated before he was able to do anything (or much), and although Carus easily overran Mesopotamia, which became Roman again, and even took Ctesiphon, the Romans retreated on his death (283-4). The next incident is the defeat of Galerius, between Carrhae and Callinicus, where he had entered Mesopotamia (about 296), in the war provoked by Narses in consequence of his relations with Armenia. When it was retrieved by a signal victory, Diocletian advanced to Nisibis. and thence dictated terms of peace by which Mesopotamia t0 the Tigris was definitely ceded to Rome (298). One result of the connexion with Rome was, naturally, that Mesopotamia came within the range of the Decian, and later the Diocletian persecutions (see EDESSA: § Sassanian Period). At the Nicene Council there were bishops from Nisibis (]acob), Rhesaena, Macedonopolis (on the Euphrates, west of Edessa), and Persia (Harnack, Mission and Expansion of Christianity, ii. 146; see generally 142-152).

After a forty years' peace the struggle was resumed by Shapur II. Nisibis thrice endured unsuccessful siege (338, 346, 3 50), although meanwhile Constantine had suffered defeat at Singara (348). Then Mesopotamia enjoyed two short rests (separated by a sharp struggle) while the rivals were engaged elsewhere, when in 363 Julian (q.v.) made his disastrous attempt, and Iovian bought peace at the price, among other things, of Singara and Nisibis-i.e. practically all eastern Mesopotamia. The surrender of Nisibis, which had been in the possession of Rome for so many generations] caused consternation among the Christians, and Ephraem (q.'u.) moved to Edessa, where his “school of the Persians ” soon became famous (see EDESSA). In the war of 421, in which the north-east of Mesopotamia was chiefly concerned, the Romans failed to take Nisibis, and it became a natural rallying point for the Nestorians after the decision of Ephesus (43 1). Matters were still more complicated when the Western Christians of Edessa found themselves unable to accept the ruling of Chalcedon against Monophysitism in 451 (see MONOPHYSITES), and there came to be three parties: Nestorians (q.v.), jacobites (see ]AcoBr1'E CHURCH) and Melchites (q.v.).

In the beginning of the 6th century there was another severe struggle in Mesopotamia, which found an anonymous Syriac historian (see EDESSA), and in infringement of agreement the Romans strongly fortified Dara against Nisibis. The Persian invasion of Syria under Kavadh I. (q.11.) was driven back by Belisarius; but the latter was defeated in his pursuit at Rakka (531), The peace begun by Chosroes I. (532) was not long kept, and Roman Mesopotamia, except the pagan Harran, suffered severely (540), Edessa undergoing a trying siege (544). The hftv venrn' nom-i= aim li-AA was sim” 1:., ..,1. ii... 1>. ....... .again failed in an attempt to 'recover .Nisibis (573), whilst Chosroes' siege of Dara was successful. Mesopotamia naturally suffered during 'the time of confusion that preceded and followed the accession of Chosroes II., and the Romans recovered their old frontier (5o1).

” With, -the accession of Phocas (6o2) began the greatwar which shook the two kingdoms., The loss of Edessa, 'where Narses revolted, was temporary; but the Roman fortress of Dara fell after nine months' siege (c. 6o 5); Harran, Ras al-'Ain and Edessa followed in 607, many of the Christian inhabitants(being transported to the Far East, and Chosroes carried the victorious arms of Persia far'into the Roman Empire. Finally Heraclius turned the tide, and Kavadh II. 'restored the conquests of his predecessor. The Syrian Christians, however, found that they had only exchanged the domination of a Zoroastrian monarch for an unsympathetic ecclesiastical despotism. In the confusion that followed, when men of letters had to live and work in exile, Nisibis set up for a time (631-632) a grandson of Chosroes II. Finally all agreed on Yazdegerd III.; but, while Chosroes II. and Heraclius had been at death grips with each other agreat invasion had been preparing in Arabia.

The Arab tribes in Mesopotamia were Christian, and Heraclius at Edessa hoped for their ° support; but Karkisiya and Hit succumbed (636), and then Tekrit; and Heraclius Th retired to Samosata. When in 638 he made another ¢, ,;p, me attempt, it is said at the entreaty of the Mesopotamian-Christians, Arab forces appeared before Rakka, Edessa, 'Nasibin and other places, and all Mesopotamia was soon in the hands of the Arabs. Henceforth it looked to Damascus and to Kufa and Basra, 'instead of to Constantinople or Ctesiphon. The new regime. brought welcome relief to the Christian part of the p0pulation, for the Arabs took no note, of'their orthodoxies or heterodoxies. (Moawiya is said to have rebuilt the dome of the great church at Edessa after an earthquake in 678.) Fortunately for Mesopotamia the seats of the factions which immediately broke the peaceof Islam were elsewhere; but it could not escape the fate of its geographical position.

The men of Rakka were compelled to help 'Ali, -after his march across Mesopotamia from near Mosul, in getting a bridge made at Rakka to convey his men to Siffin. Not long afterwards there was a new excitement in Moawiya's incursion across to the Tiglris. The discontent under Yazid III. was keen in Mesopotamia, W ere Merwan in fact got a footing, and when the troubles 'increased after he became caliph he abandoned Damascus in favour of his seat at ljlarrin. His son was besieged by Dahbak and his Kharijites and Saliarids in Nasibin; but a fierce battle at Mérdin ended in Merw§ n's favour (745). The cruelties that accompanied the overthrow of the Omayyad dynasty excited a revolt, which spread to Mesopotamia, and Hanan had to undergo a siege by one of -Merw§ n's generals. It was next besieged by al-Mansiir's brother; but the battle between the brothers was fought at Nasibin. It was decisive, but there were further risings, involving Mesopotamia* An inevitable effect of the reign of Islam had beenthat the kindred language of the Arabs gradually killed the vernacular Syriac of Mesopotamia (see EDESSA) as the alien Greek and Persian had shown no tendency to do, and the classical period (4th to 8th centuries) of the only Mesopotamian literature we know, such as it is, useful but uninviting, came to an end (see SYRIAC LITERATURE). This naturally encouraged grammatical study. Among the Aramaic-speaking people the revolution which displaced the Arabian court of Damascus in favour of a cosmopolitan world centred at the Babylonian seat of the civilizations dealt with in the preceding paragraphs naturally gave an impulse to the wider scholarship., Translations was made from Greek, as, e.g. by Thabitb. Qurra of Harrin (d. 9014, and from Pahlavi. t . -5 1 Q I ' V

Mansflr built a castle at 'Rafiqa opposite 'Rakka tofcontrol the country round, and his son Hariln alfRa§ hidQ"actuJrll'y resided during most of his reign, not at 'Bagdad' bitt' if fgakki, , where two generations later al-Battani of Harraniwas 'making theastrdnomical observations on which his tables were based '(see' ALBATEGNIUS) Abu Qurra, bishop of Harrajn, and acquaintance* of the caliph Ma'mf1n, who was one of the earlier Aramaean Christians to use Arabic, has been thought to have contributed to the influences

For this and following section see- further CAIJBHATE and