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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 August 2014
One of the most uncertain points of historical geography of ancient Syria concerns the site of Thapsacus, even if the uncertainty has sometimes been disguised by assertive pronouncements. This city had enjoyed considerable importance during the Persian period, and possibly earlier, as a major crossing of the Euphrates and the main link between Syria and Mesopotamia. It appears for the first time in our record in the Bible, as the place on the Euphrates where the country “beyond the river” begins. Even if referring to the purported extent of the realm of Solomon “from Thapsacus to Gaza”, this mention clearly applies to the Persian satrapy of Abar-Nahara, meaning the whole of Syria and Palestine, and provides evidence for the conditions in the Achaemenid period. The crossing at Thapsacus itself might of course have been used much earlier, whatever the name.
To the Massoretic vocalisation Tiphsah, generally accepted in modern translations, the form of Tapsah should be preferred, as found in the Syriac Bible provided with vowel signs centuries before the Hebrew original. This reading is moreover paralleled by the still earlier Septuagint version Θαψά. The Greek rendering confirms not only the vowels but also, if indirectly and by omission, the final pharyngeal of the name, in contrast to the usual ΘάΨακος found in Classical authors. This form is indeed unexpected, but transcriptions of foreign names do not always obey strict rules.
1 Reg. 5:4 (4:24 in the English Bible). The name is formed from the root psḥ, to pass over, and means simply “crossing, ford”. It occurs again in 2 Reg. 15:16 as a place name in Samaria (Josephus: εἰς Θαψαν), probably to be corrected to Tappuaḥ, after Luc. LXX Ταϕωε.
2 Cf. sra5.6 and 6.6.
3 de Lagarde, P. A., Abh. Göttingen 35 (1889), 131 Google Scholar, supposed the Greek form to be influenced by Λάμψακος. Cf. Lewy, H., Die semitischen Fremdwörter im Griechischen (1895, reprint 1970), 146 Google Scholar.
4 Strabo II. 1. 21–39. Cf. Dilke, O. A. W., Greek and Roman Maps (1985), 32–5Google Scholar.
5 Chapot, V., La frontière de l'Euphrate de Pompée à la conquête arabe (1907), 283–4Google Scholar.
6 As already suggested by Honigmann, E., REV A1 (1932), 1272–80Google Scholar, who also lists the principal identifications of the site.
7 NH V.86.
8 As established by Cumont, F., Études syriennes (1917), 119–50Google Scholar; on history of research, see the monograph by Wagner, J., Seleukeia am Euphrat/Zeugma (1976)Google Scholar. Birecik (known earlier as Bir) was shown by Cumont to correspond to ancient Birtha, also called Macedonopolis.
9 Chesney, F. R., The Expedition for the Survey of the Rivers Euphrates and Tigris … in four volumes (1850, reprint 1969)Google Scholar.
10 Ainsworth, W. F., A. Personal Narrative of the Euphrates Expedition (1888)Google Scholar.
11 Ritter, C., Die Erdkunde … oder allgemeine vergleichende Geographie, III. VII. “Das Stufenland des Euphrat-und Tigrissystems”, vol. X (1843), vol. XI (1844)Google Scholar.
12 Chesney, I, 48 and II, 416; Ainsworth, I, 275; Ritter, X. 1111–15. Cf. Musil, A., The Middle Euphrates (1927), 190 Google Scholar (as al-Fansa). This is accepted by Dussaud, R., Topographie historique de la Syrie antique et médiévale (1927), 455 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
13 Sarre, F.–Herzfeld, E., Reise im Euphrat- und Tigris- gebiet I (1911), 160–3Google Scholar. Recently, Lauffray, J., Halabiyya-Zenobia. Place forte du limes oriental et la Haute-Mésopotamie au Vle siècle (1983), 53–4Google Scholar, reported to have seen there in the 1940s a simple water-wheel pile, and not a bridge pier; the name al-Funsa was changed in the meantime to Qal'at Nimrod.
14 F. Sarre–E. Herzfeld, op. cit., 143–51.
15 For the first time by Moritz, B., “Zur antiken Topographie der Palmyrene”, Abh. Berliner Akademie I (1889), 31 Google Scholar; cf. Chapot, , La frontière de l'Euphrate, 284 Google Scholar.
16 Deir ez-Zor: already d'Anville, L'Euphrate et le Tigre (1779). Mayadin: A. Musil, op. cit., 213–40 and 340. This author made an otherwise valid distinction between Thapsacus of Xenophon and Thapsacus of Ptolemy, identified respectively, with inconclusive arguments, with Samuma near Balis-Meskeneh and a point near Mayadin.
17 Boucher, A., L'Anabase de Xénophon (1913)Google Scholar; Farrell, W. J., JHS 81 (1961), 153–5CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
18 Cf. recently Bosworth, A. B., A Historical Commentary on Arrian's History of Alexander (1980), 222 Google Scholar (to Arr. II. 13.1), referring to R. Dussaud, loc. cit., and Barnett, R. D., “Xenophon and the Wall of Media”, JHS 83 (1963), 1–26 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
19 Harper, R. D., “Excavations at Dibsi Faraj”, Dumbarton Oaks Papers 29 (1975), 321, n. 4Google Scholar. The site is probably Athis of Ptolemy, V. 15.17, renamed later as Neocaesareia, and transformed successively into Qasrin, Qseyr Dibsi (19th cent.) and finally Dibsi Faraj. Cf. Harper, , “Athis-Neocae- sareia-Qasrin-Dibsi Faraj”, in Margueron, J.-Cl. (ed.), Le Moyen-Euphrate, zone de contacts et d'échanges (1977), 327–48Google Scholar, and already Miller, K., Itineraria Romana (1916, reprint 1988), 759 Google Scholar.
20 Xen., Anab. I. 4:11.
21 Anab. 1.4:19.
22 Arr., Anab. II. 13.1: … ἐπὶ Θάψακόν τε πόλιν καὶ τὸν Εὐϕράτην ποταμόν σπονδῇ ἥλαυνεν, ὡς τάχιστα μέσον αὑτοῦ τε καὶ ʾΑλεξάνδρου τὸν Εὐϕράτην ποιῆσαι. Translation quoted after Ε. J. Chinnock (1893), who thought Thapsacus to have been at Sura.
23
Arr., Anab. III. 7. 3: 
.
24 Aristobulos, Frg. 40 Müller (= 139 F 55 Jacoby, II B, p.792,21): τὸ ναυτικόν … ἐπὶ τὸν Εὐϕράτην ποταμὸν ἐκ Φοινίκης ἐις Θάψακον πόλιν …; cf. Plutarch, Alex. LXVIII.2: Καὶ πλοῖα παντοδαπὰ περὶ Θάψακον ἐπήγνυτο Curt. X. 1.19: Igitur Mesopotamiae praetoribus imperavit ut materia in Libano monte caesa devectaque ad urbem Syriae Thapsacum septingentarum carinas navium ponere, septemremis omnes esse deducique Babylona. The recurrence of the name of Thapsacus in all three authors is compelling.
25 Strabo XIV. 2.29; NH V.125.
26 Cf. Bell, G. L., “The East bank of the Euphrates from Tell Ahmar to Hit”, The Geographical Journal 36 (1910), 513–537 Google Scholar; Amurath to Amurath (1911), 76–92 Google Scholar.
27 As by Tukulti-Ninurta II in 885 B.C., see Grayson, A. K., Assyrian Royal Inscriptions 2 (1976), 98–105 Google Scholar (text) and A. Musil (note 12), 199–205 (for the route).
28 Cf. Beitzel, B. J., “The Old Assyrian Caravan Road in the Mari Royal Archives”, in Young, G. D. (ed.), Mari in Retrospect (1992), 35–57 Google Scholar.
29 From 'br, to cross (as in the later name of the province Abar-Nahara): Lewy, J., Orientalia NS 21 (1952), 274 and 286 Google Scholar.
30 Goetze, A., JCS 7 (1953), 68 Google Scholar; cf. Falkner, M., AfO 18 (1957/1958), 36 Google Scholar.
31 NH XXXIV.15 Google Scholar: ferream catenam apud Euphratem amnem in urbe quae Zeugma appellatur, qua Alexander Magnus ibi iunxerit pontem …
32
Paus. X.29.4: (Dionysos) 
33
Dio XL. 17: 
… Cf.
Lucanus, , Bellum civile
VIII, 236–7Google Scholar: Zeugma Pellaeum, i.e. “Alexander's Zeugma”. The tradition is also confirmed by Stephanus, s.v. Zeugma.
34 NH V.87–9Google Scholar.
35 So Jones, A. H. M., The Cities of the Eastern Roman Provinces 2 (1971), 442 Google Scholar.
36
Stephanus (ed. Meinecke, 1849):
. Also s.v. Oropos quoting Alexander Polyhistor and Xenophon of Lampsacus. The name Surmagha (
Müller, , GGM
I, 976
Google Scholar, Dussaud, 458) is not compellingly related to Turmeda, but above all the place so named lies on the Mesopotamian side, opposite Jerablus, while Amphipolis is clearly said to be in Syria.
37 Cf. Clarke, G., Mediterranean Archaeology 5/6 (1992/1993), 111–15Google Scholar, and forthcoming reports in Abr-Nahrain; for Kara Membij, cf. Miller, K., Itineraria Romana (1916, reprint 1988), 758 Google Scholar (would be Gerrha of Ptolemy ?); Chesney, II, 419; Ainsworth I, 248–55, Dussaud, 451.
38 Harper, R. P., Dumbarton Oaks Papers 29 (1975), 442 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
39 Strabo XVI.1.22.
40 Strabo XVI.2.3 and XIV.2.29: ἀπὸ Σαμοσάτων τῆς Κομμαγηνῆς, ἣ πρὸς τῇ διαβάσει καί τῷ Ζεύγματι κεῖται … Wagner, op.cit., 42 and 48, attaches convincingly the relative clause to Commagene and not to Samosata. Cf. XVI.1.22: Κομμαγηνήν Ζεύγματος, ἣπερ ἐστὶν ἄρχὴ τῆς Μεσοποταμίας.
41 Dobiáš, J., “Séleucie de l'Euphrate”, Syria 6 (1925), 253–68CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Wagner, 56–64.
42 Ad Quintum fratrem 15 (II. 11(10)): extorsi … oppidulum quod erat positum in Euphrati Zeugmate. I do not share the impression of Bailey, D. R. Shackleton, Epistulae ad Quintum fratrem et M. Brutum (1980), 67 Google Scholar, that Zeugma would be here the name of a whole district in which the oppidulum was situated. The irony of the passage seems clear, and the reference is therefore to the city of Zeugma. This evidence, first advanced by Dobiáš, loc. cit., is stronger than that of the use of the era of Actium on a coin of Trajan (Wagner, 64).
43 Geogr. XVI.1.23 Google Scholar.
44 Strabo II.1.38.
45 The station Sapha ad fl. Tigrim (Peut. XI.5; Ptol. V.17.6: Σάπϕη) near this city is credited, without compelling reason, as being the scene of Alexander's crossing, cf. Markwart, J., Südarmenien und die Tigrisquellen nach griechischen und arabischen Geographen (1930), 260 Google Scholar.
46 Strabo, XVI.1.21.
47 II.1.24, corrected since Casaubon after II.1.38, cf. Aly, W., Strabonis Geographica (1968), 94 Google Scholar.
48 Cf. Bowersock, G., “The Three Arabias of Ptolemy”, in Gatier, P.-L., Helly, B., Rey-Coquais, J.-P. (eds.), Géographie historique au Proche-Orient (1988), 47–53 Google Scholar.
49 Ptol. V. 14.5.
50 Anab. I.IV.18.
51 Cf. Musil, 13–26, counting 5940 stadia (about 1060 km), but his value of a parasang (30 stadia) is perhaps exaggerated.
52 NH V. 125 Google Scholar.
53 Strabo II.1.21 (somss, emended since Casaubonas 2100 stadia, but correctly in II.1.26 and 29) and II.1.24: ἡ γὰρ Θάψακος ττολὺ τῶν ὀρῶν ἀϕέστηκε, συμπίπτει δὲ καὶ τὸ ὄρος καί ἡ ἀπὸ Θαψάκου ὁδος ἐπὶ τὰς Κασπίους πύλας.
54 Cf. Markwart (note 45), 8, proposing Kömür-chan east of Malatya, some 230 km from Zeugma along the Euphrates.
55 Hist. III.89 Google Scholar.
56 GGM I, p. 78, 102 and 104 Google Scholar.
57 Riis, P. J., Sukas I (1970), 137 Google Scholar, after Seyrig, H., Syria 19 (1938), 312 Google Scholar, in spite of Woolley, C. L., JHS 58 (1938), 28–30 Google Scholar, who preferred al-Mina at the mouth of the Orontes. Cf. more recently Rey-Coquais, , Arados et sa pérée (1974), 117 Google Scholar.
58 So Leuze, O., Die Satrapieneinteilung in Syrien und im Zweistromlande von 520–320 (1935), 203 Google Scholar. Likewise, the river Thapsus in Africa (Vibius Sequester, 144) is mentioned by the same Pseudo-Scylax, 111, as a port (Θάψα καὶ πόλις καὶ λιμήν).
59 Cf. Sartre, M., “La Syrie Creuse n'existe pas”, in Gatier, P.-L., Helly, B., Rey-Coquais, J.-P. (eds.), Géographie historique au Proche-Orient (1988), 15–40 Google Scholar.
60 E.g. Hölscher, , Palästina in der persischen und hellenistischen Zeit (1903), 5 Google Scholar; Karstedt, U., “Syrische Territorien in hellenistischer Zeit”, Abh. Göttingen NF 19 (1926), 2 Google Scholar.
61 O. Leuze, op. cit., 114.
62 For this feature, cf. Sarre-Herzfeld, 164–6; J. Lauffray, 66. The place is already mentioned in the Assyrian sources of the 9th century: Grayson, 139.
63 NH VI.120 Google Scholar. The table in Wagner, 49, flg. 3, mistakenly gives 50 miles from Zeugma to Oruros, instead of 250, as in the received text. This unnecessary correction goes back to C. Müller and his edition of Isidorus in GGM I, 1882, 245 Google Scholar.
64 Gawlikowski, M., “La route de l'Euphrate d'Isidore à Julien”, Gatier, P.-L., Helly, B., Rey-Coquais, J.-P. (eds.), Géographie historique au Proche-Orient (1988), 76–98Google Scholar.
65 Isidorus 5: παράκειται δὲ τῇ Φάλιγα κωμόττολις Ναβαγὰϑ, καὶ παραῤῥεῖ αὐτὴν ποταμὸς Ἀβούρας, ὃς ἐμβάλλει εἰς τὸν Εύϕράτην. The verb παραῤῥεĩν can be translated without violence as “to flow between”.
66 Pap. Dura 20 and 25; cf. Chaumont, M.-L., Syria 61 (1984), 86 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
67 Εκεῖθεν διαβαίνει τὰ εἰς κατὰ Ῥωμαῖους πέραν. Schoff, W. H., Parthian Stations by Isidorus of Charax (1914), p. 5 Google Scholar, translates: “there the legions cross over to the Roman territory across the river” but στρατόπεδα here cannot be taken in a military sense, pace Chaumont, M.-L., Syria 61 (1984), 86 CrossRefGoogle Scholar: Parthian armies, whenever crossing into Roman territory, did so further north, close to Zeugma and the road to Antioch.
68 Ammianus, XXIII.5. 5–8; XXIV. 1; Zosimus III. 1–2.
69 Arrian, Parthica X, frg. 8 (Stephanus s.v.).
70 NH VI.89 Google Scholar: A Sura autem proxime est Philiscum oppidum Parthorum ad Euphratem. Cf. Mommsen, Th., RG V.424 Google Scholar, n. 85, and Chaumont, M.-L., Syria 61 (1984), 85 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
71 NH V.120 Google Scholar: ductu Pompei Magni terminus Romani imperi Oruros, a Zeugmate CCL mil.
72 GGM I (1882), 246 Google Scholar, after Mannen, G., Geographie der Griechen und Römern V.2 (1829), 279 Google Scholar.
73 Dillemann, L., Haute Mésopotamie orientale et pays adjacents (1962), 168, 178, 181–3Google Scholar, identified Mannouorrha with the present day 'Ain el-'Arûs, with good topographical arguments.
74 RG III, 148 Google Scholar.
75 Cf. Musil, 184–6,211. For the identification of Basileia, see already Poidebard, A., La trace de Rome dans le désert de la Syrie (1934), 88–90 Google Scholar. Cf. M. Gawlikowski, op. cit., 82.
76 Cf. Grayson, A. K., Assyrian Royal Inscriptions 2 (1976), 139 Google Scholar.
77 Procopius, De aedif., II. 8:11: πρόβολον τῆς Ῥωμαίων ἀρχῆς, ἐπιτείχισμα δὲ διεπράξατο Πέρσαις.
78 De aedif., II. 6:12.
79 J. Lauffray, op. cit. (note 13).
80 Cf. A. K. Grayson, op cit., 140; A. Musil, 208, 211.
81 Kettenhofen, E., Die römisch-persische Kriege des 3. Jahrhunderts n. Chr. nach der Inschrift Šähpuhrs I. an der Ka'be-ye Zartošt (1982), 52 Google Scholar (Βίρϑαν Ασπωράκον, pahl. byrt 'spwrkn); so already Olmstead, A. T., CPh 37 (1942), 404 Google Scholar; Maricq, A., Classica et Orientalia (1965), 80 Google Scholar; Chaumont, M.-L., Historia 22, 1973, 671 Google Scholar, n. 39; J. Lauffray, 77. For the meaning of birta in Aramaic, see Lemaire, A.–Lozachmeur, H., Syria, 64 (1987), 261–6CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
82 For the chain, Lauffray, 67. Naturally, it could have been part of a fairly recent ferry.
