Samosata, meaning "sun", was an ancient city whose ruins still exist at the modern Turkish city of Samsat. Located in southeast Turkey on the upper Euphrates River, it was fortified so as to protect a major crossing point of the river on the east-west trade route. It also served as a station on another route running from Damascus, Palmyra, and Sura up to Lesser Armenia and the Euxine (Black) Sea. Samsat can refer to: The village of Samsat, Turkey, location of the ancient city of Samosata The South African telecommunications company Sammeg Satellite (Pty) Ltd This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... The Euphrates (the traditional Greek name for the river, which is in Old Persian Ufrat, Aramaic Prâth/Frot, in Arabic الفرات, in Turkish Fırat and in ancient Assyrian language Pu-rat-tu) is the westernmost of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia (Bethnahrin in Aramaic), the other being the... Damascus by night, the green spots are minarets Damascus (Arabic officially دمشق Dimashq, colloqially ash-Sham الشام) is the capital city of Syria and one of the worlds oldest cities. ... Palmyra was the name of an ancient city in Syria, now called Tadmor. ... Sura was the name of a city in ancient Babylonia that was a major center of Talmud scholarship, that together with the city of Pumbeditha, gave rise to the Babylonian Talmud. ... The Republic of Armenia, or Armenia (Armenian: Հայաստան Hayastan, Hayq), is a landlocked country in southern Caucasus, between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia to the north, Azerbaijan in the east and Iran and the Naxçıvan exclave of Azerbaijan in the south. ... Satellite view of the Black Sea, taken by NASA MODIS Cities of the Black Sea The Black Sea (known as the Euxine Sea in antiquity) is an inland sea between southeastern Europe and Asia Minor. ...

Most likely of Hittite origin, it was incorported into the Assyrian Empire in 708 BC. Later it served as the capital for the Hellenistic kingdom of Commagene from circa 160 BC until it was surrendered to Rome in AD 72. Hittite can refer to either: The ancient Anatolian people called the Hittites; or The Hittite language, an ancient Indo-European language they spoke. ... This article concerns the ancient Mesopotamian kingdom. ... Centuries: 9th century BC - 8th century BC - 7th century BC Decades: 750s BC 740s BC 730s BC 720s BC 710s BC - 700s BC - 690s BC 680s BC 670s BC 660s BC 650s BC Events and Trends 708 BC - Spartan immigrants found Taras (Tarentum, the modern Taranto) colony in southern Italy. ... The term Hellenistic (established by the German historian Johann Gustav Droysen) in the history of the ancient world is used to refer to the shift from a culture dominated by ethnic Greeks, however scattered geographically, to a culture dominated by Greek-speakers of whatever ethnicity, and from the political dominance... Kommagene (Latin Commagene) was a small kingdom, located in modern south-central Turkey, with its capital at Samosata (modern Samsat). ... Location within Italy The Roman Colosseum Rome (Italian and Latin: Roma) is the capital city of Italy and of its Latium region. ... For other uses, see number 72. ...

Samosata was the birthplace of Lucian (c. 120-192), a famous comic writer of antiquity, whose Trips to the Moon is sometimes called the first space novel, as well as 80 works which have survived to this day. Lucian Lucian of Samosata (greek Λουκιανὸς Σαμοσατεύς, latin Lucianus; c. ...

Samosata was also the birthplace of Paul of Samosata, the third leader of the Elkasites, an order of Essene Gnostics, who lived in the mid 3rd century. Paul of Samosata, patriarch of Antioch (260-272), was, if we may credit the encyclical letter of his ecclesiastical opponents preserved in Eusebiuss History, bk. ... Elkasites were members of an ancient Jewish sect, whose name was taken from its founder, Elxai. ... The Essenes (Issiim) were a Jewish religious sect of Zadokites that flourished from the 2nd century BC to the 1st century AD. The name Essene, itself, is either a version of the Greek word for Holy, or various Aramaic dialect words for pious, and is probably not what the... Gnosticism is a blanket term for various religions and sects most prominent in the first few centuries A.D. General characteristics The word gnosticism comes from the Greek word for knowledge, gnosis (γνῶσις), referring to the idea that there is special, hidden mysticism (esoteric knowledge) that only a few possess. ...

In the Christian martyrology, seven Christian martyrs were crucified in 297 in Samosata for refusing to perform a pagan rite in celebration of the victory of Maximian over the Persians: Abibus, Hipparchus, James, Lollian, Paragnus, Philotheus, and Romanus. A martyrology is a catalogue or list of martyrs, or, more exactly, of saints, arranged in the order of their anniversaries. ... The term Christian means belonging to Christ and is derived from the Greek noun Χριστός Khristós which means anointed one, which is itself a translation of the Hebrew word Moshiach (Hebrew: משיח, also written Messiah), (and in Arabic it is pronounced Maseeh مسيح). ... Historically, a martyr is a person who dies for his or her religious faith. ... Events Narseh of Persia and Diocletian conclude a peace treaty between Persia and Rome. ... Maximian on a coin (295–296 AD) Marcus Aurelius Valerius Maximianus (c. ... This article is about the Persians, a nationality and an ethnic group. ...

It was at Samosata that Julian had ships made in his expedition against Sapor, and it was a natural crossing-place in the struggle between Heraclius and Chosroes in the 7th century. For other meanings of Julian, see Julian (disambiguation). ... Flavius Heraclius Augustus (c. ... Khosrau I, the Blessed (Anushirvan), (531 - 579) was the favourite son and successor of Kavadh I, and the most famous of the Sassanid kings. ... (6th century - 7th century - 8th century - other centuries) Events Islam starts in Arabia, the Quran is written, and Arabs subjugate Syria, Iraq, Persia, Egypt, North Africa and Central Asia to Islam. ...

In February, 1098, the emir Baldoukh, attacked by Baudouin of Antioch, cut his army to pieces there. In 1114 it was one of the chief quarters of the Muslims hostile to the Count of Edessa, to whom it succumbed, but was recaptured by the Muslims about 1149. Events First Crusade: end of the siege of Antioch. ... Baldwin of Boulogne (died 1118), count of Edessa (1098—1100), and first king of Jerusalem (1100—1118), was the brother of Godfrey of Bouillon, son of Eustace II of Boulogne. ... Events January 7 - Matilda, daughter of Henry I of England, marries Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor Births Deaths Categories: 1114 ... A Muslim is a believer in or follower of Islam. ... The County of Edessa was one of the Crusader states in the 12th century, in a city with an ancient history and an early tradition of Christianity (see Edessa). ... Events Castle of Carimate destroyed. ...

External links

• Information on Ancient Samosata (http://ancientneareast.tripod.com/Samsat_Samosata.html)
• Samosata in the Catholic Encyclopedia (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13422a.htm)
• Historical information about Samosata (http://www.adiyamanli.org/samsat.htm)
• Martyrs of Samosata (http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/define82.htm)
• 1911 encyclopedia entry on Samosata (http://45.1911encyclopedia.org/S/SA/SAMOSATA.htm)