River in Western Asia
Orontes
Nahr al-????
|
---|
|
|
Native name
| |
---|
|
Country
| Lebanon
,
Syria
,
Turkey
|
---|
Cities
| Homs
,
Hama
,
Jisr al-Shughur
,
Antakya
|
---|
|
|
Source
| Labweh
|
---|
• location
| Beqaa Valley
,
Lebanon
|
---|
• coordinates
| 34°11′49″N
36°21′9″E
/
34.19694°N 36.35250°E
/
34.19694; 36.35250
|
---|
• elevation
| 910 m (2,990 ft)
|
---|
|
Mouth
| Samanda?
|
---|
• location
| Hatay Province
,
Turkey
|
---|
• coordinates
| 36°2′43″N
35°57′49″E
/
36.04528°N 35.96361°E
/
36.04528; 35.96361
|
---|
• elevation
| 0 m (0 ft)
|
---|
Length
| 571 km (355 mi)
|
---|
Basin size
| 24,660
[1]
km
2
(9,520 sq mi)
|
---|
|
Discharge
|
|
---|
• average
| 67 m
3
/s (2,400 cu ft/s)
|
---|
|
|
Tributaries
|
|
---|
• right
| Afrin River
,
Karasu
|
---|
The
Orontes
(
; from
Ancient Greek
?ρ?ντη?
,
Oront?s
) or
Nahr al-????
, or simply
Asi
(
Arabic
:
??????
,
romanized
:
al-‘???
,
IPA:
[al??aːs?iː]
;
Turkish
:
Asi
) is a 571 kilometres (355 mi) long
river
in
Western Asia
that begins in
Lebanon
, flowing northwards through
Syria
before entering the
Mediterranean Sea
near
Samanda?
in
Hatay Province
,
Turkey
.
[1]
As the chief river of the northern
Levant
, the Orontes has been the site of many major battles including the
Battle of Kadesh
(13th century BCE). Among the most important cities on the river are
Homs
,
Hama
,
Jisr al-Shughur
, and
Antakya
(the ancient
Antioch
, which was also known as "Antioch on the Orontes").
Names
[
edit
]
In the 9th century BCE, the ancient
Assyrians
referred to the river as
Arantu
, and the nearby Egyptians called it
Araunti
.
[2]
The etymology of the name is unknown,
[2]
yet some sources indicate that it might be derived from
Arnt
which means "lioness" in
Syriac languages
;
[a]
others called it
Alimas
, a "water goddess" in
Aramaic
.
[3]
However,
Arantu
gradually became "Orontes" in Greek.
In the Greek epic poem
Dionysiaca
(circa 400 CE), the river is said to have been named after Orontes, an Indian military leader who killed himself and fell into the river after losing to Dionysus in single combat.
[4]
According to the Greek geographer
Strabo
(in
Geographica
, circa 20 CE), the river was originally named
Typhon
, because it was said that
Zeus
had struck the dragon Typhon down from the sky with thunder, and the river had formed where Typhon's body had fallen;
[5]
however, the river was later renamed Orontes when a man named Orontes built a bridge on it.
[5]
[b]
In contrast,
Macedonian settlers
in
Apamea
named it the
Axius
, after a Macedonian river god. The Arabic name
??????
(
al-‘???
) is derived from the ancient
Axius
. The word coincidentally means "insubordinate" in Arabic, which
folk etymology
ascribes to the fact that the river flows from the south to the north unlike the rest of the rivers in the region.
[8]
[9]
The part of the river flowing from
Lake Homs
to
Homs
is known as
al-Mimas
,
[10]
[11]
after the sanctuary of Deir Mimas situated there in honor of
Saint Mamas
.
[12]
Course
[
edit
]
The Orontes rises in the springs near
Labweh
in Lebanon on the east side of the
Beqaa Valley
(in the
Beqaa Governorate
) between
Mount Lebanon
on the west and the
Anti-Lebanon Mountains
on the east, very near the source of the southward-flowing
Litani
, and runs north, falling 600 metres (2,000 ft) through a gorge to leave the valley.
[1]
The
Ain ez Zarqa
is one such major spring.
[13]
Other major springs are Al Ghab, Al Rouj, and Al-Azraq.
[1]
Leaving this gorge, it expands into the
Lake of Homs
(an artificial lake created by a
Roman-era dam
, also known as Qattinah lake) in the
Homs Governorate
of
Syria
and through the city of
Homs
(or ?im?). Next it flows through the
Hama Governorate
and its capital of
Hamah
(Hamaih-Epiphaneia), and the ancient site of Larissa (
Shaizar
). This is where the river enters the
Ghab plain
.
Further downstream, on the eastern edge of the Ghab, is located the ancient city of
Apamea
.
[1]
To the west is the
Coastal Mountain Range
. The last Syrian governorate it goes through is
Idlib
and the city of
Jisr al-Shughur
. This section ends at the rocky barrier of
Jisr al-Hadid
, where the river turns west into the plain of
Antioch
(
Amik Valley
) in the
Hatay Province
of Turkey.
[1]
Two major tributaries, the southward-flowing
Afrin River
on the west and the
Karasu
on the east, join the Orontes through the former
Lake Amik
via an artificial channel (Nahr al-Kowsit). Passing north of
Antakya
(ancient Antioch), the Orontes dives southwest into a gorge (compared by the ancients to
Tempe
), and falls 50 metres (160 ft) in 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) to the sea just south of
Samanda?
(former Suedia, in antiquity Seleucia Pieria), after a total course of 450 kilometres (280 mi).
[1]
Major dams on the river
[1]
Name
|
Nearest City
|
Year
|
Height (m)
|
Capacity (million m3)
|
Note
|
Al-Rastan
|
Homs
|
1960
|
67
|
228
|
|
Qattinah
|
Homs
|
1976
|
7
|
200
|
originally built 284 CE
|
Mouhardeh
|
Hama
|
1960
|
41
|
67
|
|
Zeyzoun
|
Hamah
|
1995
|
43
|
71
|
failed 2002
|
Kastoun
|
Hamah
|
1992
|
20
|
27
|
|
History
[
edit
]
The Orontes is not easily navigable and the valley derives its historical importance as a road for north?south traffic; from Antioch south to
Homs
and thence to
Damascus
via
al-Nabek
.
[1]
The Orontes has long been a boundary marker. For the Ancient Egyptians it marked the northern extremity of
Amurru
, east of Phoenicia. On the Orontes was fought the major
Battle of Kadesh
(circa 1274 BCE) between the Egyptian army of
Ramesses II
from the south and the Hittite army of
Muwatalli II
from the north. The river was also the site of the
Battle of Qarqar
fought in 853 BCE, when the army of
Assyria
, led by king
Shalmaneser III
, encountered an allied army of 12 kings led by
Hadadezer
of
Damascus
.
Alexander the Great
acquired the river valley after the defeat of the Persians in 333 BCE at the
Battle of Issus
(fought on the
Pinarus river
near modern
?skenderun
and north of modern Antakya). After his death in 323 BCE, it became part of the
Seleucid Empire
.
Seleucid cities founded on the Orontes included
Seleucia ad Belum
,
Antigonia
, and
Antioch
. Several Hellenistic artefacts feature the
Tyche of Antioch
with a male swimmer personifying the Orontes at her feet.
In 64 BCE
Pompey
took the Orontes river valley and made it part of the new Roman province of
Syria
with Antioch as its capital.
Lake Homs Dam
was built by the Roman emperor
Diocletian
in 290 CE.
[
citation needed
]
In addition to Lake Homs, further Roman dams and dykes would be built along the Orontes river around Apamea, to better irrigate the Ghab plain. In 198 CE the province was split with the lower Orontes in the new province of
Coele Syria
and the upper Orontes from Emesa (modern day Homs) south in
Syria Phoenice
. Emesa was later raised to co-capital of the latter.
In 637 CE the
Battle of the Iron Bridge
near Antioch was fought between the forces of the
Rashidun Caliphate
and the
Byzantine Empire
near the
Iron bridge
and won by the former which shortly took control of the whole of the river valley.
For the
Crusaders
in the 12th century, the Orontes River became the permanent boundary between the
Principality of Antioch
and that of
Aleppo
.
The construction of a
Syria?Turkey Friendship Dam
was started in 2011 but postponed because of the
Syrian Civil War
. The war has also seen the
siege of Homs
from May 2011 until May 2014.
In art
[
edit
]
The French writer
Maurice Barres
purportedly transcribed in
Un jardin sur l'Oronte
(1922) a story that an Irish archaeologist had translated for him from a manuscript one evening in June 1914 at a
cafe
in Hama by the Orontes.
See also
[
edit
]
Notes
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
"Asi-Orontes Basin"
. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. 2016
. Retrieved
18 March
2018
.
- ^
a
b
Gaston Maspero.
History of Egypt, Chaldæa, Syria, Babylonia and Assyria (Complete)
. p. 1348.
- ^
Ballabio, R.; Comair, F.G.; Scalet, M.; Scoullos, M. (2015).
Science diplomacy and transboundary water management: the Orontes River case
. UNESCO Publishing. p. 89.
ISBN
9789230000172
.
- ^
Nonnos of Panopolis (20 July 2015).
Delphi Complete Dionysiaca of Nonnus (Illustrated)
. Delphi Classics. pp. book 17.
- ^
a
b
"LacusCurtius ? Strabo's Geography ? Book XVI Chapter 2"
.
penelope.uchicago.edu
. Retrieved
2017-02-03
.
- ^
"Marsyas"
.
Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography
.
- ^
Richard Pococke
(1743).
A description of the East, and some other countries Vol. II
.
William Bowyer
. p. 140.
- ^
Fitchett, Joseph; Deford, McAdams (1973).
"A River Called Rebel"
.
Aramco World
(May/June): 12?21
. Retrieved
15 February
2015
.
- ^
Getzel M. Cohen.
The Hellenistic Settlements in Syria, the Red Sea Basin, and North Africa
. p. 100.
- ^
Dussaud, Rene.
Topographie historique de la Syrie antique et medievale
(in French). p. 103.
- ^
??? ????? ?????? (2016).
????? ??????? 1/2
Diwan of Buhturi
(in Arabic). Beirut: ??? ?????? ?? ??? ??????. p. 169.
- ^
????? ?????? (2017).
???? ???????? ??????? ???????? ????????
(in Arabic). ktab INC.
- ^
Scheffel, Richard L.; Wernet, Susan J., eds. (1980).
Natural Wonders of the World
. United States of America: Reader's Digest Association, Inc. p. 34.
ISBN
0-89577-087-3
.
External links
[
edit
]
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International
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National
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Geographic
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