title: William

text: William is related to the given name "Wilhelm" (cf. Proto-Germanic ᚹᛁᛚᛃᚨᚺᛖᛚᛗᚨᛉ, "*Wiljahelmaz" > German "Wilhelm" and Old Norse ᚢᛁᛚᛋᛅᚼᛅᛚᛘᛅᛋ, "Vilhjálmr"). By regular sound changes, the native, inherited English form of the name should be "*Wilhelm" as well (although the name is not actually attested in the history of English, and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle refers to William the Conqueror as "Willelm"). That is a compound of two distinct elements: "wil" = "will or desire"; "helm"; Old English "helm" "helmet, protection"; English "helm" "knight's large helmet".


title: William

text: The form "William" is identified as typical of the Old Norman form "Williame, Willame", because first, the English language should have retained "(h)elm" (see common words "helm, helmet", in French ""), second, "-iaume" [iaʷm] (typical of Popular French, see Guillaume) turned to "-iame" [iam] (typical of some Norman and Picard dialects) > English "-iam". Historically, there was first a triphthongation of "-elm" (early Gallo-Romance form ) into [iaʷ] + [m] in Old Norman-French, quite similar in Old Central French [eaʷ] + [m]. Then, the triphthong "-iau" was submitted to a monophthongation localized on the second part of the triphthong áu > āò > ā. For instance, this development can be followed in the different versions of the name in the Wace's "Roman de Rou". or in the Cauchois variant forms of common words such as "osias" (plural of "osè" "bird", older "oisel") / Regular Norman "oisiaus" "birds" (French sing. "oiseau", pl. "oiseaux").


title: William

text: The spelling and phonetics "Wi-" [wi] is a characteristic trait of the Northern French dialects, but the pronunciation changed in Norman from [wi] to [vi] in the 12th century (cf. the Norman surnames "Villon" and "Villamaux" "little William"), unlike the Central French and Southern Norman that turned the Germanic "Wi-" into "Gui-" [gwi] > [gi]. The Modern French spelling is .


title: William

text: The first well-known carrier of the name was Charlemagne's cousin William of Gellone, a.k.a. Guilhem, William of Orange, Guillaume Fierabrace, or William Short-Nose (755–812). This William is immortalized in the Chanson de Guillaume and his esteem may account for the name's subsequent popularity among European nobility.


title: William

text: The English "William" is taken from the Anglo-Norman language and was transmitted to England after the Norman conquest in the 11th century, and soon became the most popular name in England, along with other Norman names such as Robert (the English cognate was Hrēodbeorht, which by regular sound changes would have developed into something along the lines of "Reedbart"), Richard, Roger (the English cognate was Hroðgar), Henry (all of Germanic origin and may have been transmitted through the Normans' use of Old French).


title: William

text: The name Wilkin/Wilkins is also of medieval origin, taken from the shortened version of William (Will) with the suffix "kin" added.


title: Flores

text: Flores is one of the Lesser Sunda Islands, a group of islands in the eastern half of Indonesia. Including the Komodo Islands off its west coast (but excluding the Solor Archipelago to the east of Flores), the land area is 15,530.58 km, and the population was 1,878,875 in the 2020 Census (including various offshore islands); the official estimate as at mid 2021 was 1,897,550. The largest towns are Maumere and Ende. The name "Flores" is the Portuguese and Spanish word for "Flowers".


title: Flores

text: Flores is located east of Sumbawa and the Komodo islands, and west of the Solor Islands and the Alor Archipelago. To the southeast is Timor. To the south, across the Sumba Strait, is Sumba island and to the north, beyond the Flores Sea, is Sulawesi.


title: Flores

text: Among all islands containing Indonesian territory, Flores is the 10th most populous after Java, Sumatra, Borneo (Kalimantan), Sulawesi, New Guinea, Bali, Madura, Lombok, and Timor and also the 10th biggest island of Indonesia.


title: Flores

text: Until the arrival of modern humans, Flores was inhabited by "Homo floresiensis", a pygmy archaic human.


title: Flores

text: Unlike most islands in the Indonesian archipelago, the modern name "Flores" was given by the Portuguese, from "Cabo das Flores" (Cape of Flowers), the Portuguese term for the eastern part of the island. This part of the island, originally called Kopondai, was so named by the Portuguese because of the flowering "Delonix regia" trees found there. The original name of Flores was "Nipa", referring to the serpent.


title: Flores

text: In 2006, it was reported that stone tools dating to 700,000 BC were found on Flores. If true, this would suggest that "Homo erectus" reached Flores, and further would be the only strong evidence that "H. erectus" had the technology to cross significant bodies of water.


title: Flores

text: Before the arrival of modern humans, Flores was occupied by "Homo floresiensis", a pygmy archaic human. Remains of nine individuals have been found, and the dominant consensus is that these remains do represent a distinct species due to anatomical differences from modern humans. The most recent evidence shows that Homo floresiensis likely became extinct 50,000 years ago.


title: Flores

text: Portuguese traders and missionaries came to Flores in the 16th century, mainly to Larantuka and Sikka. Their influence is still discernible in Sikka's language, culture and religion. The first Portuguese visit took place in 1511, through the expedition of António de Abreu and his vice-captain Francisco Serrão, en route through the Sunda islands.


title: Flores

text: The Dominican order was extremely important in this island, as well as in the neighbouring islands of Timor and Solor. When in 1613 the Dutch attacked the Fortress of Solor, the population of this fort, led by the Dominicans, moved to the harbor town of Larantuka, on the eastern coast of Flores. This population was mixed, of Portuguese and local islander descent and Larantuqueiros, Topasses or, as Dutch knew them, the 'Black Portuguese' (Zwarte Portugezen).


title: Flores

text: The Larantuqueiros or Topasses became the dominant sandalwood trading people of the region for the next 200 years. This group used Portuguese as the language for worship, Malay as the language of trade and a mixed dialect as mother tongue. This was observed by William Dampier, an English privateer visiting the Island in 1699:


title: Flores

text: In the western part of Flores, the Manggarai came under the control of the sultanate of Bima, in eastern Sumbawa; the Dutch effectively established their administration over western Flores in 1907 while in 1929, the Bimanese sultanate ceded any control over Manggarai.


title: Flores

text: In 1846, Dutch and Portuguese initiated negotiations towards delimiting the territories but these negotiations led nowhere. In 1851 Lima Lopes, the new governor of Timor, Solor and Flores, agreed to sell eastern Flores and the nearby islands to the Dutch in return for a payment of 200,000 Florins in order to support his impoverished administration. Lima Lopes did so without the consent of Lisbon and was dismissed in disgrace, but his agreement was not rescinded and in 1854 Portugal ceded all its historical claims on Flores. After this, Flores became part of the territory of the Dutch East Indies.


title: Flores

text: During World War II a Japanese invasion force landed at Reo on 14 May 1942 and occupied Flores. After the war Flores became part of independent Indonesia.


title: Flores

text: On 12 December 1992, an earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale killed 2,500 people in and around Maumere, including islands off the north coast.


title: Flores

text: In 2017 two men were killed in Flores due to land disputes between warrior clans; the Mbehel, a West Manggarai mountain tribe, and the Rangko from Sulawesi island who helped build Manggarai and were given land near Labuan Bajo by the Manggarai king.


title: Flores

text: Flores is part of the East Nusa Tenggara province. The island along with smaller minor islands are split into eight regencies (local government divisions); from west to east these are: Manggarai Barat (West Manggarai), Manggarai (Central Manggarai), Manggarai Timur (East Manggarai), Ngada, Nagekeo, Ende, Sikka and part of Flores Timur (East Flores). Flores has 35.22% of the East Nusa Tenggara provincial population , and is the largest of all islands in the province, with the second-largest population (Timor has slightly more).


title: Flores

text: Notes: (a) figures include Komodo and Rinca Islands off the west coast of Flores; these islands are part of a National Park and thus poorly inhabited. <br>(b) only the eight districts of this regency actually on Flores Island are included; the three districts comprising Solor Island and the eight districts on Adonara Island are excluded.


title: Flores

text: The main towns on Flores are Maumere, Ende, Ruteng, Larantuka and Bajawa, listed with their populations as at mid 2021.


title: Flores

text: The west coast of Flores is one of the few places, aside from the island of Komodo itself, where the Komodo dragon can be found in the wild, and is part of Komodo National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Kelimutu National Park is the second national park designated on Flores to protect endangered species. The Flores giant rat is also endemic to the island, and Verhoeven's giant tree rat was formerly present. These giant rodents are considered examples of island gigantism.


title: Flores

text: Flores was also the habitat of several extinct dwarf forms of the proboscidean "Stegodon", the most recent ("Stegodon florensis insularis") disappearing approximately 12,000 years ago. The presence of "Trigonoceps" vultures indicates that the island bore mammalian carnivores at some point.


title: Flores

text: There are many languages spoken on the island of Flores, all of them belonging to the Austronesian family. In the west Manggarai is spoken; Riung, often classified as a dialect of Manggarai, is spoken in the north-central part of the island. In the centre of the island in the districts of Ngada, Nagekeo, and Ende there is what is variously called the Central Flores dialect chain or linkage. Within this area there are slight linguistic differences in almost every village. At least six separate languages are identifiable. These are from west to east: Ngadha, Nage, Keo, Ende, Lio and Palu'e, which is spoken on the island with the same name off the north coast of Flores. Locals would probably also add So'a and Bajawa to this list, which anthropologists have labeled dialects of Ngadha. To the east, Sika and Lamaholot can be found.


title: Flores

text: The native peoples of Flores are mostly Roman Catholic Christians, whereas most other Indonesians are Muslim. As a consequence, Flores may be regarded as surrounded by a religious border. The prominence of Catholicism on the island results from its colonisation by Portugal in the east and early 20th-century support by the Dutch in the west. In other parts of Indonesia with significant Christian populations, such as the Maluku Islands and Sulawesi, the geographical divide is less rigid and Muslims and Christians sometimes live side by side. Flores thereby also has less religious violence than that which has sporadically occurred in other parts of Indonesia. There are several churches on the island. On 26 May 2019, Flores' St. Paul Catholic University of Indonesia was formally inaugurated by Indonesian Education Minister Mohamad Nasir, becoming the first Catholic University in Flores. Aside from Catholicism, Islam also has a presence on the island especially in some coastal communities.


title: Flores

text: The most famous tourist attraction in Flores is the Kelimutu volcano, containing three colored lakes, located in the district of Ende close to the town of Moni, although there is also the Inierie volcano near Bajawa. These crater lakes are in the caldera of a volcano, and fed by a volcanic gas source, resulting in highly acidic water. The colored lakes change colors on an irregular basis, depending on the oxidation state of the lake from bright red through green and blue.


title: Flores

text: There are snorkelling and diving locations along the north coast of Flores, most notably Maumere and Riung. However, due to the destructive practice of local fishermen using bombs to fish, and locals selling shells to tourists, combined with the after effects of a devastating tsunami in 1992, the reefs have slowly been destroyed.


title: Flores

text: Labuan Bajo, located on the western tip is often used by tourists as a base to visit Komodo and Rinca islands. Labuan Bajo also attracts scuba divers, as whale sharks inhabit the waters around Labuan bajo.


title: Flores

text: The Luba and Bena villages include traditional houses in Flores. Bena is also noted for its Stone Age megaliths.


title: Flores

text: In recent years, local tourist firms around Kelimutu have begun promoting cycling tours around Flores, some of which take up to five or six days depending on the particular program.


title: Flores

text: In addition to tourism, the main economic activities on Flores are agriculture, fishing and seaweed production. The primary food crops being grown on Flores are rice, maize, sweet potato and cassava, while the main cash crops are coffee, coconut, candle nut and cashew. Flores is one of the newest origins for Indonesian coffee. Previously, most Arabica coffee ("Coffea arabica") from Flores was blended with other origins. Now, demand is growing for this coffee because of its heavy body and sweet chocolate, floral and woody notes.


title: Battle of the Milvian Bridge

text: The Battle of the Milvian Bridge took place between the Roman Emperors Constantine I and Maxentius on 28 October 312. It takes its name from the Milvian Bridge, an important route over the Tiber. Constantine won the battle and started on the path that led him to end the Tetrarchy and become the sole ruler of the Roman Empire. Maxentius drowned in the Tiber during the battle; his body was later taken from the river and decapitated, and his head was paraded through the streets of Rome on the day following the battle before being taken to Africa.


title: Battle of the Milvian Bridge

text: According to Christian chroniclers Eusebius of Caesarea and Lactantius, the battle marked the beginning of Constantine's conversion to Christianity. Eusebius of Caesarea recounts that Constantine and his soldiers had a vision sent by the Christian God. This was interpreted as a promise of victory if the sign of the Chi Rho, the first two letters of Christ's name in Greek, was painted on the soldiers' shields. The Arch of Constantine, erected in celebration of the victory, certainly attributes Constantine's success to divine intervention; however, the monument does not display any overtly Christian symbolism.


title: Battle of the Milvian Bridge

text: The underlying causes of the battle were the rivalries inherent in Diocletian's Tetrarchy. After Diocletian stepped down on 1 May 305, his successors began to struggle for control of the Roman Empire almost immediately. Although Constantine was the son of the Western Emperor Constantius, the Tetrarchic ideology did not necessarily provide for hereditary succession. When Constantius died on 25 July 306, his father's troops proclaimed Constantine as Augustus in Eboracum (York). In Rome, the favorite was Maxentius, the son of Constantius' imperial colleague Maximian, who seized the title of emperor on 28 October 306. But whereas Constantine's claim was recognized by Galerius, ruler of the Eastern provinces and the senior emperor in the Empire, Maxentius was treated as a usurper. Galerius, however, recognized Constantine as holding only the lesser imperial rank of Caesar. Galerius ordered his co-Augustus, Severus, to put Maxentius down in early 307. Once Severus arrived in Italy, however, his army defected to Maxentius. Severus was captured, imprisoned, and executed. Galerius himself marched on Rome in the autumn, but failed to take the city. Constantine avoided conflict with both Maxentius and the Eastern emperors for most of this period.


title: Battle of the Milvian Bridge

text: By 312, however, Constantine and Maxentius were engaged in open hostility with one another, although they were brothers-in‑law through Constantine's marriage to Fausta, sister of Maxentius. In the spring of 312, Constantine gathered an army of 40,000 soldiers and decided to oust Maxentius himself. He easily overran northern Italy, winning two major battles: the first near Turin, the second at Verona, where the praetorian prefect Ruricius Pompeianus, Maxentius' most senior general, was killed.


title: Battle of the Milvian Bridge

text: It is commonly understood that on the evening of 27 October with the armies preparing for battle, Constantine had a vision which led him to fight under the protection of the Christian God. Some details of that vision, however, differ between the sources reporting it.


title: Battle of the Milvian Bridge

text: Lactantius states that, in the night before the battle, Constantine was commanded in a dream to "delineate the heavenly sign on the shields of his soldiers" ("On the Deaths of the Persecutors" 44.5). He followed the commands of his dream and marked the shields with a sign "denoting Christ". Lactantius describes that sign as a "staurogram", or a Latin cross with its upper end rounded in a P-like fashion. There is no certain evidence that Constantine ever used that sign, opposed to the better known Chi-Rho sign described by Eusebius.


title: Battle of the Milvian Bridge

text: From Eusebius, two accounts of the battle survive. The first, shorter one in the "Ecclesiastical History" promotes the belief that the Christian God helped Constantine but does not mention any vision. In his later "Life of Constantine", Eusebius gives a detailed account of a vision and stresses that he had heard the story from the Emperor himself. According to this version, Constantine with his army was marching (Eusebius does not specify the actual location of the event, but it clearly is not in the camp at Rome), when he looked up to the sun and saw a cross of light above it, and with it the Greek words " Ἐν Τούτῳ Νίκα", "En toutō níka", usually translated into Latin as ""in hoc signo vinces"". The literal meaning of the phrase in Greek is "in this (sign), conquer" while in Latin it's "in this sign, you shall conquer"; a more free translation would be "Through this sign [you shall] conquer". At first he was unsure of the meaning of the apparition, but in the following night he had a dream in which Christ explained to him that he should use the sign against his enemies. Eusebius then continues to describe the labarum, the military standard used by Constantine in his later wars against Licinius, showing the Chi-Rho sign.


title: Battle of the Milvian Bridge

text: The accounts of the two contemporary authors, though not entirely consistent, have been merged into a popular notion of Constantine seeing the Chi-Rho sign on the evening before the battle. Both authors agree that the sign was not widely understandable to denote Christ (although among the Christians, it was already being used in the catacombs along with other special symbols to mark and/or decorate Christian tombs). Its first imperial appearance is on a Constantinian silver coin from c. 317, which proves that Constantine did use the sign at that time, though not very prominently. He made more extensive use of the Chi-Rho and the Labarum later, during the conflict with Licinius.


title: Battle of the Milvian Bridge

text: Some have considered the vision in a solar context (e.g. as a solar halo phenomenon called a sun dog), which may have preceded the Christian beliefs later expressed by Constantine. Coins of Constantine depicting him as the companion of a solar deity were minted as late as 313, the year following the battle. The solar deity Sol Invictus is often pictured with a nimbus or halo. Various emperors portrayed Sol Invictus on their official coinage, with a wide range of legends, only a few of which incorporated the epithet "invictus", such as the legend , claiming the Unconquered Sun as a companion to the emperor, used with particular frequency by Constantine. Constantine's official coinage continues to bear images of Sol until 325/6. A solidus of Constantine as well as a gold medallion from his reign depict the Emperor's bust in profile jugate with Sol Invictus, with the legend . The official cults of Sol Invictus and Sol Invictus Mithras were popular amongst the soldiers of the Roman Army. Statuettes of Sol Invictus, carried by the standard-bearers, appear in three places in reliefs on the Arch of Constantine. Constantine's triumphal arch was carefully positioned to align with the colossal statue of Sol by the Colosseum, so that Sol formed the dominant backdrop when seen from the direction of the main approach towards the arch.


title: Battle of the Milvian Bridge

text: Constantine reached Rome at the end of October 312 approaching along the Via Flaminia. He camped at the location of Malborghetto near Prima Porta, where remains of a Constantinian monument, the Arch of Malborghetto, in honour of the occasion are still extant.


title: Battle of the Milvian Bridge

text: It was expected that Maxentius would remain within Rome and endure a siege; he had successfully employed this strategy twice before, during the invasions of Severus and Galerius. Indeed, Maxentius had organised the stockpiling of large amounts of food in the city in preparation for such an event. Surprisingly, he decided otherwise, choosing to meet Constantine in open battle. Ancient sources commenting on these events attribute this decision either to divine intervention (e.g. Lactantius, Eusebius) or superstition (e.g. Zosimus). They also note that the day of the battle was the same as the day of his accession (28 October), which was generally thought to be a good omen. Additionally, Maxentius is reported to have consulted the oracular Sibylline Books, which stated that "on October 28 an enemy of the Romans would perish". Maxentius interpreted this prophecy as being favourable to himself. Lactantius also reports that the populace supported Constantine with acclamations during circus games.


title: Battle of the Milvian Bridge

text: Maxentius chose to make his stand in front of the Milvian Bridge, a stone bridge that carries the Via Flaminia road across the Tiber River into Rome (the bridge stands today at the same site, somewhat remodelled, named in Italian "Ponte Milvio" or sometimes "Ponte Molle", "soft bridge"). Holding it was essential if Maxentius was to keep his rival out of Rome, where the Senate would surely favour whoever held the city. As Maxentius had probably partially destroyed the bridge during his preparations for a siege, he had a wooden or pontoon bridge constructed to get his army across the river. The sources vary as to the nature of the bridge central to the events of the battle. Zosimus mentions it, vaguely, as being constructed in two parts connected by iron fastenings, while others indicate that it was a pontoon bridge; sources are also unclear as to whether the bridge was deliberately constructed as a collapsible trap for Constantine's forces or not.


title: Battle of the Milvian Bridge

text: The next day, the two armies clashed, and Constantine won a decisive victory. The dispositions of Maxentius may have been faulty as his troops seem to have been arrayed with the River Tiber too close to their rear, giving them little space to allow re-grouping in the event of their formations being forced to give ground. Already known as a skillful general, Constantine first launched his cavalry at the cavalry of Maxentius and broke them. Constantine's infantry then advanced; most of Maxentius's troops fought well but they began to be pushed back toward the Tiber. Maxentius then decided to order a retreat, intending to make another stand at Rome itself. However, there was only one escape route, via the bridge. Constantine's men inflicted heavy losses on the retreating army. Finally, the temporary bridge set up alongside the Milvian Bridge, over which many of the Maxentian troops were escaping, collapsed, and those stranded on the north bank of the Tiber were either taken prisoner or killed. Maxentius' Praetorian Guard, who had originally acclaimed him emperor, seem to have made a stubborn stand on the northern bank of the river; "in despair of pardon they covered with their bodies the place which they had chosen for combat."


title: Battle of the Milvian Bridge

text: Maxentius was among the dead, having drowned in the river while trying to swim across it in an attempt to escape or, alternatively, he is described as having been thrown by his horse into the river. Lactantius describes the death of Maxentius in the following manner: "The bridge in his rear was broken down. At sight of that the battle grew hotter. The hand of the Lord prevailed, and the forces of Maxentius were routed. He fled towards the broken bridge; but the multitude pressing on him, he was driven headlong into the Tiber."


title: Battle of the Milvian Bridge

text: Constantine entered Rome on 29 October. He staged a grand arrival ceremony in the city ("adventus)", and was met with popular jubilation. Maxentius' body was fished out of the Tiber and decapitated. His head was paraded through the streets for all to see. After the ceremonies, Maxentius' head was sent to Carthage as proof of his downfall; Africa then offered no further resistance. The battle gave Constantine undisputed control of the western half of the Roman Empire. The descriptions of Constantine's entry into Rome omit mention of him ending his procession at the temple of Capitoline Jupiter, where sacrifice was usually offered. Though often employed to show Constantine's Christian sensibilities, this silence cannot be taken as proof that Constantine was a Christian at this point. He chose to honour the Senatorial Curia with a visit, where he promised to restore its ancestral privileges and give it a secure role in his reformed government: there would be no revenge against Maxentius' supporters. Maxentius was condemned to "damnatio memoriae"; all his legislation was invalidated and Constantine usurped all of Maxentius' considerable building projects within Rome, including the Temple of Romulus and the Basilica of Maxentius. Maxentius' strongest supporters in the military were neutralized when the Praetorian Guard and Imperial Horse Guard ("equites singulares") were disbanded. Constantine is thought to have replaced the former imperial guards with a number of cavalry units termed the "Scholae Palatinae".


title: Battle of the Milvian Bridge

text: Paul K. Davis writes, "Constantine’s victory gave him total control of the Western Roman Empire paving the way for Christianity to become the dominant religion for the Roman Empire and ultimately for Europe." The following year, 313, Constantine and Licinius issued the Edict of Milan, which made Christianity an officially recognised and tolerated religion in the Roman Empire.


title: Battle of the Milvian Bridge

text: The most important ancient sources for the battle are Lactantius, "De mortibus persecutorum" 44; Eusebius of Caesarea, "Ecclesiastical History" ix, 9 and "Life of Constantine" i, 28–31 (the vision) and i, 38 (the actual battle); Zosimus ii, 15–16; and the "Panegyrici Latini" of 313 (anonymous) and 321 (by Nazarius).


title: Urfa

text: Urfa, officially known as Şanlıurfa () and in ancient times as Edessa, is a city in southeastern Turkey and the capital of Şanlıurfa Province. Urfa is situated on a plain about 80 km east of the Euphrates River. Its climate features extremely hot, dry summers and cool, moist winters.


title: Urfa

text: About northeast of the city is the famous Neolithic site of Göbekli Tepe, the world's oldest known temple, which was founded in the 10th millennium BC. The area was part of a network of the first human settlements where the agricultural revolution took place. Because of its association with Jewish, Christian, and Islamic history, and a legend according to which it was the hometown of Abraham, Urfa is nicknamed the "City of Prophets."


title: Urfa

text: Religion is important in Urfa. The city "has become a center of fundamentalist Islamic beliefs" and "is considered one of the most devoutly religious cities in Turkey".


title: Urfa

text: The city is located 30 miles from the Atatürk Dam, at the heart of the Southeast Anatolia Project, which draws thousands of job-seeking rural villagers to the city every year. As a result, many of Urfa's residents are very poor - according to municipal data, over 50% of the city's population lives below the poverty line, earning less than $100 per family per month.


title: Urfa

text: The oldest name for the city is the Syriac "Orhay", which is derived from either the Semitic root "-r-w-ʿ", meaning "to bring water", or the Greek name name "Orrha", meaning "beautiful flowing water".


title: Urfa

text: James Silk Buckingham claimed that in earlier times, the city was known as "Ruha", and with the Arabic article, it became "Ar-Ruha", evolving into "Urha", and eventually "Urfa". Carsten Niebuhr observed that Turks called the city "El-Rohha" in the 18th century, although Buckingham who later visited Urfa, disagreed and noted that all Turks, and most Arabs and Kurds in the surrounding countryside called it Urfa, while a small portion of the Christians called it as the former. The city is called in Kurdish. The city is known as , "Urha", in Armenian.


title: Urfa

text: Urfa is located at the border between the foothills of the Taurus Mountains and the great Mesopotamian plain. In general, these two regions meet "well to the south" of Urfa, but around Harran the plain extends northward, cutting into the hills. At the northwestern corner of the Harran plain, there is another extension in the plain, this time going westward. Urfa is located in this second extension of the plains, tucked behind the hills at its southern edge.


title: Urfa

text: A small stream flows through Urfa. This stream is known as the Daisan, or "leaping river", after its tendency for flooding. Today, the Daisan flows through a man-made channel that follows the north and east sides of the old walled city. Before the channel was made, though, the stream's natural course was on the west side of the old city, then it turned east. Part of the former course survives as the fish pool called Birket Ibrahim, which tradition associates with the prophet Abraham. To the south of the stream's old course is a spring in a cave that is now converted into a mosque.


title: Urfa

text: Since the 20th century, Urfa has expanded northward, across the little plain and the hill known as Şehitlik Mahallesi with blocks of flats, as well as over the escarpment to the south.


title: Urfa

text: Urfa was founded as a city under the name Edessa by the Seleucid king Seleucus I Nicator in 303 or 302 BC. There is no written evidence for earlier settlement at the site, but Urfa's favorable commercial and geographical placement suggests that there was a smaller settlement present prior to 303 BC. The indigenous Aramaic name for the site prior to the Seleucid period was "Orhai" or "Orhay", which survives as the basis of the city's modern Turkish name. Perhaps Orhai's absence from earlier written sources is due to the settlement having been small and unfortified prior to the Seleucid period. Seleucus named the city after the ancient capital of Macedonia.


title: Urfa

text: In the late 2nd century, as the Seleucid dynasty disintegrated, it became the capital of the Arab Nabataean Abgar dynasty, which was successively Parthian, Aramean/Syriac kingdom Osroene, Armenian, and Roman client state and eventually a Roman province. Its location on the eastern frontier of the Empire meant it was frequently conquered during periods when the Byzantine central government was weak, and for centuries, it was alternately conquered by Arab, Byzantine, Armenian, and Turkish rulers. In 1098, the Crusader Baldwin of Boulogne induced the final Armenian ruler to adopt him and then seized power, establishing the first Crusader State known as the County of Edessa and imposing Latin Christianity on the Greek Orthodox, Assyrian Church of the East and Armenian Apostolic majority of the population.


title: Urfa

text: Urfa was conquered by Imad ad-Din Zangi in 1144 after a month-long siege, and from that point the city came under the Zengid dynasty. The last count of Edessa besieged the city again in 1146 in an attempt to retake it from the Zengids, but only held the city for six days before being defeated by Zangi's son Nur ad-Din. Urfa's population was massacred in the process, and its Christian community never recovered.


title: Urfa

text: After the Zengids, Urfa was ruled by the Ayyubid dynasty from 1182 to 1260, when it was captured by the Mongols. In the early 1300s, it became part of the Mamluk Sultanate, and then the Aq Qoyunlu captured it in the early 1400s. The Ottoman Empire took Urfa around 1517 and ruled it until the 20th century. Under Ottoman rule, Urfa was initially made centre of Raqqa Eyalet, laterly part Urfa (Sanjak) of the Aleppo Vilayet. The area became a centre of trade in cotton, leather, and jewellery.


title: Urfa

text: Urfa shares the Balikh River Valley region with two other significant Neolithic sites at Nevalı Çori and Göbekli Tepe. Settlements in the area originated around 9000 BC as a PPNA Neolithic sites located near Abraham's Pool (Site Name: Balıklıgöl). They were part of a network of first settlements spanning West Asia where agriculture began. The life-sized limestone "Urfa Man" statue was found at Urfa during an excavation and is now on display at the Şanlıurfa Archaeology and Mosaic Museum. The Urfa Man resembles both carvings at nearby Gobekli Tepe and statues found at 'Ain Ghazal. The village at Balıklıgöl was followed by a string of four PPNB villages on four hilltops at the Gürcütepe site. Beginning in 6200 BC small Halaf culture villages began to appear in the Balikh Valley. The typical Halaf village is 2ha with a population of 500 people surrounded by agricultural fields. By 5000 BC the entire valley was densely filled.


title: Urfa

text: In prehistoric times, the Urfa Region was attractive for human habitation because of its dense grazing areas and the presence of wild animals on migration routes. As a result, the area became densely populated, particularly in the Neolithic period.


title: Urfa

text: In Urfa itself, there was a prehistoric settlement at Yeni Mahalle Höyüğü (aka Balıklıgöl Höyüğü), located immediately north of Balıklıgöl in the heart of the old town. Now buried under single-story houses, the site was accidentally discovered during road construction in the 1990s and then excavated in 1997 by the Şanlıurfa Museum Directorate. The findings included flint tools, arrowheads dated to the early Pre-Pottery Neolithic B phase, and two round buildings with terrazzo floors. Animal bones found at the site indicate hunting activity, and charred seed samples indicate that the villagers cultivated wheat and barley. The village at Yeni Mahalle is radiocarbon dated to roughly 9400-8600 BCE.


title: Urfa

text: A much later artifact is a black stone pedestal with a double bull relief, found at a hill called Külaflı Tepe in the former village of Cavşak in the 1950s when the village was being evacuated to build a base for the Urfa Brigade. The pedestal contains an inscription with an invocation to the god Tarhunza and mentions a city whose name is only partly visible, but which Bahattin Çelik restores as "Umalia", in the country of Bit Adini.


title: Urfa

text: Ancient sources describe Seleucid Edessa as following the typical plan for Hellenistic military colonies: its streets were laid out in a grid pattern, with four main streets that intersected each other. There were four city gates, and the main citadel was outside the walls. Macedonian soldiers were settled in the new city, but they never formed a majority of its population. The city's culture remained predominantly Semitic (specifically Aramaic), and any Hellenization was minimal.


title: Urfa

text: Edessa was an important commercial center in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC. Previously, the main east-west trade route across Upper Mesopotamia had gone through Harran, but the founding of Edessa caused that route to shift northwards.


title: Urfa

text: The Seleucids declined in the 2nd century BC, and Edessa became the capital of the Abgarid kingdom of Osrhoene in about 132 BC. Originally from Nisibis, the Abgarids appear to have been an Arabized dynasty and may have ruled their kingdom "much as Arab shaikhs, through a council of tribal elders". The Abgarids were generally allied with the Parthian Empire and were under Parthian cultural influence as well.


title: Urfa

text: In the early second century AD, however, the Abgarids came under Roman influence. Abgar VII supported the Roman emperor Trajan's campaign in Mesopotamia and received him "sumptously" at his court, but later rebelled. In retaliation, the Romans captured and destroyed Edessa, and Abgar VII was killed. The Romans installed a Parthian prince, Parthamaspates, on the Edessan throne as a puppet ruler in 117, but the Abgarids were later restored to power. Similarly, the Parthians captured Edessa in 163 and installed Wa'el bar Sharu as a puppet king. The deposed Ma'nu VIII went to the Romans, who took Edessa in 165 and restored Ma'nu to power. In 166, Osrhoene became a Roman client kingdom.


title: Urfa

text: Ma'nu VIII died in 177 and was succeeded by Abgar VIII, also called Abgar the Great. Abgar sided with Pescennius Niger in his civil war against Septimius Severus. Severus ended up winning that conflict and, as punishment, stripped Abgar of most of his kingdom. Osrhoene now became a Roman province, while Abgar himself was left to rule just Edessa. Abgar mostly retired from international politics and spent the rest of his reign as "one of the Near East's greatest patrons of the arts and learning".


title: Urfa

text: In 201, much of Edessa was destroyed by a major flood. According to the "Chronicle of Edessa", over 2,000 people died. Abgar granted a remission of taxes for all who were affected by the flood and immediately began a large-scale reconstruction project of the city after the old Seleucid plan. Abgar repaired the old royal palace by the river, which had been damaged by the flood, but he also built a new palace on higher ground.


title: Urfa

text: In 1979, an archaeological excavation at present-day Çamlık Parkı in central Urfa uncovered seven rock-cut tombs dating back to the first centuries AD. Mosaics on the floor appear to contain portraits of several members of the Abgarid dynasty, possibly including Abgar the Great. The tombs have since been closed back up with the mosaics still inside.


title: Urfa

text: Ancient Edessa was an eclectic melting pot of different religious groups. Unlike Harran, where the cult of the moon god Sin predominated, the people of Edessa worshipped a whole pantheon of gods that can generally be identified with planets. The most important were Nabu and Bel. The cult of the sun and moon that was later known in Harran as the Sabians also had followers in Edessa. The fertility goddess Atargatis, whose cult was based at Manbij, was also worshipped in Edessa. Fish were an important symbol of Atargatis, and in ancient Edessa there was a fish pond filled with sacred carp dedicated to Atargatis – today's Balıklıgöl. Other gods worshipped in pagan Edessa included the Nabataean deity Dushara, the Mesopotamian goddess Ishtar, and also the moon god Sin. Another important cult at Edessa involved the veneration of a virgin mother and her child.


title: Urfa

text: In addition to polytheists, Edessa also had a prominent Jewish community. Many of Edessa's Jews were merchants, involved in long-distance trade between the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean.


title: Urfa

text: By the end of the 2nd century, a small Christian community had appeared in Edessa. The city's cosmpolitan religious background meant that its people were open and accepting towards this new religion, which just added another element into the mix. Christianity also resonated with several religious themes already present in Edessa - besides the concept of a virgin mother and child, there was also the concept of a divine trinity and a hope for life after death. The people of Edessa were also familiar with monotheism, through exposure to Judaism, and Edessa's Jewish community was probably partly responsible for the rapid spread of Christianity in the city. Abgar the Great reportedly converted to Christianity around the turn of the 3rd century, which if true would make Edessa the first Christian polity in the world.


title: Urfa

text: Still more religions joined the mix during the 3rd century. One was the Bardaisanites, founded by the important philosopher Bardaisan who Abgar the Great was a patron of. Another was the Elkesaites, a syncretic religion that combined elements of Christianity, Judaism, and paganism. Its founder, Elkesai, claimed to be a reincarnation of Jesus, and the Elkesaite belief in reincarnation is possibly a sign of Buddhist influence. The prophet Mani was an Elkesaite before founding Manichaeism - another syncretic religion that "found ready ground in Edessa". There was already an active Manichaean community in Edessa during Mani's lifetime: there is a reference in the Cologne Mani Codex to a letter he wrote to his followers in Edessa. Manichaeism's spread to Edessa was attributed to two of Mani's disciples named Addai and Thomas. Edessa's Manichaean community remained prominent until the 5th century.


title: Urfa

text: Abgar the Great died in 212 and was succeeded by Abgar IX, also called Severus as a sign of Roman influence. Abgar IX only reigned for a year - in 213, he was summoned to Rome by the emperor Caracalla, who then had him murdered. In 214, Caracalla made Edessa a Roman colony, officially ending any autonomy the city had. A son of Abgar IX, known as Ma'nu IX, appears to have been nominally a king until 240; he received an embassy from India in 218, during the reign of Elagabalus, but he did nothing else of note. The monarchy seems to have been restored to power at some point - an Abgar IX was apparently king until 248, when the emperor Philip the Arab had him banished after Edessa rebelled.


title: Urfa

text: In 260, the Sasanian emperor Shapur I defeated the Romans in the Battle of Edessa and captured the emperor. However, either Shapur never actually captured the city or he only held it for a very short time - it is not listed among the cities he captured in his inscription on the Ka'ba-ye Zartosht, and in the aftermath of the battle he had to bribe Edessa's garrison to let his army pass unmolested.


title: Urfa

text: As a result of Diocletian's reorganization of the empire in 293, a state-run factory was built at Edessa to make weapons and equipment for the soldiers stationed along the border. In 298, after Galerius Maximianus's victory over the Sasanians, Edessa was made capital of the new province of Osrhoene. It served as a military base in the Mesopotamian "limes", although it was secondary to Nisibis in that system.


title: Urfa

text: In the 4th through 6th centuries AD, Edessa went through arguably its period of greatest prosperity. It was again an important commercial center, and merchants grew rich on trade in luxury goods from the east, particularly silk. As with later periods, the city had a council of notable citizens who were at least partly in charge of local government and administration. In the 5th century there were three different theological schools in Edessa: the School of the Syrians (affiliated with the patriarchate of Antioch), the School of the Armenians, and the famous School of the Persians (whose teachers were not actually Persians but rather members of the Church of the East). The School of the Persians was closed down in 489 and its staff relocated to Nisibis. There were many churches in the city and monasteries in the area. Just outside the walls were several infirmaries and hospitals.


title: Urfa

text: When the Roman emperor Jovian surrendered Nisibis to the Sasanians in 363, an influx of refugees came to Edessa, including many Christians. One of these refugees was the writer and theologian Ephrem the Syrian, who was a co-founder of the School of the Persians in Edessa. According to T.A. Sinclair, as Christianity gained more of a presence in Edessa, the pagan planet-worshippers increasingly emigrated to Harran.


title: Urfa

text: By the early 6th century, a small lake had formed on the west side of the city. In 525, a flood destroyed part of the western city wall and damaged some of the city. Afterwards, a deep ditch was dug on the north and east sides of the city to act as a flood channel. In normal weather, a low dam kept the Daisan river in its original course, but if the dam overflowed, then the floodwaters would flow through the artificial channel instead of into the city. At some point later on, the flood channel became the normal course of the river.


title: Urfa

text: Edessa successfully held out during a siege in 544. In 609, however, the Sasanian emperor Khosrow II captured Edessa during his campaign in Mesopotamia. Many of the city's Monophysites were deported to Iran. In 628, the Byzantine emperor Heraclius captured Edessa.


title: Urfa

text: Urfa surrendered to the Rashidun general Iyad ibn Ghanm in 639 without resistance, supposedly when Iyad "stood at its gate riding a brown horse" according to al-Baladhuri. Several versions of the terms of surrender appear in historical sources, mentioning the citizens would be responsible for "repairing 'bridges and roads'".


title: Urfa

text: In the early centuries of Arab rule, and particularly under the Umayyads, Urfa was still a major Christian city. It formed part of the province of Diyar Mudar. The city reportedly had 300 or 360 churches, and there were many monasteries. The population was mostly Syrian Orthodox but with significant Melkite and Jewish minorities; there were relatively few Muslims. The city was led by a group of distinguished citizens, including magnates and agricultural landowners, who "formed a partly self-governing body" that dealt with the caliphal government rather than the bishop. Some of the leading families in this period included the Gūmāyē, the Telmaḥrāyē, and the Ruṣāfāyē.


title: Urfa

text: During the reign of the Abbasid caliph al-Mansur, the city walls were demolished after the local Muslim governor revolted. The old walls had already been damaged by floods in the 7th and 8th centuries. In 812, Urfa's citizens had to pay a large sum to the anti-Abbasid rebel Nasr ibn Shabath al-Uqayli to prevent him from attacking the unprotected city. Afterwards, the citizens had new defensive walls built around the city. According to Bar Hebraeus, the walls were commissioned by someone named Abu Shaykh and paid for by the citizens. The walls and towers visible today belong to this rebuilding effort, albeit with later renovations. The citadel was likely begun at the same time, probably with the addition of a moat on the south side.


title: Urfa

text: In the spring of 943, the Byzantine army campaigned in upper Mesopotamia, capturing several cities and either threatening Urfa or, according to Symeon Magister, besieging it outright. The Byzantines that the "mandylion" (called "al-mandīl" in Arabic), by now a famous Christian relic, be handed over to the emperor. In return, the city would be spared and 200 Muslim prisoners would be released. With permission from the caliph al-Muttaqi, the people of Edessa handed over the "mandylion" and signed a truce with the Byzantines. The "mandylion" was translated to Constantinople; it arrived "triumphantly" on 15 August 944.


title: Urfa

text: The Numayrid emir Waththab ibn Sabiq declared independence in 990 and annexed Edessa early in his reign. Waththab appointed his cousin 'Utayr as governor of the city. 'Utayr installed someone named Ahmad ibn Muhammad as his "na'ib" (deputy) here, but then later had him assassinated. This evidently made 'Utayr unpopular with the locals, since Ahmad had treated them well. In 1025/6 (416 AH), the city's inhabitants rebelled and appealed to Nasr ad-Dawla, the Marwanid emir of Diyar Bakr. At first, Nasr ad-Dawla appointed someone named Zangi to be his deputy in Edessa, but Zangi died in 1027. Meanwhile, 'Utayr had been assassinated. This time, Nasr ad-Dawla ended up appointing two deputies to jointly control Edessa: he chose 'Utayr's son, known only by the "nasab" "Ibn 'Utayr", to be in charge of the main citadel, while he appointed a different Numayrid named Shibl ad-Dawla to be in charge of the smaller citadel - i.e. the converted east gate, now the Bey Kapısı.


title: Urfa

text: In October 1031, the Byzantine general George Maniakes conquered Edessa. This would ultimately be the last significant territorial acquisition by the Byzantine Empire in Mesopotamia. The accounts of this event differ heavily. According to one version, Ibn 'Utayr had entered into negotiations with Maniakes, intending to sell him the citadel. His desire to sell was apparently motivated by a threat from Shibl ad-Dawla. In John Skylitzes's version, however, Maniakes had bribed Salman, a deputy of Nasr ad-Dawla's, into surrendering the city to him in the middle of the night. If this was the case, then Salman either had some authority over Ibn 'Utayr or had otherwise deposed him.


title: Urfa

text: Whoever Maniakes had been negotiating with, Byzantine forces gained control of some of the fortifications but not the rest of the city. Exactly which parts Maniakes had taken control of are unclear - Skylitzes described Maniakes had taken possession of "three heavily fortified towers", but his description of Edessa's geography is completely inaccurate and he clearly had never been to the city himself. Matthew of Edessa's account, which is more reliable, mentions "three citadels"; according to Tara Andrews, the upper citadel must have been one of them. According to T.A. Sinclair, Maniakes had already gained control of the upper citadel. That winter, Nasr ad-Dawla came with an army in an attempt to drive out the Byzantines. Nasr ad-Dawla tried to besiege the Byzantine positions but was unsuccessful and decided to loot the city and tear down buildings, then burn the city to the ground while retreating with camels carrying off precious objects. According to Skylitzes, Maniakes was able to then capture the citadel and, summoning external reinforcements, secure the whole city.


title: Urfa

text: Maniakes remained in charge of Edessa for several years and, according to Honigmann and Bosworth, appears to have been relatively autonomous from the Byzantines, merely sending an annual tribute to Constantinople. On the other hand, while Skylitzes does mention that "Maniakes sent an annual tribute of 50 pounds [of gold] to the emperor", Niccolò Zorzi remarks that this "does not necessarily imply that Edessa 'enjoyed a certain amount of independence from Byzantium'". The citadel became known as "Maniakes's citadel" at some point.


title: Urfa

text: In May 1036, the Numayri prince Ibn Waththab plundered the city and took the "patricius" of Edessa as prisoner, but the fortress remained in the hands of the Byzantine garrison. A peace treaty was reached in 1037; under its terms, Edessa came directly under Byzantine control and it was refortified. Edessa now became an important Byzantine command placed under a series of katepanos and dukes. The "duchy" of Edessa probably comprised the whole area beyond the Euphrates under their control with several fortresses north of the river. The city "was still inhabited by many Christians" at this point.


title: Urfa

text: In 1065-6 and 1066-7, the city was attacked by the Turkish leader Khurasan-Salar. For 50 days beginning on 10 March 1071, Urfa was besieged by the Seljuk sultan Alp Arslan. Alp Arslan eventually lifted the siege in return for a large payment and possibly also the submission of its ruler, the "doux" Basilios Alousianos (son of Alusian of Bulgaria). After the Battle of Manzikert, Edessa was intended to be handed over to the Seljuks, but the Byzantine emperor Romanos Diogenes was deposed and in the political chaos its katepano Paulus ended up siding with the new emperor.


title: Urfa

text: In 1077 or 1078, Basil Apokapes besieged and captured Edessa, displacing the Byzantine governor Leo Diabatenos. He was an agent of Philaretos Brachamios, the main Byzantine agent in the region who governed from Marash; however, Basil ruled Edessa independently. In 1081-2, an amir named Khusraw unsuccessfully besieged the city. After Basil's death in 1083, the citizens of Edessa elected an Armenian named Smbat to succeed him. Smbat was in charge for six months before Philaretos came in person on 23 September 1083. He appointed a Greek eunuch as governor and gave him the title "parakoimomenos"; this eunuch was later assassinated by an official named Barsauma.


title: Urfa

text: However, Edessa was in a particularly vulnerable position "caught between two blocks of Uqaylid territory", and it was particularly vulnerable to the Seljuks. In 1086-7, the Seljuk sultan Malik Shah I sent his general Buzan to take the city while he himself campaigned in Syria. A three-month siege followed, with Barsauma defending the city. The city surrendered in March 1087 and Buzan appointed a Seljuk commander to head the citadel. At some point, an Armenian named Toros in charge of the city administration - according to the Syriac "Chronicle of 1234", this happened in 1087, while Matthew of Edessa wrote that it happened after Buzan's death in 1094. Toros appears to have begun a rebuilding project on the Bey Kapısı fortress, but it wasn't finished until after his rule. Meanwhile, Malik Shah had died in 1092 and a Seljuk dynastic crisis had broken out. In 1094, Malik Shah's brother Tutush demanded the city's surrender, but both Toros and the Seljuk citadel commander refused. Tutush's forces seized the citadel and made their encampment on the west side of the city. Fearing an attack from them, Toros apparently tried to cut the citadel off by building a wall between it and the city. After Tutush died in 1095, however, his forces abandoned the citadel and Toros now took control of the whole city as a "de facto" independent ruler.


title: Urfa

text: During the 11th century, there was a large influx of Armenian immigrants into the region, especially the towns. In Urfa, they supplanted Syrians as the leading citizens and wealthiest landowners.


title: Urfa

text: Urfa was capital of the crusader County of Edessa for about half a century beginning in 1098. The crusaders' subjects were a mix of Armenians and Syrians. In Urfa itself, Armenians were the dominant group. The crusaders themselves don't seem to have undertaken much construction in Urfa. The only extant structure that can be attributed to them is the southernmost tower of the Bey Kapısı, on the east side of the city walls. This was completing the rebuilding that Toros had begun before the crusaders seized Edessa and was finished in 1122-3, while the count Joscelin was in captivity at Harput.


title: Urfa

text: The County of Edessa had survived largely because their Muslim rivals were disunited. The rise of a single powerful Muslim rival - namely Imad ad-Din Zangi, the crafty atabeg of Mosul - spelled disaster for the county. The tipping point came in late 1144, when Joscelin II left Edessa with a big chunk of his soldiers to assist Zengi's rival Kara Arslan.


title: Urfa

text: Upon becoming aware of the city's weakness, Zengi led a series of forced marches and laid siege to the city on 24 November. By 24 December, he had successfully gained entry to the city; the citadel fell two days later on the 26th. Zengi's forces spared the native Christian population and their churches, but the Franks were killed and their churches destroyed. Zengi then appointed Zayn ad-Din Ali Küçük, the commander of his guard, as governor of the city.


title: Urfa

text: The fall of Edessa was a direct motivator for the Second Crusade. Christian pilgrims returning to Europe brought news of the city's conquest, and emissaries from the crusader states also came to appeal for help. The pope responded by issuing the papal bull "Quantum praedecessores" on 1 December 1145, which directly called for another crusade. Meanwhile, in the Muslim world, news of this victory made Zengi a hero. The caliph gave him many gifts and titles, including "al-malik al-mansūr" - "the victorious king".


title: Urfa

text: In May 1146, there was a plot by Urfa's Armenian community to overthrow the Turks and restore the city to Joscelin. The Turks suppressed this plot and settled 300 Jewish families in the city. However, after Zengi was assassinated on 14 September 1146, the Armenians again conspired with Joscelin to take the city. Sometime in October, Joscelin and Baldwin of Marash came and laid siege to the city. This second siege proved far more destructive than the first. The Franks succeeded in entering the city, but they were not properly equipped for a siege of the main citadel. During their six-day-long reoccupation of Urfa, the Franks indiscriminately looted shops belonging to Christians and Muslims alike. The city's Muslims either fled to Harran or took shelter in the citadel with the Turkish garrison.


title: Urfa

text: Meanwhile, Imad ad-Din's successor Nur ad-Din Zengi had arrived with an army of 10,000 soldiers and surrounded the city. When the Franks realized they were trapped, they attempted to retreat, but it ended in disaster and they were slaughtered as they tried to escape. Moreover, the city's population was massacred - the men were put to death, while the women and children were sold into slavery. The city's Christian community, one of the oldest in the world, had been destroyed and never recovered.


title: Urfa

text: Although Nur ad-Din was an active builder elsewhere, only one building at Urfa can be attributed to him: the "rather plain" Great Mosque, which was probably on the site of an earlier church.


title: Urfa

text: Saladin captured Urfa in 1182 after a siege; he then separately besieged the citadel. He ended up paying the defenders off to let him take control of the citadel. He then appointed Muzaffar al-Din Gökböri as governor of Urfa along with Harran. During Saladin's reign, the cathedral of the Melkites was demolished. Part was used as building material for Urfa's citadel, and part was taken to Harran.


title: Urfa

text: During Ayyubid rule, Edessa had a population of approximately 24,000, according to J.C. Russell's estimate (Russell generally favored smaller, more conservative estimates).


title: Urfa

text: In June 1234, the city was taken by the Seljuk sultan Kayqubad I's army, and its inhabitants were deported to Anatolia. However, it was recaptured within four months by the Ayyubid ruler al-Kamil. Sometime shortly thereafter, the citadel was slighted on al-Kamil's orders.


title: Urfa

text: In 1260, Urfa voluntarily submitted to the troops of Hulagu and thus came under Mongol rule. Because the city had surrendered peacefully, its inhabitants were spared.


title: Urfa

text: The Mongols never garrisoned Urfa; it was near their western border with the Mamluk Sultanate and was probably seen as "too difficult to defend". Its ruined fortress was "probably not thought worth repairing". The city was desolate at this point; its inhabitants had evacuated or abandoned it and "only Turcoman nomads lived in the otherwise empty city".


title: Urfa

text: The Mamluks gained control of Urfa sometime in the early 14th century. They renovated the ruined citadel, but the city "attracted few inhabitants". It "had no commercial importance" and was on the Mamluks' eastern frontier.


title: Urfa

text: In the late 14th century, toward the end of the Mamluk period, Urfa "regained prosperity" and was at least partly repopulated, probably because commercial traffic was now passing through here on the route connecting Amid with Aleppo. When al-Qalqashandi wrote around 1400, he wrote that Urfa had been rebuilt and was prosperous again.


title: Urfa

text: The Aq Qoyunlu took over Urfa in the early 15th century. They apparently regarded it as a strategic military outpost on their western frontier. The citadel was again repaired, and the Hasan Paşa Camii may date to this period as well. The Aq Qoyunlu took it in perhaps the late 1410s or early 1420s. At some point, the Aq Qoyunlu ruler Kara Osman granted Urfa to his son Ali. But due to Ali's quarrels with his brothers beginning in autumn 1428, and the brothers wrote Kara Osman, Kara Osman got upset with Ali and relieved him of his post. Instead, he appointed one of the brothers, Habil, as governor of Urfa.


title: Urfa

text: Ali left Urfa in 1429 and headed north, where he ended up besieging Harput. The governor of Harput wrote to the Mamluk sultan, al-Ashraf Barsbay, for assistance, offering to give him control of Harput in return. Barsbay agreed and began mustering an army in Damascus, but while his forces were still gathering Harput surrendered to Ali. With their primary objective undermined, the Mamluks decided to attack Urfa instead. This way, they could eliminate an Aq Qoyunlu base that could be used to attack Mamluk-held Aleppo.


title: Urfa

text: One day before the main Mamluk army arrived, a "local Arab contingent" reached Urfa and fought a battle against Habil's Turkic forces. They were defeated. The Mamluk army arrived the next day and began a siege of the city. On 24 July, the citadel surrendered, and the Mamluks sacked the city. They demolished the fortress, enslaved the women and children who lived in the city, and killed many others. Habil himself was captured and taken to Egypt in chains. Contemporary historians compared the violent event to Timur's sack of Damascus in 1400.


title: Urfa

text: About a decade later, Urfa was involved in the civil war between Ali Beg's son Jahangir and Jahangir's uncle Hamza for control of the Aq Qoyunlu. The contemporary historian Tihrani Isfahani wrote that Hamza's troops besieged Urfa but did not elaborate. Jahangir ended up making Urfa his main base at some point, from which he attacked Hamza in Erzincan and then later sent a raid against Ergani. Urfa was then the site of a battle in 1451, where Uzun Hasan successfully defeated other Aq Qoyunlu leaders shortly before gaining control of the tribal confederation as a whole. In 1462-3, under Uzun Hasan's reign, Urfa's citadel was renovated.


title: Urfa

text: In early November 1480, a large Mamluk army under Yashbak min Mahdi, who was "dawātdār-i kabīr" or executive secretary to the Mamluk sultan Qaitbay, laid siege to Urfa. Yashbak bombarded the city walls with heavy cannon fire and used catapults to hurl fireballs into the city. This happened during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, prompting Fazlallah Khunji Isfahani to liken Yashbak's actions to the tyrant Nimrod torturing the prophet Abraham with fire - also in Urfa, according to tradition. Aq Qoyunlu forces quickly arrived at Urfa from Diyar Bakr and, after a failed attempt at negotiations, a pitched battle took place. The Aq Qoyunlu army's right wing was commanded by Sulayman Beg Bijan and the left wing was commanded by Khalil Beg Mawsillu. The Mamluk forces were utterly defeated, and Yashbak was later executed.


title: Urfa

text: Urfa was probably first annexed to the Ottoman Empire under Selim I around 1517. The first extant Ottoman tax register for the city, compiled in 1518, counted 1,082 families (700 Muslim and 382 Christian) in Urfa, which probably meant a total population of just over 5,500 people. The low population was probably because of political upheaval in the region - particularly the ongoing conflict with Safavid Iran. By 1526, the city's population had increased to 1,322 families (988 Muslim and 334 Christian), meaning an estimated population of about 8,000.


title: Urfa

text: Urfa experienced a renaissance under Ottoman rule. Industry and commerce picked back up, and its population rebounded, although it never reached the same population heights it had once held in the classical and early medieval periods. The high point lasted for about a century and a half, beginning with its conquest by the Ottomans. By 1566, a tax register shows the city with an estimated 13,000 to 14,000 people (1,704 Muslim families and 866 Christian families). At this point, the city was described as having five large "mahalle"s, each named after one of the five city gates, and it "must have had an active textile industry". A bedestan is also recorded.


title: Urfa

text: In 1586, Ottoman authorities created the Eyalet of Raqqa out of territories that had previously belonged to the Eyalet of Diyarbekir, and Urfa became "the center of economic and political power" in this new province.


title: Urfa

text: The instability accompanying the Celali revolts, and especially Karayazıcı's occupation of the city in 1599-1600 (1008 AH), must have sapped Urfa's prosperity. Several 17th-century accounts refer to parts of the town as being in disrepair. For example, when Jean-Baptiste Tavernier visited Urfa in 1644, "there were so many empty lots that [he] compared the town to a desert". The central Ottoman state's control of the surrounding Raqqa Eyalet weakened significantly in the early 1600s. Powerful "ümera" families from Urfa assumed responsibility for governance of the eyalet, while the actual office of governor was a sinecure for prominent Ottoman generals or their sons.


title: Urfa

text: Urfa court records from about 1629 to 1631 (1039-40 AH) provide insight into local government during the Ottoman-Safavid War of 1623-1629. The Ottomans were in the process of mobilizing troops and resources in the area for the war effort, and the qadi of Urfa was responsible for billeting troops and gathering provisions. In August 1638, Sultan Murad IV stayed at Urfa along with his army while en route to Baghdad in the final campaign of the war. He ordered restoration work on the citadel, which is mentioned in written sources and confirmed by an inscription on the walls that still exists.


title: Urfa

text: The most detailed account of early Ottoman Urfa was written by Evliya Çelebi, who visited the city in 1646. Part of his interest may have been because one of his relatives was a qadi here. His account mentions only three gates, with different names than those of the 1566 tax register. Evliya wrote that he counted 2,600 houses in the fortified part of the city, which probably indicates a population total similar to 1566. At this point, Urfa had houses generally made of mud brick; more opulent houses, belonging to paşas and qadis, had their own gardens and baths. Evliya also recorded 22 mosques, 3 medreses, and 3 zaviyes. He listed several hans, including the Yemiş Hânı, the Samsatkapısı, the Hacı İbrâhim Hânı, the Beykapısı Hânı, and the Sebîl Hânı. He also wrote that the city had 400 shops and several mills, including one named after one Tayyaroğlu Ahmed Paşa. However, he was apparently unimpressed by the city's shops and markets.


title: Urfa

text: Evliya also wrote that Urfa had a tannery that produced high-quality yellow maroquin leather. Tavernier also noted the city's leather, saying that along with Tokat and Diyarbakır it produced some of the best maroquin leathers. Besides leather, Urfa was also renowned for its cotton fabrics during this period.


title: Urfa

text: Information about Urfa during the 1700s is relatively scarce, but one source is the fiscal records of the new Rızvaniye Mosque. These document the waqf properties assigned to the mosque, including shops, gardens, mills, and public baths, as well as information about tenants and rents. There was a mulberry orchard in front of the medrese at this point, as well as a prosperous marketplace with little empty space available for rent.


title: Urfa

text: In the Ottoman period, Urfa was a center of commerce because of its location at a crossroads with Diyarbakır, Antep, Mardin, and Raqqa. Many Jewish, Armenian, and Greek merchants were present in Urfa, especially from Aleppo.


title: Urfa

text: James Silk Buckingham visited Urfa in 1816 and ended up stuck there for a while because the roads were closed due to the ongiong Ottoman-Wahhabi War. Buckingham's account of early-1800s Urfa is one of the most informative of the late Ottoman period. By this time, the name "Urfa" had come to predominate, with only the city's Arab Christians still calling it "al-Ruha". The standard of living in Urfa had evidently increased since the 1600s - the mud brick houses recorded by Evliya Çelebi had given way to finer masonry structures that Buckingham compared to the houses of Aleppo. The houses described by Buckingham had "harem" and "selamlik" quarters separated by a courtyard, with the "selamlik"s boasting "opulently furnished reception rooms" on their upper floors. Buckingham described the city as being divided into janissary and sharif factions, also like Aleppo. Many of the city's bazaars were closed due to the war, but Buckingham noted that Urfa had a thriving cotton trade during peacetime and observed some of the city's cotton printers at work. Coarser wool cloth and rugs were also manufactured in Urfa.


title: Urfa

text: In the mid-1800s, Urfa benefitted from a general increase in commercial activity in the region. Most of the larger courtyard houses in the present-day old town probably date from this period. The large Armenian church on the western main street was built in 1842 and many mosques were probably also built around this time. According to Suraiya Faroqhi, though, the city's population "must have been at a low ebb for several decades in the mid-century".


title: Urfa

text: However, in the late 1800s, Urfa declined in importance as a commercial center. In particular, the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 caused a major realignment of trade routes, shifting away from overland caravans and towards maritime commerce. As a result, the volume of commercial traffic coming through Urfa decreased markedly compared to previous periods and became increasingly local/regional in nature. The local economy shifted away from producing goods for export and toward meeting the basic needs of the local population. Workshops produced less in general during this period and their focus was more on cheap basic goods like local fabrics and household goods. Imports also declined because the locals were focusing more on consuming cheap basic goods rather than luxuries; they were living simpler, more frugal lives. Because people were using more local products, the cost of living also decreased and people had to work less to meet their expenses. Contemporary court records document that there was extensive commercial contact between Muslims and non-Muslims; they bought and sold goods freely between each other and entered into commercial partnerships together, indicating that there was relatively high trust between both groups.


title: Urfa

text: The main centers of commercial activity in the Ottoman period were the bazaars, where both local and imported goods were bought and sold. Generally, a bazaar would be named after its primary function and main goods sold there. For example, the İsotçular Çarşısı was named because of the homemade chili peppers sold in this street. Among the bazaars mentioned in late 19th-century records: Kadıoğlu, Köroğlu, Eski Arasa, Teymurcu, Sarayönü, Belediye, Beykapı, Akar, Sipâhî, Bedestan, Hânönü, Kafavhâne, and Hüseyniye.


title: Urfa

text: There was a huge increase in the number of hans recorded in the "Aleppo Salnâme"s in the late 1800s: from just 7 in 1867 to 11 in 1888, 18 in 1889, and 32 in 1898. According to Yasin Taş, this is because not only were new hans being built, but records were simply counting more types of commercial buildings as hans. Muslim and non-Muslim travelers would both use the same hans regardless of religion.


title: Urfa

text: In the countryside surrounding Urfa, life went on largely unchanged. Most rural villagers were involved in agriculture, and farmlands were typically plowed using the same low-tech methods that had been used for thousands of years. Cows and oxen were kept as draft animals. Irrigated farmland around the Euphrates and some streams was more expensive than the waterless fields called "deştî land" which was not able to be irrigated. Irrigation channels were repaired jointly among the people who used the water. Sometimes there would be people living in the city (often non-Muslim) who would own farmland outside the city and deputize local villagers (often Muslim) to run the farm under the muzâraa contract. In 1846, taxes could not be collected because of drought and locusts. In 1861, 1863, and 1886, there were locusts; in 1870 there was a drought due to lack of rain.


title: Urfa

text: Up until the mid-1890s, about 20,000 of the city's 60,000 residents were Armenians. In 1895, however, thousands of Armenians were killed in a series of massacres by both civilians and soldiers. First, in October, Turkish and Kurdish locals killed hundreds of Armenians over a two-day period. Then for two months the Armenian quarter was effectively subjected to a siege, with no food or water allowed in. The Turks claimed that the Armenians had a weapon cache, which they demanded in return for lifting the siege. In December, the siege ended when "a crowd of Turkish soldiers and civilians" entered the Armenian quarter and killed thousands of its inhabitants. About 3,000 survivors sought shelter in a nearby church - which is normally recognized as a place of refuge under Islamic law. However, soldiers burned the church to the ground, killing everyone inside. The troops went on to loot and burn the rest of the Armenian quarter. According to Lord Kinross, some 8,000 Armenians were killed in total.


title: Urfa

text: There was a small but ancient Jewish community in Urfa, with a population of about 1,000 by the 19th century. Most of the Jews emigrated in 1896, fleeing the Hamidian massacres, and settling mainly in Aleppo, Tiberias and Jerusalem. There were three Christian communities: Syriac, Armenian, and Latin. The last Neo-Aramaic Christians left in 1924 and went to Aleppo (where they settled in a place that was later called "Hay al-Suryan" "The Syriac Quarter").


title: Urfa

text: During the First World War, Urfa was a site of the Armenian and Assyrian genocides, beginning in August 1915. About 550 Armenians were killed in Urfa during two separate mass killings in 1915.


title: Urfa

text: Urfa Halkevi was established on 23 February 1934, on a site that had earlier been occupied by a vocational school called the Mekteb-i Sanayi. The halkevi opened with only 7 branches: Language and Literature, Fine Arts, Representation, Sport, Social Assistance, Library and Publication, and Villagers. An eighth branch, People's Classrooms and Courses, was added in 1935. Throughout its existence, the Urfa Halkevi faced financial difficulties. It was eventually closed down when the halkevi program was abolished in 1951.


title: Urfa

text: During this period, there were 7 newspapers in Urfa: the "Urfa'da Milli Gazete" (""National Gazette in Urfa""), "Yeni Işık" (""New Light""), "Yenilik" (""Newness""), "Işık" (""Light""), "Urfa", "Akgün" (""White Day""), and "İrfan" (""Knowledge"").


title: Urfa

text: During the Syrian Civil War, thousands of Syrian refugees fled to Turkey, and many of them settled in Urfa. When Raqqa became the capital of the Islamic State, Urfa became a gateway for jihadists entering Syria because of its closeness to the Akçakale-Tall Abyad border crossing and to Raqqa itself. The city's general religious-conservative climate meant that many locals who adhere to Salafi thought sympathized with the Islamic State, and many of its members lived in the city as well.


title: Urfa

text: According to some Jewish and Muslim sources, Urfa is Ur Kasdim, the hometown of Abraham, the grandfather of Jacob whom God named Israel. This identification was disputed by Leonard Woolley, the excavator of the Sumerian city of Ur in 1927 and scholars remain divided on the issue. Urfa is also one of several cities that have traditions associated with Job.


title: Urfa

text: For the Armenians, Urfa is considered a holy place since it is believed that the Armenian alphabet was invented there.


title: Urfa

text: It is a stronghold of the governing Justice and Development Party. However, in the 2009 local elections, the city elected an independent, Ahmet Eşref Fakibaba, as mayor.


title: Urfa

text: The ethnic and religious demographics of the city have shifted over the centuries and were largely diverse. In ancient times, the region was mixed with Greeks, Arabs, Syrians, and Armenians. At the time of the First Crusade, the majority of the population were either Armenian or Syriac Christians.


title: Urfa

text: In 1910, Ely Bannister Soane wrote that apart from Turkish effendis, Urfa was populated by Arabs, Kurds, and a large number of Armenians. British forces reported a mixed pre-war population of Kurds and Turks also including 7,500 Armenians. According to 1918 reports of the Urfa mutasarrifate, there were 33,000 Turks, 27,000 Kurds, 12,000 Arabs, 5,500 Armenians, 3,000 Assyrians, and 500 Jews in the central kaza.


title: Urfa

text: The Armenian and Assyrian Genocides, undertaken by Ottoman troops and Ottoman-sponsored militias such as the special organisation, led to the slaughter, deportation, and ethnic cleansing of much of the Christian population of Urfa and the surrounding region. Following the establishment of the Republic of Turkey, most of the remaining non-Muslim population left the city due to continued persecution.


title: Urfa

text: In early 19th century, the dominant language of the city was reported to be Turkish, while Hebrew, Armenian, Syriac, Kurdish, Arabic, and Persian were also spoken. Armenians were observed to speak Turkish to strangers, while Assyrians spoke Arabic.


title: Urfa

text: Since the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War, large numbers of refugees from Syria have settled in Urfa because of its closeness to the border and opportunities for employment. As of 2017, as many as 300,000 Syrians live in Urfa, out of the total population of 750,000. As of 2014, about 79% of Syrian refugees in Urfa were Arabic speakers, while the other 21% were Kurdish speakers.


title: Urfa

text: In general, Syrians in Urfa have clustered in areas where home rental prices are lower; typical rents range from 600 to 900 liras (as of 2019). These homes are often small, and often more than one nuclear family shares the same residence, so a 100-140-square-meter may accommodate 6-17 people. Syrians with the lowest incomes are most heavily concentrated in run-down neighborhoods with a lot of squatting that were previously inhabited mostly by poor people who had moved to Urfa from the countryside. Often, they are in outlying neighborhoods far from the city center. The largest number of Syrians in Urfa are in the Haliliye district, where they are especially concentrated in the neighborhoods ("mahalle"s) of Devteşti, Ahmet Yesevi, Süleymaniye, Bağlarbaşı, Şehitlik, Cengiz Topel, Şair Nabi, Yeşildirek, İpekyolu, Sancaktar, İmam Bakır and Yavuz Selim. The second-highest concentration is in Eyyübiye, whose neighborhoods ("mahalle"s) with the highest concentrations of Syrians are Eyyüpnebi, Hayati Harrani, Eyüpkent, Akşemsettin, Yenice, Muradiye, Direkli and Kurtuluş. In both cases, the Syrians here tend to prefer single-story residences where rents are not too high. The third urban district of Urfa, Karaköprü, has a much smaller Syrian presence. This area has been built up significantly in recent decades, with lots of luxury multi-story residences with high rents preferred by middle- and high-income residents. The Syrians who live here mostly had relatively high pre-war incomes. They are clustered in Maşuk, Karşıyaka, Akbayır and Şenevler. As of 2014, the largest concentrations of Syrians in the city were in the mahalles of Hayati Harrani (165 families), Bağlarbaşı (115), Devteşti (105), Ahmet Yesevi (91), and Eyyüpnebi (90 families).


title: Urfa

text: Syrian refugees in Urfa often struggle with financial difficulties and unemployment. The language barrier hinders integration into the surrounding community, and many Syrians tend to form their own communities and interact less with Turkish locals. Many Syrians in Urfa run their own businesses; workplaces belonging to Syrian refugees are clustered around Şehit Nusret Caddesi and Atatürk Boulevard, Sarayönü and Divanyolu Streets, and Haşimiye Meydan. Many Syrians are also self-employed as street vendors, selling food, clothes, toys, and other items.


title: Urfa

text: Before 2017, relations were relatively friendly between Syrians and Turks, but after 2017 relations began to deteriorate as there was a growing perception among Turks that Syrians were to blame for economic stagnation. The rapid increase in Syrian-owned businesses in Urfa, depressed wages for workers, and a perception of Syrians are "cheap labor" have all contributed to anti-Syrian sentiment among Turks. Some Turks also resent the fact that Syrian refugees have free access to healthcare and education. In July 2019, local authorities removed all Arabic-language signs on Syrian-owned businesses in Urfa and made Turkish-language signs mandatory.


title: Urfa

text: The average per capita income in Urfa is $4,400 USD per year. Unemployment in Urfa is 18%, among young people it is 35%.


title: Urfa

text: Urfa is a center of footwear production in the region, and around 5,000 people are employed in this sector. The Istanbul-based shoe retailer FLO, owned by the Ziylan Group, opened a shoe factory in Urfa in 2012. As of 2018, this factory employed 900 people and was the largest footwear factory in the region, producing 1.8 million pairs of shoes per year. FLO was planning to open a second factory, employing 1,500 more people, in the city in early 2019. According to the province governor Abdullah Erin, there were also plans to open some 13 more shoe factories in the Organized Industrial Zone by 2023, employing as many as 20,000 people and producing 30 million pairs of shoes annually.


title: Urfa

text: The Organized Industrial Zone (Turkish: Organize Sanayi Bölgesi) is located 17 km west of central Urfa on the highway to Gaziantep. Construction started in 1991. The site consists of three areas covering over 1,700 hectares as of 2018. It is home to about 250 companies and employs about 13,000 people.


title: Urfa

text: The Evren Industrial Estate (Turkish: Evren Sanayi Sitesi) is a Small Industrial Site located about 7 km west of central Urfa on the highway to Gaziantep. It covers about 140 hectares and is home to about 1500 businesses. It became operational in 1994.


title: Urfa

text: As the city of Urfa is deeply rooted in history, so its unique cuisine is an amalgamation of the cuisines of the many civilizations that have ruled in Urfa . It is widely believed that Urfa is the birthplace of many dishes, including Raw Kibbé (Çiğ Köfte), that according to the legend, was crafted by the Prophet Abraham from ingredients he had at hand. The walnut-stuffed Turkish dessert crepe (called "şıllık") is a regional specialty.


title: Urfa

text: Many vegetables are used in the Urfa cuisine, such as the "'Ecır," the "Kenger," and the "İsot", the legendary local red capsicum that is a smaller and darker cultivar of the Aleppo pepper that takes a purplish black hue when dried and cured.


title: Urfa

text: Unlike most of the Turkish cities that use different versions of regular butter in their regional cuisine, Urfa is, together with Antep, Mardin and Siirt a big user of clarified butter, made exclusively from sheep's milk, called locally "Urfayağı" (""Urfabutter"").


title: Urfa

text: "Çan Çekiç Oyunu" is a traditional dice game of Urfa played with eight dice for money. "Dörtlü Oyunu" is a traditional dance of Urfa involving four people who each hold a red handkerchief in the right hand and a white one in the left hand. It is set to music played on the zurna and davul (types of horn and drum, respectively).


title: Urfa

text: "Derrebu Derinebu" is a tag-like playground game from Urfa that is a variant of the game "Darabil" from Gaziantep. In Derrebu Derinebu, players form two teams that face each other. A player from one team attempts to cross over to the other team, tag any number of players, and return, all while singing a rhyme without pausing for breath. The game locally known as "Arası Kesme" (called "Ara Kesme", "Esir Almaca", or other names in other parts of Turkey) is a capture-style game where one team tries to retrieve players from a designated area while the other team tries to stop them. A local variety of hide-and-seek ("Saklambaç") is known as "Ebe Saklama". "Alkuç Balkuç" is an object-hiding game from Urfa where players stand in a circle and secretly pass an object from hand to hand. "Çukur Atma" is a marbles-type game of Urfa, except played with plum or apricot seeds instead of actual marbles. Another game particular to Urfa is "İğne Miğne Kiraz" and the finger-and-hand-based games "Beş Parmağı Yüz veya Bin Yapmak" and "Açıl Kilidim Açıl".


title: Urfa

text: Urfa's old town has many old courtyard houses; a lot of them date back to the 1800s. A typical Urfa courtyard house is centered around a high-walled courtyard that is closed to the street. Facing the courtyard is a porticoed antechamber covered by a roof and partially surrounded by three walls. In Urfa, the name for this space is "mastaba"; elsewhere, the more general term is "iwan". There are also various other rooms with various purposes, such as bedrooms, a kitchen ("tandir"), a sitting room, or a water closet. There is also a semi-basement called the "zerzembe", which is used for winter food storage and is practically omnipresent in traditional Turkish homes in a hot climate. The house as a whole, with its courtyard, mastaba, and other rooms, forms one integrated living space rather than each room being its own "isolated, independent" space.


title: Urfa

text: Together, the courtyard and mastaba form the most important part of the house. Except in very cold weather, most family activities would traditionally take place here. In particular, the courtyard is where women would traditionally gather to visit with each other during the day, while doing household tasks like lacework, knitting, or sewing, and moving about to whichever part of the courtyard was shaded. The courtyard's importance is such that in Turkish it is often called "hayat" — literally, "life". For privacy, the courtyard is surrounded by high walls to prevent prevent passersby from looking in from the street. For the same reason, it is not entered directly from the street; instead, the front door leads to the "dehliz", or entrance hall, where a second door opens onto the courtyard. Inside the courtyard, there is often a fountain and small garden. As for the mastaba, it is usually the grandest and most architecturally elaborate part of the house. Because of Urfa's hot climate, people like to sit here because it is cool (or summer mastaba).


title: Urfa

text: Traditional Urfa courtyard houses are often two-story. Rooms on the ground floor are called "kab", after a regional word meaning "arch vault". Rooms on the upper floor are called "çardak", or "arbor", and all open onto the "gezenek", an open terrace accessed by stairs from the courtyard. Each room is internally divided into two parts: the entry space, called the "gedemeç" or "papuçluk", and the main room space. Shoes must be removed in the "gedemeç" before proceeding to the main area. The main area is typically raised by about 20-30 cm above the "gedemeç".


title: Urfa

text: Urfa gets very hot in the summer, and it is often cooler to sleep on the roof than in the house. As a result, the roof is typically crowned by a parapet built high enough to protect the family's privacy.


title: Urfa

text: An important consideration in domestic architecture is "mahremiyat", which could roughly be translated into English as "privacy" or "intimacy" but which carries stronger implications. This concept is especially important when it comes to relations between men and women - outside the extended family, interaction between men and women is restricted. As a result, traditional Urfa houses are constructed in ways to prevent men outside from viewing the women of the household. For example, doors facing each other, windows facing the street, and significant differences in roof elevation are all avoided.


title: Urfa

text: In wealthier households, the house would be built with separate "haremlik" and "selamlik" quarters; poorer and middle-class houses would not have this luxury. The haremlik is where the family lives; the selamlik is a "semi-public" space used to host male guests and shelter animals. The haremlik is generally larger and "better equipped" than the selamlik, since it is where most everyday family life is conducted. In larger houses, the selamlik may have its own courtyard, smaller than the haremlik's. The selamlik never has a second story since that would allow male visitors to see into the haremlik courtyard from above. In some houses there is a second floor above the selamlik, but it belongs to the haremlik and can only be accessed through that part of the house. In larger homes, the selamlik may also have its own separate entrance.


title: Urfa

text: These courtyard houses are often built facing south, as this is the qibla direction here. Their water closets are typically tucked out of the way of the kitchen and oriented so that when they are used, a person's intimate parts on either the front or back are not facing the qibla.


title: Urfa

text: Some distinct features of Urfa houses are separate summmer and winter porticos ("mastaba"s), microclimactic features to control heat, the multifunctionality of all the spaces, the fact that they can be used for daytime or nighttime activities, and the fact that men and women use the same areas so the house is not generally construtted with separate quarters for men and women.


title: Urfa

text: Harran University was established in Urfa in 1992 as an amalgamation of several different faculties that had previously been attached to two different universities. The first of these was the Vocational School, which had been established in 1976 as a subordinate of Dicle University in Diyarbakır and was the first institute of higher learning in Urfa. Also attached to Dicle University were the Faculty of Agriculture (established in 1978) and the Faculty of Engineering (established in 1984). Gaziantep University had also established a Faculty of Theology in Urfa in 1988. With the foundation of Harran University, these departments were all brought together under a single organization. Several new faculties were also created at the same time: the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, the Faculty of Medicine, the Institute of Social Sciences, and the Institute of Science and Health Sciences.


title: Urfa

text: Since 1992, a number of additional departments have been added to the university. It now comprsises 14 faculties, 4 "schools" (Turkish: Yüksekokul), 3 institutes, and 13 vocational schools. The Şanlıurfa Vocational School was split in two in 2011, one focusing on technical sciences and the other focusing on social sciences. The other vocational schools under the university's rectorate are all located in other towns, as are the Siverek Faculty of Applied Sciences and the Viranşehir School of Health. Also under the university's banner is the State Conservatory, which was established in 2011.


title: Urfa

text: By 1906, the presence of a vocational school in Urfa called the Mekteb-i Sanayi is attested. It was used as a hospital for wounded fighters during the Turkish War of Independence. This school stayed open after the war and is attested again in 1927, by then under the name of Urfa Male Industry School (Urfa Erkek Sanayi Mektebi). This school's building was demolished in the late 1930s and the Halkevi building was built on its site.


title: Urfa

text: The Urfa Girls' Institute (Turkish: "Urfa Kız Enstıtüsü"), which opened in 1942, was an early vocational school teaching practical trades and general subjects to girls and young women. Its students were girls from ages 12 to 17 who had graduated primary school (up to 19 for specialized classes). The curriculum covered five years and was divided into two levels: the first three grades were secondary-level, general-knowledge courses for primary school graduates; while the last two were post-secondary-level and specifically for technical education. The general education classes included subjects such as science, mathematics, history, geography, Turkish, French, bookkeeping, physical education, and music. Once the student completed these three years, she was considered a secondary school graduate and could proceed to the two years of post-secondary education. This was also open to students who had completed secondary school elsewhere. The main specialized branches were sewing and fashion; individual classes also included artificial flowers, embroidery, childcare and health information, cooking, and housekeeping.


title: Urfa

text: At the end of every academic year, there was an exhibition featuring the students' work, including sewing, embroidery, dresses and other clothes, hats, artificial flowers, and painting. Journalist Ekrem Erden wrote about one exhibition in 1954 which was visited by 1500 people a day and featured dresses, hats, coats, men's and women's shirts, blouses, nightgowns, and pajamas. During the school year the school also put on fashion shows also featuring students' creations. The schools would also accept orders from customers as part of their practical lesson plans, and then give students a share of the profits; this was to help accustom them to business life and also to provide them with some money as well. The teachers were mostly female; there were only a handful of male teachers.


title: Urfa

text: The Girls' Institute also had an evening school, which was open to women up to the age of 45, regardless of educational background; they attended classes once or twice per week, with 6 hours of classes per week in total. Students between the ages of 17 and 25 formed the single largest student demographic at the evening school, but younger and older students were also not uncommon.


title: Urfa

text: When the Girls' Institute first opened in 1942, there was no separate building for it; the lessons were held at the İnönü Primary School in the meantime. The school's first academic year was 1942-43 and there were 12 students (8 secondary and 4 post-secondary) along with 26 evening school students. According to Necla Alpan, one of the school's early students, this low number was because of the societal prejudice against sending girls to school. Urfa had a "closed society" and female literacy was low, and there was some pushback from the locals against the school. The journalist and author Ahmet Naci İpek, who was a primary school student at the time, later recalled that many of the fathers were forbidding and did not want their daughters to attend school, saying things like "What will happen if a girl reads?" On the other hand, he also recalled that many of the mothers, who had been confined to domestic life, were enthusiastic about the school's opening and hoped their daughters could gain knowledge and independence, and pushed back against their husbands' reluctance. A local newspaper article from February 1947 wrote that teachers were disappointed by the low number of students: from Urfa's population of about 40,000 at the time, the paper estimated that one could expect some 300-400 students at the Girls' Institute, but just 67 girls actually attended the school for the 1946-47 academic year. The paper attributed this to people not wanting to send their daughters to school.


title: Urfa

text: The Girls' Institute program continued until the 1974-75 academic year, when they were reworked into the Girls' Vocational High School (Turkish: "Kız Meslek Lisesi"). The archive of the Urfa Girls' Institute is now in the archive of the Bahçelievler Vocational and Technical Anatolian School ("Bahçelievler Mesleki ve Teknik Anadolu Lisesi").


title: Urfa

text: The boys' equivalent to the Girls' Institute was Urfa Institute of Art for Boys (Turkish: "Urfa Erkek Sanat Enstıtüsü"), which provided vocational education to boys aged 12 to 17.] The objective was to teach them the skills needed to become skilled workers and artisans.


title: Urfa

text: The Institute had three main branches: woodworking, blacksmithing, and leveling. Other subjects were also taught at the school, including Turkish, citizenship, history, geography, mathematics, physics, "general technology", chemstiry, "collective courses", physical education, health science, decorative painting, and "applied mechanics and tools". Like other Institutes in Turkey, education at the Urfa Institute of Art for Boys was divided into two phases: the Male Middle Art School, covering the first three years and the Male Art Institute, covering the last two years. After completing the first three years, students had to pass an exam in order to receive a diploma as a graduate of the Male Middle Art School. If they wished to continue their education and training, they could then move on to the Male Art Institute. Again, after completing this period there was an exam that students had to pass in order to receive a diploma as a graduate of the Urfa Male Art Institute.


title: Urfa

text: The institute's students also took part in performing arts like music and theatre, and gave performances in front of audiences. These were done for various reasons, including social activities among students, as well as helping students who were struggling financially.


title: Urfa

text: In the 1940s, there was a general opening of Art Schools for Boys in Turkey. The Urfa Institute of Art for Boys opened on 30 October 1944, as the Urfa Male Middle Art School (Turkish: "Urfa Erkek Orta Sanat Okulu"), during a general wave of opening vocational schools for boys in Turkey in the 1940s. The school's opening was presided over by Urfa governor Feyyaz Bosut. For the 1947-48 academic year, the school was expanded into the Male Art Institute with the addition of "circuit classes".