BĒṮ ĀRAMAYĒ

 

BĒṮ ĀRAMAYĒ, lit. “land of the Arameans,” the region and Sasanian province of Āsōristān in Iraq between the Jabal Ḥamrīn and Maysān. It is called Balad al-Nabaṭ in the Arabic Chronicle of Sīrt. A marzbān of this province is attested under Šāpūr II (r. 309-79), Yazdegerd I (r. 399-421), Pērōz (r. 459-84), in 485, 496, and prior to 525 (stationed at Rāḏān). A mōpat of Bēṯ Āramayē is attested under Ḵosrow I (r. 531-79) when Mār Abā was Nestorian catholicos (540-52). This province disappeared as an administra­tive unit as a result of the reforms of Ḵosrow I, but Elias of Naṣībīn calls Zīād (44/664) and al-Ḥajjāj (75/694) governors of Bēṯ Āramayē in Syriac for Iraq in his Arabic text. The Nestorian church province of Bēṯ Āramayē dependent on the patriarchal see at Seleucia is attested in 486, 544, ca. 612, the mid-eighth century, ca. 900, and in the twelfth century, and included the bishoprics of Kaškar (Wāseṭ), Bēṯ Darayē, Zawābī, Ḥīra, and Anbār (Fīrūz Šāpūr).

Bibliography:

F. Baethgen, Fragmente syrischer und arabischer Historiker, Leipzig, 1884, pp. 26, 35.

P. Bedjan, Acta Martyrum et Sanctorum, Leipzig and Paris, 1894, IV, p. 176.

O. Braun, Ausgewählte Akten persischer Märtyrer, Munich, 1915, pp. 146, 200-02.

J.-B. Chabot, “Le livre de la chasteté,” Mélanges d’archéologie et d’histoire 16, 1896, pp. 8, 12, 26, 43, 61, 233, 236, 247, 261, 275.

Idem, Synodicon Orientale, Paris, 1902, pp. 53, 70, 90, 300, 320, 345, 532-33.

Elias of Naṣībīn (bar Šināyē), Opus Chronologicum, CSCO, Scriptores Syri 21, Louvain, 1954, pp. 55, 142; 23, Louvain, 1954, pp. 31, 69.

J. M. Fiey, Assyrie chrétienne, Beirut, 1965-68, III, pp. 189, 148-49.

G. Hoffmann, Auszüge aus syrischen Akten persischer Märtyrer, Leipzig, 1880, pp. 38, 81, 88, 114.

M. Morony, “Continuity and Change in the Administrative Geography of Late Sasanian and Early Islamic al-ʿIrāq,” Iran 20, 1982, pp. 3-4.

A. Scher, “Histoire nestorienne,” Patrologia Orientalis 7, 1911, pp. 15, 129, 154.

(Michael Morony)

Originally Published: December 15, 1989

Last Updated: December 15, 1989

This article is available in print.
Vol. IV, Fasc. 2, p. 186

Cite this entry:

Michael Morony, “BĒṮ ĀRAMAYĒ,” Encyclopædia Iranica, IV/2, p. 186, available online at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/be-aramaye (accessed on 30 December 2012).