Page 32 - Edessa, 'The Blessed City'-01, by J. B. Segal (Oxford, 1970). Chapters 1-3

SOCIAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE STRUCTURE 19
the Imperial army which Maximinus led to Germany. They revolted against
him on the death of Alexander Severus in 235, and raised a Senator named
Quartinus to the purple, with fatal consequences for their nominee. But the
subservience of the military at Edessa to the royal household is eloquently
shown by the Syriac inscription on the column on the Citadel mount that
was erected by the military governor of the town:
I Aphtuha the nu[hadrd\n of Bars[h. . . .' m]ade this column and the statue which is
on it to Shalmath the Queen daughter of Ma'nu the pa[s]griba wife of [. . . the kin]g my
lady [ ].»
The administration of Edessa was evidently efficiently organized, as befitted
a Hellenistic foundation, with a corps of officials with clearly defined pre-
cedence and functions. In the narrative of the conversion of king Abgar to
Christianity we read of a 'second in the kingdom', whom the Apostle Addai
healed of his gout. This personage, it may be noted, was called, 'Abdu bar
'Abdu—his name, then, is probably Nabataean like those of many of the
kings of Edessa. The 'second in the kingdom' no doubt carried the Iranian
title of pasgriba;3 perhaps he may have been not Viceroy, but heir-apparent
to the throne. Certainly he was the highest-ranking officer in the kingdom.
The pasgriba Ma'nu, mentioned on the column inscription in the Citadel,
was father of the queen of Edessa, and he may be that Ma'nu whose head
appears on the reverse side of a coin of Edessa. Another principal office of
state was that of the 'ruler of the Arabs', or Arabarchos, who probably
governed the marches to the east of Edessa.4 The dignitary called nuhadra
was probably of lower rank than the Arabarchos, for the son of an Arabarchos
seems, according to a Syriac inscription of probably the second century, to
have held the rank of nuhadra. Like pasgriba, the title nuhadra is Iranian.5 In
Parthia in the third century A.D., it was held by the governor of a town and
its environs, and at Edessa in the same period the nuhadra may have been in
charge of local administration. He is also likely to have had military functions,
for the Persian general who invaded Osrhoene in 354 carried the title of
nuhadra.

(I owe this information to the kindness of War, who were under the command of Antony.
Dr. R. D. Barnett and Dr. E. Sollberger of They are said to have taken part in the fight-
the British Museum.) But Mesopotamia was ing against the Jews at Jerusalem in A.D. 70
probably renowned for its archers much and in campaigns in Europe and Africa under
earlier. In the region of Amid (Diyarbakr), was the Severi. Archers appear in tableaux at Dura
found the commemorative stele of Naramsin, Europos.
grandson of Sargon, erected in about 2300 B.C. 1 Probably Barshuma, or Barshelama, or
The use of bowmen by that victorious general Barsamya. z PI. 290.
may have contributed largely to his success. 3 This is evident from the early 'Hymn of
On the stele his troops are depicted in loose the Soul', p. 31. In inscriptions at Hatra are
formation, not in the compact phalanxes of the found the forms PSGRR, or PZGRYB'; the
Sumerians, lightly clad, and armed with bows Parthian form is pasagriw.
and arrows. Palmyra too furnished bowmen 4 See p. 22 below.
for the Roman army at the time of the Civil 5. Parthian nakktuadhar, nokhadhar.

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