The city of Prophets

,,,,,One of the oldest cities of the world, absolutely you should see ,,,,, The city where Adam and Eve lived,,,, The city where Abraham was borned and lived,,,, The city where Moses lived,,,,  The city where Elijah lived,,,,  The city where Jethro lived,,,,  The city where Job lived, ________,  and The city where i live for now, lucky me ,,,,,

The city has been known by many names: ܐܘܪܗܝ, Urhāy in Syriac, Riha in Kurdish, الروها, Ar-Ruha in Arabic, Ուռհա, Urha in Armenian, Ορρα, Orrha in Greek (also Ορροα, Orrhoa). For a while it was named Callirrhoe or Antiochia on the Callirhoe (Greek: �'ντιόχεια η επί Καλλιρρόης). During Byzantine rule it was named Justinopolis. Although it is often best known by the name given it by the Seleucids, Εδεσσα, Edessa.

'Şanlı' means great, glorious, dignified in Turkish and Urfa was officially re-named Şanlıurfa (Urfa the Glorious) by the Turkish Grand National Assembly in 1984, in recognition of the local resistance in the Turkish War of Independence.

 

•   In A Glance;

According to both the Bible and Quran it is the birthplace of Abraham before his migration to Canaan, now Palestine. Local Muslim legend differs from that of the other great monotheistic faiths by the intervention of one vicious and cruel King Nimrod, who had Abraham launched from a catapult from the city's citadel to fall into a pile of burning wood. Happily, God intervened, and turned the fire to water and the faggots to fish, and today, the visitor to the town can visit the mosque complex surrounding Abraham's Cave and The Pool of Sacred Fish (Balikligöl) around it.

The cruel ruler's giant slingshot is represented by two Corinthian columns still standing atop the citadel.

 

This is an Anatolian city which has figured in all the religions of the book. Old Testament prophets such as Jethro (Hz. Suayp), Job (Hz. Eyup), Elijah (Hz. Elyasa) and Abraham (Hz. Ibrahim) lived in this city, which in ancient times known as Edessa, and Moses (Hz. Musa) lived in the region for seven years working as a shepherd before returning to Egypt with his staff. It was in Sanliurfa that early Christians were first permitted to worship freely, and where the first churches were constructed openly. Pagan temples were converted to synagogues, synagogues to churches and churches to mosques, resulting in a uniquely eclectic architecture.

The city's history, is far more complex than mere legendary myths.

Known to the ancient Greeks as Orrhoe or Osrhoe, the famous Seleucus Nicator of Antioch, first established the capital of his eastern Hellenistic realm here, populating it with Macedonian veterans who preferred to call it Edessa, after their native province. Urfa remained an important garrison town into Roman times, and was one of the first centers of the early church, but one given over to the monophysite heresy.

 

The city was finally sacked by the Kurdish Zengi dynasty in 1146. Following the standard Mongol conquest of the Middle East, ancient Edessa disappeared from history in the 13th century, reemerging only in the present century. Thanks for its survival should go to the local population who brilliantly resisted French attempts to include it in greater Syria during Ottoman period. Like many of the other towns which offered resistance at the time of War of Liberation, Urfa has received the honorific "Sanli" (Honored) to append to its name.