Topics (move over topic to see place in topic list)
12 Assyrian Identity
12 Assyrian Identity
03 Religious festivals, cults, rituals and practices
05 Scientific knowledge and scholarly lore
Keywords
Arbela
Milqia
Period
4th century CE
7th century CE
Sasanid Empire
Channel
Iranian culture
Syriac texts
Text
A place called Melqi (mlqy) in the vicinity of Arbela figures in the Nestorian literary sources as the burial place of Mar Qardagh of Arbela (ca. 360 CE). It is highly likely that the site, where there was a fire temple and church complex, is identical with Milqia known from Assyrian sources as the site of an important Ištar temple. The text of a Syriac martyr’s legend of the 7th century CE on Mar Qardagh of Arbela, Sasanian marzban of northern Iraq under Shapur II in the 360’s CE, has several interesting connections with traditions or memories of Assyria, beginning with Qardagh’s genealogy traced from the royal house of “Athor” (Assyria) via Sennacherib on his mother’s side and Nimrod on his father’s side. According to the hagiographer, Qardagh’s cult began at a place called Melqi (MLQI) in the vicinity of Arbela, where there was a fire temple and church complex that was later converted into a church and market complex and eventually became a monastery. But the site appears to have declined (or changed names?) during the medieval period, and modern scholarship has been unable to locate it. The story of the saint’s life and his travels in the highlands north and east of Arbela make a location immediately to the northeast of Arbela an attractive hypothesis. The cult site of Mar Qardagh at “Melqi” described in the Nestorian literary sources is very probably identical with “Milqia”, site of an Ištar temple, noted in the Assyrian sources. If so, we have a very interesting case of long-term continuity in the religious topography of north Mesopotamia.
