Birtha (Commagene)

Birtha was an ancient town on the east bank of the Euphrates, at the upper part of a reach of that river, which runs nearly north-south, and just below a sharp bend in the stream, where it follows that course after coming from a long reach flowing more from the west. This town has often been confounded with the Birtha of Ptolemy (v. 19), but incorrectly. In fact, the name of Birtha occurs in no ancient writer. Zosimus (iii. 19) mentions that Julian, in his march to Maogamalcha, rested at a town called Bithra (Greek: polytonic|Βίθρα), where there was a palace of such vast dimensions that it afforded quarters for his whole army. (Comp. Le Beau, "Bas Empire", vol. iii. p. 93.) This town was no doubt the modern Birecik, Turkey (Albirat, Abulf. "Tab. Syr." p. 127). The castle of Bircejik rises on the left bank, so as to command the passage of the river on the opposite side, astride one of the most frequented of all the traditional passages into Mesopotamia. (Buckingham, "Mesopotamia", vol. i. p. 49; "Journ. Geog. Soc." vol. x. pp. 452, 517; Ghesney, "Exped. Euphrat." vol. i. p. 46; Ritter, "Erdkunde", vol. x. p. 976.)

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