Lectionary Calendar
Sunday, February 2nd, 2025
the Fourth Sunday after Epiphany
Attention!
Tired of seeing ads while studying? Now you can enjoy an "Ads Free" version of the site for as little as 10¢ a day and support a great cause!
Click here to learn more!

Bible Encyclopedias
Circesium

The Catholic Encyclopedia

Search for…
or
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z
Prev Entry
Cinna
Next Entry
Circumcision
Resource Toolbox

(KERKESION, KERKISION, KIRKISIA, CERCUSIUM, CIRCESSUS).

A titular see of Osrhoene. Founded under Diocletian and restored by Justinian, it is now identified with the village Abu Serai, on the left bank of the Euphrates, at the confluence of the Khabur, where the river was commonly crossed. The ancient city, however, had replaced a still older one, called Sirhi in Assyrian texts. Benjamin of Tudela and many after him identified it wrongly with Kharkamis (Carchamish), one of the capitals of the Hittites, situated at Jirbas, or Jerablus, the present name of Europos, or Oropos. Circesium was a bishopric in Osrhoene, suffragan of Edessa, it figures only in Parthey's "Notitiæ episcopatuum" (c. 840). Lequien (II, 977) mentions five bishops: Jonas, who was present at Nicæa, and had suffered mutilation during the preceding persecution; Abramius, present at Chalcedon; Nonnus, a Severian (518 and 532); Davides, present at Constantinople (536); Thomas (553). There are also records of fourteen Jacobite bishops, from 793 to 1042.

Sources

RAWLINSON, The Five Great Monarchies (4th ed., London, 1879), II, 67; MASPERO, De Charchemis oppidi situ et historiâ antiquissimâ, 14 sq.; NÖLDEKE, Götting. Nachricht. (Jan., 1876), nn. 11, 13, 15; CHABOT in Revue de l'Orient chrétien, VI, 194.

Bibliography Information
Obstat, Nihil. Lafort, Remy, Censor. Entry for 'Circesium'. The Catholic Encyclopedia. https://www.studylight.org/​encyclopedias/​eng/​tce/​c/circesium.html. Robert Appleton Company. New York. 1914.
 
adsfree-icon
Ads FreeProfile