Osroene, also spelled Osrohene and Osrhoene and sometimes known by the name of its capital city, Edessa (modern Şanlıurfa, Turkey), is a historic Assyian/Syriac kingdom located in Mesopotamia, which enjoys semi-autonomy to complete independence from the years of 132 BCE to CE 244.
It is a Syriac-speaking kingdom.
Osroene, or Edessa, acquires independence from the collapsing Seleucid Empire through a dynasty of the nomadic Nabatean tribe called Orrhoei from 136 BCE.
The name Osroene is derived from Osroes of Orhai, an Nabatean sheik who in 120 BCE wrests control of this region from the Seleucids in Syria.
Most of the kings of Osroene are called Abgar or Manu and they are Syriac kings who settle in urban centers.
Under its Nabatean dynasties, Osroëne becomes increasingly influenced by Aramaic culture and is a center of national reaction against Hellenism.
By the 5th century Edessa has become the headquarters of Syriac literature and learning.
In 608 Osroëne is taken by the Sāsānid Khosrow II, and in 638 it falls to the Muslims.The kingdom's area, the upper course of the Euphrates, becomes a traditional battleground for the powers that rule Asia Minor, Persia, Syria, and Armenia.
On the dissolution of Seleucid Empire, it is divided between Rome and Parthia.
At this time Osrhoene is within Parthian suzerainty.
However, the Romans later make several attempts to recover the region.
