Hellenistic and Roman periods According to
Appian, Chalcis was founded by
Seleucus I Nicator (reigned 305-281 BC), and named after
Chalcis in
Euboea. Chalcis was distinguished from
Chalcis sub Libanum (modern
Anjar, Lebanon) by its river, the ancient
Belus. The river—but not the city—was named for the
Semitic god Bel or
Baʿal. In 92 AD, Chalcis received the title "Flavia", in honor of Emperor
Domitian, to be known as "Flavia of the Chalcidonese".
Late Roman and Byzantine period The city was a Christian
bishopric from an early stage, at first a
suffragan of
Seleucia Pieria, but later raised to the dignity of autocephalous
archdiocese. The names of several of its bishops are known, from that of 3rd-century Tranquillus to that of Probus, who lived at the end of the 6th century and whom
Emperor Mauritius Tiberius sent as his envoy to the
Persian king
Chosroes I. In
Late Antiquity, it belonged to the province of
Syria Prima. Its importance was due to its strategic location, both as a caravan stop and as part of the frontier zone (
limes) with the desert. In 540, the
Sassanid shah
Khosrau I appeared before the city and extracted 200 pounds of gold as ransom in return for sparing the city. This prompted the Emperor
Justinian I to order its fortifications rebuilt, a work undertaken by
Isidore the Younger (a nephew of
Isidore of Miletus) in . The Sassanids occupied the city in 608/9, during the
Byzantine–Sassanid War of 602–628, and kept it until the war's end.
Early Islamic period Barely ten years later, in 636/7, it was
conquered by the Arabs after a brief resistance. The Arab general
Khalid ibn al-Walid took up residence in the city thereafter. The
Umayyad caliph
Yazid I () ordered its walls to be demolished. He or his father and predecessor
Mu'awiya I () made Qinnasrin the center of its own
jund (military district), called
Jund Qinnasrin, within the greater administrative region of
Islamic Syria. They utilized the city as an important army headquarters, though until the mid-10th century there were no recorded events of significance relating to Qinnasrin. By 943, during
Hamdanid rule, Qinnasrin was noted as one of northern Syria's most well-built cities, though it lost its paramountcy in Jund Qinnasrin to nearby
Aleppo. The Hamdanid emir of Aleppo
Sayf al-Dawla was defeated at Qinnasrin by the
Ikhshidids of Egypt in 945. During the second half of the 10th century, the city became a frequent conflict zone between the Byzantines and Hamdanids during the latter stages of the
Arab–Byzantine wars. Upon news of an impending Byzantine assault, the inhabitants evacuated in 963 though they returned afterward. Three years later, Sayf al-Dawla made a stand against the Byzantine emperor
Nikephoros II Phokas at Qinnasrin, but ultimately retreated and evacuated its residents, after which the Byzantines set fire to its mosques. The inhabitants then made their abode partly in areas east of the
Euphrates and partly in Aleppo. Within several years, Qinnasrin was repopulated but destroyed again by the Byzantines in 998. It was rebuilt, but once more sacked by the Byzantines in 1030. The Persian geographer
Nasir Khusraw passed through in 1047 and mentioned Qinnasrin was an impoverished village. Toward the end of the 11th century, Qinnasrin was rebuilt by the
Seljuq ruler of
Anatolia Sulayman ibn Qutulmish. However, the city was destroyed by his Seljuq rival from Damascus,
Tutush I (). It remained as a barely populated, but strategic town during the
Crusader period. In 1119, the
Artuqid emir
Ilghazi made it into an arms depot from which he raided the surrounding areas of Ruj, Jabal Summaq and
Harim.
Ottoman period The region was known as during the
Ottoman era. ==See also==