Prehistory ,
Pre-Pottery Neolithic, .
Şanlıurfa Museum. Urfa shares the
Balikh River Valley region with two other significant
Neolithic sites at
Nevalı Çori and
Göbekli Tepe. Settlements in the area originated around 9000 BC as a
PPNA Neolithic sites located near Abraham's Pool (site name:
Balıklıgöl). There is no written evidence for earlier settlement at the site, but Urfa's favorable commercial and geographical placement suggests that there was a smaller settlement present prior to 303 BC. In prehistoric times, the Urfa Region was attractive for human habitation because of its dense grazing areas and the presence of wild animals on migration routes. As a result, the area became densely populated, particularly in the Neolithic period. In Urfa itself, there was a prehistoric settlement at Yeni Mahalle Höyüğü (aka Balıklıgöl Höyüğü), located immediately north of Balıklıgöl in the heart of the old town. A much later artifact is a black stone pedestal with a double bull relief, found at a hill called Külaflı Tepe in the former village of Cavşak in the 1950s when the village was being evacuated to build a base for the Urfa Brigade. The pedestal contains an inscription with an invocation to the god
Tarhunza and mentions a city whose name is only partly visible, but which Bahattin Çelik restores as "Umalia", in the country of
Bit Adini. Seleucus named the city Edessa after the
ancient capital of Macedonia. Ancient sources describe Seleucid Edessa as following the typical plan for Hellenistic military colonies: its streets were laid out in a grid pattern, with four main streets that intersected each other. There were four city gates, and the main citadel was outside the walls. Macedonian soldiers were settled in the new city, but they never formed a majority of its population. The city's culture remained predominantly Semitic (specifically Aramaic), and any
Hellenization was minimal. The city reportedly had 300 or 360 churches, and there were many monasteries. The population was mostly Syrian Orthodox but with significant Melkite and Jewish minorities; there were relatively few Muslims. In 812, Urfa's citizens had to pay a large sum to the anti-Abbasid rebel
Nasr ibn Shabath al-Uqayli to prevent him from attacking the unprotected city. In the spring of 943, the Byzantine army campaigned in upper Mesopotamia, capturing several cities and either threatening Urfa or, according to
Symeon Magister, besieging it outright. Upon becoming aware of the city's weakness, Zengi led a series of forced marches and
laid siege to the city on 24 November. The Turks suppressed this plot and settled 300 Jewish families in the city. Sometime in October, Joscelin II and
Baldwin of Marash came and laid siege to the city. Moreover, the city's population was massacred – the men were put to death, while the women and children were sold into slavery.
Zengid and Ayyubid rules Although Nur ad-Din was an active builder elsewhere, only one building at Urfa can be attributed to him: the "rather plain" Great Mosque, which was probably on the site of an earlier church. In June 1234, the city was taken by the Seljuk sultan
Kayqubad I's army, and its inhabitants were deported to Anatolia. At the same time, the city's prosperity attracted bandits and nomadic tribes, although the urban population was largely unaffected. Many Jewish, Armenian, and Greek merchants were present in Urfa, especially from Aleppo. There was a small but ancient
Jewish community in Urfa, with a population of about 1,000 by the 19th century. Most of the Jews emigrated in 1896, fleeing the
Hamidian massacres, and settling mainly in
Aleppo,
Tiberias and
Jerusalem. There were three Christian communities:
Syriac,
Armenian, and
Latin. The last
Neo-Aramaic Christians left in 1924 and went to Aleppo (where they settled in a place that was later called
Hay al-Suryan "The
Syriac Quarter").
World War I and after , which assigned Urfa to the French-controlled
Mandate of Syria. Urfa is shown here just below the dotted red line, and directly above the "Y" in "Syria". During
World War I, Urfa was a site of the
Armenian and
Assyrian genocides, beginning in 1915. Members of Urfa's Armenian community were deported and killed. In May, 18 families were deported from Urfa, and in June, 50 people were arrested, tortured, and then deported to Diyarbakır, where they were killed on the road. As a result, Urfa was occupied by British and then French troops. When
Raqqa became the capital of the
Islamic State, Urfa became a gateway for jihadists entering Syria because of its closeness to the
Akçakale-
Tall Abyad border crossing and to Raqqa itself. The city's general religious-conservative climate meant that many locals who adhere to
Salafi thought sympathized with the Islamic State, and many of its members lived in the city as well. On 6 February 2023, Urfa suffered some damage from the twin
Turkey-Syria earthquakes. ==Geography==