Circesium

Coordinates: 35°09′24″N 40°25′33″E / 35.156758°N 40.425739°E / 35.156758; 40.425739 Circesium (Syriac: ܩܪܩܣܝܢ‎ qerqesīn) was an ancient city in Osrhoene, corresponding to the modern city of Buseira, in the region of Deir ez-Zor in Syria, at the confluence of the Khabur River with the Euphrates.

History

Circesium was founded under the Roman Emperor Diocletian at the confluence of the Khabur River with the Euphrates, where the river was commonly crossed. Circesium replaced a still older city, called Sirhi in Assyrian texts.

Circesium passed temporarily into the hands of the Persians by the treaty made by the Emperor Jovian (363).

According to the Notitia Dignitatum, at the beginning of the 5th century it was the seat of the Praefectus of the Legio IIII Parthica.

The city was restored by Justinian I.

Benjamin of Tudela and many after him identified it wrongly with Kharkamis (Carchamish) (known to the Greeks as Europos or Oropos), one of the capitals of the Hittites, located at Jirbas or Jerablus.