Orontes River - History

History

Mainly unnavigable and of little use for irrigation, the Orontes derives its historical importance solely from the convenience of its valley for traffic from north to south; roads from the north and northeast, converging at Antioch, follow the course of the stream up to Homs where they build the Al-Rastan dam, where they fork to Damascus and to Syria and the south; and along its valley have passed the armies and traffic bound to and from Egypt in all ages. On the Orontes was fought the Battle of Kadesh during the reign of Ramesses II (1279 – 1213 BC). By the Orontes the Battle of Qarqar was fought in 853 BC, when the army of Assyria, led by king Shalmaneser III, encountered an allied army of 12 kings led by Hadadezer of Damascus. In 637 A.D the Battle of Iron bridge was fought between the forces of Rashidun Caliphate and Byzantine Empire near the Iron bridge on the river made by Romans.

The Orontes has long been a boundary marker. For the Egyptians it marked the northern extremity of Amurru, east of Phoenicia. For the Crusaders in the 12th century, the Orontes River became the permanent boundary between the Principality of Antioch and that of Aleppo.

The French writer Maurice Barrès (1862–1923) wrote about the river in his Un Jardin sur l'Oronte.