Editing Orontes River (section)

==Names==
In the 9th century BCE, the ancient [[Assyrian people|Assyrians]] referred to the river as '''Arantu''', and the nearby [[Egyptians]] called it '''Araunti'''.<ref name="trev" /> The etymology of the name is unknown,<ref name="trev">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t_YB3cdPz7UC&pg=PT1348|title=History of Egypt, Chaldæa, Syria, Babylonia and Assyria (Complete)|author=Gaston Maspero|page= 1348}}</ref> yet some sources indicate that it might be derived from ''Arnt'' which means "lioness" in [[Syriac language]]s;{{efn|The source of the river Orontes is the village of [[Labweh]], which also means "lioness".}} others called it ''Alimas'', a "water goddess" in [[Aramaic]].<ref name=balla>{{cite book|author1=Ballabio, R.|author2=Comair, F.G.|author3=Scalet, M.|author4=Scoullos, M.|url=https://www.gwp.org/globalassets/global/gwp-med-files/news-and-activities/various/orontes-book/science-diplomacy-and-transboundary-water-management_the-orontes-river-case.pdf <!-- https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000233031 --> |title=Science diplomacy and transboundary water management: the Orontes River case|publisher=[[UNESCO]] Publishing|year=2015|page=89, 102, 125-127, 200|isbn=9789230000172}}</ref> ''Arantu'' gradually became "Orontes" in Greek.

In the Greek epic poem ''[[Dionysiaca]]'' (circa 400 CE), the river is said to have been named after Orontes, an Indian military leader who killed himself and fell into the river after losing to Dionysus in single combat.<ref>{{cite book|author= Nonnos of Panopolis|title=Delphi Complete Dionysiaca of Nonnus (Illustrated)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XL0yCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT179 |date=20 July 2015|publisher=Delphi Classics|pages=book 17}}</ref> According to the Greek geographer [[Strabo]] (in ''[[Geographica]]'', circa 20 CE), the river was originally named [[Typhon]], because it was said that [[Zeus]] had struck the dragon Typhon down from the sky with thunder, and the river had formed where Typhon's body had fallen;<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Strabo/16B*.html#2.7 |title=LacusCurtius • Strabo's Geography — Book XVI Chapter 2|website=penelope.uchicago.edu|language=en|access-date=2017-02-03}}</ref> however, the river was later renamed Orontes when a man named Orontes built a bridge on it.<ref name=":0" />{{efn|[[Pliny the Elder]] mentioned a tributary of the Orontes as Marsyas river (named after [[Marsyas]]).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0064%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DM%3Aentry+group%3D6%3Aentry%3Dmarsyas-geo02 |title=Marsyas|work=Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography}}</ref> The same tributary was drawn by [[Richard Pococke]] to the east of the Orontes in the [[al-Ghab plain]] near [[Apamea, Syria|Apamea]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Richard Pococke|author-link=Richard Pococke|url=https://archive.org/stream/gri_33125009339611#page/n21/mode/2up |title=A description of the East, and some other countries Vol. II|publisher=[[William Bowyer (printer)|William Bowyer]]|year=1743|page=140}}</ref>}}

[[Macedonia (ancient kingdom)|Macedonian settlers]] in [[Apamea, Syria|Apamea]] named it the '''[[Axius (mythology)|Axius]]''', after a Macedonian river god. The Arabic name {{lang|ar|العاصي}} ({{transliteration|ar|al-‘Āṣī}}) is derived from the ancient ''Axius''. The word coincidentally means "insubordinate" in Arabic, which [[folk etymology]] ascribes to the fact that the river flows from the south to the north unlike the rest of the rivers in the region.<ref name=aramaco>{{cite journal|last1=Fitchett|first1=Joseph |last2=Deford|first2=McAdams |title=A River Called Rebel|journal=Aramco World|date=1973|issue=May/June|pages=12–21 |url=http://www.aramcoworld.com/issue/197303/a.river.called.rebel.htm |access-date=15 February 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RqdPcxuNthcC&pg=PA100 |title=The Hellenistic Settlements in Syria, the Red Sea Basin, and North Africa|author=Getzel M. Cohen|page= 100}}</ref>

The part of the river flowing from [[Lake Homs]] to [[Homs]] is known as '''al-Mimas''',<ref>{{cite book|last=Dussaud|first=René |language=fr|title=Topographie historique de la Syrie antique et médiévale|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_YQMCwAAQBAJ|page=103}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|author=عمر فاروق الطباع|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eLaQDQAAQBAJ |title=ديوان البحتري 1/2|script-title=ar:Diwan of Buhturi|publisher=دار الارقم بن ابي الارقم|year=2016|location=Beirut|pages=169|language=ar}}</ref> after the sanctuary of Deir Mimas situated there in honor of [[Mammes of Caesarea|Saint Mamas]].<ref>{{Cite book|author=مصطفى الصوفي|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gpk2DgAAQBAJ |title=طقوس احتفالات المواسم والأعياد الربيعية|publisher=ktab INC.|year=2017|language=ar}}</ref>