Atlas of the Ancient Near East

This atlas provides students and scholars with a broad range of information on the development
of the Ancient Near East from prehistoric times through the beginning of written records in the
Near East (c. 3000 bc) to the late Roman Empire and the rise of Islam. The geographical coverage
of the Atlas extends from the Aegean coast of Anatolia in the west through Iran and Afghanistan
to the east, and from the Black and Caspian Seas in the north to Arabia and the Persian Gulf and
Indian Ocean in the south.
The Atlas of the Ancient Near East includes a wide-ranging overview of the civilizations and
kingdoms discussed, written in a lively and engaging style, which considers not only political and
military issues but also introduces the reader to social and cultural topics such as trade, religion,
how people were educated and entertained, and much more. With a comprehensive series of
detailed maps, supported by the authors’ commentary and illustrations of major sites and key
artifacts, this title is an invaluable resource for students who wish to understand the fascinating
cultures of the Ancient Near East.

Trevor Bryce is an Honorary Professor at the University of Queensland and Fellow of the
Australian Academy of the Humanities. He has held positions as Reader in Classics and Ancient
History, University of Queensland, Professor of Classics and Ancient History, University of New
England (Australia), and Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Lincoln University, New Zealand.

Jessie Birkett-Rees is Lecturer in the Centre for Ancient Cultures at Monash University,
Melbourne. She is an archaeologist of the ancient Near East and a specialist in cultural landscape
analyses. Her fieldwork and research have focused on the emergence and development of com-
plex societies, and the changing relationships between humans and their environment in Turkey,
South Caucasia, Africa and Australia.
This Page is Intentionally Left Blank
 Atlas of the Ancient Near East
From Prehistoric Times to the Roman Imperial Period

by
Trevor Bryce
with an introductory section on
The Prehistoric Near East
by
Jessie Birkett-Rees
First published 2016
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2016 Trevor Bryce; Jessie Birkett-Rees for Part I
The right of Trevor Bryce to be identified as author of this work, and of Jessie Birkett-
Rees to be identified as the author of Part I, has been asserted by them in accordance
with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in
any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter
invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered
trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to
infringe.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested

ISBN: 978-0-415-50800-1 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-0-415-50801-8 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-73481-1 (ebk)

Typeset in Minion Pro and Myriad Pro

by Swales & Willis Ltd, Exeter, Devon, UK
 Contents

List of figures xiii

Acknowledgements xv
List of abbreviations xvi

Introduction 1
Map: The Near East in its modern context  1

PART I
The prehistoric Near East 7

  1 The geography and geology of the ancient Near East 9

Maps: The physical geography of the Near East  10
Tectonic plate boundaries  11
Forest zones  12
The Fertile Crescent  13
  2 Foragers and farmers: early agricultural communities 16
Maps: Locations of the independent development of agricultural
communities worldwide  18
Sites excavated in the ‘hilly flanks’ of the Fertile Crescent  19
  3 The prehistory of the Near East: key sites 21
Maps: Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene sites  22
Neolithic sites in the Near East  24
Site-plans: Abu Hureyra  25
Çayönü 28
Çatalhöyük 31
Maps: Neolithic and Chalcolithic sites in Mesopotamia  33
Sites of the Halaf and Early Ubaid periods  37
vi  Contents

PART II
Background to the historical era 39

4 The homelands of the major Near Eastern kingdoms 41

Maps: Core regions of the Near Eastern kingdoms  42
Mesopotamia and surrounding territories (NASA satellite image)  44
Modern Syria and its neighbours  45
5 Writing systems 47
6 A sample of sites where important inscriptions have been found 53
Map: Sites of important inscriptions  54
7 Trade and mineral resources 58
Maps: Trade routes linking Mesopotamia with its neighbours in the
Early Bronze Age  59
Mineral sources in the ancient Near East  60

PART III
The Early Bronze Age (continuing into the Middle Bronze Age) 63

8 The Sumerians 65
Map: Sumer and Akkad  66
Site-profile: Nippur  67
Site-plan: Nippur  67
9 Uruk (Warka, biblical Erech) 68
Map: Uruk in context  69
Site-plan: Uruk  69
10 Early Dynastic and Old Kingdom Egypt 71
Maps: Egypt during the Early Dynastic and Old Kingdom periods  71
Egypt today (NASA satellite image)  72
11 The Akkadian empire 73
Map: The Akkadian empire in Naram Sin’s reign (c. 2254–2218)  74
12 Ur and the Ur III empire 75
Map: The Ur III empire  76
13 The Early and Middle Bronze Age kingdoms of western Iran 78
Maps: Mesopotamia and western Iran in the 3rd and 2nd millennia bc 79
Trade routes linking Akkad with the Persian Gulf and Meluhha  79
14 The Amorites 81
Map: Northern Syria and northern Mesopotamia in the Early and Middle
Bronze Ages  82
Site-profile: Ebla  83
Site-plan: Ebla  83
 Contents vii

PART IV
The Middle Bronze Age (continuing into the Late Bronze Age) 85

15 The Isin and Larsa dynasties 87

Maps: The kingdoms of Isin and Larsa (c. 1950)  88
The kingdoms of Babylon and Larsa (c. 1790)  88
16 The Old Assyrian kingdom 89
Map: The Kingdom of Upper Mesopotamia in Samsi-Addu’s reign
(c. 1796–1775)  90
17 The Assyrian merchant colonies 92
Map: Trade routes during the Assyrian colony period  93
18 The Diyala region 94
Maps: Main centres of the Diyala region  95
19 The Habur (Khabur) river region 96
Map: The Habur region and its environs  97
20 The Old Babylonian kingdom 100
Map: The kingdom of Hammurabi (c. 1792–1750)  101
21 Mari 103
Site-plan: The palace of Mari  103
Map: Northern Mesopotamia during Zimri-Lim’s reign
(c. 1774–1762)  104
22 The cities and kingdoms of Syria in the Middle and Late Bronze Ages 106
Map: Syria, south-eastern Anatolia, and north-western Mesopotamia in
the 2nd millennium bc 107
Site-profile: Ugarit  110
Site-plan: Ugarit  110

PART V
The Late Bronze Age (continuing into the Iron Age) 111

23 The major Late Bronze Age kingdoms 113

Map: Late Bronze Age Anatolia, northern Syria, and northern
Mesopotamia (mid 14th cent.)  114
24 The Hittites 115
Maps: The Hittite homeland  115
The Hittite empire (late 14th–13th cent.)  116
Site-plan: Hattusa  118
25 Arzawa and the Luwians 121
Map: The Arzawa lands  121
viii  Contents

26 The Hurrians and Mitanni (Mittani) 123

Map: The Mitannian empire and its contemporaries (15th cent.)  123
27 The adventures of Idrimi 125
Map: Idrimi’s quest  125
28 The Middle Assyrian empire 127
Map: The Middle Assyrian empire (c. 1365–1076)  128
29 Kassite Babylonia 129
Maps: Babylonia under Kassite rule  130
Kassite Babylonia and the contemporary ‘Great Kingdoms’  130
30 Middle and New Kingdom Egypt 131
Maps: New Kingdom Egypt  132
Ahmose’s expulsion of the Hyksos  133
31 The Canaanites 134
Map: Canaan  135
32 The Syro-Palestinian states attested in the Amarna letters 137
Map: Sites named in the Amarna letters  138
33 Hittites and Egyptians in conflict 139
Map: Ramesses’ route to Qadesh  140
Site-plan: The Hittite attack at Qadesh  140
34 Troy 142
Map: The Troad  142
Site-plan: Citadel of Troy, major levels 143
35 Ahhiyawa 145
Map: The Mycenaean (‘Ahhiyawan’) world and western Anatolia  146
36 Bronze Age Cyprus 147
Maps: Alasiya under attack  147
Cyprus: main Bronze Age sites  148
37 The Sea Peoples 150
Map: Suggested routes of the Sea Peoples  150
38 The Middle Elamite and Neo-Elamite periods 152
Map: The middle Elamite kingdom  152
Site-plan: Al-Untash-Napirisha (Chogha Zanbil)  153

PART VI
The Iron Age 155

39 The age of iron 157

Map: The Iron Age kingdoms of northern Syria and south-eastern Anatolia  158
Site-profile: Damascus  159
 Contents ix

40 The Neo-Hittite kingdoms 160

Map: The region of the Neo-Hittite states  161
41 Tabal, Hilakku and Que (Adanawa/Hiyawa) 163
Map: The kingdoms of Tabal, Hilakku and Que  164
42 The Neo-Assyrian empire 166
Maps: The Neo-Assyrian world  167
The Neo-Assyrian empire: main stages in its development  168
Site-plan: Nineveh  170
Battle of Qarqar (853)  171
Map: Routes leading to Qarqar  171
43 The Phoenicians 172
Maps: Phoenicia and its neighbours  173
Phoenician colonizing and commercial enterprises abroad  174
44 The Iron Age countries and kingdoms of Transjordan 176
Maps: Iron Age Palestine and Transjordan: main regions  177
Iron Age Palestine and Transjordan: main cities and towns  179
45 The Philistines 181
Maps: Philistia and its neighbours  181
The Philistine Pentapolis  182
46 1st millennium bc Anatolia 184
Map: Countries, kingdoms and cities of 1st millennium bc Anatolia  185
47 Phrygia and Lydia 186
Map: The kingdoms of Phrygia and Lydia  187
48 Urartu 189
Map: Urartu  190
49 The Cimmerians 193
Map: The Cimmerian invasions  193
50 Egypt in the Third Intermediate and Saite periods (1069–525 bc) 195
Map: Egypt in the Third Intermediate Period (1069–747)  196

PART VII
The Greeks in the East 197

51 Aeolians, Ionians, Dorians 199

Map: Post Bronze Age Greek migrations  200
52 Two major Bronze Age–Classical sites of western Anatolia 201
Site-plan: Miletus  201
Map: Greek and Roman cities of western Anatolia/Asia Minor  202
x  Contents

53 The countries of southern Asia Minor in the Graeco-Roman period 204

Map: Southern Asia Minor in the Graeco-Roman period  204
54 Lycia 206
Map: Lycia  206
55 The ten kingdoms of 1st millennium bc Cyprus 208
Map: 1st millennium bc Cyprus  209

PART VIII
Other Near Eastern peoples and kingdoms of the 1st millennium bc 213

56 The Medes 215

Map: Media in its Near Eastern context  216
57 The Neo-Babylonian empire 217
Map: The Neo-Babylonian empire  218
Site-plan: Babylon in the age of Nebuchadnezzar  219
58 The Arabs 220
Maps: The Arabian Peninsula: ancient sites  221
Southern Arabia: ancient kingdoms  222
The Arabian Peninsula today (NASA satellite image)  223
59 Armenia 224
Map: Armenia  225
60 The Persian (Achaemenid) empire 227
Map: The Achaemenid empire at the end of the 6th cent. bc 228
Site-profile: Persepolis  230
Site-plan: Persepolis  231
61 The Persian invasions of the western Greek world 232
Map: The Persian invasions of Greece under Darius I and Xerxes I (492–480)  233
62 Alexander the Great 234
Map: Alexander’s ‘empire’  235

PART IX
The Hellenistic world 237

63 The Hellenistic age 239

Maps: The evolution of the Hellenistic kingdoms
1: Initial western allocations to Alexander’s heirs (Babylon conference, 323)  240
2: Reallocations of Alexander’s Near Eastern conquests (Triparadisus
conference, 320)  241
 Contents xi

3: The main divisions of power in the Near East after the peace accord of 311  242
4: The territories of the three major rulers in the Near East after the
battle of Ipsus, 301  244
64 The Seleucid empire 245
Map: The Seleucid and Ptolemaic empires c. 260 bc 246
Site-profile: Jebel Khalid  248
65 The Attalid kingdom 249
Map: The Attalid kingdom in the mid 2nd cent. bc 249
Site-profile: Pergamum 250
66 Bactria 251
Site-plan: Aï Khanoum  251
Map: Bactria in its Near Eastern context  252
67 The Maccabean rebellion 254
Map: The Maccabean rebellion under Judas  255

PART X
The Near East in the Roman period 257

68 Roman rule in the Near East I: from the battle of Magnesia to the
settlements of Pompey 259
Map: Rome’s eastern provinces in 60 bc 260
69 Roman rule in the Near East II: from Pompey to Augustus 261
Maps: Rome’s eastern provinces in ad 14  262
Highways predating Roman rule  264
Site-profile: Baalbek  265
Map: Baalbek in its broader context  265
70 Herod the Great 266
Site-profile: Jerusalem  266
Map: Herod the Great’s kingdom and the apportionment of it to his heirs  267
Site-plan: Herodian Jerusalem, 4 bc–ad 70  268
71 Parthia 269
Map: The Parthian empire (early 2nd cent. ad) 270
72 The Nabataeans 272
Map: Core Nabataean region in its broader context  273
73 Roman rule in the Near East III: from Augustus to Trajan 275
Map: The Roman Near East after Trajan’s eastern campaigns (ad 115–116)  276
Site-profile: Jerash  278
Map: Jerash in its broader context  278
xii  Contents

74 The Sasanians 279

Map: The Sasanian empire (mid 3rd cent. ad) 280
75 Zenobia 282
Site-plan: Palmyra  282
Map: Zenobia’s ‘empire’  283
76 Roman rule in the Near East IV: from Diocletian to the Islamic invasions 285
Map: The Roman empire in the East (4th cent. ad) 286

Timeline 288
Bibliography 291
A select bibliography of ancient sources in translation 295
Gazetteer 297
Index 312
 Figures

  3.1 A plastered skull from Neolithic Jericho © Ashmolean Museum,

University of Oxford. 26
  3.2 Excavations at Göbekli Tepe in eastern Anatolia, showing the circular enclosures
lined with carved, T-shaped pillars. Teomancimit via Wikimedia. 30
  3.3 Plan of Building 77 at Çatalhöyük, showing the main room and adjacent storeroom,
the circular hearth and platforms adjoining the walls. Bucrania are mounted in the
wall in the north-east corner. Drawn by David Mackie. 32
  3.4 The general distribution of Hassunan and Samarran sites, in relation to the successive
Halaf and Ubaid traditions. Composition by author, satellite photo by Jacques
Descloitres, MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA/GSFC. 35
  3.5 Black-painted pottery in the Samarran-style, decorated with geometric birds
and fish © PRISMA ARCHIVO/Alamy. 36
  5.1 The development of the cuneiform script. Adapted from Roaf (1996: 70). 47
  5.2 Sumerian tablet recording goats and sheep, c. 2350 bc. © The Art Archive/Alamy. 48
  5.3 The ‘alphabet’ of Ugarit. Photo of replica from the collection of Trevor Bryce. 49
  5.4 Luwian hieroglyphic inscription © Mike P. Shepherd/Alamy. 50
  5.5 Stamp seal of the Hittite king Mursili II. Photo of replica from
the collection of Trevor Bryce. 51
  5.6 Mesopotamian cylinder seal © www.BibleLandPictures.com/Alamy. 51
  6.1 The Bisitun monument. Photo by Hara1603 via Wikimedia. 55
  6.2 Sarcophagus, with inscription, of King Ahiram, Byblos. Photo by
DEA/G. DAGLI ORTI/De Agostini/Getty Images. 55
  9.1 ‘Warka vase’, c. 3000 bc, found in Uruk’s temple treasury. Photo by bpk,
Berlin/Art Resource, NY. 68
12.1 The ‘Standard of Ur’, unearthed in the ‘Royal Cemetery’ of Ur. Photo by
Pictures from History/Bridgeman Images. 77
14.1 Ebla, Palace G. Photo courtesy J.N. Tubb. 83
20.1 Sculpture atop Hammurabi’s stele © Ivy Close Images/Alamy. 100
22.1 The citadel of Aleppo today. Courtesy J.N. Tubb. 108
22.2 Postern Gate, Ugarit. Photo by Trevor Bryce. 110
24.1 Part of the main temple quarter, Hattusa. Photo by Trevor Bryce. 119
24.2 The walls of Hattusa. Photo by Trevor Bryce. 119
25.1 The Karabel monument. Photo by Mr Necdet Düzen. 122
27.1 Idrimi, king of Alalah © World History Archive/Alamy. 126
33.1 Hittite warriors at Qadesh (Temple of Luxor, Egypt). Photo by Trevor Bryce. 139
xiv  Figures

34.1 The sloping walls of Troy VI. Photo by Trevor Bryce. 144
37.1 Sea Peoples, Temple of Ramesses III, Medinet Habu. Photo courtesy of the
Oriental Institute, University of Chicago. 151
38.1 Chogha Zanbil (anc. Al-Untash-Napirisha). Photo courtesy of D.T. Potts. 153
42.1 Tiglath-pileser III, from Nimrud. Picture from History/Bridgeman Images. 166
44.1 Mesha stele (aka Moabite stone). Photo by CM Dixon/Print Collector/
Getty Images. 178
45.1 Philistines among Sea Peoples captured by Ramesses III. J.T. Vintage/
Bridgeman Images. 183
48.1 Van Citadel, Urartu, with fortress city Toprakkale in background © Dennis
Cox/Alamy. 192
52.1 Theatre of Miletus. Photo by Trevor Bryce. 201
52.2 Ephesus, reconstructed library of Celsus, 2nd cent. ad. Photo by Trevor Bryce. 203
54.1 House-shaped tombs for multiple burials, Myra in Lycia. Photo by Trevor Bryce. 207
57.1 Reconstruction of the Ishtar Gate, Babylon, built by King Nebuchadnezzar c. 575
bc. Photo courtesy of bpk/Vorderasiatisches Museum, SMB/Olaf M.Teßmer. 217
60.1 ‘Gate of All Nations’, Persepolis. Photo by Trevor Bryce. 230
62.1 The battle of Issus mosaic, Naples Museum. Photo courtesy of akg-images. 234
63.1 Seleucus I ‘the Conqueror’. Photo courtesy of akg-images/Andrea Baguzzi. 243
65.1 Theatre of Pergamum. Photo by Trevor Bryce. 250
68.1 Pompey the Great. Courtesy of the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek. 259
69.1 Temple of Jupiter, Baalbek. Photo by Trevor Bryce. 265
71.1 Coin of Parthian king Artabanus II (ad 10–38). From the collection
of Trevor Bryce. 269
72.1 The Khazneh (commonly known as ‘The Treasury’), Petra. X via Wikimedia 272
74.1 Shapur I monument, Naqsh-i-Rustam. X via Wikimedia 279
75.1 Palmyra, Grand Colonnade. Photo by Trevor Bryce. 284
76.1 The tetrarchy of Diocletian and his co-emperors. Photo by Trevor Bryce. 285
 Acknowledgements

I would like to thank once more the scholars who acted as consultants for The Routledge Handbook
of the Peoples and Places of Ancient Western Asia, and wrote some of the entries in it; namely
Heather Baker (Mesopotamia), Dan Potts (Iran), Jonathan Tubb (Syria and Palestine), Jennifer
Webb (Cyprus) and Paul Zimansky (Urartu). The benefits of their advice and expertise extend
to the present volume, with additional information provided by Dr Webb on Cyprus. I am also
very grateful to my co-author Jessie Birkett-Rees both for her own substantial contribution to
this book and for her advice and assistance to me on a number of technical matters to do with the
maps and images. It has been a pleasure to work with Jessie. My thanks are due too to the School
of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry, University of Queensland, and especially to Lucy O’Brien,
for their invaluable infrastructural support in the preparation of this book.
Trevor Bryce

My thanks go to Trevor Bryce for the benefit of his advice and expertise throughout the preparation
of this volume. It has been a great experience to work with Trevor, who is an inspiration to many
of us working in the Near East. I am also grateful for the support of Monash University and thank
the Centre for Ancient Cultures and the School of Philosophical, Historical and International
Studies at Monash University for providing the vibrant environment of teaching and research in
which this work was prepared. I thank La Trobe University Archaeology Department for their
support during the initial stages of this project. Last but not least, I am grateful to Professor Tony
Sagona for his invaluable guidance over many years.
Jessie Birkett-Rees

We both warmly thank our editor, Matthew Gibbons, and assistant editor, Lola Harre, for their
advice and guidance through the various stages of this project. Our warm thanks also to Colin
Morgan and his associates at Swales & Willis for their excellent work in the design and layout of the
book. And finally, we would like to acknowledge, with our great appreciation, the enormous contri-
bution to the project by Richard Talbert and his colleagues at the Ancient World Mapping Center.
 Abbreviations

AANE – Potts, D.T. (ed.) (2012), A Companion to the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East (2 vols),
Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.
BNP – Brill’s Encyclopedia of the Ancient World. New Pauly (Antiquity), Leiden and Boston: Brill
(2002–).
CANE – Sasson, J.M. (ed.) (1995), Civilizations of the Ancient Near East (4 vols), New York: Charles
Scribner’s Sons.
CS I-III – Hallo, W.W. and Younger, K.L. (eds) (1997, 2000, 2002), The Context of Scripture (3 vols),
Leiden, New York and Cologne: Brill.
GEAW – Harrison, T. (ed.) (2009), The Great Empires of the Ancient World, London: Thames &
Hudson.
HCBD – Achtemeier, P.J. (ed.) (1996), The HarperCollins Bible Dictionary, New York: HarperCollins.
HE – Finkelberg, M. (ed.) (2011), The Homer Encylopedia, Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell (3 vols).
NEAEHL – Stern, E. (ed.) (1993), The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the
Holy Land, New York, London, Toronto, Sydney, Tokyo and Singapore: Simon & Schuster
(4 vols).
OCD – Hornblower, S. and Spawforth, A. (eds) (1996), The Oxford Classical Dictionary, Oxford:
Oxford University Press (3rd edn).
OEAGR – Gargarin, M. and Fantham, E. (eds) (2010), The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece
and Rome, Oxford: Oxford University Press (7 vols).
OEANE – Meyers, E.M. (ed.) (1997), The Oxford Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Near East,
Oxford: Oxford University Press (5 vols).
OHAA – Steadman, S. and McMahon, G. (eds) (2011), The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Anatolia,
Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.
OHBAA – Cline, E.H. (ed.) (2010), The Oxford Handbook of the Bronze Age Aegean, Oxford and
New York: Oxford University Press.
OHIH – Daryaee, T. (ed.) (2012), The Oxford Handbook of Iranian History, Oxford and New York:
Oxford University Press.
 Abbreviations xvii

PECS – Stillwell, R. (ed.) (1976), The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites, Princeton: Princeton
University Press.
PPAWA – Bryce, T.R. (2009/2012), The Routledge Handbook of the Peoples and Places of Ancient
Western Asia: From the Early Bronze Age to the Fall of the Persian Empire, Abingdon and
New York: Routledge.
SB – Rainey, A.F. and Notley, R.S. (2006), The Sacred Bridge: Carta’s Atlas of the Biblical World,
Jerusalem: Carta.

Chronological note

Ma: mega-annum = million years

bp: years ‘Before Present’, in which the present is defined as 1950.
C + no. = a particular century. Thus C5 bc = 5th century bc.
M + no. = a particular millennium. Thus M2 ad = 2nd millennium ad.
This Page is Intentionally Left Blank
 Introduction

Belarus
Russia

Ukraine
Kazakhstan
Moldova
Romania
Aral Sea

Black Sea Caspian

Bulgaria Uzbekistan
Georgia Sea Kyrgyzstan
Armenia Azerbaijan
Greece Turkmenistan
Turkey Tajikistan
Hindu Kush
China

Crete Cyprus Syria Tigris

Afghanistan
Mediterranean Sea Lebanon
Iraq Iran
Israel
Euphrates
Jordan
Libya Egypt Kuwait Pakistan
Pe Nepal
rsi
an
Gu
Saudi lf
Nile Arabia Bangladesh
Qatar India
U.A.E.
Re

Oman
d
Se
a

Arabian
Sea
Sudan
Eritrea Yemen Bay of
Bengal
Djibouti
Blue Nile

Somalia Sri
Ethiopia 0 750 1,000 km Lanka

The Near East in its modern context

1
2  Introduction

In 1985, Croom Helm published an Atlas of Classical History edited by Richard Talbert, intended
primarily for high school and undergraduate students. Its aim was to provide ‘a reasonably compre-
hensive, up-to-date and scholarly coverage of Classical history down to the time of Constantine’.
The book’s success is reflected in its numerous reprints by the publisher Routledge, from 1985 to
2008. Encouraged by this, Matthew Gibbons, Routledge’s current editor for Classics, Archaeology
and Museum Studies, asked me to write a complementary volume on the ancient Near East, cater-
ing primarily for the student market, but with appeal for a broader reading public as well. The
present volume is the outcome.
One of my initial problems in embarking on this enterprise was to decide on what lands, regions
and periods should actually be covered by the term ‘Near East’. As it is widely used by scholars,
the term is generally applied to the ancient civilizations that arose, flourished and fell through-
out a large part of Western Asia, extending from the Aegean coast of Turkey through modern
Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Israel and Jordan, then eastwards across Iraq to the eastern fringes
of Mesopotamia. (Much of this area is today referred to as the Middle East.) But some scholars
broaden the term to cover lands even further east, including Iran (where several great empires
rose and fell), Afghanistan and other Central Asian regions. This poses an important question. If
there is no agreed limit on how far the term’s coverage can be extended, is there any reason for
not including under its umbrella Cyprus and Egypt as well? Indeed some scholars have done so.
Both certainly had close and regular contacts, cultural, political and commercial, and sometimes
military, with the Near Eastern world, even if, strictly speaking, they are not generally considered
a part of it. This Atlas in fact covers all the abovementioned lands and regions, including Cyprus
and Egypt. But I should hasten to say that its treatment of the latter in particular is a very limited
one. There is clearly scope for a more detailed and more specialized treatment of Egypt – perhaps
as a third volume in this series.
Then there is the question of the Atlas’ chronological limits. After consultation with the edi-
tor, I have included sections on Greece’s and Rome’s involvement in the Near Eastern world,
beginning with the Bronze Age Mycenaean presence on the fringes of this world and continuing
through the periods of later Greek settlement in it, and in the Atlas’ final sections, Roman domi-
nation of much of it through the Roman imperial era. I am aware that this means some overlap
with Talbert’s Atlas, which provides a relatively detailed account, in a number of its sections, of
the Greeks and Romans in the East. But there are several reasons for re-covering some of Talbert’s
ground. In the first place, my treatment of the relevant topics is quite different in approach and
content to that of Talbert and his co-authors. Further, a number of the eastern sites which were
supposedly Greek and Roman foundations were settled well before any Greek or Roman presence
there. Thus while Talbert’s Atlas provides an account of the city of Miletus, near Turkey’s Aegean
coast, in its Classical phase, my own treatment of it places it in a broader historical context; the city
had already achieved prominence during the Bronze Age and is referred to in a number of Hittite
texts of the period; it was an indigenous foundation, but was also extensively settled by Minoan
and Mycenean colonists in M2 bc.
Another important reason for assigning space to the Greeks and Romans in the East has to do
with the Atlas’ most important feature – its maps. The fact that Talbert’s Atlas was published in
black and white significantly limited the possibilities for displaying clearly on its maps (by using,
for example, contrasting colours) a number of geopolitical features, like the territorial extent of
particular kingdoms or states or provinces, especially ones adjacent to each other, and the physi-
cal features of the regions where they were located. Access to improved technology, courtesy of
Richard Talbert and his colleagues at the Ancient World Mapping Center, and the publisher’s
 Introduction 3

decision to print the maps in colour have provided greater opportunities for enhancing both the
maps’ visual appeal as well as their value as sources of information.
Let me return to the question of the Atlas’ actual timeframe. I should stress that it is primarily
an historical Atlas, in the sense that its information is based to a large extent on written sources,
and that it deals mainly with political and military events throughout Near Eastern history, and
the peoples and individuals who were participants in these events. Thus an obvious starting-point
for it is late M4 ad, when writing first becomes evident in southern Mesopotamia and Egypt.
Nonetheless when the initial proposal for the Atlas was sent out for peer review, it came back with
the advice that a brief treatment of the prehistoric Near East would provide a useful introduction
to the later historical phases. I took that advice on board, and am delighted that Dr Jessie Birkett-
Rees agreed to provide maps and archaeology-based texts for the section on prehistory with which
the Atlas begins. I should add that the later sections also contain accounts of a number of the
material remains of the regions and periods dealt with and the societies and cultures associated
with them – though an atlas dedicated to the archaeology of the Near East would obviously treat
such matters much more comprehensively.
The Atlas concludes with a survey of Roman rule in the Near East up to the Islamic conquests
in C7 ad. This end-point means that in addition to the millennia covered by the introductory pre-
historic material, the Atlas’ historical timescale covers a period of about four millennia, beginning
with the emergence of writing in the late M4 bc. Inevitably, Dr Birkett-Rees and I have had to be
highly selective in the material we have chosen for representation on the maps and discussion in
their accompanying texts. We have also included brief accounts of specific sites, sometimes with
accompanying site-plans. The number of these is relatively small, and they are simply a personal
selection from a large range of possibilities.
It will be clear from the Contents pages that though the Atlas extends to the late Roman period,
its chief emphasis is on a time-span that extends from the prehistoric period to the fall of the
Persian empire in 330 bc. Thus, its appeal as a potential textbook may be primarily to students of
the ancient Near East whose courses cover the Bronze Ages (and their prehistoric antecedents),
the Iron Age, including the Neo-Assyrian empire, and the Babylonian and Persian periods. The
greater part of the book is devoted to the civilizations, kingdoms, countries, cities and inhabitants
of these periods (including the Greek settlements established in the Near East within this time-
frame). I have dealt with many of them at greater length in The Routledge Handbook of the Peoples
and Places of Western Asia: From the Early Bronze Age to the Fall of the Persian Empire (2009,
paperback 2012; cited as PPAWA). But I am conscious that PPAWA’s bulk – at almost 1,000
pages – makes it more suitable for use as a reference work to be plucked off a library shelf and
consulted as the need arises, than as a concise, portable student companion that fits comfortably
into a carry-bag or rucksack along with a tablet, smartphone, and other accessories of student life.
Much of PPAWA’s material, however, is directly relevant to high school and university student
programmes on the Near East, and with this in mind, I have adapted and condensed a number of
relevant entries in it for the texts that accompany the maps in this Atlas (for example, the entries
on the Diyala and Habur regions and sites, and the kingdoms of M1 bc Cyprus).
The Atlas is more compact and cheaper than PPAWA (though with many more maps, and in
colour), and students may well find it practicable and within their resources to have their own
copies of it. If they have access to PPAWA as well, that will provide them with more detailed infor-
mation on the archaeology and history of the sites, regions, kingdoms and peoples of the ancient
Near East – up to 330 bc – together with frequent citations of the relevant ancient written sources.
Let me also add that the Atlas closely complements the excellent survey of ancient Near Eastern
4  Introduction

history provided by Marc Van De Mieroop in his book A History of the Ancient Near East (Wiley-
Blackwell, 2016), now in its third edition. The great majority of the Atlas’s seventy-six sections
provide maps and summaries of the periods and the civilizations dealt with by Van De Mieroop.
His book and this Atlas serve as valuable companion volumes for students of the ancient Near
East, up to the fall of the Achaemenid Persian empire. But even those whose formal studies of the
Near East end at this point may well be interested in the sequel to Alexander the Great’s destruc-
tion of the Persian empire. Near Eastern history does not end with the death of the last Persian
emperor Darius III. In the decades and centuries that followed, there were profound political
changes occasioned by the rise of new imperial powers, and inevitably there were changes to the
cultural and social fabric of many parts of the Near Eastern world. At the same time, much contin-
ued in this world as it did before. Many of the long-established customs and traditions and ways
of life of the indigenous Near Eastern peoples persisted with little interruption through much of
the period covered by our history, regardless of the intruders who sought to impose their author-
ity over them. The eastward spread of the Classical civilizations impacted in many ways upon
the Near Eastern world, but in many ways too these civilizations were influenced and shaped by
their contacts and interactions with this world. My inclusion of the later periods of Near Eastern
history in the Atlas, from the Hellenistic Age through the Roman imperial period, is intended to
emphasize this.
I have two main hopes for this Atlas: first, that it will serve as a useful source of information on
the history and civilizations of the ancient Near East both for students engaged in Near Eastern
studies, including those whose interests lie primarily in the Classical civilizations, as well as for
more general readers; second, that everyone who opens its pages will find it an enjoyable read. The
colour-enhanced maps are intended to be visually appealing and interesting in their own right,
often speaking directly to the reader through the use of captions indicating important events that
took place at certain sites, or identifying important features of the sites to which they are attached.
And I and my co-author have sought to make the texts which accompany the maps as lively and
interesting as possible, while ensuring that they fulfil their primary task of providing basic infor-
mation about the periods or events with which they are concerned. Jessie Birkett-Rees’ maps and
texts on the prehistory of the Near East make a most valuable contribution to the achievement of
these aims.
Bibliographical note: One to five basic bibliographical references are appended to each of the
texts accompanying the maps. The references (a very small sample of the vast literature that
has been produced on most of the topics) have been limited to English-language publications
of articles, books, and book chapters, and encylopedia-type reference works. More information
about them, or the sources where they appear, are provided in the Abbreviations and the General
Bibliography. The former serves primarily to provide details of the encyclopedias or handbooks
cited; for example, AANE (A Companion to the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East, ed. D.T.
Potts), CANE (Civilizations of the Ancient Near East, ed. J.M. Sasson), and OEANE (The Oxford
Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Near East, ed. E.M. Meyers). Of course, much new material has
come to light since a number of these reference works were published, and the information they
contain needs constant updating. Nevertheless, they provide useful basic information (for exam-
ple, about a site’s history and layout) which can be supplemented and amended as new discoveries
are made.
I would like to mention here one publication in particular which has been of major impor-
tance in the preparation of this book. It is Michael Roaf ’s Cultural Atlas of Mesopotamia and the
Ancient Near East, which though almost two decades old remains the archetypal Atlas for the
Near Eastern world up to the conquests of Alexander the Great.
 Introduction 5

Chronological note: In the King-Lists associated with many of the maps, some reigns begin with
a king’s accession year, some with his first full regnal year. This accords with the standard conven-
tions adopted by scholars for particular royal chronologies.
Note on the spelling of names: The names of a number of the sites, kingdoms, regions and coun-
tries covered by this Atlas are differently spelt in different publications. In general, I have chosen
the more commonly known forms of these names – thus ‘Carchemish’ rather than ‘Karkamish’,
and Mitanni rather than Mittani (though scholars now generally use the latter form of this name).
For Classical names, I have used mainly the Latin forms. But Greek forms also are sometimes
used, particularly on the map of Lycia.
Trevor Bryce
May, 2015
This Page is Intentionally Left Blank
 Part I

The prehistoric Near East

This Page is Intentionally Left Blank
 1
The geography and geology
of the ancient Near East

The ancient Near East is at the junction of three continents: Africa, Asia and Europe. It includes
territory from Turkey to eastern Iran and is encircled by the Mediterranean, Black Sea, Caspian
Sea, Persian Gulf and Red Sea.
The patterns of the human past are better understood when seen as interacting with physical
features, climatic elements and dynamic environmental conditions through time, and the cul-
tural diversity of the ancient Near East has been supported by equally great geographic diversity.
This region has sustained a broad spectrum of human lifestyles, partly as a result of the variety
of topographic and climatic zones found in close proximity to one another; from lowland plains
to upland plateaus, mountains, coasts, marshes and deserts, the landscapes of the Near East are
varied and dynamic.
This introduction to the prehistory of the Near East will provide an overview of the geological
formation of the region and its principal geographic features, including the Taurus and Zagros
Mountains and the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers (see map on p. 10). The physical landscape, cli-
mate and ecology of the Near East contribute to its human geography, influencing early human
settlement and underlying the changing relationships between people and environment which
resulted from the development of agriculture. The factors influencing the domestication of plants
and animals, which occurred some 11,000 years ago in the Near East, will be addressed, and dis-
cussion of several key sites presented to illustrate the range and complexity of human cultures in
the millennia before the rise of the first literate civilizations.
The Near Eastern landscape was formed two hundred million years ago by the collision of two
supercontinents, Gondwanaland and Laurasia, and their fragmentation into several smaller conti-
nental plates. These plates continue to move relative to one another, causing rift and convergence,
uplift and subsidence at the plate boundaries.
Through these processes the great Mesopotamian plain was formed and the Zagros Mountains
rose between the Arabian and Iranian continental plates (see map on p. 11). Likewise, as the
Arabian plate moved north towards the Anatolian plate and away from the African plate, the
Taurus Mountains, the Dead Sea and Jordanian rift valley were created. It is at these plate
boundaries that structural weaknesses are greatest, resulting in earthquakes and the extrusion of
metamorphic and volcanic rock types, including obsidian (volcanic glass) which was traded from
its mountain sources throughout the Near East in prehistory. The majority of surface rocks in
the Near East are sedimentary rocks, the marine sediments accumulated from the closing of the
ancient Tethys Sea around 50 million years ago. Above these mudstones, sandstones and lime-
stones, the river valleys are filled with more recent alluvial silt eroded from the mountains.
Long-term geological processes have combined with more recent effects of wind, water and
ice to shape the landscapes of the Near East. At the height of the last Ice Age (or Last Glacial

9
 A B C D E F
Black Sea

1 Caspian
Sea
ANATOLIAN
PLATEAU
10  The prehistoric Near East

Tau Köpet Dağ

ru s M o u n t ai n s
Elb
2 urz
Mo unt ains
M Za
r
ES gro
OP s Dasht-e Kavi
OT
Mediterranean Sea AM M
LEVANT IRANIAN
ou
IA
n

PLATEAU
tain
s

3
Dash

EGYPT
t-e

Jeb Lu
al B t
ar
Pe ez
rs
ian
Gu
lf
4
Red
Sea

Source: Esri, DigitalGlobe, GeoEye, i-cubed, USDA, USGS, AEX, Getmapping,

Aerogrid, IGN, IGP, swisstopo, and the GIS User Community

The physical geography of the Near East

 Geography and geology 11

A B C D

1
Caucasus Caspian EURASIAN PLATE
Sea

ANATOLIA (TURKISH) Lake

Urmia
PLATEAU
Taurus Talesh
Kopeh Dag
2 Ur
um
ie
h
-
Do Elburz
kh
ta
r
M
ag
IRANIAN
m
at
ic
PLATEAU
Ar
Levant ZAGROS c

F.
16 mm/yr Afghan
3 Block
folded belt

Persian
Gulf

18 mm/yr
Makran subduction
Om
an M
ts
4 Murray
ARABIAN PLATE Ridge
22 mm/yr

Red Sea
Rift

Arabian
Sea
5
Owen
Fracture

Gulf of Aden Rift

0 500 1,000 km

The plate tectonic framework of the Middle East

 Forest and Dense Woodland Woodland Steppe

Woodland and Grassland Outside the shaded areas,

terrain is steppe.
Areas Supporting
Wild Wheat and Rye
1
0 150 300 km
Lake
Van
12  The prehistoric Near East

Lake Urmia

2 •
Abu Hureyra • Zeribar

Euphrates
Mediterranean
Sea

•Huleh

3 Tigris

A B C D
The approximate extent of forest and open woodland during the Holocene climatic optimum
 Black Sea

Caspian
Sea

Euphrates

FERT
ILE
CR
ES
CE
Mediterranean Sea N
T

Tigris

Nile
Persian
0 250 500 km Gulf
Geography and geology 13

The Fertile Crescent

14  The prehistoric Near East

Maximum 26,500–19,000 bp) ice sheets up to 3 km thick blanketed northern Europe and North
America and the world climate was markedly more arid than today. Around 19,000 years ago the
world began the slow and irregular process of warming, reaching temperatures similar to the pre-
sent day around 13,000 bp before another cold snap, known as the Younger Dryas (12,800–11,600
bp). Warmer conditions re-established around 11,600, marking the beginning of the Holocene
period. A second cold episode known as the 8.2 kiloyear event occurred around 8200 years ago and
lasted only a few centuries before the generally stable trends of the Holocene climatic optimum
returned. This interglacial period saw forests spread across the Zagros and Taurus Mountains and
a moister climate in the Near East (see map on p. 12).
Humans were one of the species to benefit from the changes in vegetation and the increasing
stability, warmth and moisture in the Holocene climate.
The Taurus and Zagros Mountains form the backbone of the Near East. The Taurus Mountains
run east–west across south-eastern Turkey and meet the Zagros Mountains in western Iran, which
run north-west–south-east to the Persian Gulf. These mountain ranges are flanked by great pla-
teaus; to the north of the Taurus is the plateau of central and eastern Anatolia and to the east of the
Zagros is the Iranian plateau. The mountain ranges provided shelter for early human settlers in
the region, who favoured cave sites along river valleys as seasonal dwellings. The snowmelt from
the mountain ranges also feeds the great rivers of the Near East; both the Tigris and Euphrates
originate in the mountains of eastern Turkey before flowing southwards across Syria and Iraq,
meeting in the marshy margins of the Persian Gulf (Shatt al-Arab).
On the other side of these mountain chains lies the ‘Fertile Crescent’, the well-watered foot-
hills and lowland plains which were home to some of the world’s first farmers (see map on
p. 13). Archaeologist James Henry Breasted popularized the term ‘Fertile Crescent’ to denote an
arc stretching from the southern Levant (Jordan, Lebanon, Israel and Palestine) north and east-
ward across Syria and Iran into northern Iraq.
In this geographic zone, the foothills of the Taurus and Zagros Mountains capture the moisture
carried by the westerly winds travelling over the Mediterranean and bring rainfall, sustaining a
productive ecosystem in an otherwise arid area. The region is rich in natural resources including
wild wheat and barley, and supported populations of wild animals including sheep, goats, cattle
and pigs. These are the ancestors of the plants and animals that would be domesticated during the
Neolithic.
The southern arm of the Fertile Crescent also forms a corridor between Africa and Eurasia
in which populations of plants and animals have intermingled over many thousands of years,
resulting in rich biodiversity. In the southern regions of the Crescent we find evidence of the
earliest human habitation in the Near East, including pre-modern and early modern humans. In
this same region, also known as the Levantine corridor, Late Pleistocene hunter-gatherers and
Epipalaeolithic semi-sedentary communities took advantage of the oases in the Jordanian rift val-
ley and the Syrian desert. To the north, where the crescent curves to the east, the Taurus foothills
provided important connections with the resource-rich Anatolian highlands and central plateau.
To the east of the Fertile Crescent is Mesopotamia, between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, long
referred to as a ‘Cradle of Civilization’. The levels of rainfall in northern Mesopotamia made some
farming possible without irrigation (dry-farming), but in southern Mesopotamia early farmers
had to make further modifications to their environment, including building irrigation canals to
water fields and levees to protect against seasonal flooding.
Beyond the Fertile Crescent, the central Anatolian plateau and the Iranian plateau are important
geographic regions. The Iranian plateau extends for some 2,000 km east of the Zagros Mountains
 Geography and geology 15

and includes several mountainous regions (Elburz, Köpet Dağ, Jebel Barez) and two great deserts:
the Dasht-e Kavir and the Dasht-e Lut. The Anatolian plain lies north of the Taurus Mountains,
a semi-arid highland plateau at the heart of modern Turkey. Several drainage basins, including
the large Konya basin, provide fertile areas within the region and were focal points of Neolithic
settlement.
The geography of the ancient Near East, at local and regional scales, has been a major con-
tributor to the long human history of the region. Human societies and the environments they
inhabit have influenced and transformed each other over both short- and long-term interactions.
A remarkable example of this interaction between people and environment is in the early develop-
ment of agriculture in the Near East.
Roaf (1990: 18–25); Liverani (2014: 17–33); Peregrine and Ember (2002: xvii–xxi).
 2
Foragers and farmers
Early agricultural communities

The domestication of plants and animals in the ancient Near East produced new farming econo-
mies which could support larger populations, resulting in the growth of settlements, the devel-
opment of new technologies and increasing social complexity. Several key terms, regions and
theories contribute to our ongoing interpretation of the processes and motivations behind the
development and spread of agriculture in the Near East.

Terminology
Continual and prolonged interaction between plants, animals and humans can cause the physical
characteristics or the genotypes of plants and animals to change as these species become dependent
on humans for reproductive success. This is the process of domestication, which can occur natu-
rally through ongoing interaction between people and wild species, or can be actively promoted by
human communities through preferential selection of plants or animals based on desirable attrib-
utes. For instance, wild cereal grains with brittle rachis (the connection between grain and ear)
naturally release the cereal grains once ripe, allowing wide dispersal of seeds; human selection of
wild cereals favoured varieties which did not easily drop the ripened grain and which had larger
or more numerous seeds for harvesting. The seeds which are stored and sown by people then bear
these preferred characteristics and, over time, the species is modified such that it is physically and
genetically distinct from wild populations. Cultivation and herding are two practices which repre-
sent the active promotion of domestication, whereby fields are prepared and seeds sown or groups
of animals (herds) are brought together, kept together and actively managed. Both these practices,
which do not always occur together, entail new relationships between humans and their environ-
ment, new behaviours within human communities and new technologies required to carry out
agricultural practices. Agriculture, the practices of farming domesticated plants and animals, in
turn produces a modified ecosystem through the selective cultivation of plants and rearing of ani-
mals for primary food production. The domestication of animals also produces important second-
ary products, including milk, wool and manure for soil improvement.
Domestication of species is not restricted to agricultural or sedentary communities, with
considerable evidence for the early domestication of dogs by hunter-gatherer societies. Genetic
studies of canine DNA indicate that domestic dogs evolved from a group of wolves that came
into contact with European hunter-gatherers over 18,000 years ago. Likewise, hunter-gatherers
are known to have resource management practices verging on domestication of plants, including
selective harvesting and partial replanting of yams by northern and western Australian Aboriginal
groups. Similar selective practices may have led to the earliest domestication of cereals in the
Fertile Crescent some 11,000 years ago.

16
 Foragers and farmers 17

Regions
The development of agriculture has diverse manifestations worldwide.
Research in recent decades has shown that agriculture developed independently in several geo-
graphically dispersed regions of the world at different periods during the Holocene, with core
areas being the Fertile Crescent in the Near East (c. 9000 bc), the Yangzi and Yellow River basins
in East Asia (c. 7000 bc), highland New Guinea (c. 7000–4000 bc), sub-Saharan Africa, Andean
South America and central Mexico (3000–2000 bc) and north-eastern America (2000–1000 bc)
(see map on p. 18). Different plant varieties formed the foundation of agricultural systems in dif-
ferent geographic regions – wheat and barley in the Near East, millet and rice in east Asia, maize
in central America. The differing geographic context of centres of agricultural development, the
varying timeframes and the different foundation species suggest that the development of agricul-
ture is best considered as multi-causal. There was no singular ‘invention’ of agriculture, rather a
series of adjustments and adaptations by humans made according to their differing social, demo-
graphic and environmental contexts.
In the Near East, people began to cultivate wild plant species at the end of the Epipalaeolithic
and beginning of the Neolithic. At this time, the Near East possessed the largest number of poten-
tial and future domesticates in the world, including the eight Neolithic ‘founder crops’: emmer
and einkorn wheat, barley, lentils, pea and chickpea, bitter vetch and flax. Sheep, goats, cattle and
pigs are four primary domesticated animal species also native to parts of the Near East. The varied
geography of the Near East appears to have influenced the composition and spread of agricultural
practices in the early Holocene; the early instances of domestication and farming in this region
are best conceived of as a mosaic, since people appear to start cultivating locally available species
at different times in different parts of the Near East.

Reasons
Once agriculture had been developed or adopted, early societies for the most part show an ongo-
ing preference for food production over hunting and gathering; this is certainly the case in the
ancient Near East. Theories as to how and why, not just what, when and where, agricultural prac-
tices originated and dispersed during the Neolithic have been debated by archaeologists and other
scientists for over a century. These hypotheses have shifted over the years to arrive at the cur-
rent frameworks, under which researchers balance the results of increasingly precise scientific
analyses with awareness of the complexity of foragers’ and farmers’ decision-making processes.
Archaeological evidence for early agricultural practices includes the preserved remains of plants
and animals, the form and function of different artefacts, and identification of storage spaces,
animal pens, irrigation canals and other structural features employed in agricultural life. More
recently, advanced scientific techniques have been applied to the origins of agriculture, includ-
ing the isotopic analysis of bone chemistry for information on diet and studies of ancient DNA
(aDNA) from bones and seeds to trace the processes of genetic change linked to domestication.
Analyses of ice cores, tree rings and sediment cores provide proxies by which to reconstruct pal-
aeoenvironmental conditions. Linguistic patterns have also contributed to our understanding of
the mosaic of agricultural development and to debate on the tempo and mode of the spread of
agricultural practices.
Key variables contributing to the development of agriculture are environmental conditions,
demographic pressures and social choices. The trajectory of theories on the development of agri-
culture has been influenced over the years by new analytical techniques employed in the discipline
 18  The prehistoric Near East

Eastern USA
2000-1000 BC WHEAT Fertile Crescent
9000 BC Yangtze and Yellow
River Basins
MAIZE 7000 BC
Central Mexico
3000-2000 BC Sub-Saharan Africa?
3000-2000 BC
RICE
New Guinea
SORGHUM Highlands
Northern 7000-4000 BC
South America Amazonia?
3000-2000 BC

Approximate limits of prehistoric agriculture

Agriculture developed independently in several different regions of the world at different times. This map indicates the core areas, the foundation
crops and the various dates of agricultural origins
 A B C D
Black Sea Caspian
Sea
1

Lake Van
Keban Dam
• Aşıklı Höyük •Çayönü Tepesi
Çatalhöyük Lake Urmia
• •
•Suberde
Tigris

• Al Assad
Tell Mureybet Dam
2 • Jarmo
El Kowm
• • Bouqras

•Tepe Guran
Mediterranean Sea Ain Mallaha
•
Sea of Galilee Euphrates
•Ali Kosh
•Jericho
Dead Sea

• Beidha
3

Persian
Nile Gulf
0 200 400 km

The principal sites of early agriculture excavated in the mid 20th cent. in the ‘hilly flanks’ of the Fertile Crescent, including Çayönü, excavated by
Foragers and farmers 19

Robert Braidwood
20  The prehistoric Near East

of archaeology and new discoveries in the Near Eastern record. Yet by and large the ways in which
archaeologists evaluate the variables that motivated the development and spread of agriculture
keep step with wider theoretical developments within archaeology. Some of the most influential
theories include V.G. Childe’s ‘oasis theory’ (1928), Robert Braidwood’s ‘hilly flanks hypothesis’
(1960) (see map on p. 19), the development of multi-causal models focusing on demographic
pressures and systems theory, proposed by Lewis Binford (1968) and Kent Flannery (1969, 1973),
and theories emphasizing the role of social and ideological strategies offered by Ian Hodder (1982,
1990) and Barbara Bender (1978).
These theories move from Childe’s broad culture-historical synthesis, to theses drawing on
developments in archaeological science from the late 1950s onward. Interrogations of palaoecon-
omies and applications of systems theory in the 1970s were countered by increasing concern with
social context and symbolic processes, influencing the approaches of the 1980s onward. The shift-
ing ideas about how and why foragers became farmers highlight the complex motivations for
the development of agriculture in the Near East and the multiple factors influencing the spread
of this way of life: geography and ecology, climatic changes, demographic pressures and social
frameworks.
We know that agricultural practices developed under relatively stable environmental condi-
tions in the early Holocene which permitted ongoing experiments with plant domestication. These
experiments evidently took place alongside significant changes in human behaviour, whereby a
series of decisions were made to influence and control food supply. Early theories on the develop-
ment of agriculture, such as those of Childe and Braidwood, typically considered farming a natural
preference to foraging. However, research since the 1960s has articulated the efforts required to
successfully initiate agriculture, indicating that farming requires more effort than foraging. In the
initial stages of farming, this economy also has less reliable results than foraging. The decision to
begin farming, or to integrate agricultural practices into a mixed economy, is therefore not driven
simply by convenience. Rather, it is part of a broader shift in the relationship between humans and
their environment and indicates considerable investment in a local area.
As agricultural lifestyles spread from their initial points of origin, the human and natural envi-
ronments of the Near East were transformed. This occurred at the local scale of cultivation and,
over the long-term, promoted population growth and economic specialization throughout the
region. The adoption of agricultural ways of life permitted the development of non-food special-
ists, including craftspeople and bureaucrats, scientists and authors. Not only did agriculture entail
new relationships between people and environment, it fostered new roles and structures within
society. The food surplus which early farmers were able to generate facilitated, and in some cases
demanded, innovations such as writing, administration and scientific scholarship. In terminology
still familiar today, V.G. Childe labelled the development of agriculture in the Fertile Crescent
the ‘Neolithic Revolution’, in association with the establishment of urban lifestyles and popula-
tion increase. Although the processes of agricultural development were protracted and dispersed
around the Near East, revolutionary status is justified in view of the profound and enduring con-
sequences of agricultural practices.
Barker (2006); Scarre (2013: chapter 5); Liverani (2014: 34–58); Sherratt (1981: 261–306); Roaf
(1990: 18–41); Zohary and Hopf (2000).
 3
The prehistory of the Near East
Key sites

Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene

Throughout the Pleistocene the Levant formed a major corridor between Africa and Eurasia for
human and animal populations.
The earliest human settlements in the Near East were caves or open air camps, such as Mugharet
Es Skhul cave on Mount Carmel in Israel and Jebel Qafzeh rockshelter on Mount Kedumim in
Galilee. The skeletal remains of more than twenty early modern humans have been found at these
two sites, dated to 90–110,000 years ago. These individuals exhibit modern features, including a
pronounced chin and long, slender postcranial remains, which differ from Neanderthal popu-
lations who lived in the region some 40,000 years later. Kebara cave in the Carmel Range has
yielded Neanderthal remains (61–48,000 bp), as has Shanidar cave in the Zagros Mountains, Iraq
(65–35,000 bp).
The limited evidence from these earliest periods of modern human and Neanderthal habitation
of the Near East produces a somewhat confusing chronology which implies that these different
species may have coexisted in parts of the Levantine corridor. An alternate explanation is that the
finds of early modern humans and Neanderthals reflect biogeographic variations in the dispersal
of these different populations, in which the early modern human population known from Es Skhul
and Qafzeh may have become locally extinct when Neanderthals occupied the region during a
period of harsh climatic conditions between 70–60,000 years ago. Movement along the Levantine
corridor is not unidirectional, of course, and the varied geography of the region permitted oscil-
lations in populations. Modern humans and Neanderthals also used the landscape differently,
reflected in studies of their stone tool technology and faunal assemblages at Kebara and Tabun in
the Carmel Range, and employed different patterns of mobility and seasonal exploitation strate-
gies. Modern humans seem to have moved between several camps according to seasonal change,
whereas Neanderthals lived and hunted year-round within fairly small areas.
Modern humans became established in the Near East by the Late Pleistocene, around 55–35,000
years ago. In addition to rock shelters and caves, several important sites reveal human settle-
ment in ‘open air’ locations and highlight increasing sedentism and growing communities in the
Levant. The site of Ohalo II, dated to 20,000 bc, is a long-lived settlement of oval huts on the shore
of Lake Lisan in northern Israel. The huts at Ohalo II were built of wood and grasses and were
destroyed by fire, leaving an invaluable record of the more than 100 plant species used by this
Epipalaeolithic community, as well as the bones of gazelle, hare, birds and fallow deer which they
hunted. Neve David in Israel and Uyun al-Hammam in Jordan are also early sites which indicate
the establishment of long-lived base camp sites at the boundary of different ecological zones, a
strategy which providing the inhabitants with access to a broader range of resources. Very early

21
 A B C D E F
Black Sea Caspian
Sea
1
22  The prehistoric Near East

•Shanidar Cave

Mediterranean •Tell Mureybet

Sea •
Abu Hureyra
•Zarzi
Ain Mallaha •
(Eynan)

Mount Euphrates
Carmel Sea of Galilee
Ohalo II•
• • 3
Mount
• Kedumim ••Wadi Hammeh 27
Kebara Uyun al Hammam
cave

Jordan River
Tigris
Jericho/Tell es-Sultan •
• Kharaneh IV

Dead
Sea
4

0 25 50 km 0 150 300 km

Selected Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene sites in the Near East
 Key prehistoric sites 23

stone structures occupied between 18,000 and 14,000 bc have also been excavated at Kharaneh IV,
in Jordan; ongoing excavations at this site stand to reveal more.
In the terminal Pleistocene and very beginning of the Holocene, a period also called the Late
Epipalaeolithic in the ancient Near East, several significant, early sites were established in present-
day Palestine, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon and Syria (see map on p. 22). In the well-watered areas
of this Levantine corridor, where a range of wild plants and animals thrived, people established
year-round settlements. These sites belong to the Natufian culture, a name given by British archae-
ologist Dorothy Garrod after her work at Shuqba cave in Wadi an-Natuf. Garrod also provided
the names for the preceding communities in the region: the Kebaran in the west, following her
excavations of Kebara cave in Mount Carmel in 1931, and the Zarzian in the east, named after the
cave of Zarzi in Iraq, excavated in 1928.
The Natufian communities represent an important phase in human prehistory, the antecedent
to agrarian village life in the ancient Near East which saw people begin to establish settlements and
cultivate plants. There are numerous significant Natufian sites in the ancient Near East, includ-
ing Abu Hureyra and Jericho (below), Tell Mureybet, Ain Mallaha and Wadi Hammeh 27. New
lifestyles and subsistence strategies saw the development of innovative assemblages of artefacts for
the procurement and processing of plant resources, particularly basalt grinding stones, pestles and
mortars and sickles made of bone and flint. The lustre on the flint blades shows that these tools
were used to cut grasses or cereals, which grew wild in the region. The mortuary rituals of Natufian
people, which saw burials placed beneath and between the floors of some houses, also indicate a
florescence of symbolic behaviour.
The Holocene era saw a rise in global temperatures, in which rainfall increased and plant and
animal species flourished. Human populations took advantage of the opportunities these natural
conditions afforded and in turn shaped their environments in novel ways. The foundations of settled
village life and the developments of agriculture are of fundamental importance in these prehistoric
periods, during which we can trace increasing social complexity in the ancient Near East.
Edwards (2007); Garrod (1932); Lieberman and Shea (1994); Scarre (2013: chapter 4).

Abu Hureyra, 11,500–7000 bc

Tell Abu Hureyra in Syria is significant as a site of two early occupations, the first an Epipalaeolithic
Natufian settlement at c. 11,500–10,000 and the second a Neolithic settlement c. 9000. These dis-
tinctive settlements are separated by a period of abandonment of around a thousand years. Abu
Hureyra settlement was located on a plateau on the southern bank of the Euphrates River and was
excavated in 1972–3 before being flooded by the construction of Lake Assad.
Abu Hureyra is remarkable for the evidence it provides for economic shifts in diet and food
production between the Late Palaeolithic and Early Neolithic. The nearby site of Tell Mureybet,
which was occupied from around 10,200–8000 provides additional information on the transi-
tion from Natufian to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic period. The first settlers at Abu Hureyra lived
in clustered ‘pit-houses’, small circular dwellings with a slightly sunken floor excavated into the
sandstone. The walls of these houses were likely built of degradable materials, such as wood and
mud, with central wooden posts supporting rooves of reeds. The community at Abu Hureyra,
estimated to be up to 200 people in the Epipalaeolithic, were permanently settled hunter-gatherers
who lived off the abundant resources near their home. The site is on the migration route of wild
gazelle, which was the main animal hunted here, with other large animals such as wild sheep and
cattle also hunted.
 A B C D E F
Black Sea
1

Ergani-Maden
24  The prehistoric Near East

copper deposit
• •Hallan Cemi
Çatalhöyük Çiftilik Cayonu
• • (obsidian) Tepesi
2 •
•
Gobekli Tepe
•Tepe Gawra
•Tell Mureybet
•
Abu Hureyra • Jarmo (Qal'at Jarmo)

Euphrates
Mediterranean
3
Sea
Tigris

Jericho / Tell es-Sultan• • Ain Ghazal

Beidha •
•
Basta

4 Nile

0 200 400 km

Selected Neolithic sites in the Near East

 Key prehistoric sites 25

More than one hundred types of

wild plants and fruits were gathered by
the people living at Abu Hureyra and
at Tell Mureybet, including wild cere-
Edge of Mounded Area

als of einkorn wheat, emmer wheat

283

and two varieties of rye. Radiocarbon

287

dating of the rye seeds returned a very

285

early date of 11,050 bc. These rye

D
C
293
seeds also show evidence of selective
G

281 planting, resulting in characteristics

290

B of cultivation and providing slender

294
evidence for very early domestication
F

283
A
of cereal grains. Abu Hureyra is situ-
295 ated in a marginal environment and
was settled just before the Younger
280 Dryas cooling phase. The cooler and
290

drier climate which came around

Edge of Mounded Area
11,000 bc could have motivated peo- Excavated

ple to begin cultivating a hardy cereal

areas

Contours at 1m intervals
like rye, which can tolerate harsh con-
ditions. No other cereal except rye
0 50 100 150 m

seems to have been domesticated dur-

ing the Epipalaeolithic and there was
Site plan of Abu Hureyra then a break of several thousand years
before the next evidence for cereal
domestication. This find is significant, though contentious; these rye seeds have been argued to
represent the earliest domestication of cereal crops in the ancient Near East.
Following a break in occupation at Abu Hureyra, people re-settled the site around 9000 bc,
establishing a Neolithic village which became one of the largest in the Near East at the time. These
people built rectilinear houses of mud brick, gradually creating a large anthropogenic mound
(tell) as old houses collapsed and new ones were constructed on top of the remains. There is
substantial evidence of domesticated wheat, barley and pulses in this second occupation level,
which continued through the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A and B (PPNA, PPNB) and into the Ceramic
Neolithic, before the site was abandoned at around 7000 bc. The terms PPNA and PPNB, used in
the ancient Near East to classify the periods after the Natufian settlements and before the devel-
opment of pottery in the Neolithic, were defined by archaeologist Kathleen Kenyon during her
excavations of Jericho in 1952–8. By the end of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic, villages such as Abu
Hureyra, Ain Ghazal and Jericho had populations of over a thousand and occupied areas greater
than 10ha. Several of these sites were abandoned in the later Neolithic.
Peregrine and Ember (2002: 12); Scarre (2013: 212–13); Roaf (1990: 18–57).

Jericho (Tell es-Sultan) 10,000–1100 bc

Jericho’s history of occupation extends from the Epipalaeolithic period to the Iron Age – from
c. 12,000 to 600 bc. The site of Jericho in the Jordan Valley was first inhabited in seasonal occu-
pations of Natufian hunters and gatherers, before becoming an important settlement in the Pre-
Pottery Neolithic A and B periods. The site is located near a freshwater spring and a permanent
26  The prehistoric Near East

settlement was established here from the PPNA. Investigations, conducted from 1930 to 1936
by John Garstang and from 1952 to 1958 by Kathleen Kenyon, brought to light large areas of the
city’s Epipalaeolithic and Neolithic phases. A series of round huts about 5 m in diameter with a
sunken floor, a stepped doorway and walls of sun-dried mud brick were built by the Neolithic vil-
lagers. As the mud brick of house walls collapsed and was rebuilt upon, a mound of twenty-five
successive building levels gradually accumulated at Jericho, providing a well-stratified sequence
of late Epipalaeolithic and Neolithic material culture. Although the houses were built of mud and
straw the early town also featured a substantial stone wall, enclosing the village except for the
spring to the east. This enclosure wall stands almost 4 m high and built against it was a stone tower
with an internal staircase, an unprecedented structure in the PPNA. Obsidian tools are found in
this PPNA settlement, sourced from Çiftilik in central Anatolia. Obisidan from the mountains of
central Turkey present at Jericho indicates the distances which valuable materials could be trans-
ported even in this early period. There is also evidence for plant cultivation, but animal husbandry
begins later in PPNB.
One of the main excavators of Jericho, Kathleen Kenyon, noted that the construction of houses
changes from the use of rounded ‘hog-backed’ bricks to build round huts in the PPNA to rectilin-
ear structures in the PPNB, in a settlement established around 6800 bc. Burials from this period
indicate complex rituals, in which skeletal material was inhumed in the walls, or beneath the floors
of houses. In one house a series of ten human skulls were found, with facial features reconstructed
using plaster and shells set in place
of eyes. Two wicker and plaster fig-
urines were also discovered, similar
in style to the thirty-five such figu-
rines found at the settlement at Ain
Ghazal, contemporary with Jericho.
These plastered skulls and figurines
found interred within house walls
and beneath floors are features of
several Neolithic sites in the ancient
Near East, including Jericho, Ain
Ghazal, Nevalı Çori and Çayönü.
Ancestor worship has been inferred
as a motivation for the careful
reconstruction and treatment of
these skulls and remains.
Jericho is one of the world’s old-
est settlements, but there were long
periods in its existence when it
appears to have been uninhabited;
for example, there is no evidence
of settlement in the Chalcolithic
period (M5–4). Again, in the later
years of the Early Bronze Age, the
city was abandoned around 2300
bc. It was partially reoccupied
Figure 3.1 A plastered skull from Neolithic Jericho © Ashmolean from c. 2100 to 1950, in the transi-
Museum, University of Oxford. tional period between the Early and
 Key prehistoric sites 27

Middle Bronze Ages, before a Middle Bronze Age city was built, and substantially fortified. After a
further violent destruction (perhaps due to earthquake or enemy attack) at the end of the Middle
Bronze Age, the site was again abandoned, and then reoccupied, by 1400, in the Late Bronze Age.
Gates (2011: 17–19); Kenyon (1957); Peregrine and Ember (2002: 16); Roaf (1990: 32); Scarre
(2013: chapter 6).

Çayönü, 7400–6880 bc
Çayönü was an aceramic Neolithic site in south-eastern Turkey, located at the foot of the Ceramic
Mountains on routes connecting the Levantine corridor, the Fertile Crescent and the resource-
rich mountains of Anatolia. Its strategic location helps explain the site’s longevity and its repeated
changes of architectural style.
Providing continuity with sites like Jericho, as well as evidence of settlement into the Ceramic
Neolithic, Çayönü demonstrates the great variety of architectural styles and materials found
across this period (see site plan on p. 28). It is also significant as a centre of early metal-working.
Between 1964 and 1991, the archaeologists Robert Braidwood and Halet Çambel, Mehmet
Özdoğan and Wulf Schirmen unearthed a large expanse of the village, covering three hectares. Its
six sub-phases of architecture each appears to have been deliberately buried before the next was
constructed. Çayönü’s first stage of settled life began with sunken round houses of wattle-and-
daub, comparable to those found at other aceramic Neolithic sites including Jericho, Abu Hureyra
and Hallan Çemi. The second sub-phase shows a similar reconfiguration of house style, in which
the sunken, rounded design is replaced by rectilinear stone foundations resembling a grill plan,
onto which wooden flooring covered with lime and clay was laid. This was the living area to which
an enclosed courtyard and a small storage area were attached, with mud and straw continuing
in use for the walls. These ‘Grill Plan’ houses are similar in plan, size and orientation, indicat-
ing a well-defined architectural style and shared concept of spatial organization. This Neolithic
house-plan is also known from Basta in southern Jordan, Beidha near Petra, at Qal’at Jarmo in
north-eastern Iraq, and from Nevalı Çori in south-eastern Turkey, which is contemporary with
Çayönü and whose housing designs change in step with Çayönü.
In the subsequent Channelled Building sub-phase house foundations were filled in, leaving
only drainage channels to protect the structures from groundwater. The houses were dispersed
around the site and the villagers built a significant ‘Plaza’, an open space presumed to be com-
munal in nature. This Plaza is used over several building phases at Çayönü, from sub-phase
3 through sub-phases 4 and 5 (Cobble-paved Building sub-phase and Cell Building sub-phase,
respectively). The Cell Building sub-phase saw the Plaza encircled by the site’s largest houses.
They are built on cell-plan stone foundations with sturdy mud-brick walls replacing the earlier
wattle-and-daub construction technique. The house-plans vary in size and the finds within the
houses also differ, suggesting social differentiation between households at Çayönü. The village
decreased in size in sub-phase 6, the Large-room sub-phase, and the Plaza was used as a rubbish
dump.
Çayönü’s Neolithic settlements feature significant communal buildings, some of which were
maintained and rebuilt throughout the site’s history. These include a large round-house, the
‘Flagstone Building’ with a floor of polished limestone slabs, and the ‘Terrazzo Building’ whose
floor was made of polished stones and specially heat-treated, pink limestone. The most famous of
these communal buildings is the ‘Skull Building’, which contained over seventy skulls and skeletal
fragments within and beneath its walls, estimated to be from around 450 individuals. This build-
ing, with its intramural burials, recalls the decorated skulls found at Jericho and also known from
 ÇAYÖNÜ
Pre-Pottery Neolithic
Round Building Subphase 1
Grill Plan Subphase 2
Channeled Bldg./Cobble-paved Bldg. Subphases 3 & 4
Cell Building Subphase 5
Large-room Building Subphase 6
28  The prehistoric Near East

Floor/Pavement
Pottery Mound
Neolithic/Chalcolithic
Border of the Pottery Mound
Terrazzo Bldg.

PLAZA

PLAZA Skull Bldg.

COURTYARD
(pebble)

UNEXCAVATED Flagstone Bldg.

0 10 20m

The Neolithic and Chalcolithic levels of Çayönü, showing the location of the Plaza, the Flagstone Building, the Terrazzo Building and the Skull Building
 Key prehistoric sites 29

Ain Ghazal in north-west Jordan. As at these sites, the building may have been a place of second-
ary burial (a charnel house) and possibly connected with ancestor veneration.
Çayönü’s villagers experimented with metallurgy early in the site’s history, during sub-phases 2, 3
and 4. The working of copper and the copper-bearing mineral malachite provide one of our earliest
cases of metallurgy in the Near East. Sourced from the Ergani Maden copper deposits, in the Taurus
Mountains some 20 km from Çayönü, the ore was hammered into shape or annealed, a process by
which the ore is heated without being smelted. Working of native copper does not seem to have
continued long at Çayönü, nor did it spread; it is not until the later M7 at Çatalhöyük that metallurgy
is again practised. Pottery arrives at Çayönü c. 6000, without any apparent developmental phase.
In addition to the changing architectural styles of the early Neolithic villagers, the construc-
tion of several communal buildings, and the technological experiments with pottery and copper,
Çayönü is significant for showing a changing food economy and lifestyle. During sub-phases 1–5,
the villagers hunted wild animals and gathered wild plants whilst supplementing their diet by
cultivating pulses, lentils, vetch and einkorn wheat. Grapes, figs, rye and domesticated emmer
and einkorn wheat are known from the earliest occupations. During the later occupations (sub-
phase 5), this strategy shifted to include large quantities of domesticated sheep and goat, with wild
animals such as aurochs and red deer hunted less frequently as a result. Domesticated dogs are
also evident at Çayönü. For these reasons Çayönü was important in Braidwood’s work on early
agriculture in the foothills of the Taurus Mountains; Çayönü provides important evidence for a
significant shift from hunter-gatherer to agricultural lifestyles between 12,000 and 8000 years ago
in the ‘hilly flanks’ of the Fertile Crescent.
Gates (2011: 19–22); Rosenberg and Erim-Özdoğan (2011); Roaf (1990: 33–5).

Göbekli Tepe
The ‘ceremonial centre’ of Göbekli Tepe is changing the way that archaeologists think about the role
of ideology in the early Neolithic world. The site is dramatic, situated on a hilltop in south-eastern
Turkey, and comprises at least twenty circular features, the earliest of which were carved around
9700–9300 bc. The circular features are formed by stone walls, some of which are concentric and
the largest of which is 12 m in diameter (Enclosure C) in the interior and 30 m in diameter at its
outermost concentric wall. Within these walls stand monumental limestone stelae (pillars) carved
with the images of wild and dangerous animals: lions, scorpions, foxes, snakes and vultures. These
T-shaped stelae, embedded in the ground and carved in relief, stand at right angles to the walls. The
circular rooms were intentionally buried when they came to the end of their use, in a practice similar
to the deliberate burial of successive domestic levels at Çayönü, leading to the excellent preservation
of the structures and relief sculptures. The only site to have revealed similarly monumental carved
pillars is Nevalı Çori, a PPNB settlement where a ‘cult complex’ dated to around 8000 bc was exca-
vated in 1993. Here, monumental pillars were embedded into the dry-stone walls of a rectangular
structure which had been cut into a hillside in the north-west of the village. Nevalı Çori is just 70 km
from Göbekli Tepe, once on the shore of the Euphrates but now beneath the Atatürk Dam.
Göbekli Tepe has been hailed as the worlds ‘first temple’ and pre-dates the development of pot-
tery, of metalworking and of other megalithic sites. It also appears to pre-date settled village life
in this part of the world. The early levels of Göbekli Tepe (Level III, dated to the PPNA) have not
revealed any trace of houses, hearths or refuse pits to indicate settlement at this site. However, it is
clear that this monumental site would have required considerable time, skill and teamwork to con-
struct. There is evidence of tool use, including stone hammers and blades, and animal bones at the
site also show the cut marks of butchery. It seems that Göbekli Tepe was a place of feasting, with wild
gazelles making up over 60 per cent of the assemblage, along with wild sheep, cattle and pigs. The
30  The prehistoric Near East

Figure 3.2 Excavations at Göbekli Tepe in eastern Anatolia, showing the circular enclosures lined with carved,
T-shaped pillars. Teomancimit via Wikimedia.

people building and visiting Göbekli Tepe were hunting wild animals and harvesting wild crops, and
do not appear to have been sedentary. The excavation director, Klaus Scmidt, believed that Göbekli
Tepe served as a central place for many hunter-gatherer communities living in the region.
What Göbekli Tepe appears to indicate is that monumental architecture and highly developed
symbolic repertoires were present without people having sedentary lifestyles. Göbekli Tepe dem-
onstrates that village life and the practice of agriculture were not required in order for people to
have the time, marshal the resources and employ the organizational skills to build temples and
sustain complex social systems. Later in the site’s history there was settlement at Göbekli Tepe,
but this came in the PPNB in the form of small oval huts, rectilinear house foundations and small
circular structures (Level II). Excavations continue at Göbekli Tepe, with the likelihood that this
site and its surrounding region in south-eastern Turkey will reveal further important evidence for
the lifestyle and traditions of the early Neolithic people.
Dietrich and Schmidt (2011); Gates (2011: 22–5); Peregrine and Ember (2002: 15); Scarre
(2013: 20–1).

Çatalhöyük
Occupied from c. 7300 until at least 6200, Çatalhöyük was one of the first Neolithic villages dis-
covered in the Near East. The site was investigated in the 1960s by James Mellaart, British Institute
of Archaeology at Ankara, and since 1933 by Ian Hodder of Stanford University, who headed
a large, multidisciplinary investigation. Celebrated for its size, symbolic material culture, and
 Key prehistoric sites 31

N
East Mound
Depot

Dig
House
Experimental
West Mound House
Guard 4040
House
Building 77

Trench 1
REC

Trench 5
Trench 6 Trench 7 TP
South
Trench 8

IST

0 100m

Key:
Areas Excavated in 2010

Site plan of Çatalhöyük showing the east and west mounds

complex, early urban structures, Çatalhöyük lies in the Konya basin on the Central Anatolian
Plateau, where the moist climate which developed in the Holocene led to the formation of allu-
vial fans and wetlands. In this favourable environment, a substantial Neolithic village of terraced
mud-brick houses arose on what is now the east mound of Çatalhöyük. A settlement from the
subsequent Early Chalcolithic period developed on the west mound.
The east-mound village contains many mud-brick houses, clustered in a ‘honeycomb’ arrange-
ment whereby the walls of one house adjoined its neighbours. Though each house is small, with c.
30 m2 of floor-space, the village encompasses 13 ha, a substantial area for the time. Relatively uni-
form in design, the houses comprise a main room and adjacent storeroom, with small windows
high in the walls and an opening in the roof for ventilation. The inhabitants could access their
homes via ladders from openings in the flat rooftops. Inside, a clay hearth or oven was usually
positioned below the roof-opening. The walls were often painted white with clay and the floors
red, red plaster-paint being used to create wall-designs. Low platforms and raised benches were
built into the walls, with burials often placed beneath the plastered platforms.
The mud-plaster walls of several buildings were decorated with reliefs of human and animal
figures, female breasts and animal heads. Over forty such ‘shrines’ were discovered within the
different building levels. Animal sculptures included the horned heads of cattle (bucrania), rep-
resentations of a stag and a ram, and several pairs of intricately decorated leopards. Painted with
stylized, geometric markings, the leopards were often replastered and renewed. Some animal
heads integrated the real skull or horns of the animal as a core, which was then plastered over.
Likewise, the representations of breasts sometimes used the jaw of a boar, or the skull of a fox,
weasel or vulture as a core for the plastered form. Bulls, leopards and vultures appear frequently
in Çatalhöyük’s shrines, in plastered and painted forms.
32  The prehistoric Near East

N Painted scenes and geometric

Building 77
designs also distinguish the shrines
and include intriguing images of
niche
life in this Neolithic town. In one
niche
niche
wall sheep bucrana

(post) socket
scene, stylized vultures appear
bin complex
17542 platform
platform to circle headless human forms;
other scenes depict figures in
wall post leopard loincloths, large bulls and
(post)

(post)
wild animals such as boar, wolves,

wall
Space 336 platform lions, bears, deer and onagers.
wall

bench
Space 337
(post)
shelf
One mural shows a cluster of rec-
tilinear, geometric shapes and has

bench
post
(quem stone) Inearth
dirty area
been interpreted as a representa-
platform
post
tion of the village itself – hence the
wall

platform
bin
basin complex platform first known map or town-plan. An
wall ladder scar abstract shape above the geomet-
ric design has been taken to depict
0 2m
an erupting volcano, possibly the
nearby mountain Hasan Dağ. But
Figure 3.3 Plan of Building 77 at Çatalhöyük, showing the main
room and adjacent storeroom, the circular hearth and we should be cautious in reading
platforms adjoining the walls. Bucrania are mounted specific events or beliefs into such
in the wall in the north-east corner. Drawn by David abstract imagery from 7500 years
Mackie. ago. Alternative interpretations
include the suggestion that the
‘volcano’ represents a leopard hide stretched to dry and the ‘village plan’ a geometric design, as both
leopards and geometric designs commonly occur in the symbolic repertoire of Çatalhöyük.
The shrines’ elaborate decoration has led to speculation about the roles of ritual activities in
this Neolithic society. In the upper levels of the site, archaeologists found distinctive clay figurines
depicting voluptuous female forms, typically linked to fertility rituals and beliefs. The best known
figurine, the so-called ‘Seated Mother Goddess’, represents a female, apparently giving birth while
flanked by two felines (leopards or panthers).
The people at Çatalhöyük had domesticated animals but also hunted wild sheep, deer, boar
and onagers. Einkorn and emmer wheat were domesticated, and diet was supplemented by
other plants native to the area. The villagers made pottery vessels and wooden bowls, cups
and boxes, and stone was an important utilitarian and luxury material. The lithic assemblages
from Çatalhöyük provide insight into Neolithic exchange networks, through which the central
Anatolian villagers could source flint from Syria, turquoise from Sinai, and obsidian from Göllü
Dağ and Nenezi Dağ, 125 km to the north-east in Cappadocia. Fine, pressure-flaked spearheads
and arrowheads, polished beads and mirrors were made from this obsidian. Most copper objects
at Çatalhöyük were of hammered native copper, like earlier examples from Çayönü, but a lump
of copper slag implies that copper-smelting was also part of the repertoire of Çatalhöyük’s
craftspeople.
Similar contemporary (but smaller) sites in Çatalhöyük’s region include Hacılar, Suberde and
Can Hasan II. Çatalhöyük itself was abandoned near the end of M7, but by about 6000, villages of
various appearance and economy were well established throughout the Near East.
Gates (2011: 25–8); Hodder (2006); Roaf (1990: 44–5); Scarre (2013: chapter 6).
 A B C D E F
Black Sea

•
Değirmentepe

Tigris
2
Tell Halaf
•
Chagar Bazar
• Tell Arpachiyah• •Tepe Gawra
• Tell Hassuna
•
Tell Zeidan

Euphrates
•Tell es-Sawwan
Mediterranean Sea •Choga Mami
3

Eridu
•

0 200 400 km
Key prehistoric sites 33

Selected Neolithic and Chalcolithic sites in Mesopotamia

34  The prehistoric Near East

Neolithic Mesopotamia: Hassunan and Samarran cultures (6500–5500)

Tell Hassuna
The previous sites have highlighted the western Fertile Crescent and Anatolian plateau. By the early
6M, people had also moved into the foothills of northern Mesopotamia, a region which could sup-
port agriculture without the need for irrigation (‘dry’ agriculture). These people are known from
Tell Hassuna in Iraq, the type-site of the Neolithic Hassuna culture. Tell Hassuna is located beside
two wadis on the border of the Tigris valley and was excavated by British archaeologist Seton Lloyd
and Fuad Safar of the Iraqi Directorate General of Antiquities in 1943–4. The site extends across
2 ha and contains multiple cultural levels in which the development of the Hassuna culture and its
relationship with subsequent regional cultures can be traced. The initial settlement at Tell Hassuna
(Level 1) is represented only by hearths and pits, after which people began to construct rectilinear
houses of two to three rooms using packed mud (variously termed adobe, pisé or tauf). The early
houses included storage spaces beneath the floors, lined with plaster or bitumen. In later levels 2–6,
the Hassuna people built larger adobe homes and arranged them around open, central courtyards.
These villagers were agriculturalists and left behind stone axes, sickles and grinding stones, which
they used to harvest and process grains and pulses including einkorn, emmer and bread wheat, spelt
and barley, lentils and peas. Baking ovens and refuse pits also provide insight into their economy,
showing that they kept domestic cattle, sheep, goats, pigs and dogs.
The Hassuna cultural traditions of central and northern Mesopotamia intersect with the
Samarran traditions of central and southern regions. The Samarran culture marks the extension of
agricultural societies southwards from central Mesopotamia, where people established large vil-
lages and developed irrigation systems at sites such as Tell es Sawwan and Choga Mami. Irrigation
allowed the villagers to increase their crop yields and settle the Mesopotamian plains.
The stratigraphic sequence at Tell Hassuna documents the development of the Hassuna-
type ceramic tradition, the introduction of Samarran pottery into the Hassuna assemblage and
the Samarran replacement by the successive Halafian traditions. The pottery produced by the
Hassuna people was initially coarse, chaff-tempered ware, which was decorated by burnishing to
create a ‘shiny’ exterior. From Level 1c onward, painted decoration is found on Hassuna pottery,
shifting to more complex assemblages of painted and incised ceramics in Levels 3–5. Elaborate
black-painted pottery in the Samarran-style is introduced in Level 3 (Figure 3.4) and overlaps in
later stages with burnished and painted Halafian ceramics in Levels 7–10.

Halaf and Ubaid cultures (c. 6000–5400 and c. 5900–4200)

The majority of Halafian sites are small (1–3 ha), such as Tell Hassuna and Tell Halaf, and seem
to have been self-sufficient village communities. Halafian cultural elements include increasing use
of copper and bronze, imported obsidian, distinctive handmade pottery, richly decorated by spe-
cialist potters, as well as geometric stamp-seals and circular mud-brick buildings known as tholoi.
Halafian ceramics are easily distinguished by their form and decorative style, typically geometric
or animal motifs in red or red and black paint. The peoples of the Halafian culture lived primarily
in northern Mesopotamia but their characteristic pottery has been found far afield; the sites of Tell
Arpachiyah (Tepe Reshwa) in Iraq and Chagar Bazar in Syria are thought to have functioned as
specialized pottery manufacturing and distribution centres.
There was considerable regional variation in local ceramic styles in M6, and so the Halaf
ceramic wares are significant as one of the few styles to be found across sites with diverse tradi-
tions, from south-east Anatolia to southern Mesopotamia.
 Key prehistoric sites 35

Tell Halaf

Tell Hassuna

Tell es-Sawwan

Eridu

Hassunan, Samarran, Halaf and Ubaid spheres.

Figure 3.4 The general distribution of Hassunan and Samarran sites, in relation to the successive Halaf and
Ubaid traditions. Composition by author, satellite photo by Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Rapid
Response Team, NASA/GSFC.
36  The prehistoric Near East

The Halafian culture overlaps

with the start of the Ubaid tradi-
tion (evident in Level 11 of Tell
Hassuna), a late Neolithic group of
villagers who settled in southern
Mesopotamia. The transition to
Ubaid sees the amount of obsid-
ian at Tell Hassuna fall, indicating
reduced contact with the north-
ern sources. The Ubaid culture
had a very long duration in the
southern Mesopotamian alluvial
plains, initially developing along-
side Samarran traditions as early
as the M7, and being replaced by
the Uruk culture in the late M5.
Ubaid traditions spread to north-
ern Mesopotamia from around
5300, following the Tigris and
Euphrates Rivers and gradually
Figure 3.5 Black-painted pottery in the Samarran-style, replacing the Halafian traditions.
decorated with geometric birds and fish © PRISMA The Ubaid period sees the devel-
ARCHIVO/Alamy. Peregrine and Ember (2002: 44, opment of large urban settlements
46, 50); Scarre (2013: 433–8). comprised of multi-roomed, rec-
tilinear mud-brick houses. Some
of these settlemens spread over
10ha with smaller villages developing nearby, in a pattern of urban development at the heart of
Mesopotamian civilization. Large-scale irrigation systems were also built by the Ubaid peoples to
manage the land and expand agricultural practices. The culture is named for Tell Ubaid, excavated
by Sir Leonard Woolley in the 1920s, and includes important sites such as Eridu, founded in 5400
and arguably the oldest city in the world, Choga Mami and Tepe Gawra in Iraq, Tell Zeidan in
Syria and Değirmentepe in Anatolia.

Southern Ubaid: Eridu

Both the southern and northern Ubaid communities appear to have been made up of a series of
small, localized, ideologically connected chiefdoms. In the north, these people coexisted with the
Halaf in apparent harmony. There are few exotic or prestige items evident in these communities,
in which it appears that control of land, water and staple resources were markers of power. The
settlement of Eridu was located next to a branch of the Euphrates and its inhabitants practised
agriculture, kept domesticated animals including sheep, goats and cattle, hunted wild game from
the nearby wetlands and steppe, and fished in the river. Eridu is a large ‘city’ mound surrounded
by six smaller ‘village’ mounds, providing one of the best stratigraphic sequences for the Ubaid
tradition. Fourteen levels of Ubaid period settlement have been excavated here (levels 19 to 6),
beginning with small huts constructed of reed matting plastered with mud, and later buildings
constructed of sun-dried mud brick. From levels 16–19 the village included a clearly identifiable
temple precinct, beginning as a single-roomed structure and developing in later levels into an
 Key prehistoric sites 37

A B C D E F
Black Sea Caspian
1 Sea

Değirmentepe •
2
Tell Halaf • Tell Hassuna
•

Euphrates
3 Mediterranean
Sea
Tigris

Halaf
Halaf related Eridu •
4 Halaf and Ubaid
Ubaid
0 300 600 km Persian
Gulf

The general distribution of sites from the Halaf and Early Ubaid periods

imposing Mesopotamian temple with buttressed walls and recessed niches. In the later Ubaid
period a large cemetery of over 1,000 burials was established near Eridu. Two hundred graves
were excavated, many containing two interments, along with painted ceramic vessels, obsidian
and shell beads. Eridu continued to be inhabited into the Uruk period, with a later Uruk temple
complex overlaying the Ubaid period settlement.
Regional networks in the Ubaid period were evidently extensive, with Ubaid pottery found
at several sites along the west coast of the Persian Gulf. Analysis of Ubaid pottery at these sites
indicates that the pottery was produced in southern Mesopotamia and transported to the Persian
Gulf sites, several hundred kilometres away. The Ubaid culture also spread northward through
Mesopotamia, gradually replacing the Halaf traditions.
Peregrine and Ember (2002: 383–5); Scarre (2013: 436–7).

Northern Ubaid: Tepe Gawra

The northern Ubaid culture is well represented at Tepe Gawra, a site in the piedemont of the
Zagros Mountains, which revealed eight levels of Ubaid occupation before a transition to the
related Uruk tradition. The site is about 2 ha in size and its inhabitants lived in rectilinear houses
of 2–3 rooms, some having a central hallway. Narrow alleyways separate some of these dwellings
whilst many of the houses share walls with their neighbours. The site appears to have been more
38  The prehistoric Near East

densely settled as the Ubaid period progressed, with the open areas between houses in lower levels
gradually taken up by newer houses in later levels. Incorporated into the village was a drainage
system of brick- and pottery-lined channels and basins throughout the settlement. Kilns for pot-
tery production are found in groups at Tepe Gawra, indicating that some areas of the settlement
were set aside as pottery workshops. Other areas defined for specific purposes include a complex
of three temple structures established in the late Ubaid period, c. 5200.
The Ubaid period provides the first evidence for regional centres with satellite villages, devel-
opment of temples within larger settlements, established irrigation economies and new forms of
social complexity and identity. In Mesopotamia, these characteristics lead directly into the first
urbanized states of the Uruk period (M5).
Peregrine and Ember (2002: 377–9, 389–90); Stein and Rothman (1994); Scarre (2013: 437).
 Part II

Background to the historical era

This Page is Intentionally Left Blank
 4
The homelands of the major
Near Eastern kingdoms

Anatolia is a name first used in C10 ad for the land mass lying to the east across the Aegean Sea.
It comes from the Greek word anatole, ‘rising’, which refers to the region where from a Greek per-
spective the ‘rising (of the sun)’ takes place. The name is still often used for modern Turkey (or at
least the western two-thirds of it, and sometimes more specifically for Turkey’s central highlands).
Anadolu is the Turkish form of the name. The western half of Turkey, roughly the area extending
between the Aegean coast and the Euphrates, is sometimes called Asia Minor, a name first used
in Classical Greek sources. One of the most distinctive features of Anatolia’s topography is the
highland plateau which rises 1000 m above sea level. On the north it is bounded by the Pontic
Mountains, on the south by the Taurus Mountains, and in the east it merges into the Armenian
Mountains. These mountain ranges sharply differentiate the plateau from the rest of the Anatolian
region. In the west, the plateau slopes down more gently to the Aegean coast. Anatolia is often
referred to as a landbridge between the Near Eastern and western worlds, for across it passed
many important routes of communications which conveyed population groups, trade, cultures,
ideas and armies from east to west, and from west to east. It was the homeland of many ancient
civilizations, notaby the Late Bronze Age Hittite kingdom of Hatti, and the Iron Age kingdoms of
Phrygia, Lydia, and, in the east, the kingdom of Urartu.

Mesopotamia, another ancient Greek name, means ‘the land between the rivers’. It broadly defines
the region bounded by the Euphrates and Tigris and their tributaries. Much of this region today
lies within Iraq, but in the north Syria and Turkey also extend into it. Broadly speaking, it consists
of two main parts: (1) northern or Upper Mesopotamia (north of modern Baghdad, where the
two rivers most closely approach each other), homeland of the Old, Middle and Neo-Assyrian
empires (M2 and M1), and the Mitannian (Mittanian) empire (M2); (2) southern Mesopotamia,
often called Babylonia, the homeland of the Sumerian city-states (M3) and the Babylonian empires
of Hammurabi (early M2), the Kassites (later M2), and the Neo-Babylonian kings of whom
Nebuchadnezzar II was the most famous (mid M1). Following the conquest of the Neo-Babylonian
empire by the Persian king Cyrus the Great in 539, Mesopotamia was incorporated into a succes-
sion of empires, beginning with the Persian (Achaemenid) empire, and subsequently, in the wake of
Alexander the Great’s conquests, the Seleucid empire. In the latter’s declining years, Mesopotamia
came progressively under the control of the Iran-based Parthian empire. But as Rome extended its
imperial sway through the western half of the Near Eastern world, particularly from 64 bc when
Syria was made a Roman province, sovereignty over Mesopotamia became a major source of con-
flict between Rome and Parthia. The contests with Rome was one of the legacies inherited from the
Parthians by their Sasanian successors, whose empire was founded by Ardashir I in ad 224.

41
42  Background to the historical era

A B C D

Danube

Caucasus
THRACE Black Sea Moun
tain
s
Halys
Caspian
Hittite
Sea
(C17 - 12)
Phrygian Araxes
(C8 - 7)
Lydian Lake

A N A T O L I A
(C7 - 6) Van
Urartian Lake
(C9 - 7)
Taurus Mountains
Mitannian Urmia
(C16 - 14) Assyrian
ME Old (C20 - 18)
CYPRUS SYRIA SO Middle (C14 - 11)
Seleucid PO Neo- (C10 - 7)
(C4 - 1) TA
Euphrates M IA Tigris (IRA
Mediterranean Sea Ur III
NE

(C22 - 21)
STI

Syrian
Desert Elamite
E

Old (c. C25 - C

Akkadian
PAL

Middle (c. C15 -

(C24 - 22) Neo- (c. C11 - mi
Babylonian
EGYPT Old (C19 - 16)
Kassite (C16 - 12)
Neo- (C7 - 6)
Pe
rsi
an
Egyptian ARABIA G
Pharaonic (C27 - 4)
Ptolemaic (C4 - 1)

Red
Sea

Nile

(IRAN)
All dates are B.C

Core regions of the Near Eastern kingdoms

 The homelands of the major kingdoms 43

D E F

Jaxartes (Syr Darya) 1

(K
YR
(UZBEKISTAN)

GY
ntai
ns

ZS
Caspian

TA
N
Sea

)
Oxus
(Amu Darya)
Araxes

(TAJIKISTAN) 2
Lake (TURKMENISTAN)
Urmia
yrian
20 - 18)
C14 - 11)
C10 - 7)

Ur III (IRAN)
(C22 - 21) Iranian (AFGHANISTAN)
Achaemenid (C6 - 4)
Elamite Parthian (C3 B.C. - C3 A.D.)
Old (c. C25 - C16)
Sasanian (C3 A.D. - C7 A.D.)
Middle (c. C15 - C12)
Neo- (c. C11 - mid C6) Helmand

nian (PAKISTAN) 3
- 16)
6 - 12)
- 6)
Pe Indus
rsi
an
Gu
lf

Arabian Sea 4

(IRAN) Modern Name 0 500 1,000 km

All dates are B.C. unless otherwise indicated
44  Background to the historical era

The name Syria, which first

Lake Van
ANATOLIA appears in Greek in the Histories
of Herodotus (C5), is a vari-
Lake Urmia
ant of ‘Assyria’. The variants are
earlier attested in a C8 Luwian-
Phoenician bilingual inscription
Zagros found at Çineköy in south-eastern
NORTHERN Mountains Turkey, in the form ‘Sura/i’ and
Euphrates
MESOPOTAMIA ‘Assura/i’. When speaking of Syria
in its ancient context, scholars
Tigris commonly use the name in a broad
SYRIA IRAN geographical sense, to cover a con-
(in broad historical glomerate of lands that stretch
sense) southwards from south-eastern
Anatolia to Arabia, through the
Amuq plain of Turkey, and the
modern country of Syria west of
BABYLONIA the Euphrates. The term is some-
times extended to include the
Euphrates
territories of Israel, Palestine,
Lebanon and Jordan as well. Of
course, such a definition excludes
the large triangular area of mod-
ern Syria that extends east of the
Euphrates through the Habur
Persian
river region to the banks of the
Arabia Tigris. (We shall include this area
Gulf
in the region broadly referred to as
northern or Upper Mesopotamia.)
Mesopotamia and surrounding territories (NASA satellite image) Whatever their compass, the lands
comprising ‘ancient Syria’ retained
throughout the ages a relatively
high degree of ethnic and cultural homogeneity, despite their populations being intermixed with
constant influxes of immigrants into their communities and cities – new settlers sometimes forci-
bly transplanted from other parts of the Near Eastern world.
Topographically, Syria consists of widely contrasting regions. Its westernmost component,
a narrow fertile strip along the Mediterranean coast with typically Mediterranean climate and
vegetation, is separated by mountainous terrain, like the Jebel Ansariyah and the Lebanon and
Anti-Lebanon ranges, from semi-arid and arid plateaux. Despite its vast tracts of inhospitable
territory, control of Syria was much sought after by the great powers of the day, since through it
passed many of the routes of communication which linked the lands of the east – Mesopotamia,
Iran and central Asia – with the ports and land-routes that provided access, for both commer-
cial and military purposes, to the Mediterranean world. Indeed, much of Syria’s history has to
do with the imposition of foreign sovereignty over it, by the superpowers of the various epochs
who were fully aware of its strategic importance – Egypt, Mitanni and Hatti in the Late Bronze
Age, Assyria, Babylon, Persia and the Seleucid kingdom in M1 bc, and Rome from mid C1 bc
onwards. The task of imposing administrative uniformity on the region was generally not an easy
 The homelands of the major kingdoms 45

A B C D Tigris
TURKEY

us
an
Am Balih
•Antakya •Aleppo Jebel Abd al-Aziz Jebel Sinjar
Jebe

r
bu
Jebel Bishri

Ha
Orontes
l
Ansa

Mediterranean SYRIA
Sea •Hama
riyah

2
•Homs
• Palmyra Euphrates
ts
M
n

ts
no

M
ba

n
Le

no
ba

IRAQ
Le

LEBANON
ti-

• Damascus
An

3
Hauran

ISRAEL
JORDAN 0 100 200 km

Modern Syria and its neighbours

one, for throughout its history Syria was a patchwork of many independent cities, principalities
and sub-regions.
In ad 135, the Roman emperor Hadrian reconstituted the Roman province of Judaea as a new
province under the name Syria Palaestina. A further administrative reorganization in the region
took place under the emperor Septimius Severus (193–211), who split the old Roman province of
Syria into two: Syria Phoenice along the Phoenician coast, and the much larger Syria Coele (‘Hollow’
Syria), which extended through the northern Orontes river valley, and eastwards from the river
to the Euphrates. First attested in the Hellenistic period, the term Coele Syria was originally used
to designate the region of the (‘hollow’) Biqa‘ valley in Lebanon, extending between the Lebanon
and Anti-Lebanon ranges. Its northern limit was marked by the Eleutheros river (modern Nahr
el-Kebir), which forms the northern boundary of modern Lebanon, and was for long the boundary
between Seleucid- and Ptolemaic-controlled territory in Syria. But the term was flexible in its defini-
tion. W.G. Dever notes that under the Ptolemies and Seleucids, all of Phoenicia, and even Palestine,
could be designated Coele Syria (OEANE 2: 41). In later periods, the term was sometimes used to
designate the whole of Syria from the Orontes valley eastwards to the Euphrates.

The name Levant, first used in Medieval times, is derived from the Italian word ‘levante’ which
means ‘rising’ (from the Latin verb levare, ‘to raise’). Like Greek anatole, it signifies the rising of the
sun in the east. In its most comprehensive sense, the term has been applied to all the lands lying east
of Europe – from the western coast of Turkey to the Euphrates, southwards through Syria, Lebanon,
46  Background to the historical era

Jordan and Palestine to the borders of Egypt, with the inclusion of Cyprus and other islands of
the eastern Mediterranean. It is now mostly associated with Jordan and the eastern Mediterranean
coastal lands and hinterlands of Syria, Lebanon, Israel and Palestine. But in the context of Roman
rule in the Near East, it is given broader application, being applied to the Roman-controlled territo-
ries lying between the Taurus Mountains in the north and the Red Sea in the south, and between the
Mediterranean coast and the Euphrates.
(After D.F. Graf, OEAGR 4: 247–8).

Palestine has also had a wide range of meanings throughout its history, its locations and its limits
shifting, expanding, or contracting from one period to another. The name is commonly believed to
have originated from the people called the Peleset, one of the groups of so-called Sea Peoples, who
in C12 bc settled in the southern coastal plain of the Levant (in the restricted sense of this term),
where they re-emerged in biblical tradition as the Philistines. Their land was called Philistia. Greek
sources preserved their name as Palaistine Syria (Palestinian Syria), which gave rise to Palaestina as a
stand-alone place-name covering the region of the Levant between Phoenicia and Egypt. Palaestina
was the abbreviated name that came to be used of the Roman province which the emperor Hadrian
designated as Provincia Syria Palaestina in ad 135 (in place of the earlier Provincia Iudaea).

Jordan is the name of the Arab state which became the independent Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan
in 1946 after it was first created as a British protectorate called Transjordania in 1921. From the
area east of the Jordan rift valley, it extends southwards to the head of the Gulf of ‘Aqaba. The
modern term ‘Transjordan’ is generally applied, by archaeologists and others, to all the territories
lying within the present kingdom of Jordan. However, it reflects a perception, dating back at least
to Old Testament sources, that the area east of the Jordan river was a separate geographical entity
‘beyond the river’ – i.e. across the Jordan river from Palestine. Our biblical sources provide much
of our information about the principal countries which occupied the region both east and south of
the river, particularly during late M2 and M1 bc – most notably, Gilead, Ammon, Moab and Edom.
Topographically, Jordan is a highly diverse region. The more elevated westward-oriented parts of
the plateau on which much of it is located enjoys a Mediterranean-style climate well suited to
agricultural activity, whereas the plateau’s lower parts slope down eastwards towards the Arabian
desert with the attendant arid conditions thus entailed.

The modern country Iran extends over the high Iranian plateau (more than 1,500 m above sea level)
from the Caspian Sea in the north to the Persian Gulf in the south. It shares land borders with Iraq
and Turkey on the west and north-west, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Turkmenistan on the north, and
Afghanistan and Pakistan on the east. The name ‘Iran’ is derived from ariyanam, which comes from
ariya, an Old Persian word meaning ‘noble, lordly’. In Old Persian, ariyanam (khshathram) means
‘(land) of the Aryans’. Initially, the term ariya was applied to several Indo-European groups, who are
believed to have entered the Iranian plateau around the middle of M2 bc (or later), perhaps from a
homeland east of the Caspian Sea. Ariya also provided the basis for the Middle Persian name Eran,
from which the Sasanian kings adopted the political concept Eranshahr (‘Empire of the Aryans’).
And from this concept comes the name Iranshahr, shortened to Iran, which was adopted (in place
of ‘Persia’) as the modern country’s official name in 1935. Three great Iran-based empires arose and
flourished in the Near Eastern world throughout the course of its history, each of them extending its
power and influence well beyond the frontiers of its homeland. We now commonly refer to them by
the names of their founders (or their alleged ancestors): (1) the Achaemenid empire (559–330 bc),
founded by Cyrus II (the Great), allegedly a descendant of the house of Achaemenes; (2) the Parthian
(Arsacid) empire (c. 247 bc–ad 224), founded by Arsaces I; (3) the Sasanian empire (ad 224–651),
founded by Ardashir I, and named after Sasan, a legendary ancestor of the Sasanian royal line.
 5
Writing systems

When human beings began to draw, impress or inscribe symbols on pieces of clay and other suitable
surfaces, for the purposes of recording information, the age of writing began in the Near East, pretty
much around the same time as it did in Egypt – in the last centuries of M4 bc. The invention of writ-
ing marks the beginning of the historical era in the Near Eastern and Egyptian worlds. (Scholars are
uncertain whether the development of one was in any way linked to the development of the other,
though they observe that the systems are quite different to each other.) The earliest examples of writing
in the Near East come from the southern Mesopotamian city Uruk, where roughly square and rec-
tangular clay tablets have been found, dating to c. 3300 bc, with some 700 different signs represented
on them. Clay writing surfaces of other shapes were also used at this time, including cones, cylinders
and spheres. As writing developed, the clay sufaces, especially tablets, were impressed with what we
now call the cuneiform script. The term meaning ‘wedge-shaped’ is adopted from the Latin word for a
wedge – ‘cuneus’. It indicates that the signs of the script so called were made by pressing into soft clay
the triangular ends of reeds cut from the banks of the Mesopotamian and other rivers. This script was
preceded by a relatively simple pictographic script, in which the signs mostly represented easily identi-
fiable objects; thus an ox is represented by the picture of an ox-head, a human by a human head, barley

PICTOGRAPHIC
SIGN c. 3100 BC

ear of ?shrouded
INTERPRETATION ?stream Ox-head bowl head + bowl
barley boby

CUNEIFORM
SIGN c. 2400 BC

CUNEIFORM
SIGN c. 700 BC
(turned through 90˚)

water,
MEANING barley ox food, bread to eat man
seed, son

Figure 5.1 The development of the cuneiform script. Adapted from Roaf (1996: 70).

47
48  Background to the historical era

by an ear of grain. Two pictograms

together could represent a slightly
more abstract or complex idea, or an
action; thus a combination of a human
head and a bowl could be used to rep-
resent the action of eating.
The earliest cuneiform tablets
were used for recording business
transactions, or a farmer’s produce
or assets, in the form (for example)
of a specified number of livestock
and a specified quantity of grain.
We can still detect the pictographic
origins of a number of cuneiform
signs in the group of wedge-shaped
impressions making up a particular
cuneiform representation of a word;
thus the original pictographic repre-
sentation of an ox is easily detectable
in the cuneiform sign-group for this
word. But the cuneiform script grew
Figure 5.2 Sumerian tablet recording goats and sheep, c. 2350 ever more complex as it was called
bc. © The Art Archive/Alamy.
upon to record the activities and
transactions and assets of increas-
ingly complex societies. And the more sophisticated a society, the greater the need for putting
into written form abstract concepts and other kinds of information which were very difficult, if
not impossible, to represent by simple pictograms. Inevitably, writing-systems became increas-
ingly detached from their pictographic origins.
The cuneiform script represents a predominantly syllabic system of writing, made up of a series
of syllable signs and what are called ideograms and logograms. In general, syllable signs represent a
combination of vowels + consonants, or vowels on their own – e.g. a, na, nan. Words in the syllabic
script are made up of at least one syllable. Ideograms are signs indicating a concept, logograms a single
word. These signs are generally represented in transliteration by upper case letters (e.g. LUGAL –
king) or are used as determinatives to identify the nature of a word to which they are attached; thus
the name of a deity is preceded by the sign for a deity, and that of a city by the sign for a city.
The cuneiform script, first evolving in southern Mesopotamia, was adopted as the writing system of
the Sumerian city-states. It then passed to a succession of other Near Eastern states, from the Akkadian
and Ur III empires in late M3 through the Middle and Late Bronze Age kingdoms of Mesopotamia and
Syria, the Middle and Late Bronze Age Anatolian-based kingdom of Hatti and well down into M1 bc,
when it served to record the exploits of Persian Achaemenid kings. For much of its history, the script
was impressed on clay tablets, but it was inscribed on other writing surfaces as well, painted on wood
and carved on stone. Throughout its existence, cuneiform was most frequently employed for fairly
mundane purposes – the recording of inventories, business transactions, routine administrative activi-
ties and the like – but its use extended well beyond this, to records of a king’s achievements, of military
conquests and political coups, to exchanges of correspondence between the great rulers of their days,
to treaties concluded between royal peers or kings and their vassal rulers, to hymns, prayers and myth-
ological texts, and to literary classics like the Gilgamesh epic. The various tablet archives unearthed
 Writing systems 49

from palaces, administrative buildings,

temple repositories and private houses
provide us with the basis of most of our
information for the history of the Near
East throughout the Bronze Ages and
for much of it during the succeeding
Iron Age and later periods.
The ability to read simple, basic
cuneiform texts may have been fairly
common in many Near Eastern soci-
eties. But reading and writing skills Figure 5.3 The ‘alphabet’ of Ugarit. Photo of replica from the
of a more complex order, encom- collection of Trevor Bryce.
passing both technical and scholarly
literacy, were probably largely con-
fined to a select scribal class within the Near Eastern palace and temple bureaucracies, whose
members must have taken years to master the complete cuneiform system with its hundreds of
sign groups. The first substantial example of an alphabetic script, or at least one to which the name
‘alphabet’ is commonly applied, was found in the tablet archives of Ugarit; the oldest of the tablets
are of C14–13 date (the alphabet’s invention may date back several centuries before this), but the
tablets belong mostly to Ugarit’s last years in early C12 bc. An obvious advantage that alphabetic
scripts have over syllabic ones is that they are made up of much simpler and much smaller sign-
lists. There are only thirty-three symbols in the most extensive of them (the Georgian alphabet).
With regard to the Ugaritic script, each sign in it appears to represent a consonant only – which
presumably would mean that the combination of consonants making up a word were considered
sufficient to identify the word without the need for vowels. On the other hand, it might be argued
that the Ugaritic script should really be categorized as a short syllabary, in which each sign rep-
resents a consonant and (implied) vowel combination (cf. Powell, 2007: 35, on the Phoenician
‘alphabet’).
However we categorize it, this type of script was used to write the Ugaritic language (just one
of the languages represented on the tablets from Ugarit). The scholar P.T. Daniels devised for it
the name ‘abjad’, from the first two letters of the Arabic alphabet. The signs making up the very
first, pre-Ugaritic, ‘alphabetic script’ were probably linear ones, drawn or painted onto writing
surfaces. In this category we can perhaps include the (as yet unreadable) linear signs, dating to c.
1800 bc, carved on rock-faces in Egypt. But in the Ugaritic version of the script, wedge-shaped
signs were used. This was clearly in imitation of the long-established cuneiform system. But the
‘alphabetic signs’ are not related, except in appearance, to the traditional cuneiform ones; rather,
they are an adaptation of earlier linear signs, as evidenced by the few remaining examples we have
of earlier scripts of this kind. The reason for the use of cuneiform for the Ugaritic writing system
was that the script was incised on clay tablets, perhaps reflecting, the scholar D. Pardee suggests, a
shortage of papyrus on which a linear script could more easily have been used.
By the early Iron Age, the alphabetic script was being used by Phoenicians, or their Canaanite pre-
decessors, and from there passed to the Aramaeans and Hebrews, henceforth becoming widespread
throughout the Near East. The Arabs also adopted the alphabetic script, tailoring it to suit the particular
phonemes of their own language. And from the Phoenicians the alphabet spread westwards into the
Greek world. We cannot be sure when the Greeks began using the Semitic-originating script – though
a C8 date is widely accepted. The Greeks’ particular innovation was that they incorporated into their
alphabet explicit vocalic as well as consonantal sounds, to help accommodate their wide range of vowels
50  Background to the historical era

and diphthongs. This could be done by

using a number of Phoenician alpha-
betic signs that represented sounds not
used in Greek. Thus the first letter of
the Greek alphabet was called alpha, a
vowel and an adaptation of the Semitic
sign aleph which represented a sound
that had no Greek equivalent.
We should also mention here a
distinctive form of writing in M2
and M1 bc, in Anatolia and Syria,
which bore no relationship to any
other Near Eastern script. This was
the hieroglyphic script used by one
of the Indo-European-speaking
groups who arrived in Anatolia
probably during M3. Occupying
large parts of central, southern
and western Anatolia in M2, they
were a people we call the Luwians.
The archives of the Hittite capital
Hattusa indicate that cuneiform
was used for recording the Luwian
language on clay tablets. But more
conspicuous examples of the
language are provided by a hiero-
glyphic script, once misleadingly
referred to as ‘Hittite Hieroglyphic’.
Towards the end of the Late Bronze
Age, Hittite kings used this Luwian-
language script for recording their
Figure 5.4 Luwian hieroglyphic inscription © Mike P. Shepherd/ exploits on public monuments such
Alamy. as built stone walls and cliff-faces.
Like its cuneiform counterpart, the
hieroglyphic script is a syllabic one, also containing many ideograms and determinatives. After
the collapse of the Hittite empire, Hittite cuneiform died out, but the hieroglyphically-written
Luwian language survived, becoming the official language of many of the Iron Age kingdoms of
southeastern Anatolia and northern Syria referred to now as the Neo-Hittite kingdoms.

Seals
Seals were another important means of recording information in the Near Eastern world. They
could be used to identify the owner of a piece of property, to ensure that access to certain contain-
ers (jars, boxes, bags, etc.) or storerooms was limited to authorized persons, and to validate a range
of documents which bore the sealing, or seal-imprint, of a person or persons for whom the docu-
ment was drawn up. Thus peace treaties were validated by the seal-imprints of their signatories.
The use of seals for identification purposes dates back to the Late Neolithic period (7600–6000)
 Writing systems 51

in Syria. No more than a few cen-

timetres in length, breadth or
diameter, seals were incised with
a design or inscription which
was unique to individual owners
and thus served as their owners’
particular form of identification.
The majority of seals were made
of stone, but various other metals
were also used, as well as baked
clay, faience, wood, bone, ivory
and shell. The earliest seals had
flat or slightly convex surfaces
whose incised design or inscrip-
tion was stamped on soft clay, to
indicate ownership. This form
of seal, the stamp seal, remained
the most common one in
Anatolia, Egypt and the Levant. Figure 5.5 Stamp seal of the Hittite king Mursili II. Photo of replica
But in Mesopotamia, a differ- from the collection of Trevor Bryce.
ent form of seal, in the shape of
a cylinder, became the preferred
type from the Early Dynastic
Sumerian period (c. 2900–2334
bc) onwards, as also in Iran and
Syria-Palestine. Cylinder seals
were generally c. 2.5 cm long and
1.5 cm in diameter, and often
conveniently pierced lengthwise,
to enable their owners or del-
egates to thread them and wear
them around their necks. They
were rolled over the surface of
pieces of clay and thus produced
imprints that could be repeated a Figure 5.6 Mesopotamian cylinder seal © www.BibleLandPictures.
number of times, depending on com/Alamy.
the size of the space available, in
a continuous band.
The motifs used on seals ranged from abstract patterns, like lozenges, spirals and concentric
circles, to mythological scenes and sometimes hybrid monsters, to animals from the natural world,
to schematically rendered human figures. Daily activities such as hunting, sailing, grain-collection
and storage are also depicted. Many of the representations provide examples of exquisite minia-
ture art, some of the finest from the ancient Near Eastern world. But most important for historical
purposes are the seals incised with inscriptions. Some contain prayers and religious dedications,
others indicate their owners’ titles and professions and the names of the owners’ fathers. Among
the most valuable of the inscription-bearing seals are those preserved for us in Hittite seal impres-
sions. (Very few actual seals have been found.) Recently, several thousand sealings were discovered
52  Background to the historical era

in one of the archives of the Hittite royal capital Hattusa, the so-called Nişantepe archive. All the
sealings from this archive belong to Hittite kings or members of their families. Typically, the
king’s name appears in Luwian hieroglyphs in the centre of the seal. His name appears again in
a cuneiform inscription inscribed in concentric rings around the outer rim of the seal and often
containing valuable information about its owner’s genealogy, sometimes extending back several
generations.
Articles in CANE (4: 2097–209); Robinson (1995); Roaf (1996: 70–3); Daniels (OEANE 5:
352–61); Veldhuis (2011).
 6
A sample of sites where important
inscriptions have been found

Alalah (Tell Atchana) The most important periods of Alalah’s history are represented archaeologi-
cally by levels VII and IV, dating respectively to C17 and C15. Both these levels have produced tablet
archives. Almost all the tablets contain Akkadian cuneiform inscriptions. Their contents, covering legal,
diplomatic and administrative topics, provide a number of valuable insights into the life, economy and
social structure of Alalah in the periods to which they belong. We have almost 200 tablets from level
VII, discovered mainly in the palace and the temple, and 300 from the level IV palace archive.

Amarna archive Cache of clay tablets, now 382 in number, discovered in 1887 on the site of el-
Amarna (ancient Akhetaten) in Egypt. Three hundred and fifty of the tablets are letters, or copies
of letters, exchanged by the pharaoh Amenhotep III (1390–1352) and his successor Amenhotep
IV/Akhenaten (1352–1336) with foreign rulers or with the pharaoh’s vassal subjects in Syria-
Palestine. (A few of the letters also date to Akhenaten’s successors Smenkhkare and Tutankhamun.)
The remaining thirty-two tablets consist of syllabaries, lexical lists and mythological texts. With
the exception of two pieces of correspondence in Hittite, one in Assyrian, and one in Hurrian, the
Amarna documents are written in Akkadian.

Bisitun (Bisutun, Behistun) Iranian site best known for its rock-cut relief and trilingual cuneiform
inscription, carved by order of the Persian king Darius I in 520–519. The three versions of the inscrip-
tion – Old Persian, Babylonian and Elamite – record Darius’ seizure of his throne and his military
triumphs at the beginning of his reign. Between 1835 and 1847, a British officer H.C. Rawlinson
copied the trilingual and undertook the decipherment of the Old Persian version. His success pro-
vided the foundation for all subsequent investigations and translations of the cuneiform languages.

Brak, Tell (Nagar/Nawar) Inscriptions of the Akkadian period have been found here, stamped
on mud bricks and bearing the name Naram-Sin (c. 2254–2218). A palace-fortress dating to the
Mitannian period (C16–14) has produced the earliest known Hurrian text of the Mitannian empire.

Byblos Noteworthy among the city’s finds is the so-called Ahiram sarcophagus, dating to late M2
(Ahiram was a king of Byblos), and now in the Beirut Museum. In addition to its artistic motifs, it
exhibits the earliest surviving example of a Phoenician alphabetic inscription. The inscription car-
ries a warning against violating the tomb.

Ebla (Tell Mardikh) In the remains of Palace G (C24), an archive of c. 2,500 documents was
discovered between 1974 and 1976 by an Italian archaeological team led by Prof. Paolo Matthiae.
Written in cuneiform in the Eblaite and Sumerian languages, the tablets include a wide range of
economic, administrative, legal, lexical, literary, diplomatic and epistolary texts. These provide

53
 A B C D E F

Black Sea (Euxine)

1
Pontic Mountains
Sea
of Marmara Sapinuwa Caspian
• • • Tapikka Sea
Hattusa
Lake Van
Salt
ANATOLIA Lake
• Kanesh
• Karabel • Tushpa

es

Ci
at n
54  Background to the historical era

G licia
Lake Urmia
2
Aegean ountains Balikh
Xanthus rus M
Sea Tau Alalah • Tell Nineveh Shusharra
•• Brak • •
Rhodes Letoum
• • •
Ebla Emar HaburM
Ugarit ES •
Orontes OP Nuzi
• Bisitun
Qatna Mari •
OT
Diyala •
Cyprus Byblos •
AM
Euphrates IA
Mediterranean Sea PERSIA
Sippar
• 3
Tigris
Susa
• Nippur •
Dead Syrian
Sea Desert • Uruk

Persepolis
Peninsula •
EGYPT

Gu
lf
of
Western

of
Eastern Sinai Persian

Su
Desert

ez
Desert Gulf 4
• Amarna
0 200 400 km
Red
Sea

Sites of important inscriptions

 Sites of important inscriptions 55

valuable insights into the adminis-

tration and daily life of Ebla and its
relations with its surrounding region,
during a period of approximately
50 years in C24. Lists of names in
the texts include many rulers of the
city, giving evidence of a succession
of Eblaite kings that extends back at
least to C27.

Emar (Meskene) Excavations have

brought to light approximately 800
Late Bronze Age cuneiform tablets
and fragments dating from C14 to
C12. A small number are in Hittite
and Hurrian, but the great major-
ity are written in Akkadian and Figure 6.1 The Bisitun monument. Photo by Hara1603 via
Sumerian. Many of them cover a Wikimedia.
range of economic activities and legal
transactions. Others contain lexical,
omen and literary texts (including
fragments of the Gilgamesh epic),
and there are some 200 texts describ-
ing festivals and ritual practices.
Collectively, the tablets constitute
our second most important source
of contemporary written information
(after the archives of Ugarit) on Late
Bronze Age Syria.

Hattusa (Boghazköy, Boghazkale)

The city’s palace and temple cuneiform
archives, containing thousands of tab-
lets and tablet-fragments, provide our
main source of written information
about the Hittite empire. These are
supplemented by a small number of Figure 6.2 Sarcophagus, with inscription, of King Ahiram, Byblos.
Luwian hieroglyphic inscriptions on Photo by DEA/G. DAGLI ORTI/De Agostini/Getty
Images.
stone surfaces and a recently discov-
ered archive of 3,400 royal sealings.

Kanesh Headquarters of the Middle Bronze Age Assyrian Colony network in central Anatolia.
More than 22,000 tablets written in Assyrian cuneiform and providing detailed information about
the Assyrian merchants’ trading activities in Anatolia have been unearthed from level II of the site
(mid C20–early C19), and c. 420 from the succeeding Ib level (late C19–mid C18). The great major-
ity of the tablets are letters exchanged between merchants in the colonies, and business associates
and family members in Assyria involved in the trading operations at their home end.
56  Background to the historical era

Karabel is located 28 km west of modern Izmir (Turkey), in a pass through the Tmolus mountain.
range. It is the site of a Late Bronze Age monument with a relief (originally one of four) and inscrip-
tion. The relief depicts a male human figure armed with bow, spear and sword. The inscription,
carved in Luwian hieroglyphs and translated by J.D. Hawkins, identifies the figure as Tarkasnawa,
a late C13 king of the Arzawan land called Mira, a subject state of the Hittite empire.

Mari (Tell Hariri) The cuneiform clay tablets excavated at Mari, numbering more than 22,000 and
consisting of both state and private archives (the latter belonging to palace personnel), were discov-
ered in various locations, but mainly in and around the great palace. Their contents include letters,
administrative documents and a few legal and religious texts. Though the total time-span covered
by the archives extends from late M3 until C18, most of the tablets are confined to a quarter of a
century at the very end of Mari’s existence, from the period of the Assyrian viceroy Yasmah-Addu
to the destruction of Mari by Hammurabi at the end of Zimri-Lim’s reign (c. 1762).

Nineveh Within the city’s so-called North Palace built by the C7 Neo-Assyrian king Ashurbanipal,
a library was discovered, consisting of two large chambers stacked with 24,000 cuneiform clay
tablets. Its wide range of contents, including copies of literary texts which were gathered from all
parts of the empire and whose originals in some cases dated back centuries before the foundation
of the Neo-Assyrian kingdom, provide us with one of our most valuable sources of information
on Mesopotamian history and culture.

Nippur Excavations have uncovered some 12,000 cuneiform clay tablets. The contents of large
numbers of these are economic or lexical in nature, but they also include copies of the great major-
ity of Sumerian literary compositions. The tablets were found mainly in private houses, and range
in date from the Old Babylonian through the Kassite and later periods. Nippur was a centre for
scribal education in the Old Babylonian period.

Nuzi (Yorgan Tepe) Nuzi is best known today for the large quantities of clay tablets which were
unearthed from the site’s Late Bronze Age phase, roughly between mid C15 and mid C14. Over 5,000
tablets came from both public and private archives, and bear the seal impressions of their authors.
Their contents include contracts, legal records, letters, and ration and personnel lists. Written in a dis-
tinctive Akkadian dialect, with an admixture of Hurrian names, the tablets have been seen as indicative
of declining socio-economic conditions in the region during the period of their composition.

Persepolis The most important tablets unearthed on the site of this the Persian ceremonial royal
capital are the 15,000–20,000 Fortification Tablets, so called because they were found in two rooms
of the city’s fortification-system. Dating to the years 509–494, within the reign of Darius I, they are
the earliest administrative documents we have of the Persian Achaemenid empire. They record
food distributions made by Treasury officials, from the imperial stores located around the capital,
to a large number of recipients (including members of the king’s own family, priests and workers
in the employ of the royal court), supplies to travellers and donations to the gods.

Qatna German excavations in 2002 unearthed a hoard of sixty-seven tablets and fragments, consist-
ing of letters and judicial and administrative documents, dating to the Amarna period (mid C14).
The tablets confirm the existence of a major Hurrian element in Qatna’s population at this time.

Shemshara was called Shusharra in the Old Babylonian period. A palace archive dating to this
period consists of 250 complete and fragmentary clay tablets – letters, administrative documents
 Sites of important inscriptions 57

and sealings. Most of the letters found in the archive were written to Shusharra’s ruler Kuwari by
the Old Assyrian king Samsi-Addu (Shamshi-Adad in Akkadian), his son Ishme-Dagan (Assyrian
viceroy in Ekallatum), and various Assyrian officials, at a time when the town was becoming
caught up in the conflicts between the warring major and petty kingdoms of Mesopotamia. The
correspondence can be dated to the mid 1780s.

Sippar Excavations conducted in the city’s temple of the god Shamash in the late 19th century
uncovered 60,000–70,000 tablet-fragments, mostly dating to the Neo-Babylonian period. A cen-
tury later in 1986, Iraqi archaeologists discovered in the temple a small Neo-Babylonian library
(C6) in which hundreds of tablets were still in their original pigeonholes. Some of the texts they
contain are literary in character, and include Standard Babylonian recensions of ‘classics’ like the
Atrahasis myth, and texts of the C18 Old Babylonian king Hammurabi. Other tablets contained
hymns and prayers, and mathematical, lexical, divinatory, and astrological texts.

Susa Some 1,550 clay tablets, dating to c. 3100–2900, have been unearthed from an early phase of
the city’s existence. Written in a pictographic script, and still undecipherable, the inscriptions have
traditionally been designated ‘Proto-Elamite’, on the assumption that they were ancestors of the
‘Old Elamite’ inscriptions dating to later M3 and early M2. It is now clear, however, that there is no
connection between the two. Much later, numerous inscriptions dating to the Persian king Darius I
(522–486), including fragments of trilingual inscriptions (in Old Persian, Babylonian and Elamite),
provide valuable information on the construction of the city under Darius, the rebellions which
Darius put down, and the extent of the empire which he ruled.

Tushpa (Van Kale) Urartian inscriptions written in cuneiform were carved into the natural rock-
fortifications of the Urartian fortress settlement, and also on steles and column bases, and royal
tombs (identifying their occupants). These written records include a number of ‘display inscrip-
tions’ which extol the achievements of various Urartian kings. The oldest datable structure of the
citadel-complex is a large rectangular platform, on which appear six copies of an inscription of
Sarduri I (c. 832–825), written in Akkadian.

Ugarit (Ras Shamra) The city’s archives constitute one of our most valuable sources of information on
international relations in the Late Bronze Age. Most of the documents are written in a local version of
the Akkadian language. But some are in Ugaritic, and several other languages are also represented in the
archive, e.g. Hittite. A wide range of correspondence with foreign rulers, administrative and legal docu-
ments, and ritual, medical and literary texts have been unearthed from six palace archives, from the so-
called ‘High Priest’s House’ between the two temples on the acropolis, and from several private houses.

Uruk is considered the birthplace of writing in Mesopotamia, in view of the discovery there of clay
tablets containing the first evidence of a pictographic script and numerical notation, dating to late M4.

Xanthus The most important inscription of Xanthus, Lycia’s chief city, appears on the so-called
Inscribed Pillar which contains a 255-line text – 243 lines in Lycian (in two dialects), and a twelve-
line Greek epigram. Dating to the late C5 or early C4 bc, it records, among other things, the military
exploits of the city’s ruling dynasty. It is the longest surviving inscription in the Lycian language,
though – like the Lycian language in general – much of it remains unintelligible. Close by Xanthus
is the Letoum, a sanctuary dedicated to the goddess Leto and her children Apollo and Artemis. In
1973, a trilingual inscription, in Lycian, Greek and Aramaic versions, was discovered. Dating to 358
bc, it contains regulations for the establishment of a new cult in the sanctuary.
 7
Trade and mineral resources

Regular trading activities between Near Eastern commmunities and regions date well back into
prehistoric times. In the Neolithic period, the metal obsidian figured commonly among the items
which made up the prehistoric trading repertoire. The Early Bronze Age saw an intense increase
in and expansion of commercial enterprises across many regions of the Near East, enterprises fre-
quently asssociated with the spread of cultural contacts from one region to another. Bronze came
into common use in this period. Since the tin required for its manufacture could be obtained in
relatively few regions, most notably, perhaps, Afghanistan, often far removed from places where
it was in demand, large-scale trading operations had to be organized both to access the original
sources and to ensure the security of the consignments on the routes along which they had to
travel. As international trading ventures developed, so too did the complexity of the societies with
which they were associated. This is reflected in the emergence of a number of Early Bronze Age
kingdoms in Iran, Mesopotamia, Syria and Anatolia. This period too saw the evolution of writ-
ing, used primarily, at least to begin with, as a medium for recording commercial transactions.
Cities and kingdoms in resource-poor regions like southern Mesopotamia had a basic need for
access to a range of commodities, including timber and various minerals, which they themselves
lacked. And what could not be obtained through peaceful commercial enterprises was seized as
plunder on military campaigns, like those conducted by the kings of the Akkadian empire into the
lands west of the Euphrates. Luxury goods frequently figured in the cargoes brought back from or
traded with other lands. They included precious metals, faience, ivory, fine textiles, finely crafted
furniture, pottery, perfumes and spices.
Before the invention of coinage in Lydia in C7 bc, a system of barter operated throughout the
Near Eastern world. Gold, silver, and bronze ingots were often used as forms of payment, their
value depending on the nature of the metal and their weight. Donkeys were commonly used for
transporting goods from one region to another, often over considerable distances and rough ter-
rain. The camel was a relatively late introduction as a pack animal, probably coming into regular
use for this purpose in Arabia during M1 bc. Water-borne commerce was also a regular feature
of trading activity in the Near Eastern world. This began long before there are records of it in our
written sources. But the written records provide us with more precise information. They tell us,
for example, of late M3 trading expeditions linking the kingdoms of Babylonia with the countries
which lay alongside the ‘Lower Sea’, i.e. the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea – in particular,
Meluhha, Dagan and Dilmun. Sea trade was also conducted through the waters of the eastern
Mediterranean and the Aegean Sea, from ports like Ugarit, Tyre and Sidon on the Syro-Levantine
coast, and Troy and Miletus on the western Anatolian coast, to Egypt, Cyprus, Rhodes, Crete, the
Aegean islands and mainland Greece. Material evidence for this trade includes the remains of

58
 A B C D E F

Lake Van

Lake Urmia

•
•Tarsus Hasanlu
Amanus • Til Barsip Tell Brak •
Mountains Nineveh
•

• Ebla Habur
2
• Ashur • Hamazi
Nuzi
Diyala

Tigris Godin Tepe

 Mari Euphrates •
Byblos •
GUTIUM •
Tepe Giyan

Tell Jokha Eshnunna

• Tutub • •Tell Agrab Zagros
3 • Der Mountains
 Akshak
Sippar
AKKAD • Awan ELAM
Kish
Abu Salabikh • •Nippur •Susa
Adab
Syrian Desert Shuruppak  Umma

Dead Sea
• •Girsu
 •Lagash
Uruk  Bad-tibira

alluvium
•
Tell al-Ubaid 
City mentioned in  Ur
 Eridu
4 Sumerian King List
Persian
ancient
Tradecourse
route of river Gulf

0 100 200 km
Trade and mineral resources 59

Trade routes linking Mesopotamia with its neighbours in the Early Bronze Age (after Roaf 1996: 83)
 Cu A B C D
Black Sea Pb
Pb Caspian
Cu Pb Cu
Kzl Irmak Cu Sea
Cu Lake Van
1 Cu Lake Pb
Obsidian
Fe Urmia
Cu
Gold
Pb Turquoise
Ag bitumen Fe Fe Pb
Basalt Cu Fe
Pb Habur Cu Pb
Cyprus ivory Tigris Fe
60  Background to the historical era

timber Diyala
Cu Tin, Lapis Lazuli
Cu Euphrates bitumen
Mediterranean Basalt Fe
bitumen
Sea
2
Syrian bitumen Cu
Desert
Fe bitumen Cu
Cu Fe
Cu
Turquoise Lapis Lazuli, Carnelian
Cu
Cu Ag Silver Persian
Au Gold Gulf
Fe
Cu Copper
3 Fe Iron

fra
nk
Red Pb Lead

inc
e
Carnelian, ivory, timber

ns
Sea

e
,m
Arabian

yrr
h
Au 0 200 400 km Sea
Cu

Mineral sources in the ancient Near East (after Roaf 1996: 35)
 Trade and mineral resources 61

two Late Bronze Age merchant ships found off the coast of south-western Turkey, the Gelidonya
and Uluburun wrecks. The former’s cargo consisted principally of copper and tin ingots, but
there were luxury goods as well, acquired from all parts of the eastern Mediterranean and Aegean
worlds. Luxury items discovered in the Uluburun wreck included faience goblets in the shape of
rams’ heads, silver bracelets and gold pendants from Canaan, duck-shaped ivory cosmetics boxes,
copper cauldrons and bowls, and a trumpet carved from a hippopotamus tooth. Raw materials in
the cargo included ebony, ivory and ostrich eggshells.
Astour (CANE 3: 1401–20).
This Page is Intentionally Left Blank
 Part III

The Early Bronze Age

(continuing into the Middle
Bronze Age)
This Page is Intentionally Left Blank
 8
The Sumerians

The Sumerian civilization arose and flourished in southern Mesopotamia during M3 bc. ‘Sumer’
and ‘Sumerians’ are derived from Shumerum, the Akkadian word for the region. But in their own
language, the Sumerians called their country Kengir, and referred to themselves as the Saggiga,
‘the black-headed people’. We do not know whether they were newcomers to Mesopotamia, in
early M3, or a continuation of the region’s native inhabitants. But in either case, they intermin-
gled with other population groups – primarily those of Semitic origin, who probably arrived in
the region around the same time. Out of this ethnic mix, the Sumerian civilization developed. The
‘Sumerian’ language is unrelated to any other known tongue, but became the dominant language
spoken in southern Mesopotamia during the Early Bronze Age.
From written and archaeological sources, we can build up a reasonably comprehensive picture
of Sumerian history, in what is known as the Early Dynastic period (c. 2900–2334). Politically,
the Sumerian world was divided among fourteen city-states: Sippar, Kish, Akshak, Larak, Nippur,
Adab, Shuruppak, Umma, Lagash, Bad-tibira, Uruk, Larsa, Ur and Eridu. Most of these had three
main sectors: (a) a walled inner city containing temples, palaces, official administrative quarters,
and some domestic dwellings; within the city-centre lay the temple-enclosure, generally sur-
rounded by an oval wall; (b) the kar, a business district located on the canal-banks to facilitate
trading operations between cities linked by southern Mesopotamia’s waterways; (c) a suburban
area (uru-bar-ra), which included outlying rural districts.
Each city-state was ruled by a king, known as an ensi (‘lord’) or lugal (‘great man’). Initially, the
king’s authority was limited by a wealthy temple-priesthood with whom he shared control of the
state. But later in the Early Dynastic period, religious and secular authority became increasingly
separated. In a number of states, particular kings emerged as powerful absolute rulers, who some-
times extended their authority over other states by military force – like Eannatum, a mid-M3 king
of Lagash who conquered Ur, Uruk and Kish.
One of the best known sources of information on Sumerian history is the so-called Sumerian
King-List, a document composed in early M2, several centuries after the Early Dynastic period had
ended. According to the King-List, the city-states formed some kind of confederation throughout
their history, in which one state exercised for a time political hegemony over the others, until the
leadership role passed to another state, and then to another. A particular feature of the list is its
division of Sumerian history into pre-flood (antediluvian) and post-flood (postdiluvian) eras. The
list contains many distortions and exaggerations, not the least of which are the prodigious lengths
it ascribes to some of the kings’ reigns. And it treats as sequential many kingships which, if they
did exist, must have been contemporaneous. But it undoubtedly does preserve some elements of
historical truth, and remains for us an important source of information on Sumerian history.

65
 Black
Sea

la
Diya
1
Lake
Agade? Precise location uncertain. Capital of Akkadian Empire Lake
Van
Urmia
• Akshak AS
Sippar • SY

AK
Location of the Ebabbar Diyala
RI
A
66  The Early Bronze Age

K
(’White Temple’) dedicated

A
to the god Shamash
Euphrates

D
• Jemdet Nasr
Proto-cuneiform tablets BA Tigris
and distinctive polychrome BY
pottery (c. 3100-3000) Tigris LO
2 Kish • NI
Major Sumerian political • Larak A
and cultural centre In King-List, the third city
to be granted sovereignty
over Sumer before the flood
Nippur
Major religious centre
•
Euphrates

• Adab
ELAM
Destroyed by the Akkadian king Rimush c. 2270

• Shuruppak
3 In literary tradition, the home of Utnapishtim, the ‘Babylonian Noah’

Umma • • Girsu
Long-term rival and finally conqueror of Lagash (c. 2330) Capital of city-state Lagash. Finds include
Sites indicated are those attested Stele of Vultures monument and large tablet deposits
• •
(except Agade and Jemdet Nasr) Bad-tibira Lagash
in the Sumerian King List • • Larsa
Uruk
Early Dynastic Periods Briefly establishes supremacy over SUMER
ED I: c. 2900-2800 Babylonia at end of ED III period

ED II: c. 2800-2600 • Ur Site of alleged ‘royal tombs’ dating to ED III period

4
ED IIIa: c. 2600-2500
ED IIIb: c. 2500-2334 •
Eridu
0 100 200 km Cult centre of the god Enki

A B C D E F

Sumer and Akkad

 The Sumerians 67

In order to control the harsh natural environment in which they lived, the Sumerians devel-
oped a high level of practical and organizational skills. The complex system of irrigation canals
which they built to sustain life in the barren tracts of southern Mesopotamia is testimony to this.
Amongst the many innovations of Sumerian society, we should give pride of place to what became
the Sumerians’ most lasting legacy to later civilizations – the technology of writing. Archaeologists
have brought to light hundreds of thousands of clay tablets written in Sumerian cuneiform. Their
contents include a large array of administrative activities, items for trade and inventories of one
kind and another. But they also contain a number of literary texts, most notably poems about a
king of Uruk called Gilgamesh. These poems provided the basis for one of the great classics of
ancient Near Eastern literature – the Epic of Gilgamesh, composed in early M2 and preserved and
redacted in different versions by the Sumerians’ successors over a period of almost 2,000 years.
Roux (1980: 85–139); Michalowski (CANE 4: 2279–91, OEANE 5: 95–101); Crawford (2004).

Nippur

Nippur was Mesopotamia’s most important religious centre. It was the site of the Ekur, the temple of one of
Mesopotamia’s most important gods Enlil. The city’s special sacred character, and no doubt its political neutral-
ity, prompted many M3 rulers of both Sumer and Akkad to seek divine endorsement for their regimes there.
Resources for many of the city’s public building projects, including its temples and fortifications, along with a
stream of costly gifts for the temples, were provided by external benefactors. During the first half of M2, Nippur’s
fortunes declined, but it received a fresh lease of life in C14 under the kings of Babylonia’s Kassite dynasty.
Though the worship of Enlil was Nippur’s primary focus, the city contained the temples of a number
of deities. The most notable of these temples was dedicated to the goddess Inanna. It has a sequence of
twenty-two levels, extending from the Middle Uruk through the Late Parthian period. A further sequence
of temples, extending from the end of the Ur III dynasty (late M3) through the Neo-Babylonian period
(late C7–6), may have been dedicated to the healing goddess Gula, wife of the god Ninurta. Nippur was
a centre for scribal education in the Old Babylonian period.
Zettler (OEANE 4: 148–52).

A B C D
N

ditch
1 Exalted Temple

0 100 city wall

200 300 m Nergal Gate
Gate of the North Temple
Ritually Impure Women
Exalted Gate
r
ve
Ri

Inanna Temple of Enlil

s

2
te
ra

Temple
ph
Eu

Gula Gate Ziggurat

Ekur
Enclosure
of
Annigina Uruk Gate
Nanna
garden
Gate

3 Ur Gate
city wall ditch

city wall
Based on Roaf, 1996: 81

Nippur (after Roaf 1996: 81)

 9
Uruk (Warka, biblical Erech)

Uruk’s history of occupation extends from the Late Ubaid period (M5) until or shortly before the
Arab invasions in C7 ad. The site consisted originally of two settlements, Uruk and Kullab(a);
the former was in the area later called Eanna (a Sumerian term meaning ‘house of heaven’), the
precinct dedicated to the goddess Inan(n)a, the latter lay in the religious complex dedicated to the
supreme Mesopotamian god Anu.
In M4 (if not earlier), the settlements were combined into the single city Uruk, which became
Mesopotamia’s most important political, administrative, cultural, and religious centre. Its signifi-
cance is reflected in the fact that ‘Uruk’ is now used as a general designation for the cultural phase
which spanned much of M4 in Mesopotamia, between the Ubaid and Jemdet Nasr periods. Uruk
is also considered the birthplace of writing in Mesopotamia, because of the discovery there of clay
tablets containing the first evidence of a pictographic script and
numerical notation; they date to c. 3300. Its importance contin-
ued in the Early Dynastic (ED) period of the Sumerian civilization
(c. 2900–2334). In fact, the city was now more intensively set-
tled than in any of its earlier phases. It was enclosed by a 9.5 km
long mud-brick fortification-wall, which Mesopotamian literary
tradition ascribed to Uruk’s legendary king Gilgamesh. After a
period of apparent decline in ED II, the city seems to have enjoyed
another flourishing phase of its existence in ED III (c. 2600–2334),
the end of this period being marked by the supremacy which
its king Lugal-zage-si established over the whole of southern
Mesopotamia. An ambitious building programme was under-
taken within Uruk under his rule. But his career ended abruptly
when he was defeated in battle c. 2334, by Sargon, founder of the
Akkadian empire. Sargon followed up his victory by demolishing
Uruk’s walls and taking Lugal-zage-si prisoner. Uruk’s consequent
decline in size and importance was followed by another brief resur-
gence of power after the destruction of the Akkadian empire by
the Gutians, c. 2193. This resurgence was attributed to Uruk’s king
Utu-hegal (c. 2123–2113) who expelled the Gutians from Sumer,
Figure 9.1 ‘Warka vase’, c. 3000 and established his dominance over it – until his rule ended with
bc, found in Uruk’s the rise of the Ur III dynasty founded by Ur-Namma (c. 2112).
temple treasury. Uruk continued to prosper under the Ur III kings. Ur-Namma
Photo by bpk, Berlin/ himself commissioned an extensive building programme in the
Art Resource, NY. city, which included the construction of a ziggurat.

68
 Uruk 69

BA
• BY
Babylon LO
NI
A Tigris
•Uruk

Euphrates

0 300 km

Akitu Temple

Palace of Sin-kashid ziggurat of Inanna

Bit-Resh Kara-indash temple

K U LLABA
EANNA
White Temple
Uruk IV buildings
ziggurat of Anu
Irigal
Mithreum

Temple of Gareus

city wall mounded area

between M4 and
0 250 500 m
mid-M1 BC
after mid-M1 BC

Uruk in context (after Roaf 1996: 60)

70  The Early Bronze Age

With the collapse of the Ur III dynasty at the end of M3, Uruk once more went into
decline. After the fall of Ur, it became attached first to the kingdom of Isin, and subse-
quently to that of Larsa. With Larsa’s fall to the Babylonian king Hammurabi in 1763, Uruk
was incorporated into the Babylonian empire. When it joined a rebellion against Babylon in
the reign of Hammurabi’s successor Samsu-iluna (1749–1712), the Babylonian responded
with a crushing defeat of the rebel cities, in the process capturing Uruk and demolish-
ing its walls. The city was probably then abandoned, remaining derelict for more than two
centuries. However, c. mid C15 the Kassite king Kara-indash undertook another rebuild-
ing programme in Uruk’s religious quarter, which initiated a new phase in the city’s history.
Through the first half of M1, a succession of kings – both Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian –
undertook building and restoration programmes in Uruk, especially within its sacred pre-
cincts. But by the later Persian period, the great Eanna temple dedicated to the goddess Ishtar
(Sumerian Inan(n)a) had fallen into disuse. In the Hellenistic period, when the region came
under Seleucid control, Uruk was the seat of several governors, and two great new temple pre-
cincts were built: the Resh, dedicated to Anu, and the Eshgal (sometimes read Irigal), the temple
of the goddesses Ishtar and Nanaya. Henceforth, under Parthian and Sasanian rule, the city suf-
fered steady decline until its final abandonment by C7 ad.
Boehmer (OEANE 5: 294–8); Rothman (2001); Van De Mieroop (2016: 21–43).
 10
Early Dynastic and Old Kingdom Egypt

A B C D
PALESTINE
Mediterranean Sea
1
Dead
(Rosetta) • • (Damietta) Sea

marsh

•Bubastis: Cult centre of the cat goddess Bastet

Nile
Delta LOWER EGYPT
• Heliopolis: Cult centre of the god Re 2
Main area of pyramids (Gizeh) •• (Cairo)
•
(Sakkara) •Memphis:
First capital of the union of
Faiyum Upper and Lower Egypt

Peninsula

aba
Western of Sinai
3
of Aq
Desert
G
ul
fo

Gulf
fS
ue
z

Eastern
Desert
Nile

Red Sea
Abydos: Cult centre
of the god Osiris •

UPPER • Thebes (Luxor):

EGYPT Later capital, but
small town in 5
Dakhla Oasis Kharga Oasis Old Kingdom

0 100 200 km

Early Dynastic
Period: c. 3100-2686 •(Aswan)
Old Kingdom: c. 2686-2125 First Cataract
(modern names bracketed) (Southern frontier of Egypt) 6
To Nubia
Area directly subject
to Old Kingdom rulers

Egypt during the Early Dynastic and Old Kingdom periods

71
72  The Early Bronze Age

Throughout its recorded history,

Egypt had extensive cultural, com-
Delta mercial and political contacts with
the Near Eastern world, and was
on a number of occasions at war
with parts of it. The Greek historian
Peninsula
Herodotus referred to the country as
of ‘the gift of the Nile’, and indeed the

qaba
Sinai Nile is the lifeblood of this narrow

Gu

of A
lf
Western 1,000 km fertile strip of land, which

of
Eastern

Gulf
Su
ez
Desert Desert in ancient times extended north
from the first cataract near modern
Aswan to the Mediterranean Sea.
Red Originally the two main regions of
Nile Sea ancient Egypt – Upper Egypt, from
the first cataract to the apex of the
Delta, and Lower Egypt, compris-
ing the Delta marshlands – formed
two separate kingdoms. They were
united, according to tradition, by a
king of Upper Egypt called Narmer
(sometimes identified with a semi-
legendary king called Menes). This
union marked the beginning of the
so-called Early Dynastic period in
Egyptian history (c. 3100–2686),
which saw many advances in urban
civilization including, it was once
thought, the development of writing.
Egypt today (NASA satellite image) There is now evidence that writing
in Egypt began several centuries ear-
lier. It developed late in the prehis-
toric Predynastic period (c. 5500–3100), during which a number of links were initiated between
Egypt and the Near East, particularly Mesopotamia. Narmer/Menes established his royal seat
at Memphis, 24 km south of modern Cairo. The city rapidly became a bustling, cosmopolitan
metropolis, capital of a united kingdom whose prosperity increased markedly in the period com-
monly referred to as the Old Kingdom (c. 2686–2125). This period included the Pyramid Age
(c. 2500–2300), so called because of the massive royal tombs built during it. The Old Kingdom
saw a significant increase in Egypt’s military power and commercial outreach. It established sov-
ereignty over its neighbour Nubia in the south, and constantly extended its commercial links and
operations in the lands to its north. The Early Dynastic period and the Old Kingdom span much
of M3 bc, the Early Bronze Age in archaeological terms.
Bard (2000); Malek (2000).
 11
The Akkadian empire

The Semitic kingdom Akkad arose in the northern part of Babylonia following the end of the
Sumerian Early Dynastic period. Its founder Sargon (= Sharrum-kin; c. 2334–2279) established
the kingdom by seizing power in a city called Agade. (The unlocated site of this city probably
lay near the confluence of the Tigris and Diyala rivers.) Under his rule, Agade became the seat
of a royal dynasty which built the first Near Eastern empire. At its greatest extent in the reign
of Sargon’s grandson Naram-Sin (c. 2254–2218), the Akkadian empire stretched through the
whole of Mesopotamia, and reached Kurdistan in the north, Elam in the east, and south-central
Anatolia and the Mediterranean Sea in the west (though questions have been raised, e.g. by Van
De Mieroop, 2016: 73, about how much direct control the Akkadians actually exercised through
all these regions). But after Naram-Sin’s death, the empire quickly disintegrated, and ended
abruptly in the reign of his son Shar-kali-sharri (c. 2217–2193). Incessant revolts by subject peo-
ples, internal political instability, and a long period of severe drought may all have contributed to
the empire’s fall. Already in Naram-Sin’s reign, there was serious unrest among the subject peo-
ples, including those of its Mesopotamian heartland. This is indicated in a text commonly known
as the Great Revolt, which reports a massive uprising against the king. Naram-Sin succeeded in
suppressing the rebellion. But it was an ominous warning of things to come. Like many later con-
querors and empire-builders, the Akkadian kings lacked both the organizational capacity and the
resources to maintain effective control over the vast complex of territories which they had taken
by force. But the immediate and specific agent responsible for ending the Akkadian empire was a
group of raiders called the Gutians, from the Zagros mountain region.
Despite its relatively short existence and violent end, the kingdom of Akkad left a number of
important cultural legacies to the Near Eastern world. The most notable of these was its language,
which was to become, for well over a thousand years, the international language of diplomacy
throughout the Near East.
Foster, Huehnergard (OEANE 1: 44–54); Westenholz (1999); McMahon (AANE: 649–67); Van
De Mieroop (2016: 68–79).

73
 A B C D

1 Salt Caspian
Lake Lake
Sea
Van

b
•

Za
Purushanda? Lake

t
74  The Early Bronze Age

Object of Sargon’s Anatolian

rea
Urmia

G
campaign in epic tradition
Tigris

Tell Brak
A royal residence 
Orontes
Zag
of Naram-Sin built here  Little Zab r os

r
• Ebla Mosul M

bu
Conquered by Sargon Akkadian cuneiform
oun

Ha
tablets Diyala
tain
Expedition of Sargon GUTIANS
s
2 to Cyprus in epic tradition Euphrates LULLUBI? Alleged destroyers
• Constantly threaten of Akkadian empire
Mari Akkad’s frontier territories
Mediterranean Became subject to Akkad AWAN
Conquered
Sea Agade? by Sargon ELAM
Heartland of
Akkadian empire Akkadian capital  Conquered
by Sargon
Syrian Kish •
Sargon sets out from here SUMER Susa •
on the first stage of his Akkadian regional admin.
Desert imperial conquests centre estabilshed here by Sargon MARHASHI
(PARAHSHUM)?
Conquered by Sargon
•
Ur
3 ANSHAN
approx. boundaries of empire Kings of Akkad (approx. dates) Conquered by Sargon
Sargon 2334-2279 according to later tradition
 modern name
Rimush 2278-2270
Manishtushu 2269-2255 Persian
0 100 200 300 400 500 km
Naram-Sin 2254-2218 Gulf
Shar-kali-sharri 2217-2193

The Akkadian empire in Naram Sin’s reign (c. 2254–2218)

 12
Ur and the Ur III empire

The history of Ur (modern Tell el-Muqayyar) in southern Mesopotamia spans some 4,000 years,
from mid M5 to mid M1 bc. Ur was already an important site during the prehistoric phases of its
existence – from the later Ubaid through the Uruk and Jemdet Nasr periods (i.e. c. 4500–2900 bc).
But its main urban development occurred in M3, when it was one of the attested fourteen city-
states of Sumer in the Early Dynastic period (c. 2900–2334). A particular feature of Ur’s remains
in this period is a cemetery containing c. 2000 tombs, ranging in date from Early Dynastic III
through and beyond the period of the Akkadian empire (overall, from c. 2600 to 2100). Sixteen
of the Early Dynastic tombs have attracted particular interest. They consist of chambers made of
brick or stone, and contained numerous burials, most of which are believed to be the bodies of
attendants interred with the tombs’ principal inhabitants, to serve them in the afterlife. Grave-
goods found with the bodies included jewellery made of gold and silver and semi-precious stones,
along with finely crafted weapons, musical instruments, furniture and other high quality items,
clearly the possessions of an elite social class. All these features have suggested that the tombs were
the burial-places of royalty – hence the common designation ‘Royal Cemetery’ for the necropolis
as a whole. But we cannot be sure whether any of their occupants were in fact Sumerian kings or
queens or other members of royalty. None of the names inscribed on seals or other objects found
in the tombs are known to us from other sources, including the Sumerian King-List.
Ur continued to be an important city during the Akkadian empire, but it achieved its great-
est prominence as the capital of the Ur III dynasty and kingdom, which rose after the fall of this
empire and lasted just over one hundred years, from c. 2112 to 2004. The dynasty began with a
man called Ur-Namma, who founded a new empire which at its peak held sway over southern
Mesopotamia and the territories lying to the east of the Tigris, and had extensive diplomatic links
with the regions beyond. Vast numbers of bureaucratic documents inscribed on clay tablets pro-
vide us with detailed knowledge of the administration of the empire. Written in Sumerian, the
empire’s official language, the Ur III tablets also provide information about Ur-Namma’s ambi-
tious building programme in Ur, particularly in the city’s sacred precinct where a great ziggurat
was constructed. Following Ur-Namma’s death, a major expansion and reorganization of the
empire was undertaken by the king’s son and successor Shulgi, who greatly extended the empire’s
peripheral tax-paying subject territories, and established tighter centralized control over its core
territory within the regions of Sumer and Akkad.
Shulgi had three successors, Amar-Sin, Shu-Sin and Ibbi-Sin. Under the last of these the empire
fell, its death-blow dealt by the Elamites, who attacked, plundered and burnt the royal capital,
and carried off the king. But Ur was shortly afterwards rebuilt, by the kings of Isin, who claimed
they were the legitimate successors of the Ur III dynasty. Through the early centuries of M2,
in the so-called Isin-Larsa period (c. 2000–mid C18), the city remained an important religious

75
 Lake Urmia
Caspian Sea
SHIMANU •
Hasanlu
Nineveh
• Urbilum ZABSHALI
Habur • 1
Kings of Ur III Dynasty
(approximate dates)
Ashur • Ur-Namma 2112-2095
Shulgi 2094-2047
76  The Early Bronze Age

Diyala
Amar-Sin 2046-2038
Shu-Sin 2037-2029
Euphrates Ibbi-Sin 2028-2004
• SHIMASHKI
Mari

• Eshnunna
ELAM
Sippar • 2
AKKAD
Urua
Babylon• • Kish Tigris
• Susa
Syrian • Eresh •
Marad • • Nippur
Desert • Isin MARHASHI?
Lagash
Uruk •
•
SUMER
Ur
•
• Huhnur
Core Territory
Periphery Anshan •
BASHIME 3
Allied/Vassal Territories

0 100 200 km
Persian
Gulf

A B C D

The Ur III empire (after Roaf 1996: 102)

 Ur and the Ur III empire 77

Figure 12.1 The ‘Standard of Ur’, unearthed in the ‘Royal Cemetery’ of Ur. Photo by Pictures from History/
Bridgeman Images.

and commercial centre. There was some decline in its fortunes in C18, when the Old Babylonian
empire was at its height under King Hammurabi. But these fortunes rose again in later periods,
particularly in M1 bc, when Ur’s revered status as a traditional religious centre prompted a num-
ber of kings, like the C6 Babylonian Nebuchadnezzar II, to favour it with major restoration and
rebuilding programmes. But Ur’s years were now running out. During the Persian period, the city
suffered terminal decline, and was abandoned around the end of C4.
In Old Testament tradition, Ur is well known as the birthplace and first home of Abram (later
called Abraham), though the fact that Abram’s birthplace in this tradition is referred to as ‘Ur
of the Chaldees’ has prompted some scholars to suggest it may be a different city from the one
attested in historical and archaeological sources.
Westenholz (1996: 3–30); Pollock (OEANE 5: 288–91); PPAWA (742–6).
 13
The Early and Middle Bronze
Age kingdoms of western Iran

The Old Elamite period

Elam became one of the most important and longest-lasting kingdoms of the Near East, with a
history extending over 2,000 years, from M3 until mid M1 bc. ‘Elam’ was the Sumerian name for
the country. The Babylonians called it Elamtu, and its own inhabitants ‘Haltamti’ or ‘Hatamti’.
By late M3, Elam had established itself as a major international power, with extensive diplomatic,
commercial, and military interests in Iran, Mesopotamia, and Syria. It reached the peak of its
power during the successive regimes of the so-called Shimashki and sukkalmah (Epartid) dynas-
ties (c. 2100–1500), whose sway extended north to the Caspian Sea, south to the Persian Gulf,
eastwards to the desert regions of Kavir and Lut, and westwards into Mesopotamia.
Most of our written information about Elamite history comes from Mesopotamian and
(much later) Persian sources, from Akkadian texts dating to the second half of M3 down to the
records of the Neo-Assyrian and Persian Achaemenid kings in M1 bc. A corpus of c. 1,550 clay
tablets, discovered in Susa and dated from c. 3100 to 2900 bc contain a pictographically written
language which was once thought to be the ancestor of Elamite, and was thus labelled ‘Proto-
Elamite’. (Though this language is still undecipherable, we can deduce from the pictograms
some of the contents of the tablets.) It is now clear that ‘Proto-Elamite’ pre-dates the arrival of
the Elamites, and is unconnected with their language. The earliest examples of the latter, which
was written in a cuneiform script, are inscriptions of later M3–2 in what is called ‘Old Elamite’.
These inscriptions are not fully understood, and only a few of them have survived. What infor-
mation we can glean from them is confined largely to the names of kings and their royal capitals.
Henrickson (OEANE 2: 228–32); Potts (1999: 43–187); PPAWA (219–21); Álvarez-Mon
(AANE: 747–50).

Awan
Attested in Early Bronze Age Mesopotamian and Elamite texts, Awan was a city and kingdom in
south-western Iran. Located either in the region of Susiana or in the highlands lying to its north, it
was closely associated with the kingdom of Elam, and is sometimes represented in the texts as part
of this kingdom. According to the Sumerian King-List, it ruled over southern Mesopotamia for 356
years. As far as this account has any basis in fact (the length of rule is obviously a gross exaggera-
tion), the events which it records can be attributed to a so-called ‘First Dynasty’ of Awan. But we
have no confirmation from other sources of a period of foreign rule over southern Mesopotamia
in this phase (Early Dynastic I) of its history. The most important and best attested of Awan’s
kings was Puzur-Inshushinak, twelfth and last ruler of the kingdom’s second royal line. Attested

78
 The kingdoms of western Iran 79

A B C D
Lake Urmia Caspian
Sea
1
Great Zab
Nineveh
• Little Zab
Elb
urz
Mou
ntains
• Ashur LULLUBI?

GUTIANS
2
Diyala •Godin Tepe
11 levels; major urban centre
in Early Bronze Age
Euphrates AWAN? Ul
aia
(C
Agade? • ho
as ELAM
pe
s)
SU
Babylon • S
IA 3
Borsippa • •Chogha Mish
Susa •
•Nippur Tigris
• Haft Tepe MARHASHI
N

Late Bronze Age Elamite site

A

(= ancient Kabnak?) (PARAHSHUM)?

• Uruk Karun

Ur • Huhnur •
Attested in Ur III texts
(= Tol-e Bormi)
4
•
Anshan
Falaika PASHIME?
Northern extension of Dilmun

Persian
Gulf
0 200 400 km
5

•Agade? = trade routes linking

Akkad with Gulf and
BA Meluhha (Indus Valley
BY Harappan civilization?)
LO Tigris ELAM according to Sargon’s
NI
Euphrates
• A MARHASHI
(PARAHSHUM)?
inscriptions
Ur
•
Anshan
Qal‘at al-Bahrain
Pe
rs
ia
Original Dilmun?
•
•Original settlement
n
G
ul
f

of Dilmun? 6
• •Original
DI GI

Qal‘at al-Bahrain
RE
LM ON

Original Dilmun?
UN

Dilmun? To Meluhh
a

0 400 km Arabian Sea

Mesopotamia and western Iran in the 3rd and 2nd millennia bc

Trade routes linking Akkad with the Persian Gulf and Meluhha
80  The Early Bronze Age

in a total of twelve inscriptions, his reign can be dated to early C21. In one of his inscriptions, he
claims that his god Inshushinak had given him dominion over the four quarters of the world, an
indication that he aspired to becoming the ruler of a large empire. On his way towards achieving
this, he had allegedly already conquered eighty-one cities or regions. But Ur-Namma, founder of
the Ur III dynasty, abruptly ended his plans when he inflicted a resounding defeat upon him in
battle, and incorporated his kingdom into the Ur III empire.
PPAWA (93–5).

Marhashi
Marhashi (= Akkadian Barahshum/Parahshum) was an important Early and Middle Bronze
Age kingdom bordering upon Elam which lay to its north-west. The kingdom is attested in
Mesopotamian texts of the Akkadian, Ur III and Old Babylonian periods. It was independent of
Elam but often allied with it. Frequently attacked by rulers of the Akkadian dynasty, it joined coa-
litions with Elam and other western Iranian states in attempts to repel the Akkadian invaders or
resist subjection to them. For example, it appears in the extensive list of countries which rebelled
against the Akkadian king Naram-Sin (c. 2254–2218) at the beginning of his reign. By the end of
Naram-Sin’s reign, however, its relations with Akkad must have taken a turn for the better, since
either Naram-Sin’s son Shar-kali-sharri travelled to Parahshum while he was crown prince to
marry a local princess, or else Shar-kali-sharri’s son was sent there for this purpose.
Through the period of the Ur III empire, Marhashi/Parahshum appears to have retained its
independence and to have enjoyed close diplomatic links with at least some of the Ur III rul-
ers. Then after the Ur III dynasty’s collapse at the end of M3, conflicts appear to have broken
out between it and other states on the Iranian plateau. The last surviving reference to Marhashi/
Parahshum, at least as a political entity, occurs in the year-formula of the Babylonian king
Hammurabi for his thirtieth year (1762), which records a victory by Hammurabi over the Elamites.
By the end of the Old Babylonian period, the kingdom had apparently ceased to exist as a separate
political entity, though its name survived down to the very end of cuneiform literature in scientific
and lexical texts.
PPAWA (449–50).

Susiana
Susiana was a region in south-western Iran, covering roughly the area of the modern province
Khuzestan. Its history of settlement extends back to M8. In M6 and M5, its most important set-
tlement was Chogha Mish, which was apparently abandoned in late M5 when the site of Susa was
first occupied. Susa henceforth became the chief city in Susiana. It maintained this status, very
largely, until the second half of M1 although already in late M4 (Susa II period) its supremacy was
challenged for a time by the emergence of two other centres in the region, at Chogha Mish (once
more) and Abu Fanduweh. In the final centuries of M3, Susiana became subject to the Akkadian
and Ur III empires in succession. In M2, it was incorporated into the kingdom of Elam, and Susa
became one of the royal Elamite capitals.
PPAWA (677–8).
 14
The Amorites

The MAR.TU (i.e. the Amorites) who know no grain . . . no house nor town, the boors of the mountains. The
MAR.TU who digs up truffles . . . who does not bend his knees (to cultivate the land), who eats raw meat, who
has no house during his lifetime, who is not buried after his death.
(Sumerian text, trans.
E. Chiera, quoted in Roux 1980: 166)

Though there is much uncertainty about their identity and origin, the Amorites are commonly regarded
as a branch of the north-west Semitic-speaking peoples, tribal nomadic groups in origin who inhabited
parts of Syria and Palestine. (The Amorites of biblical tradition may have been only indirectly con-
nected with the groups so designated in earlier historical sources.) Traditionally pastoralists, a number
of these groups adopted a more settled urban way of life in the last centuries of M3 by moving to major
urban centres like Ebla. Amorite names in the Ebla tablets of the period attest to their presence in the
city. Qatna and Hamath on the Orontes river probably also acquired a significant Amorite element
in their population at this time. By early M2, Qatna was ruled by an Amorite dynasty, becoming one
of the most important Amorite kingdoms in Syria. It was often at enmity with the northern Syrian
kingdom of Yamhad which had also become a major Amorite kingdom, ruled from its capital Aleppo.
But while many Amorite groups rapidly adapted to and adopted a settled existence in cities which they
often came to dominate, other groups maintained their traditional nomadic lifestyle and began spread-
ing eastwards into Mesopotamia. Here they constantly menaced the cities and kingdoms of Sumer and
Akkad in southern Mesopotamia. By the end of M3, they had overrun much of this region.
In northern Mesopotamia, the first great king of Assyria, Samsi-Addu (Akkadian Shamshi-
Adad) (c. 1796–1775), was also the first of the great Amorite rulers. In Babylon, a dynasty of
Amorite kings was established c. 1894. Its greatest ruler, Hammurabi (c. 1792–1750), was the fifth
member of this dynasty. Yarim-Lim I (c. 1780–1765), ruler of the kingdom of Yamhad in north-
ern Syria, was a third powerful king of Amorite descent who reigned in this period.
During the Middle Bronze Age, a confederation of Amorite tribal groups, attested in the
archives of Mari, spread over large areas of Mesopotamia and northern Syria, especially in the
region between Suhum and the borders of Yamhad. Their encampments were located principally
along the Euphrates, with urban centres at Terqa and Tuttul. The Mari archives also attest to two
regions of Amorite tribal occupation called Yamutbal. One was located in the east of northern
Mesopotamia and centred upon the city Andarig. The other lay further to the south along the
Tigris river. Its focus was the city Mashkan-Shapur (see map, p. 101).
By the middle of M2, the Amorites had largely merged with other population groups. However,
their name lived on in the designation Amurru. In M3 and M2, this term applied to a large expanse

81
 A B C D E F

1
TIKUNANI
Tur ‘Abdin •
(Kashiyari range)

• Urkesh
Shubat-Enlil
ZALMAQUM Chagar Bazar • Great Zab
Tigris
82  The Early Bronze Age

Carchemish • • APUM
Harran •
IDA-MARAS • •
Brak Kahat
Apishal? Balih
• r • Apku
Jebel Sinja
Alalah YAMHAD • El-Qitar • Rimah (Karana?) • Nineveh
• Hadidi • Habur Urbil (Arbela) Shemshara
• • Habuba Kabira Kurda? • • •
2 Aleppo Emar • •Qattara
Tuttul Andarig • AHAZUM
• Euphrates Qattunan? •
•Allahad?
Ebla • •
AMORITE Abattum? Little Zab
YAMUTBAL • Ekallatum?
• Ugarit Lasqum •
• Dur-Katlimmu
HOMELANDS? • • Arrapha
Ashur
Orontes Nuzi •
Dûr-Yahdun-Lîm? •
• Saggaratum?
Wadi Tharthar
Samanun? •
MEDITERRANEAN •
SEA • Qatna Terqa
SU Diyala
• Tadmor Harradum Anat
Mishlan? • • •
HU •
(M Shitullum?
3 • • Me-Turran
Mari Sapiratum ) •
• Byblos • Mulhan?
• Yabliya?
Harbe
• • Eshnunna
Mankisum? •
Khafaje (Tutub)
Shaduppum •
Idu •
• • • Nerebtum
(Hit) Rapiqum
Ed-Der •
Upi?
Sippar•
Babylon
•
4

0 100 200 km
SYRIAN
DESERT

Northern Syria and northern Mesopotamia in the Early and Middle Bronze Ages
 The Amorites 83

of territory extending through much of the region covered by modern Syria west of the Euphrates.
But from C15 onwards, its use was restricted to the territory lying between the Orontes and the
central Levantine coast.
Whiting (CANE 2: 1231–42); Buccellati (OEANE 1: 107–11); Van De Mieroop (2016: 111–12).

Ebla

Its origins dating back to mid M4,

city wall
Ebla (Tell Mardikh) had by C24
reached the peak of its political and
economic development, in what
archaeologists call the Mardikh IIB1
phase. An imposing brick palace
(‘Palace G’) dominated the city’s Temple D
acropolis. The surrounding lower city Building E
was fortified by a large earth-and-
stone rampart penetrated by four
gates. Prior to its excavation, which Western Palace Palace G

began in 1964, the city was known Area B

to us from a number of contem-
porary Mesopotamian texts. These
Gate A
include accounts of its conquests
by the Akkadian kings Sargon and
excavated area
Naram-Sin, and economic texts from contours at 5m intervals
the Ur III dynasty. It later appears in 0 100 200 300 m

texts from Alalah, dating to C17 and

Ebla (after Roaf 1996: 87)
C15, and is listed among the con-

quests in Syria and Palestine of the C15 pharaoh

Tuthmosis III. Most important for Ebla’s IIB1 phase
was the discovery in Palace G of a large clay tablet
archive. Some 2,500 documents were brought to
light, many of them written in the local ‘Eblaite’
language, others in Sumerian. They indicate that
Ebla was the most politically and commercially
powerful kingdom of northern Syria in mid M3.
More generally, the excavation of the city has
proved extremely important to our understanding
of the progress of urbanization in Syria in the later
centuries of the Early Bronze Age.
Ebla was destroyed by the Akkadians at the
Figure 14.1 Ebla, Palace G. Photo courtesy J.N. Tubb. end of its IIB1 phase. After being rebuilt on a

(continued)
84  The Early Bronze Age

(continued)

modest scale (IIB2), and then destroyed once more, c. 2000, it gained a new lease of life in the Middle
Bronze Age (c. 2000–1800), when a new, grander city, designated as Mardikh IIIA, arose from the ashes
of the old. Within a well-planned urban layout defended by a double fortification-wall, new sacred and
secular buildings were constructed in the lower city, and large public buildings on the acropolis. There
was further rebuilding and reconstruction in the following IIIB phase (c. 1800–1600), when the city was
probably subject to the kingdom of Yamhad. But this phase ended abruptly in late C17 or early C16,
when Ebla was again destroyed, this time probably by the Hittites. Its site was now largely abandoned,
though there was some resettlement in the centuries that followed, with more substantial develop-
ment in M1 bc, before the tell was abandoned during C2 bc. Other parts of the site continued to be
sparsely occupied until M1 ad.
Milano (CANE 2: 1219–30); Matthiae et al. (OEANE 2: 180–6); Akkermans and Schwartz (2003: esp.
235–44, 292–303).
 Part IV

The Middle Bronze Age

(continuing into the Late Bronze Age)
This Page is Intentionally Left Blank
 15
The Isin and Larsa dynasties

The southern Mesopotamian city Isin first rose to prominence at the end of M3 after the collapse
of the Ur III empire c. 2004. Its rise was due to a man called Ishbi-Erra, a high-ranking official of
the last Ur III king Ibbi-Sin and governor of the city of Mari. Ishbi-Erra extended his rule over
much of the region where the Ur III dynasty had formerly held sway, and shifted the seat of his
administration to Isin. Here, he became the founder of the First Isin dynasty. This lasted more
than two centuries, through the reigns of Ishbi-Erra and his fourteen successors (c. 2017–1794).
But throughout its existence, the Isin regime was constantly threatened by rival kings, particularly
those of Larsa and Babylon. Already an important city during the Sumerian Early Dynastic period
(c. 2900–2334), Larsa reached the height of its development in early M2 when, like Isin, it sought
to fill the power vacuum left by the collapse of the Ur III empire. It was at this time ruled by a
dynasty of fourteen successive kings, founded c. 2025 by a man called Naplanum, which held sway
over Larsa and its surrounding region through the first quarter of M2. The city rose to particular
prominence in the reign of its fifth king Gungunum (c. 1932–1906), who led Larsa into the first of
a long series of conflicts with Isin (then ruled by Lipit-Ishtar), ending with the conquest of Isin by
Larsa’s king Rim-Sin c. 1794. Henceforth, Isin was incorporated into the kingdom of Larsa, and
subsequently into the kingdom of Babylon when the Babylonian Hammurabi conquered Rim-Sin
c. 1763. Along with other southern Mesopotamian cities, Larsa briefly regained its independence
under another leader called Rim-Sin, during the reign of Hammurabi’s successor Samsu-iluna.
Rim-Sin was killed when the breakaway movements were crushed.
Through the Late Bronze Age, Isin remained under Babylonian rule, in the period when a line
of Kassite kings held sway over southern Mesopotamia. An invasion of Babylonia by the Elamites
from south-western Iran ended the Kassite regime c. 1155, and Isin may have regained its auton-
omy under a new ruling ‘dynasty’, referred to in a Babylonian King-List as the Second Dynasty of
Isin. Most rulers of this eleven-member ‘dynasty’, which lasted from c. 1154 until 1026, seem not
to have been related to each other. But its name suggests that the political and administrative cen-
tre of Babylonia may have shifted south from Babylon to Isin for a time. We do not, however, have
any actual evidence for such a shift, and it seems that most of the members of the ‘dynasty’ ruled
from Babylon. The most famous of its rulers was its fourth king Nebuchadnezzar I (1126–1105),
who invaded Elam and sacked the city Susa.
Hrouda (OEANE 3: 186–7) (Isin); PPAWA (338–9) (Isin); PPAWA (410–11) (Larsa).

87
88  The Middle Bronze Age

A B C D
0 20 40 km

Kings of Isin (approximate dates) •Sippar

Ishbi-Erra 2017-1985
Shu-ilishu 1984-1975
Iddin-Dagan 1974-1954 1
Ishme-Dagan 1953-1935
Lipit-Ishtar 1934-1924 • Cutha Tigris
Ur-Ninurta 1923-1896
Bur-Sin 1895-1874 Babylon
Lipit-Enlil 1873-1869 • • Kish
Erra-imitti 1868-1861
Enlil-bani 1860-1837
Zambiya 1836-? • Borsippa • Mashkan-shapir
Iter-pisha ?-?
Eresh
•
Ur-Dukuga ?-1828
Sin-magir 1827-1817 • •
Nippur
Dilbat •
Damiq-ilishu 1816-1794
Marad ISIN • Adab 2
Kingdom of Isin
Isin •
Kisurra
• •
Kingdom of Larsa Karkar

The Kingdoms of • Girsu

LARSA
Isin and Larsa Euphrates
• Bad-tibira
c. 1950 •
Uruk •Larsa
Black
Sea
3
Ur •
Lake Van

Lake Urmia Eridu •

AS
SY
Euphrates RI
A Diyala 0 20 40 km

BA •Sippar
BY
Syrian
LO
Tigris
4
NI
Desert A
• Cutha
•Kazallu Tigris
Babylon
The Kingdoms of • • Kish
Babylon and Larsa BABYLON
• • Mashkan-shapir
c. 1790 Borsippa Eresh •
• •Nippur
Dilbat
• 5
Kingdom of Babylon Marad
Adab •
Kingdom of Larsa Isin •
Kings of Larsa (approximate dates)
•
Karkar
Naplanum 2025-2005 LARSA
Yamsium 2004-1977 Girsu •
Samium 1976-1942
Zabaya 1941-1933
Euphrates Bad-tibira
Gungunum 1932-1906 •
Abi-sare 1905-1895 • •Larsa
Sumu-El 1894-1866 Uruk
Nur-Adad 1865-1850
Sin-iddinam 1849-1843 6
Sin-eribam 1842-1841
Sin-iqisham 1840-1836
Silli-Adad 1835 Ur •
Warad-Sin 1834-1823
Rim-Sin 1822-1763
•
Eridu
Rim-Sin II 1741-1736

The kingdoms of Isin and Larsa (c. 1950) (after Roaf 1996: 109)
The kingdoms of Babylon and Larsa (1790) (after Roaf 1996: 109)
 16
The Old Assyrian kingdom

The history of the Semitic-speaking people called the Assyrians spans some fourteen centuries,
from the beginning of the Middle Bronze Age (c. 2000) until late C7 bc. During this period, the
rulers of Assyria, whose heartland lay in northern Mesopotamia, built three of the Near Eastern
world’s most powerful kingdoms. These kingdoms provide our basis for dividing Assyrian history
into three main phases: Old Assyrian (c. 2000–1763), Middle Assyrian (c. 1365–1076) and Neo-
Assyrian (c. 911–610).
The first of these phases reached its full development in the reign of a king of Amorite stock
called Samsi-Addu (Akkadian Shamshi-Adad). In 1796, this man seized power in the city of Ashur
on the west bank of the Tigris. Later to become Assyria’s chief religious and ceremonial centre,
Ashur was initially, after the fall of the Ur III empire, a small independent city-state whose ruling
dynasty was founded by a man of Akkadian stock called Puzur-Ashur. At the time of Samsi-
Addu’s coup, the Assyrian world consisted of no more than a collection of independent states
of which Ashur was the most prominent. That changed dramatically under Samsi-Addu. He fol-
lowed up his seizure of Ashur with a series of military campaigns which took him as far west as the
Mediterranean coast. Most importantly, his military enterprises gave him control of the strategi-
cally valuable kingdom of Mari on the Euphrates. All the territories which he subjected between
the Tigris and the Euphrates were consolidated into a united kingdom beneath his sway. It is only
at this point in Assyria’s history that a term like ‘Assyrian Old Kingdom’ might appropriately
be used. However, modern scholars use the term ‘Kingdom of Upper Mesopotamia’ to refer to
Samsi-Addu’s realm.
To consolidate his authority over this realm, Samsi-Addu established viceregal centres at Mari,
where he appointed his son Yasmah-Addu as viceroy, and in the city Ekallatum, which had served
as his first capital and his base for his conquests. In Ekallatum he appointed his son Ishme-Dagan
to the viceregal seat. The king himself took up residence in his newly established capital Shubat-
Enlil (formerly Shehna, modern Tell Leilan). Commercial considerations no doubt provided one
of the incentives for his military campaigns, for these campaigns gave him control over all the
major trade-routes linking Ashur with Syria and eastern and central Anatolia. But though Samsi-
Addu’s kingdom flourished under his sovereignty, it rapidly began to disintegrate after his death
c. 1775, surviving only for a dozen years before it fell to the Babylonian Hammurabi c. 1763.
Villard (CANE 2: 873–83); Radner (2015); Van De Mieroop (2016: 115–18).

89
90  The Middle Bronze Age

A B C D

APUM
Chagar Bazar
(= Ashnakkum?)
Probable seat of local governor • •
Carchemish • • Harran Shubat-
Provincial capital Kahat • (Tell Leilan)
Samsi-Add
new royal s
Balih
IDA-MARAS
2 • Alalah •Aleppo
Habur (=
Euphrates
Ugarit • Orontes

(tra

Mediterranean Terqa
(Tell Ashara) •
Sea
• Qatna SUHU
• Tadmor HANA
• •
Mari
3 •
(Viceregal seat)
Byblos

H
= Approximate extent of Samsi-Addu’s kingdom

Old Assyrian Kings (approximate dates)

Puzur-Ashur I c. 2000
Shalim-ahum ?-? Naram-Sin 1872-?
Ilu-shumma ?-?
Erishum I 1974-1935 Erishum II ?-1807
Jordan Ikunum 1934-1921
4 Sargon I 1920-1881 Samsi-Addu 1796-1775
Puzur-Ashur II 1880-1873 Ishme-Dagan 1775-1735

Dead Sea
0 100 200 km

The Kingdom of Upper Mesopotamia in Samsi-Addu’s reign (c. 1796–1775) (after Roaf 1996: 116)
 The Old Assyrian kingdom 91

D E F

Lake Van

Lake Urmia

APUM
Bazar
kkum?)
overnor • •
Shubat-Enlil Great Zab
Kahat • (Tell Leilan)
Samsi-Addu’s
new royal seat
MARAS Nineveh
•
• • Shusharra
Tell al-Rimah (Tell Shemshara)
Habur (= Qattara or Karana?) Little Zab Tablet archive with correspondence
es Ekallatum? between local king and Samsi-Addu
• (Viceregal seat)
Ashur • • Arrapha
(traditional Assyrian capital)
•
Nuzi
a
shara) •
SUHU Diyala
HANA Tigris
• Ana
Mari •
(Viceregal seat)

HARBE
•
Hit • Eshnunna
•
Tutub
•
Sippar

• Babylon

BABYLONIA
 17
The Assyrian merchant colonies

From C20 to C18, during the Middle Bronze Age, Assyrian merchants conducted extensive trad-
ing operations in Anatolia by setting up merchant colonies along trade routes which linked the
Assyrian city Ashur with the towns and kingdoms of northern and central Anatolia. Detailed
records of their trading activities have been preserved on clay tablets in Assyrian cuneiform. These
have been unearthed at several Anatolian sites, by far the greatest number at Kanesh (aka Nesa;
modern Kültepe) which lay just south of the Kızıl Irmak r., 21 km east of modern Kayseri. More
than 22,000 merchant documents have been recovered from the second of Kanesh’s four major
levels, and a further 420 from the succeeding level Ib. From these documents it is clear that Kanesh
was the Anatolian headquarters of the trading network, and also the residence of one of the
Anatolian kings. The settlement consisted of a 20 m high mound (c. 550 m in diameter), where the
royal palace was located, and a lower city where the merchants dwelt. Information provided by
the tablets indicates that there were at least twenty-one merchant colonies established between the
Assyrian homeland and the five attested Anatolian kingdoms of the period. The more important
colonies were called kāru (singular kārum), the lesser ones wabaratum (singular wabartum). So
far only three have been identified, Kanesh, Hattus (on the site of the later Hittite capital Hattusa)
and a settlement at modern Alişar (perhaps ancient Ankuwa). Tin, used in the manufacture of
bronze, and high quality textiles were imported into the Anatolian kingdoms by donkey-caravans
from Assyria – commercial ventures financed by consortia of Assyrian businessmen who estab-
lished branch offices in the colonies often managed by family members. The imports were traded
by the merchants for metals readily obtainable in Anatolia, especially silver and gold. The local
rulers and the towns through which the caravans passed imposed heavy tolls and customs duties
on the caravaneers, and there were severe penalties for those attempting to avoid these costs.
Growing instability within and between the Anatolian kingdoms was almost certainly one of the
main factors that ended the Assyrian colony period around mid C18.
Veenhof (CANE 2: 859–71); Bryce (2005: 21–40); Michel and Kulakoğlu (OHAA: 313–36,
1012–30); Atici et al. (2014).

92
 A B C D E F
Zalpa? • Black Sea
TO WESTERN
ANATOLIA
HATTI
1
Hattus Kızıl Irmak
Ankuwa? •
Lake Van
Burushattum Kanesh (Kültepe)
(Purushanda)? • Caspian
Nenassa?
Lake Urmia Sea
Wahshushana?
TO WESTERN
ANATOLIA
• Tarsus •
Carchemish •Harran
Silifke
• • • Nineveh 2
TO GREECE/ Ugarit
• Aleppo
Ebla
AEGEAN • •
ASHUR
Cyprus Euphrates
• Qatna •
Tadmor
•
Mari
Byblos • • Tepe Sialk
(Palmyra)
Mediterranean • Damascus
Sea •Hazor Tigris
Babylon •
• Susa 3
• Jerusalem Syrian
Desert
•
Ur
• Malyan
TO EGYPT • Falaika
suggested trade routes
likely Assyrian merchant routes Persian
to central and north-central Anatolia Gulf 4
centres of major Anatolian kingdoms
Red
Sea 0 200 400 km
Qal‘at al-Bahrain •
TO EGYPT
The Assyrian merchant colonies 93

Trade routes during the Assyrian colony period

 18
The Diyala region

The so-called Diyala region in eastern Mesopotamia is watered by the Diyala r., a tributary of the
Tigris which it joins several kilometres downstream from Baghdad. Crossing the north-eastern
part of the Mesopotamian alluvium, the river is fed by headwaters from the Zagros mts north-
east of Baghdad. The region which it waters consists of three parts: the Upper, Middle and Lower
Diyala. The third of these, which is watered by the river via irrigation canals, is particularly rich in
archaeological finds, and the simple term Diyala is traditionally used to refer to this region. It lies
south-west of the Hamrin range. Excavations in the Diyala conducted by the Oriental Institute
of the University of Chicago between 1930 and 1938 focused on four major sites: Tell Asmar
(Eshnunna), Khafajeh (Tutub, Dur Samsu-iluna), Ishchali (Nerebtum) and Tell Agrab. These sites
spanned a total of seventeen centuries, from c. 3500 to 1800 – i.e. from the Late Uruk to the Old
Babylonian period. Their excavation enabled the development of a long-range chronology for the
Lower Diyala region, based especially on its ceramic sequence. Architectural remains of the sites
from M3, especially temple remains, provided the basis for the definition of three phases: Early
Dynastic I, II and III. However, scholars point out that this periodization reflects a local evolution
and should not be applied too systematically to other regions.
In 1957 and 1958, T. Jacobsen, R. McC. Adams and F. Safar carried out extensive surveys of the
Lower Diyala plain for the Diyala Basin Archaeological Project. The purpose of this project was to
investigate the region’s history of agriculture and irrigation over a period of more than 6,000 years.
The surveys provided much important information about settlement patterns and canal systems
in the region from the Ubaid period until C19. Increases in the number and size of settlements
during the Jemdet Nasr and Early Dynastic periods (c. 3100–2334) point to steady population
growth in these periods. Khafajeh, Tell Asmar and Tell Agrab developed as major urban cen-
tres, around which many other sites arose in a hierarchical settlement pattern. The surveyors
noted that of ninety-six sites examined, ten were large towns (more than 10ha), nineteen were
small towns (4–10ha) and sixty-seven were villages (less than 4ha). Settlement in the Akkadian
period (c. 2334–2193) maintained its development along similar lines. The region is considered
to have reached its political peak during the so-called Isin-Larsa period (c. 2000–mid C18), when
Eshnunna, previously subject to the C21 Ur III dynasty, established its independence and became
the major centre of the region. The Diyala prospered through the period of Eshnunna’s dom-
inance, but its floruit ended with the rise of the Old Babylonian kingdom under Hammurabi
(c. 1792–1750).
Thursen (OEANE 2: 163–6).

94
 The Diyala region 95

Khafajeh (Dur-Samsu-iluna, Tutub) Eshnunna (Tell Asmar).

A 216-ha complex consisting of four main settlement-mounds (A-D). From its origins in late M4 or early M3, Eshnunna developed
The largest, Mound A, was occupied from the Late Uruk period into a major regional urban centre during the Early Dynastic
until its abandonment c. 2300 during the Akkadian period. period (c. 2900-2334). The city continued to flourish through
The excavation on the mound of a temple revealed an unbroken the period of the Akkadian empire (c. 2334-2193), reaching
succession of levels from the Jemdet Nasr (late M4) through its developmental peak and maximum size under the Ur III kings (C21)
the Early Dynastic periods. The dominant building on it was an Early and in the following Isin-Larsa period (C20-18). During the first three
Dynastic Temple Oval, consisting of a temple on a raised platform, centuries of M2, Eshnunna’s kings became embroiled in conflicts with
a courtyard, and two enclosing mudbrick walls, between which other rulers of the age including Assyrian, Babylonian, and Elamite rulers,
a large building was constructed. Remains from Mounds B and C, which partly due to its programme of aggressive territorial expansion. Its power
probably formed a single settlement, date to the Old Babylonian period, was effectively destroyed in 1762 by the Babylonian king Hammurabi.
perhaps continuing into the Kassite period. The settlement was built
as a fortress-city by the Old Babylonian king Samsu-iluna (c. 1749-1712) Tell Agrab
and named Dur-Samsu-iluna (‘Fort Samsu-iluna’). On mound D, which Survey has indicated that the earliest occupation of the site
also dates to the Middle Bronze Age, the remains of a temple dedicated (anc. name unknown) dates from the Ubaid period. After its M3 heyday,
to the god Sin were uncovered. Agrab was almost entirely abandoned late in the Early Dynastic period
(c. 2900-2334), with brief and limited reoccupation in the Ur III and
Nerebtum (Ishchali) Larsa periods (late C22-18). Excavations uncovered the remains of a
Attested in Middle Bronze Age texts, Nerebtum was, in mid C19,
rectangular temple (84 x 62 m) with five building phases attributed to
among the cities which lost their independence to the kingdom
the Early Dynastic period. Further material remains from the site include
of Eshnunna when Eshnunna’s king Ipiq-Adad II extended his
a rampart of the Early Dynastic period, and two buildings of unknown
authority over the Diyala Valley. Nerebtum had till then been under the
purpose adjoining the city-wall on the west side of the settlement. The
control of a local king called Sin-abushu. The city’s principal deity had
bricks of these buildings indicate a dating to the Isin-Larsa period
hitherto been the god Sin, but Ipiq-Adad re-dedicated Nerebtum to his
(late C21-18).
own patron deity, the goddess Ishtar-Kititum, and built a temple for her
worship in the city. Nerebtum was later seized by the Assyrian king
Samsi-Addu. Later, its king Ibal-pi-El apparently regained control of
it, but Nerebtum was among the cities in the region destroyed by the
Elamites following their capture of Eshnunna in 1765.

1
Diyala • Eshnunna

Tigris

• Tutub (Khafajeh) • Tell Agrab

2 •
Shaduppum
small provincial centre of • Nerebtum
kingdom of Eshnunna

0 10 20 km

Balih

3 Habur

Diyala
Tigris
Euphrates

Tutub (Khafajeh) Eshnunna

•
••• • Tell Agrab
Nerebtum
Shaduppum Tigris

A B C D

Main centres of the Diyala region

 19
The Habur (Khabur) river region

The Habur is a tributary of the Euphrates with a large catchment area in northern Syria and
northern Mesopotamia. This area is generally referred to in two parts, the Upper Habur (Habur
Triangle) and the Lower Habur. The region is archaeologically significant because of the concen-
tration within it of a number of important sites, including Tell Beydar, Tell Brak, Chagar Bazar,
Tell Feheriyeh, Tell Halaf, Tell Hamoukar, Tell Leilan and Tell Mozan. In the Habur Triangle, the
fertility of the soil combined with good annual rainfall facilitated a marked growth in the urbani-
zation of the region in M3, and a relatively high level of prosperity in a number of centres like Tell
Leilan and Tell Brak.
The end of M3 is thought to have witnessed a major collapse in settlement in the region, per-
haps linked to the demise of the Akkadian empire. But the actual causes of this collapse are hotly
disputed – climate change (drought) is one suggestion – as is its extent, since some sites, such
as Tell Brak, were continuously occupied throughout the relevant centuries. Other sites, such as
Tell Leilan, were resettled in early M2, with a period of decline later in the millennium. However,
major settlements continued to develop and prosper there in the early Iron Age, including the city
of Guzana (Tell Halaf), capital of the Aramaean kingdom Bit-Bahiani. In C8 and C7, the Habur
region was incorporated into the Neo-Assyrian empire, and various major Assyrian settlements
were established there, including the Assyrian fortress and administrative centre at Dur-Katlimmu
(Tell Sheikh Hamad) on the lower Habur. The western part of the Habur triangle formed part of
the province of Guzana, while the eastern part belonged to the province of Nasibina (Nusaybin).

Habur cities
Tell Brak (Nagar/Nawar) The history of this settlement-mound, now generally believed to be
the site of the M3–2 city Nagar/Nawar, extends from the Ubaid period (M6–5) to the end of the
Bronze Age. It became a major urban centre during the Uruk period (M4), and in the second
half of this period developed extensive cultural and commercial contacts with the cities of south-
ern Mesopotamia, Its most prominent architectural feature in this period was a tripartite ‘Eye
Temple’, so called from the discovery in it of a number of small stone plaques with eye symbols.
By mid M3, Tell Brak had probably become the most important political and economic centre in
the Habur region, a status which it regained, after violent destruction c. 2300, under the Akkadian
administration. The city was again destroyed at the end of the Akkadian period, c. 2193, but reoc-
cupied soon after, when it probably became the capital of a Hurrian principality, most likely the
kingdom of Urkesh and Nagar/Nawar. In the Late Bronze Age, it gained new prominence as a
major centre of the kingdom of Mitanni. It apparently survived the Hittite conquest of Mitanni in
the third quarter of C14, but its palace was destroyed the following century by the Assyrians. The
site was finally abandoned early in C12.

96
 The Habur (Khabur) river region 97

A B C D E F

ANATOLIA
1
Lake Van
Caspian
Sea
Lake Urmia

Tarsus Habur
Balih
• Triangle Tigris Great Zab
Carchemish • •Harran
2 Nineveh
Aleppo
• Lower
•
Tuttul •
•Ebla Habur • Ekallatum?
Euphrates Ashur• Little Zab
•
Mediterranean •Hama NORTHERN
Nuzi
Sea •Qatna MESOPOTAMIA
Orontes
3
Zagros Mountains
Syrian Tigris
Desert
•Babylon
•Nippur
BABYLONIA ELAM
4 Dead
Sea Habur Region
0 200 400 km
immediate environs

A B C

Shehna/
Urkesh
Shubat-Enlil
(T. Mozan)
(T. Feheriye) • (T. Leilan)
•(Chagar• •
Guzana • APUM
Balih Bazar)• • Great Zab
(T. Halaf) Nagar/Nawar
Tigris
(T. Brak)
2 Taidu? JEZIREH
(T. Farfara)
Lower
Habur Little Zab
• Dur-Katlimmu
(T. Sheikh Hamad)

Euphrates
3
0 100 200 km

T. = Tell ( ) = modern name

The Habur region and its environs

98  The Middle Bronze Age

Chagar Bazar’s history extends from the Halaf period (c. 6000–4500) to the middle of the Late
Bronze Age. Its first major occupation phase dates to the Early Bronze Age, after a long period of
abandonment. Material remains from the Early Bronze settlement include painted and incised
pottery, bullae with seal impressions, and short Akkadian cuneiform inscriptions. Around
2000, the site was again abandoned, but came into prominence once more during the reign of
the Assyrian king Samsi-Addu (c. 1796–1775). The settlement’s mixed population at this time is
reflected in the Hurrian, Akkadian and Amorite personal names attested in an archive of c. 100
tablets unearthed from a large building (a ‘palace’ or storehouse) of the period. The settlement was
finally abandoned c. 1500.

Tell Feheriye (Sikanu, Sikkan) has eight occupation levels, extending from the Middle and Late
Bronze Ages through the Iron Age, Hellenistic, Roman and Medieval periods. During the Late
Bronze Age, it came first under Mitannian and then under Assyrian control. The latter appears
to have ended in the second half of C11, with the expansion of Aramaean settlement through the
Balih and Habur valleys. The settlement’s ancient name Sikanu/Sikkan, first attested in an Ur III
inscription of c. 2000 bc, remained current in the Iron Age. It has been suggested that Sikanu was
the Mitannian capital Washshukkanni, whose site has yet to be conclusively identified. In 894, the
city became a tributary of the Assyrian king Adad-nirari II.

Tell Halaf has two main periods of occupation – the Pottery Neolithic period characterized by a
rich assemblage of decorated polychrome ceramic ware dating from mid M6 to M5, and a substan-
tial several-layered Iron Age settlement extending from C12 to C7. Inscriptions indicate that the
city in this period was called Guzana (biblical Gozan), and was the capital of the Aramaean state
Bit-Bahiani. The city and its region were annexed by the Assyrians in C8.

Tell Leilan (Shehna, Shubat-Enlil) has six main occupation levels, extending from the Halaf
period to the Middle Bronze Age (early M2). The region in which it lay was called Subir in M3
and Subartu in M2. Coming under Akkadian domination in C23, the city, then called Shehna,
became a centre of the Akkadian imperial administration. It was subsequently abandoned and
remained derelict until early C18 when the Assyrian king Samsi-Addu re-established it as his
royal capital, with the name Shubat-Enlil. The many hundreds of cuneiform tablets unearthed
from the throne-room of Samsi-Addu’s palace include historical and administrative texts, trea-
ties and letters, and a copy of the Sumerian King-List. Following Samsi-Addu’s death, Shubat-
Enlil came under the control of the rulers of the nearby land of Apum. Now commonly referred
to by its original name Shehna, it became Apum’s capital, and was caught up in the complex
and constantly changing power structures and political relationships of the period, as recorded
in letters from the Mari archive. Around 1728, the city was conquered and destroyed by the
Babylonian king Samsu-iluna, who ended the reign of Apum’s last king Yakun-ashar.

Tell Mozan (Urkesh) The history of the settlement extends from the beginning of M6 (Halaf
period) to mid M2, with the most important occupational strata dating to the second half of M3.
Throughout its Bronze Age phase, Urkesh was a major centre of Hurrian civilization. The settle-
ment consists of two parts – a citadel mound extending over c. 18ha, and an outer city of c. 135ha.
A temple and a palace, dating respectively to c. 2450 and 2200, were the most prominent features of
the walled inner city on the mound. The settlement’s obvious prosperity at this time was probably
due very largely to its location at the hub of major trade routes, and its relative proximity to the
copper mining region which lay to its north.
 The Habur (Khabur) river region 99

Settlement at Tell Sheikh Hamad (Dur-Katlimmu) covers the period from the Late Chalcolithic
Age (late M4) to the early Islamic period. During the Middle Bronze Age, the site was expanded from
a small village to a relatively large urban settlement (c. 15 ha), which included a citadel and lower
city. In the Late Bronze Age, the city fell first under Mitannian, and subsequently under Assyrian
control, becoming in C13 one of the regional centres of the Middle Assyrian empire. Important
information about its administration in this period is provided by an archive of some 500 cunei-
form tablets, unearthed in one of the wings of the governor’s palace. This archive confirmed the
city’s Assyrian name Dur-Katlimmu, already known from other sources. By late C8, the city had
grown substantially in size, becoming an important regional centre of the Neo-Assyrian empire.
When the empire collapsed in 610, Dur-Katlimmu was among the Assyrian centres put to the torch
by the Babylonian conquerors. But it was not totally destroyed. The site has produced important
documentary evidence for the immediate post-Assyrian era, in the form of cuneiform tablets writ-
ten in Assyrian but dated to 602–600, early in the reign of the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar
II. Dur-Katlimmu once more flourished under Neo-Babylonian rule. It was occupied during the
succeeding Persian, Hellenistic and Roman periods, but with a much reduced status.
Akkermans and Schwartz (2003: 259–62, 309–13, 346–50); individual entries in PPAWA.
 20
The Old Babylonian kingdom

Babylonia is the name applied by scholars to ancient southern Mesopotamia. It extends from
the area of Baghdad, where the Tigris and Euphrates rivers come close together, to the Persian
Gulf. The name has been adopted from the region’s most important ancient city Babylon. It refers
primarily to the kingdom of which Babylon was the centre in M2 and the first half of M1 bc. The
life-span of Babylon itself actually
covers a much longer period, from
mid M3 bc to C2 ad. Babylonia’s
history can be divided into several
main phases: (a) the Middle Bronze
Age kingdom ruled by an Amorite
dynasty of which Hammurabi was
the most important member; (b) the
Late Bronze Age Kassite kingdom;
and (c) the Neo-Babylonian king-
dom, most notable for the reign of
Nebuchadnezzar II. Between (b) and
(c) there was a long interval to which
it is difficult to assign a single label;
it began in 1154, after the fall of the
Kassite kingdom, with the emergence
of the so-called Second Dynasty of
Isin, and passed through a number
of stages, including long periods of
subjection to Assyria, before it ended
with the rise of the Neo-Babylonian
kingdom in 626. Through all these
phases, Babylonia’s and Babylon’s
histories are closely linked.
The Middle Bronze Age kingdom’s
rise to prominence began when
an Amorite chieftain Sumu-abum
paved the way for the establishment
of the first royal dynasty at Babylon,
Figure 20.1 Sculpture atop Hammurabi’s stele © Ivy Close founded by a man called Sumu-la-El
Images/Alamy. c. 1880. Under Amorite rule, the

100
 Great Zab
• Tigris
Carchemish • Shubat-Enlil

1 Balih
•Nineveh
YAMHAD
Emar • Little Zab

Habur Ashur
•
ASSYRIA
Diyala

2
• Tadmor
Mari •

Euphrates
• Eshnunna
Sippar
3 • EMUTBAL
Old Babylonian Kings (approximate dates) Syrian Cutha (YAMUTBAL)
(Sumu-Abum 1894-1881) Samsu-iluna 1749-1712 Desert • ELAM
Sumu-la-El 1880-1845 Abi-eshuh 1711-1684 Babylon• • Kish
Sabium 1844-1831 Ammi-ditana 1683-1647
Apil-Sin 1830-1813 Ammi-saduqa 1646-1626 Borsippa • • Mashkan-Shapir
Sin-muballit 1812-1793 Samsu-ditana 1625-1595 • • Nippur
Hammurabi 1792-1750 Dilbat •
Marad
• Isin
Babylonian kingdom at Hammurabi’s accession (1792)
Uruk
4 main area of kingdom at Hammurabi’s death (1750) • •Larsa
possible extent of Hammurabi’s northern conquests in his last years Ur •

0 100 200 km
•
Eridu

A B C D E F

The kingdom of Hammurabi (c. 1792–1750) (after Roaf 1996: 120–1)

The Old Babylonian kingdom 101
102  The Middle Bronze Age

kingdom reached its peak in the reign of its fifth king Hammurabi (c. 1792–1750), who made
Babylon the centre of an empire which extended through the whole of southern and part of north-
ern Mesopotamia. It included the last remnants of the Kingdom of Upper Mesopotamia which
had earlier flourished under Hammurabi’s former ally Samsi-Addu. To Babylonia’s east, the king-
dom of Elam posed a severe threat to Hammurabi’s kingdom. But its aggression was effectively
countered when Hammurabi formed an alliance with Zimri-Lim, king of Mari, and Yarim-Lim,
king of Aleppo, and in combined military operations drove the Elamite invaders from his lands.
Voluminous archives surviving from Hammurabi’s reign, including hundreds of letters addressed
to officials and foreign rulers, attest to the king’s high level of administrative and diplomatic skills
and activities. But he is best known for his so-called ‘code of laws’, the most famous surviving
example of which appears on a 2 m high diorite stele now in the Louvre. Though harsh in some of
the penalties they impose for a wide range of offences, the laws reflect the king’s role as protector
of his people and upholder of peace and justice within his realm.
Sasson (CANE 2: 901–15); Roth (1997: 71–142 (Hammurabi’s Laws)); Leick (2003: 30–43); Van
De Mieroop (2005, 2016: 118–27); Charpin (2012).
 21
Mari

The history of Mari (Tell Hariri), located on the west bank of the middle Euphrates, extends from
the beginning of M3 bc until its destruction by Hammurabi c. 1762. There was some later occupa-
tion of the site down to the last centuries of M1 bc. Excavations by a succession of French teams
from 1933 onwards have identified the chief phases in Mari’s history; these date successively to the
Sumerian Early Dynastic, Akkadian, Ur III and Old Assyrian periods, and a brief period of inde-
pendence following the last of these. By mid M3, Mari had become a wealthy city, due no doubt to
its central position in a fertile strip of land along the Euphrates, and its involvement in the interna-
tional trading operations that passed between Babylonia and Syria. Towards the millennium’s end,
it was subject to a line of rulers con-
stituting the so-called Shakkanakku entrance

dynasty. Their regime was marked by

extensive building operations in the
city, including a new palace, which
was regularly restored, re-developed
and enlarged. The dynasty ended at a
time and in circumstances unknown courtyard
to us. After a period of obscurity,
courtyard throne room
Mari again came into prominence or shrine?

with the accession of a king called

Yahdun-Lim (c. 1810–1794), who
held sway over a substantial amount
throne room
of territory in the middle Euphrates
region, up to the mouth of the Balih
river. Conflict broke out with Mari’s
western neighbour, the kingdom of
Yamhad. But shortly after Yahdun-
Lim’s death, Mari came under the
control of the Assyrian king Samsi-
Addu, who incorporated Mariote before 2100 BC

territory into his own kingdom and 2100-2000 BC

installed one of his sons, Yasmah- areas subdivided
2000-1850 BC
Addu, as viceroy there. into smaller rooms

When Samsi-Addu’s kingdom 1850-1780 BC

0 25 50 m
began to disintegrate shortly after his 1780-1760 BC

death, Zimri-Lim, a member of the

former ruler Yahdun-Lim’s family, The palace of Mari (after Roaf 1996: 119)
103
 A B C D

Habur
Tigris
1
•
Shubat-Enlil
Former Assyrian capital Great Zab
Balih
104  The Middle Bronze Age

Kurda?
Andarig? •
Centre of powerful local kingdom
that established sovereignty over
• • Qattara (if = Tell al-Rimah)
Shubat-Enlil and Kurda for a time • Protégé of kingdom
Karana? of Eshnunna Little Zab
Euphrates •  Ally then vassal
Tuttul Qattuna? of Zimri-Lim Ekallatum?
Zimri-Lim’s base for • Conflicts with Zimri-Lim
organizing conquest and Atamrum, ruler of Andarig
2 •
of Mari Ashur
Traditional Assyrian capital
Saggaratum?

Terqa 
(Tell Ashara)

•
Kings of Mari (approximate dates) MARI •
Yahdun-Lim 1810-1794
Ana (Hanat) Diyala
Transit base for Mariote troops;
Sumu-Yamam 1793-1792
located on island in Euphrates
Yasmah-Addu (from Assyrian royal line) 1782-1775
Zimri-Lim 1774-1762

3 •
Core region of Zimri-Lim’s administration Hit (Idu)
Noted for bitumen; control of it Eshnunna •
 Centres of local administrative areas contested by Zimri-Lim and Hammurabi Conquered many
former territories of
0 100 200 km Old Assyrian Kingdom

Northern Mesopotamia during Zimri-Lim’s reign (c. 1774–1762)

 Mari 105

regained control of Mari and ruled there for thirteen years (c. 1774–1762). This was arguably
the peak period in Mari’s history, a period when Mari wielded considerable political influence
in Near Eastern affairs, and amassed considerable wealth, which enabled Zimri-Lim to complete
the great palace-complex on a scale of unprecedented size and splendour. It all ended abruptly c.
1762, when the Babylonian king Hammurabi attacked and occupied the city, plundered the pal-
ace, and later burnt all the city’s monumental buildings. Mari never recovered from his onslaught.
But enough of it has survived to enable us to recreate a fairly clear picture of what it was like in
its original splendour. And we learn much about its daily affairs, its cultural and commercial
activities, its alliances, and its fluctuating political and military fortunes from the discovery of both
private and public archives in the city. More than 22,000 clay tablets containing this information
have been unearthed, mostly in and around the great palace.
Margueron (CANE 2: 885–99, OEANE 3: 413–17); Akkermans and Schwartz (2003: esp. 262–7,
313–17); Heimpel (2003).
 22
The cities and kingdoms of Syria in
the Middle and Late Bronze Ages

During the Middle and Late Bronze Ages, the region we have broadly defined as ancient Syria,
encompassing the territories between the Euphrates and the Mediterranean coast (see p. 44), was
occupied by a large number of cities and small kingdoms. The most important of these, listed
below in a rough north–south progression, are:

Carchemish (Karkamish, Jerablus) first appears among the cities subject to the king of Ebla in the
second half of M3. In C18, it was ruled by a local dynasty which enjoyed peaceful trading relations
with Mari. Subsequently, it became a subject-state of the kingdom of Yamhad. Following Yamhad’s
conquest by the Hittites in early C16, Carchemish was incorporated into the kingdom of Mitanni,
and remained under Mitannian control until captured by the Hittites in 1327. Henceforth, it
became a viceregal seat of the Hittite empire, and maintained that status, under the direct rule of
a member of the Hittite royal family, until the end of the Bronze Age. In the succeeding Iron Age,
Carchemish was one of the most important centres of the Neo-Hittite world.

Mukish First mentioned in tablets of the Ur III period (C21), Mukish was in C16 incorporated
into the kingdom of Aleppo, but later became subject to the Mitannian king Parrattarna when he
established his rule over Aleppo (C15). In mid C14, Mukish was among the lands conquered by the
Hittite king Suppiluliuma I during his so-called one-year Syrian war (late 1340s) against Mitanni.
An anti-Hittite alliance which it joined in an attempt to break away from Hittite sovereignty was
crushed by a Hittite expeditionary force. Suppiluliuma thereupon handed over a substantial part of
its territory to his loyal subject-ally Niqmaddu II, king of Ugarit.

Yamhad At the peak of its power in C18 and C17 bc, Yamhad held sway over some twenty subject
states between the Euphrates and the Orontes rivers. Its dominance over northern Syria continued
until the reign of Yarim-Lim III in the second half of C17. In this period, the Hittite king Hattusili
I conducted a series of campaigns against the city-states subject or allied to Yamhad. He succeeded
in capturing and destroying a number of these states, but failed to take the royal capital Aleppo
(Halab/Halap in Hittite texts), which was finally captured and sacked by his successor Mursili I c.
1595. Its destruction brought the kingdom of Yamhad to an end.

Alalah (Tell Atchana) Alalah’s seventeen levels of settlement indicate that the city’s history extended
through the Middle and Late Bronze Ages, with evidence also of Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age
occupation. The most important periods of its history are represented archaeologically by levels VII
and IV, dating respectively to C17 and C15. Both levels have produced tablet archives. The (almost
200) tablets discovered in level VII indicate that Alalah was subject then to the Yamhadite king
Yarim-Lim III. In his first campaign against Yamhad, the Hittite king Hattusili I (c. 1650–1620) led

106
 The cities and kingdoms of Syria 107

A B C D

H AT T I
1

Carchemish •
(Hittite viceregal seat) M I TA N N I
2
MUKISH ASSYRIANS
• Alalah Aleppo Late C14:
• Assyria begins to occupy
power vacuum left by Hittite
Capital of Yamhad
(c. 1800-1600) destruction of Mitanni
Hittite viceregal seat Emar •
(c. 1327 to fall of empire) Euphrates
• Ebla ASHTATA
UGARIT (C27 to early C16)
Babylon
Ugarit • NIYA
3 NUHASHSHI
Orontes

Tunip •

Arwada • AMURRU
• Qatna
• Sumur
Ullasa • Irqata • Qadesh
4 ••
Ardata
• Batruna
• Gubla
(Byblos) AMKA
• Beirut
S CT

UPI/APINA
IE E

• Sidon Syrian
R BJ

• Damascus
IT SU

5 Desert
• Tyre
O
R AN
TE TI
R
YP
EG

• Megiddo Syrian and Anatolian territories

contested by the Great Kingdoms
6 Egyptian vassal territory
• Shechem in Syria and Palestine
Hittite vassal territory
Jerusalem 0 50 100 km
Mitanni core territory

Syria, south-eastern Anatolia, and north-western Mesopotamia in the 2nd millennium bc

108  The Middle Bronze Age

his troops against Alalah and destroyed

it. The city was rebuilt, but later became
subject in C15 to the Mitannian king
Parrattarna. It was to this period in its
history that the famous Idrimi episode
belongs (see pp. 125–6). Level IV ended
with another destruction of the city.
Subsequently, the Hittites rebuilt and for-
tified it, but it was again destroyed in late
C14, and never reoccupied.

Aleppo Probably not long after its

destruction by the Hittite king Mursili I c.
1595, Aleppo was rebuilt and regained its
Figure 22.1 The citadel of Aleppo today. Photo courtesy J.N.
independence. It maintained this into the
Tubb.
following century (and in fact expanded
its territory to include a number of nearby
states), until it was conquered by the Mitannian king Parrattarna. It was later among the Mitannian
dependencies that fell to the Hittite king Suppiluliuma, and became one of the two Hittite viceregal
centres which he established in Syria. In M1, it became part of the Aramaean kingdom Bit-Agusi.
The city was politically insignificant now, but remained an important cult-centre (as in the Late
Bronze Age) where the storm god Adad was worshipped.

Emar (Meskene) was located at the junction of major land- and river-routes, on the west bank of the
middle Euphrates. Its site is now partially covered by Lake Assad, created by the construction of the
Tabqa Dam in the 1970s. Excavations were carried out between 1972 and 1978, and were resumed in
1996, following the development of the dam and lake, to examine those areas of the site left clear of the
water. Previously, texts found at Ebla, Mari, Nuzi and Ugarit made it clear that Emar had, by early M2,
become a major commercial centre, providing an important focus for the economic and commercial
activities of Mesopotamia and northern Syria. The excavations revealed part of the Early and Middle
Bronze Age levels. But the most extensively excavated phase of the city’s history belongs to the Late
Bronze Age. In this period, the Hittites built a new city, which became capital of the Hittite subject-
kingdom Ashtata. Immediate jurisdiction over Emar was in the hands of the Hittite viceroy at
Carchemish. The Late Bronze Age excavations have uncovered a palace, residential quarters, and
four temples. They also brought to light approximately 800 cuneiform tablets and fragments (see
p. 55). The city was destroyed in early C12 during the upheavals at the end of the Late Bronze Age.

Niya (Nii) was one of the Syrian lands that in C16 were absorbed by the expanding kingdom of
Aleppo. After a short period of independence, it became a subject-state of Mitanni and subse-
quently fell to the Hittite Suppiluliuma.

The Nuhashshi Lands are first attested in C18 Mari texts, which indicate that at this time the north-
ern part of them belonged to the kingdom of Yamhad, the southern part to the territory of Qatna.
In C15, Nuhashshi was among the lands conquered by the pharaoh Tuthmosis III. Later Hittite
texts referring to the ‘kings of Nuhashshi’ indicate that the region was then (if not before) divided
among a number of principalities or small kingdoms. By mid C14, Nuhashshi had become subject
to Mitanni. Before his ‘one-year Syrian war’ against Mitanni, Suppiluliuma concluded an alliance
 The cities and kingdoms of Syria 109

with one of the Nuhashshi kings, but the region as a whole apparently remained hostile to Hatti
until Suppiluliuma conquered Mitanni and imposed his sovereignty over all its northern Syrian
principalities. Subsequently, Nuhashshi rebelled unsuccessfully against Suppiluliuma’s second suc-
cessor Mursili II (c. 1321–1295). It figures later as the place of exile King Hattusili III chose for his
nephew Urhi-Teshub after seizing the Hittite throne from him.

Tunip Seized by Tuthmosis III during his Syrian campaigns, Tunip had become by the Amarna
period (mid C14) one of Egypt’s three major strongholds in the north (the other two were Sumur
and Ullassa). By the end of the period, it had probably become subject or allied to Hatti.

Amurru As noted earlier (pp. 81–3), the name Amurru was restricted in the Late Bronze Age to the
territory lying between the Orontes and the central Levantine coast. This territory was incorporated
into the Egyptian empire in C15 by Tuthmosis III. But its attachment to Egypt remained tenuous.
It was a wild and anarchic region, inhabited by semi-nomadic groups called the Habiru. In mid
C14, a local leader called Abdi-Ashirta united these groups under his command, and while claim-
ing allegiance to the pharaoh (Amenhotep III?), used them to plunder many of Egypt’s subject-
territories in the region, before his career ended in capture by the Egyptian authorities. But de facto
leadership of the country was inherited by his son Aziru who like his father attacked and plundered
neighbouring states while maintaining a semblance of loyalty to the pharaoh (now Amenhotep IV/
Akhenaten). Finally Aziru proclaimed allegiance to the Hittite Suppiluliuma. Thereafter, control
of Amurru was disputed by Hittite and Egyptian kings until the Hittites firmly established their
authority over it in the aftermath of the Qadesh engagements (see pp. 139–41).

Qatna (Mishrifeh) We have noted (p. 81) that early in M2 Qatna was ruled by an Amorite dynasty
and became one of the most important Amorite kingdoms in Syria. By late C16, however, it had
fallen to the Mitannian empire, and subsequently during the reigns of the pharaohs Tuthmosis I
and Tuthmosis III was subject to Egypt. The following century (C14) saw its conquest by the Hittite
Suppiluliuma. But its king at the time, Akizzi, broke from Hittite control and declared allegiance
to the pharaoh Akhenaten – until action against his kingdom by pro-Hittite states in the region
probably forced him to accept Hittite overlordship once more. Qatna was destroyed in the Hittite
empire’s final years, but it was resettled in the Iron Age, apparently by Aramaeans, and enjoyed a
flourishing existence as a trading centre during the Neo-Babylonian period (C6).
German excavations conducted in 2002 in the city’s palace uncovered a hoard of sixty-seven
tablets and fragments. Also discovered was an underground shaft leading to a royal tomb, which
contained a main chamber and three side-chambers. Two identical seated ‘ancestor-statues’ made
of basalt flanked the tomb-entrance. The tomb’s burials were still intact. Most were found in the
main chamber, which appears to have been used also for ceremonial feasts.

Amka (Amqa, Amki) Located in the Biqa‘ Valley on the northern frontier of Egyptian subject terri-
tory, Amka was caught up in the contests between Egypt and Hatti for the control of the Syrian states
to which both kingdoms laid claim. During Akhenaten’s reign, word was brought to Egypt that Hittite
troops had captured cities in the land of Amka. Subsequently, in the death-year of Akhenaten’s suc-
cessor Tutankhamun (1327), a Hittite force attacked the land, allegedly in retaliation for an Egyptian
attack on Qadesh, now under Hittite control. The Hittite assault on Amka violated an earlier treaty
drawn up between Hatti and Egypt (the so-called Kurustama treaty), and was seen to be one of the
causes of a god-inflicted plague that allegedly devastated the Hittite homeland for twenty years.
See PPAWA entries for more details on the above cities and countries.
110  The Middle Bronze Age

Ugarit

stream
Located on a 50 km stretch of the northern
coast of Syria, Ugarit became one of the
most important and wealthiest kingdoms
LOWER
CITY
of the Syro-Palestinian region in the Late
Bronze Age. It derived its wealth from a
Temple number of sources – rich timberlands, fertile
of Baal
Queen Mother’s
Residence
Temple of
Dagan steppes and plains that produced a flour-
Pillared
RESIDENTIAL
QUARTER
ACROPOLIS
ishing cattle industry and a wide range of
Building

Postern
North
Palace
House of
Rapanu agricultural goods, including grain, wine, oil
Gate Royal SOUTH
Plaza ACROPOLIS
and flax. Ugarit was also the centre of thriv-
ROYAL PALACE
House of the
Magician-Priest ing manufacturing industries, where the arts
House of the
Alabaster
Vessels SOUTH
of bronzesmiths and goldsmiths prospered
House of
Yabninu
CITY
and a wide range of linen and woollen goods
(South Palace)
House of were produced for export. The small finds
Urtenu

SOUTH CENTRE
unearthed in the city – jewellery, weapons,
figurines, gold bowls, faience and alabaster
vases – reflect the high level of local crafts-
Excavated Area 0 100 m manship and the extensive foreign com-
mercial and cultural contacts which Ugarit
enjoyed. Its location was of considerable
Ugarit (Ras Shamra) (after Yon 2006: vi) strategic significance, providing as it did
a major link between the Mediterranean
world and the lands stretching to the Euphrates and beyond. Through Ugarit’s territory passed some of the
most important land-routes of Syria, north to Anatolia and east through Aleppo to Mesopotamia.
Substantial remains survive of the kingdom’s capital, also called Ugarit. Its dominant building was
a royal palace, covering an area of c. 10,000 square metres and including one or more upper storeys,
accessed by a dozen staircases. The palace contained luxuriously appointed private apartments, which in
one area opened on to a large garden. Other parts
of the palace were used for administrative and offi-
cial purposes. The whole complex was walled off
from the rest of the city, which contained blocks of
houses of varying size, generally built along narrow
winding streets. In several of these houses as well
as in the palace, a number of tablet archives have
come to light (see p. 57). They provide us with one
of our most valuable sources of information on
international relations in the Late Bronze Age.
In the contest between the Great Kingdoms of
the age for supremacy over Syria, Ugarit became
an ally and then a vassal state of the Hittite empire
in mid C14. It was destroyed during the upheavals
Figure 22.2 Postern Gate, Ugarit. Photo by Trevor at the end of the Bronze Age, and never rebuilt.
Bryce. Yon (2006); Burns (2009: 297–301).
 Part V

The Late Bronze Age

(continuing into the Iron Age)
This Page is Intentionally Left Blank
 23
The major Late Bronze Age kingdoms

During the Late Bronze Age, the Near Eastern world was dominated by five major powers. First,
Hatti (the kingdom of the Hittites), whose power-base lay in north-central Anatolia, Mitanni,
formed from a Hurrian confederation of states, whose power-base lay in northern Mesopotamia,
Babylon, whose kingdom extended through southern Mesopotamia, in the region now commonly
called Babylonia, and Egypt in the land of the Nile. After the Hittites destroyed the Mitannian
empire in the second half of C14, Assyria replaced Mitanni as one of the Great Kingdoms of the
age. Correspondence between the rulers of these kingdoms was exchanged through diplomatic
missions on a regular basis. In this correspondence, the Great Kings address each other as ‘My
Brother’, and expressions of love and devotion regularly preface the business section of their letters
(often acrimonious in their suspicions and complaints). There were remarkably few wars between
the Great Kings during the half-millennium of Late Bronze Age history. (Most notable among
them were those that culminated in the Hittite destruction of Mitanni, the Hittite–Egyptian con-
flicts at Qadesh and the Hittite–Assyrian engagement at Nihriya in northern Mesopotamia.) The
relative peace between the great powers, though often strained, was probably due in large measure
to the fact that their rulers regularly talked to each other, via their diplomatic missions.

113
 A B C D E F

Bl ac k Sea
1

PALA
TUMMANNA KASKA
114  The Late Bronze Age

Sea of Marmara
HAYASA
Sakarya
LAND AZZI
• WILUSA Hattusa • OF
Troy HATTI
SEHA MASA? UPPER LAND
(core region) 2
RIVER
Salt
LAND Caicus Marassantiya ISUWA
Lazpa Lake .
Hermus TS
PITASSA M
U
S ALSHE
Karabel ARZAWA-MIRA R
pass HAPALLA AU • NIHRIYA
• Apasa T I-T Kummanni SUBARI
Maeander LOWER AN Tigris
• Milawata Kastarya LAND M ITA N N I

KIZZUWADNA
ge

Parha •
an

LUKKA TARHUNTASSA • Carchemish

rR

al u
3
Ad
• •Alalah •Aleppo
Ura? Euphrates
Emar •
UGARIT ASSYRIA
Ugarit • NUHASHSHI ASHTATA
Orontes (subject to
Mitanni at
AMURRU this time)
M edi ter ranean ALASIYA • Qatna
Sea • Qadesh

0 200 400 km
SYRIAN Babylon
DESERT

Late Bronze Age Anatolia, northern Syria, and northern Mesopotamia (mid 14th cent.)
 24
The Hittites

‘Hittite’ is the name applied by modern scholars to the Late Bronze Age peoples who inhabited
the land called Hatti in north-central Anatolia. The name arose out of the assumption, first made
by C19 scholars, that the people so called were linked with the Hittites attested in biblical sources.
The Bronze Age kingdom of Hatti was founded probably early in C17 by a king called Labarna,
who established a royal dynasty which, with a few brief interruptions, lasted until at least the early
decades of the Iron Age. Labarna and his royal successors were members of one of three Indo-
European groups who probably entered Anatolia during M3 bc. The other groups we call Palaians

A B C D E F

1 PALA Black Sea

TUMMANNA
Sometime subjects of Hatti

KASKA
Nerik? • Hostile mountain
Cult centre of tribes
Storm God
2
N
or
th

HITTITE UPPER LAND

-e
as

Alaca (Höyük) (=Arinna?) •

te

• •
rn

Cult centre of Sun Goddess Sapinuwa (Ortaköy) Samuha?

Tapikka (Maşat)
bu

3 Hattusa (Boğazkale)  Administrative centre; Place of refuge for

• Ankara
ff

large tablet archive Administrative, military, royal court, early C14

•
er

Hittite capital economic centre

zo

HOMELAND
ne

•
Sarissa (Kuşaklı)
4 Administrative and festival centre

Marassantiya
Salt 0 100 200 km
(Classical Halys)
Lake
Modern names are underlined

The Hittite homeland

115
116  The Late Bronze Age

A B C D

0 200 400 km Black Sea

PALA KASKA
TUMMANNA
• Nerik?
Sea of Marmara • Hak
Sapinuwa •
• San
Sakarya •Ta
• WILUSA Hattusa
Troy
MASA?
SEHA RIVER Marassantiya
Salt
Lazpa
LAND Caicus Lake
Hermus
PITASSA • • Nenassa?
Purushanda? • Kussara? •
Karabel ARZAWA-MIRA •Beycesultan Yalburt
pass -
• Apasa HAPALLA Ikkuwaniya Tuwanuwa TI
Maeander Hatip • • LOWER
• AN
Kızıldağ • •
• Milawata Kastarya
LAND
Dalawa Karadağ AD
Parha • KIZZ U W
Pina(li) TARHUNTASSA
• • LUKKA
• • Adal
Awarna Hinduwa? •
• Ura?
Rang
Patara
Kings of Hatti (approximate dates)
Old Kingdom New Kingdom
UGARI
Labarna ?-1650 Tudhaliya I/II
Hattusili I 1650-1620 Arnuwanda I 1400-1350
Mursili I 1620-1590 Hattusili II? AMU
Hantili I 1590-1560
ALASIYA
Tudhaliya III •
Zidanta I Suppiluliuma I 1350-1322 Sumur
Ammuna 1560-1525 Arnuwanda II 1322-1321
Huzziya I Mursili II 1321-1295
Telipinu 1525-1500
Alluwamna
Muwatalli II 1295-1272 Mediterranean Gubla •
Urhi-Teshub (Mursili III) 1272-1267
Tahurwaili Hattusili III 1267-1237 Sea
Hantili II Tudhaliya IV 1237-1209
Zidanta II 1500-1400
Arnuwanda III 1209-1207
Huzziya II Suppiluliuma II 1207-?
Muwattalli I

The Hittite empire (late 14th–13th cent.)

 The Hittites 117

D E F

Black Sea
1

PALA KASKA
UMMANNA
• Nerik?
• Hakpis(sa)?
• Sanahuitta? HAYASA
Sapinuwa •
Hattusa
•Tapikka UPP AZZI
ER • Samuha?
LA
• Sarissa ND 2
Marassantiya
.
TS ISUWA
M
• • Nenassa? S
U Tegarama ALSHE
da? Kussara? • UR •
A
-I T • • Lawazantiya? NIHRIYA
Tuwanuwa T Kummanni SUBARI
• AN Tigris
LOWER
LAND DNA
A Urshu? •
KIZZ U W
Carchemish HANIGALBAT
SSA
MUKISH 3
• Adalur Alalah Aleppo
Ura?
Range •
Euphrates
BARGA Emar •
UGARIT NIYA ASHTATA
ASSYRIA
Orontes NUHASHSHI
AMURRU • Tunip
YA • Qatna
Sumur • capital
• Qadesh viceregal seat
homeland
erranean Gubla •
AMKA
subject territories 4
Sea fluctuating influence
Assyrian territories
Babylon
Egyptian territory
118  The Late Bronze Age

CEMETERY

YAZILIKAYA

silos
Gate?
silos
BÜYÜKKAYA
Gate Gate

Gate LOWER
N

Gate
Temple of
Weather
CITY
God

Gate silos
Acropolis
(Büyükkale)

UPPER viaduct
Temple
NIŞAN- 31
TEPE SÜD-
BURG
sacred
Temple pool
SARIKALE
7

main public
thoroughfare CITY
MAIN
ceremonial
TEMPLE route
YENICEKALE
LION GATE QUARTER
(main entrance Temple
gate)
30 (see Fig 24.1)
chapels? KING’S GATE
(ceremonial exit
Temple gate?)
5

processional processional
way? way?

SPHINX GATE
0 250 500 m

Hattusa
 The Hittites 119

and Luwians after the languages

they used. The kingdom over which
Labarna ruled was originally small,
but in a series of military campaigns
he expanded its territories until he
held sway over a region extend-
ing south from the Marassantiya
river (Classical Halys, modern Kızıl
Irmak) to the Mediterranean Sea. His
grandson(?) and successor Hattusili I
consolidated his conquests, and was
probably responsible for resettling the
abandoned site called Hattus, making
it the royal Hittite capital Hattusa.
Hattusa lay within the Maras­
santiya river basin, in the region now
commonly called the Hittite home- Figure 24.1 Part of the main temple quarter, Hattusa. Photo by
land. The name Hatti, used by the Trevor Bryce.
Hittites themselves, preserves the
original pre-Indo-European name of the region. From his capital, Hattusili embarked on cam-
paigns which took his armies westwards into the Arzawa lands, and south-eastwards across the
Taurus mountains into Syria. His military enterprises in the south-east brought him into con-
flict with the northern Syrian kingdom of Yamhad, and with the Hurrian peoples, later to unite
into the kingdom of Mitanni. The campaigns against Yamhad were successfully completed by his
grandson and successor Mursili I who sacked its capital Aleppo, and then led his troops along the
Euphrates to Babylon, which he captured and destroyed (c. 1595).
In the second half of C14, the kingdom of Hatti reached its peak of power and influence in
the Near East. This was in the reign of Suppiluliuma I (c. 1350–1322), who destroyed the king-
dom of Mitanni and expanded his own empire, which now stretched from Anatolia’s Aegean
coast eastwards to the Euphrates,
and southwards through Syria to
the frontiers of Damascus. But
Hatti’s territorial claims in Syria led
to increasing tensions with Egypt,
which contested sovereignty with it
over a number of the Syrian princi-
palities. A showdown between the
forces of the Hittite king Muwattalli
II and those of the pharaoh Ramesses
II in 1274 at Qadesh on the Orontes
(after an earlier confrontation there
between Muwattalli and Ramesses’
father Seti I, which Seti won) ended
in stalemate, though in the long term
the Hittites acquired control over
all the contested territories. A treaty
was subsequently drawn up (in 1259) Figure 24.2 The walls of Hattusa. Photo by Trevor Bryce.
120  The Late Bronze Age

between Ramesses and Muwattalli’s brother and second successor Hattusili III, which formally
ended hostilities between Hatti and Egypt. Relations between the two kingdoms remained peace-
ful for the rest of the Late Bronze Age.
We have noted that the Hittite ruling class was of Indo-European origin. But already in its
early years this particular Indo-European group may well have been a minority in the kingdom,
its royal dynasty holding sway over a predominantly indigenous population called Hattians. And
in later years its proportions must have progressively diminished as the homeland’s population
was swelled by deportees brought back as spoils of conquest from military campaigns abroad. A
large number of these deportees came from Luwian-speaking regions, like the western Arzawa
lands. By the time of the empire’s collapse, Luwian speakers may have formed the majority of the
homeland population, and indeed of the populations of western, central and southern Anatolia.
This may well explain why Hittite kings in the last century of the kingdom used the Luwian lan-
guage, written in its hieroglyphic form (there was also a cuneiform version of the language), on
their public monuments. For their chancery records, however, they retained their own language,
which they called Nesite (after the city of Nesa just south of the Marassantiya river where the royal
dynasty’s ancestors may have ruled), written in a cuneiform script. Akkadian, the Late Bronze Age
international language of diplomacy, was used for diplomatic communications with foreign kings
and with the Hittite kings’ Syrian vassal rulers.
Administratively, the Hittite empire consisted of (a) core territory, the land within the
Marassantiya basin which we have called the Hittite homeland, (b) a number of vassal states spread
over many parts of Anatolia and northern Syria, and (c) from Suppiluliuma I’s reign onwards, two
viceregal kingdoms in northern Syria, one at Carchemish, the other at Aleppo; these were ruled by
close members of the king’s family, generally his sons. The vassal states were administered by local
rulers, bound by treaties to the Great King. By and large, the vassal rulers remained loyal to their
treaty obligations. But there were some notable exceptions, especially as the empire entered its
final years. The Hittite kingdom collapsed in early C12, amid the general upheavals which brought
many Bronze Age states and cities to an end. The formal end of the empire came when the last
Hittite king, Suppiluliyama (Suppiluliuma II), abandoned his capital, leaving it to be pillaged and
destroyed by marauders and enemy forces.
Bryce (2002, 2005, AANE: 722–39); Collins (2007); Seeher, Beal, Glatz, van den Hout and
Mielke (OHAA: 376–92, 579–603, 877–99, 900–13, 1031–54, respectively).
 25
Arzawa and the Luwians

Arzawa
Arzawa (early variant Arzawiya) is the name applied in Hittite texts to a region encompassing
much of western and south-western Anatolia. It is sometimes used as a generic term for the region
as a whole, and sometimes as a designation for a group of up to five local kingdoms which col-
lectively made up the ‘Arzawa lands’. The original nucleus of these lands was probably a spe-
cific kingdom called Arzawa, now
referred to as ‘Arzawa Minor’ or A B C D
‘Arzawa Proper’ to distinguish it Black
from the rest of the Arzawa group. Sea 1
Initially, ‘Arzawa Minor’ may have
exercised some form of political or
military hegemony over the whole
Arzawa complex. It occupied a region (Sea of Marmara)

extending inland from the central (Sakarya)

2

Aegean coast, perhaps in part along • Troy

WI LU S A
the Maeander river valley, and was
ruled from its capital Apasa, which S E HA R I V E R
MA S A ? Caicus
LAN D
Lazpa
lay on or near the site of Classical Hermus 3
Ephesus. The other lands belonging A (Beycesultan)
(Yalburt) •
I R •
to the Arzawa complex were Mira -M
(Karabel pass)
AWA H APALLA
ARZ
Apasa
•
(with its extension Kuwaliya), Seha •Milawata
Maeander
Kastaraya
(Hatip)•

River Land, Wilusa and Hapalla.

The first three occupied much of Parha • 4
the western sector of Anatolia, from L UK K A

the Maeander valley northwards

to the Troad; Hapalla lay further
east, towards the territory called the
5
Lower Land in Hittite texts. Mediterranean
Mira probably became the larg- Sea
est of the Arzawa states when the
Hittite king Mursili II conquered and
6
depopulated its neighbour Arzawa 0 100 200 km
( ) = modern names
Minor (c. 1320), then ruled by one of
the Hittites’ most persistent enemies
Uhhaziti, and (very likely) handed The Arzawa lands

121
122  The Late Bronze Age

over its territory to Mira. A well-

known relief sculpture with Luwian
hieroglyphic inscription carved in the
Karabel pass near Izmir has recently
been identified with a C13 king of
Mira called Tarkasnawa (see p. 56).
The monument may well have lain on
the boundary between Mira and Seha
River Land. Wilusa almost certainly
lay to the north of the latter, thus in
the Troad. Most scholars believe that
it is to be identified with the king-
dom called Troy in Classical sources,
referred to in Homer’s Iliad by the
alternative names (W)Ilios and Troia.
From the reign of Mursili II onwards,
Figure 25.1 The Karabel monument. Photo by Mr Necdet Düzen.
the Arzawa lands became vassal states
of the Hittite empire.

The Luwians
The Luwians were one of three Indo-European speaking peoples who migrated into the Anatolian
peninsula from a homeland perhaps north of the Black Sea, and probably during M3 bc. Luwian-
speaking peoples dispersed widely through the Anatolian peninsula during M2, perhaps from a core
region in central Anatolia, settling particularly in large areas of western and southern Anatolia. In
the west, they may have been the principal population group of the Arzawa lands. In the south, they
made up a large part of the populations of the Lukka Lands, Tarhuntassa and Kizzuwadna.
They are known to us primarily from inscriptions in their language, represented in both cunei-
form and hieroglyphic scripts. The former appear in several hundred passages, primarily of a
religious and ritual character, which are incorporated into Hittite texts and are identified by the
term luwili (‘in the language of Luwiya’). The actual name ‘Luwiya’ is attested only in very early
versions of the Hittite laws, where it is replaced by ‘Arzawa’ in subsequent versions. Hieroglyphic
inscriptions appear (a) on seal impressions, often combined with cuneiform inscriptions, (b) as
graffiti on the paving stones and orthostats of the Temple of the Storm God at Hattusa, and on a
number of bowls and other small metal objects, and (c) as monumental inscriptions on rock-faces
and built stone surfaces. Most of the monumental inscriptions have been found within the Hittite
homeland, but are otherwise widely distributed throughout Anatolia.
Following the collapse of the Hittite empire, the Hittite cuneiform script and language disap-
peared. But the Luwian hieroglyphic tradition was preserved, becoming one of the most important
distinguishing features of the Neo-Hittite kingdoms which emerged in south-eastern Anatolia
and northern Syria during the Iron Age. It was adopted by the rulers of the Neo-Hittite kingdoms
as it had been by their Bronze Age Hittite counterparts for use on their public monuments, and at
least in some cases for their administrative records. Whether or not the survival of this tradition
represents an influx of Luwian refugees from the Anatolian peninsula into northern Syria after the
fall of the Hittite empire remains debatable.
Melchert (2003); Bryce and Yakubovich (OHAA: 363–75, 534–47).
 26
The Hurrians and Mitanni (Mittani)

The Hurrians

A B C D E F

HATTI
1 (homeland)

Marassantiya

Salt ISUWA
Lake Lake Van

HATTI M ALSHE
I T
2
(subject territories)
KIZZUWADNA A N
Lake Urmia

•
Tarsus
Carchemish •
Balih
• Harran •
N I Great Zab

Tell Feheriye •Tell Brak

Alalah Nineveh
• • Aleppo•
Site of Washshukkanni,
Mitannian capital? • •
Tell al-Rimah Little Zab
Emar Habur
Ugarit • •
Ashur
Orontes
ALASIYA
3 Euphrates Tigris Diyala

Mediterranean Byblos •
Sea
Kings of Mitanni/Hanigalbat
Kirta C16 Tushratta C14 Sippar
PALESTINE Shuttar na I C16 Artatama II C14 • Babylon
T

Parrattarna C15 Shuttar na III C14

BA

Megiddo • Parsatatar C15 Shattiwaza C14 •

BY

Saushtatar C15 Shattuara I C13

LO • Nippur
P

4 Artatama I C15-14 Wasashatta C13

Shuttar na II C14 Shattuara II C13 NI
A
Y

Dead Sea Artashumara C14

• Uruk
E G
0 150 300 km All boundaries uncertain,
especially those of Hatti

The Mitannian empire and its contemporaries (15th cent.) (after Roaf 1996: 134)

The Hurrians were a large group of peoples, of uncertain origin, who from late M3 onwards
had begun to spread through northern Mesopotamia, northern Syria, and eastern Anatolia. The
Kura-Araxes region in Transcaucasia and eastern Anatolia has been proposed as their original
homeland. Hurrian states are first attested in C23, as subjects of the Akkadian king Naram-Sin.
After the Akkadian’s empire’s fall c. 2193, Hurrian-speaking groups established a number of small

123
124  The Late Bronze Age

principalities through northern and eastern Mesopotamia. Later, Hurrians appear among the
traders in eastern and central Anatolia during the Middle Bronze Age Assyrian Colony period.
By the end of C16, a number of small states with predominantly Hurrian populations had been
amalgamated into a single political federation called the kingdom of Mitanni, which became one
of the Great Kingdoms of the Late Bronze Age. Already before the formation of this kingdom, the
Hurrians were involved in bitter conflict with the Hittites for control over northern Syria and east-
ern Anatolia. It was only when the Hittite king Suppiluliuma I destroyed the kingdom of Mitanni
during the second half of C14 that Hittite–Hurrian conflicts ended.
Many elements of Hurrian culture survived and flourished in the Hittite world after the
Hurrians had ceased to be a political force in the Near East. Hurrian deities and religious practices
were adopted with particular enthusiasm in C13 by the Hittite king Hattusili III and his Hurrian
queen Puduhepa, and subsequently by Hattusili’s son and successor Tudhaliya IV – as illus-
trated by the reliefs and inscriptions of the Hittite rock sanctuary at Yazılıkaya near Hattusa. And
Hurrian mythological tales became embedded in Hittite literary tradition, notably the Kumarbi
epic. In southern Anatolia, the state of Kizzuwadna (Kizzuwatna) was probably created under
Hurrian influence in C16, and contained a substantial Hurrian element in its population. The
Hurrians spoke a language, preserved primarily in cuneiform inscriptions, which is unrelated to
any other language known to us, with the possible exception of Urartian.

Mitanni (Mittani)
As we have noted, the kingdom of Mitanni was formed by the end of C16 from a number of
small predominantly Hurrian states in upper Mesopotamia. The Egyptians and Canaanites
called it Naharina or Naharima. In C15, Mitanni became one of the four Great Kingdoms of the
Near Eastern world (the others at that time were Hatti, Babylon and Egypt). From their capital
Washshukkanni, the kings of Mitanni held sway over a large range of territories extending from
northern Mesopotamia through northern Syria and parts of eastern Anatolia. (Washshukkanni
has yet to be located with certainty though it is commonly thought to be the site of Tell Feheriye
in the Habur triangle.) An elite class of warriors called the maryannu provided an important basis
of the kingdom’s military might.
Mitanni’s aggressive programme of territorial expansion west of the Euphrates brought it into
conflict with both Hatti and Egypt. The contests between Mitanni and Egypt were finally resolved
when an agreement was reached early in C14 between the Mitannian king Artatama and the
pharaoh Tuthmosis IV over a division of Syrian territory between them: the lands of northern
Syria were acknowledged as Mitannian possessions, and much of southern and part of coastal
Syria were confirmed as Egyptian subject territory. That set the stage for a showdown between the
Mitannian king Tushratta and his Hittite counterpart Suppiluliuma. In the 1340s, the final contest
between the two powers began. It resulted eventually in victory for Suppiluliuma, and the destruc-
tion of Mitanni, whose last stronghold Carchemish fell to Suppiluliuma in 1327. Tushratta was
later assassinated, and his son Shattiwaza subsequently installed as a Hittite ally and puppet ruler
of the kingdom of Hanigalbat, the much reduced successor of the Great Kingdom of Mitanni.
Wilhelm (1989); CANE (2: 1243–54).
 27
The adventures of Idrimi

A B C D
HATTI Euphrates
Carchemish •

1
Parrattarna installs
Idrimi as king
Idrimi and brothers M I T A N N I A N
flee Aleppo
MUKISH of Alalah • K I N G D O M
Local peoples proclaim •Alalah Aleppo
Idrimi their king
(Halab)
Emar •in Emar
They find refuge
AMAE?
Idrimi and
groom set out
NIYA for Canaan

Orontes
•Ugarit
2 Mediterranean NUHASHSHI
Sea Hospitable reception
by Sutaeans
(location uncertain)
Fleet mustered by Idrimi
sails to Mukish
• Arwad Qatna
•
Batruna
• Ammiya •Qadesh
•
Idrimi joins other refugees
from Aleppan kingdom

3
Byblos •
Beirut •
0 40 80 km Syrian
CANAAN Desert

Idrimi’s quest (after Rainey and Notley 2006: 62)

The statue of Idrimi, now in the British Museum, was unearthed by Leonard Woolley during
excavations at Tell Atchana (ancient Alalah). It dates to Alalah level IV in archaeological terms
(C15). This phase of Alalah was destroyed by the Hittites, who subsequently rebuilt the city (level
III). The statue itself was damaged, but preserved, in pieces, and finally deposited in the precincts
of Alalah’s main temple.

125
126  The Late Bronze Age

An Akkadian cuneiform inscription, 104 lines long, is carved

across the front of the statue and provides us with an alleged
autobiographical account of Idrimi’s adventures. His story
begins in Aleppo when some unspecified hostile action took
place, perhaps the violent overthrow of his father, King Ilim-
ilimma. Idrimi and his brothers fled the city, eventually finding
refuge in Emar, their mother’s home-town. But Idrimi grew
restless in exile, and resolved to reclaim his father’s throne for
himself. Word reached him that a number of his father’s former
subjects had rejected the new regime in Aleppo and were now
living in a city called Ammiya, in the region of Canaan. So he
set out for Ammiya across the Syrian wilderness, and after an
encounter with the Sutaeans, bedouin tribesmen who proved
friendly, he reached his destination. Once there, he began pre-
paring for his return to Aleppo, his followers from Aleppo and
neighbouring regions boosted by troops of the landless outlaws
called Habiru. Aleppo was now subject to the Mitannian king
Parrattarna, and Idrimi allegedly spent seven years preparing
for his return to reclaim his father’s throne. Finally, he set sail
for the north, making a landfall probably near the mouth of
the Orontes. But he soon realized he had no chance of defeat-
ing Parrattarna in a military confrontation, and so negotiated
a peace deal with him. In accordance with its terms, he was
installed as king, not of Aleppo, but of Alalah, and as the vassal
Figure 27.1 Idrimi, king of Alalah of Parrattarna. He apparently remained loyal to his Mitannian
© World History Archive/ allegiance for the rest of his career.
Alamy. Greenstein (CANE 4: 2423–8).
 28
The Middle Assyrian empire

In the first half of the Late Bronze Age, Assyria became a vassal state of Mitanni. But the disinte-
gration of the Mitannian kingdom (caused by the Hittites) between c. 1340 and 1327 paved the
way for an Assyrian resurgence during the reign of Ashur-uballit (c. 1365–1330). In effect the
founder of what we call the Middle Assyrian kingdom, Ashur-uballit, rapidly filled the power
vacuum east of the Euphrates left by Mitanni’s colllapse, and then looked to expanding his ter-
ritories west of the Euphrates and south into Babylonia. An Assyrian invasion across the river
threatened Hittite vassal states in northern Syria and ultimately Egyptian subject territories in
southern Syria and Palestine. The threat never materialized. But Babylonia suffered invasion by
Assyria on at least two occasions, firstly under the command of Ashur-uballit and subsequently
by a later Assyrian king Tukulti-Ninurta I (c. 1244–1208). Babylon was twice conquered, and on
the second occasion incorporated by Tukulti-Ninurta into his subject territories. This king also
resoundingly defeated a Hittite army led by Tudhaliya IV, in the so-called battle of Nihriya in
northern Mesopotamia. But in the end Tukulti-Ninurta’s ambitious military enterprises over-
stretched his kingdom’s resources, and he was assassinated by disaffected subjects after suffering
a series of military defeats. Babylon subsequently regained its independence, and once more, the
kingdom of Assyria was in decline.
But it proved resilient. It survived the catastrophes that ended many Bronze Age kingdoms and
cities, and in the reign of Tiglath-Pileser I (c. 1114–1076), still retained control over a substantial
part of northern Mesopotamia. Indeed, Tiglath-pileser extended considerably the earlier bounda-
ries of Assyrian enterprise by leading an expedition across the Euphrates to the Mediterranean
coast. His reign, however, proved little more than a temporary bounce in the kingdom’s fortunes.
After his death, Assyria entered upon one-and-a-half centuries of relative weakness, its territory
being reduced, by the beginning of M1, to a narrow strip of land stretching 150 km along the
Tigris.
Radner (2015); Van De Mieroop (2016: 190–5).

127
 A B C D E F
Lake Van

1
NIHRIYA
Tukulti-Ninurta defeats Hittite king
Tudhaliya IV here
Lake Urmia
KADMUHU Tigris
conquests by Arik-den-ili,
Tukulti-Ninurta,
128  The Late Bronze Age

HIT
Tiglath-pileser

T
Adad-nirari
extends
Carchemish • Assyrian
•
Washshukkanni?
boundary

IT E
former Mitannian capital
2 to Euphrates QUTU
Aleppo • Nineveh five Assyrian kings
•
campaigned here

EM
• Euphrates Kalhu •
Emar

P
Orontes Ashur
Za

IR
•Dur-Katlimmu
gr

• • Kar-Tukulti-Ninurta
E Assyrian regional centre
os

established as new royal

seat by Tukulti-Ninurta
M
ou
nt
Arwad ai
ns
•
Tadmor
3 •
Tiglath-pileser’s western campaign (early Iron Age)
•Byblos
Assyrian heartland
Annexed territories and provinces
•
Middle Assyrian Kings (approximate dates)
Hit
Eriba-Adad I 1392-1366 Ashur-nirari III 1203-1198
Ashur-uballit 1365-1330 Enlil-kudurri-usur 1197-1193 Syrian
Enlil-nirari 1329-1320 Ninurta-apil-Ekur 1192-1180 Desert
Arik-den-ili 1319-1308 Ashur-dan I 1179-1134
4 Adad-nirari I 1307-1275 Ninurta-tukulti-Ashur 1133
Shalmaneser I 1274-1245 Mutakkil-Nusku 1133 •
Tukulti-Ninurta I 1244-1208 Ashur-resh-ishi I 1132-1115
Babylon
captured by Tukulti-Ninurta
Ashur-nadin-apli 1207-1204 Tiglath-pileser I 1114-1076 c.1225

0 100 200 km

The Middle Assyrian empire (c. 1365–1076) (after Haywood 2005: 39)
 29
Kassite Babylonia

Soon after Hammurabi’s death, the Old Babylonian kingdom began to contract. This was due to
a number of factors, including rebellions within the subject territories, further invasions by the
Elamites, and the occupation of Babylonia, as far north as Nippur, by a new dynasty called the
‘Sealand’ from the marshlands of southern Mesopotamia. But the kingdom lingered on until it
was abruptly terminated, c. 1595, by the Hittite king Mursili I, who sacked and destroyed Babylon,
ending the reign of the last Amorite king Samsu-ditana. Mursili’s victory paved the way for the
rise of a Kassite dynasty in Babylonia. First attested in texts from Hammurabi’s reign, the Kassites
were immigrants to Babylonia, perhaps from an original homeland in the Zagros Mountains.
They settled peacefully in their new land, after some initial hostilities with its existing inhabit-
ants, and by the time of the Hittite conquest, a group of them were becoming a major political
force within Babylonia. Following their conquest of the ‘Sealanders’, they established a ruling
dynasty, under which the Babylonian kingdom once again became a major international power.
Its administrative seat was shifted from Babylon to a new site Dur-Kurigalzu (modern Aqar
Quf). But the Kassites took care to preserve and nurture the cultural traditions of Hammurabi’s
Babylon, and the former capital remained Babylonia’s cultural and religious centre. Indeed under
Kassite patronage, the arts and sciences flourished in Babylonia as never before. Akkadian in its
Babylonian dialect became the international language of diplomacy, used widely throughout the
Near East. Kassite rulers belonged to the elite group of Great Kings of the Near East, a status they
shared with the pharaohs of Egypt, and the rulers of Hatti and Assyria. But disputes and conflicts
with their northern neighbour Assyria led to at least two Assyrian invasions of their kingdom and
eventually subjection to Assyrian rule by Tukulti-Ninurta I (c. 1244–1208). Fifteen years after
Tukulti-Ninurta’s death, the Kassites regained their independence – but for a few decades only.
Their kingdom fell finally to the Elamites c. 1155.
Sommerfeld (CANE 2: 917–30); Leick (2003: 43–61); Arnold (2004: 61–73); Van De Mieroop
(2016: 183–90).

129
130  The Late Bronze Age

Babylonian Kings (Kassite Dynasty) (approx. dates)

Agum II ←1570→ Kudur-Enlil 1254-1246
Diyala Burna-Buriash I ←1530→ Shagarakti-Shuriash 1245-1233
six kingsBabylonian
late C16-early C14 Kashtiliash
Dynasty)IV(approx.
1232-1225
1 • Dur-Kurigalzu (built as administrative centre Kings (Kassite
Kadashman-Enlil I 1374-1360 Enlil-nadin-shumi 1224
Agum II ←1570→ Kudur-Enlil 1254-1246
dates)
of Kassite Babylonia, late C15 or early C14) Burna-Buriash II 1359-1333 Kadashman-Harbe II 1223
• Sippar-Amnanum
Diyala
(Ed-Der)
Burna-Buriash 1333
Kara-hardash I ←1530→ Shagarakti-Shuriash1222-1217
Adad-shuma-iddin 1245-1233

Sippar••Dur-Kurigalzu (built as administrative centre

six kings late 1333
Nazi-Bugash C16-early C14 Kashtiliash IV 1232-1225
Adad-shuma-usur 1216-1187
1 Kadashman-Enlil I
Kurigalzu II 1332-13081374-1360 Enlil-nadin-shumi 1224
Meli-shipak 1186-1172
of Kassite Babylonia, late C15 or early C14) Burna-Buriash II1307-1282
Nazi-Maruttash 1359-1333 Kadashman-Harbe II1171-1159
1223
Marduk-apla-iddina
• Sippar-Amnanum (Ed-Der) Kara-hardash 13331281-1264 Zababa-shuma-iddina
Kadashman-Turgu Adad-shuma-iddin 1222-1217
1158
•
Babylon
Sippar
Cutha •Malgium? Nazi-Bugash 1333
Kadashman-Enlil Adad-shuma-usur
II 1263-1255 Enlil-nadin-ahi
Kurigalzu II 1332-1308
1216-1187
1157-1155
Meli-shipak 1186-1172
(captured by Assyrians
c. 1225) • •Kish Tigris Nazi-Maruttash 1307-1282 Marduk-apla-iddina 1171-1159
Kadashman-Turgu 1281-1264 Zababa-shuma-iddina 1158
2
Babylon Borsippa
Cutha • Malgium?
Kadashman-Enlil II 1263-1255 Enlil-nadin-ahi 1157-1155
ELAM
(captured by Assyrians
c. 1225) •
Dilbat
•Kish Tigris (conqueror of Babylonia c. 1155)
2 Nippur (religious centre, archive of
Borsippa 10,000+ administrative tablets) ELAM ZAGROS MTS
Marad
Dilbat
•Isin (became administrative (original
(conqueror of Babylonia Kassite homeland?)
c. 1155)
Nippur
centre of Babylonia
(religious afterarchive of
centre,
Elamite
10,000+conquest, c. 1154)
administrative tablets) ZAGROS MTS
3
Marad
•Isin (became administrative (original Kassite homeland?)
centre of Babylonia after
Uruk (religious
EuphratesElamite conquest, c. 1154)quarter rebuilt

3 •
by Kassites, mid C15)
•
Larsa
Euphrates Uruk (religious quarter rebuilt
•by Kassites,
•
mid C15)
SEALAND
LarsaUr • (became Kassite
province by early C13)
4 Eridu •
SEALAND
= major cult centre
Ur •
(became Kassite
province by early C13)
4 0 100 200 km Eridu •
= major cult centre
A B C D E F
0 100 200 km
Babylonia
A under Kassite rule
B C D E F
A B C D E F

A B Black Sea C D E F
1
Caspian
Black Sea Sea
1
Caspian
• Hattusa Sea

2
H AT T I • Hattusa Tigris

2
H AT T I A S S Y Tigris
RIA •Nineveh
•Ashur
R I A •Nineveh
A S S YEuphrates
Mediterranean Ashur•
Syrian
3 Sea Desert Euphrates ELAM
Mediterranean
Babylon • • Susa
Syrian
3 Sea Desert B A B Y L O N I AE L A M
Babylon • • Susa
EGYPT
Memphis • BABYLONIA
Persian
EGYPT
4 Memphis • Gulf
• Amarna 0 300 600 km Persian
4 Gulf
• Amarna 0 300 600 km

Kassite Babylonia and the contemporary ‘Great Kingdoms’

 30
Middle and New Kingdom Egypt

A few years after the death of the last significant Old Kingdom ruler Pepi II, Egypt entered a
period of disunity and anarchy. Spanning about a century (c. 2160–2055), it is commonly known
as the First Intermediate period. A new, more stable era succeeded it, the period called the Middle
Kingdom. This lasted until c. 1650, and was followed by a further period of weakness and instabil-
ity, designated as the Second Intermediate period (c. 1650–1550). A feature of it was the appear-
ance of a line of kings called the Hyksos, who established their capital at Avaris in the eastern
Delta. They had emerged from northern hordes of Syro-Palestinian origin who had invaded
Egypt a century or so earlier. The Hyksos were finally driven from Egypt by a local leader called
Ahmose who captured Avaris and became c. 1550 founder of the Egyptian New Kingdom. Thebes
in Upper Egypt had been the centre from which resistance against the foreigners had been organ-
ized. Ahmose was the first ruler of the famous 18th Dynasty, whose most illustrious member
Tuthmosis III (1479–1425) firmly established his kingdom as a major international power by a
series of military campaigns through Palestine and Syria, in the wake of those conducted by his
royal predecessors, one of whom, Tuthmosis I (1504–1492) had led his forces to the banks of the
Euphrates.
Egypt’s expeditions into Syria and Palestine inevitably led to contests with Mitanni and Hatti
for control over these regions. At the time of the Hittite conquest of Mitanni, Egypt’s throne was
occupied by the so-called ‘heretic pharaoh’ Amenhotep IV (1352–1336), son and successor of
Amenhotep III, who renamed himself Akhenaten after the Sun God Aten to whose worship he
devoted himself exclusively. In honour of his god, he built a new capital called Akhetaten ‘Horizon
of Aten’ (modern el-Amarna) in middle Egypt, shifting the royal seat from the traditional capital
Thebes. Akhenaten’s ‘heretic’ religion was abandoned shortly after his death, but the pharaoh’s
alleged neglect of his country’s affairs had left the kingdom in a weak, divided state, and severely
reduced its influence on the international scene. The sudden death of his second successor, the
boy-king Tutankhamun, brought the 18th Dynasty to an end.
But Egypt gained a new lease of life with the rise of a new ruling family, the 19th (Ramesside)
Dynasty, founded by Ramesses I (1295–1294). Its second and third rulers, Seti I and his son
Ramesses II, restored Egypt’s prosperity and built their kingdom once more into a major inter-
national political and military power. Tensions with the Hittites persisted and indeed increased
as both Seti and Ramesses conducted aggressive new campaigns in Syria and Palestine. These
brought them into conflict with the Hittites in two major battles at Qadesh on the Orontes (see
below). Henceforth relations between the two kingdoms, formalized by a peace treaty in 1259,
were generally peaceful.
During the crises which engulfed the Aegean and Near Eastern worlds in early C12, many Late
Bronze Age centres of power were destroyed, including the Hittite kingdom. Egypt too suffered

131
132  The Late Bronze Age

A B C D
ANATOLIA Carchemish
•
Campaigns to Euphrates
Rhodes by Tuthmosis I and III
Euphrates
1 • Orontes
Ugarit
Crete Cyprus
• Qadesh
Mediterranean Sea
•
Egyptian-Hittite battles in reigns of
Byblos Seti I (1290s) and Ramesses II (1274)

Sidon • •Damascus
Tyre•

Megiddo • Beth Shean

2 •
Tuthmosis III defeats Syrian coalition c.1456
Joppa •
Ramesses III repels
•Gaza •
Jerusalem
Sea Peoples (c. 1180)
Kinglist to Ramesses III
LOWER

LIBYA
EGYPT •Avaris
Hyksos’ base before expulsion
Ahmose 1550-1525
Amenhotep I 1525-1504
by Ahmose (c. 1550)
Tuthmosis I 1504-1492
•Heliopolis Tuthmosis II 1492-1479
Memphis
* Tuthmosis III 1479-1425
Hatshepsut 1473-1458
3 Amenhotep II 1427-1400
Tuthmosis IV 1400-1390
Amenhotep III 1390-1352
EGYPT Akhenaten (Amenhotep IV)
1352-1336
Akhetaten Smenkhkare 1338-1336
* (Amarna) Tutankhamun 1336-1327
WESTERN Ay 1327-1323
Horemheb 1323-1295
DESERT Ramesses I 1295-1294
Abydos•
Nile Seti I 1294-1279
4 Cult centre of
god Osiris • Karnak Ramesses II 1279-1213
Merneptah 1213-1203
* Thebes a number of kings
UPPER Ramesses III 1184-1153
EGYPT
1st Cataract
• Elephantine

Red Sea
Abu Simbel
5 Ramesses II
cliff monuments •
LOWER
NUBIA
2nd Cataract

UPPER
indicates maximum extent NUBIA
of New Kingdom and its
conquered territories 3rd Cataract
6
* New Kingdom capitals

KUSH 4th Cataract

0 100 200 km
5th Cataract

New Kingdom Egypt

 Middle and New Kingdom Egypt 133

A B C D

Mediterranean Sea 1
CANAAN

Tell el-Ajjul* •• Gaza Dead

Sea
•Tell el-Far‘ah
(=Sharuhen?)
•
Hyksos base in
Sile Palestine, captured
by Ahmose
•
Avaris 2
Later centre
of Hyksos rule,
EGYPT captured by
Ahmose

•Heliopolis (On)
• Memphis (Noph)
First centre of
Hyksos rule Red
Sea Ahmose’s campaign route
expelling Hyksos from Egypt 3
Nile
*alternative location
for Sharuhen
Thebes 0 30 60 km

Ahmose’s expulsion of the Hyksos

from the chaotic conditions at the end of the Bronze Age, made worse by political squabbles and
faction strife within the kingdom. Inevitably, this took its toll on Egypt’s international standing.
By the end of C12, it had withdrawn from all political and military involvement in the Syro-
Palestine region, thereby losing its status as a major international power.
Chapters by various authors in Shaw (2000: 148–329).
 31
The Canaanites

In its broadest sense, we use the term ‘Canaanite’ to refer to the ancient peoples and cultures of
the Levant, up to the last decades of C4 bc. But the peoples so called were divided into a number
of tribal groups, city-states and kingdoms, each of which developed its own political and social
structures, and a number of its own distinctive cultural traits. They identified themselves, and
were almost always identified by others, not as Canaanites but by the names of the specific tribal
and political units to which they belonged. This explains why in the ancient sources ‘Canaanite’ is
rarely used as a generic designation for them, outside the Bible. The first clearly attested use of the
term occurs in the C18 archives of Mari on the Euphrates, and there are occasional references to
Canaan and Canaanites in later Bronze Age texts; for example, Canaanites were among the pris-
oners-of-war deported to Egypt by the C15 pharaoh Amenhotep II, and in the following century,
Canaan appears several times in the Amarna letters. But the rarity of such references reflects the
lack of perception, either by the Canaanites themselves or by their contemporaries, of a common
identity which linked all Canaanites together – until they figure in Old Testament sources as the
pre-Israelite occupants of ‘the Promised Land’.
Canaan’s strategic location at an important meeting-place between the Near Eastern, Egyptian,
and Mediterranean worlds gave it excellent access to trade contacts with these worlds. This pro-
vided the stimulus, in the Early Bronze Age, for the development of a number of flourishing urban
communities throughout Canaanite territory. In the Middle Bronze Age, these became the centres
of city-states and kingdoms. Many were massively fortified, like Akko, Ashkelon, Dan, Dor, Gezer,
Hazor, Lachish and Megiddo. The gold hoards unearthed in Tell el-Ajjul, located a few kilometres
south-west of Gaza, provide some of the finest examples of Canaanite craftsmanship in the Middle
Bronze IIB-C period (c. 1750–1550), sometimes called the golden age of Canaanite culture.
Egyptian campaigns in Syria and Palestine in late C16 and C15, culminating in Tuthmosis
III’s victory over a coalition of Canaanite and Syrian forces at Megiddo, reduced many of the
Canaanite cities and kingdoms to Egyptian vassal status. But other great powers of the day, nota-
bly Mitanni and Hatti, also sought to extend their sovereignty over Canaanite territory.
The upheavals at the end of the Bronze Age led to major changes in the nature and patterns
of settlement in the Canaanite region, with the collapse of the Hittite empire and the gradual
withdrawal of Egypt, completed by late C12, from Syria-Palestine. Deprived of the stability and
protection which their overlords had (to a reasonable degree) afforded them, a number of the
Canaanite settlements were abandoned. Other major centres continued to survive and prosper,
though some of them too disappeared eventually, when many of their inhabitants took to the hills.
In this transitional period between the Bronze and Iron Ages, Old Testament tradition distin-
guishes three major groups in Palestine – the Philistines along the southern coast, the Canaanites
on the plains and the Israelites in the hills. Though in biblical tradition, the Canaanites were

134
 The Canaanites 135

A B C D

Byblos •
1 • Aphekah

Mediterranean Sea
Sidon
•
N • Damascus
2

A
Tyre
• • Laish

Akko
A • Hazor
• Sea of
Galilee • Ashtaroth
Ain
•
C A N

3
Dor
• •
Megiddo

Jordan

•
Shechem
Joppa•
4
Gezer
•

•
Jerusalem
Ashkelon
•
Gaza • Lachish Dead Sea
• • Hebron
El-Ajjul •

5
Arad
•

Negev • Zoar

Tamar
• Sela
•
6 • Qadesh-Bar nea EDOM 0 50 100 km

Canaan
136  The Late Bronze Age

displaced by the Israelites, some scholars have suggested that the latter were simply a sub-group
of the former, who initially abandoned their cities on the plains and the coast, and resettled in
the Palestinian hill-country. In any case, Canaanite culture survived for many more generations,
particularly through the medium of the people called Phoenicians by the Greeks. The Phoenicians
were in effect the Canaanites’ M1 successors, continuing many of the mercantile and artistic tradi-
tions which had brought prosperity and distinction to the cities of Canaan in the Middle and Late
Bronze Ages.
Tubb (1998).
 32
The Syro-Palestinian states
attested in the Amarna letters

Egypt’s Syrian and Palestinian vassal rulers and their kingdoms feature prominently in the corre-
spondence of the mid C14 Amarna archive. The archive contains a large number of letters written
(a) by the vassals to the reigning pharaoh, either Amenhotep III or his successor Amenhotep IV
(Akhenaten) (a few Amarna letters also date to the reigns of Akhenaten’s successors Smenkhkare
and Tutankhamun), (b) by the pharaoh to them, (c) to the pharaoh about them, by other vassals
and Egyptian officials, as well as (d) correspondence between the pharaoh and his foreign peers.
Collectively, the letters provide a rich source of information on the volatile political and military
situation in Syria and Palestine during the period of their composition, including details about the
activities and interests of two other great powers in the region – Hatti and Mitanni. A number of
themes recur throughout the vassal letters: urgent requests to the pharaoh for military or other
assistance to meet a current crisis, complaints about the activities of a predatory neighbour, or of a
corrupt Egyptian official, reports on collusion between a treacherous subject-ruler and an external
enemy menacing Egypt’s frontiers, assurances that the pharaoh’s orders have been or will be faith-
fully carried out, or excuses for failing to carry them out.
Moran (1992); Cohen and Westbrook (2000).

137
138  The Late Bronze Age

Black Sea

ANATOLIA
MUKISH 1
Tigris
M
ES
OP
O
Inset (Map 50) HereTAM
NIYA
IA
Mediterranean Euphrates

UGARIT
Sea

Syrian Desert Orontes

EGYPT Ugarit
2
•
[ruler not named]
NUHASHSHI
El-Amarna
Red 0 300 km Tunip [Aki-Teshub]
Sea

AMURRU
Arwad
• Qatna [Akizzi]
Sumur

•
Mediterranean
Irqata Qadesh [Aitakkama]
Ammiya
• • Ardata 3
Sea Batruna
• • Lapana = Labwe
Gubla = Byblos
[Rib-Hadda]
• Hashabu
Biruta = Beirut •Hasi
[Ammunira]

UPI (Egyptian Province)

Sidon [Zimredda]
Damascus [Biryawaza] 4
Kumidi = modern Kamid el-Loz
Tyre [Abi-Milku]
• Usu
Akka = Akko Hasura = Hazor
[Surata Sutatna] [Abdi-Tirshi]

Achshaph [Endaruta] • Hannaton Galilee

Sea of
• Ashtaroth
Shimron (=Shamhuna?) • • Yenoam
Magidda = Megiddo 5
[Biridya]
Pihilu = Pella [Mut-Bahlu]

Gath-rimmon Shakmu = Shechem [Lab’ayu]

(=Gittirimunima?)
•
Yapu = Jaffa/Joppa CANAAN
Gazru = Gezer • Aijalon
[Milkilu, etc] Urusalim = Jerusalem
0 50 100 km
Ashqaluna
=Ashkelon [Yidya]
•
Lachish [Yabi-ilnu, etc] 6
Hazzatu = Gaza city with attested ruler
Dead Sea [ ] name of ruler
Egyptian administrative
•Yurza [Pu-Bahlu] centre

A B C

Sites named in the Amarna letters

 33
Hittites and Egyptians in conflict

Qadesh (Kinza, modern Tell Nebi Mend) first appears in written records as an ally of Mitanni.
It joined a coalition of Syro-Palestinian states that opposed and was defeated by the pharaoh
Tuthmosis III at the battle of Megiddo (1479), and was incorporated into Egyptian subject-
territory. Later, the city became embroiled in territorial disputes between Egypt and Hatti. This
led eventually to open conflict when Seti I (1294–1279) confronted the Hittite king Muwattalli
II in a contest for possession of Qadesh and Amurru. The battle, fought near Qadesh, resulted in
a decisive Egyptian victory, and Amurru and Qadesh reverted to Egyptian control. Yet this was
merely a prelude to a second battle of Qadesh fought between Seti’s son and successor Ramesses
II and Muwattalli in 1274.
Ramesses recruited four military divisions for the engagement, each named after an Egyptian
god – from Thebes the army of Amun, from Heliopolis of Re, from Memphis of Ptah, and probably
from Tanis the army of Sutekh. At the head of the Amun division, the pharaoh led his assembled
troops from his capital Pi-Ramesse into the northern lands. But as they marched northwards, the
divisions became widely separated from each other, with the pharaoh’s Amun division advanc-
ing far ahead of the others. Deceived by two bogus Hittite defectors into believing that the entire
Hittite army was far to the north, Ramesses crossed a ford on the Orontes south of Qadesh, and
started setting up his camp to the north-west of the city. But while doing so, he learned that
Muwattalli’s army was in a concealed position on the other side of Qadesh, poised to attack. The
pharaoh sent urgent orders to the Re
and Ptah divisions to proceed post-
haste to Qadesh to help the Amun
division meet the attack. The Sutekh
division was too far behind to be
of any assistance. The Re division
rushed north as quickly as possible.
But as it crossed the Orontes, it was
caught by the charge of the Hittite
army and broke apart. Its troops fled
in panic to the camp still being set
up by Ramesses – with the Hittite
chariotry in hot pursuit. A rout
looked inevitable. But Ramesses’
army was saved from annihilation
by an apparent breakdown in disci- Figure 33.1 Hittite warriors at Qadesh (Temple of Luxor, Egypt).
pline among the Hittite troops who Photo by Trevor Bryce.

139
140  The Late Bronze Age

Reinforcement troops for Egypt--

from Amurru?

Hittite army
AMURRU Egyptian Camp in concealed
Amun position
Division
QADESH

Hittite
attack
Hittite
attack

Re
Division Orontes
River
Anatolia

Orontes

Cyprus
Qadesh • •
Mediterranean Sea Shabtuna
Ptah
Division
Syrian
Desert
Labwi Woods
•
Pi-Ramesse
Ramesses’ route
to Qadesh

Sutekh
Division
EGYPT
0 100 200km

Ramesses’ route to Qadesh

The Hittite attack at Qadesh (after Kitchen 1982: 52)
 Hittites and Egyptians in conflict 141

had set about looting the Egyptian camp before the victory was secured, and by the timely arrival
of reinforcements from the west, perhaps a contingent from Amurru. Early the following day,
Ramesses attacked the Hittites once more. Muwattalli’s forces held firm against the onslaught,
though they were unable to launch a successful counter-attack. The contest thus ended in a stale-
mate, with neither side emerging as its winner. In the long term, however, the Hittites could
justifiably be regarded as the victors in the contest. For they regained the disputed territories
Qadesh and Amurru, and retained them until the end of the empire.
Kitchen (1982); Spalinger (2005: 209–34).
 34
Troy

A B C D

THRACE
1
Samothrace
PROPONTIS

CHERSONESE t
on
sp
lle
He
Imbros
Granicus Zeleia •
2 t
pon Aesepus
lles
He Simois
Sigeum
• •Troy TROAD
Beşik
Bay
Scamander
Tenedos

Mt Ida
AEGEAN
3 SEA

0 25 50 km

The Troad

The site identified as Troy, setting for the Trojan War in Greek legendary tradition, is located
in north-western Anatolia, in the region of the Classical Troad. It lay on the Asian side of the
strait called the Dardanelles, Classical Hellespont, on the mound now known as Hisarlık (Turkish
‘fortress’). Settlement there extended almost without interruption from the beginning of M3
bc through much of M1 ad, as established by three main series of excavations: (1) seven cam-
paigns by Heinrich Schliemann between 1871 and 1890, followed by two further campaigns by
Schliemann’s associate Wilhelm Dörpfeld (1893 and 1894); (2) campaigns by Carl Blegen on
behalf of the University of Cincinnati, 1932 to 1938; (3) campaigns by teams from the University

142
 Troy 143

Megaron

First City Wall

Third City Wall--”Homeric” Wall

House
Second City Wall Troy I

Troy II

Troy VI
House
Troy VII

0 25 50 m
Gate

0 25 50 m

Temple of Athen
a

Temple Complex

Troy I
Troy II
Troy VI
Troy VII
Troy VIII-IX

0 25 50 m

Bouleuterion

Theatre
Troy VIII-IX

Roman
Baths

Citadel of Troy, major levels

144  The Late Bronze Age

of Tübingen, led initially by Manfred Korfmann, from 1988 onwards. By the end of his final sea-
son, Schliemann had identified nine major levels on the mound, each of which was divided into a
number of sub-levels (more than forty) with a total height of over 20 m.
The settlement reached its first peak in the Troy II period, c. 2600–2350, as reflected in the
impressive stone fortifications, the monumental ramp, and what is left of the residential architec-
ture of this period. Schliemann wrongly concluded that this was the level of Homeric Troy, the
city of King Priam. His alleged discovery in the city-wall of a large cache of objects, many made
of precious materials, reinforced his belief. After the destruction of Troy II by fire, a sequence of
three relatively undistinguished levels followed (III to V). The last of these was again destroyed by
fire, and was succeeded by the Late Bronze Age city Troy VI, extending from c. 1750/1700 to 1280,
by far the most impressive of Troy’s Bronze Age cities. Its final sub-level, VIh, is now regarded as
the most likely candidate for the city of the alleged Trojan War. In the course of his excavations,
Korfmann identified a substantial lower settlement, dating to the Late Bronze Age and now almost
entirely covered by later Roman remains. It extended to the south and east of the citadel, giving
Late Bronze Age Troy, with citadel and lower settlement combined, a total area of c. 200,000
square metres, according to Korfmann. This city, with its peripheral territories, is almost certainly
to be identified with the north-western Hittite vassal kingdom called Wilusa in Hittite texts and its
adjacent territory Taruisa. Most scholars equate Wilusa and Taruisa with Homer’s (W)Ilios and
Troia, used as alternative names for Troy in the Iliad.
Following its destruction c. 1280, by earthquake or human agency or a combination of both,
Troy VIh was succeeded by Troy VIIa (sometimes called Troy VIi), with no perceptible break in
its population or basic culture. But the citadel was now crowded with smaller, humbler structures,
indicative of significant material decline in this level, which was also destroyed by fire. Following
two further sub-levels, VIIb1 and VIIb2 (c. 1180–1110), occupation of the site appears to have
been greatly reduced, though Troy was not entirely abandoned (Troy VIIb3; c. 1110–950). It was
subsequently settled by Greeks during C8. The name Ilion, used of the settlement throughout M1
(Troy VIII), may date back to this period.
For a number of centuries Ilion
remained a relatively obscure back-
water, until it gained a new lease of
life in the Hellenistic period (late C4 –
early C1 bc), initially in fulfilment
of the wishes of Alexander the Great
who had made a pilgrimage to the
site in 334. This level was destroyed
in 85 bc by the Roman commander
Fimbria. But under Roman imperial
sponsorship, particularly that of the
emperor Augustus, Troy rose once
more, and flourished as New Ilium
(Troy IX), before it sank slowly into
obscurity in the Byzantine period.
Latacz (2004); Bryce (2006); Bryce
and Jablonka (OHBAA: 475–82,
Figure 34.1 The sloping walls of Troy VI. Photo by Trevor Bryce. 849–61); Cline (2013).
 35
Ahhiyawa

The identification of the land called Ahhiyawa in Late Bronze Age Hittite texts has been much debated
since the 1920s, when the Swiss scholar Emil Forrer equated it with the Mycenaean Greek world. Forrer
argued that Ahhiyawa was the Hittite name for the land of the Achaians, one of three names Homer
uses for the Greeks in his Iliad. (He otherwise calls them Argives and Danaans.) Though Forrer’s pro-
posal generated much scepticism among his peers (and sometimes outright rejection), most scholars
now accept the validity of it. On this basis, Ahhiyawa appears to be used in Hittite texts (a) as a general
ethno-geographical designation encompassing all areas of Mycenaean settlement, both in mainland
Greece and overseas; (b) to designate a specific Mycenaean kingdom, at least one of whose rulers cor-
responded with his Hittite counterpart; (c) to designate this kingdom in a broader sense, including the
territories attached to it as political and military dependencies. Mycenae may have been the the king-
dom in question, the nucleus of the Ahhiyawan/Mycenaean world, as suggested both by its archetypal
status in Mycenaean archaeology as well as by the pre-eminence of its legendary king Agamemnon in
the Trojan War tradition. But other possibilities, notably Thebes, have been proposed.
In the so-called Tawagalawa letter, written by a C13 Hittite king (probably Hattusili III) to a king
of Ahhiyawa, the author addresses his correspondent as ‘My Brother’, and accords him the title ‘Great
King’. This places him within the exclusive ‘club’ of the Great Kings of the Near Eastern world. The
recognition thus bestowed by the Hittite upon his Ahhiyawan ‘brother’ may have been somewhat
exaggerated, for the sake of winning his co-operation in attempting to sort out political and military
problems in western Anatolia. But it does to serve to illustrate what is evident from other Hittite texts –
that an Ahhiyawan kingdom was politically and militarily involved in Near Eastern affairs, particularly
western Anatolian affairs, during the Late Bronze Age. Its presence there is already attested in C15, and
becomes most intensive two centuries later. By the early years of C13, an Ahhiyawan king had estab-
lished sovereignty over Milawata (aka Millawanda, Classical Miletus), and thence sought to extend his
influence further afield in western Anatolia, often through the agency of anti-Hittite insurrectionists
in the region. Ahhiyawan intervention in western Anatolia clearly threatened the Hittites’ control of
their western vassal states. But the threat appears to have ended in late C13, when Ahhiyawa lost pos-
session of Milawata and ceased to have an effective presence on the Anatolian mainland. This is a likely
conclusion to be drawn from the surviving draft of a treaty drawn up between the current Hittite king
Tudhaliya IV and one of his Syrian vassals Shaushgamuwa. The treaty contains a list of the Great Kings
of the time, from which a reference originally inserted to the king of Ahhiyawa has been struck out.
Subsequently, a group called ‘Hiyawa-men’, located in the Lukka lands in south-western Anatolia, are
mentioned in two texts dating to the reign of the last Hittite king Suppiluliuma II (c. 1207–). It is possible
that ‘Hiyawa’ is an apharesized form of ‘Ahhiyawa’ (aphaeresis designates the loss of a syllable or letter at
the beginning of a word). If so, the context of these documents may indicate that the Hiyawa-men were
Mycenaean warriors preparing to enter the Hittite defence forces in southern Anatolia as mercenaries.
Beckman et al. (2011).
145
 LEMNOS •Troy
1 • Poliochni WILUSA

THESSALY SEHA
LAZPA
RIVER
(LESBOS)
LAND
146  The Late Bronze Age

Hermus
Orchomenus EUBOEA AEGEAN
• Aulis
BOEOTIA • • CHIOS
Thebes SEA ARZAWA-MIRA
2 ITHACA Maeander
Athens Apasa (Ephesus)
• •
ATTICA
OLID SAMOS

A
RG • Mycenae
•
Argos • • Tiryns
Lerna •
Milawata (Miletus)
• Iasus
MESSENIA
Pylos • • Sparta • Müskebi
LACONIA
3
LUKKA

THERA RHODES
CYTHERA

MEDITERRANEAN
Amnisus
SEA Cnossus • • •
4 Mallia • Zakro
• Phaestus
CRETE
0 100 200 km

A B C D E F

The Mycenaean (‘Ahhiyawan’) world and western Anatolia

 36
Bronze Age Cyprus

Covering an area of 9,251 km2, Cyprus is the third largest island in the Mediterranean, its most
prominent topographical features being (a) the Troodos mountain massif in the central-western
region, (b) the fertile Mesaoria plain lying to its north-east, and (c) the Kyrenia mountain range
which dominates the island’s northern littoral. Well located within the ancient international trad-
ing network which linked Egypt and the Aegean and Near Eastern worlds, Cyprus through much
of its history enjoyed close cultural and commercial ties with the civilizations of these worlds, from
the late Middle Bronze Age onwards. This is well illustrated by the large deposits of Cypriot goods
discovered in numerous overseas sites, and by the many imported products found in Cyprus. The

A B C D
Anatolia
KIZZUWADNA

LUKKA
1 TARHUNTASSA
Rhodes Ugaritic fleet despatched
Lukka pirate raids on coastal cities Possible locations of Hittite sea battles
here (early C12) with Alasiyan fleets ( late C13-C12)
(reign of pharaoh Akhenaten, mid C14)

• Ugarit
Possible route of seaborne Attested diplomatic
invaders of Alasiya (reign of links (early C12)
Ramesses III, early C12) ALASIYA
Tudhaliya IV claims
conquest (late C13) SYRIA
Mediterranean
2 Sea
Close diplomatic links
between Akhenaten and
Alasiyan king (mid C14)

PALESTINE

3 EGYPT

0 100 200 km
Memphis • Nile

Alasiya under attack

147
148  The Late Bronze Age

A B C D

Mediterranean Sea
1
Bellapais
Lapethos Makaria
• (Vounous)
• •
Kyrenia
Mountains
Morphou
• Mesaoria Plain
Deneia
• • Enkomi
• Apliki Alambra
  Marki • • •Pyla
Limni Skouriotissa 
2 Tro
od os Mountains
Mathiatis
Troulli
•Maa  • Hala Sultan Tekke
Limassol Kalavasos
Alassa Forest

• = main copper sources
•
•

•M
Py aro 0 30 60 km
rgo ni
s

Alambra: Early and Middle Bronze Age settlement and cemetery.

Alassa: Late Bronze Age settlement in the lower foothills of the Troodos Range, perhaps managing the production
and transportation of copper from the mines of the region to the coast.

Apliki: A major Late Bronze Age copper-mining and smelting centre.

Bellapais: Early and Middle Bronze Age cemetery from which 164 tomb-complexes were uncovered, containing
more than 200 burials accompanied by a wide range of tomb-gifts.

Deneia: Bronze and Iron Age site in the Ovgos valley, probably associated with agricultural and mining activities.
Extensive burial grounds have been unearthed nearby.

Enkomi: Late Bronze Age city, whose substantial wealth may have derived from its copper industry, as indicated by its many
copper-smelting installations. A large quantity of Mycenaean pottery indicates trading contacts with the Mycenaean world.

Hala Sultan Tekke: One of the largest towns in Late Bronze Age Cyprus, its wealth no doubt due to its copper-production
and craft industries in precious and semi-precious materials.

Kalavasos (Ayios Dhimitrios): Dating back to the Neolithic period, the settlement reached the peak of its development in C13
when it was almost certainly a centre for copper production and copper trading activities.

Lapethos: Bronze and Iron Age settlement which reached its peak in the Middle Bronze Age. Over 250 Early and Middle
Bronze Age burials were excavated, with substantial quantities of bronze weapons and other implements suggestive
of a large-scale local metallurgical industry.

Maa: Late C13 and C12 fortified settlement, whose excavations provide evidence for olive-oil and metallurgical
production and storage.

Makaria (Moulos): Site located on the Moulos headland of northern Cyprus. Pottery-sherds indicate settlement during
the Late Bronze Age. The settlement apparently survived until the Byzantine period, but was gradually abandoned
after the Arab invasions of 647.

Marki: Early and Middle Bronze Age settlement and cemetery complex probably built to take advantage of nearby copper
sources. Its inhabitants also engaged in agriculture and animal husbandry and the production of pottery and
textiles for local use.

Maroni: Late Bronze Age settlement in the Maroni valley, with evidence of olive oil processing, cereal grinding,
large-scale storage of staples, metalworking, weaving, and writing.

Morphou: Excavations have uncovered pottery workshops, houses, and rich chamber-tombs of Late Bronze Age date.
The settlement decreased in importance after C13, finally being abandoned c. 700 BC.

Pyla: Late C13 fortified site, identified either as one of the earliest settlements established by Aegean colonists in Cyprus,
or as a local stronghold for securing movement of goods, in particular metals, between coastal towns and the hinterland.
It was occupied for only 25-30 years.

Pyrgos: Early and Middle Bronze Age settlement containing a large Middle Bronze Age industrial and storage area,
and cemeteries of both periods.

Cyprus: main Bronze Age sites

 Bronze Age Cyprus 149

island was noted for its substantial deposits of copper ore, a principal component of the cargoes
of Late Bronze Age merchant-vessels which plied their trade through the ports of the Eastern
Mediterranean and Aegean lands. Timber also played an important role in the island’s economy,
both for local building activities as well as for export.
Cyprus is almost certainly to be identified with the land called Alasiya in Late Bronze Age
Egyptian and Hittite texts. A number of these texts make clear that the island’s excellent strategic
location made it vulnerable to attacks by pirates and other seaborne enemies. On a more peace-
ful note, letters exchanged between the pharaoh and the king of Alasiya in mid C14 (the letters
are among those found in the Amarna archive) indicate a close relationship between the two
rulers. The Cypriots had their own writing system, the so-called Cypro-Minoan script, but these
letters are written in Akkadian, the Late Bronze Age international language of diplomacy. From
them, we learn that Alasiya supplied Egypt with copper, under the guise of ‘gifts’ from its king, in
exchange for silver supplied by the pharaoh. From mid C14 until early C12, Alasiya was subject to
attacks by groups of sea raiders, as attested in Egyptian records. Also, the third-last and last kings
of the Hittite empire, Tudhaliya IV and Suppiluliuma II respectively, claimed to have conquered
the island.
Muhly (OEANE 2: 89–94); Steel (2004, OHBAA: 804–19).
 37
The Sea Peoples

A B C Black Sea D

1
•Troy • Hattusa
GREECE
E M PIR E
AR

TITE
Aegean HIT
ZAW

Sea
A

• Pylos KIZZUWADNA
LUKKA
2 Alalah •
Rhodes
ALASIYA Ugarit •
•
To Western Tell Sukas
Mediterranean CRETE
Mediterranean
Sea Ramesses III
defeats Sea Peoples’
land forces
Dor
Resettlement by Tjekker
•
Ramesses III repulses
3 LIBYA Sea Peoples’ fleet
PHILISTIA
• Resettlement by Peleset
Liby Delta Gaza
Sea Peoples’ incursions ans
dispersals of Sea Peoples EGYPT
0 150 300 km
Nile

Suggested routes of the Sea Peoples

Early in C12, large groups of peoples swept through and devastated many parts of the Near Eastern
world, from Anatolia to Cyprus and across much of Syria and Palestine, before they were finally
defeated and repelled on the Egyptian coast by Ramesses III (1184–1153). Though commonly
known as ‘Sea Peoples’, from Egyptian references to them as peoples from the sea, their invasions
clearly involved extensive operations on land as well as by sea. Some of the groups had already
attacked the Egyptian Delta in the reign of Merneptah (1213–1203). They included groups called
Sherden, Shekelesh, Ekwesh, Lukka and Teresh. But their attacks on Egypt in Merneptah’s reign
were merely a prelude to the comprehensive onslaughts on the eastern Mediterranean countries

150
 The Sea Peoples 151

Figure 37.1 Sea Peoples, Temple of Ramesses III, Medinet Habu. Photo courtesy of the Oriental Institute,
University of Chicago.
in Ramesses’ time. On the walls of his temple at Medinet Habu, Ramesses records the trail of
devastation left by these marauders. He reports that they formed a confederation consisting of
peoples called the Peleset, Tjekker, Shekelesh, Denyen and Weshesh. But their invasions were not
merely military operations. They involved large masses of people, including families and all their
portable possessions, who were seeking new lands to settle. Very likely many of them had been
displaced from their original homelands in the widespread upheavals associated with the end of
the Late Bronze Age. They were probably as much the victims as the perpetrators of these upheav-
als, being forced to take on a marauding aspect in their search for new homelands.
The historical veracity of the above account, based on Ramesses’ record, is regarded by some
scholars as highly questionable. Many scholars take the view that Ramesses’ description of the so-
called Sea Peoples’ invasions is a conflation into a single episode of a number of clashes with groups
of foreign forces, extending over many decades, at least back to the reign of Merneptah. It is sug-
gested, for example, that Ramesses was merely repeating Merneptah’s battle accounts, and claimed
earlier victories for himself (see Van De Mieroop, 2016: 208). Archaeological evidence also provides
some significant inconsistencies with the Egyptian written record. The map accompanying this sec-
tion reflects a conventional reconstruction of the movements of the ‘invaders’, and may require
considerable revision in light of ongoing research into the ethnic, political, and cultural changes that
took place in the Near Eastern and Aegean worlds during the early post-Bronze Age era.
Sandars (1985); Oren (2000); Cline (2014); Van De Mieroop (2016: 203–10).
 38
The Middle Elamite and Neo-
Elamite periods

A B C D E F
( L URISTAN)

Susa
Tigris 1
Babylon • • Kish Traditional Elamite
royal seat Chogha Pahan
Tepe •
Farukhabad • • •Deh-e-Now
• • Shushtar
Haft Tepe
BABYLONIA • • Izeh
Conquered by Shutruk- Chogha Zanbil
=Al-Untash-Napirisha formerly Malamir
Nahhunte I
C14 Elamite capital

Ur
• Euphrates ELAM 2

Tal-e Malyan •
(Anshan)

Liyan • 3

P e r sia n
Gu lf
approximate extent
of Middle Kingdom
Main Elamite Periods
Old Elamite c. 2500 - 1500
Middle Elamite c. 1500 - 1100
Neo-Elamite c. 1100 - mid. C6 4

0 200 400 km Qal‛at Bahrain

•
DILMUN

The Middle Elamite kingdom

Following the end of the sukkalmah dynasty, Elam reached a new peak in its development, in
the so-called Middle Elamite period (c. 1500–1100), during the reign of a king called Untash-
Napirisha (c. 1340–1300), whose ancestry linked him with the Kassite regime of Babylonia.
Untash-Napirisha’s reign has been referred to as an artistic golden age, one which witnessed a
cultural renaissance and religious revolution, reflected in the king’s building of a splendid new
religious centre called Al-Untash-Napirisha. The extensive remains of this complex, covering
c. 100 ha, occupy the site now known as Chogha Zanbil. Despite marriage- and blood-links between

152
 The Middle Elamite and Neo-Elamite periods 153

the Elamite and Kassite royal dynas-

ties, the kingdoms were frequently at N
fortification wall
Palace 3
war with each other. Matters came Palace 2

Temple of
to a head when the C12 Elamite the Napratep Temple of Shimut
and Ninali Royal Gate

king Shutruk-Nahhunte I invaded

Temple of Adad
and Shala

Babylonia, capturing many of its Temple of Hishmitik Temple of Pinikir

and Ruhuratir Funeral Palace
Temple of Napirisha
cities and installing one of his sons fortification wall
Temple of
Ishnikarab
Ziggurat of
Inshushinak
and Napirisha
on the throne of Babylon. A Kassite Temple of
Kiririsha
Temple of Nusku

king Enlil-nadin-ahi (c. 1157–1155) Square Temple

Square Temple
(Temple of Nabu?)

was subsequently appointed to the Siyank

uk (s
throne by the Elamites, as their acred precinct)

subject-vassal. But his reign ended

abruptly when he rebelled against
his overlords, was defeated in bat- 0 250 500 m
fortification wall

tle by them, and exiled to Susa. This

marked the end of Kassite rule in Al-Untash-Napirisha (Chogha Zanbil) (after Roaf 1996: 143)
Babylonia. But hostilities with Elam
were continued by the rulers of the
Second Dynasty of Isin (see p. 87), culminating in a major defeat of the Elamite kingdom at the
hands of Nebuchadnezzar I, fourth ruler of the dynasty. Nebuchadnezzar went on to sack Susa.

Figure 38.1 Chogha Zanbil (anc. Al-Untash-Napirisha). Photo courtesy of D.T. Potts.
154  The Late Bronze Age

Conflicts with the Mesopotamian states persisted through the following and final phase of
Elam’s existence, known as the Neo-Elamite period (c. 1100–mid C6). For most of this period,
Elam’s political and military involvement in the broader Near Eastern world was a relatively insig-
nificant one, with occasional periods of renewed vigour and a final brief resurgence of Elamite
power in late C8 and early C7, during the reigns of Shutruk-Nahhunte II (c. 716–699) and his
brother and successor Hallushu (c. 699–693). But c. 653, the Elamite king Te-Umman was killed
during a campaign into his country by the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal, and eight years later,
the Assyrians sacked the Elamite capital Susa, forcing the last known Elamite king Humban-
haltash III to flee for his life. He was subsequently captured by local tribesmen and handed over
to Ashurbanipal. Later, Elam appears among the subject states of the Persian empire listed in the
inscriptions of Darius I (522–486), which report several Elamite uprisings at the beginning of his
reign. The rebellions were crushed, effectively sealing the end of Elam as a political entity.
A corpus of ‘Middle Elamite’ documents, dating to C13 and C12, includes votive texts, best
represented by the hundreds inscribed on mud bricks, and a small number of administrative texts.
The former reflect a large number of construction projects in this period. ‘Late Elamite’ inscrip-
tions, dating to the reigns of Shutruk-Nahhunte II and Hallushu, belong to the final florescence of
the Elamite kingdom and are the most varied in content of all Elamite texts. They include votive
texts, inscriptions carved on rock surfaces, business contracts, a small number of letters, and a
couple of literary texts. The Elamite language survived through the period of the Persian empire
(559–330), when Persian kings used it in their monumental inscriptions – notably Darius I, whose
famous trilingual inscription at Bisitun was written in Old Persian, Babylonian and Elamite – and
as a chancery language in administrative documents. But it probably rapidly died out as a spoken
language, along with all other traces of the Elamite civilization, except for a few references in
documents of the Hellenistic period.
Potts (1999: 188–308, OHIH: 37–56); Henrickson (OEANE 2: 232–5); PPAWA (221–4);
Álvarez-Mon (AANE: 750–6); Van De Mieroop (2016: 195–200).
 Part VI

The Iron Age

This Page is Intentionally Left Blank
 39
The age of iron

The period now commonly referred to as the Iron Age followed the collapse of the Late Bronze
Age civilizations and the political and social upheavals that accompanied it. Scholars differ on the
dates they assign to the Iron Age, but as a rough guide, the period covered will here be dated from
late C12 to the end of C7 bc, when the Neo-Assyrian empire fell. During this and later periods,
iron was widely used in the manufacture of tools, weapons and other artefacts (though bronze
continued in use as well). The period also saw major changes in the geopolitical character of many
parts of the Near Eastern world, with the development of a number of new cities and kingdoms,
like the so-called Neo-Hittite kingdoms, and the appearance of new population groups, or the
reappearance of existing population groups of the region under a hitherto unattested name, most
notably the Aramaeans. A number of cities with a Bronze Age pedigree rose again in the new age,
like Sidon, Tyre, Byblos and Dor, some becoming major political and commercial centres. All
these states and cities had the good fortune of being able to develop free from interference by any
major power seeking to impose its dominance over them – until the early decades of C9, when
Assyria once more set its sights on conquests west of the Euphrates.

The Aramaeans
The Aramaeans, large population groups first attested in our Iron Age sources, spread widely
through the Near Eastern world, particularly Syria and Mesopotamia, and spoke a West Semitic
language called Aramaic. They were once thought to have been tribal pastoral peoples who immi-
grated into Syria and northern Mesopotamia, perhaps from the fringes of the Syrian Desert. But
many scholars now believe that they were descendants of the West Semitic populations, like the
Amorites, who already occupied parts of Syria in M2. The earliest references we have to them
occur in texts of the Assyrian king Tiglath-pileser I (1114–1076), who claims to have conducted
twenty-eight campaigns across the Euphrates against them and an associated tribal people called
the Ahlamu. Though they may originally have been predatory nomadic or semi-nomadic desert-
dwellers, many of the Aramaean groups had by the end of M2 adopted a more settled way of life.
This led to the emergence of a number of Aramaean states, particularly in areas of Mesopotamia,
Syria and eastern Anatolia. Some of the more important Aramaean states were Bit-Zamani, Bit-
Bahiani, Bit-Adini, Bit-Agusi, Aram-Damascus and Sam’al. The prefix ‘Bit’ (‘House (of)’) reflects
the likely tribal origins of these states.
Eventually, all the Aramaean states became subject territories of the Neo-Assyrian empire. They
never established any kind of political federation, but some of them from time to time formed
military alliances in partnership with other states, including the Neo-Hittite kingdoms, with the
objective of breaking free from their Assyrian overlordship. Though this they failed to achieve,

157
 A B C D E F
Elbistan (Karahöyük) •
MALATYA
TUWANA
Maraş
(Marqas) KUMMUH 1
• • Lidar
• Zeyve BIT-ZAMANI
GURGUM
158  The Iron Age

ns
Karatepe •
(Azatiwataya) • Sakçagözü

ntai
• • Paqarhubunu
Adana Zincirli

Mou
• Carchemish BIT-

us
QUE SAM’AL CARCH- • • Arslan Taş Halaf •
(Guzana)
BAHIANI

man
EMISH • (Hadatu)

A
İskenderun •
Rifa’at Masuwari
Arsuz • ‘Ain Dara • (Arpad?)
PATIN •
BIT-AGUSI BIT-ADINI 2
(UNQI) • Tayinat Aleppo • (ARPAD)
• Habur
Sefire
Euphrates
• Afis
• Mastuma
Orontes
LUASH BIT-
• Qarqur (Qarqar?) HALUPE
H A M AT H LAQE
Hamath City •

Arwad • AMURRU • Qatna 3

HINDANU
Qadesh • • Tadmor

HU
• SOBA SU
Byblos

IA
Beirut •

QA
ARAM

IC
BI

N
Sidon •

OE
• Damascus
4

PH
Tyre • • Dan
NEO-HITTITE STATE
0 100 200 km
ARAMAEAN STATE

The Iron Age kingdoms of northern Syria and south-eastern Anatolia

 The age of iron 159

they nonetheless enjoyed a relatively prosperous existence as Assyrian tributaries and subjects,
provided they paid their overlord his dues. Even so, resistance movements continued in many of
them. But their uprisings were ruthlessly put down. By the end of C8, all had been dismantled and
destroyed by their Assyrian conquerors. Their territories were absorbed within the Assyrian pro-
vincial administration, and a large proportion of their inhabitants were deported, for resettlement
elsewhere in the Assyrian realm.
The Aramaeans were thus widely dispersed throughout the regions where Assyria held sway,
as far east as the lands beyond the Tigris. An important consequence of this dispersal was that it
contributed substantially to the expansion of Aramaean influence in the Near East. By this pro-
cess, Aramaic, written in an alphabetic script taken over from the Phoenicians, replaced Akkadian
as the international language of diplomacy in the Near Eastern world.
Dion (CANE 2: 1281–94); Lipiński (2000).

Damascus

Occupation of the site of Damascus dates back at least to the Middle Bronze Age, but the city is first
attested in written records among the principalities captured by the pharaoh Tuthmosis III at the battle
of Megiddo in 1479. It remained under Egyptian control for the rest of the Late Bronze Age. Letters from
the mid C14 Amarna archive indicate its involvement in the disputes and conflicts among Egypt’s Syrian
and Palestinian vassals during Akhenaten’s reign.
Probably in C10 bc, Damascus became the capital of one of the most important Aramaean states
in the Levant, called Aram or Aram-Damascus. Biblical sources report a number of conflicts in which it
engaged with the Israelites from C10 onwards. In 853, and on several later occasions, it played a leading
role in the anti-Assyrian coalition that confronted the forces of the Assyrian king Shalmaneser III at the
battle of Qarqar on the Orontes. Shalmaneser finally crushed the allied forces in 845. But Damascus sub-
sequently rallied, and despite further Assyrian campaigns against it, retained its independence, build-
ing under its king Hazael (mid C9–803?) a ‘mini-empire’ which incorporated large parts of Palestine,
Israel and Philistia. Its conflicts with Assyria continued, however, through the reigns of a succession of
Damascene and Assyrian kings until it was incorporated into the Assyrian provincial system by Tiglath-
pileser III (c. 732 bc).
Because of its valuable strategic location on the major trade-routes of the region, Damascus played
an important role in the commercial activities of the Levant through the Assyrian, Babylonian and
Persian Achaemenid periods. Under Achaemenid rule it probably became the capital of the satrapy of
Syria (called Ebirnari in Babylonian, or ‘Abr Nahra in Aramaic, meaning ‘(the satrapy) beyond the river
(Euphrates)’), and headquarters of the Persian forces in Syria. After Alexander’s conquests of the region
in 333, Damascus enjoyed a new lease of life as the site of a Macedonian colony. It later became part
of the Seleucid empire until captured and briefly held by the Nabataeans early in C1 bc. It was subse-
quently annexed to Rome by Pompey the Great in 64 bc.
Lipiński (2000: 347–407); Burns (2009: 94–140).
 40
The Neo-Hittite kingdoms

In the early Iron Age, a number of kingdoms emerged or developed afresh in south-eastern Anatolia
and northern Syria following the collapse of the Hittite empire. They are commonly referred to as
the Neo-Hittite kingdoms, since they preserved a number of Hittite cultural traditions, including
elements of Hittite religion, architecture and iconography. Most notably, the rulers of the Neo-
Hittite states, and elite members of their administrations, used the Luwian hieroglyphic script and
language for the records they inscribed on public monuments. These were dedicatory or com-
memorative in nature, and sometimes contained an outline of their author’s building and military
achievements. A small group of economic texts and letters written in Luwian hieroglyphs on lead
strips have also come to light. The former were found at the site now called Kululu, just south of
the Halys r., the latter in the Assyrian city Ashur (their original provenance is unknown). Luwian
had become the most widely spoken language of the Hittite empire, and in the empire’s final cen-
tury was regularly used by Hittite kings for recording their achievements on public monuments.
Its status as the language of royalty was preserved in the Neo-Hittite kingdoms. Many of the rulers
of these kingdoms bore the names of Late Bronze Age Hittite kings, like Suppiluliuma, Muwattalli
and Hattusili.
The most prominent of the Neo-Hittite states was Carchemish, located on the west bank of
the Euphrates and formerly a viceregal centre of the Hittite empire. It appears to have been unaf-
fected by the catastrophes that afflicted most of the other centres of Late Bronze Age civilization,
and after the fall of the Hittite empire may for a time have exercised some form of hegemony
over the empire’s south-eastern remnants. Its first Neo-Hittite king Kuzi-Teshub, son of the last
known Hittite imperial viceroy, appears to have assumed the title ‘Great King’, after the royal
line at Hattusa had ended. Other Neo-Hittite kingdoms that emerged in C12, or later, included
(a) Malatya (Assyrian Melid) and Kummuh which lay north of Carchemish, (b) Gurgum in the
Anti-Taurus region, (c) Walistin (formerly Palistin) (Assyrian Pat(t)in, Unqi) and Hamath in
western Syria, (d) Masuwari (Assyrian Til Barsip) on the east bank of the Euphrates, (e) the king-
doms of Tabal which lay south of the Halys r., and (f) Hilakku and Adanawa (Hiyawa, Assyrian
Que) in the region of later Cilicia on the eastern Mediterranean coast.
The name Hatti was also preserved in Iron Age Assyrian, Hebrew and Urartian texts. It seems
to have been confined largely to northern Syria in these texts, covering the territories of many of
the Neo-Hittite kingdoms, but also several Aramaean states located west of the Euphrates, most
notably Bit-Agusi and Sam’al. Some scholars believe that the Neo-Hittite states evolved from refu-
gee populations who fled western and central Anatolia during the early C12 upheavals, seeking
new lands to settle in the south-east. It is possible that the peoples of the Neo-Hittite kingdoms
contained Anatolian refugee components. But many of the inhabitants of these kingdoms may

160
 A B C D E F
Sultanhan   Kululu
Karaburun
  Şirzi
 Kültepe
Salt Kızıl Irmak Erkilet 
Lake   Kayseri  Gürün
Bohça  Eğrek
1 Suvasa   Topada  Hisarcık Darende
 Palanga   Ispekçür
Tekirdebent Izoğlu
Arslantaş    Kötükale 
Acem  Burunkaya 
Höyük •  Malatya • Arslantepe
Aksaray Kurubel  (Melid)
Karahöyük
Fraktin  
TA B A L Taşç Izgin 
ME L I D
 Veliisa
Keşlik   Andaval
Yayla  Niğde Seyhan
Emirgazi * 
Bor Ceyhan

TU WA NA • Golbaşi
Aksu K UMMUH Ancoz 
Kürtül 
 Maraş Samsat 
2  Ereğli (Marqas) Malpınar   Lidar
 Kızıldağ Pazarcık Höyük
 Bulgarmaden
 Karadağ  Ivriz
Karatepe
Cilician Gates (Azatiwatiya)   Domuztepe GU R GU M
Ceyhan Karaburçlu   Sakça Gözü
 (Lutibu?)
Zincirli • Gaziantep
 Adana  Sirkeli Arslan Taş

s
Tarsus Korkün  Kelekli  (Hadatu)
•

ain
SAM’AL Tilsevet 
Mersin • Jerablus 

unt
Göksu Tünp   (Carchemish)
QUE

Mo
Asmacık  

s
Cekke
İskenderun Azaz   Tell Ahmar

anu
HI LA K KU Kilise • (Hazazu) (Masuwari
 Tell Rifaat

Am
• Tepe Ain Dara 
Til-Barsip)
Arsuz • (Arpad?)
3 Euphrates
Gülnar • Silifke •
Meydancık • PATI N BIT AGU SI
 Tell Tayinat
(UNQI) (Kinalua)  Aleppo
Black Sea Afis   Sefire
LUASH
Kızıl Irmak
Original locations of monuments, inscriptions:
ANATOLIA Orontes  Luwian (Neo-Hittite)
Salt  Aramaic
Lake
 Luwian and Aramaic
Euphrates
HAMATH  Luwian-Phoenician bilingual
4  Assyrian
Jebel Ansariyah

 Late Bronze Age Luwian

 Sheizar-Meharde
Orontes Place-names:
Mediterranean SY RIA Hama  unbracketed = modern name
Sea bracketed = ancient name
CYPRUS  Restan underlined = archaeological sites
0 300 600 km 0 50 100 km
• Homs
The Neo-Hittite kingdoms 161

The region of the Neo-Hittite states

162  The Iron Age

have been descendants of already established population groups rather than new immigrants from
devastated homelands in the west. That of course leaves open the question of why the Luwian
language and hieroglyphic script were adopted by the administrative elites of these kingdoms,
and raises the possibility that they may have had connections of one kind or another with the old
Hittite ruling class.
During C9, the Neo-Hittite kingdoms along with other cities, tribal states and kingdoms west
of the Euphrates, became tributaries of Assyria. Though many sought to break free from Assyrian
overlordship, sometimes forming military coalitions with other local states for this purpose,
none succeeded. And in the last half of C8, from the reign of the Assyrian king Tiglath-pileser
III onwards, the Neo-Hittite states progressively lost their local-kingdom status, and effectively
their identity, as they were absorbed into the Assyrian provincial administration. The last of the
kingdoms fell to the Assyrian Sargon II between 717 and 708, though rulers in Tabal and Melid
regained their independence for a time in the following century.
Bryce (2012).
 41
Tabal, Hilakku and Que
(Adanawa/Hiyawa)

Tabal
In the early Iron Age, the region called Tabal in Neo-Assyrian texts was occupied by a number of
mainly small independent kingdoms. The Assyrian king Shalmaneser III claims to have received
gifts from twenty (or twenty-four) of their rulers during his expedition to their lands c. 837 bc.
A century later, five kings from the region were listed among the tributaries of Tiglath-pileser
III: Wassurme (Luwian Wasusarmas), Ushhiti, Urballa (Luwian Warpalawas), Tuhamme and
Uirime. They were the rulers, respectively, of the kingdoms of Tabal, Atuna, Tuwana (Assyrian
Tuhana), Ishtuanda and Hupishna. In a broad sense, the Assyrians may have applied the term
Tabal to all the kingdoms that lay within these territories. But in a specific political sense, the
term appears to have been used, prior to the reign of Sargon II, exclusively of the northernmost
of these kingdoms, over which Wasusarmas had held sway. His was almost certainly the largest of
the Tabalic kingdoms, and probably incorporated a number of the small principalities to which
Shalmaneser had referred. Its capital may have been located on the site of modern Kululu, which
lies 30 km north-east of Kayseri. Tiglath-pileser’s second successor, Sargon II, claims to have
‘widened the land’ of Tabal, expanding it, probably, to the northern border of Hilakku (see below).
The enlarged kingdom was now called Bit-Burutash. Later in Sargon’s reign, c. 713, Bit-Burutash
along with Hilakku were placed under an Assyrian governor – the first clear indication we have of
direct Assyrian rule being imposed in this region. But Assyrian sovereignty was shortlived, almost
certainly coming to an end in 705 when Sargon undertook an expedition to the region, and was
probably killed there, perhaps while fighting the Cimmerians.

Hilakku
The kingdom of Hilakku, attested in Neo-Assyrian sources, extended over much of the territory
of Classical Cilicia Tracheia/Aspera (‘Rough Cilicia’). Along with its eastern neighbour Que, it
constantly resisted attempts by Assyrian kings to impose their sovereignty upon it. In 858, both
kingdoms sent contingents to join an alliance of northern Syrian states against Shalmaneser III.
They were eventually absorbed into the Assyrian provincial system in the reign of Shalmaneser V
(726–722) or his successor Sargon II. But the spirit of rebellion remained strong within them, flar-
ing afresh after Sargon’s death. Hilakku repeatedly resisted Assyrian attempts to dominate it, and
although Esarhaddon, Sargon’s second successor, claimed to have subdued its rebellious popu-
lation, the land had regained its freedom by the reign of Esarhaddon’s successor Ashurbanipal
(668–630/27). In Neo-Babylonian texts, the kingdom called Pirindu can be equated largely, if not

163
164  The Iron Age

A B C D
Black
Sea
1 PAPHLAGONIA

Halys
PHRYGIANS

3 Salt •1
Lake •2
ATUNA •4 •3
•5
• 6 ISHTUANDA?
SHINUHTU Assyrian campaigns
by Shalmaneser III,
Sargon II, Esarhaddon
•10
•8 •7
4 •9 TUWANA
HUPISHNA Tabal region in
broadest sense
QUE* Modern names of
(CLASSICAL CILICIA) numbered sites:
1. Kululu
2. Sultanhan
5 3. Kayseri
Mediterranean 4. Bohça
Sea 5. Topada
6. Aksaray
7. Niğde
8. Kemerhisar
9. Ereğli
CYPRUS 10. Kzldağ
6
* Assyrian name;
= ADANAWA HIYAWA
0 50 100 km in Luwian inscriptions;
Babylonian Hume

The kingdoms of Tabal, Hilakku and Que

 Tabal, Hilakku and Que 165

entirely, with the former Hilakku. These texts too indicate ongoing rebellions by the rulers of the
land against their foreign overlords.

Que
Que, the Assyrian name for the kingdom known as Adanawa and Hiyawa in Luwian texts,
extended over much of the Cilician plain and (originally) the mountainous region to the north-
east of it. We have noted its participation in an anti-Assyrian alliance which fought Shalmaneser
III in 853. The alliance was defeated, but Que escaped retaliation until 839, when Shalmaneser
conducted an expedition into it and captured a number of its cities. In 833, 832 and 831, he
led further expeditions into the land, the third of which was followed by a temporary end to
Assyrian military enterprises in Anatolia. Around 800, Que joined other states in another anti-
Assyrian uprising, but Assyrian control of it had been firmly restored by the last decades of C8.
In Esarhaddon’s reign (680–669) it became an Assyrian province. In the following century, the
Babylonians undertook several expeditions into the land, which they called Hume, and which
the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II (604–562) claimed amongst his Anatolian conquests.
Bryce (2012: 141–62).
 42
The Neo-Assyrian empire

Ashur-dan II (934–912) is generally regarded as the founder of the Neo-Assyrian kingdom.

With his reign began the final, the most illustrious and the most bloodthirsty phase in Assyria’s
history. His programme of renewed imperial expansion was enthusiastically embraced by his
son Adad-nirari II (911–891), whose campaigns in Babylonia and against the Aramaeans in the
Tigris Valley laid the foundations for further military enterprises abroad. Expansion westwards
across the Euphrates through Syria and Palestine to the Mediterranean coast was undertaken
by Adad-nirari’s grandson Ashurnasirpal II (883–859), and subsequently on a much more com-
prehensive scale by Ashurnasirpal’s son and successor Shalmaneser III (858–824). Assyrian
kings also conducted numerous campaigns to the north, east and south-east of their homeland,
against both rebellious subject states and foreign powers, the latter including Babylonia, Elam
and the territorially aggressive kingdom
of Urartu.
In 745, the seizure of the throne by
a usurper Tiglath-pileser III (745–727)
marked the beginning of a vigorous new
stage in the kingdom’s development. One
of the main features of Tiglath-pileser’s
reign was his programme of territo-
rial absorption, which imposed direct
Assyrian rule over many of the tributary
states in the regions where he campaigned.
The former semi-autonomous cities
and states were incorporated within the
Assyrian provincial administration and
placed under the authority of Assyrian
governors. Often, their populations were
deported and resettled in distant parts
of the Assyrian realm, to be replaced by
settlers brought from other parts of it.
Tiglath-pileser’s policies were vigorously
pursued by the king’s second successor
Figure 42.1 Tiglath-pileser III, from Nimrud. Picture from
History/Bridgeman Images.
Sargon II (721–705), who incorporated

166
 A B C D E F

Kızıl Irmak
ANATOLIA Salt KASKA?
Lake

T A B A L Amidu •
NAIRI
URARTU
2
Harran
HILAKKU QUE Carchemish • • • KADMUHU
• Halaf
Arpad •Til Barsip (Guzana) • Dur-Sharrukin
•
Habur Nineveh • Imgur-Enlil MANNAEA
Nimrud • ALLABRIA ZAMUA
• Qarqar • Dur-
Katlimmu •
LAQE Ashur • Kar-Tukulti-Ninurta
• Hamath MED IA
CYPRUS PARSUA •
Euphrates Ecbatana
NAMRI
Byblos •

IA
HARHAR 3
M E DITE RRA NE A N ELLIPI

E NIC
SEA Sidon •
• Damascus
Tyre • • Dur-Kurigalzu

P HO
Tigris
• Babylon

EL
• Samaria Borsippa • • Susa
Dilbat •
SYR IAN

ISRA
Jerusalem
• D ESERT ELAM
AMMON
JUDAH
EDOM
4
= maximum extent of Assyrian-conquered territory
EGYPT
SINAI 0 300 600 km
Nile Persian
Gulf
The Neo-Assyrian empire 167

The Neo-Assyrian world

168  The Iron Age

A B C D

Kızıl Irmak
A N ATO L I A Salt
Lake
TA BAL
U

• Carchemish

Orontes Nineveh
• Qarqar ASSYRI
Ashur
CYPRUS
Euphrates

S Y RI A
Me d i t e r r a n e a n
Se a
SYRI AN
• Jerusalem
DESERT

Neo-Assyrian Kings
Nile
Ashur-dan II 934–912 Tiglath-pileser III 745–727
Adad-nirari II 911–891 Shalmaneser V 726–722
Tukulti-Ninurta II 890–884 Sargon II 721–705
EG YPT Ashurnasirpal II 883–859 Sennacherib 704–681
Shalmaneser III 858–824 Esarhaddon 680–669
Shamshi-Adad V 823–811 Ashurbanipal 668–630/27
Adad-nirari III 810–783 Ahir-etil-ilani 630/27–625
Shalmaneser IV 782–773 Sin-shum-lishir 626–5
Ashur-dan III 772–755 Sin-shar-ishkun 624–612
Ashur-nirari V 752–746 Ashur-uballit II 612–610

Re d
• Thebes Sea

The Neo-Assyrian empire: main stages in its development (after Van De Mieroop, GEAW: 73)
 The Neo-Assyrian empire 169

D E F

Lake Ca s p i a n 1
Van Sea
URARTU
Lake
Urmia
sh
Nineveh • •
Kalhu
ASSYRIA
Ashur •
2
Euphrates

ZAGROS
MOUNTAINS
Tigris
AN • Babylon

RT ELAM
BABYLONIA
3

Persian
Empire at end of Gulf
Ashurnasirpal II’s reign
Annexations by
Tiglath-pileser III
Annexations by Sargon II
4
7th-century Assyrian conquests

0 300 600 km
170  The Iron Age

the remaining western tributaries into

N Halahhu Gate the provincial system. Other features
moat
of Sargon’s career include his decisive
Adad Gate
victory over the Urartian king Rusa I
Shibaniba during his invasion of Urartian terri-
Nergal Gate Gate
tory in 714, and his unexpected peace
Sin Gate accord with another of his arch-
Palace of enemies, the Phrygian king Mita
Mushlalu
Nabu
temple
Ashurbanipal
Gate (Greek Midas). Sargon’s son and suc-
cessor Sennacherib (704–681) also
Gate of the
Watering Khosr campaigned widely throughout the
Palaces Kar-Mulissi
Gate Near Eastern lands, particularly in the
Palace of
Ishtar temple
Zagros mountain region and other
Sennacherib
Quay Gate parts of Iran, in Syria and Palestine
Sibitti altar in the west, and in Babylonia in the
Desert Gate temple
Shamash
Gate south. His own son and successor
Arsenal Gate Arsenal of
Esarhaddon (680–669) added further
Esarhaddon to the lands subject to the Assyrian
crown by extending Assyrian sov-
Tigris Halzi Gate ereignty to Egypt. But it was under
Handuri Esarhaddon’s son Ashurbanipal
Gate
Ashur (668–630/27) that the Neo-Assyrian
Gate
empire reached its greatest territorial
0 500 1000 m moat
limits. It now extended from Elam in
the east to central-southern Anatolia
in the west, and from the upper
Nineveh (after Roaf 1996: 186) Euphrates in the north to Egypt in the
south-west.
This proved too much. By now the empire had grown beyond the capacity of its rulers to
administer and defend it. In the reigns of the last Assyrian kings, and already in Ashurbanipal’s
reign, its existence was threatened by an ever-increasing array of external enemies and by widen-
ing political unrest within the homeland. The empire fell finally to a coalition of Babylonians and
Medes, following a Median invasion of Assyria in 615, and in 612 the capture and destruction by
Babylonian and Median forces of Assyria’s administrative capital Nineveh. By year’s end, all the
chief cities of the Assyrian homeland had been destroyed. The last remaining Assyrian stronghold,
Harran in north-western Mesopotamia, fell to the Babylonian and Median armies in 610.
Grayson (CANE 2: 959–68); Van De Mieroop (GEAW: 70–97); Pedde and Parker (AANE: 851–76);
Radner (2015).

Note: The outer limits of the shaded area on the map on p. 167 include territories through which
Assyrian armies may have campaigned without imposing lasting authority over them. But these
limits are conjectural. The shaded areas on the map on pp. 168–9 include areas where Assyrian
authority was imposed, often in the wake of military conquest.
 The Neo-Assyrian empire 171

Battle of Qarqar (853)

A B C D E F
Harran
Carchemish • • Gozan • Tigris
•Til-Barsip (Tell Halaf)
PATIN Nineveh 1
(UNQI) Aleppo •
•BIT-AGUSI BIT-ADINI
•
Mediterranean Nimrud
Habur (Kalhu)
Sea Qarqar
Ashur •
HAMATH Hamath City
• (ruler Urhilina)
KINGDOM
Arwad • 2

Irqata •• Orontes
• Tadmor Euphrates
Siyannu
Byblos •
ARAM
A

•
CI

Sidon
NI

• Damascus 3
OE

Tyre • (ruler Hadadezer)

PH

1000-strong
contingent
from Egypt
SY R IAN
• Samaria DESERT
Shalmaneser’s route to battle
• Rabath-Ammon
Jerusalem •
allied states’ routes to battle
alliance leaders 4
•
battle site
0 150 300 km
1000 camels
from Arabia

Routes leading to Qarqar

Qarqar lay on the Orontes river within the kingdom of Hamath. In 853, it was the site of a battle fought
between Shalmaneser III and a coalition of anti-Assyrian states. Shalmaneser claims that an alliance of
twelve kings had been formed against him, in which the Hamathite king Urhilina (Assyrian Irhuleni)
played a leading role. Other coalition leaders included Hadad-ezer (Adad-idri), king of Damascus, and
Ahab, king of Israel. Though Shalmaneser claimed victory in the battle, capturing and destroying Qarqar
itself, the outcome of the conflict seems to have been inconclusive, for in later years (849, 848, 845), the
king was forced to engage in further conflicts with the same alliance.
Excavations carried out at Tell Qarqur in the Orontes valley indicate that a significant Iron Age site
was located there. It may be the historically attested Qarqar, but a firm identification has yet to be
established.
PPAWA (576).
 43
The Phoenicians

Phoenicia was the Classical name for a region in the Levant whose cities flourished in the Iron Age
and later centuries of M1 bc. It extended from the coast inland to the Jebel Ansariyah and Lebanon
ranges, and through the coastal regions to the south as far as the northern part of modern Israel.
Derived from the Greek word phoinix, ‘crimson-red’ or ‘purple’, its name may have been prompted
by the Phoenicians’ copper-coloured hair and skin; more likely, it arose from the famous purple
dye extracted from the murex shellfish found off the region’s coast. In any case, ‘Phoenicia’ was not
a native name. If the ‘Phoenicians’ ever thought of themselves as having a common identity, they
would probably have called themselves Canaanites, after their Bronze Age ancestors in the region.
Their language was in fact a later version of Canaanite. Phoenicia was never united politically, but
consisted of a number of independent city-states, the most prominent of which were Sidon, Tyre
and Byblos. And like their Bronze Age predecessors, these small principalities came under the sway
of the successive great powers of their period – Assyria, Babylonia, Persia and Macedon.
The Phoenician cities were highly prosperous for most of their existence – and thus a valuable
source of revenue to their overlords, due mainly to their international mercantile operations. Timber
and the extremely valuable purple dye were among their most important products, along with a
range of high-quality manufactured goods fashioned from ivory, wood, stone, metal, wool and
linen. These products were exported to many overseas destinations by Phoenician merchantmen,
who brought back in exchange a wide assortment of exotic items, including ivory, ebony, precious
stones, spices, aromatic substances, gold and silver, and various commodity metals. Their trading
expeditions in search of these products, especially silver which was widely used as a medium of
exchange, took them far into the western world, to western Italy, western Sicily, Sardinia, southern
Spain and the coast of Africa. From C8 onwards, they established a number of settlements in the
western Mediterranean, to develop and extend their commercial enterprises. Mostly, these settle-
ments were temporary encampments, promptly abandoned once the local resources they were set
up to exploit were exhausted. But some settlements, in Spain, Sicily and north Africa, became per-
manent Phoenician colonies. Carthage in Tunisia was the most successful of the Phoenician colonial
enterprises. Founded in late C9 by settlers from Tyre (according to tradition), it became one of the
great political, commercial and military powers of the western world.
The Phoenician language, like its Canaanite precedessor, is a Semitic tongue, known to us from
c. 6,000 inscriptions (mainly commemorative, votive, and funerary ones, which are of very limited
historical value), scattered throughout the lands where the Phoenicians had trading contacts and
established settlements, as far west as Spain and Tunisia. These inscriptions are written in what
is commonly called an alphabetic script, consisting of twenty-two symbols. The script was trans-
mitted to the Greek world, perhaps by merchant-travellers, and became the basis of the Greek
alphabet – and thus the ancestor of alphabets widely used throughout the world today.
Lipiński (CANE 2: 1321–33); Markoe (2000).
172
 The Phoenicians 173

A B C D

Tell Sukas •
CYPRUS
1 Baniyas •
Hamath •
HAMATH
Arwad • • Antaradus
• Simyra
(Tell Kazel)
Ullasa • • Tell Arqa Orontes
Mediterranean Tripolis •
• Ardata
2
Sea
Batrun •
LEBANON
Byblos • Anti-Lebanon
Biqa Mountains
Valley

A
Beirut
• ARAM-
CI ZOBAH
NI
3 Sidon • • Kamid el-Loz
OE

Sarepta • Damascus •
PH

ARAM-
Tyre • • Dan DAMASCUS
Achziv • Hazor•
Akko •
Tell Abu Hawam •
• Tell Sea of
4 Keisan
Galilee
• Atlit Jezreel
Dor • Valley
•
Megiddo GILEAD
ISRAEL
Jordan

5
AMMON
Jerusalem
PHILISTIA • Ashdod •
• Ashkelon
JUDAH
• Gaza Dead
Sea
MOAB
6
Negev
Desert
0 50 100 km
EDOM

Phoenicia and its neighbours

174  The Iron Age

• Ras al-Basit

CYPRUS
• Orontes
Lapethos  Tell Sukas
• Salamis
   Golgoi Hama •
Marion Tamassus  
Citium Arvad  Amrit

(Lamaca) 
Curium • Simurru
Idalium

 Byblos

Mediterranean Sea  Khalde

(Beirut)
Sidon 
 Sarepta
Tyre  Ushu
Achzib •
0 80 160 km Acco •

Dor • •Megiddo

CORSICA
ITA
LY
IBERIA
SARDINIA
Carloforte 
• Ibiza MAJORCA 
Nora
Carmona Motya Palermo

(Seville)  
Solunto
•
Utica  Cossyra SICILY
Gades • • Hippo  Carthage 
Sexi
(Cadiz) Lampedusa Gozo
Malta
Hadrumetum  
Lixus • (Sousse)

Leptis Mag


• Mogador

A B C D
Phoenician colonizing and commercial enterprises abroad (after Roaf 1996: 176–7)
 The Phoenicians 175

2
Black Sea

ITA
LY Thasos 
SARDINIA
GREECE ANATOLIA
ora
Motya Palermo

 
Solunto
a  Cossyra SICILY Melos
3
  
age
Gozo   Thera
Lampedusa Malta Kythera
tum  
sse) 
Itanos
CRETE
Mediterranean Sea
Leptis Magna


Naucratis •
LIBYA Memphis 

 attested Phoenician settlement EGYPT 4

area of Phoenician settlement
area of Greek settlement
0 400 800 km

D E F
 44
The Iron Age countries and
kingdoms of Transjordan

Transjordan is a modern name which in its literal sense applies to the region referred to in biblical
texts as ‘beyond the Jordan river’, reflecting the perspective of those peoples who lived between
the river and the Mediterranean. However, the term is generally used in a broader sense to encom-
pass the lands located on the high plateau both east of the river and further south to the head of
the Gulf of ‘Aqaba, covering the territory of today’s Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. A number of
small tribal states and kingdoms arose in this region during the Iron Age, as attested in both bibli-
cal sources and contemporary historical texts.
The northernmost of these was the mountain land of Gilead. Occupying a strategically impor-
tant position on the King’s Highway, which linked Damascus with the Gulf of ‘Aqaba, Gilead
came under Israelite control during the Israelites’ conquest of the region, according to biblical
tradition, and remained subject to Israel until it fell to the Assyrian king Tiglath-pileser III c. 732.
At that time, many of its inhabitants were deported to Assyria. Gilead became a separate province
under Persian rule (C6–4). In the Hellenistic period, the region was called Galaaditis.
The Iron Age kingdom Ammon lay south of Gilead, to the north-east of the Dead Sea. Its
chief city Rabbath-Ammon occupied the site of the modern Jordanian capital Amman. Arising
from a number of settlements that first appeared towards the end of the Late Bronze Age, the
kingdom reached its full development between C8 and C6. This is illustrated by the remains of
Rabbath-Ammon’s once impressive acropolis and lower city, and the nearby walled settlements of
Tell el Umeiri and Hesban. The Ammonites appear frequently in Old Testament sources, as both
enemies and subjects of the Israelites. And from Neo-Assyrian records, we know the names of a
number of their kings, one of whom, Ba’asa, participated in the coalition of Syro-Palestinian states
that confronted the army of Shalmaneser III at Qarqar in 853. Like other members of the defeated
coalition, Ammon was subject to Assyria for much of the Neo-Assyrian period. Subsequently, in
C6, it was a vassal of the Neo-Babylonian empire. It retained a reasonably high degree of auton-
omy during this period under its own kings. But when Babylon fell to the Persians in 539, the
kingdom came to an end, and its territory and cities were absorbed into the Persian provincial
administrative system.
The kingdom of Moab lay on the plateau east of the Dead Sea between Ammon and Edom.
Biblical tradition makes Abraham’s nephew Lot the ancestor of the Moabite people. But the first
historical reference we have to the land dates to the reign of the pharaoh Ramesses II (1279–1213)
who conducted campaigns in both Moab and Edom. These campaigns belong to the last century
of the Late Bronze Age. From the end of this era onwards, there appears to have been a marked
increase in the number of settlements in Moab, hitherto only sparsely populated. But an actual
kingdom of Moab may not have been established until late M2 or early M1. Old Testament tra-
dition reports that Moab was conquered in early C10 by the Israelite king David, after its earlier

176
 Countries and kingdoms of Transjordan 177

A B C D
• Sidon ARAM-ZOBAH
Damascus •
1

A
CI
Tyre •

NI
• Dan

OE
ARAM-DAMASCUS

PH
Mediterranean
2 Sea Akko •
Sea of
Kinnereth
GESHUR
(Galilee) Yarmuk

• Megiddo
Ramoth in Gilead
Beth Shan • •
n
Plai

3 ISRAEL Jordan GILEAD

ron

Shechem
Sha

• Jabbok
Samarian
Jaffa • Hills
AMMON
•
Rabbath-Ammon
4 • Gezer (Amman)
Ashdod • Ekron • •
Jerusalem
Ashkelon • Gath •
A
TI
IS

Dead
Gaza •
IL

Hebron • Sea Dibon •

PH

(Salt • Aroer (‘Ara‘ir)

Sea)
5 Arnon
JUDAH
MOAB

Negev
Desert

6
EDOM
• Qadesh-Barnea 0 40 80 km

Iron Age Palestine and Transjordan: main regions

178  The Iron Age

inconclusive conflicts with David’s predecessor Saul.

But the following century, its king Mesha regained
its independence. Moab flourished under Mesha’s
rule. We learn this particularly from the discovery
in Moab’s capital Dibon of an inscribed black basalt
stele, commonly referred to as the Moabite stone. Its
34-line inscription, written in the Moabite language,
celebrates Mesha’s building and military achievements
(CS II: 137–8), including his success in establishing
his kingdom’s independence from Israel. It provides
one of the best known instances where contemporary
historical sources and biblical tradition coincide, for
Mesha was already known as a king of Moab from 2
Kings 3:4. Later, Moab was among the lands reduced
to Assyrian subject status during Tiglath-pileser
III’s western campaigns between 734 and 732. After
the fall of Assyria, Moab, like other Transjordanian
states, became subject to the Neo-Babylonian and the
Persian empires. In the Hellenistic period, it came
under Nabataean control.
The land called Edom lay south of the Dead Sea.
Figure 44.1 Mesha stele (aka Moabite Its name comes from a Semitic word meaning ‘red’
stone). Photo by CM Dixon/Print or ‘ruddy’, reflecting the colour of the local sandstone
Collector/Getty Images. mountains. The Edomites were a Semitic-speaking
people who probably settled in the region in C14,
perhaps earlier. But they are first attested in late C13, in the records of the pharaoh Merneptah
(1213–1203), who granted Edomite nomadic groups access to the pasture-lands of the eastern
Egyptian Delta. Thereafter Edomites appear frequently in Old Testament sources. These report
that they were conquered by the Israelite king David early in C10, but re-established their inde-
pendence when they rebelled against the Judaean king Jehoram (c. 849–842). In C8 and C7, Edom
was subject to Assyria. But the demands Assyria imposed upon it were probably not burdensome,
for Edom appears to have flourished under Assyrian rule, due partly, perhaps, to the wealth it
derived from its copper resources. The kingdom was destroyed by the Babylonians c. 550.
Contributions by various scholars in OEANE (1: 103–7) (Ammon); OEANE (2: 189–91)
(Edom); OEANE (4: 38–41) (Moab); OEANE (5: 226–43) (Transjordan).

Israel in the 1st millennium bc

Our earliest reference to Israel appears in an inscription on a granite stele of the pharaoh Merneptah
(1213–1203), discovered in Merneptah’s mortuary temple in Thebes, chief city of upper Egypt.
The inscription lists the ‘people of Israel’ among the pharaoh’s Asiatic conquests, thus attesting
the Israelites’ existence as an identifiable ethnic group by the last decades of the Late Bronze Age.
But Israel as a nation-state seems not to have developed until the very end of M2. Or so we may
conclude from Old Testament tradition and chronology, according to which a united kingdom of
Israel was established by Saul, who reigned c. 1020–1000. Saul’s reign ended with his suicide after
he was decisively defeated by the Philistines. He was succeeded by David, from the land of Judah
in the south of the kingdom, who continued his predecessor’s conflicts with the Philistines with
 Countries and kingdoms of Transjordan 179

A B C D

•Achziv
• Kabri Hazor •
Mediterranean • Rogem Hiri
• Akko GALILEE GOLAN
Sea • Bira
• Keisan
Hadar BASHAN
•
Chinnereth •Sea • Ashtaroth
el-Wawiyat • of GESHUR
•Abu Hawam
2 Galilee Ein Gev
•
▲ Mt Carmel • Beth Gan • • Yarmuk
‘Ein-Zippori
Yin‘am • reg
• Atlit So
Nami •
Yokneam
• • ‘Ein-Shadud
Qiri •
Dor •

Megiddo • Jezreel • GILEAD

Taanach • Beth-Shean •
Rehob •
Plain

• Pella Jawa
• Zeror Dothan •
3 • Mikhmoret • el-Hayyat
on

• es-Sa‘idiyeh
Shar

el-Farah (North)
Samaria • •
Jordan
• Shechem • Mazar Jabbok
•
Michal • Deir ‘Alla
•Qasile ISRAEL
• •• ‘Izbet Sartah
Jaffa • Gerisa el-Umeiri •
Aphek • Shiloh
Safut •
4
Yavneh-Yam • Lod • Bethel • Amman •
• et-Tell (Ai) (Rabbath
Ammon)
Nasbeh •
•
Gezer •
Gibeon •
• el Fûl
Jericho AMMON Sahab •
Mor •
Batash Iktanu •
Ashdod • Miqne • • Hartuv • Jerusalem • Hesban
(Ekron) •• • Qumran •
Azekan Beth Shemesh R. Rahel Mt Nebo ▲ • Madaba
Zafit • ••
Ashkelon • Yarmut
Zippor ••
•el-Judeideh JUDAH • Buseirah
‘Erani
5 • Beth Zur
el-Hesi • • Lachish
• Gaza • Hebron
Nagila • Dibon •
•el-Ajjul Dead • Aroer (2)
• ‘Ein Gedi• Lehun •
• Deir el-Balah
Belt Mirsim • Rabud Sea
Haror
• • • Halif •
Jemmeh Sera

es-Sharia •
•
el-Farah (South) • ‘Ira
•
• Arad MOAB
Beersheba
• Masos • Bab edh-Dra
• Horvat Uza
6 Esdar • IDUMAEA
• Kerak
• Aroer (1)
NEGEV
0 25 50 km
EDOM

Iron Age Palestine and Transjordan: main cities and towns

180  The Iron Age

considerable success. By the end of his reign, David had effectively destroyed their military power.
But his greatest achievement was his establishment of Jerusalem as a new capital of Israel. Under
the reign of his son and successor Solomon (c. 960–922), Israel reached a high level of cultural and
commercial development, due largely to the king’s promotion of close cultural and commercial
links with foreign countries, which greatly boosted his kingdom’s prosperity, and endowed the
royal court at Jerusalem with a cosmopolitan character far removed from the ascetic lifestyle of
the king’s predecessors. But throughout his reign, tensions were mounting between the northern
and southern tribes of Israel. These finally erupted into open conflict on his death, leading to the
establishment of two separate kingdoms – Israel in the north, with its capital at Samaria, and
Judah in the south, with Jerusalem its capital.
This reconstruction of early Israelite history is based entirely on Old Testament sources, and
many scholars are sceptical about the historical validity of a united Israelite kingdom at this
time, or indeed about the biblical account of Israel’s early history in general, in the absence of
contemporary archaeological or written evidence to support it. It is not until the reign of Omri
(c. 876–869), allegedly the sixth king of Israel, that the biblical record begins to be confirmed by
external sources. It was only in Omri’s reign, some scholars argue, that a united Israelite kingdom
was created, with Samaria its capital. Omri founded a dynasty whose second member Ahab joined
the anti-Assyrian coalition defeated by Shalmaneser at Qarqar in 853. The united kingdom ended
with the death of Jehoram (Joram), last member of the Omride dynasty, c. 842 (though there is
doubt about the length and dates of the dynasty).
Subsequently, Israel became subject to Assyria, its king Joash being listed among the Syro-
Palestinian tributaries of Adad-nirari III (810–783). A later Assyrian king Tiglath-pileser III
(745–727) made extensive conquests in the land, and under his successor Shalmaneser V
(726–722) or successor-but-one, Sargon II (721–705), the kingdom of Israel ended with the
Assyrian destruction of its capital Samaria, which had rebelled against its overlord. Judah sur-
vived, as a tributary of Assyria. After the fall of Assyria in late C7, it became a vassal of Egypt. But
in 586, the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II captured and ordered the destruction of its capital
Jerusalem, and (allegedly) deported almost all its population to Babylonia. Thus began the period
of the Israelite ‘exile’, which ended in 539 when the Persian king Cyrus II conquered Babylon, and
in the following year, allowed the Israelites living in exile to return to their homeland.
McCarter (HCBD: 466–70); Fritz (OEANE 3: 192–7).
 45
The Philistines

Scholars generally agree that after the dis-

A B C
persal of the Sea Peoples, one group of them,
the Peleset, perhaps a people of Aegean ori-
gin, finally settled in south-western Palestine, 1

on that part of the southern coastal plain of

Palestine which came to be called Philistia. The Tyre
•
Peleset re-emerged in Old Testament tradition
as the Philistines, about the same time as the Mediterranean
Canaanites occupied the inland plains, and the 2 Sea
Israelites the hill-country beyond. Five main cit-
ies, the so-called Philistine Pentapolis, provided
the focal points of Philistine civilization. They
Megiddo
were Ashdod, Ashkelon, Ekron, Gaza and Gath. •
Contrary to the negative impressions given by 3 Beth Shan•

biblical sources, the Philistines were a highly ISRAEL

cultured people, with advanced architectural,
•
engineering, technological and craft skills. And Shechem

their urban-based civilization was supported by • Joppa

a flourishing agricultural industry. 4
Jordan
To judge from Old Testament sources, the • Gezer •Gibeon
Ashdod• Ekron •Jerusalem
Philistines came into conflict with the Israelites •
I A • Gath
fairly early in their history as they sought to Ashkelon
• T
LIS
expand their territory eastwards, at the same P HI
•Gaza • Hebron Dead
time as the hill-country Israelites began expand- 5
Sea

ing their territories westwards. The wars

between Israelites and Philistines culminated in
the defeat of the latter by the Israelite king David
early in C10, though sporadic conflict between
Israelites and Philistines continued until the last 6
decades of C8. This at least is the information
provided by our biblical sources – for which we 0 25 50km

have yet to find confirmation from independent

sources. Like other kingdoms, countries, and
city-states of Syria and Palestine, Philistia came Philistia and its neighbours
under the control of the Great Kingdoms of the

181
182  The Iron Age

Mediterranean
Sea •
Ekron
• Ashdod

Gath •
• Ashkelon

Ashdod: A settlement-mound with a history of occupation from

the Middle Bronze Age to the Byzantine period. After violent
destruction at the end of C13, it was rebuilt and occupied by the
Philistines. A large fortress was a dominant feature of the new city,
the first phase of which may have ended in destruction by
the Israelites in C10. Ashdod subsequently joined uprisings by

• Gaza the Philistines and their neighbours against Assyrian rule.

Following Assyria’s collapse, it was attacked by the Egyptian
king Psamtik (I) (664-610) (Greek Psammetichus). It
subsequently came under Babylonian and then Persian
sovereignty before submitting to Alexander the Great in 332.
Ashkelon: The site’s earliest significant remains are substantial
fortifications of a Middle Bronze Age Canaanite city. During the
Late Bronze, it became an Egyptian vassal state. Early in C12,
it was occupied by the Philistines. Whether it ever fell to the
Israelites, as reported in Judges 1:18, remains doubtful. In the
reign of the Assyrian Tiglath-Pileser III, it became a tributary of
the Assyrian empire, and suffered severe reprisals when it joined
in a rebellion against Assyrian rule in 732. Under Neo-Babylonian
sovereignty, the city once more rebelled, prompting its seizure by
Nebuchadnezzar II and the deportation of large numbers of its
inhabitants. It was granted independence by the Ptolemies in the
early Hellenistic Age. Well-preserved remains survive from the
Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, and Islamic periods.
Ekron: Predominantly an Iron Age site, Ekron was destroyed by fire at the end of the Late Bronze Age, and was subsequently rebuilt and
occupied by the Philistines. This phase of Ekron’s existence was ended abruptly in late C8 by the Assyrian king Sennacherib, who incorporated
the city into his empire. Under Assyrian sovereignty, Ekron was substantially redeveloped, now reaching its maximum size. It was later subject
to Egypt, and was destroyed by the Babylonians in 603.
Gath: Iron Age city, frequently referred to in Old Testament sources – e.g. as the home of the Philistine champion Goliath, and as the city
to which the Ark of the Covenant was sent. According to 2 Kings 12:17, Gath was attacked and captured by Hazael, king of Aram-Damascus
in the second half of C9, prior to his attack upon Jerusalem. Around 712, the city was conquered by the Assyrian king Sargon II. Gath’s
location has not yet been firmly established, though most scholars now equate it with mod. Tel Zafit/Tell es-Safi.
Gaza: Cult centre of the Philistine god Dagon. It fell to the Assyrian Tiglath-pileser III in 734, the Judaean king Hezekiah several decades later;
and the pharaoh Necho II in 609. During the Persian Achaemenid period, Gaza was an important royal fortress. In 332, it was conquered by
Alexander the Great. Following his death, it first came under the control of the Ptolemies, serving as the northern outpost of their empire,
but was captured by the Seleucid king Antiochus III in 198. It was a flourishing city under Roman rule and continued to be so in the
Byzantine period.

0 10 km

The Philistine Pentapolis

 The Philistines 183

Figure 45.1 Philistines among Sea Peoples captured by Ramesses III. J.T. Vintage/Bridgeman Images.

age, who imposed their rule over a wide range of territories west of the Euphrates. Between C9 and
C6, the Philistines were in succession subjects of the Assyrian, Egyptian and Babylonian empires.
Mattingly (HCBD: 846–9); Laughlin (2006: 235–42).
 46
1st millennium bc Anatolia

Following the collapse of the Late Bronze Age civilizations, a number of new cities and kingdoms
emerged throughout Anatolia. Most notable among these was the kingdom of Urartu in the east
and the kingdoms of Phrygia and Lydia in the west. Also, from late M2 onwards, the Anatolian
coastal regions and their hinterlands were settled by numerous Greek peoples, immigrants for the
most part from the Greek mainland or Aegean islands. The pages that follow contain more details
of these new peoples and kingdoms. We have already dealt with the contemporary Neo-Hittite
kingdoms that emerged in Tabal in the south-eastern sector of the Anatolian peninsula, and the
kingdoms of Hilakku and Que along the coast.

184
 A B C D E F
Black Sea
•Sinope
•Amastris Po
(Sesamos) nt
1 PAPHLAGONIA ic Amisus
Byzantium •Heraclea Pontica Zo •
• •Chalcedon ne COLCHIS
BITHYNIA •
Trapezus
Propontis PONTUS
•
Dascylium
Sangarius Ankara
TROAD • Halys
Gordium • Kerkenes Dağ Euphrates
MYSIA •
•
Midas P H R Y G I A
City

AE
Salt Lake ENZITE

OL
LESBOS s

IS
Hermus

tai
TABAL

oun
2 •
Sardis Celaenae LYCAONIA MELID URARTU
LYDIA

I
(Apamea)

us M
•

O
ur
Maeander

Ta
Tigris

N
ti -
ISAURIA KUMMUH

I
• •Colossae An
Aphrodisias
Miletus

A
• s GURGUM
PISIDIA tain
un
Mo
CARIA Perge rus
Termessus PAMP u CILICIA SAM’AL
• • • H Ta
s u •Side • • Issus
Soli

Y
nd • •MersinTarsus
pe

L
LYCIA As IA
•Xanthus •Kirshu
Nagidus
• Al Mina • MESOPOTAMIA
Anemurium
•• Cele
nde Euphrates
RHODES ris
3 SYRIA
Orontes

CYPRUS

Mediterranean Sea

4 Syrian
Jordan
Desert

0 150 300 km

Countries, kingdoms and cities of 1st millennium bc Anatolia

1st millennium bc Anatolia 185
 47
Phrygia and Lydia

Phrygia
Centred on the city of Gordium, 100 km west of Ankara, the kingdom of Phrygia evolved in
western Anatolia during the early centuries of M1. In Greek tradition, the Phrygians were a west-
ern people who migrated into central Anatolia from homelands in Macedonia and Thrace dur-
ing the upheavals at the end of the Late Bronze Age – though Homer lists them among Troy’s
allies in the Trojan War. But a number of scholars have attributed the kingdom’s development
to an amalgamation of these ‘western’ Phrygians with an immigrant group into central Anatolia
from the east, called the Mushki in Assyrian texts; the latter were a conglomeration of aggressive
tribal groups, perhaps originating in the Armenian highlands. If such a union did take place, it
may have been the achievement of a king called Midas in Greek, commonly identified with the
Mushki leader Mita, attested in records of the Assyrian king Sargon II in the last decades of C8.
But there is no scholarly consensus on this. The fact that Greek sources never refer to the Mushki,
nor Assyrian ones to the Phrygians, has lent support to the argument that there were in fact two
separate major kingdoms in central Anatolia at this time, perhaps arising as much, or more, from
indigenous population elements as from immigrant groups. Fresh doubts have also been raised
about Phrygian chronology, by the excavators of Gordium. At all events, the territories over which
the rulers of Phrygia held sway at the peak of their power constituted one of the largest kingdoms
of the Iron Age world. Eastwards, its subject lands extended towards the Euphrates, southwards
into the region later known as Cappadocia, and westwards as far as the Aegean Sea. The kingdom
seems to have been abruptly terminated early in C7 by an invading Cimmerian force. But a num-
ber of Phrygian settlements, including Gordium, recovered from the invasions, and after the final
withdrawal of the invaders in late C7 or early C6, regained some of their former prosperity as
small principalities subject to the kings of Lydia.
The burial tumuli and sculptured rock façades, particularly those found at Gordium, provide
the most notable surviving features of Phrygia’s material civilization. Phrygian graves were typi-
cally wooden, flat-roofed chambers built into rectangular pits sunk into the ground, and then
covered with mounds (tumuli) of rocks and earth. Gordium’s cemetery contained c. 140 of these
burial structures, which range in date from C8 to the Hellenistic period. The largest, still 53 m high
(even after erosion) and almost 300 m in diameter, covers a wooden burial chamber with gabled
roof. Within it were found the remains of a man in his sixties, laid out on a bier. The tomb, and
the body within it, belong, it has been proposed, to Midas’ father Gordius.
The Phrygian language, written in an alphabetic script, is a member of the Indo-European
language family. Our knowledge of it comes from two groups of inscriptions, now only partly

186
 A B C D E F
Black Sea

1
PONT
IC
PAPHLAGONIA ZO
NE

BITHYNIA •
Trapezus
Propontis
PONTUS
Sangarius

TROAD
MYSIA • Gordium
• Kerkenes Dağ
•
2 Midas
City
A
AEOLIS GI ENZITE
PHRY ns
Lesbos Salt Halys tai
Hermus un URARTU
Lake TABAL o
M MELID
• rus
Sardis DIA Maeander LYCAONIA (CAPPADOCIA)
LY au
t i-T
IONIA An Tigris
KUMMUH
ISAURIA
Miletus
PISIDIA
• ains GURGUM MEDIA
unt
CARIA Perge P
A s Mo
Termessus ru SAM’AL AS
au CILICIA

T
Euphrates
• • • M•PHY
3 s
SY
LYCIA u Side LIA
end R
• Asp IA
Xanthus
Rhodes
Orontes
Mediterranean Sea
SYRIA

Cyprus

core region of Phrygian empire (C8 - early C7)

4 Lydian Mermnad Dynasty
Gyges (c. 680-644) core region of Lydian empire (early C7 - mid C6)
Ardys II (c. 644-625) • royal capital
Sadyattes (c. 625-609)
Alyattes (c. 609-560) 0 100 200 km Syrian
Croesus (c. 560-546) Desert

The kingdoms of Phrygia and Lydia

Phrygia and Lydia 187
188  The Iron Age

intelligible. Those of the first group are found mainly on the façades of rock-cut monuments dat-
ing from C8 to C3 bc; the second group dates to C2 and C3 ad, and consists mainly of curse
formulae.
Sams (CANE 2: 1147–59); Roller and Voigt (OHAA: 560–78, 1069–94); Roosevelt (AANE:
896–907).

Lydia
Around 685 bc, the Lydian king Candaules was assassinated by his bodyguard Gyges, who estab-
lished in Lydia a new line of kings known as the Mermnad dynasty. From his capital Sardis, Gyges
embarked on a programme of territorial expansion, continued by his successors, which made
Lydia the dominant power in western Anatolia after the fall of Phrygia. The Greeks along the
Aegean coast were among the peoples incorporated into the Lydian empire. But Lydia’s existence
was long threatened by the Cimmerians, destroyers of the Phrygian kingdom. After some forty
years on the throne, Gyges himself was killed in a Cimmerian onslaught, which devastated part
of the royal capital Sardis (c. 644). Lydia survived the onslaught, and continued its conflicts with
the invaders until the reign of Alyattes (c. 609–560), fourth ruler of the Mermnad dynasty, who
eventually drove them from his lands.
Alyattes’ kingdom was also threatened by another major enemy – the westward expanding king-
dom of the Medes, whose heartland lay in the Zagros mountains. Five years of conflict between the
Medes and the Lydians culminated in the so-called ‘battle of the eclipse’, fought between Alyattes
and the Median king Cyaxares on the banks of the Halys river. The outcome was a treaty between
the two kings, which established the border between their kingdoms along the river’s banks. In the
reign of the last Mermnad king Croesus (c. 560–546), Lydia faced a formidable new enemy from
the east – the kingdom of Persia, founded by Cyrus II c. 559 bc. Like Cyaxares, Cyrus embarked
on a vigorous westward expansion of his territories, which eventually brought him into Lydian-
controlled territory in the Halys region. After an inconclusive confrontation with Cyrus’ army
east of the river in the spring of 546 (the so-called battle of Pteria), Croesus withdrew his forces to
the west, rapidly pursued by the Persians. The final showdown took place in a pitched battle out-
side Sardis. Croesus was decisively defeated, and taken prisoner. His kingdom was incorporated
into the Persian empire, and Sardis became Persia’s chief administrative centre in the west.
Much of Lydia’s wealth was derived from the precious metals, especially silver and gold, that
were mined from the kingdom’s soils and rivers. In C6, the Lydians invented coined money – an
invention that rapidly spread to the Greek world. The Lydian language survives in approximately
sixty-four inscriptions, dating from C6 to C4 and found mostly on grave steles in Sardis. The lan-
guage used in these inscriptions belongs to the Indo-European language family, but is still only
partly intelligible.
Greenewalt (CANE 2: 1173–83, OHAA: 1112–30); Roosevelt (AANE: 897–907).
 48
Urartu

The kingdom of Urartu arose in the highland regions of eastern Anatolia, around the core region
of Lake Van. During C8 and C7 bc, it developed into one of the most powerful Near Eastern
states, its rulers the equals and often bitter enemies of their western neighbours, the Great Kings
of Assyria. ‘Urartu’ is in fact an Assyrian name. The Urartians themselves called their country
‘Biainili’, from which the name Van is derived. Their kingdom was created in C9 out of a number
of small independent principalities by Sarduri I (c. 832–825), who established a royal dynasty in
the city of Tushpa (modern Van), which he made the capital of his fledgling kingdom. Sarduri
and his successors, notably Ishpuini, Minua and Argishti I (his son, grandson and great-grand-
son respectively), embarked on campaigns of territorial expansion which carried Urartu’s fron-
tiers northwards to the Araxes river and into Armenia, south-eastwards to the shores of Lake
Urmia, and south-westwards towards the Tigris. Inevitably, the kingdom’s ever-expanding ter-
ritorial ambitions led to conflict with Assyria. With variable outcomes. One of the lowest points
in Urartu’s fortunes came in 714, when the Assyrian king Sargon II crossed its borders (during
his famous ‘Eighth Campaign’), and decisively defeated the army led against him by the Urartian
king Rusa I. Rusa survived the conflict, but in the same year, he suffered a further disaster when
his forces were routed by the Cimmerians. He committed suicide soon after.
But his kingdom quickly recovered. Fresh campaigns were undertaken by the new king Argishti
II (c. 713–679) who led an expedition further to the north-east than any of his predecessors.
And Argishti’s successor Rusa II (c. 678–654), eager to impress his subjects, allies and enemies
with the material might and splendour of his kingdom, undertook an ambitious building pro-
gramme throughout the land, constructing massive new fortified centres at the sites now called
Ayanis, Adilcevaz, Karmir Blur and Bastam. Built on towering outcrops of rock, the kingdom’s
great fortress-cities were strategically located to control the plains and valleys which lay between
the rugged highland ranges. Within these fortresses were located Urartu’s temples, palaces and
administrative centres, and the warehouses which stored the produce of the plains. Large-scale
irrigation works, consisting of great canals and dams, ensured that the kingdom’s foodlands
remained highly productive. The greatest of the irrigation works was an aqueduct and canal built
by King Minua, which watered the plain of Van.
Written information about, and found within, the Urartian kingdom, is provided by both
Assyrian and Urartian inscriptions. In the reign of Sarduri I, Urartian scribes used the Assyrian
language and cuneiform script for their records. But subsequently, all known inscriptions were
written in Urartian, with a few Urartian-Assyrian bilinguals. The contents of the inscriptions, all
surviving examples of which are carved on stone, include details of military enterprises, build-
ing programmes and religious activities. However, most of what we know about Urartu’s history

189
190  The Iron Age

Black Sea Black Caspian

Sea Sea

Lake
ANATOLIA Çıldır
URARTU

M
E
S
Mediterranean O
P
Sea O
TA Euphrates
M Araxes
IA

DIAUE(KHI)
(wealthy kingdom,
sometime vassal
• Altıntepe of Urartu)

DAYENU Aznavurtepe •
Kayalıdere •
Adilcevaz-
Murat (Arsanias) Kef Kalesi •

• Palu (Shebeteria?) Lake Van • Ayanis

• (used as base • An
Korucutepe by Urartian king • Muş • •T
Minua (805-788)
for campaigns •Ç
across Euphrates) SHUBRIA
(in Assyrian- Van Kale H
Urartian
(Tushpa)
NAIRI frontier zone)
(Assyrian king
Tiglath-pileser II
(original) defeats Sarduri I
Tigris here, 735)

King-List (dates are conjectural)

Sarduri I 832-825
Ishpuini 824-806
Minua 805-788 (independent reign)
Argishti I 787-766
Sarduri II 765-733
Rusa I 732-714
Argishti II 713-679
Rusa II 678-654
Sarduri III (includes 640)
later kings?

A B C D
Urartu
 Urartu 191

0 100 200 km

Lake
Çıldır Ca
uca
sus
Mo
unt 1
ain
s
Lake
Armavir Erevan Sevan
Araxes (Argishtihinili) ••
• Karmir Blur (dedicated to Urartian storm
god Teisheba. Noted for rich
archaeological small finds)

2
navurtepe •
• Kale Haidari
cevaz-
Kalesi • • Karagünduz • Bastam
(Rusai-URU-TUR)
Lake Van • Ayanis (Rusahinili: Eidurakai)
• Anzaf Kale
• • Toprakkale (Rusahinili: Qilbanikai)
• Çavuştepe (Sardurihinili)
HUBRIA 3
n Assyrian- Van Kale HUBUSHKIA
Urartian
(Tushpa)
•
ntier zone) Haftavan Tepe
(Assyrian king (Urartian regional
Tiglath-pileser III administrative centre)
defeats Sarduri II
here, 735)
NAIRI
(later) Qale Ismail •
Agha Lake
Urmia
Great
Zab Hasanlu • 4
Kelishin Pass • Qalatgah
• Musasir •
(cult centre of Tashtepe
chief Urartian god
Haldi. In Assyrian-
Urartian frontier zone)
D E F
192  The Iron Age

Figure 48.1 Van Citadel, Urartu, with fortress city Toprakkale in background © Dennis Cox/Alamy.

comes from external sources, notably the Annals of the Assyrian kings, which provide valuable – if
biased – information about the contacts and conflicts between Assyria and Urartu. After the reign
of Rusa II, we have little written information of any kind about Urartu. The kingdom had but a few
decades to run. Archaeological evidence indicates that by the end of C7 at the latest it had ended
violently, with the destruction of almost all its cities by fire. We do not know precisely when this
happened, or who the destroyers were.
Zimansky (CANE 2: 1135–46, 1998, OHAA: 548–59); Radner (OHAA: 734–51); Ayvazian
(AANE: 877–95).
 49
The Cimmerians

The Cimmerians were a nomadic people, perhaps of Indo-Iranian stock, who originally dwelt
in southern Russia. But they were driven from their homeland by Scythian hordes, according
to Herodotus (1.15), and thereupon, from late C8 to late C7 or early C6, they swept through
and plundered many parts of the Near Eastern world. Assyrian sources report their attacks on
Assyrian and Urartian subject territories, from the reign of the Assyrian king Sargon II (721–705)
onwards. Several Assyrian letters from Sargon’s reign record their destruction of an army from
the kingdom of Urartu, then ruled by Rusa I, and the slaughter of a number of Urartu’s provin-
cial governors. But the Cimmerians were rather less successful in their confrontations with the

A B C D Caspian
Black Sea SCYTHIANS
Sea

1
PHRYGIAN CIMMERIANS
Gordium •
LYDIA EMPIRE
Sardis Destroyed by Cimmerians c. 695 TABAL Lake Van
• Lydian King Gyges
killed by Cimmerians c. 644 Tigris
HUPISHNA
Cimmerians defeated by URARTU Lake Urmia
IONIA Assyrian king Esarhaddon, 679 Urartian army routed
by Cimmerians, 714

2 Aleppo
•Nineveh
•
• Ashur MEDIA
Cyprus
Euphrates

Mediterranean Sea Syrian

Desert
Babylon •
3 Ashkelon • • Jerusalem
Gaza •

= possible route suggested 0 100 200 km

by Rainey and Notley

The Cimmerian invasions (after Rainey and Notley 2006: 254)

193
194  The Iron Age

Assyrians. In 679, the Assyrian king Esarhaddon defeated their leader Teushpa in a battle in the
land of Hupishna (Hubushna), an Assyrian subject territory in south-eastern Anatolia, and in 652,
the Cimmerian leader Lygdamis (Assyrian Tugdammu) was defeated by Esarhaddon’s successor
Ashurbanipal, and later killed in Cilicia.
Westwards, the Cimmerians fought against the Phrygians and eventually destroyed their
empire, c. 695. Subsequently, they were locked in a prolonged struggle with the Lydians. One
of the victims of this struggle was the Lydian king Gyges, killed in a Cimmerian attack upon his
kingdom c. 644. He had previously secured assistance against the invaders from Ashurbanipal,
but had forfeited this when he supported Egypt’s rebellion against Assyria. The Cimmerians then
launched attacks upon the Greek cities along the Aegean coast. They were finally driven out of
western Anatolia, in late C7 or early C6, by the Lydian king Alyattes.
SB (254–5).
 50
Egypt in the Third Intermediate
and Saite periods (1069–525 bc)

In the Third Intermediate Period of Egyptian history (1069–664), which followed the Ramesside
era, Egypt’s influence and involvement in international affairs were much reduced. There was,
however, a resurgence of Egyptian claims upon the kingdom’s former Palestinian territories
by a ruler of Libyan origin called Sheshonq I (biblical Shishak; 945–924), founder of the 22nd
Dynasty. Sheshonq restored some measure of Egyptian authority over Palestine by conquering
Israel and Judah. According to his inscription on the Bubastite Gate of the temple of Karnak in
Thebes, he conquered well over one hundred cities of Israel, Judah and southern Palestine. But
Assyria was the great power of the age, and until its fall at the end of C7, the dominant overlord
of Syria and Palestine. In 671, Egypt fell victim to it when the Assyrian king Esarhaddon, pro-
voked by Egyptian support for Assyria’s rebel vassals in the Levant, invaded and conquered the
kingdom, and installed Assyrian governors there. His conquests were followed up by his succes-
sor Ashurbanipal in 664/3. But shortly afterwards, Egypt regained its independence under a new
dynasty, the 26th, often referred to as the Saite dynasty (664–525). This line of rulers ushered in
what scholars call the ‘Late Period’ in Egyptian history, which lasted until Alexander’s conquests
in 332.
But to back-track to the end of the Assyrian empire. In 610, the newly enthroned third ruler of
the Saite dynasty, Necho II (Nekau; 610–595), set Egyptian sights afresh on the lands of Syria and
Palestine – allegedly to support Assyria against the Babylonian king Nabopolassar. But collabo-
ration with Assyria was largely a pretext. Necho’s ulterior motive was to rebuild Egypt’s empire
and reclaim its former Syrian and Palestinian subjects. He began by launching a major land and
sea campaign against the territories of northern Syria. The enterprise failed to save the Assyrians,
but on his way back to Egypt Necho secured a hold over the states and cities of southern Syria
and Palestine. Four years later, he returned to consolidate and extend his sovereignty there, at
Babylon’s expense. But a military showdown with the Babylonian crown prince Nebuchadnezzar
near Carchemish on the Euphrates ended in a massive defeat of the Egyptian army and Necho’s
retreat home. The pharaoh was nonetheless intent on maintaining his claim over his territories in
Syria and Palestine – a claim which Nebuchadnezzar, now King Nebuchadnezzar II, vigorously
opposed. The matter was resolved in 601, when the Babylonian led an army south into Egypt and
fought Necho’s army at Pelusium in the north-east of the Delta. Both sides suffered heavy casual-
ties, but the battle effectively ended Necho’s aspirations to control any part of Syria and Palestine.
Egypt was subsequently absorbed into the Persian empire, when Cambyses conducted a campaign
there in 525, and defeated the pharaoh Psammetichus III in a battle outside Memphis.
Lloyd (2000: 369–83); Taylor (2000).

195
196  The Iron Age

A B C D
Gezer
•
Mediterranean Sea Lachish
Ashkelon •
1 Gaza • •

•
(Tell el-Fara‘a)
Tanis
Sais • •
•Sile
•
Bubastis Sheshonq I’s Palestinian
(Tell Basta) campaign (c. 925)
2 •Heliopolis

Memphis •
Timna •
Faiyum Oasis

Nile
Peninsula
3 Western of
Desert •(el-Hiba) Sinai

Eastern
Bahariya Desert
Oasis
•
(Tuna el-Gebel)
4

•
(Asyut) Red
Sea

• (Dendera)
5 Abydos •

Dakhla Oasis • Thebes

Sheshonq inscription,
Bubastite Gate, Karnak
Kharga
Oasis (Esna) •

(Edfu) •

6
(Kom Ombo) •
Capital
Elephantine •
0 100 200 km •

(Edfu) Modern Name

Egypt in the Third Intermediate Period (1069–747)

 Part VII

The Greeks in the East

This Page is Intentionally Left Blank
 51
Aeolians, Ionians, Dorians

Note: The map of Greek eastward migrations after the Bronze Age is based primarily on Classical
Greek literary sources and linguistic data. There is ongoing debate about the nature, chronology
and extent of these migrations. Most scholars now regard Greek settlement in Asia Minor and the
Aegean islands, after the Bronze Age as well as during it, as an incremental process involving a num-
ber of population movements over many years, indeed centuries. For a concise summary of scholarly
discussions relating to the Greek migrations, see Greaves (OHAA: 508–9).
Aeolis is the Classical designation for the Aegean coastal region of north-western Asia Minor,
extending from the Hellespont to the south of the Hermus river. The name was derived from a
Greek population called the Aeolians, who supposedly in the last two centuries of M2 migrated east-
wards from their homelands which lay in the regions later called Boeotia and Thessaly on the Greek
mainland; they settled first on the island of Lesbos before occupying the coastal part of the Troad and
the region to its south. Strictly, ‘Aeolis’ and ‘Aeolian’ are purely ethno-linguistic terms. They reflect
neither a political nor a clearly definable geographical entity. However, the southern Aeolian settle-
ments may have formed a league which had a religious centre in the temple of Apollo at Grynium.
Cyme was the most important city in the southern Aeolian region, and perhaps the chief city of the
league. (For both cities, see the map on p. 202.)
Ionia is the Classical name for the central Aegean coastal region of Anatolia extending between the
bays of Izmir (Smyrna) and Bargylia (see map on p. 202) and including the offshore islands Chios
and Samos. It too was allegedly settled in late M2 by refugee colonists, called Ionians, from the Greek
mainland following the collapse of the major centres of Late Bronze Age civilization. The region con-
tained twelve major cities, which had begun to develop by early M1 and probably by C9 established
among themselves a league called the Panionium, reflecting the emergence of a unified cultural
Ionian identity in the region. The league met at the foot of Mount Mycale, in the territory of Priene.
Dorians Classical tradition has created a view of the Dorians as latecomers to the Greek world, entering
it shortly before the end of the Late Bronze Age (eighty years after the fall of Troy according to
Thucydides), and occupying primarily the Peloponnese. They are regarded (by some) as one of the
immediate causes of the destruction of the Mycenaean palace civilization. Henceforth they spread
to other parts of the Greek-speaking world. They were allegedly the most aggressive and warlike of
all Greek groups. The Homeric scholar Margalit Finkelberg comments that the tradition of the late
emergence of the Dorians in southern Greece is strongly supported by the dialect map of this region.
However, she notes that the widespread term ‘Dorian invasion’ relates to miscellaneous population
movements from the periphery to the centre of the Mycenaean world at the end of the Bronze Age.
The archaeological record has so far provided no evidence that the so-called Dorians were a distinctive
group of late-comers to Bronze Age Greece or the possessors of a distinctive culture within the Greek
world, beyond the existence of ‘Doric’ as one of the main dialects of the Greek-speaking peoples.
SB (104–5); Greaves and Harl (OHAA: 500–14, 752–74), relevant articles in HE by Rutherford
(Aeolians and Ionians, I: 9 and II: 415–16, respectively) and Finkelberg (Dorians, I: 217–18).

199
 A B C D

TROAD
•Troy
Aeolians
THESSALY Ph 1
ry gia
ns
LESBOS
• Mytilene
AEOLIS
200  The Greeks in the East

EU
BO
DORIS EA CHIOS Phocaea •
Hermus
AETOLIA Delphi
• BOEOTIA • Chalcis • Smyrna
• Thebes Aegean Sea
ACHAEA ATTICA
I ONIA
• •Athens • Ephesus
Ionians SAMOS
ARCADIA Corinth
AR
Argos• GOL • Priene
IS 2
Ionian
Sea MESSENIA
• Sparta •Halicarnassus
LACONIA

Cnidus •
DO RIS

RHODES
Dorians
3
The Dialects of Post-
Mycenaean Greece
Aeolians CRETE
Ionians 0 100 200 km
Dorians

Post Bronze Age Greek migrations (after Rainey and Notley 2006: 105)
 52
Two major Bronze Age–Classical
sites of western Anatolia

Miletus
Once a four-harboured city on the Aegean coast, Miletus
now lies in a plain 3 km inland, in the region called Milesia
in Classical times. Its history of occupation extends from the
Late Chalcolithic period (M4) through the Bronze Ages and
the Classical Greek, Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine peri-
ods. Called Milawata/Millawanda in Hittite texts, Miletus
was for a time a vassal of the Hittite empire.

1
Residential Figure 52.1 Theatre of Miletus. Photo by
Area
Lion
Bay
Trevor Bryce.
Residential
Theatre Area Roman
Baths Archaeological investigations have
2
Theatre
Bay
Heroes’
Grave 3 Delphinion
also revealed evidence of Minoan and
approximate ancient coastline

7
North
Agora Mycenaean settlement there, the latter
Baths of 5
Temple of Ag
ora
Faustina 6 8
9
4 dated to late C14 and C13 when the city
Athena
11 10 was subject to a Mycenaean (‘Ahhiyawan’)
Temple of South
Stadium
Mycenaean
Serapis Agora king. In later Greek tradition, Miletus fig-
Settlement
ures prominently in accounts of the Ionian
migrations. It was the southernmost and
oad

most important of the major Ionian set-

in R
Ma

City Walls tlements, and subsequently flourished as

a centre of trade, commerce, culture and
learning, until it initiated and played a lead-
ing role in the Ionian rebellion which broke
Necropolis out against Persian rule in 499. When the
approximate ancient coastline rebellion was crushed in 494, the Persians
sacked the city, massacring or enslaving its
1 Marble Lions 7 Prytaneion inhabitants. In later years, Miletus became
2 Harbour monument 8 Bouleuterion
3 Hellenistic Harbour Hall 9 Nymphaeum a member of the Athenian Confederacy.
4 Hellenistic Gymnasium 10 Market Gate
5 Baths of Vergilius Capito 11 Temple of Eumenes II
0 200 m
But it subsequently reverted to Persian
6 Palaestra
sovereignty until 334, when Alexander
the Great campaigned in the region, and
Miletus took the city by siege. In 129 bc, it became

201
202  The Greeks in the East

A B C D
Parium
• •
•Lampsacus Cyzicus
Sestus
1 • •
• Abydus Zeleia
• Dascylium
Granicus
Sigeum
• • • Rhoetium
Troy
•Gergis Aesepus

• Neandria

2 Assos
• MYSIA
Lesbos

•Pergamum
Pitane
• •
Elaea

Myrina •Grynium
• • Aegae
3 • Cyme Hermus
Magnesia
Phocaea •
• •ad Sipylum
Panaztepe
Mt Sipylos
• Sardis
Chios • Smyrna
• •Clazomenae
Erythrae

•Teos
Lebedus
• •Colophon
4 • Clarus
Notium• Ephesus
• Maeander
Magnesia ad • •Tralles
Maeandrum
Samos
•
•Priene Aphrodisias
• Myous Alinda •
• Alabanda
Lade
Icarus

CARIA
• Miletus
Euromus • Labraunda
Didyma • Teichiussa •
• • Chalcetor
5 Madnasa
Iasus • •Hy • Mylasa
da
Bargylia
• • e
Cindya
Uranium
• • •Pedasa
Myndus •
Ceramus
• • • Syangela • • Idyma
Termera• Halicarnassus Cedreae •

Aegean Telmessus
Physcus •
Pyrnus
•
Cos Castabus • Caunus
Sea •
•
• Calynda •
Cnidus Syrna

•
6 Loryma

Rhodes
0 50 100 km

Greek and Roman cities of western Anatolia/Asia Minor

 Two major Bronze Age–Classical sites  203

part of the Roman province of Asia. Under Roman rule, the city’s former grid layout was preserved, and
its C4 bc Greek theatre substantially reconstructed and considerably enlarged. Other features of Miletus’
(late) Hellenistic and Roman periods include three agoras (marketplaces), the so-called Lion Harbour once
flanked by two lions (now reburied for preservation), a gymnasium and stadium complex, and the relatively
well preserved bath-complex dedicated to Faustina, wife of the emperor Marcus Aurelius.
Greaves (2002); PPAWA (472–6); Wilson (2010: 265–73).

Figure 52.2 Ephesus, reconstructed library of Celsus, 2nd cent. ad. Photo by Trevor Bryce.

Ephesus
Ephesus is first attested in Late Bronze Age Hittite texts as Apasa, capital of one of the western Anatolian
Arzawa kingdoms. Recent excavations have identified what is almost certainly its remains on a hill now
called Ayasuluk close to Classical Ephesus. An Ionian foundation according to Greek tradition, the city
was incorporated into the Lydian empire in C7, and in C6, along with the other Ionian cities, became
subject to Persia. In C5, it was for a time a member of the Athenian Confederacy, but like Miletus reverted
in 386 to Persian sovereignty until ‘liberated’ by Alexander the Great in 334.
Ephesus is best known today for its Hellenistic and especially its Roman remains. These reflect the foun-
dation of a new city, laid out on a rectangular grid plan by Alexander’s general Lysimachus. But the famous
temple of Artemis (Artemisium), built on a plain outside the Roman city and traditionally included among
the seven wonders of the ancient world, had its origins many centuries earlier, probably in C8. Other nota-
ble remains of the Roman period include the theatre with a 25,000-seat capacity, the library of Celsus, built
in ad 110, and the recently reconstructed Roman villas, richly decorated with paintings and mosaics. The
villas were destroyed in ad 262 when Ephesus was devastated by a massive earthquake, and remained
buried in a steep hillside until their excavation by Austrian archaeologists between 1960 and 1986.
Mitsopoulou-Leon (PECS: 306–10); Wilson (2010: 199–229).
 53
The countries of southern Asia Minor
in the Graeco-Roman period

LYCAONIA
Maeander

• •Colossae ISAURIA
PISIDIA
1 Miletus •
Aphrodisias
ns
tai
un
CARIA PA sM
o
Termessus M ru IA
• • • PH Ta
u
I LIC •Tarsus
• YL C •
pe ge
us

IA Mersin
r
nd
Pe

de

LYCIA
Si

•
As

Xanthus

Rhodes
Mediterranean Sea
2
0 100 200 km Cyprus

A B C D

Southern Asia Minor in the Graeco-Roman period

Caria Its name perhaps derived from Late Bronze Age Anatolian Karkisa (though Herodotus
claims the Carians were Aegean immigrants), Caria became subject to the Lydian empire in C6
and subsequently to Persia. Urbanization of the country progressed rapidly in C4, under the
Persian-backed Hecatomnid dynasty, most notably during the rule of Mausolus (377–353) who
played an important role in the spread of Greek influence through Caria, but was also concerned
to preserve elements of the indigenous culture. The Carian language has survived in a number of
alphabetic inscriptions, in Caria itself but mainly in Egypt, where Carian mercenaries had settled.

Graeco-Roman Cilicia consisted primarily of two distinct parts, known by the terms Cilicia
Tracheia (Latin Aspera) ‘Rough Cilicia’, and Cilicia Pedias (Latin Campestris) ‘Cilicia of the
Plain’. Cilicia Tracheia was the rugged mountainous western part of the region, Cilicia Pedias the
‘smoother’, fertile eastern part. These regions roughly corresponded to the countries respectively
called Hilakku and Que in Assyrian texts. During the first period of Persian sovereignty, from
c. 542 to 401, the Cilicians appear to have enjoyed a relatively high degree of autonomy under a
line of local kings called by the title Syennesis. The dynasty’s seat of power may have been located

204
 The countries of southern Asia Minor  205

at Tarsus. In the following period, from 401 to the conquests of Alexander the Great, Cilicia was
directly governed by a Persian satrap.

Isauria is the Classical name for the Taurus mountain region in central-southern Anatolia, bor-
dered by Pisidia, Lycaonia, Pamphylia and Cilicia. In the Late Bronze Age, the region lay adjacent
to the kingdom of Tarhuntassa to its south. From Classical sources, we learn that its mountain
peoples were noted for their banditry and their fierce resistance to outside aggressors.

Lycaonia is the Classical name of the region in south-central Anatolia located south of the Salt
Lake. Its western end was probably part of the Late Bronze Age Lukka Lands. As in the Bronze
Age, Lycaonia occupied strategically important territory in M1, for through it passed a major route
linking western Anatolia with south-eastern Cilicia and Syria. No doubt primarily for this reason,
control of the region was hotly contested by a succession of M1 powers, including Persia and the
Seleucid and Attalid kingdoms.

Pamphylia is a Greek name meaning ‘place of all tribes’. In Greek legendary tradition, it was settled
by Greeks of mixed origin some time after the Trojan War. The Pamphylians spoke a distinctive
dialect of Greek, which was related to Cypriot and Arcadian and also contained an infusion of
Anatolian linguistic elements. Pamphylia no doubt became subject to Persian sovereignty c. 540
during the Persian commander Harpagus’ campaigns along the southern Anatolian coast. But some
time after the Athenian victory c. 466 over the Persian fleet at the Eurymedon river, whose mouth
is at Aspendus in Pamphylia, a number of its cities became members of the Athenian Confederacy.
From textual evidence, we know that in the Late Bronze Age the region formed the western coastal
part of the kingdom of Tarhuntassa, and probably had a predominantly Luwian population.

Pisidia is the Classical name for the country occupying the mountainous region of south-western
Anatolia inland from Lycia and Pamphylia. The rugged nature of the land, the strong defences of its
cities, and the fierce character of its population presented a formidable obstacle to foreign aggres-
sors. Pisidia remained independent of the Persian empire, and was never fully subjugated by the
Persians’ Hellenistic successors. But it eventually came under Roman control when it was incor-
porated into the Roman province of Galatia, created by Augustus in 25 bc. From C4 bc onwards,
Pisidia’s cities had become increasingly influenced by Greek civilization. But even under Roman
domination, a number of elements of the indigenous Pisidian culture persisted. This applied par-
ticularly to the country’s language and religious cults which continued to flourish in its rural areas.
See relevant entries in PPAWA.
 54
Lycia

A B C D E F
PAMPHYLIA

CARIA •
Oinoanda
•
Araxa
(Araththi)
• Kadyanda •
(Khadawãti) Elmalı
(modern name)
MILYAS
Xanthos 2
• Telmessos
(Telebehi)
• Karmylessos Idebessos
• Tlos (Tlawa) •
ANTIKRAGOS • SOLYMOS •
MASIKYTOS Arykanda
• Akalissos
Phaselis

Pinara • • Arsada
(Pinale) Limyros
CHIM-

KRAGOS
• Sidyma
L
• Xanthos (Arñna)
Y C Arneae • I A Limyra
•
Rhodiapolis
•Korydalla
AERA
Olympos
•
Letoon
(Zẽmuri)
• 3
• •
Pydna Kandyba (Khãkbi)
• Gagai
•
Trysa
• Phellos (Wehñta)
• Myra
Patara • Kyaneae
• Sura • •
(Pttara)
Antiphellos
• Isinda Apollonia
Simena
•
(Isñta)
• •
•Aperlai
Black Sea (Aprll)

G
RE 4
EC
E ANATOLIA Mediterranean Sea

0 20 40 km

Lycia

The country called Lycia in Classical sources occupied part of the region called Lukka in Late
~
Bronze Age Hittite texts. In their own language, the Lycians called themselves Trmmili and their
~
land Trmmisa. Their population was probably a mixture of Aegean immigrants and indigenous
stock. About 540 bc, Lycia was conquered by the Persians and thereafter was part of the Persian
empire (except for several decades in mid C5 when it was part of the Athenian Confederacy). A
local dynasty established in the country’s chief city Xanthus exercised immediate authority over
much of Lycia until early C4 bc. Along with the rulers of other Lycian cities, the Xanthian dynasts

206
 Lycia 207

issued coins which often bore their

own and their cities’ names as well as
portrait-heads of themselves wear-
ing Persian-type tiaras. In the 360s,
Lycia participated in the abortive
satrap revolt. When the uprising
was crushed, Persian overlordship
was resumed until Alexander the
Great invaded and ‘liberated’ the
country in 334/3. After his death in
323, Lycia came first under the con-
trol of Antigonus of Macedon, and
subsequently under Ptolemaic and
Seleucid rule. However, with the
defeat of the Seleucid king Antiochus
III by the Romans at Magnesia-
ad-Sipylum in 190, Lycia came
within the Roman orbit. In C2 bc, it
formed a League amongst its cities
which continued until C4 ad. The
league discussed and decided upon
matters of war, conclusions of alli-
ances and diplomatic missions to
foreign states. In ad 43, the emperor
Claudius formed a Roman prov-
ince from Lycia and its neighbour
Pamphylia.
A native Lycian language has sur-
vived, preserved in approximately Figure 54.1 House-shaped tombs for multiple burials, Myra in
Lycia. Photo by Trevor Bryce.
180 inscriptions, appearing mainly
on rock-cut house-like and pillar
tombs. Many of the tombs were used for multiple burials. Lycian inscriptions appear occasion-
ally on steles (stone columns), more commonly on coin-legends, and, very rarely, as graffiti on
metal- and ceramic-ware. The earliest inscriptions date to early C5, the latest to late C4. Lycian
belongs to the Indo-European language group, and is closely related to Bronze Age Luwian.
Written in a modified form of the Greek alphabet, it is still largely undecipherable. Greek inscrip-
tions begin to appear at various Lycian sites in C5 bc, and then from C4 onwards in increasing
numbers. Over 1,200 Greek inscriptions have been recorded, primarily from the Roman imperial
period, along with a small number of Latin inscriptions. The most prominent native Lycian dei-
~
ties were a mother-goddess, called eni mahanahi (‘mother of the gods’), and the storm god Trqqas
(a descendant of the Luwian god Tarhundas), both of Bronze Age Anatolian origin. Greek dei-
ties also appear in inscriptions and on coins from C5 onwards. Subsequently, the Letoids (Leto,
Apollo and Artemis) achieved the status of the country’s most important gods as the Lycian civi-
lization became increasingly Greek in character.
Bryce (1986, CANE 2: 1161–72); Keen (1998); Roosevelt (AANE: 907–13).
 55
The ten kingdoms of 1st
millennium bc Cyprus

(The Esarhaddon prism referred to below is an inscription of the Assyrian king Esarhaddon, dated
to 673/2 bc and providing a list of the ten known M1 kingdoms of Cyprus.)

Amathus The first substantial evidence for settlement here dates to late C10 bc. By C8, a significant
Phoenician presence is reflected in strong Phoenician influence on the city’s material culture and
religion. Along with the rest of Cyprus, Amathus was subject to Persia for much of C5 and C4. In
498, it refused the request of Onesilus, king of Salamis, to join the other Cypriot cities in the anti-
Persian Ionian revolt. The last of the kings of Amathus, Androcles, fought on the side of Alexander
the Great in his siege of Tyre in 332. The city continued to prosper through the Hellenistic, Roman
and Byzantine periods until its abandonment in C7 ad at the time of the first Arab invasions.

Evidence provided by tombs indicates that settlement on the site of Chytroi (Kythrea) extends back
at least to the last century of M2. But it is first attested in written records on the Esarhaddon prism
(there called Kitrusi), and is later mentioned by a number of Classical writers, from C4 century
bc onwards. The city apparently flourished during the Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine periods,
becoming a bishopric in the last of these. It was abandoned when sacked by the Arabs in ad 912.

In early M1 bc, Phoenicians from Tyre had arrived on the site of Citium, with merchants and traders
paving the way for permanent settlers to establish a colony there. But despite a significant Phoenician
presence in the city, Citium’s population was predominantly Greek, the city’s culture reflecting a blend
of both Phoenician and Greek elements. Up until the Ionian revolt, Citium may have been ruled by
Greek kings, probably under the last of whom Citium participated in the revolt. But following Persia’s
crushing victory, Phoenicians gained dominance in Citium, with Persian support. In C5 and C4, the
city and kingdom were ruled by a line of Phoenician kings. Their powerful navy enabled them to play
a significant role in the contests between Greeks and Persians in the eastern Mediterranean as well as
providing a major source of the city’s wealth. In 312 bc, the Phoenician dynasty abruptly ended when
Citium fell to Ptolemy I Soter. In ad 50, Citium became part of the Roman provincial system.

Curium’s history of occupation extends from the Late Bronze Age through the Byzantine period,
though it is not clearly attested in written records until mid M1 bc. When Onesilus, king of Salamis,
stirred other Cypriot principalities to enter the Ionian revolt against Persia in 499, Curium’s king
Stasanor first joined the rebels, but subsequently defected to Persia and contributed significantly to
the Persians’ victory. The kingdom’s last known ruler Pasicrates joined Alexander the Great against
the Persians in Alexander’s siege of Tyre (332). During the Hellenistic and Roman periods, Curium
seems to have prospered, until an earthquake destroyed much of it in ad 365.

208
 A B C D

1 Carpasia
Founded in Greek tradition by a legendary king Pygmalion.
Archaeological evidence suggests foundation date no earlier than C7 •

Lapethos Makaria
See Bronze Age See Bronze Age
Cyprus text, p. 148 Cyprus text, p. 148
• •
Vouni
Hilltop palace-settlement Kyrenia Mountains
first built in early C5
perhaps by a Cypriot king
• CHYTROI
Ledrae (Nicosia)
as a fortified summer Extensive habitation
royal residence • • from Early Bronze Age, • • SALAMIS
SOLI but first historically attested Mesaoria Plain
2 in the Esarhaddon prism (C7)

• MARION • • IDALIUM
TAMASSUS

• CITIUM
Troodos Mountains

•
Nea Paphos •
See Paphos in • PAPHOS AMATHUS
accompanying text • •
CURIUM Neapolis
(Limassol)

3 Mediterranean Sea

0 10 20 30 40 50 km

1st millennium bc Cyprus

The ten kingdoms of 1st millennium bc Cyprus 209
210  The Greeks in the East

The history of Idalium, first attested in written records on the Esarhaddon prism, extends from
the end of the Late Bronze Age (c. 1200) to the early Roman period (C1 ad). Authority in the city
appears to have been shared between a line of kings and a citizen-body (a unique arrangement
on Cyprus). The former issued their own coins from shortly before 500. About 470, Idalium was
captured by a joint force of Persians and troops from Citium, the latter ruled by a Phoenician
dynasty. Henceforth, Idalium came under Citium’s control, but it continued to flourish through
the Hellenistic and early Roman periods. It was particularly noted for its cult of the Magna Mater
goddess, syncretized with Greek Aphrodite and Roman Venus.

Marion, a prosperous and important city-kingdom, due to its exploitation of local copper mines
and its trade with Athens, is first clearly attested in 449 when the Athenian general Cimon liberated
it from the Persians, replacing its pro-Persian ruler with a pro-Greek one. The city was destroyed
by Ptolemy I Soter in 312 bc, and its inhabitants transported to Paphos, on Cyprus’ south-western
coast. But it was refounded c. 270 by Ptolemy II Philadelphus and renamed after his wife (and sis-
ter) Arsinoe. The city prospered in Hellenistic and Roman times, and was the seat of a bishopric in
the Byzantine period.

Paphos at its peak was one of the largest and wealthiest of the Cypriot city-kingdoms. Its intermix-
ture of Cypriot, Aegean and Levantine cultural elements produced thriving craft industries with
the manufacture of a range of fine ceramic ware, ivories and jewellery. Originally known simply
as Paphos, it was renamed Palaipaphos (‘Old Paphos’) from late C4 bc onwards, to distinguish it
from the harbour town Nea Paphos (‘New Paphos’), founded c. 320 by Paphos’ last king Nicocles,
16 km to the north-west. The ‘old city’ went into decline when a large part of its population was
transferred to the new city, and it lost its status as the capital of the kingdom of Paphos in 294, when
the Ptolemies conquered Cyprus and abolished its local monarchies. Nevertheless, Old Paphos
remained an important centre of the worship of Aphrodite. In Greek mythology, Aphrodite first
stepped ashore at Paphos after her birth from the sea-foam.

During the first half of M1, Salamis became the most important city and kingdom on Cyprus.
Indeed, its C6 king Euelthon claimed to exercise sway over the entire island. In the first years of C5,
his grandson Onesilus united all the cities and kingdoms under his leadership (except Amathus)
against the Persians, an enterprise which ended with his defeat and death in a battle with the Persians
outside Salamis in 498. The best known of all the city’s kings was the pro-Greek Evagoras I, who
became ruler of the city in 411, and used his links with Athens to promote Greek culture through-
out Cyprus. He also maintained good relations with Persia for a time, but subsequently came into
conflict with the Persian king Artaxerxes II until forced to make peace with him. Henceforth, he
ruled as Persia’s subject until his assassination in 374/3. In the Hellenistic period, Salamis remained
a prosperous city, and in the early Byzantine period, it became the seat of a bishopric.

Settlement on the site of Soli probably began in the Late Bronze Age and continued until the Arab
conquests in C7 ad. Throughout its history, much of the city’s wealth was derived from the copper
mines located in the mountains to its south. According to Plutarch, the city was originally called
Aipeia, until C6 when the Athenian statesman Solon visited it and urged its king Philocyprus to
shift it closer to the sea. Solon allegedly took charge of the re-establishment of the city, making it so
attractive that new settlers flocked to it; out of gratitude for Solon’s services, Philocyprus renamed
the city after him. In historical records, the city is first significantly attested at the beginning of C5
 The ten kingdoms of 1st millennium bc Cyprus 211

bc, when its king Aristocyprus joined other local rulers under the hegemony of Onesilus, king of
Salamis, in the abortive rebellion against Persia. Both Onesilus and Aristocyprus were killed in the
conflict. Soli itself fell to the Persians after a five-month siege.

Tamassus is first attested in the Esarhaddon inscription, though settlement on the site dates back
at least to the Middle Bronze Age. Our Greek sources inform us that in C4 bc it was sold for fifty
talents by its ruler Pasicyprus to Pumiathon, king of Citium, but later taken from Pumiathon by
Alexander the Great and handed over to Salamis’ king Pnytagoras. The city appears to have pros-
pered through the various phases of its existence, its wealth probably due largely to its exploitation
of the nearby copper mines. Prior to the Byzantine era, when it became a bishopric, Tamassus was
an important centre for the worship of Apollo and the Mother of the Gods. Among the very few
excavated remains of the city are a temple dedicated to Aphrodite, part of the city’s fortifications,
installations for the production of copper, and two well-preserved ‘royal built tombs’ dating to the
Archaic period.
For the individual kingdoms, see relevant entries in PECS, OEANE and PPAWA.
This Page is Intentionally Left Blank
 Part VIII

Other Near Eastern peoples and

kingdoms of the 1st millennium bc
This Page is Intentionally Left Blank
 56
The Medes

The Medes were an Indo-European-speaking people whose homeland lay in western Iran. Our writ-
ten information about this people, who have left us no texts of their own, comes from foreign sources,
primarily the records of Assyrian and Babylonian kings and the Histories of the Greek historian
Herodotus. Assyrian records, the earliest of the sources, report on military campaigns conducted into
Media between C9 and C7 by Shalmaneser III, Tiglath-pileser III, Sargon II and Esarhaddon. However,
most of what we know, or supposedly know, about the Medes comes from Herodotus’ account of
them, in a section of his Histories commonly referred to as the Medikos Logos (Histories 1.95–106).
According to Herodotus, the Medes were originally independent tribal groups, who were united into
a single kingdom (apparently in C7) by a certain Deioces. But Deioces’ grandson Cyaxares is generally
regarded as the true founder of the Median empire. Coming to the throne c. 625, Cyaxares paved the
way for this empire by forming an alliance with the Babylonian king Nabopolassar, with the object of
destroying the Assyrian empire. The mission was successfully accomplished in the last years of C7.
Cyaxares subsequently expanded his territories westwards across northern Mesopotamia, through
the former Assyrian heartland, into north-central Anatolia. This brought him into conflict with the
Lydian king Alyattes, who held sway over much of western Anatolia. An inconclusive battle fought
between the two kings near the Halys river – the so-called ‘battle of the eclipse’ – resulted in their con-
cluding a peace agreement, to the effect that the Halys would henceforth define the border between
their kingdoms. Cyaxares was succeeded by his son Astyages, who subjected his kingdom to thirty-five
years of despotic rule before he was overthrown by his ‘grandson’ Cyrus II (there are doubts about the
alleged family link). Cyrus went on to found the Persian empire. Medes came to play an important role
in the cultural and administrative activities of this empire, and in the defence of the realm.
This commonly accepted reconstruction of Median history, much of which comes from
Herodotus, has recently been questioned by a number of Near Eastern scholars, who doubt or
dismiss the historical validity of a ‘Median empire’. They emphasize the lack of any archaeological
evidence for Herodotus’ account, and a perceived lack of consistency between it and contem-
porary treatments of the Medes in Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian sources. It has recently been
suggested that after plundering and destroying the Assyrian cities, the Medians returned home,
leaving to their Babylonian partners the role of reconstruction and political continuity.
Lanfranchi et al. (2003); PPAWA (461–4).

Media Atropatene
This was the name of a region located in the rugged mountainous zone south-west of the Caspian
Sea. It was so called after Atropates, who governed the region between 328 and 323 bc, in the period
immediately following the destruction of the Achaemenid empire by Alexander the Great. During
the Seleucid empire, the country remained independent of Seleucid rule under a line of local kings.
215
 A B C D
Black Sea CAUCASUS
Caspian
Araxes Sea Oxus
ns
Pontic Mountai SCYTHIA
1 PHRYGIA
Halys Lake Van
Sardis
• Lake Urmia MARGIANA
LYDIA
MEDIA
CILICIA ATROPATENE
•Nineveh HYRCANIA
ASSYRIA Elbu
rz M o
u nt ai n s
Ashur
•
Cyprus SYRIA • Ecbatana PARTHIA
Euphrates
•Bisitun
Sidon •
Mediterranean Sea Tigris
ARIA
Babylon •B
AB • Susa
YL
ON
DRANGIANA
216  Other Near Eastern peoples and kingdoms

2 IA
Pasargadae
Memphis • ••
Sinai Persepolis
Desert CARMANIA
EGYPT
PERSIS
ARABIA

Persian
Thebes • Gulf
Nile
Red
3 Sea
Arabian
Sea
Core of Median territory

Regions allegedly controlled or

conquered by Medians; 0 300 600 km
extent now disputed

Media in its Near Eastern context

 57
The Neo-Babylonian empire

In the year 626, a man called Nabopolassar seized the throne of Babylon, and became the founder
of a new royal dynasty. He made an alliance with the Median king Cyaxares for the purpose of
destroying the Assyrian empire. This objective was finally achieved; in 612, the Assyrian empire
was effectively terminated when Babylonian and Median forces demolished its capital Nineveh
(though it was to be another two years before the enemy captured and sacked Harran, the final
refuge of Assyria’s last king, Ashur-uballit II). The Neo-Babylonian empire, which had its genesis
in Nabopolassar’s reign, reached its height in the reign of his son and successor Nebuchadnezzar
II, who extended Babylonian power westwards across the Euphrates to the lands in the Syrian and
Palestinian regions formerly subject to Assyria and Egypt. Jerusalem was captured in 597 and after
an uprising there totally destroyed in 586. The deportation of its population to Babylonia marked
the beginning of the Jewish exile. Sidon and Tyre on the Levantine coast were among other cities
that fell to Nebuchadnezzar. The Babylonians also extended their military operations to south-
eastern Anatolia, where Nebuchadnezzar and his second successor Neriglissar campaigned in
the countries called Pirindu (formerly Hilakku) and Hume (formerly Adanawa/Hiyawa/Que);
but there is no clear evidence that Babylon ever established lasting control over these regions.
According to biblical sources, Nebu­
chadnezzar also campaigned in
Egypt. After Nebuchadnezzar’s death,
the empire remained relatively stable
for some years, despite a series of
power struggles for the royal succes-
sion. But in 539, when its throne was
occupied by Nabonidus (who had
extended his kingdom’s frontiers into
northern Arabia and resided there
for ten years, in the oasis-city Tayma
(Taima)), it fell to the Persian king
Cyrus II. It remained under Persian
sovereignty until Alexander’s con-
quest of the Persian empire and his
triumphal entry into Babylon in 331.
Leick (2003: 61–9); Arnold (2004: Figure 57.1 Reconstruction of the Ishtar Gate, Babylon, built
87–105); Baker (AANE: 914–30); Van by King Nebuchadnezzar c. 575 bc. Photo courtesy
De Mieroop (GEAW: 70–97, 2016: of bpk/Vorderasiatisches Museum, SMB/Olaf
294–307) M.Teßmer.

217
 A B C D E F
Salt Kızıl Irmak
Lake Lake Caspian
Van
Lake Sea
Urmia
1
Carchemish
Nebuchadnezzar defeats Necho, 605 • Harran
•
Last Assyrian Nineveh
stronghold. Sacked •
by Babylonians, 610 MANNAEA

CYPRUS
Orontes
Tigris MEDIA
Euphrates
• Riblah
2 Used as base
Mediterranean by both Necho
and Nebuchadnezzar
Sea

Syrian
Babylon •
218  Other Near Eastern peoples and kingdoms

Ashkelon Desert BABYLONIA

Conquered by
Nebuchadnezzar, 604 • Jerusalem
• Destroyed by
• Babylonians, 586 ELAM
Gaza
e
3 rout
ho’s pt
Nec m Egy
fro

•
Memphis

Persian
Gulf
0 200 400 km

Nile Tayma •
4 Neo-Babylonian Kings Nebuchadnezzar’s and Necho’s
Nabopolassar 626-605 campaign route in Syria and Palestine
Red Nebuchadnezzar II 604-562
Possible route of Hebrew deportation
Sea Amel-Marduk 561-560 to Babylonia
Neriglissar 559-556
Labashi-Marduk 556 Maximum limits of Neo-Babylonian Empire
• Thebes Nabonidus 555-539

The Neo-Babylonian empire

 at
mo
N
Northern
Palace
Ishtar 0 250 500 m
Gate
Southern Palace

Marduk
Gate

Temple of
Ishtar 0 500 1000 m Summer
Palace
Enlil
Gate

po
Lugalirra Merkes

ss
i
O

bl
e
ut

Gate
e

ca
n
rW
al

al Shett

Euphra
lo

rou
Etemenanki te Zababa
fN

tes
Ziggurat
eb
uc

Euphrates
h

Zababa
ad

Gate
ne
zz
ar

Temple of
Marduk r
za
(Esangila) ez
a dn
King’s Gate ch
Temple of bu Palace
Ne Ishtar Gate
Gula Temple of of
Ninurta all al
rW n
te ca
Ou
Urash
Gate
Adad Gate

Shamash
Gate

Babylon in the age of Nebuchadnezzar (after Finkel and Seymour 2008: 40)
The Neo-Babylonian empire 219
 58
The Arabs

The name Arabia, first attested in Herodotus, applies to a large, arid and semi-arid region extend-
ing southwards from the Syrian Desert into the Arabian peninsula. High mountains on the penin-
sula’s western and southern sides fringe an interior plateau – mainly desert but once well watered,
as indicated by its numerous ancient wadi systems. The southern part of the region was called
Arabia Felix in Roman times. Further north lay the much larger Arabia Deserta. A third com-
ponent of Arabia, as defined in Classical sources, was Arabia Petraea, which extended north-
westwards from the peninsula of Sinai to what is now Jordan, and included the Nabataean king-
dom of which Petra was the original capital. Politically and culturally, Arabia was a diverse region.
But the inhabitants of many parts of it engaged in the pursuit of widespread and highly profitable
international trading enterprises. Egypt, Mesopotamia, Iran, and the Indus valley were among the
lands of the Near Eastern world and its neighbours with which Arabian merchants traded, by both
land and sea. The land enterprises were conducted by caravaneers, using important centres like
Dedan and Tayma in north-western Arabia as staging posts along their routes. Incense and spices
accounted for much of the wealth they derived from their trading activities.
The name ‘Arab’ first appears in the annals of the Neo-Assyrian king Shalmaneser III, who reports
that Gindibu the Arab joined the coalition of anti-Assyrian states that confronted him at Qarqar on the
Orontes in 853. Gindibu contributed a thousand camels to the alliance. In the following two centuries,
Assyrian kings had contacts and were involved in conflicts with a number of peoples called Arabs dur-
ing their western campaigns. Around 740, Tiglath-pileser III included a woman called Zabibe, ‘Queen
of the Arabs’, among his tributaries west of the Euphrates. Attempts to tap into the wealth generated by
the Arabs’ profitable incense trade may well have been a prime motive behind Assyrian interest in these
peoples. Arab groups were almost certainly participants in the massive deportation and resettlement
programmes carried out by Tiglath-pileser’s successor-but-one, Sargon II, shortly after his accession. It
is most likely that Arabs were part of the resettlement programmes throughout the Assyrian empire, as
Assyrian kings sought to integrate them within the social and administrative structure of the empire. In
the following century, the Assyrian king Esarhaddon’s conquest of Egypt was facilitated by the provi-
sion of camels to him by Arabs in the Sinai region.
Until the early centuries of M1 ad, ‘Arab’ appears not to have had any specific ethnic significance.
It simply designated groups of pastoralists and itinerant merchants, located in various regions in the
Syrian desert, in the Sinai, in Jordan, in Arabia and along the banks of the Euphrates, who belonged
to tribes and had a nomadic or oasis-settlement lifestyle. We know the names of some of their tribal
groups at this time primarily from biblical and Assyrian sources. Though relationships between the
Assyrians and these groups were sometimes hostile, when they joined enemy-alliances or rebellions,
or plundered cultivated lands under Assyrian authority, they were at other times peaceful and coop-
erative, as illustrated by the Sinai Arabs’ support of Esarhaddon’s Egyptian campaign. Undoubtedly

220
 Euphrates Tigris
A B • C D
‘Aqaba Ur MESOPOTAMIA
Major, longstanding port city,
• called Ailat in Roman times KUWAIT Failaka
Sinai
• Qurayyah Persian
1 Tayma PERSIA
Cult centre of moon god Sin.
Meda’in Saleh Babylonian king Nabonidus resided Gulf
Identified with Hegra, southern • 10 years here
administrative centre of the
Nabataean kingdom •
SAUDI BAHRAIN
Qal‘at al Bahrain
• Dedan
Prosperous oasis caravan Most important settlement
•
centre (from C6 BC on)
ARABIA in land of Dilmun
Tell Abraq •
QATAR
• U.A.E.
Ar
Nile Medina • Gulf of Oman
Sohar
ab
Yathrib in pre-Islamic era. Occupation levels
Important oasis commercial centre from M1 BC to early
ian
Red Pe Islamic period

2 Sea
nin
sul
• Mecca
Famous pilgrimage and cult
a
centre since at least 1900 BC OMAN
• Qaryat al Fau
Flourishing city from c. 300 BC to AD 300.
Noted for 5 temples, and 2-storeyed market

• Najran
Occupation levels from mid C6 BC to mid C3 AD

3
• Marib Arabian Sea

Himyar
YEMEN

0 250 500 km • Aden Major emporium (for frankincense trade etc.) since prehistoric times
Bab el-Mandeb

The Arabian Peninsula: ancient sites

The Arabs 221
 Kingdoms of Southern Arabia
’AWSAN (AUSIN): Important kingdom in 1st half of M1 BC, MA‘IN: Kingdom inhabited by Minaeans. Dates back
which flourished on frankincense trade through access to to C6 BC and reaches political and commercial peak in C3 BC.
Arabian Sea ports. A text of Saba claims conquest of it in C7 BC.
QATABAN: Became powerful independent kingdom, formerly
1 HADHRAMAUT: One of the dominant powers of southern Arabia subject to Saba, by late C5 BC. Conquered and absorbed by
from C5 BC on. Hadhramaut, probably late C1 BC.

HIMYAR: Land of the Homerites in Classical tradition, perhaps SABA (SHEBA): In legendary tradition, seat of the Queen of
founded c. 115 BC and lasting until the end of the pre-Islamic era. Sheba (C10 BC). For much of M1 BC, the dominant kingdom
The largest of the southern Arabian kingdoms, it was frequently of southern Arabia.
in conflict with its neighbours, and sometimes extended its control
over them, e.g. Hadhramaut.

• Shabwa
Capital of Hadhramaut. Occupation
levels extend back to C16 BC
MA‘IN YEMEN
Marib
SABA • Capital of Saba. Noted for temple
of Awwam, dedicated to moon god
(SHEBA) Timnah • HADHRAMAUT
2 Capital of Qataban.
222  Other Near Eastern peoples and kingdoms

Red Major caravan centre, • Hajar Bin Humeid

noted also for its temple Small settlement-mound on major caravan route.
Sea and cemetery complex Eighteen occupation levels, from C11 BC to C2-4 AD

HIMYAR QATABAN

’AWSAN (AUSIN)?

3 Arabian Sea

0 100 200 km

A B C D

Southern Arabia: ancient kingdoms

 The Arabs 223

Persian
Gulf
Gulf of Oman
U.A.E.
SAUDI
ARABIA

OMAN

Red
Sea

Arabian
Sea

YEMEN

The Arabian Peninsula today (NASA satellite image)

there was a strong commercial dimension in the dealings between Assyrian kings and Arab groups;
the latter must have been promised a significant degree of Assyrian protection in their commercial
enterprises, in exchange for a substantial share of the profits with their overlord.
In Arabia, the term ‘Arab’ is first attested in C2 bc inscriptions discovered in Yemen, but was
apparently not used as an ethic self-designation until C4 ad. The emergence of a specific Arab
identity was associated with the use of a specific Semitic language, ‘Arabic’, which developed in
Arabia and spread from there into various parts of western Asia and north Africa. A unifying cul-
ture developed along with the language, and from that ‘Arab’ came to be used as an ethno-cultural
term. A high degree of literacy was characteristic of the societies of western Arabia, as attested
by the tens of thousands of inscriptions and graffiti, dating from mid M1 bc onwards, that have
turned up in the region. The language of the inscriptions, which is written in an alphabetic script,
belongs to a north-west Semitic language group.
During M1 bc, six kingdoms emerged in south-western Arabia, in the region of modern Yemen.
The earliest and most notable was Saba, better known by the name Sheba, frequently attested in
biblical sources and famous in tradition for its legendary ruler, the Queen of Sheba. Saba was long
dominant in southern Arabia, until its decline in C4 bc when it was eclipsed by the kingdoms of
Qataban, Hadhramaut, and Ma‘in. It regained its dominance with the rise of Himyar in late C2
bc, and subsequently formed with Himyar the kingdom of Saba and Dhu-Raydan. ’Awsan, which
flourished in the first half of M1 bc, was another important kingdom of the region.
Relevant articles in CANE (2: 1335–69); OEANE (1: 159–69).
 59
Armenia

The mountainous region called Armenia extended over a large part of eastern Anatolia. In the
west, it bordered upon Cappadocia, and from there stretched eastwards, passing north of Syria
and Mesopotamia, to the the lands around Lake Van, and thenceforth to the Araxes river valley
where it bordered upon Media Atropatene (which included the territory of modern Azerbaijan).
A number of kingdoms emerged in the region, or imposed their authority upon it, during the
historical period. The earliest significant one was the Iron Age kingdom of Urartu, whose core
territories radiated out from Lake Van. Armenia was subsequently incorporated into the Persian
empire and became a client state of Alexander the Great. After Alexander’s death, it later fell
within the administrative orbit of the Seleucid dynasty.
As the Seleucid empire declined in C2 bc, Armenia came under the influence of the emerg-
ing Parthian empire. Though Parthia’s rulers lacked the resources to impose direct control
over it, many of them exercised an interventionist role there by propping up or disposing of
local rulers. Yet sometimes Armenia’s rulers strongly asserted their independence. The most
notable was Tigranes II, who came to power with the support of Parthia c. 100 bc, and then
in alliance with his father-in-law Mithridates VI, king of Pontus, embarked on a programme
of military expansion which resulted in his occupation of Cappadocia, the north-western end
of Mesopotamia, Syria and eastern Cilicia. His Syrian enterprise helped finish off the Seleucid
dynasty, and inadvertently pave the way for Pompey the Great’s creation of the Roman prov-
ince of Syria in 64 bc. From this time on, Rome sought to extend its influence into and over
Armenia, inevitably generating disputes and conflicts with Parthia for control of the region.
The local rulers, or royal pretenders, often skilfully exploited the contest for their own advan-
tage. Armenia’s sympathies and affinities probably lay more with Parthia than with Rome,
but its rulers were flexible in their loyalties, depending on where they felt their best interests
lay. Not that they always had a say in this. Military intervention was sometimes used by one or
other of the great powers to place a king of their liking upon Armenia’s throne, by deposing
the appointee or protégé of the other.
During the Roman period, a distinction was drawn between a Greater and Lesser Armenia.
The former included all Armenian territories east of the upper Euphrates, the latter the Armenian
territories north of the river, in the region inland from the south-eastern shores of the Black Sea.
The issue of control over Greater Armenia was resolved, temporarily, by the Roman emperor
Trajan, who annexed the region in ad 114. But in the following centuries, the Armenian ques-
tion resurfaced on a number of occasions, particularly during the period of the Sasanian empire,
which emerged after the overthrow of the last Parthian king in ad 224. Lesser Armenia had, from

224
 A B C D E F

Caspian
1 Sea
(GEORGIA)
Black Sea

G R E AT E R
Kura
ARMENIA
2 LESSER ARMENIA (Kars) • Lake
Sevan

Euphrates Mount ▲
Ararat
(AZERBAIJAN)
nias
C A P PA - te s - Arsa Araxes
Euphra Lake Van
DOCIA Eastern

3 SOPHENE • (Van)

Tigris
MEDIA
Lake
Urmia AT R O PAT E N E

4
M E S O P O TA M I A

0 150 300 km

Modern Names in Brackets

Armenia 225

Armenia
226  Other Near Eastern peoples and kingdoms

Pompey’s time, a large number of short-lived rulers – some of local origin, others the rulers of
nearby states who were granted sovereignty over it by Rome – until the emperor Vespasian (ad
69–79) incorporated the region into the province of Cappadocia.
Drower et al. (OCD: 170–1); Garsoïn (OEANE 1: 202–7).
 60
The Persian (Achaemenid) empire

In mid C6 bc a new power arose in south-western Iran, in the region of Parsa (modern Fars). Here,
a man called Cyrus (II), later known as Cyrus the Great, founded an empire which lasted until
330 bc. At its peak, this first Persian empire extended from the western frontiers of India through
Afghanistan, Iran, across Mesopotamia and Syria to Egypt, and westwards to Anatolia’s Aegean
coast. It is commonly called the Achaemenid empire, after Achaemenes, an alleged ancestor of
the royal line. Cyrus took the first steps towards its creation when he united the separate Persian
tribes and overthrew the Persians’ despotic overlord Astyages, king of Media. Strabo claims that
he established his new capital Pasargadae on the site of his victory over Astyages. Media was now
incorporated into the fledgling Persian empire. Henceforth the Medes were to play an important
role within it, and were acknowledged as its second most important ethnic group.
The conquest of Media paved the way for Cyrus’ conquests in the regions which lay north,
including perhaps the last vestiges of the former kingdom of Urartu. Subsequently, Cyrus
marched westwards, into Anatolia, where he defeated the Lydian king Croesus and incorporated
the territories where he held sway, including the Ionian Greek cities along the Aegean coast, into
his empire. Croesus’ capital Sardis became the western headquarters of the Persian administra-
tion. Then Cyrus turned his attention upon the Neo-Babylonian kingdom, now weak and divided
under its current ruler Nabonidus. Babylon itself fell without a battle (539). In the following year,
according to biblical sources, Cyrus issued a decree permitting the Jews to return to their home-
land from their captivity in Babylonia.
The empire’s subject territories east of Iran were acquired probably during a campaign which
Cyrus conducted in these regions after his conquest of Babylonia. He was subsequently killed
while fighting rebel forces on the eastern frontiers. But his programme of territorial expansion
continued under his son and successor Cambyses (II) (530–522), who conquered Cyprus, invaded
Egypt, defeated the pharaoh Psammetichus III in a battle outside Memphis, and incorporated
the whole of his kingdom into the Persian empire. After a three-year stay in Egypt, Cambyses
was recalled by news of a rebellion in his homeland. He died in Syria under suspicious circum-
stances during his homeward journey. From the resulting squabbles that arose over the royal
succession, a man called Darius, formerly a commander in Cambyses’ army, emerged triumphant,
occupying the throne as Darius I. The first year of his reign was marked by a number of upris-
ings, which he ruthlessly put down, as recorded in his famous Bisitun inscription. Then he set
his sights on expanding further his empire. Indeed, the Persian realm reached its greatest extent
during his reign, with new campaigns in the east, the conquest of parts of northern India, and
the acquisition of the region Hindush or Sind along the banks of the Indus. He now prepared to
extend his empire westwards into Europe. But while he managed to establish a Persian presence

227
228  Other Near Eastern peoples and kingdoms

A B C D

SCYTHIA
Darius I’s campaign (c. 513)

Danube
Cau
casu
s Mo
Black Sea unta
ins
Caspian
Sea
THRACE PAPHLAGONIA
ARMENIA
•Dascylium
2 Halys Araxes
LYDIA
Lake Van
• Sardis
CA Cyrus II defeats Croesus (546). Lake Urmia
Western satrapal headquarters ME
Miletus • RIA SO Tigris
PAM CILICIA • PO
LYCIA PHYL Issus
MEDIA
IA TA
M IA
• Arbela
HYRCANI
CYPRUS Ecbatana
Conquered by Cyrus II (c. 545) SYRIA LURISTAN
Median capital
•
• Byblos
Euphrates
Bisitun •
Mediterranean provide ships for Persian fleet
Darius I’s trilingual inscription
Sea • Sidon
Tyre• ELAM
Babylon • Susa
•
Conquered by Cyrus II (539) BAB administrative
Persian
•
3 Jerusalem
Liberated Jews return
YL centre
ON
IA
Naqsh-i Rustam
Cliff-face royal tombs
to homeland (538)

Memphis • • •• • Pe
Cambyses II secures
Anshan Cap
Egypt in military victory
ARABIA Homeland of Dar
Persian royal
outside Memphis (525) dynasty
PARSA
• Tayma (PERSIS)
Nile • Dedan
Persian
Gulf

Red
4 KUSH Sea

Maximum extent
of Persian Empire

Royal Road (2500 km)

The Achaemenid empire at the end of the 6th cent. bc

 The Persian (Achaemenid) empire 229

D E F
Persian kinglist
Teispes c. 650-620 Xerxes I 486-465
Cyrus I c. 620-590 Artaxerxes I 465-424
Cambyses I c. 590-559 Xerxes II 424
Cyrus II 559-530 Darius II 424-404
Cambyses II 530-522 Artaxerxes II 404-359
Bardiya 522 Artaxerxes III 359-338
Darius I 522-486 Artaxerxes IV (Arses) 338-336
Darius III 336-330

MASSAGETAE
Aral
Sea
Cyrus killed in Jaxartes (Syr Darya)
battle here?

Caspian SAKA
Sea HAUMAVARGA
CHORASMIA
Oxus (Amu Darya)
Cyropolis
Araxes
• • FERGHANA
SAKA MARGIANA Maracanda
TIGRAKHAUDA

ke Urmia
BACTRIA
MEDIA

HYRCANIA GANDHARA
Ecbatana
Median capital Kabul
• PARTHIA •
situn •
ription
ARIA •
Taxila
ELAM
Susa
Persian •
ministrative DRANGIANA Helmand ARACHOSIA
ON centre Naqsh-i Rustam Pasargadae •Kandahar
IA Cliff-face royal tombs Capital founded by
Cyrus II (late 540s) Dahan-i •
• •• • Persepolis
Ghulaman
Anshan Capital founded by SATTAGYDIA
Homeland of Darius I (518)
Persian royal
dynasty
PARSA CARMANIA Indus
(PERSIS)

Persian
Gulf GEDROSIA

Arabian
Sea
um extent
an Empire

Road (2500 km) 0 500 1,000 km

230  Other Near Eastern peoples and kingdoms

in Thrace and Macedonia and the northern Aegean, his attempts, and those of his son and succes-
sor Xerxes, to impose Persian sovereignty over the Greek mainland states (between 490 and 480)
ended in failure. After his withdrawal from the Greek mainland, Xerxes reigned another fifteen
years, before being assassinated in a palace conspiracy in 465. In the subsequent squabbles over
the royal succession, his son Artaxerxes I emerged the winner. When Artaxerxes died after a forty-
year reign, the contests for the throne broke out afresh. They were in fact to be a feature of every
succession until the empire’s fall.
Despite royal coups and palace conspiracies, the Achaemenid empire remained a relatively
stable and efficient organization until Alexander the Great ended it in 330 after defeating its last
king Darius III. One of its most distinctive features was its division, by Darius I, into twenty prov-
inces, called satrapies, governed by satraps who were often rulers of local origin. Communications
between various parts of the empire were facilitated by the development of a network of major
roads, the most famous of which was the ‘Royal Road’ linking Susa with Sardis. To help ensure the
empire’s stability, Darius I created a powerful standing army of professional soldiers. Its backbone
was an elite force of Persians and Medes known as the Ten Thousand Immortals. For their opera-
tions by sea, the Persians had at their disposal a large navy consisting initially of ships provided
by Phoenician cities along the Syro-Palestinian seaboard. The policy of Darius and his successors
of employing craftsmen and artists from every part of the empire for their public works gave a
rich, eclectic, cosmopolitan character to Persian material culture, to an extent unparallelled in any
earlier or contemporary civilization.
Brosius (2006); Kuhrt (2007); Shahbazi (OHIH: 120–41); Henkelman and Khatchadourian
(AANE: 931–83).

Persepolis

Persepolis was founded by Darius I to replace Pasargadae as

the Persian royal capital. It became the new administrative
centre of the empire, and the place where coronations, royal
burials and other major ceremonies and festivals were held.
The city’s most distinctive feature is its great stone terrace
known as the Takht (= ‘throne’ in Persian). On it were a num-
ber of monumental buildings, constructed by Darius and his
successors. Entry was via the so-called All Nations Gate, built
by Darius’ son and successor Xerxes and guarded by two pairs
of colossal stone bulls, one pair with wings and human heads.
Columned halls and porticoes were prominent architectural
features of the complex. Its most notable buildings include the
so-called Hall of 100 Columns (the throne-room?), the palaces
of Darius and Xerxes, the so-called harem of Xerxes, and the
Apadana, a great square Audience Hall.
Persepolis was looted and destroyed by Alexander in 330.
He reportedly carried off 120,000 talents of gold and silver
Figure 60.1 ‘Gate of All Nations’,
Persepolis. Photo by from its treasury.
Trevor Bryce. Stronach and Codella (OEANE 4: 273–7); PPAWA (538–43).
 The Persian (Achaemenid) empire 231

Fortification Wall Constructed 500-480 BC

Constructed 480-470 BC

Constructed 470-440 BC
All Nations
Gate

Apadana

Hall of 100
Columns

Palace of
Darius Palace of
Xerxes

Treasury

N
0 50 100 Metres

Persepolis (after Roaf 1996: 218)

 61
The Persian invasions of the
western Greek world

In 499 bc, a number of the Ionian Greek states in Asia Minor rebelled against Persian rule, with
the support of Athens and the small state of Eretria on the island of Euboea. The rebellion was
crushed by Darius I in 494, but it allegedly provided one of the prompts for Darius’ naval invasion
in 490 of the western Greek world, including the islands of the Cyclades and the Greek mainland.
(This followed a Persian land and sea campaign to the west in 492, which resulted in the conquest
of Thrace and Macedonia but was ended prematurely because of several major setbacks, including
the destruction of a large part of Persia’s fleet in a storm off Cape Athos.) The Persian navy gained
control of a number of Cycladic islands en route, captured Eretria through an act of treachery, and
anchored in the bay of Marathon in preparation for an assault upon Athens, 35 km away. Here on
the Marathon plain, the Persians were resoundingly defeated by forces from Athens and Plataea
(the latter lay in Boeotia in central Greece), and forced to abandon their Greek campaign. But
Darius’ successor Xerxes (486–465) made plans for a fresh assault upon mainland Greece, prepar-
ing a massive force for a coordinated invasion by land and sea, under his personal command, via
the coast of Thrace and Macedonia. The Persians advanced with little resistance through the Greek
mainland until they reached Athens, which they captured and destroyed. But they were forced to
abort their invasion when they suffered major defeats by the allied Greek forces in a sea battle in
the strait of Salamis just off the coast of Attica (480) and a land battle the following year at Plataea.
Miles (2010: 119–22).

232
 A B C D E F
Black Sea
Thrace
1 •Abdera

Macedonia Thasos
canal t
conquered on
(492) sp
Potidaea • Abydos
• Helle
Cape
Athos
Macedonia

2 Thessaly Lesbos
Aegean
• Pergamum Asia Minor
•
Artemisium
Sea
• Eu
Thermopylae bo ea
Delphi • • Chalcis • Sardis
Ma
• Eretria continues to Chios •Smyrna
ra Salamis
Plataea
• n
tho
• fle
befoet cap
Megara re a ture
ttac s Ere
• • •
• Salamis Athens king tria
Ma
Corinth rath
Pe Samos
on
Aegina •
lop
Cape
on
3 ne Mycale •Miletus
s

e
Ionian Sparta • •Naxos
Sea Cy Caria
cla
Melos • des
Lycia

Rhodes
4
Route of Darius’ army and fleet (492)
Route of Darius’ fleet (490)
Route of Xerxes’ army (480) Crete
0 100 200 km
Route of Xerxes’ fleet (480)

The Persian invasions of Greece under Darius I and Xerxes I (492–480)

The Persian invasions of the western Greek world 233
 62
Alexander the Great

In 334 bc, the young Macedonian king Alexander the Great landed his army on the north-west
coast of Anatolia, the first step in his campaign to destroy the Persian empire. After paying hom-
age at Troy to the heroes of the Trojan War, he marched 70 kms eastwards to the Granicus river
where he engaged the forces of the Persian king Darius III. His decisive victory paved the way
for his subsequent progress, with little resistance, along the western and south-western coast of
Anatolia through Lycia, Pisidia and part of Pamphylia. From there he marched north to Gordium
in Phrygia, and thence from Ancyra south-eastwards to the plains of eastern Cilicia through a
pass in the Taurus mts. In Cilicia, he saved the city of Tarsus from destruction by the local Persian
satrap before his next confrontation with Darius’ forces, in November 333, near the town of Issus,
just west of the Amanus range. Victorious once again, he marched along the Syrian coast, where
he seized from Persian control the coastal Phoenician cities which provided the bulk of the Persian
navy. Only the city of Tyre offered serious resistance, falling after a seven-month siege. Alexander
then set his sights on the conquest of Egypt, entering it in November 332, and thereupon impos-
ing his sovereignty upon it. Before leaving Egypt, he made a pilgrimage to an oasis in the Libyan
desert called Siwah, where a famous sanctuary of the god Ammon, identified with Greek Zeus, was

Figure 62.1 The battle of Issus mosaic, Naples Museum. Photo courtesy of akg-images.

234
 A B C D E F

Aral
Sea

THRACE Black Sea

MACEDONIA Caspian
Pella Sea Alexandria
2 • Ancyra Eschate
• • Granicus River ARMENIA Oxus •
Troy •G • (Client State)
ord
ium
• Sardis
• Ephesus Tigris
Tarsus • •Issus Susia
•Gaugamela • BACTRIA Bactra •
•s •Phaselis
u
• Arbela •
nth •Thapsacus Ecbatana Hecatompylus
Xa
• PARTHIA
Euphrates
Mediterranean Sea • Sidon •Taxila
Tyre• • Opis
• Susa
Syrian Babylon •
Alexandria
• Jerusalem
•Gaza Desert
3 • •Pelusium
•Memphis • Persepolis
•
Siwah PERSIS

CARMANIA
INDIA
GEDROSIA
ARABIA Indus
Persian
Libyan • Thebes Gulf
Desert sea route of
Alexander’s fleet
commanded by Nearchus
Red
Sea
Nile
Alexander’s main land routes
4 approximate extent of
Alexander’s military conquests Arabian
Sea
0 400 800 km
Alexander the Great 235

Alexander’s ‘empire’
236  Other Near Eastern peoples and kingdoms

located. Here he was hailed by the priests as the son of Zeus-Ammon. In the Delta he founded the
city of Alexandria, the most important of a number of cities of this name established by him or in
the wake of his conquests.
In the spring of 331, Alexander returned to Tyre. He paused there for a time before leading his
forces to the Euphrates in preparation for his final showdown with Darius, near a village called
Gaugamela, located in northern Mesopotamia just east of the Tigris (summer, 331). His decisive
victory ended Darius’ reign, and with it the Persian empire. Thereupon, the Macedonian marched
eastwards through Iran, where he visited Susa and looted and burned the Persian royal capital
Persepolis (330), and then through Afghanistan into north-western India (327) before the restive-
ness of his troops compelled him to turn back. He arrived in Babylon in 323, where he succumbed
to a fever and died, at the age of thirty-two.
Sommer and Harrison (GEAW: 148–63); Miles (2010: 147–58); Venetis (OHIH: 142–52).
 Part IX

The Hellenistic world

This Page is Intentionally Left Blank
 63
The Hellenistic age

‘Hellenistic’ is a term devised by a C19 scholar (J.G. Droysen) to refer to the post-Classical period of
Greek civilization. This is generally identified as the period between Alexander’s death in 323 and
the defeat in 31 bc of the last Ptolemaic ruler, Cleopatra VII (along with her paramour and comrade-
in-arms Mark Antony) by the Roman commander Octavian in the battle of Actium. The period is
notable particularly for the rise of the great empires established by two of Alexander’s Macedonian
heirs, the Seleucid empire founded by Seleucus I and the Ptolemaic empire by Ptolemy I.
Hellenistic civilization is characterized by the spread of Greek culture through many parts of
the eastern world, but also by a blend of Greek and non-Greek elements within it, as reflected
in the art and architecture of many of the newly-built or rebuilt cities located across its rapidly
expanding international trading network. Commerce and industry flourished. Scientific expedi-
tions were despatched to all parts of the known world, and scientific institutions were set up in
a number of cities, leading to significant advances in many fields of knowledge, from medicine
to mathematics to astronomy. All this despite the fact that the Hellenistic world was frequently
plunged into warfare between the competing Hellenistic states, notably the Seleucid and Ptolemaic
empires, and sometimes by rival factions within them.
Ma (2013).

Alexander’s heirs
Shortly after Alexander’s death, a meeting was held in Babylon by most of Alexander’s leading mili-
tary commanders to determine how his empire would henceforth be ruled. Antipater, Alexander’s
chief representative in Europe, and Craterus, his highest-ranking military officer, were given joint
command of Macedonia and the rest of mainland Greece. Perdiccas, another of Alexander’s high-
ranking officers, was appointed Chiliarch; this title literally meant ‘Commander of a Thousand’,
but in effect it made its holder the regent of the whole empire. Other generals of the dead king
were allocated rule over the regions organized as satrapies under the previous Persian admin-
istration: thus in the western half of Alexander’s domains, Egypt went to Ptolemy, Antigonus
got Greater Phrygia (along with Lycia and Pamphylia), Leonnatus was awarded Hellespontine
Phrygia, Cappadocia and Paphlagonia were assigned to Eumenes, Lydia to Menander, Caria
to Asander, Thrace to Lysimachus, and Syria to Laomedon. To begin with, these new arrange-
ments appeared to have ensured a smooth transition of power. But before long, hostilities erupted
between Perdiccas, who feared for the security of his position and sought to reinforce it with
plots and intrigues, and his fellow-heirs Antipater, Craterus and Antigonus. Ptolemy was brought
into the conflict when Perdiccas invaded Egypt. Here, the whole episode ended abruptly when
Perdiccas’ troops mutinied and assassinated him (321).

239
 A THRACE
B C D
Lysimachus Black Sea PAPHLAGONIA
Eumenes
PONTUS
MACEDONIA BITHYNIA
1 HELLESPONTINE
Antipater Halys
Craterus PHRYGIA A N A T O L I A
Leonnatus
240  The Hellenistic world

GREECE PHRYGIA
LYDIA CAPPADOCIA
Menander Antigonus Eumenes
CA
Asander RIA
PAMPHYLIA CILICIA
LYCIA Philoxenus
Euphrates
RHODES
2 CRETE

SYRIA

CYPRUS Laomedon

Mediterranean Sea

Alexandria
•
3
EGYPT
Ptolemy
Nile Shaded areas indicate approximately
0 250 500 km the core territories of Alexander’s
successors in 323 B.C.

The evolution of the Hellenistic kingdoms, map 1: initial western allocations to Alexander’s heirs (Babylon conference, 323)
 A B C D E F

1
Aral Jaxartes (Syr Darya)

Danube
Sea
Cauc
Antipater appointed asus (UZBEKISTAN)
Mou
THRACE Royal Commander nta
of Europe ins
Lysimachus
Black Sea Caspian (KYRGYZSTAN)
PAPHLAGONIA Oxus (Amu Darya)
Sea
PONTUS
HELLESPONTINE Halys
PHRYGIA (TURKEY) (TURKMENISTAN) SOGDIANA
Arrhidaeus Lake Van Araxes

PHRYGIA CAPPADOCIA
2 LYDIA Nicanor Lake Urmia (TAJIKISTAN)
CARIA
Antigonus
us
Cleit PAM CILICIA BACTRIA
GANDHARA
ME
s a n der LYCIA
PHY
Stasanor
A LIA Philoxenus SO US
MEDIA M
IS s Peithon
(son of Agenor)
PO
PO rte
TA Tigris Peithon PARTHIA
Antigonus appointed M PA
RA xya
Royal Commander SYRIA Euphrates IA Philip O
of Asia CYPRUS Laomedon
(IRAN)
(AFGHANISTAN)
Mediterranean Sea B
PALESTINE
Syrian Se ABY
leu LO
Desert cu NIA
s ARACHOSIA
SUSIANA Helmand
Sibyrtius
Antigenes
3 EGYPT
Ptolemy PERSIS
CARMANIA Indus
Pe
ARABIA Peucestas
Tlepolemus
rsi
an
Nile (PAKISTAN) MAURYAN
Gu
lf EMPIRE

4 Red Arabian Sea

Sea
Shaded areas indicate approximately
the core territories of Alexander’s
successors in 320 B.C. 0 400 800 km
(TURKMENISTAN) Modern Name

The evolution of the Hellenistic kingdoms, map 2: reallocations of Alexander’s Near Eastern conquests (Triparadisus conference, 320)
The Hellenistic age 241
 A B C D E F

0 400 800 km
1
Aral
Danube
Sea Jaxartes (Syr Darya)
(UZBEKISTAN)
THRACE Black Sea
Caspian (KYRGYZSTAN)
PAPHLAGONIA ARMENIA
Lysimachus Oxus (Amu Darya)
242  The Hellenistic world

Sea CHORASMIA
BITHYNIA PONTUS
HELLESPONTINE Halys
PHRYGIA
Antigonus Araxes
(TURKMENISTAN) SOGDIANA
PHRYGIA Lake Van
MARGIANA
CAPPADOCIA
LYDIA •
2 Ipsus Lake Urmia
CARIA
ANATOLIA
PAM CILICIA ME BACTRIA GANDHARA
LYCIA PHY
L S
IA SO HYRCANIA U
MEDIA IS
PO M
TA Tigris PARTHIA APO
M R
SYRIA Euphrates IA PA
CYPRUS
Mediterranean Sea (IRAN) (AFGHANISTAN)

Syrian BA Seleucus ARIA

PALESTINE BY
Desert LO DRANGIANA ARACHOSIA
NI
A
Helmand
SUSIANA

3 Ptolemy
PERSIS
Indus
Pe
ARABIA
CARMANIA (PAKISTAN)
rsi
an
Nile MAURYAN
Gu
lf GEDROSIA
EMPIRE

Arabian Sea
EGYPT 323 Death of Alexander Division of Territory in 311 B.C.
323 Babylon conference settlement
320 Triparadisus conference settlement Lysimachus Seleucus
319 Antigonus gains ascendancy among heirs
4 Red 312-305 Seleucus I establishes authority
through eastern lands Ptolemy Antigonus
Sea
311 Peace concluded between Antigonus
and co-heirs Mauryan Empire
311 First official year (in Seleucid tradition)
of Seleucid dynasty
305 First official year of Seleucus I’s reign (TURKMENISTAN) Modern Name
301 Antigonus killed in battle at Ipsus

The evolution of the Hellenistic kingdoms, map 3: the main divisions of power in the Near East after the peace accord of 311
 The Hellenistic age 243

The following year, a second top-level meeting was held at a town called Triparadisus (probably
located on the Orontes r.) in northern Syria. It resulted in a new agreement. Antipater became
regent of the empire and confirmed as ruler of Macedonia (Craterus had been killed the previous
year), Ptolemy was confirmed as ruler of Egypt, and Antigonus of Phrygia. A further outcome
of the meeting was that Seleucus, one of Alexander’s most steadfast comrades-in-arms, became
governor of Babylonia. But after Antipater’s death in 319, Antigonus provoked fresh tensions
when he sought to establish his supremacy over all Alexander’s conquered lands from Media in
Iran through Mesopotamia to the western coast of Asia Minor. An anti-Antigonus alliance was
formed, led by Cassander of Macedon, Lysimachus of Thrace and Ptolemy of Egypt, the last sup-
ported by Seleucus. In the conflicts that followed, Antigonus invaded Thrace, and sent his son
Demetrius to Syria and Palestine to open up a second front. But the Antigonid cause received a
major setback when Demetrius’ forces were soundly defeated. Seleucus had made a substantial
contribution to the victory, and was rewarded by Ptolemy with 1,000 troops with which he set out
to win back control of Babylonia, seized by Antigonus, and beyond it the Iranian lands of Media
and Susiana, then in the hands of rulers loyal to Antigonus.
This set the scene for further conflict with Antigonus. Seleucus could not call upon Ptolemy’s
support in these contests, for Ptolemy and his allies Lysimachus and Cassander had concluded a
peace with Antigonus in 311, which acknowledged the latter as supreme ruler in Asia. That left
Seleucus on his own to contest with Antigonus sovereignty over
the lands east of the Euphrates. Several years of warfare fol-
lowed, from which Seleucus finally emerged victorious, in 308.
Antigonus returned to the west, where he still wielded enor-
mous power and influence. The final reckoning was yet to come.
This happened in 301, when the peace which Antigonus had
made with his fellow-heirs in 311 ended abruptly, and Seleucus
joined forces with Lysimachus, Cassander and Ptolemy for a
final showdown with Antigonus near the small town of Ipsus
in Phrygia. Antigonus was defeated and killed in the conflict.
In the wake of their victory, the allied leaders divided among
themselves the territorial spoils of conquest. Lysimachus
was granted a large chunk of Asia Minor, in addition to his
Thracian domain, and Ptolemy was confirmed as ruler of Egypt.
Seleucus was awarded Coele Syria and Phoenicia, in addition to
Babylonia and the lands to the east in Iran and central Asia.
Though he subsequently ceded Coele Syria and Phoenicia to
Ptolemy (who was already occupying them, as he had on earlier
Figure 63.1 Seleucus I ‘the
occasions), he gained northern Syria for himself and was later Conqueror’. Photo
to win possession of large areas of eastern and central Anatolia. courtesy of akg-
Shipley (2000); Austin (2006); Sommer and Harrison images/Andrea
(GEAW: 164–73); Miles (2010: 158–79); Waterfield (2011). Baguzzi.
 A B C D E F

0 400 800 km
1
Aral
Sea Jaxartes (Syr Darya)
Danube Cauca
sus M
oun
THRACE Black Sea tai
ns
Caspian (KYRGYZSTAN)
PAPHLAGONIA Oxus (Amu Darya)
244  The Hellenistic world

ARMENIA Sea
BITHYNIA PONTUS
Halys
Lysimachus Araxes
(TURKMENISTAN)
PHRYGIA Lake Van (TAJIKISTAN)
LYDIA • CAPPADOCIA
2 Ipsus Lake Urmia
CARIA PAM CILICIA ME
LYCIA PHY
L IA Antioch
SO
• PO
TA Tigris
SYRIA M
Euphrates IA
CYPRUS (IRAN)
Mediterranean Sea (AFGHANISTAN)

Syrian BA
Seleucus
PALESTINE BY
Desert LO
NIA
Helmand

3
Ptolemy Indus
Pe
ARABIA rsi
(PAKISTAN)
an
Nile MAURYAN
Gu
lf EMPIRE

EGYPT Seleucid kinglist (305-64 BC) (Overlapping dates indicate competing regimes) Division of Territory After
the Battle
Indian Ocean of Ipsus, 301 B.C.
Seleucus I Nicator 305-281 Antiochus VI Epiphanes 145-142
Antiochus I Soter 281-261 Diodotus Tryphon 142-139/8 Lysimachus Seleucus I
4 Red Antiochus II Theos 261-246 Antiochus VII Sidetes 139/8-129
Seleucus II Callinicus 246-225 Demetrius II (restored) 129-125
Sea Seleucus III Soter 225-223 Cleopatra Thea 125 Ptolemy I
Antiochus III Megas 223-187 Seleucus V 125
Seleucus IV Philopator 187-175 Cleopatra Thea/
Antiochus IV Epiphanes 175-164 Antiochus VIII Grypus 125-121 Mauryan Empire
Antiochus V Eupator 164-162 Antiochus VIII Grypus 121-96
Demetrius I Soter 162-150 ***
Alexander Balas 150-145 Antiochus XIII 69-64 (TURKMENISTAN) Modern Name
Demetrius II Nicator 145-141

The evolution of the Hellenistic kingdoms, map 4: the territories of the three major rulers in the Near East after the battle of Ipsus, 301
 64
The Seleucid empire

In 305, Seleucus laid the foundations of the Seleucid empire, following military campaigns which
took his forces deep into central Asia. He was accorded the title Nicator, ‘Conqueror’, in recog-
nition of his exploits. After declaring himself ruler of his newly created empire, he established a
royal capital Seleuceia, on the banks of the Tigris. Initially, his empire extended eastwards from
the Euphrates across Mesopotamia to the lands of Iran and central Asia. Subsequently, he won
control also of large areas of eastern and central Anatolia, including southern Cappadocia and
Commagene, and most importantly large parts of Syria. In Syria, he built a second Seleuceia –
Seleuceia in Pieria – at the mouth of the Orontes. It was to serve as Syria’s major port. Shortly
after, 30 kms from the river’s mouth, he built a city called Antioch, later to become one of the
greatest metropolises of the ancient world. Seleuceia in Pieria and Antioch were but two of the
many settlements Seleucus and his successors founded or refounded throughout their realm.
Their new cities they populated with large numbers of Greek settlers, in line with their policy of
spreading Greek culture and civilization throughout the lands subject to them. But Seleucid policy
was also an inclusive one, which preserved and respected the customs and traditions of the local
peoples, who were granted citizenship alongside Greeks in both the new and the old foundations.
Non-Greek communities were to be recipients of benefactions and patronage from their Seleucid
rulers, their religious rites, beliefs and sanctuaries protected and honoured.
Seleucus’ claims of sovereignty over large tracts of the Near Eastern world did not go unchal-
lenged. His control over Syria in particular was bitterly contested by his former mentor Ptolemy,
founder of a line of rulers based in Egypt. The Ptolemies and the Seleucids frequently went to war
over the territories that lay between them, notably in a series of six so-called Syrian Wars. Each side
had its share of victories and defeats. On a number of occasions, Ptolemaic sovereignty extended
to parts of Syria and Palestine, and sometimes as well to other parts of the eastern Mediterranean
world, including Lycia and Caria on the Anatolian coast and the island of Cyprus.
Seleucid power reached its pinnacle in the reign of the sixth Seleucid king Antiochus
III (223–187), known as ‘the Great’. In a series of resoundingly successful military campaigns,
Antiochus firmly reasserted Seleucid sovereignty over the lands of eastern Anatolia and central
Asia, and established Seleucid rule over the whole of Syria by driving the Ptolemaic forces out of
it in the so-called Fifth Syrian War (after suffering an earlier reverse at their hands at the battle
of Raphia in southern Palestine in 217), and then evicted the Ptolemies from their subject lands
in Asia Minor. Antiochus’ western military operations ensured that many of Asia Minor’s cities
and kingdoms, claimed as Seleucid possessions from the time of the first Seleucus, were restored
to Seleucid authority. But Antiochus overreached himself when he extended his campaigns to
Thrace and mainland Greece. In so doing, he provoked the wrath of Rome. This culminated in

245
246  The Hellenistic world

A B C D

1
SCYTHIANS

Danube Cau Caspian

casu
Black Sea s Mo
unta Sea
ins

THRACE

2 •Dascylium
BITHYNIA PONTUS ARMENIA
KINGDOM OF GALATIA
PERGAMUM
Pergamum
• • Ipsus Halys Lake Van
Araxes

•
Magnesia •Sardis CAPPADOCIA COMM- MEDIA
AGENE Lake ATROPATENE
Miletus • CAR Tigris Urmia
IA PAM CILICIA Issus
P HYL •
S
LYCIA IA
•
Jebel
Seleuceia •
• • Arbela
Khalid

EL
Antioch HYRCANI
in Pieria
MEDIA
CYPRUS Ecbatana
SYRIA

Mediterranean
Byblos
Sidon •
•
Euphrates
E U C I• D E M P
Tyre • •
•Damascus
Sea Ptolemais • Panion • Seleuceia Za
gr
• os
Babylon • M
Gaza • Jerusalem ou
3 Alexandria
• •• Susa nt
ai
ns
Raphia

• • Naqs
Memphis
ARABIA
PARS
PTOLEMAIC (PERS
EMPIRE
Persian
Gulf
Nile

Red
Sea
4 KUSH

Seleucid Empire
Ptolemaic Empire
Kingdom of Pergamum
Mauryan Empire
A B C D
The Seleucid and Ptolemaic empires c. 260 bc
 The Seleucid empire 247

D E F
The six ‘Syrian Wars’ (between the Seleucids and the Ptolemies)
c. 274-271 First Syrian War (Antiochus I vs Ptolemy II)
260-253 Second Syrian War (Antiochus II vs Ptolemy II)
246-241 Third Syrian War (Seleucus II vs Ptolemy III)
219-217 Fourth Syrian War (Antiochus III vs Ptolemy IV)
202-198 Fifth Syrian War (Antiochus III vs Ptolemy V)
170-168 Sixth Syrian War (Antiochus IV vs Ptolemy VI)

MASSAGETAE
Aral
Sea
Caspian Jaxartes (Syr Darya)
Sea
SAKA
HAUMAVARGA
CHORASMIA Oxus (Amu Darya)

IA Cyropolis
FERGHANA
SAKA Maracanda • •
axes TIGRAKHAUDA
MARGIANA
MEDIA
ATROPATENE

BACTRIA
HYRCANIA GANDHARA
MEDIA
Ecbatana

UCID EMPIRE
• •
Kabul
ARIA •
eia Za Taxila
gr
os
• M
ou DRANGIANA ARACHOSIA
nt
Susa ai
ns •
Dahan-i • Helmand Kandahar
• Naqsh-i Rustam Ghulaman
SATTAGYDIA

PARSA
(PERSIS) CARMANIA Indus

Persian MAURYAN
Gulf GEDROSIA
EMPIRE

Arabian
mpire Sea
mpire
amum 0 1,000 km
500
mpire
D E F
248  The Hellenistic world

a final showdown between Seleucid and Roman armies at the battle of Magnesia-ad-Sipylum in
western Asia Minor (late 190 or early 189). Antiochus suffered a massive defeat, and the peace
accord that followed obliged him to give up a substantial part of his Asia Minor territories. But his
empire remained a vast one, and his successor-but-one, Antiochus IV, came close to extending
Seleucid sovereignty over Egypt as well; he had managed to occupy the northern part of it before
he was intimidated into retreat by a delegation from the Roman senate demanding his immediate
withdrawal from the Ptolemies’ homeland.
Though his reign was not without its failures, Antiochus IV was arguably the last of the great
Seleucid kings, and after his reign ended in 164, the Seleucid empire went into inexorable decline,
as it became increasingly subject to external pressures, exerted primarily by the Romans in the
west and the Parthians in the east, and to continuous destructive squabbles and coups within the
royal dynasty’s own ranks. The once vast empire dwindled though the last century of its existence,
until it was confined to a small part of Syria. In 64 bc, Pompey the Great entered Antioch, uncer-
emoniously dismissed the last Seleucid ruler Antiochus XIII, and established Syria as a Roman
province.
Sherwin-White and Kuhrt (1993); Hannestad (AANE: 984–1000); Bryce (2014: 157–217).

Jebel Khalid

The Seleucid settlement now called Jebel Khalid (ancient name unknown) was built shortly after 300 bc
by Seleucus I on an outcrop of rock, previously unoccupied, on the middle Euphrates. Its strong forti-
fications, which included thirty towers and bastions and a substantial gate complex, enclosed an area
of 50 ha of which only 30 ha appear to have been inhabited. Other archaeological features of the site,
which has been excavated since 1986 by an Australian team led by Graeme Clarke and Heather Jackson,
include what is apparently a governor’s palace on the acropolis, a completely excavated tenement block
(insula) in the settlement’s residential quarter, and a sacred area (temenos) containing a Doric temple.
No inscriptions have been found, but written evidence from elsewhere suggest its ancient name may
have been Amphipolis or Nicatoris. Jebel Khalid’s strong fortifications and its excellent strategic loca-
tion, which gave it a commanding view of the surrounding plains, suggest that the settlement was built
as a garrison centre, populated with semi-retired or reserve soldiers responsible for protecting the area
and closely monitoring movements within it. The site was abandoned in the second quarter of C1 bc.
Since its lifespan falls entirely within the Seleucid period, it has provided us with an excellent example
of a purely Hellenistic foundation.
Clarke et al. (2002–14); Hannestadt (AANE: 990–1); Wright (2011).
 65
The Attalid kingdom

Attalid dynasty
Philetaerus (282-263)
Eumenes I (nephew) (263-241)
Attalus I (nephew or cousin) (241-197) Black Sea
Eumenes II (son) (197-160)
Attalus II (brother) (160-138)
1
Attalus III (nephew) (138-133) •
Sinope
PAPHLAGONIA
Byzantium
• • Chalcedon
Propontis
B IT H Y NI A Halys
•
Dascylium Sangarius
TROAD
Ankara
• 2
MYSIA ATTA G A L A T I A

• Pergamum
LID
 KI
LESBOS
•C
o r u ped
ium
Hermus NG Salt
Lake
Magnesia
• •
Sardis
LYDIA D CAPPADOCIA
Maeander LYCAONIA
IO
O
M

3
N
IA

Miletus • ISAURIA
PISIDIA ins
unta
CARIA PAM s Mo
u
Attaleia• • •
• PH ur ILICIA
rge us C
Ta

Pe pend Side Y
LYCIA As LI
• Xanthus A

RHODES

4
Mediterranean Sea CYPRUS

0 150 300 km

A B C D

The Attalid kingdom in the mid 2nd cent. bc

In the apportionment of Alexander’s empire among the Macedonian’s former comrades-

in-arms, Lysimachus won control of north-western Asia Minor and Thrace. He used the small
city of Pergamum near the Aegean coast as a storehouse for 9,000 of the 25,000 talents taken by
Alexander as plunder from his Persian conquests, and assigned the loot to the care of an officer
called Philetaerus, son of Attalus. But when Seleucus (I) extended his sway from Syria into Asia
Minor, Philetaerus switched his allegiance to him. And after Lysimachus was defeated and killed

249
250  The Hellenistic world

by Seleucus in the battle of Corupedium in Lydia (281), Philetaerus became ruler of Pergamum
under Seleucus’ overlordship, and founder of what became known as the Attalid dynasty. During
his reign, he repulsed attacks on his city by Galatian invaders, and began expanding his city-
kingdom through the neighbouring territories. He was succeeded by his nephew Eumenes I
(263–241). Eumenes is generally considered the first true king of Pergamum, for he established his
new kingdom’s independence with a military victory over Seleucus’ successor Antiochus I near
Sardis in 262. His nephew (or cousin) and successor Attalus I (241–197) followed up his victories
by driving the Galatians and the Seleucid forces out of western Asia Minor, and extended his
own territories through much of the north-western sector of the region. The kingdom’s territories
were further extended in the reign of Attalus’ successor Eumenes II (197–160), who bolstered his
power by judicious alliances with neighbouring Greek cities and by joining forces with Rome at
the battle of Magnesia, which ended in the decisive defeat of the Seleucid king Antiochus III. In
gratitude for Attalid assistance, Rome handed over to Eumenes a large portion of the territory in
Asia Minor won from Antiochus. At its height, the Attalid kingdom stretched to Pamphylia on
the eastern Mediterranean coast, where Eumenes’ successor Attalus II (160–138) founded the city
Attaleia (modern Antalya). His successor Attalus III (138–133) was the last of the Attalid rulers.
He bequeathed his kingdom to Rome on his death in 133.
Shipley (2000: 312–19).

Pergamum

Built on steeply-rising natural fortifications in a valu-

able strategic location, and coming into high promi-
nence during the Attalid regime, Pergamum has left
a number of material remains of its Hellenistic and
Roman periods. Notable among these is the Great
Altar dedicated to Zeus and Athene, built to com-
memorate Attalus I’s victory over the Galatians. The
reliefs from the altar depicting the battle between
giants and gods are now on display in the Staatliche
Museum in Berlin. On the summit of the acropolis,
next to the C4 bc temple of Athene, are the remains
of the library built by Eumenes II, with housing for
Figure 65.1 Theatre of Pergamum. Photo by 17,000 parchment scrolls. There are remnants of the
Trevor Bryce. palaces of the Attalid kings on the acropolis’ eastern
edge, but the most impressive remains of the Attalid
period are those of a well-preserved theatre, the steepest ancient structure of its kind in the world, with
seating for 10,000 spectators. A temple of the Roman emperor Trajan provides a signal example of the
Roman period of Pergamum’s history. Also primarily of Roman date, in the area located in the lower
part of the site, is the religious sanctuary called the Asclepieum, a famous medical centre dedicated
to Asclepius, god of healing. Pergamum was the birthplace of the renowned physician Galen (c. ad
129–199).
Wilson (2010: 279–93).
 66
Bactria

The country of Bactria was located between the region through which the Oxus (Amu Darya) river
flowed and the Hindu Kush, in what is now north-eastern Afghanistan. Probably during the early
centuries of M1 bc, Bactria developed into a wealthy and populous kingdom, perhaps the most
powerful in central Asia. Its wealth was derived partly from its mineral resources, particularly sil-
ver and gold, and partly from its thriving agricultural activities. The latter were supported by large
irrigation networks for which the
country was noted. After perhaps suf- Main Gate
fering invasion and conquest by one West Rampart

or more Neo-Assyrian kings in C9–8 Ramparts

bc (we have only dubious Classical LOWER CITY

sources for this), Bactria became, in Oxus Gymnasium

Canal

C6, one of the easternmost territories Pool

of the Persian Achaemenid empire – M

au
so
leu
m
Theatre

as attested in the inscriptions of Palace

M
au
so

Darius I, and by the Greek historian

leu
m

Temple

Herodotus (3.92). Bactria was sub-

et
re
St

Public
in

Building

sequently conquered by Alexander

Ma

Vineyard

the Great, and later came under the RESIDENTIAL

QUARTER

sway of the early Seleucid emperors, House

Arsenal

beginning with the empire’s founder

Seleucus I in late C4. Under Seleucid UPPER
CITY
rule, the region was extensively colo- Podium
Steep Slopes

nized with Greek settlers. The city Ramparts

Ko
Bactra became its administrative kch
a
capital.
The spread of Seleucid rule Citadel

through Bactria, and its pervasive

cultural impact upon the country,
are clearly demonstrated by recent 0 250 500 m

excavations of the site now called

Aï Khanoum near Bactria’s eastern Aï Khanoum (after Bernard 2011: 82)
periphery. The gymnasium, theatre,
Greek temples and elite private resi-
dences of the city, founded by Seleucus c. 300, are reflective of substantial Seleucid-inspired Greek
influence on Bactrian civilization. But Mesopotamian, Persian and local Bactrian elements were

251
252  The Hellenistic world

A B C

1 MASSAGETAE
Aral
Sea
(U
ZB SAKA
EK
IS
TA
N HAUMAVARGA
)

SOGDIANA Jaxartes (Syr Darya)

CHORASMIA
2 Oxus (Amu Darya) Cyropolis
•
•Maracanda FERGHANA
(TAJIKISTAN)

MARGIANA IA
C TR • Ai Khanoum
BA • Bactra
GANDHARA
(AFGHANISTAN)
ARIA •Kabul
3 •
Taxila

DRANGIANA ARACHOSIA
• Kandahar
Helmand

SATTAGYDIA Indus
)
N
TA

4
IS
AK

CARMANIA
(P

(INDIA)
GEDROSIA

0 150 300 km
Arabian Sea

Bactria in its Near Eastern context

 Bactria 253

intermixed with the Greek, and all of them combined to produce a distinctive Graeco-Bactrian
culture. This is reflected in a number of Aï Khanoum’s buildings, including the large palace with
porticoed courtyard which dominated the site. Huge, mud-brick fortifications and a garrisoned
citadel provided Ai Khanoum with its defences.
By the early 230s, rebel satraps had broken from Seleucid control and established an independ-
ent Graeco-Bactrian kingdom. Seleucid sovereignty was reimposed over the region by Antiochus
III in 206 bc. Around 145, nomadic invaders from beyond the Oxus river destroyed Aï Khanoum,
and further invasions of Bactria c. 130 erased almost all traces of Greek civilization in the region.
PPAWA (109–10); Treidler and Brentjes (BNP 2: 455–7); Bernard (2011).
 67
The Maccabean rebellion

In 167 bc, the Seleucid emperor Antiochus IV issued a proclamation to Jerusalem and other cities
of Judah banning traditional Jewish religious and social customs and beliefs, and imposing Greek
customs and traditions in their place. In accordance with this policy, Antiochus commanded that
sacrifice be made to the Greek gods in all Judaean cities and villages, and appointed inspectors
to ensure compliance. Some of these arrived in the village of Modein to carry out the order, but
one of them was killed by a man called Mattathias, the village’s leading resident, when he tried to
enforce it. Mattathias had earlier fled to Modein from Jerusalem, with his five sons and a small
group of supporters, when Antiochus’ troops began massacring the city’s population. Now once
more he was forced to flee, this time to the hills, where he and his sons and followers prepared for a
guerrilla war against Antiochus’ forces. Thus began the Maccabean rebellion. It was so called after
Mattathias’ third son Judas Maccabaeus (the epithet probably means ‘hammer’) who assumed
leadership of the rebels after his father’s death, within a year of leaving Modein. The rebel ranks
were swelled as news of the Maccabeans’ defiance of Seleucid authority spread, and Judas led his
troops to a number of victories over Antiochus’ forces. These culminated in his reoccupation of
Jerusalem in 164, and his rededication of the temple there on the 25th day of Kislev (November–
December). Antiochus died the same year, and his son and successor Antiochus V issued another
proclamation rescinding his father’s ban on Jewish practices. Nonetheless, Judas continued hos-
tilities with the Seleucid forces, for his ultimate aim was to establish the Jewish state’s independ-
ence of Seleucid rule. But he was finally defeated and killed by a Seleucid army in the autumn
of 161. For a time, the Jewish resistance continued under his youngest brother Jonathan. But
relations with the Seleucid monarchy now shifted from the military to the diplomatic arena. This
did not work in Jonathan’s favour, for he was murdered after becoming caught up in the strug-
gles between rival factions for the Seleucid throne. In 129 bc, the Jewish state eventually gained
its independence. It is from this year until 63 bc, when Judaea was absorbed into the Roman
provincial administration, that the Jewish state is said to have been ruled by the Hasmonean
dynasty – so called, according to the Jewish historian Josephus, after a man called Hashmon, the
great-grandfather of Judas Maccabaeus’ father Mattathias.
SB (308–24); Bryce (2014: 199–206).

254
 The Maccabean rebellion 255

A B C D
Sea
Sidon • IA •
IC
ean
Damascus
N
•

OE
ARAM-DAMASCUS
rran

Mediterranean Tyre
1

PH
Sea
ite
Med

Sea of Galilee
GALILEE
AD
• • •
Megiddo Jezreel

E
GIL
Beth Shean

Jordan

ISRAEL
Samarian
Hills
•
AMMON 2
Beth Horon
•
Rabbath-Ammon
Ashdod
• •
Jerusalem

Ashkelon
•

IA
JUDAH
•PHI

ST
Gaza

LI
Dead MOAB
Sea

0 30 60 km
EDOM
Main route of Seleucid
armies from Antioch
3

ISRAEL
Jordan

Gophna Hills
Judas organizes Jewish
resistance from here
(167)

Lydda • 1 × Gophna 4
Modein (166/5)
•

2× 7+
Beth Horon Eleasa (161)
(166/5) Judas killed Jerusalem Hills
3× Initial refuge here
Emmaeus
(165)
6×
Adasa? •Jerusalem 5
(161) Judas and family flee
destruction of city, 168
JUDAH

× Battle site, Maccabean victory

5+ Dead
Beth Zechariah
+ Battle site, Seleucid victory Sea
(162)
6
Seleucid army routes
4 × Beth Zur (165)
Victory paves the way for Judas’
Stages on Judas’ reoccupation of Jerusalem in 164
flight from Jerusalem
Numbers (1, etc) indicate 0 10 20 km
chronological sequence of battles

The Maccabean rebellion under Judas

This Page is Intentionally Left Blank
 Part X

The Near East in the Roman period

The following is a small sample of reference works on Rome’s involvement in the Near Eastern
world (full details of them are provided in the Bibliography or the List of Abbreviations): Jones
(1983); Gruen (1984); Dodgeon and Lieu (1991); Millar (1993); Ball (2000); Fischer-Genz (AANE:
1021–40); Bryce (2014: 221–323). These items are not separately appended to the entries below on
Roman rule in the Near East.
This Page is Intentionally Left Blank
 68
Roman rule in the Near East I
From the battle of Magnesia to the
settlements of Pompey

In 192, Rome became embroiled in conflicts with the Seleucid emperor Antiochus III, culminating
in the battle of Magnesia-ad-Sipylum (190/189). Antiochus’ forces were routed by the Roman com-
mander Lucius Cornelius Scipio, supported by his ally Eumenes II of Pergamum. By the terms of a
treaty drawn up the following year, at Apamea in Phrygia, Antiochus forfeited most of his posses-
sions in Asia Minor, which were apportioned by Rome between Eumenes’ kingdom and the island
of Rhodes. In 133 the last of the Pergamene kings, Attalus III, died, bequeathing his kingdom to the
Romans. So began Roman rule in the Near East, for in the same year the Roman province Asia was
established. It covered much of the western half of the Anatolian peninsula where Pergamum had held
sway, from Mysia and the Troad in the north-west, southwards through Lydia to Caria, and included
the Ionian city-states and offshore islands along the Aegean coast.
In the south-east of the peninsula, Cilicia became a second Roman province in Asia Minor c. 80 bc.
Here, the Roman commander Pompey was wintering with his troops in 67–66 bc, after his success in
eliminating piracy from the Mediterranean and Black
Seas, when Rome assigned him a more wide-ranging
task – that of settling the political and military affairs
of the eastern lands. In response, Pompey embarked
on a series of campaigns which took him through
much of the Near Eastern world as the Romans knew
it. In northern and eastern Anatolia, a combination
of force and diplomacy were used to bring to heel the
troublesome kingdoms of Pontus and Armenia. Then
Pompey set his sights upon Syria. Brushing aside the
last feeble Seleucid emperor, he established, in 64, the
Roman province of Syria. Antioch on the Orontes was
its administrative centre. The following year, Pompey
expanded the province’s boundaries by incorporat-
ing within them a large part of the former kingdom
of Judaea. Syria’s territory now extended from the
southern border of the kingdom of Commagene in the
north southwards through Judaea. In this same year,
Bithynia and Pontus in Asia Minor were combined
into a Roman province. But under Roman patronage
and protection, a number of lands in the region, like
Commagene, retained their own rulers and a fairly high Figure 68.1 Pompey the Great. Courtesy of
degree of autonomy – for the time being. the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek.

259
 A B C D
Thrace Black Sea
A AND PONTU Greater Armenia
I S
HYN
BIT 1
Lesser Armenia

Troad
Mysia Galatia
•
Pergamum ASIA
• Salt Lake Cappadocia
260  The Near East in the Roman period

Magnesia • • Apamea Lycaonia Tigris

Commagene
Caria
Ephesus Pam 2
Lycia
phyl
ia CILICIA
PARTHIANS
•Antioch
Rhodes Euphrates
M
Cyprus SYRIA es
op
ot
am
Mediterranean Sea ia

3
ea

Syrian Desert
Juda

0 200 400 km

•Jerusalem

Rome’s eastern provinces in 60 bc

 69
Roman rule in the Near East II
From Pompey to Augustus

Roman civilization spread rapidly through many of Rome’s eastern territories, and with
Romanization came all the major amenities and diversions of Roman life, including baths, thea-
tres and stadiums. Under Roman rule, hundreds of towns and cities were built from scratch,
or refounded on the sites of earlier settlements, especially in Asia Minor, Syria and northern
Mesopotamia. Roman military veterans as well as local peoples provided populations for these
rapidly developing urban centres and village communities, in accordance with a Romanization
programme particularly associated with Julius Caesar, and subsequently with his nephew, the
emperor Augustus. The cities and smaller settlements, both old and new, were connected by a
much upgraded road network. Major features of this were the north–south Via Maris (‘The Way
of the Sea’) which linked Egypt with Palestine and coastal Syria, the Via Nova Traiana, the former
King’s Highway which linked the Gulf of ‘Aqaba to Damascus, and a west–east route that con-
nected Damascus with the Euphrates via Palmyra.
But inevitably, Rome was drawn further eastwards as it sought to establish effective defence
zones against enemies and potential enemies who threatened its frontiers – particularly the
Parthians. The first major test of strength between Roman and Parthian forces was won by the lat-
ter when they routed Crassus’ army at Carrhae in 53 bc. Subsequently, the Parthian king Orodes
launched invasions into Roman territory on two occasions – the first into Syria in 51, the sec-
ond into Syria, Palestine and Asia Minor in 40. The invaders were defeated and driven out by
the Romans on both occasions. But a subsequent attempt by Mark Antony to take the war deep
into Parthian territory, in 36, failed disastrously. Terms of peace between Rome and Parthia were
finally agreed in 20 bc, through negotiations conducted on the Roman side by Tiberius, stepson
and representative of Rome’s first emperor Augustus, and the Parthian king Phraates IV. The
peace accord was formalized in a ceremony on an island in the Euphrates in ad 1. The river now
became the official boundary between the two empires.

261
262  The Near East in the Roman period

A B C D

Danube
1
Blac k Sea
THRACE

Bosporus
A AND
H YNI PON
TU
IT S
B Halys

LESSER ARMENIA
Pergamum GALATIA
2 •
ASIA CAPPADOCIA
La
V
COMMAGENE
Samosata •
PAMPHYLIA CILICIA
• •
Nisibis
LYCIA Carrhae M
•Antioch ES
os• • O
SYRIA
liss Sura PO
CYPRUS
rba
Ba
SYRIA • Palmyra Euphra
3 Me d i te rra n e a n COELE
S ea SYRIA • Damascus
PHOENICE Syrian
Desert
A*

• Bostra
AE

• Jerusalem
JUD

Alexandria
• NABATAEA
CYRENE ARABIA
• Petra
4
EGYPT

Nile
0
Roman Territory
Red
* Later Syria Palestina Sea

Rome’s eastern provinces in ad 14

 Roman rule in the Near East II 263

D E F

Cau
casu
s Mo
unta
ins Cas pian
Sea

ARMENIA GREATER
ARMENIA
Lake
Van
MEDIA
AGENE ATROPATENE
osata •

• •
Nisibis
Carrhae M MEDIA
ES
O Hatra
os• • PO •
alis
s Sura
TA PARTHIAN
• Palmyra Euphrates
M
IA
Tigris EMPIRE

scus
Syrian • Ctesiphon
Desert
a Zagros
Babylon • Mountains

ARABIA

Pers ian
G ulf
0 400 800 km
264  The Near East in the Roman period

A B C D
Damascus
•
1
Tyre • • Dan
Gishala
•

y
wa
•

igh
Mediterranean Akko
•Bethsaida

g’s H
Sea • Ashtaroth
Sea of

The Kin
Galilee
•
Nazareth

2 Dor • •
Megiddo
• Ramoth-Gilead
•

th e Sea
Samaria
Jordan

f
ay o
W
Aphek
•
Joppa •
• Rabbah
3
Jericho
•
• Ekron •
Jerusalem • Heshbon
Ashdod•
•
Ashkelon
• Bethlehem

Gaza• • Hebron Dead

Sea • Dibon

The King’s Highway

Raphia
• Masada •
Beersheba • •
ti a Arad
4 The w
a y to P
hilis

Negev Zoar (Bela) •

Beer-lahai-roi
• •Tamar
e Arabah
to th
wa y

Sh
ur •Qadesh-BarneaThe
o
The way t
bah
Ara

5
• Petra
eir
nt S

The
wa y to M
ount Seir
Mou

6
El-paran •

0 50 100 km Gulf
of
Aqaba

Highways predating Roman rule (after Barnes 2010: 47)

 Roman rule in the Near East II 265

Baalbek

The city of Baalbek, so named after

the Semitic god Baal, lay in the Biqa‘ A B C

Valley of what is now Lebanon. It was Antioch

• •Aleppo
renamed Heliopolis, ‘City of the Sun’, Euphrates
Habur
after Alexander the Great’s conquest Orontes 1

of the region in 334. Becoming an Mediterranean

important pilgrimage site, the city

Sea Hama •
was made a Roman colony in 31 bc, •Homs
•Palmyra
by Octavian (the later Augustus),
who used it as a place to settle some Byblos• •Baalbek
• Beirut
of his military veterans. Shortly Sidon•
•Damascus 2
after, work on the temple of Jupiter • Tyre
began. Today, the site is particularly
noteworthy for its monumental tem- 0 100 200 km

ple ruins; indeed it became one of Jordan • Bosra

the largest religious sanctuaries of
the Roman empire. The gods wor- Baalbek in its broader context
shipped there, the triad of Jupiter,
Venus and Bacchus, were equated
with the local deities Hadad,
Ashtarte and a young male god of
fertility. Reflecting this syncretism,
the temples’ architectural and sculp-
tural features display a mixture of
Roman and Oriental elements. The
temple of Jupiter was built during
the Augustan era, the temple attrib-
uted to Bacchus (there is no clear
evidence for this attribution) dates
to the reign of Antoninus Pius in C2
ad, and the temple of Venus, with its
unique circular design, was built in
C3 ad. Remains of a fourth temple,
dedicated to Mercury, are located on
a nearby hill.
Figure 69.1 Temple of Jupiter, Baalbek. Photo by Trevor Bryce. Rey-Coquais (PECS: 380–2).
 70
Herod the Great

In 40 bc, Rome appointed a 25-year-old youth called Herod as ruler of the kingdom of Judaea.
This was after its forces had restored Roman control over Syria and Judaea following a period of
Parthian occupation of these lands. Herod had hitherto been a minister of Antigonus, a mem-
ber of the Hasmonean dynasty and the Parthian-appointed ruler of Judaea. He had now to jus-
tify his title as King of the Jews by seizing his throne from Antigonus – who was executed by
the Romans at his successor’s request. Nonetheless, Herod maintained his connections with the
Hasmonean family by marrying Mariamne, granddaughter of Antigonus’ uncle and predecessor
John Hyrcanus II (she was but one of Herod’s ten wives). From 37 until his death in 4 bc, Herod
remained King of the Jews, and throughout that period a loyal ally of Rome. He proved an effec-
tive administrator and managed his kingdom’s finances well, partly through imposing a heavy tax
burden on his subjects, which provided a major source of revenue for his grandiose building pro-
jects, including the rebuilding of the Temple of Jerusalem. His ten wives produced a large family
who engaged in many intrafamilial disputes, some of which led Herod to take brutal action against
those members who fell out of favour with him, or were accused of plotting against him. Thus
he executed Mariamne and her two sons. Continuing instability within his family after his death
caused the Romans to intervene and divide his kingdom among his surviving children.
Ball (2000: 47–56); SB (334–48).

Jerusalem

Jerusalem’s history began with a Chalcolithic settlement on the Ophel Ridge (located to the south of the
‘Old City’s’ eastern side). But it was not until the Middle Bronze II period (C18–17) that the site assumed
the character of a city, which appears to have flourished during the Late Bronze Age, when it is attested
in a number of letters in the C14 Amarna archive. At this time, it was the seat of a local king, appointed by
the pharaoh. In biblical tradition, the city first came into high prominence when King David established
it as his royal capital. David’s son Solomon continued his father’s building programme in the city, and it
was in his reign that Jerusalem’s First Temple was constructed. But by the end of the reign, Solomon’s
kingdom was falling apart. The partitioning of it on his death saw a substantial reduction in the status
of Jerusalem, which now became merely the capital of the tribal lands of Judah and Benjamin. (We have
no independent evidence to corroborate the biblical narrative which covers the above events.)
An assault upon the city in 701 by the Assyrian king Sennacherib was apparently repulsed, at least
according to the biblical account of it in 2 Kings 18–19 (though Assyrian records claimed success for

(continued)

266
 Herod the Great 267

A B C D
Antipas Tyre •
• Caesarea Philippi
Archelaus
1 Allocations to
Herod’s children

IA
Philip

IC
N
Salome

E
GAULANITIS

O
Syrian Province

H
(GOLAN)

P
•
Ptolemais Capernaum • • Bethsaida Julias
Sea of
2 Galilee BATANEA
Tiberias • ( BASHAN)
GALILEE
Nazareth•
• Gadara
Medi terranean • Dor
S ea • Caesarea
Scythopolis • DECAPOLIS
(so named from ten
cities within it of
3 Graeco-Roman culture)

SAMARIA
Sebaste • Gerasa •

• Shechem
• Apollonia Jordan

• Antipatris
4
• Joppa
PERAEA
Gophna (Greek for the Philadelphia
Lydda • • area beyond •
the Jordan)
Beth Horon
• Jericho •
JUDAEA
Jerusalem • Qumran •
Hyrcania •

5 • Ashkelon
Beth Zur • Machaeus
•
Hebron • Lake
Asphaltitis
En-Gedi • (Dead N A B ATA E A N
Sea)
KINGDOM
IDUMAEA
Masada •
Arad •
6 Beersheba •

N A B ATA E A N
0 20 40 km
KINGDOM

Herod the Great’s kingdom and the apportionment of it to his heirs (after Bang and Scheidel 2013: 182)
268  The Near East in the Roman period

(continued)
Sennacherib). But it fell to the
Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II
in 597, who deported to Babylonia
Gate (according to the biblical account)
10,000 of its inhabitants, along
BEZETHA
(NEW CITY) Third
with its king Jehoiachin, leaving a
Wall
puppet ruler Zedekiah in his place
Tomb
(2 Kings 24:14–17). Zedekiah eventually
Tower
Gate rebelled. Jerusalem was again
attacked, and this time destroyed
Colonnad
e
urt
by Nebuchadnezzar’s forces (586).

Solomon’s
Centre Co
Third
Wall
Second
Wall
Temple Mo
unt
Thus ended the First Temple period,
Tombs
with further mass deportations of

Portico
ridge
Tower B
Tower Inner Court the Jewish population to Babylonia.
Royal Portico
RESIDENTIAL
When the Persian Cyrus II conquered
QUARTER
the Babylonian empire in 539, he
UPPER allowed the Jews to return to their
Herod’s
CITY
(”ZION”)
Palace
homeland, where they began the task
LOWER of rebuilding Jerusalem. But Jerusalem’s
CITY
RESIDENTIAL
QUARTER history remained a chequered one. The
ct

city was again destroyed in 167 by

du
ue
Aq

First Wall the Seleucid king Antiochus IV in the

Gate of the
Essenes(?)
Gate wake of factional uprisings in the city.
It rose to new heights the following
0 125 250 m
century when Herod was appointed
by the Romans as king of the Jews
Herodian Jerusalem (4 bc–ad 70) (after Cline 2004: 103) (40 bc). Herod’s substantial rebuilding
programme in his kingdom included
the construction of a new Temple of Jerusalem (begun in 20 bc but not completed until ad 62). This Second
Temple period in Jerusalem’s history was a shortlived one, for in response to repeated Jewish uprisings against
Roman authority, the city, along with its temple, was again destroyed, in ad 70, by Titus, on the orders of his
father, the emperor Vespasian.
In 131, the emperor Hadrian provoked a further rebellion among the Jews when he established on
Jerusalem’s site a new Roman colony called Aelia Capitolina. Within it, he ordered the construction of a
temple to Jupiter Capitolinus – in the place where the revered Second Temple of Jerusalem had stood.
Under the leadership of a messiah-like figure called Bar Kochba, ‘Son of the Star’, the Palestinian Jews
rose up against their rulers and for a few brief years an independent Jewish state was established. But
the uprising was finally crushed by Rome’s superior forces, who systematically destroyed the rebels’
towns and villages, and massacred or enslaved their inhabitants. The land once called Judaea was given
a new name: Syria Palestina. The remnants of the Jewish people who survived the Roman onslaughts
were henceforth forbidden to set foot in Jerusalem. Effectively stripped of their identity and forbidden to
practise their ancestral customs, the Jews faced the prospect of further decline and indeed extinction. But
their fortunes improved when Hadrian’s successor Antoninus Pius became emperor. Antoninus allowed
the Jews to revive and maintain their religious beliefs and customs and to practise their traditional forms
of worship.
Bahar (OEANE 3: 224–38); Geva (2000); Cline (2004).
 71
Parthia

The country called Parthia in Classical texts (Parthava in Persian texts) lay in north-eastern Iran,
to the south-east of the Caspian Sea. It became subject to the Persian Achaemenid empire shortly
after the empire’s foundation by Cyrus II in mid C6. Though it participated in the widespread
and ultimately abortive uprisings against Cyrus’ third successor Darius I on his accession in 522,
Parthia generally remained submissive to Persian rule throughout the Achaemenid period, which
ended in 330 bc.
In the Hellenistic period, Parthia became a province of the Seleucid empire. But a new era in
its history began when it came under the control of a band of nomadic invaders called the Parni,
from the grasslands of central Asia. The newcomers were not mere plunderers and adventurers,
but rapidly integrated with the country’s existing inhabitants, adopting their name and culture and
language. Shortly after their arrival, one of their leaders Arsaces founded in 247 bc a royal dynasty,
called the Arsacid dynasty, which marked the beginning of the Parthian empire. The empire lasted
until ad 224, thus spanning much of the Seleucid and the Roman imperial periods. At its peak, it
held sway over a broad expanse of territories extending eastwards from the Euphrates to the fron-
tiers of modern Afghanistan, and southwards from the Caspian to the Arabian Sea. Its trade and
diplomatic links reached as far east as China. And its links with the western world were reflected
in the policies of a number of its early
rulers who showed themselves highly
receptive to Greek cultural influ-
ences, using Greek inscriptions on
their coins and explicitly identifying
themselves as philhellenes (‘lovers of
Greek culture’). Many Greek settlers
were readily accepted into Parthian
society, often forming communities
of their own within the kingdom.
Pompey the Great’s establish-
ment of Syria as a Roman province
in 64 bc led inevitably to tensions
and conflicts with Parthia. Disputes
over the boundaries between Roman
and Parthian territory were a central
issue. An early test of the matter came
in 53 bc, at Carrhae in north-western Figure 71.1 Coin of Parthian king Artabanus II (ad 10–38). From
Mesopotamia, when a contingent of the collection of Trevor Bryce.

269
 A B C D E Aral F
Sea
Black Sea
1 Caspian
THRACE Sea
• Nicomedia Trapezous•
Kızıl Irmak ARMENIA Oxus

ANATO LIA Lake

Van
• Sardis Melitene •
ATROPATENE
Samosata Lake Urmia •
Merv
• Edessa
•• •Nisibis • Praespa
Carrhae •
Bactra
•Antioch •Hecatompylos •Nishapur
Hatra•
Tigris
Palmyra • •Dura-Europos •Hamadan
2 PARTHIAN
Mediterranean Sea •Damascus Euphrates HEARTLAND
•Ctesiphon
270  The Near East in the Roman period

•Babylon
Syrian •Susa •Yazd
•Jerusalem Desert •Kandahar
Alexandria
•
Helmand
• Petra PERSIA •Kerman
Memphis •
Persian
Nile
Gulf
3 Gedrosian Desert

•Thebes
Gulf of Oman

Red Arabian
Sea Sea

4 Roman Empire

Parthian Empire

0 400 800 km Territory fluctuating between

Rome and Parthia

The Parthian empire (early 2nd cent. ad)

 Parthia 271

Parthian archers annihilated the forces of the Roman commander Crassus. This episode in par-
ticular consolidated Parthia’s hold on all its territories up to the Euphrates, and established a
clear division between Roman and Parthian territory along the river, subsequently confirmed
in a peace agreement between Rome and Parthia in the reign of Augustus. But C2 and early C3
Roman emperors, notably Trajan (98–117), Septimius Severus (193–211) and his son Caracalla
(211–217), resumed campaigns across the river, intent on expanding their territories through
Babylonia to the Tigris and beyond, and once again provoked a series of conflicts with Parthia. The
expansionist wars of Severus and Caracalla in particular contributed significantly to the crippling
of the Parthian regime, and as a consequence the serious undermining of the regime’s control over
its regional governors. In ad 224, the last Parthian king Artabanus IV was overthrown by one of
these governors, Ardashir, satrap of Persis, who became the founder of the Sasanian empire.
Kaizer (GEAW: 174–86); Hauser (AANE: 1001–20); Dabrowa (OHIH: 164–86).
 72
The Nabataeans

When Persia’s Achaemenid kings ruled the Near East, large groups of nomadic Arab herdsmen
and merchants, called Nabataeans, left their desert homelands in north-eastern Arabia and set-
tled, peacefully and gradually, in the southern regions of Transjordan. During the Hellenistic and
Roman periods, the Nabataeans developed a powerful and prosperous kingdom which at its peak
controlled an extensive span of territories, stretching between southern Syria and Transjordan in
the north and the peninsula of Sinai in the south. The famous rose-red city Petra was the capital
of this kingdom.
Beginning with a highly profitable
trade in frankincense and myrrh,
which they acquired from their
original homelands, the Nabataeans
rapidly expanded their repertoire
of merchandise to include a wide
range of exotic and luxury prod-
ucts, including spices and incenses
of many kinds, ivory, sugar, pre-
cious and semi-precious stones.
There was an insatiable demand for
these products, especially among
wealthy clientele, in the western as
well as the Near Eastern worlds. The
Nabataeans obtained them through
the trading links they established
with countries as far afield as Han
Dynasty China, by means of caravan
routes which passed through Arabia
to the Persian Gulf and thence to the
lands of the east. Petra served as a
reprocessing centre for many of the
raw products acquired in these trad-
ing enterprises, converting oils and
balms and incenses into medicinal
and cosmetic products, which were
Figure 72.1 The Khazneh (commonly known as ‘The Treasury’), then sold on to the Nabataeans’
Petra. X via Wikimedia. international customers.

272
 The Nabataeans 273

A B C D
SYRIA
Palmyra
1 COELE •
Syrian
Mediterranean SYRIA • Desert
PHOENICE Damascus
Sea (under Nabataean control for brief
periods in C1 BC and C1 AD)

•
2 Bos(t)ra

A E
Jerusalem

DA
•
NABATAEANS

JU
•
Alexandria

3 Petra •

4
EGYPT
ARABIA
Nile

Red Sea

6
0 100 200km

Core Nabataean region in its broader context

274  The Near East in the Roman period

Some 4,000 Nabataean inscriptions have been found, widely distributed throughout the
Mediterranean and Near Eastern worlds. Though the Nabataeans were an Arabic people, the lan-
guage of these inscriptions is Aramaic. Understandably so, since Aramaic was the most widely used
international language of the day. Along with literary sources and coin legends, the inscriptions
inform us that the Nabataeans for most of their history were ruled by a line of kings. Beginning
c. 170 bc with a ruler called Aretas I, the royal dynasty ended with the reign of Rabbel II (70–106),
on whose death the Roman emperor Trajan absorbed the Nabataean kingdom into his newly cre-
ated province Arabia (Petraea). Bosra, a Nabataean city located 140 km south of Damascus, was
the capital of his new province. Already in the reign of Rabbel II, if not earlier, Bosra (Roman
Bostra) had become the chief city of the Nabataean kingdom.
Markoe (2003); McKenzie (2005); Taylor (2012).
 73
Roman rule in the Near East III
From Augustus to Trajan

Overall, the Augustan era was one of peace, stability and consolidation. Augustus wanted no fur-
ther territorial expansion – and indeed none of any significance occurred until the reign of Trajan,
early in C2. Before then, Rome generally remained on peaceful terms with its eastern neighbours,
though Armenia remained problematic, and the accord with Parthia intermittent. The Euphrates
provided Rome with no practicable line of defence against its eastern enemies, for it was easily
fordable and would have required massive military resources to defend it with a string of effective
military garrisons. Instead, the Romans relied on a series of buffer states to help secure its eastern
frontiers, and during C1 ad, a number of the client kingdoms and semi-autonomous states in the
regions between Roman and Parthian spheres of control were converted or absorbed into Roman
provinces.
Thus in ad 72, the emperor Vespasian deprived Commagene of its client status and incor-
porated it into the province of Syria. Further to the north, he placed the client kingdom Lesser
Armenia and with it Cappadocia under the authority of the governor of Galatia. The result of
these extensions was that direct Roman authority now reached the northernmost limits of the
Upper Euphrates, and beyond that the south-eastern shores of the Black Sea. Subsequently,
Trajan annexed the Nabataean kingdom and created in its place the Provincia Arabia (Petraea),
with Bosra (Trajana Bostra Metropolis) as its capital (106). Shortly after, some time between
107 and 113, he established the new province of Cappadocia with Pontus, a union which lasted
until the reign of Diocletian at the end of C3. He then became the first emperor to confront the
problem of the porous Euphrates frontier by conducting military operations across the river in
115 and 116, marching through northern Mesopotamia, now also declared a Roman province,
and further afield into western Iran. His campaign culminated in the capture of Parthia’s winter
capital Ctesiphon on the Tigris. But uprisings among the recently captured territories and a
major rebellion in Judaea forced him to abandon his eastern enterprises and return home. His
successor Hadrian (117–138) relinquished all the trans-Euphrates territories over which he had
claimed control, and brought the Roman frontier back to the river. Nonetheless, Trajan had
shown that the Euphrates need no longer be considered the ultimate territorial limit of Rome’s
power. Later emperors would be inspired by his example and campaign afresh in the lands east
of the Euphrates.

275
276  The Near East in the Roman period

A B C D
Black Sea
THRACE Bosporus
YNIA AND P
1 BITH O NT
US LESSER
ARMENIA
GALATIA
Pergamum
• Halys
ASIA Lake
CAPPADOCIA Van
• Ephesus COMMAGENE
Samosata •
PAMPHYLIA CILICIA • Nisibis
• Carrhae
LYCIA
Antioch
• M
2 Barbalissos • • ES Hatra
Sura •
CYPRUS
SYRIA O
PO
SYRIA
• Palmyra TA
COELE
Euphrates
Mediterranean

E
OE IA
NIC
• Damascus
PH SYR
Sea
• Bostra Syrian B
*

Desert
EA

• Jerusalem
DA

Alexandria
•
JU

3
CYRENE ARABIA • Petra
PETRAEA
ARABIA
EGYPT
Nile

Red ARABIA
Sea FELIX
4

Roman Territory

0 400 800 km * Later Syria Palestina

** Formerly Media
Adiabene

The Roman Near East after Trajan’s eastern campaigns (ad 115–116)
 Roman rule in the Near East III 277

D E F

LESSER Caspian
ARMENIA GREATER Sea
ARMENIA
Lake
Van MEDIA
NE
•
ATROPATENE
• Nisibis
• Carrhae

M MEDIA
• ES Hatra
Sura O • ASSYRIA**
PO
Palmyra TA
M
Euphrates IA PARTHI AN
• Ctesiphon EMPI RE
Syrian Babylon •
Desert Tigris
Zagros
Mountains

ARABIA
Roman emperors (27 BC-AD 337) Septimius Severus 193-211
Augustus 27 BC-AD 14 Caracalla 211-217
Tiberius AD 14-37 Persian
Geta (co-regent) 211-212
*** Gulf
Macrinus 217-218
Nero 54-68 Elagabalus 218-222
A *** Severus Alexander 222-235
Vespasian 69-79 ***
Titus 79-81 Valerian 253-260
Domitian 81-96 Gallienus (co-regent) 253-268
*** Claudius Gothicus 268-270
ry Trajan 98-117 Aurelian 270-275
Hadrian 117-138 ***
estina Antoninus Pius 138-161 Diocletian 284-305
a Marcus Aurelius 161-180 ***
*** Constantine 306-337
278  The Near East in the Roman period

Jerash

Located in the Gilead region of

Transjordan, the city of Jerash
first came into prominence in the
Mediterranean Hellenistic period, under its Greek
Sea of
Sea Galilee name Gerasa. In 64 bc, the city
and its peripheral territories were
annexed to the Roman province of
Syria, newly established by Pompey.
170 years later, it became part of
a new Roman province, Arabia
JERASH (Petraea), created by Trajan in 106.
•
Jordan
Jerash played a significant role in
this province, and flourished for the
• Jaffa next century as a major commercial
Amman • and trade centre, close by the great
international trade-route, the Via
Jerusalem Nova Traiana (formerly the King’s
•
• Madaba Highway). The peace, security, and
wealth that came with Romanization
stimulated intense building activity
• Hebron Dead • Dibon
Sea in Jerash throughout C2. A hallmark
structure of this era was the great
Masada • triumphal arch which celebrated
Beersheba
• the emperor Hadrian’s visit there in
• Arad
129–130. Twenty years later, work
began on a massive sanctuary dedi-
0 25 50 km cated to the goddess Artemis. Taking
thirty years to build, the temple-
complex became renowned as one
Jerash in its broader context of the most spectacular religious
sanctuaries of the Near Eastern
world. Other monumental structures
built in C2, and still for the most part well preserved, include two theatres, two sets of baths, a temple of
Zeus, a number of smaller temples, and a distinctive circular colonnaded forum, which is connected to
the city’s north gate by its main thoroughfare, the colonnaded cardo maximus. At its maximum extent,
Jerash covered 800,000m2, enclosed within a set of walls which incorporated 101 towers built at regu-
lar intervals along it. A large hippodrome lay outside the walls. C2 marked the peak period in Jerash’s
existence. Decline set in early the following century, but the city experienced a brief revival under the
emperor Justinian (527–565).
MacDonald (PECS: 348–9); Aubin (OEANE 3: 215–19).
 74
The Sasanians

The Sasanian empire was the

third of the great Iran-based
powers of the ancient world. It
began in ad 224 when the last
Parthian ruler, Artabanus IV, was
overthrown by one of his gover-
nors, Ardashir, satrap of Persis.
Under Ardashir’s leadership, the
Sasanian empire was founded,
so called after Sasan, a legendary
ancestor of Ardashir’s royal line.
It lasted until the Islamic con-
quest of Mesopotamia and Iran
in ad 651. The Sasanian kings
claimed descent from the rul-
ers of the Achaemenid empire, Figure 74.1 Shapur I monument, Naqsh-i-Rustam. X via Wikimedia.
founded by Cyrus the Great,
and they sought to re-establish their authority over the lands (or a substantial portion of them)
which had been subject to Cyrus and his successors. In pursuit of this ambition, they made serious
inroads into Rome’s eastern territories. At its height, their empire extended from the Indus river
through large parts of central Asia, to Mesopotamia and the Persian Gulf. On occasions they occu-
pied parts of Syria and Asia Minor as well, as illustrated by the western campaigns of Ardashir’s
son and successor Shapur I; these culminated in Shapur’s capture of Rome’s Syrian headquarters
at Antioch. In a trilingual inscription carved in three versions (Parthian, Middle Persian, and
Greek) on a cliff-face at Naqsh-i-Rustam, Shapur records victories over three Roman armies, led
successively by the emperors Gordian III, Philip the Arab and Valerian.
Conflicts between the Romans and the Sasanians continued intermittently over the following
centuries, with Sasanian power reaching further peaks in the reigns of Shapur II in C4 and Chosroes
II (whose conquests extended to Palestine and Egypt) in late C6 and early C7. But by the end of
Chosroes’ reign in 628, the empire was entering its final decades. Twenty-three years after his death,
it fell to the Arabs.
Kaizer (GEAW: 186–95); Mousavi and Daryaee (AANE: 1076–94); Daryaee (OHIH: 187–207).

279
280  The Near East in the Roman period

A B C D

Caspian
Black Sea Sea

• Nicomedia
ARMENIA
ANATOLIA
Lake
2 • Sardis Melitene • Van
ATROPA-
Samosata • TENE
••Edessa • • Praespa
Tigris
Antioch Carrhae Nisibis
•
• Hatra • Hecatompylos•
Barbalissos

Mediterranean
Palmyra • Dura •
Europos
•
Hamadan SA
Sea
•
Damascus Euphrates • Ctesiphon E
Babylon •
• Susa Yazd •
• Jerusalem

3 Memphis •
• Petra Naqsh-i Rusta
•

ARABIA

•
Persian
Thebes Gulf

Red
4 Nile Sea Sasanian empire

Roman empire

Territory fluctuating between

the two empires

The Sasanian empire (mid 3rd cent. ad)

 The Sasanians 281

D E F

Aral
Caspian Sea
Sea

Oxus

OPA-
NE Merv •
Praespa
Bactra •
Nishapur •
Hecatompylos• Kapisa •
• Kabul
•
Hamadan SASANIAN Herat •
Helmand
•
n EMPIRE Taxila

• Susa Yazd • • Kandahar

Naqsh-i Rustam •Kerman
•

Indus

Gedrosian
Desert
Persian
Gulf Gulf of
Oman

Arabian
Sea

ween 0 600 1200 km

 75
Zenobia

Zenobia (al-Zabba’ in Arabic) was the second wife of Odenathus, ruler of Palmyra. His death
in 267/268 paved the way for her accession as Palmyra’s next ruler. But initially, Zenobia
occupied the Palmyrene throne merely as regent for her and Odenathus’ son Vaballathus
(Arabic Wahballath) who was still a minor. Whether or not she ever planned to hand over her
powers to Vaballathus remains unknown because of the brevity of her reign. The first two to
three years of this reign she devoted to peaceful enterprises, above all to boosting Palmyra’s
image as a cultural centre. Then probably in the spring of 270, she embarked upon a pro-
gramme of westward military expansion which took her armies into the Roman province
of Arabia, and beyond it into the broader region the Romans called Arabia Felix. Up to this
point, Zenobia could claim to be acting as Rome’s representative in the east, by securing its
territories in the Syrian-Arabian region while the emperor was preoccupied with problems
in the west. But most importantly, Zenobia was seeking to establish control over the region
which gave her forces access to the Red Sea and the Nile Delta. With that accomplished, her
next objective lay immediately ahead – the conquest of Egypt. After two unsuccessful attacks
upon the Egyptian forces, Zenobia’s general Zabdas finally conquered the land, enabling
Zenobia herself to enter it in triumph.
This set the stage for conflict with
Rome, for Egypt was Roman subject
territory. Zenobia claimed, theo- North Gate

retically on her son’s behalf, that

she sought no more than partner- Honorific Column

ship with the Roman emperor (now

Peristyle
House Basilica

Sanctuary of Spring

Aurelian), as protector of the east-

Funerary
Baal Shamin
Temple
Diocletian
Baths

ern half of the empire. Her military

Monumental Arch Patrician Houses
Temple
of Allat Colonnad Tetrapylon
ed Avenue

successes in both Arabia and Egypt

Temple
Diocletian’s Theatre of
Camp Nabu
Agora
Oval Piazza

demonstrated the credibility of her

Temple of Bel
ate

House-tomb
sG

of Ailami
cu

claim. But Aurelian had no inter-

as
m
Da

est in accepting either Zenobia or

d
roa
in
ma
Valley of

her son as his co-regent, and in late

the tombs

271 he set out for the east to reassert

Roman authority over Egypt and N

other territories won by Zenobia. 0 100 200 m

By this time the Palmyrene queen

had returned to Syria, where she
Palmyra (after Stoneman 1992: 55) made preparations for the invasion

282
 Zenobia 283

A B C Approximate territory
of Zenobia’s “empire”
at its height

1
Late 271:
Aurelian sets
out for the East

Danube

Black Sea
2
By April 272:
THRACE Aurelian crosses
Bosporus
Halys

•
Ancyra Euphrates
Mid 271:
3 Zenobia invades
Asia Minor

A N A T O L I A
(ASIA MINOR) Tigris

Tyana•
ountains
rus M
Tau
•Tarsus
Late 272:
Zenobia
• Antioch captured
4
SYRIA x
Mid 272:
CYPRUS Aurelian defeats
Zenobia’s forces
• Emesa • Palmyra
Spring 270: Zenobia
begins westward expansion

Mediterranean Sea •Damascus

NE

Syrian
STI

5 Jordan
Desert
E
PAL

Alexandria
•
Late 270:
Palmyrene
occupation
of Egypt

EGYPT
6
ARABIA
Nile
0 150 300 km Red
Sea

Zenobia’s ‘empire’
284  The Near East in the Roman period

Figure 75.1 Palmyra, Grand Colonnade. Photo by Trevor Bryce.

and occupation of Asia Minor. But she probably got no further than Ancyra before being forced
to retreat to Syria, very likely on receiving news that Aurelian’s army was rapidly approaching. By
April, 272, the emperor had crossed the Bosporus into Asia Minor, and then proceeded through
the Anatolian plateau and along the south-eastern coast into Syria. Two military confrontations
between Aurelian’s and Zenobia’s armies near Antioch and Emesa resulted in decisive victories
for Aurelian, who then pursued the queen back to Palmyra. The city was placed under siege,
but held out until Zenobia was captured by a Roman cavalry detachment while trying to escape
across the Euphrates into Sasanian territory. She was taken back to Rome where she provided a
star attraction (along with the captured Gallic chieftain Tetricus) in Aurelian’s triumph (274) to
celebrate his victories over both the Palmyrene and the rebel Gallic empires. Our sources provide
different accounts of Zenobia’s ultimate fate, ranging from her execution after the triumph to a
comfortable retirement in Rome or nearby Tivoli.
Stoneman (1992); Southern (2008); Bryce (2014: 275–317).
 76
Roman rule in the Near East IV
From Diocletian to the Islamic invasions

Fresh stability for the Roman empire came with the accession of Diocletian, a battle-hardened
warrior from the imperial bodyguard, in 284. One of the great accomplishments of his reign,
which he shared with three other rulers (Maximian, Galerius and Constantius, forming a so-called
tetrarchy) was the peace he secured in 297 with the Sasanian king Narseh (Narses) in the so-
called treaty of Nisibis. In accordance with this peace, Rome’s eastern frontier was shifted east
of the Euphrates, to the Habur river. In Syria, Diocletian strengthened the frontier areas with a
series of fortifications, and rebuilt a number of Syria’s strategically important roads, thus greatly
facilitating communication-links and
rapid movement of troops in the empire’s
eastern regions. This contributed much
to Syria’s sense of stability and well-being
during Diocletian’s reign, greatly enhanc-
ing, through the peaceful conditions thus
created, the region’s overall prosperity.
During C4 and early C5, there were fur-
ther wars between the Roman/Byzantine
and Sasanian empires, seriously draining
the resources of both sides. They ended
when the emperor Theodosius II (408–450)
agreed upon a ‘hundred-year peace’
with his Sasanian adversary. But warfare
erupted again in the reign of Justinian
(527–565), once more exacting a heavy
toll on its protagonists. Ultimately, both
were weakened beyond recovery. And that
paved the way for a new intruder upon
the scene. After the death of Muhammad
on 8 June 632, the prophet’s political and
administrative successor Abu Bakr deter-
mined an aggressive new course for the
armies gathered beneath the banner of
the new religion Islam. He set his sights
first of all on the conquest of the lands to
the north of Arabia, and in 634, Muslim Figure 76.1 The tetrarchy of Diocletian and his
forces invaded Syria, and briefly occupied co-emperors. Photo by Trevor Bryce.

285
 A B C D E F

Danube
1
Black Sea Caspian
Sea
Sinope COLCHIS
THRACE •
Constantinople •
• Nicomedia Trebizond
• ARMENIA
•Nicaea
Ancyra • Halys
2
Araxes
•
286  The Near East in the Roman period

ANATOLIA Nyssa Lake Van

•Ephesus Lake Urmia

Aegean Tarsus •Edessa

Sea • •Nisibis
•Antioch
3 SASANIAN
Palmyra
• M
CYPRUS ES EMPIRE
SYRIA OP
Mediterranean Sea •Damascus
Tyre• OT
Tigris
AM
IA
Euphrates
•Jerusalem
CYRENAICA Alexandria
•
4 ARABIA

Roman Territory
EGYPT Persian
0 200 400 km
Nile
Gulf

The Roman empire in the East (4th cent. ad)

 Roman rule in the Near East IV 287

Damascus. Two years later, a showdown took place at Yarmuk, near the present border between
Jordan and Syria, between an Islamic army, and an army despatched by the Roman emperor
Heraclius. The engagement lasted six days, but in the end Heraclius’ forces were routed. Yarmuk
proved a major turning point in world history. The Islamic peoples were here to stay. In 661,
Damascus became the capital of the first Muslim empire. Thus began the Umayyad period of
Islamic history.
 Timeline

Prehistoric periods
Geological terms
Pleistocene: 2.588 Ma–0.0116 Ma (2,500,000–11,600 bp)
Holocene: 9,600 bc (11,600 bp)–present

Cultural terms
Epipalaeolithic (or terminal Palaeolithic): 20,000–9600 bc
Near Eastern Neolithic period: 9600–4500 bc
Pre-Pottery Neolithic: 9600–6900 bc
Transition to Ceramic Neolithic: 6900–6000 bc
Halaf and Ubaid periods: 6500–4200 bc
Uruk period: 4200–3100

Historical periods
bc Early Bronze Age (c. 3100–2000 bc)
c. 3100–2900 Jemdet Nasr period
c. 3000–2125 Early Dynastic and Old Kingdom Egypt
c. 2900–2334 Sumerian Early Dynastic period
c. 2334–2193 Akkadian kingdom
mid M3 Beginning of Old Elamite period
c. 2112–2004 Ur III kingdom
Middle Bronze Age (c. 2000–C17/16 bc)
c. 2055–1650 Egyptian Middle kingdom
c. 2025–1763 Period spanned by Isin and Larsa kingdoms
c.2000–1763 Old Assyrian period
C20–18 Assyrian merchant colonies
c. 1880–1595 Old Babylonian kingdom
c. 1810–1762 Period spanned by Mari royal dynasties
early C17 Beginning of Hittite kingdom

288
 Timeline 289

Late Bronze Age (C17/16–early C12 bc)

C17–early C12 Hittite kingdom
c. 1570–1155 Kassite Babylonian kingdom
1550–1069 Egyptian New kingdom
C16–13 Mitanni/Hanigalbat kingdom
c. 1500–1100 Middle Elamite period
betw. 1184–1153 Pharaoh Ramesses III repels Sea Peoples’ incursions
Iron Age (period covered here: C12–end C7 bc)
→ 1069 Egyptian New kingdom
mid C12–late C8 Neo-Hittite kingdoms
c. 1100–mid C6 Neo-Elamite period
late C11 Saul establishes united kingdom of Israel (bibl. tradition)
1069–525 Egyptian Third Intermediate and Saite periods
by end M2 Emergence of Aramaeans
C10 Reigns of David and Solomon (bibl. tradition)
934–610 Neo-Assyrian kingdom
720 End of kingdom of Israel
610 Babylonian–Median alliance ends Neo-Assyrian Empire
Neo-Babylonian and Persian Achaemenid periods (626–330 bc)
626–539 Neo-Babylonian kingdom
586 Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem
559–330 Achaemenid kingdom, founded by Cyrus II
539 Cyrus ends Neo-Babylonian kingdom
490–479 The Persian invasions of the Greek mainland
334–323 Alexander the Great’s campaigns in the East
330 Fall of the Persian empire to Alexander
The Hellenistic and Parthian kingdoms (late C4–late C1 bc)
305–64 The Seleucid kingdom
305–30 The Ptolemaic kingdom
263–133 The Attalid kingdom
c. 274–168 Period spanned by the six ‘Syrian Wars’ (Seleucids vs Ptolemies)
c. 247 bc–ad 224 The Parthian kingdom
Dec 190 or Jan 189 Antiochus III defeated by Rome in battle of Magnesia
166–142 Maccabean rebellion
Rome’s involvement in the East (from 133 bc–ad 661)
133 Attalus III bequeaths his kingdom to Rome
64 bc–ad 14 From the settlements of Pompey to the death of Augustus
37–4 Rome’s appointee Herod rules Jewish state
20 Rome reaches accord with Parthia
ad

14–117 From Augustus’ death to the end of Trajan’s reign

70 Romans, led by Titus, destroy Jerusalem
290  Timeline

106 Trajan annexes the Nabataean kingdom

193–235 Severan dynasty
224 Parthian dynasty ends; Sasanian empire begins (founded by Ardashir I)
224–mid C7 The Sasanian kingdom
267/68–273 Reign of Palmyrene queen Zenobia
271–273 Aurelian’s campaign against and victory over Zenobia
284–661 From Diocletian to the dawn of the Islamic era
313 Christianity officially recognized by Constantine
324 Constantine refounds Byzantium as Constantinople
636 Muslim victory at Yarmuk
661 Damascus becomes capital of first Muslim empire
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Bernard, P. (2011), ‘The Greek Colony at Aï Khanum and Hellenism in Central Asia’, in F. Hiebert and P. Cambon
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——— (2014), Ancient Syria: A Three Thousand Year History, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Burns, R. (2009), The Monuments of Syria, London and New York: I.B. Tauris.
Charpin, D. (2012), Hammurabi of Babylon, London and New York: I.B.Tauris.
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Collins, B.J. (2007), The Hittites and Their World, Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature.
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Greaves, A.M. (2002), Miletos: A History, London and New York: Routledge.
Gruen, E.S. (1984), The Hellenistic World and the Coming of Rome, Berkeley, Los Angeles and London: University
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Haywood, J. (2005), The Penguin Historical Atlas of Ancient Civilizations, London: Penguin.
Heimpel, W. (2003), Letters to the King of Mari, Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns.
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Latacz, J. (2004), Troy and Homer, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Laughlin, J.C.H. (2006), Fifty Major Cities of the Bible, London and New York: Routledge.
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 A select bibliography of ancient
sources in translation

From the Early Bronze Age to the Achaemenid period

Chavalas, M.W. (ed.) (2006), The Ancient Near East: Historical Sources in Translation, Oxford: Blackwell.
Glassner, J.-J. (2004), Mesopotamian Chronicles, Writings from the Ancient World Number 19, Atlanta: Society of
Biblical Literature.
Grayson, A.K. (1987–96), The Royal Inscriptions of Mesopotamia: Assyrian Periods, Toronto, Buffalo and London:
University of Toronto (3 vols).
Hallo, W.W. and Younger, K.L. (eds) (1997, 2000, 2002), The Context of Scripture, Leiden, New York and Cologne:
Brill (3 vols), cited as CS.
Pritchard, J.B. (1969), Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament, Princeton: Princeton University
Press (3rd edn).
Roth, M.T. (ed.) (1997), Law Collections from Mesopotamia and Asia Minor, Atlanta: Scholars Press (2nd edn).

Late Bronze Age

Beckman, G. (1999), Hittite Diplomatic Texts, Atlanta: Scholars Press (2nd edn).
Moran, W. (1992), The Amarna Letters, Baltimore and London: Johns Hopkins University Press.

Iron Age
Frame, G. (1995), The Royal Inscriptions of Mesopotamia. Babylonian Periods, Vol. 2. Rulers of Babylonia from the
Second Dynasty of Isin to the End of Assyrian Domination (1157–612), Toronto, Buffalo and London: University
of Toronto Press.

Persian (Achaemenid) period

Brosius, M. (2000), The Persian Empire from Cyrus II to Artaxerxes I, London: The London Association of Classical
Teachers.
Kuhrt, A. (2007), The Persian Empire: A Corpus of Sources from the Achaemenid Period, Abingdon: Routledge (2 vols).

Hellenistic period
Austin, M. (2006), The Hellenistic World from Alexander to the Roman Conquest, Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press (2nd edn).
Bagnall, R.S. and Derow, P.S. (2004), The Hellenistic Period: Historical Sources in Translation, Oxford: Blackwell
(2nd edn).

295
296  Ancient sources in translation

Greece and Rome in the Near East

Sherk, R.K. (1984), Rome and the Greek East to the Death of Augustus, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Later Roman period

Dodgeon, M.H. and Lieu, S.N.C. (1991), The Roman Eastern Frontier and the Persian Wars ad 226–363: A
Documentary History, London and New York: Routledge.
 Gazetteer

Page nos in bold indicate main refs.

Abattum 82 C2 Ain Ghazal 24 C3

Abdera 233 C1 Ain Mallaha 19 B2, 22 box
Abraq, Tell 221 D2 Akalissos 206 E2
Abu Hawam, Tell 173 B4, 179 B2 Akhetaten see Amarna
Abu Hureyra 12 B2, 22 D3, 24 D2 Akkadian empire 74
Abu Salabikh 59 E3 Akko (Acco) 138 A5, 173 B4, 174 B2, 177 B2, 179 B2,
Abu Simbel 132 B5 264 C1
Abydos (Asia Minor) 202 A1, 233 D1 Aksaray 161 B1, 164 B3
Abydos (Egypt) 71 C4, 132 B4, 196 C5 Akshak 59 E3, 66 B1
Acem Höyük 161 B1 Alabanda 202 C5
Achaea 200 A2 Alaca Höyük 115 C3
Achaemenid empire 228–9 Alalah 54 C2, 82 A1, 90 A2, 107 B2, 114 D3, 117 D3,
Achshaph 138 A5 123 B2, 150 D2
Achziv 173 B4, 174 B2, 179 B1 Alambra 148 C2
Adab 59 E4, 66 D3, 88(a) D2, 88(b) D5 Alasiya (Bronze Age Cyprus) 114 C3–4, 116 C3–4, 123
Adalur range 117 D3 A3, 147 C1–2, 150 D2
Adana 158 A1, 161 C3 Alassa 148 B2
Adasa 255 B5 Al Assad Dam 19 C2
Aden 221 B3 Alborz mts see Elburz mts
Adilcevaz 190 D2 Aleppo 45 B1, 82 B2, 90 A2, 93 B2, 107 C2, 114 E3, 117
Aegae 202 B3 E3, 123 C2, 125 C1, 128 B2, 158 C2, 171 B1
Aegean Sea 146 C-D2, 200 B-C2, 233 Alexandria (Egypt) 235 B3, 246 A3, 262 B4, 270 A2,
Aegina 233 B3 276 A1, 283 B5, 286 B4
Aeolis 185 A2, 187 A2, 200 C1 Alexandria Eschate 235 F2
Aesepus river 142 D2, 202 B-C1 Ali Kosh 19 D2
Aetolia 200 A1 Alinda 202 C5
Afis 158 B2, 161 E3 Allabria 167 E2
Agade 66 B1, 74 C2, 79 A2 Allahad 82 D2
Agrab, Tell 59 E3, 95 D2 Al Mina 185 D3
Ahazum 82 F2 Alshe 114 F2, 117 F2, 123 D2
Ahhiyawa 146 Altıntepe 190 A2
Ahmar, Tell see Masuwari Al-Untash-Napirisha see Chogha Zanbil
Aï Khanoum 252 C2 Amae 125 C1
Aijalon 138 A6 Amanus range 114 D3, 158 B2
Ain 135 C3 Amarna el- (Akhetaten) 54 B4, 130(b) B4, 132 B3
Ain Dara 158 B2, 161 E3 Amastris 185 C1

297
298  Gazetteer

Amathus 209 B3 Arabian Sea (select refs) 43 E-F4, 222 B-D3

Amidu 167 D2 Arachosia 229 F3, 241 F3, 242 F3, 247 F3, 252 B3
Amisus 185 D1 Arad 135 B5, 179 B6, 264 C4, 267 B6
Amka 107 B4, 117 E4 Aral Sea 229 E1, 235 E1–2, 252 A1, 281 E1
Amman see Rabbath-Ammon Aram 158 C4
Ammiya 125 B3, 138 B3 Aram-Damascus 173 D3, 177 C-D2
Ammon 167 B-C4, 173 C-D5, 179 D4 Aram-Zobah 173 D3, 177 C-D1
Amnisus 146 D4 Ararat, mt. 225 D2
Amorites 82 B2 Araxa 206 B1
Amrit 174 B1 Araxes river 190–1, 225 D-F2, 228 C2, 242 C2, 244 C2,
Amurru 114 D4, 117 D4, 158 B3 246 B-C2
Ana(t) 91 D3, 104 C3 Arbela 228 C2, 235 C3, 246 C2
Anatolian plateau 10 A-B1, 42 A-B2 Arcadia 200 A2
Ancoz 161 F2 Ardata 107 A4, 138 B3, 173 C2
Ancyra see Ankara Argishtihinili see Armavir
Andarig 82 D2, 104 B2 Argolid 146 B2, 200 B2
Andaval 161 B2 Argos 146 B2, 200 A2
Anemurium 185 C3 Aria 216 D2, 242 E3, 247 E3, 252 B2
Ankara (Ancyra) 115 A3, 185 C1, 249 D2, 235 B2, 283 Arinna 115 C3
B2, 286 B2 Armavir (Argishtihinili) 191 E1
Ankuwa 93 B1 Armenia 225, 228 C1, 235 C2, 242 C2, 244 C2, 246 C2,
Anshan 74 D3, 76 D3, 79 D4, 229 D3 270 C-D1, 280 B-C2, 286 D-E2
Antakya 45 A1 —— Greater 225 D2, 260 D1, 263 E2, 277 D-E1
Antaradus 173 C1 —— Lesser 225 B-C2, 260 C-D1, 262–3 C-D2, 276 D1
Antikragos mts 206 A-B2 Arneae 206 D3
Anti-Lebanon range 45 A2, 173 D2 Arnon river 177 C-D5
Antioch 244 B2, 246 B2, 260 C2, 270 B2, 276 C2, 280 Aroer (1) 179 B6
B2, 283 C4, 286 C3 Aroer (2) 177 D5, 179 D5
Antipatris 267 B4 Arpachiyah, Tell 33 E2
Antiphellos 206 C3 Arpad 158 C2, 161 E3, 167 C2
Anti-Taurus mts 114 D2, 117 D-E2, 185 D2, 187 D-E2 Arqa, Tell 173 C2
Anzaf Kale 191 D3 Arrapha 82 F2, 91 E2
Apamea 260 A2 Arsada 206 B3
Apasa (classical Ephesus) 114 A2, 116 A2, 121 B3, Arsanias (Murat) river 190 A-D2, 225 A-C3
146 E2 Arslan Taş (Hadatu) 158 C2, 161 F2
Aperlai 206 C4 Arslantepe 161 F1
Aphek 179 B4, 264 C2 Artemisium 233 B2
Aphekah 135 C1 Arwad(a) (Arvad) 107 A4, 125 B2, 128 A3, 138 B3, 158
Aphrodisias 185 B2, 202 D4, 204 A1 B3, 171 A2, 173 C1, 174 B1
Apina (Upi) 82 F4, 107 B5, 138 B4 Arykanda 206 E2
Apishal 82 B2 Arzawa 121, 150 B1
Apku 82 E2 Arzawa-Mira 114 A-B2, 116 A-B2, 121 B3, 146 E2
Apliki 148 B2 Arsuz 158 B2, 161 D3
Apollonia 206 C4, 267 A4 Ashdod 173 A5, 177 B4, 179 A4, 181 A4, 264 B3
Apum 82 D2, 90 D1, 97(b) B2 Ashkelon 135 A4, 138 A6, 173 A5, 177 A4, 179 A5, 181
Aqaba 71 D3, 221 A1 A5, 193 B3, 196 D1, 218 B3, 264 B3, 267 A5
Arabia 42 C3–4D6 Ashtaroth 135 C3, 138 B5, 179 D2, 264 D2
Arabia Felix 276 C4 Ashtata 107 C3, 114 E3, 117 E3
Arabia Petraea 276 B3 Ashur 59 D2, 76 A1, 79 A2, 82 E2, 91 E2, 93 D2, 101
Arabian Peninsula 221, 222 D2, 104 C2, 123 E3, 128 E2, 130(b) D3, 167 E3, 169
Arabian Plate 11 B4 D2, 193 C2
 Gazetteer 299

Asia (Roman province) 260 A1–2, 262 A2, 276 A1 Bassit Ras al- 174 B1
Asia Minor 233 E-F2, 283 B-C3 Basta 24 C4
Aşıklı Höyük 19 B1 Bastam (Rusai-URU-TUR) 191 E2
Asmacık 161 E3 Batanea see Bashan
Aspendus 185 B3, 187 C3, 204 C1, 249 C3 Batash 179 B4
Assos 202 A2 Batrun(a) 107 A4, 125 B3, 138 B3, 173 C2
Assyria 90–1, 101 D2, 114 F3, 117 F3, 128, 130(b) D2, Beer-lahal-rol 264 B4
167, 168–9, 187 F3, 216 B1–2, 277 D-E2 Beersheba 179 B6, 264 C4, 267 B6
Aswan 71 C6 Beidha 19 B3, 24 C4
Asyut 196 B4 Beirut 107 A4, 125 B3, 138 B4, 158 A4, 173 C3, 174 B1
Athens 146 C2, 200 B2, 233 C3 Beit Mirsim 179 B5
Athos (peninsula) 233 C1 Bellapais 148 B1
Atlit 173 B4, 179 B2 Beşik Bay 142 B2
Attaleia 249 C3 Bethel 179 C4
Attalid kingdom 249 Beth Gan 179 C2
Attica 146 C2, 200 B2 Beth Horon 255 B4, 267 B4
Atuna 164 B3 Bethlehem 264 C3
Aulis 146 C2 Bethsaida Julias 267 C2
Ausin see ’Awsan Beth Sh(e)an 132 C2, 179 C3, 181 C3
Avaris 132 B2, 133 A2 Beth Shemesh 179 B5
Awan 59 F3, 74 D2, 79 B2 Beth Zechariah 255 B6
Awarna 116 B3 Beth Zur 179 B5, 255 B6, 267 B5
’Awsan (Ausin) 222 B3 Beycesultan 116 B2, 121 C3
Ayanis (Rusahinili: Eidurakai) 191 D3 Biqa‘ Valley 158 B4, 173 C2
Azatiwatiya see Karatepe Bira 179 C2
Azaz (Hazazu) 161 E3 Bisitun (Behistun) 54 E3, 216 C2, 228 C3
Azekan 179 B5 Bit-Adini 158 D2
Azerbaijan 225 E-F2 Bit-Agusi (Arpad) 158 C2, 161 E3
Aznavurtepe 190 D2 Bit-Bahiani 158 E2
Azzi 114 F2, 117 F2 Bit-Burutash 164 B-C4
Bit-Halupe 158 E2
Baalbek 265 Bithynia 185 B-C1, 187 C1, 240 C1, 242 A-B2, 244
Bab edh-Dra 179 D6 A-B2, 246 A-B2, 249 B-C2
Babylon 76 B2, 79 A3, 82 F4, 88(a) B1, 88(b) B4, 91 E4, Bithynia and Pontus (Roman province) 260 B-C1, 262
93 D3, 101 E3, 128 F4, 130(a) B2, 130(b) E3, 167 E3, B-C1, 276 B-C1
169 E3, 218 E3, 228 C3, 235 C3, 246 C3, 263 E3, 270 Bit-Zamani 158 E1
C2, 277 D3, 280 C3 Boeotia 146 B2, 200 B2
Babylonia 101, 123 E-F4, 130, 152 A-B1, 216 B-C2, 218 Bohça 161 C1, 164 B3
E3, 228 C3, 241 C3, 242 C3, 244 C3 Bor 161 B2
Bactra 235 F2, 252 B3, 270 F2, 281 F2 Borsippa 79 A3, 88(a) B2, 88(b) B5, 101 E3, 130 (a) B2,
Bactria 229 E-F2, 235 E-F2, 241 F2, 242 F2, 247 F2, 252 167 E4
B2–3 Bosporus 262 A1, 276 A1, 283 A2
Bad-tibira 59 E4, 66 D3, 88(a) D3, 88(b) D6 Bos(t)ra 262 C3, 273 D2, 276 C3
Bahariya oasis 196 A3–4 Bouqras 19 C2
Balih river 82 C2, 123 C2 Brak, Tell (Nagar, Nawar) 54 D2, 59 C2, 74 B2, 82 D2,
Baniyas 173 C1 97(b) B2, 123 D2
Barbalissos 262 C3, 276 C2, 280 B2 Bubastis 71 B2, 196 B2
Barga 117 D3 Bulgarmaden 161 B2
Bargylia 202 C5 Burunkaya 161 B1
Bashan (Batanea) 179 D2, 267 D2 Burushattum 93 A1
Bashime see Pashime Buseirah 179 D5
300  Gazetteer

Byblos (Gubla) 54 C3, 59 A3, 82 A3, 90 A3, 93 B2, 107 Chogha Mish 79 C3
A4, 117 D4, 123 B3, 125 B3, 128 A3, 132 C1, 135 C1, Chogha Pahan 152 C1
138 B3, 158 A3, 167 B3, 171 A3, 173 C2, 174 B1, 228 Chogha Zanbil (Al-Untash-Napirisha) 152 C1
B3, 246 B3 Chorasmia 242 E2, 247 E2, 252 A2
Byzantium 185 B1, 249 B2 Chytroi 209 C2
Çiftilik 24 C2
Caesarea 267 B3 Çildir, Lake 191 D1
Caesarea Philippi 267 D1 Cilicia 185 D3, 187 D3, 204 D1, 216 A-B1, 228 B2, 241
Caicus river 116 A2 B2, 242 B2, 244 B2, 246 B2, 260 B-C2, 262 C2, 276 C2
Cairo 71 B2 Cilician Gates 161 C2
Calynda 202 D6 Cimmerians 193
Canaan 125 B3, 133 C-D1, 135 Cindya 202 C5
Capernaum 267 C2 Citium 174 A1, 209 C2
Cappadocia 187 D2, 225 A3, 240 D1, 241 B2, 242 B2, Clarus 202 B4
244 B2, 246 B2, 249 D3, 260 B-C2, 262 B-C2, 276 Clazomenae 202 B4
B-C1 Cnidus 200 D2, 202 B6
Carchemish (Karkamish; mod. Jerablus) 82 B2, 90 B2, Cnossus (Knossos) 146 D4
93 B2, 101 A1, 107 C2, 114 E2, 117 E3, 123 C2, 128 Coele Syria see Syria Coele
B2, 132 D1, 158 C2, 161 F3, 167 C2, 168 C2, 218 C1 Colchis 185 F1, 286 E1
Caria 185 B2, 187 A-B3, 202 D5, 204 A1, 228 A2, 233 Colophon 202 B4
E-F3, 240 B2, 241 A2, 242 A2, 244 A2, 246 A2, 249 Colossae 185 B2, 204 B1
B3, 260 A2 Commagene 246 B2, 260 C2, 262 C2, 276 C1
Carioforte 174 C3 Constantinople (see also Byzantium) 286 A2
Carmania 216 D2, 229 E3, 235 E3, 241 E3, 242 E3, 247 Corinth 200 B2, 233 B3
E3, 252 A4 Corsica 174 C2
Carmel, Mt 22 box, 179 B2 Corupedium 249 A3
Carmona 174 A3 Cos 202 B5–6
Carpasia 209 D1 Cossyra 174 D3
Carrhae 262 D2, 270 B2, 276 C2, 280 B2 Crete 146 C-D4, 150 B2, 175 F3, 200 B-C3, 233 C-D4
Carthage 174 C3 Ctesiphon 263 E3, 270 C2, 277 D2, 280 C3
Caspian Sea 10, 43 D1–2, 235 D1–2, 241 D1–2, 263 F1–2 Curium 174 A1, 209 B3
Castabus 202 C6 Cutha 88(a) C1, 88(b) C4, 101 E3, 130(a) B2
Çatalhöyük 19 A2, 24 B2 Cyclades 233 C-D3
Caucasus mts 42 C1, 228 C2, 244 C1, 246 C1, 263 E1 Cyme 202 B3
Caunus 202 D6 Cyprus (see also Alasiya) 148, 164 A-B6, 168 A-B2, 174
Çavuştepe (Sardurihinili) 191 D3 A1, 204 C-D2, 209, 228 B2–3, 242 B2, 246 B2-3, 262
Çayönü 19 B-C1, 24 D2 B-C3, 276 B2, 286 B-C3
Cedreae 202 C5 Cyrenaica 286 A4
Cekke 161 E3 Cyrene 262 A4, 276 A3
Celaenae 185 B2 Cyropolis 229 F2, 247 F2, 252 C2
Celenderis 185 C3 Cythera 146 B3
Ceramus 202 C5 Cyzicus 202 C1
Ceyhan river 161 E1–2
Chagar Bazar 33 D2, 82 D2, 90 C2, 97(b) B2 Dahan-i-Ghulaman 229 E3, 247 E3
Chalcedon 185 B1, 249 B2 Dakhla oasis 71 A5, 196 A5–6
Chalcetor 202 C5 Dalawa 116 B3
Chalcis 200 B2, 233 C2 Damascus 45 A3, 93 B3, 107 B5, 132 C2, 135 C2, 138 B4,
Chersonese 142 B2 158 B4, 171 B3, 173 D3, 177 D1, 246 B3, 262 C3, 264
Chimaera mts 206 E-F3 D1, 270 B2, 273 C1, 276 C2, 280 B3, 283 C5, 286 C3
Chios 146 D2, 200 C2, 202 A3–4, 233 D2–3 Damietta 71 C1
Choga Mami 33 E2 Dan 158 A4, 173 C3, 177 C1, 264 D1
 Gazetteer 301

Danube river 242 A1, 244 A1, 262 A1, 283 A1–2 ’Ein Gev 179 D2
Darende 161 E1 ’Ein Shadud 179 C2
Dascylium 185 B1, 202 C1, 228 A2, 246 A2, 249 B2 ’Ein Zippori 179 C2
Dasht-e Kavir 10 E-F2 Ekallatum 82 E2, 91 E2, 104 D2
Dasht-e Lut 10 F3 Ekron (Miqne) 179 B4, 181 B4, 264 C3
Dayenu 190 B-C2 Elaea 202 B3
Dead Sea (Lake Asphaltitis) 135 B4–5, 138 B6, El-Ajjul 133 C1, 135 A5, 179 A5
177 C4–5, 181 C4–5, 264 C3–4, 267 C5–6 Elam 74 D2, 76 C2, 79 C3, 130(a) E2, 130(b) F3, 152,
Decapolis (Syrian province) 267 D2–3 169 E-F3, 218 F3, 228 C3, 246 C3
Dedan 221 A1 Elbistan see Karahöyük
Değirmentepe 33 D2, 37 C2 Elburz (Alborz) mts 10 E2, 79 A2, 216 C1
Deh-e Now 152 C1 Eleasa 255 C4
Deir ‘Alla 179 D3 Elephantine 132 C4, 196 C6
Deir el-Balah 179 A5 el-Fûl 179 C4
Delphi 200 A1, 233 B2 el-Hayyat 179 D3
Delta, Nile 71 B1–2, 72 el-Hesi 179 B5
Deneia 148 B2 el-Hiba 196 B3
Dendera 196 C5 el-Judeideh 179 B5
Der 59 E3 El Kowm 19 B2
Diaue(khi) 190 B-C1 Ellipi 167 E3
Dibon 177 D5, 179 D5, 264 D3 Elmalı 206 D2
Didyma 202 B5 El-paran 264 C6
Dilbat 88(a) B2, 88(b) B5, 101 E3, 130(a) B2, 167 E4 el-Qitar 82 B2
Dilmun 79 C-D6, 152 C-D4 el-Umeiri 179 D4
Diyala river 74 C2, 76 B-C2, 95 Emar 54 C2, 82 B2, 101 A1, 107 C2, 114 E3, 117 E3,
Domuztepe 161 D2 123 C2, 125 D1, 128 B2, 128 B2
Dor 150 D3, 173 B4, 174 A2, 179 B2, 264 C2, 267 B2 Emesa (mod. Homs) 283 C4
Dorians 200 Emirgazi 161 B2
Doris 200 A1, 200 D2 Emmaeus 255 A5
Dothan 179 C3 Emutbal (southern Yamutbal) 101 F3
Drangiana 216 C-D2, 229 E3, 242 E-F3, 247 E3, En-Gedi see ’Ein Gedi
252 A-B3 Enkomi 148 C2
Dura Europos 270 C2, 280 B2 Enzite 185 E2, 187 F2
Dur-Katlimmu (Sheikh Hamad, Tell) 82 D2, 97(b) B2, Ephesus 200 D2, 202 B4, 235 B2, 260 A2, 276 A2, 286
128 C2, 167 D2 A2
Dur-Kurigalzu 130(a) B1, 167 E3 ‘Erani 179 B5
Dur-Sharrukin 167 E2 Ereğli 161 B2, 164 B4
Dur-Yahdun-Lim 82 C2 Eresh 76 B2, 88(a) C2, 88(b) C5
Eretria 233 C2
Ebla 54 C2, 59 A2, 74 B2, 82 B2, 93 B2, 107 B3 Erevan 191 E1
Ecbatana (mod. Hamadan) 167 F3, 216 C2, 228 D3, Ergani-Maden 24 D2
235 D2, 246 C2, 270 D2, 280 C2 Eridu 33 F4, 37 E4, 59 E4, 66 D4, 88(a) D3, 88(b) D6,
Ed-Der see Sippar-Amnanum 101 F4, 130(a) D4
Edessa 270 B2, 280 B2, 286 D4 Erkilet 161 C1
Edfu 196 C6 Erythrae 202 A4
Edom 167 B4, 173 B6, 177 C6, 179 C6 Eshnunna 59 E3, 76 B2, 82 F3, 91 E3, 95 D1, 101 E3,
Eğrek 161 D1 104 D3
Egypt (select refs) 10 A3, 71, 123 A-B4, 130(b) B4, 132, Esda 179 B6
133, 147 B-C3, 150 C3, 168 A4, 196, 240 C3, 241 A-B3, Esna 196 C6
242 A3–4/B3–4, 244 A3–4/B3–4, 246 A3–4, 262 B4 es-Sa‘idiyeh 179 D3
’Ein Gedi (En-Gedi) 179 C5, 267 C5 es-Sharia 179 B6
302  Gazetteer

Et-Tell (Ai) 179 C4 Gordium 185 C2, 187 C2, 193 B1, 235 B2
Euboea 146 C2, 200 B1–2, 233 B-C2 Gozo 175 D4
Eurasian Plate 11 D1 Granicus river 142 C2, 202 B1, 235 B2
Euromus 202 C5 Great Zab river (select refs) 74 C1, 79 A1, 82 F2
Grynium 202 B3
Faiyum oasis 71 B2, 196 B2 Gubla see Byblos
Falaika 79 C4, 93 E4, 221 C1 Gülnar 161 A3
Farah (Far‘ah, Fara‘a) Tell el- (North) 179 C3 Gurgum 158 B-C1, 161 E2, 185 E2, 187 E3
Farah (Far‘ah, Fara‘a) Tell el- (South) (= Sharuhen?) Gürün 161 E1
133 D1, 179 A6, 196 D1 Gutium (Gutians) 59 E3, 74 D2, 79 B2
Farfara, Tell (Taidu?) 97(b) B2 Guzana (Gozan) see Halaf
Feheriye, Tell (Sikanu/Sikkan; Washshukkanni?) 97(b)
B2, 123 D2 Habuba Kabira 82 B2
Ferghana 229 F2, 247 F2, 252 C2 Habur (Khabur) region 97
Fertile Crescent 13 Habur river 82 D2, 90 C2, 123 D2–3
Fraktin 161 C1 Hacılar 19 A2, 24 A2
Hadar 179 D2
Gadara 267 D2 Hadatu see Arslan Taş
Gades (Cadiz) 174 A3 Hadidi 82 B2
Gagai 206 F3 Hadhramaut 222 D2
Galatia 246 B2, 249 C-D2, 260 B1, 262 B-C2, 276 B1 Hadrumetum 174 C3
Galilee 179 C2, 267 B-C2 Haftavan Tepe 191 E3
Gandhara 229 F2, 241 F2, 242 F2, 247 F2, 252 C2 Haft Tepe (Kabnak?) 79 C3, 152 C1
Gath 181 A5 Hajar Bin Humeid 222 B2
Gath-rimmon 138 A5 Hakpis(sa) 117 D1
Gaugamela 235 C2 Halaf, Tell (Guzana, Gozan) 33 D2, 37 C2, 97(b) B2,
Gaulanitis (Golan) 267 D1–2 158 E2, 167 D2
Gaza 132 C2, 133 D1, 135 A5, 138 A6, 150 D3, 173 A6, Hala Sultan Tepe 148 B2
177 A5, 179 A5, 181 A5, 193 B3, 196 D1, 218 B3, 235 Halicarnassus 200 D2, 202 B5
B3, 246 B3, 264 B3 Halif 179 B5
Gaziantep 161 E2 Hallan Cemi 24 D2
Gedrosia 229 E-F4, 235 E-F3, 242 F3, 247 E-F4, 252 B4, Halys river (Hittite Marassantiya, mod. Kızıl Irmak)
270 E-F3, 281 E3 185 D1–2, 216 A-B1, 228 B2, 244 B2, 246 B2, 276
Georgia 225 C-D1 B-C1, 283 C3
Gerasa (later Jerash) 267 D3 Hamadan see Ecbatana
Gergis 202 A1 Hamath 158 B3, 161 D4, 167 C3, 171 B2, 173 D1
Gerisa 179 B4 Hamath city (mod. Hama) 45 B2, 161 D4, 171 B2
Geshur 177 C2, 179 D2 Hamazi 59 E2
Gezer 135 B4, 138 A6, 179 B4, 181 B4, 196 D1 Hana 90 C3
Gibeon 179 C4, 181 B4 Hanigalbat 117 E3
Gilead 173 C-D4, 177 C-D3, 179 D3 Hannaton 138 A5
Girsu 59 E4, 66 D3, 88(a) D2, 88(b) D5 Hapalla 114 B-C2, 116 B-C2, 121 D3
Gisala 264 C1 Harbe 82 E3, 91 D3
Gizeh 71 B2 Harhar 167 E3
Göbekli Tepe 24 D2 Haror 179 A5
Godin Tepe 59 F3, 79 C2 Harradum 82 D3
Golan (see also Gaulanitis) 179 D2 Harran 82 C2, 90 C2, 93 C2, 123 C2, 167 C2, 218 C1
Golbaşı 161 E2 Hartuv 179 B5
Golgoi 174 A1 Hasanlu 59 E1, 76 B1, 191 F4
Gophna 255 C4, 267 B4 Hashabu 138 B3
Gophna hills 255 C4 Hasi 138 B4
 Gazetteer 303

Hassuna, Tell 33 E2, 37 D2 Idu see Hit

Hatip 116 C3, 121 D4 Idumaea 179 B-C6, 267 B5
Hatra 263 D3, 270 C2, 277 D2 Idyma 202 C5
Hatti 114 D2, 123 A-B1, 130(b) A-C2 Ikkuwaniya 116 C3
Hattus (later Hattusa) 93 B1 Iktanu 179 D4
Hattusa 54 B1, 114 D2, 115 C3, 117 D2, 130(b) C2, 150 D1 Imbros 142 A2
Hauran 45 A-B3 Imgur-Enlil 167 E2
Hayasa 114 F2, 117 F2 Indus river 229 F3–4, 235 F3, 244 F3, 247 F3, 252
Hazazu see Azaz C3–4, 281 E-F3
Hazor 93 B3, 135 B2, 138 B4, 173 C4 Ionia 185 A1, 187 A3, 193 A2, 200 C-D2
Hebron 135 B5, 179 B5, 181 B5, 264 C3, 267 B5 Ipsus 242 A2, 244 A2, 246 A2
Hecatompylus 235 D2, 270 E2, 281 D2 ‘Ira 179 B6
Heliopolis 71 B2, 132 B3, 133 A2, 196 B2 Iranian plateau 10 E2, 11 D2
Hellespont 142 B-C2, 233 D1 Irqata 107 B4, 138 B3, 171 A2
Hellespontine Phrygia 240 B1, 241 A2, 242 A2 Isauria 185 C2, 187 C-D3, 204 C-D1, 249 D3
Helmand river 43 E-F3, 229 E-F3, 242 E-F3, 244 E-F3, Ishtuanda 164 B-C3
247 E-F3, 270 F2, 281 E-F3 İskenderun 158 B2, 161 D3
Heraclea Pontica 185 C1 Isin 76 B2, 88(a) C2, 88(b) C5, 101 F3, 130(a) C3
Herat 281 E2 Isinda 206 C4
Hesban 179 D4 İspekçur 161 E1
Heshbon 264 D3 Israel 167 B4, 173 B4–5, 177, 179, 181, 255 C3
Hermus river 116 A-B2, 146 E-F2, 185 A-B1, 187 A-B2, Issus 185 D3, 228 B2, 235 C2, 246 B2
200 C-D1, 202 A-D3, 249 A-B3 Isuwa 114 E2, 117 E2, 123 C-D1
Hilakku 161 A3, 164 A-B5, 167 B2 Itanos 175 E3
Himyar 222 A-B2 Ithaca 146 A2
Hindanu 158 E3 Ivriz 161 B2
Hinduwa 116 B3 ‘Izbet Sartah 179 B3
Hippo 174 C3 Izeh 152 D1
Hisarcık 161 C1 Izgin 161 E1
Hit (Idu) 82 E3, 91 E3, 104 C3, 128 E3 Izoğlu 161 F1
Hittite empire 116–17, 150 C-D1
Hittite homeland 115 Jabbok river 177 C-D3
Homs (anc. Emesa) 45 B2, 161 D4 Jaffa see Joppa
Horvat Uza 179 C6 Jarmo 19 C2, 24 E2
Hubushkia 191 D-E3 Jaxartes river 43 E1–2, F1–2, 229 E1–2/F1–2, 247 E1/
Huhnur 76 D3 F2, 252 A1/C2
Huleh 12 A3 Jebal Barez 10 F3
Hupishna 164 A-B4, 193 B2 Jebel Abd al-Aziz 45 C-D1
Hydae 202 C5 Jebel Ansariyah 45 A2, 161 D4
Hyksos 133 Jebel Bishri 45 C2
Hyrcania (central Asia) 216 D1, 242 D2, 247 D2 Jebel Khalid 246 B2
Hyrcania (Judaea) 267 C5 Jebel Sinjar 45 D1, 82 D2
Jemdet Nasr 66 B2
Iasus 146 E3, 202 C5 Jemmeh 179 A5
Iberia 174 A-B2 Jerash (Gerasa) 278
Ibiza 174 B3 Jericho (Tell es-Sultan) 19 B3, 22 box, 24 C3, 179 C4,
Icarus 202 A4–5 264 C3, 267 C4
Ida, mt. 142 C3 Jerusalem 93 B3, 132 C2, 135 B4, 138 A6, 167 B4, 168
Idalium 174 A1, 209 C2 B3, 171 A4, 173 B5, 179 C4, 181 B4, 218 B3, 228 B3,
Ida-Maras 82 C-D2 235 B3, 246 B3, 255 C5, 260 C3, 264 C3, 267 C5, 270
Idebessos 206 E2 B2, 273 C2, 276 B3, 280 B3, 286 C4
304  Gazetteer

Jezireh 97(b) B2 Keisan, Tell 173 B4, 179 B2

Jezreel 179 C3 Kelekli 161 F3
Jezreel Valley 173 B4 Kelishin Pass 191 E4
Jokha, Tell 59 D3 Kemerhisar 164 B4
Joppa (Jaffa) 132 C2, 135 B4, 138 A5, 177 B4, 179 B4, Kerak 179 D6
264 C3, 267 A4 Kerkenes Dağ 185 D2, 187 D2
Jordan river 135 B1–4, 181 C1–4, 264 D2–3, 267 Kerman 270 E3, 281 E3
C2–4 Keşlik Yayla 161 B2
Judaea (see also Judah) 260 C3, 262 C3, 267 B-C4, 273 Khafaje, see Tutub
C2, 276 B3 Kharaneh IV 22 box
Judah 167 B4, 173 B5-6, 177, 179, 255 B5 Kharga oasis 71 B5, 196 B5–6
Kilise Tepe 161 A3
Kabnak see Haft Tepe Kinalua see Tayinat, Tell
Kabri 179 C1 Kingdom of Upper Mesopotamia 90–1
Kabul 247 F3, 252 C3, 281 F2 King’s Higway 264 C-D
Kadmuhu 128 D1, 167 D2 Kirshu 185 C3
Kadyanda 206 A2 Kish 59 E3, 66 B2, 74 C2, 76 B2, 88(a) C1, 88(b) C4,
Kahat 82 D2, 90 D1 101 E3, 130(a) B2
Kalavasos 148 B2 Kisurra 88(a) C2
Kale Haidari 191 E2 Kızıldağ 116 C3, 161 A2, 164 A4
Kalhu see Nimrud Kizzuwadna (Kizzuwatna) 114 D3, 117 D3, 123 B2,
Kamid el-Loz 173 C3 147 D1, 150 D2
Kandahar 229 F3, 247 F3, 270 F2, 281 F3 Knossos see Cnossus
Kandyba 206 C3 Kom Ombo 196 C6
Kanesh (Kültepe) 93 A1 Köpet Dağ 10 F2
Kapisa 281 F2 Korkün 161 E2
Karabel 54 A2, 114 A2, 116 A2, 121 B3 Korucutepe 190 A2
Karaburçlu 161 D2 Korydalla 206 E3
Karaburun 161 B1 Kötükale 161 E1
Karadağ 116 C3, 161 A2 Kragos mts 206 A3
Karagündüz 191 D2 Kültepe 161 C1 (see also Kanesh)
Karahöyük (mod. Elbistan) 158 C1, 161 E1 Kürtül 161 D2
Karana see Rimah Kululu 161 D1, 164 C3
Karatepe (Azatiwatiya) 158 B1, 161 C2 Kumidi 138 A4
Karka 88(a) D2, 88(b) D5 Kummanni 117 D2
Karkamish see Carchemish Kummuh 158 C-D1, 161 F2, 185 E2, 187 E3
Karmir Blur 191 E1 Kura river 225 D-E2
Karmylessos 206 A2 Kurda 82 D2, 104 C1
Karnak 132 C4 Kürtül 161 D2
Kars 225 D2 Kurubel 161 D1
Kar-Tukulti-Ninurta 128 E2, 167 E3 Kush 132 B6, 228 B4
Kashirayi range see Tur ‘Abdin Kussara 117 D2
Kaska 114 D1, 115 D-E1, 117 D1, 167 C2 Kuwait 221 C1
Kassite Babylonia 130(a) Kyaneae 206 D3
Kastariya river 114 B3, 116 B3, 121 C4 Kyrenia mts 148 B-C1, 209 B-C2
Kayalıdere 190 B2 Kythera 175 E3
Kayseri 161 C1, 164 C3
Kazallu 88(b) B4 Labraunda 202 C5
Keban Dam 19 B1 Labwe (Lapana) 138 B3
Kebara cave 22 box Lachish 135 B5, 138 A6, 179 B5, 196 D1
Kedumim, Mt 22 box Laconia 146 B3, 200 A2
 Gazetteer 305

Lade 202 B5 Maa 148 A2

Lagash 59 E4, 66 E3, 76 B2 Maccabaean rebellion, battle sites 255
Laish 135 C2 Machaeus 267 C5
Lampedousa 174 D3 Macedonia 233 A-B1, 235 A2, 240 A1
Lampsacus 202 B1 Madaba 179 D5
Lapana (Labwe) 138 C3 Madnasa 202 B5
Lapethos 148 B1, 174 A1, 209 B2 Maeander river 116 A-B3, 146 E-F2, 185 A-B2, 187
Laqe 158 E3, 167 D3 A-B2, 202 B-D4, 249 A-B3
Larak 66 D2 Magnesia ad Maeandrum 202 C4
Larsa 66 D4, 88(a) D3, 88(b) D6, 101 F4, 130(a) C3 Magnesia ad Sipylum 202 B3, 246 A2, 249 A3,
Lasqum 82 C2 260 A2
Lawazantiya 117 E2 Ma‘in 222 A2
Lazpa (classical Lesbos) 114 A2, 146 D1 Majorca 174 B3
Lebanon 45 A2–3, 173 C2 Makaria 148 C1, 209 C2
Lebanon range 45 A2 Malatya 158 C-D1, 161 F1
Lebedus 202 B4 Malgium 130(a) C2
Ledrae 209 B2 Mallia 146 D4
Lehun 179 D5 Malpinar 161 F2
Lemnos 146 D1 Malta 175 D3
Leptis Magna 175 D4 Malyan 93 F4, 152 E2
Lerna 146 B2 Mankisum 82 F3
Lesbos (see also Lazpa) 185 A2, 200 C1, 202 A2–3, 233 Mannaea 167 E-F2, 218 E-F1
D2, 249 A2 Maracanda 229 F2, 247 F2, 252 B2
Letoum (Letoon) 54 A2, 206 B3 Marad 76 B2, 88(a) C2, 88(b) C5, 101 E4, 130(a) B2
Levant 10 B-C3 Maraş (Marqas) 158 B1, 161 E2
Libya 132 A2–3, 150 A3, 175 E4 Marassantiya (classical Halys) river 114 D2,
Libyan Desert 235 A-B4 115, 117 C-E2
Lidar 158 D1, 161 F2 Marathon 233 C3
Limassol forest 148 B2 Margiana 216 D1, 229 E2, 242 F2, 247 E2, 252 B2
Limni 148 A2 Marhashi (Parahshum) 74 D3, 76 D2, 79 D3
Limyra 206 E3 Mari 54 D3, 59 C2, 74 B2, 82 D3, 90 D3, 93 C2, 101 C2,
Limyros river 206 E1–3 104 B3
Little Zab river (select refs) 74 C2, 79 A2, 82 F2 Marib 221 B3, 222 B2
Lixus 174 A3 Marki 148 B2
Liyan 152 D3 Marion 174 A1, 209 A2
Lod 179 B4 Maroni 148 B2
Loryma 202 C6 Marqas (Maraş) 158 B1, 161 E2
Lower Land (Hittite terr.) 114 C3, 116 C3 Masa 114 B2, 116 B2, 121 B3
Luash 158 B2, 161 D3 Masada 264 C4, 267 C5
Lukka 114 B2, 116 B3, 121 C4, 146 F3, 147 B1, 150 C2 Mashkan-Shapir 88(a) C2, 88(b) C5, 101 F3
Lullubi 79 A2 Masos 179 B6
Luristan 152 A-B1, 228 C3 Massagetae 247 F1, 252 B1
Lutibu 161 E2 Mastuma 158 B2
Lycaonia 185 C2, 187 C-D2, 204 C1, 249 C-D3, Masuwari (= Till Barsip, mod. Tell Ahmar) 158 C2,
260 B2 161 F3
Lycia 185 B3, 187 B3, 204 B1, 206, 228 A2, 233 F4, 240 Masikytos mts 206 B-C2
C2, 241 A2, 242 A2, 244 A2, 246 A2, 249 B4, 260 A2, Mathiatis 148 B2
262 A2–3, 276 A2 Mauryan empire 241 F3, 242 F3, 244 F2–3, 247 F3–4
Lydda 255 A4, 267 B4 Mazar 179 D3
Lydia 185 B2, 187 A-B2, 193 A1, 216 A1, 228 A2, 240 Mecca 221 B2
D1, 241 A2, 242 A2, 244 A2, 249 B3 Meda’in Saleh 221 A1
306  Gazetteer

Media 167 F3, 193 D2, 216, 218 F2, 241 D2, 242 D2, Myrina 202 B3
246 C2, 263 F2, 277 E-F2 Mysia 185 A2, 202 B-C2, 249 A2, 260 A1
Media Atropatene 216 C1, 225 E-F3, 246 C2, 263 E2, Mytilene 200 C1
270 C-D2, 277 E2, 280 C2
Medina 221 B2 Nabataea 262 C4, 267, 273
Megara 233 B3 Nagar (Nawar) see Brak, Tell
Megiddo 107 A6, 123 B3, 132 C2, 138 A5, 173 B4, 174 Nagidus 185 C3
B2, 179 B3, 181 B3, 264 C2 Nagila 179 B5
Melid 161 F1, 185 E2, 187 E2 Nairi 167 D2, 190 C3, 191 D-E3
Melitene 270 B1, 280 B2 Najran 221 B2
Melos 175 E3, 233 C3 Nami 179 B2
Memphis 71 B2, 132 B3, 133 A3, 147 B3, 175 F4, 196 Namri 167 E3
B2, 218 A3, 228 A3, 246 A3, 280 A3 Naqsh-i-Rustam 229 D3, 247 D3, 281 D3
Mersin 161 B3, 185 D3, 204 D1, 270 A3 Nasbeh 179 C4
Merv 270 F2, 281 E2 Naucratis 175 F4
Mesaoria plain 148 C2, 209 C2 Naxos 233 D3
Mesopotamia 10 C2–3, 242 B-C2, 244 B-C2 Nazareth 264 C2, 267 C2
Messenia 146 A-B3, 200 A2 Neandria 202 A2
Me-Turran 82 F3 Nea Paphos 209 A3
Meydancık 161 A3 Neapolis (Cyprus) 209 B3
Michal 179 B4 Nebo, Mt 179 D5
Midas City 185 B2, 187 B2 Negev Desert 135 A5, 173 B6, 177 B6, 179 A6,
Mikhmoret 179 B3 264 C4
Milawata (Millawanda) (classical Miletus) 114 A3, 116 Nenassa 93 A1, 117 D2
A3, 121 A4, 146 E3 Neo-Assyrian empire 167, 168–9
Miletus 185 A2, 187 A3, 202 B5, 204 A1, 228 A2, 233 Neo-Babylonian empire 218
E3, 246 A2, 249 A3 Neo-Hittite kingdoms 161
Milyas 206 D-E2 Nerebtum 82 F4, 95 B2
Mira 114 B2, 116 B2, 121 B-C3, 146 E2 Nerik 115 D2, 117 D1
Mishlan 82 D3 Nevalı Çori 24 D2
Mitanni (Mittani) 114 E3, 123, 125 D1 Nicaea 286 B2
Moab 173 C-D6, 177 D5 Nicomedia 270 B1, 280 A2, 286 B2
Modein 255 A4 Niğde 161 B2, 164 B4
Mor 179 A4 Nihriya 114 F2, 117 F2, 128 D1
Morphou 148 B1 Nimrud (Assyr. Kalhu, bibl. Calah) 128 E2, 167 E2, 169
Mosul 74 C2 D2
Motya 174 D3 Nineveh 54 D2, 59 D2, 76 A1, 79 A1, 82 E2, 91 E2, 93
Mozan, Tell see Urkesh D2, 101 D1, 123 E2, 128 E2, 130(b) D2, 167 E2, 169
Mukish 107 B2, 117 E3, 125 B1, 138 B-C1 D2, 171 F1, 193 C2, 216 B1, 218 E1
Mulhan 82 E3 Nippur 54 E3, 66 C2, 76 B2, 79 B3, 88 C2, 88 C5, 101
Murat river see Arsanias river F3, 130(a) C2
Mureybet, Tell 19 B2, 22 C3, 24 D2 Nishapur 270 E2, 281 E2
Muş 190 B3 Nisibis 263 D2, 270 C2, 277 D2, 280 C2, 286 D3
Musasir 191 E4 Niya 107 B3, 117 D-E3, 125 C2, 138 B-C1
Müsgebi 146 E3 Nora 174 C3
Mycale (cape and mt) 233 E3 Notium 202 B4
Mycenae 146 B2 Nubia (Lower) 132 C5
Mylasa 202 C5 Nubia (Upper) 132 B6
Myndus 202 B5 Nuhashshi 107 C3, 114 E3, 117 E3, 125 C2, 138 C2
Myous 202 C5 Nuzi 54 E2, 59 D2, 82 F2, 91 E2
Myra 206 D3 Nyssa 286 C2
 Gazetteer 307

Ohalo II 22 box Persepolis 54 F4, 216 C2, 229 D3, 235 D3

Oinoanda 206 C1 Persian Gulf (select refs) 10 E3-4, 221 B-C1
Olympos (Lycia) 206 F3 Persis (Parsa) 216 C-D2, 229 D3, 235 D3, 241 D3, 242
Oman 221 C-D2 D3, 247 D3
Oman, Gulf of 221 D2, 281 E4 Petra 262 C4, 264 C5, 270 B3, 273 C3, 280 B3
Opis 235 C3 Phaestus 146 C4
Orchomenus 146 B2 Phaselis 206 F2, 235 B2
Orontes river (select refs) 45 A1–2, 82 A2–3, 90 A2–3, Phellos 206 C3
107 B2–4, 117 D3–4 Philadelphia 267 D4
Oxus river 43 E1–2/F1–2, 229 E2, 247 E-F2, 252 A1, Philistia 150 D3, 173 A-B5, 181 A4–5, 182
B2, 281 E-F2 Phocaea (Phokaia) 200 C1, 202 B3
Phoenicia 158 A4, 167 B3, 171 A3, 173, 174–5, 177
Pala 114 C1, 115 B1, 116 C1 B-C1, 267 B1
Palanga 161 E1 Phokaia see Phocaea
Palermo 174 D3 Phrygia(ns) 164 B2, 185 C2, 187 C2, 193 A-B1, 216 A1,
Palestine 42 B3, 123 B4, 242 B3, 244 B3, 283 C5 240 C1, 241 A-B2, 242 A-B2, 244 B2
Palmyra (see also Tadmor) 45 B2, 262 C3, 270 B2, 273 Physcus 202 D6
D1, 276 C2, 280 B2, 283 D4, 286 D3 Pihilu (Pella) 138 B5, 179 D3
Palu (Shebeteria?) 190 A3 Pina(li) 116 B3
Pamphylia 187 C3, 204 B-C1, 228 A-B2, 240 C-D2, 241 Pinara 206 A2
A2, 242 B2, 244 B2, 246 A-B2, 249 C3, 260 B2, 262 Pi-Ramesse 140 box
B2, 276 B2 Pisidia 187 C3, 204 B-C1, 249 C3
Panaztepe 202 B3 Pitane 202 B3
Panion 246 B3 Pitassa 114 C2, 116 C2
Paphlagonia 164 B1, 185 C-D1, 187 D1, 228 B2, 240 Plataea 233 B3
C-D1, 242 B2, 244 B2, 249 D1 Poliochni 146 D1
Paphos 209 A3 Pontic zone 185 D1, 187 D-E1
Paqarhubunu 158 C1 Pontus 185 E1, 187 E-F2, 240 D1, 242 B2, 244 B2, 246
Parahshum, see Marhashi B2
Parapomisus 241 E-F2, 242 F2 Potidaea 233 B1
Parha 114 B3, 116 B3, 121 D4 Praespa 270 D2, 280 C2
Parthia 216 D2, 235 D-E2, 241 D-E2, 242 D-E2 Priene 200 D2, 202 B4
Parthian empire 263 E-F3, 270, 277 E3-F2 Propontis (mod. Sea of Marmara) 116 A2, 121 B2, 142
Parthia(ns) 260 C-D2 D1, 185 A-B1, 187 A-B1
Parium 202 B1 Ptolemaic empire 242 A3/B4, 244 A3/B4, 246 A3/B4
Parsa see Persis Ptolemais 267 B2
Parsua 167 E3 Purushanda 74 A1, 116 C2
Pasargadae 216 C2, 229 D3 Pydna 206 A3
Pashime (Bashime) 76 D3, 79 D4 Pyla 148 C2
Patara 116 B3, 206 B3 Pylos 146 A3, 150 A2
Patin (Unqi) 158 B2, 161 D3 Pyrgos 148 B2
Pazarcık 161 E2 Pyrnus 202 D6
Pedasa 202 B5
Pella (Greece) 235 A2 Qadesh 107 B4, 114 D4, 117 D4, 132 D1, 138 C3,
Pella (Jordan Valley) see Pihilu 158 B3
Peloponnese 233 A-B3 —— battle of 140
Pelusium 235 B3 Qadesh-Barnea 135 A6, 177 A6, 264 B4
Peraea (part of Herod’s kingdom) 267 D3–5 Qal‘at al-Bahrain 79 D6, 93 F4, 152 B4, 221 C1
Pergamum 202 B3, 233 E2, 246 A2, 249 A2, 260 A1, Qalatgah 191 F4
262 A2, 276 A1 Qaleh Ismail Agha 191 E4
Perge 185 B3, 187 C3, 204 B1, 249 C3 Qarqar 158 B2, 167 C2, 168 B2, 171 B2
308  Gazetteer

Qarqur 158 B2 Salamis (Greek island) 233 B3

Qaryat al Fau 221 B2 Salt Lake 114 C2, 116 C2
Qasile 179 B4 Sam’al 158 B-C2, 161 D-E3, 185 D-E2, 187 E3
Qataban 222 C2 Samanun 82 D3
Qatar 221 C1 Samaria 167 B3, 171 A4, 179 C3, 264 C2, 267 B-C3
Qatna 54 C3, 82 A3, 90 A3, 93 B2, 107 B4, 114 D4, Samarian Hills 177 B-C3, 255 box
117 D4, 138 C3, 158 B3 Samos 200 C2, 233 D-E3
Qattara 82 E2, 104 C2 Samosata 262 C2, 270 B2, 276 C2, 280 B2
Qattuna 104 B2 Samsat 161 F2
Qiri 179 B2 Samos 146 E2
Que (Adanawa, Hiyawa) 158 A2, 161 C3, 164 C4, Samothrace 142 A1
167 B2 Samuha 115 F3, 117 E2
Qumran 179 C5, 267 C5 Sanahuitta 117 D2
Qurayyah 221 A1 Sangarius (earlier Sakarya) river 185 B-C1, 187 B-C2
Qutu 128 F2 Sapinuwa 54 C1, 115 C3, 117 D2
Sapiratum 82 E3
Rabbah see Rabbath-Ammon Sardinia 174 C2–3
Rabbath-Ammon (Rabbah); mod. Amman) 177 D4, Sardis 185 A2, 193 A2, 216 A1, 228 A2, 233 E2, 235 B2,
179 D4, 264 D3 246 A2, 249 A3, 270 A2, 280 A2
Rabud 179 B5 Sardurihinili see Çavuştepe
Ramoth in Gilead 177 D3, 264 D2 Sarepta 173 B3, 174 B2
Raphia 246 B3, 264 B4 Sarissa 115 E4, 117 D2
Rapiqum 82 F3 Sasanian empire 280–1, 286 F3
Rahel 179 C4 Sattagydia 229 F3, 247 F3, 252 B-C4
Red Sea (select refs) 10 B4, 42 B3–4, 71D, 72, 132 C3/ Saudi Arabia 221 B1
D6, 221 A-B Sawwan, Tell es- 33 E3
Rehob 179 C3 Scamander river 142 B-C2
Restan 161 D4 Scythia(ns) 193 C-D1, 216 D1, 228 A1
Rhodes 146 E-F3, 147 A1, 150 C2, 185 A3, 187 A-B3, Scythopolis 267 C3
200 D3, 202 C6, 233 E4, 249 A-B4, 260 A2 Sealand 130(a) E4
Rhodiapolis 206 E3 Sea of Galilee (Chinnereth/Kinnereth) 135 C3, 177 C2,
Rhoetium 202 A1 179 C-D2, 267 C2
Riblah 218 B2 Sea of Marmara see Propontis
Rifa’at 158 C2, 161 E3 Sea Peoples 150
Rimah, Tell al- (Karana?) 82 E2, 91 D2, 104 C2, 123 E2 Sebaste 267 B3
Rogem Hiri 179 D2 Sefire 158 C2, 161 E3
Roman empire in the East: 260, 262, 270, 276–7, 286 Seha River Land 114 A2, 116 A2, 121 A-B3, 146 E1
Rosetta 71 B1 Sela 135 C6
Rusahinili: Eidurakai see Ayanis Seleuceia in Pieria 246 B2
Rusahinili: Qilbanikai see Toprakkale Seleuceia on the Tigris 246 C3
Rusai-URU-TUR see Bastam Seleucid empire 246–7
Sera 179 A5
Saba (Sheba) 222 B2 Sestus 202 A1
Safut 179 D4 Sevan, Lake 191 F1, 225 D-E2
Sakçagözü (Sakça Gözü) 158 B1, 161 E2 Sexi 174 A3
Saggaratum 82 D2, 104 B2 Shabwa 222 D2
Sais 196 C1 Shaduppum 82 F4, 95 B2
Saka Haumavarga 229 F2, 247 F2, 252 C1–2 Shanidar Cave 22 E2
Saka Tigrakhauda 247 D-E2 Sharon Plain 177 B3
Sakarya (later Sangarius) river 114 B-C2, 116 B2 Sharuhen see Far’ah, Tell el- (South)
Sakkara 71 B2 Sheba see Saba
Salamis (Cyprus) 174 A1, 209 C2 Shechem 107 A6, 135 B4, 138 B5, 179 C3, 181 B4, 267 C3
 Gazetteer 309

Shehna see Shubat Enlil Sukas, Tell 150 D2, 173 C1, 174 B1
Sheizar-Meharde 161 D4 Sultanhan 161 D1, 164 C3
Shemshara (Shusharra) 54 E2, 82 F2, 91 F2 Sumer 59 E3–4, 66, 74 C-D3, 76 C3
Shiloh 179 C4 Sumur 107 A4, 117 D4, 138 B3
Shimanu 76 A1 Sura (Lycia) 206 D3
Shimashki 76 C1 Sura (on the Euphrates) 262 D3, 276 C2
Shimron 138 A5 Susa 54 F3, 74 D3, 79 C3, 93 E3, 130(b) F3, 152 C1, 167
Shinuhtu 164 A-B3 F4, 216 C2, 228 C3, 235 D3, 246 C3, 270 D2, 280 C3
Shitullum 82 F3 Susiana 79 B-C3, 241 D3, 242 D3
Shubat-Enlil (Shehna, mod.Tell Leilan) 82 D1, 91 D2, Suvasa 161 B1
97(b) B2, 101 C1, 104 C1 Syangela 202 C5
Shubria 190 C3 Syria (select refs) 42 B2, 45, 168 B2–3, 185 E3, 187
Shuruppak 59 E4, 66 C3 E3, 216 B1–2, 240 D2, 241 B2, 242 B2, 244 C2, 260
Shusharra see Shemshara C2–3, 262 C3, 283 C-D4, 286 C3
Shushtar 152 C1 Syria Coele 262 C3, 273 C-D1, 276 C2
Sicily 175 D3 Syria Palestina 277 B3
Side 185 C3, 187 C3, 204 C1, 249 C3 Syria Phoenice 262 C3, 273 C1, 276 C2
Sidon 107 A5, 132 C2, 135 B2, 138 B4, 158 A4, 167 B3, Syrian Desert (select refs) 42 B-C3, 82 C4, 93 B-C3, 107
171 A3, 173 B3, 174 B2, 228 B3, 235 B3, 246 B3 D5, 158 D4, 242 B-C3, 244 B-C3
Sidyma 206 A3 Syrna 202 C6
Sigeum 142 B2, 202 A1
Sile 133 B2, 196 C1 Taanach 179 C3
Silifke 93 A2, 161 B3 Tabal 161 B1, 164 C3, 167 B2, 168 B1, 185 D2, 187 D2,
Simena 206 C4 193 B1
Simois river 142 B2 Tadmor (see also Palmyra) 82 B3, 90 B3, 93 C2, 101 A2,
Simyra (Simurru; Tell Kazel) 173 C2, 174 B1 128 B3, 158 C3
Sinai 71 D3, 72, 196 D3, 221 A1 Taidu 97(b) B2
Sinope 185 D1, 249 D1, 286 C1 Tal-e Malyan 152 E2
Sippar 54 D3, 59 D3, 66 B1, 76 B2, 82 F4, 88 B1, 88 B4, Tamar 135 B6, 264 C4
91 E4, 101 E3, 130(a) B1 Tamassus 174 A1, 209 B2
Sippar-Amnanum (Tell Ed-Der) 82 F4, 130(a) B1 Tanis 196 C1
Sipylos, Mt 202 C3 Tapikka 54 C1, 115 D3, 117 D2
Sirkeli 161 C2 Tarhuntassa 114 C3, 116 C3, 147 C1
Şirzi 161 F1 Tarsus 59 A1, 93 B2, 123 B2, 161 C2, 185 D3, 204 D1,
Siwah 235 A3 235 B2, 283 C4, 286 C3
Siyannu 171 A2 Taşçı 161 D1
Skouriotissa 148 B2 Tashtepe 191 F4
Smyrna 200 D2, 233 E2 Taurus mts 10 B2, 185 D2–3, 187 D3, 204 D1, 249 D3,
Soba 158 B3 283 B4
Sogdiana 241 F2, 242 F2, 252 B2 Taxila 229 F3, 235 F4, 247 F3, 252 C3, 281 F3
Sohar 221 D2 Tayinat, Tell (Kinalua) 158 B2, 161 D3
Soli 185 D3, 209 B2 Tayma 218 C4, 221 A1
Solunto 175 D3 Tegarama 117 E2
Solymos mts 206 F2 Teichiussa 202 C5
Sophene 225 A-B3 Tekirderbent 161 C1
Soreg 179 D2 Telmessus (Caria) 202 B5
Southern Arabia 222 Telmessus (Lycia) 206 A2
Sparta 146 B3, 200 A2 Tenedos 142 B3
Subari 114 E-F2, 117 F2 Teos 202 B4
Suberde 19 A2 Tepe Farukhabad 152 C1
Suez, Gulf of 71 C3 Tepe Gawra 24 D2, 33 E2
Suhu(m) 82 E3, 91 D3, 158 E3 Tepe Giyan F3
310  Gazetteer

Tepe Guran 19 D2 Ubaid, Tell al- 59 E4

Tepe Sialk 93 F2 Ugarit 54 C2, 82 A2, 90 A2, 93 A2, 107 A1, 114 D3,
Termera 202 B5 117 D3, 123 B3, 125 B2, 132 C1, 138 B2, 147 D1, 150
Termessus, 185 B3, 187 B3, 204 B1 D2
Terqa 82 D3, 90 C3, 104 B2 Ulaia (Choaspes) river 79 B–C2
Thapsacus 235 C2 Ullasa 107 A4, 173 C2
Thasos 175 E2, 233 C1 Umma 59 E4, 66 D3
Thebes (Egypt) 71 C5, 132 C4, 168 A4, 196 C5, Unqi see Patin
200 B2, 235 B4 Upi see Apina
Thebes (Greece) 146 C2, 270 B3 Upper Land (Hittite terr.) 114 D-E2, 115 E-F2, 117 E2
Thera 146 D3, 175 E3, 280 A4 Urartu 167 E2, 169 D-E1, 185 F2, 187 F2, 190–1, 193
Thermopylae 233 B2 C-D2
Thessaly 146 B1, 200 A1, 233 B2 Urmia, Lake (select refs) 191 F3–4, 225 D-E3
Thrace 142 B1, 228 A2, 233 C-D1, 235 A-B2, 240 B1, Ur 59 E4, 66 D4, 74 D3, 76 B3, 79 B4, 88 D3, 88 D6, 93
241 A1, 242 A1, 244 A1, 260 A1, 262 A1, 276 A1, E3, 101 F4, 130(a) D4
283 A2 Ur III empire 76
Tiberias 267 C2 Ura 117 C3
Tikunani 82 D1 Uranium 202 B5
Til Barsip (see also Masuwari; Tell Ahmar) 59 B2, 167 Urbil(um) (Arbela) 76 B1, 82 F2
C2, 171 C1 Urkesh (Tell Mozan) 82 D1, 97(b) B2
Tilsevet 161 E3 Urshu 117 E3
Timna 196 D2 Uruk 54 E3, 59 E4, 69, 76 B3, 79 B4, 88 D3, 88 D6, 101
Timnah 222 B2 F4, 130(a) C3
Tiryns 146 B2 Us(h)u 138 B4, 174 B2
Tlos 206 B2 Utica 174 C3
Topada 161 B1, 164 B3 Uyun al Hammam 22 box
Toprakkale (Rusahinili: Qilbanikai) 191 D3
Tralles 202 C4 Van Kale see Tushpa
Trapezus (Trapezous, later Trebizond) 185 F1, Van, Lake (select refs) 190–1, 225 C-D3
187 F2, 270 C1 Veliisa 161 B1
Trebizond see Trapezus Via Maris see Way of the Sea
Troad 142, 185 A1–2, 200 C1, 249 A2, 260 A1, 286 D2 Vouni 209 B2
Tripolis 173 C2 Vounous 148 B1
Troodos mts 148 B2, 209 B2
Troulli 148 C2 Wadi Hammeh 22 box
Troy 114 A2, 116 A2, 121 A2, 142 B2, 143, 146 D1, 150 Wadi Tharthar 82 E3
B1, 200 C1, 202 A1, 235 A2 Wahshushana 93 B2
Trysa 206 D3 Washshukkanni 123 D2, 128 C2
Tummanna 114 C1, 115 B-C1, 116 C1 Wawiyat el- 179 C2
Tuna el-Gebel 196 B4 Way of the Sea (Via Maris) 264 C2–3
Tunip 107 B3, 117 D4, 138 C2 Wilusa 114 A2, 116 A2, 121 A2, 146 D1
Tünp 161 E3
Tur ‘Abdin (Kashiyari range) 82 C-D1 Xanthus (Xanthos) 54 A2, 185 B3, 187 B3, 204 B2, 206
Tushpa (Van Kale) 54 D2, 191 D3 B3, 235 B2, 249 B4
Tuttul 82 C2, 104 A2 Xanthus river 206 B2–3
Tutub (Khafaje) 59 E3, 82 F3, 91 E3, 95 B2
Tuwana 158 A1, 161 B2, 164 B-C4 Yabliyah 82 E3
Tuwanuwa 117 D3 Yalburt 116 C2, 121 D3
Tyana 283 C4 Yamhad 82 B2, 101 A1
Tyre 107 A5, 132 C2, 135 B2, 138 A4, 158 A4, 167 B3, Yamutbal (northern) 82 D-E2
171 A3, 173 B3, 174 B2, 228 B3, 235 B3, 246 B3, 264 Yamutbal (Emutbal) 101 F3
C1, 267 B1, 286 C3 Yarmuk river 177 C-D2
 Gazetteer 311

Yarmut 179 B5 Zakro 146 D4

Yavney-Yam 179 A4 Zalmaqum 82 C1
Yazd 270 E2, 281 D3 Zalpa 93 B1
Yemen 222 Zamua 167 E-F2
Yenoam 138 A5 Zarzi 22 F3
Yin‘am 179 C2 Zeidan, Tell 33 D2
Yokneam 179 B2 Zeleia 142 D2, 202 C1
Yurza 138 A6 Zeribar 12 D2
Zeror 179 B3
Zabshali 76 B1 Zeyve 158 A1
Zafit 179 B5 Zincirli 158 B1, 161 D2
Zagros mts 10 D2, 74 D2, 130(a) F2, 169 E-F2, 263 Zippor 179 B5
E-F3, 277 F3 Zoar 135 B5, 264 C4
 Index

Personal names are briefly defined. Page nos in bold indicate main refs. m.c. = military commander; r. = ruler.
Abdi-Ashirta (r. Amurru) 109 Amenhotep IV see Akhenaten
Abu Bakr (admin. successor of Mohammad) 285 Amka 109
Abraham (Abram) (Hebrew patriarch) 77 Ammon 176
Abu Fanduweh 80 Amorites 81–3
Abu Hureyra, Tell 23–5 Amurru 81–3, 109, 139, 141
Achaemenid (1st Persian) empire 206–7, 227–30 Anatolia 41
Adad-nirari II (r. Assyria) 166 Antigonus (one of Alexander’s heirs) 239, 243
Adanawa, see Que Antioch 245, 259, 284
Aeolis, Aeolians 199 Antiochus I (r. Seleucid empire) 250
Agade 73 Antiochus III (‘the Great’) (r. Seleucid empire) 245, 250
Agrab, Tell 94, 95 Antiochus IV (Epiphanes) (r. Seleucid empire) 248,
agriculture (prehistoric) 16–20 254
Ahab (r. Israel) 171, 180 Antiochus V (Eupator) (r. Seleucid empire) 254
Ahhiyawa 145–6 Antipater (one of Alexander’s heirs) 239, 243
Ahiram (r. Byblos) Antoninus Pius (r. Roman empire) 268
Ahmose (r. Egypt) 131 Antony, Mark (Roman m.c.) 239, 261
Aï Khanoum 251–3 Apamea, treaty of 259
Ajjul, Tell el- 134 Apasa 121
Akhenaten (Amenhotep IV) (r. Egypt) 109, 131, 137 Apum 98
Akhetaten, see Amarna ‘Aqaba, Gulf of 46, 176, 261
Akizzi (r. Qatna) 109 Arabia 220–3
Akkadian empire 73–4 Arabia Felix 220, 282
Alalah (Tell Atchana) 53, 106–8, 125–6 Arabia Petraea 220, 274, 275, 278
Alasiya (Late Bronze Age Cyprus) 147, 149 Arabs 220–3
Aleppo 81, 108, 120 Aramaeans 157–9
Alexander the Great (r. Macedonian empire) 234–6 Aramaic language 159
Alexandria 236 Aram(-Damascus), see Damascus
Alişar (anc. Ankuwa?) 92 Ardashir (r. Sasanian empire) 279
alphabetic script 49–50 Aretas I (r. Nabataea) 274
Al-Untash-Napirisha 152–3 Armenia 224–6, 275
Alyattes (r. Lydia) 188, 194, 215 Arsaces (r. Parthia) 269
Amarna, el- (anc. Akhetaten) 131 Artabanus IV (r. Parthia) 271
—— Amarna archive 53, 137 Artatama (r. Mitanni) 124
Amathus 208 Artaxerxes I (r. Achaemenid empire) 230
Amenhotep II (r. Egypt) 134 Arzawa lands 121–2
Amenhotep III (r. Egypt) 53, 137 Arzawa ‘Minor’ 121

312
 Index 313

Ashdod 182 Brak, Tell 53, 96

Ashkelon 182 Byblos 53
Ashtata 108
Ashurbanipal (r. Assyria) 170 Cambyses II (r. Achaemenid empire) 195, 217
Ashurnasirpal II (r. Assyria) 166 camels 58, 220
Ashur-uballit (r. Assyria) 127 Canaan(ites) 134–6, 172
Ashur-dan II (r. Assyria) 166 Candaules (r. Lydia) 188
Ashurnasirpal II (r. Assyria) 166 Cappadocia 226, 239, 245, 275
Asia (Roman province) 259 Cappadocia and Pontus (Roman province) 275
Asia Minor 41, 199, 232, 243, 245, 248, 249, 250, 259, Caracalla (r. Roman empire) 271
261, 279, 284 Carchemish (Karkamish, mod. Jerablus) 106, 120
Asmar, Tell see Eshnunna Caria 204
Assyria Carrhae (battle of) 261, 269–71
—— Old Assyrian period see Kingdom of Upper Carthage 172
Mesopotamia Cassander (one of Alexander’s heirs) 243
—— Middle Assyrian empire 127–8 Çatalhöyük 30–2
—— Neo-Assyrian empire 157, 159, 166–71, 180, Çayönü 27–9
193–4, 195 Chagar Bazar 98
Assyrian merchant colonies 92–3 Chosroes II (r. Sasanian empire) 279
Astyages (r. Media) 215, 227 Chytroi (Kythrea) 208
Athenian Confederacy (‘Delian League’) 201, 203, 205, Chogha Mish 80
206 Chogha Zanbil see Al-Untash-Napirisha
Athens 232 Cilicia 204, 259
Atropatene, see Media Atropatene Cimmerians 186, 188, 189, 193–4
Attaleia 250 Citium 208
Attalid kingdom 249–50 Cleopatra VII (r. Egypt) 239
Attalus I (r. Attalid kingdom) 250 Coele Syria see Syria Coele
Attalus II (r. Attalid kingdom) 250 Commagene 259, 275
Attalus III (r. Attalid kingdom) 250, 259 Corupedium, battle of 250
Augustus (r. Roman empire) 261, 275 Crassus, Marcus (Roman m.c.) 261, 271
Aurelian (r. Roman empire) 282–4 Craterus (one of Alexander’s heirs) 239
Avaris 131 Croesus (r. Lydia) 188, 227
Awan 78–80 Ctesiphon 275
’Awsan 222 cuneiform script 47–9
Aziru (r. Amurru) 109 Curium 208
Cyaxares (r. Media) 188, 215, 217
Baalbek 265 cylinder seals 51
Babylon 100–2, 129, 217, 219, 227, 236, 239 Cyme 199
Babylonia 100–2, 243 Cyprus
—— Old Babylonian kingdom 100–2 —— Bronze Age 147–9
—— Middle Babylonian (Kassite) kingdom 127, —— M1 bc 208–11
129–30, 152–3 Cyrus II (r. Achaemenid empire) 188, 215, 217, 227,
—— Neo-Babylonian empire 217–19, 227 268
Bactra 251
Bactria 251–3 Damascus 159
Bar Kochba rebellion 268 Darius I (r. Achaemenid empire) 227–30
Biqa‘ Valley 45 Darius III (r. Achaemenid empire) 230
Bisitun (Bisutun, Behistun) 53 David (r. Israel) 180, 234–6, 266
Bit-Bahiani 96 Deioces (r. Media) 215
Bithynia and Pontus (Roman province) 259 Delian League, see Athenian Confederacy
Bosra (Bostra) 274, 275 Demetrius (Poliorcetes) (son of Antigonus) 243
314  Index

deportation 120, 134, 159, 166, 176, 180, 182, 217, 218, Gordium 186
220, 268 Gordius (r. Phrygia) 186
Dibon 178 Granicus river 234
Diocletian (r. Roman empire) 285 Grynium 199
Diyala region 94–5 Gungunum (r. Larsa) 87
domestication (plants, animals) 9, 14, 16, 17, 20, 25, 29, Gutians 68, 73
32, 34, 36 Guzana (bibl. Gozan), see Halaf, Tell
Dorians 199 Gyges (r. Lydia) 188, 194
Dur-Katlimmu (Tell Sheikh Hamad) 99
Dur-Kurigalzu (Aqar Quf) 129 Habiru 109, 126
Dur-Samsu-iluna see Khafajeh Habur (Khabur) river region 96–9
Hadad-ezer (r. Damascus) 171
Eannatum (r. Lagash) 65 Hadhramaut 222
Early Dynastic period (Sumer) 65 Hadrian (r. Roman empire) 268, 275
Ebla (Tell Mardikh) 53–5, 81, 83–4 Halaf, Tell (Guzana) 34, 98
Edom 178 Halafian culture 34–6
Egypt Hallushu (r. Elam) 154
—— Early Dynastic and Old Kingdom 71–2 Halys river (= Hittite Marassantiya, mod. Kızıl
—— Middle and New Kingdom Egypt 131–3 Irmak) 188
—— Third Intermediate and Saite periods 195–6 Hammurabi (r. Babylonia) 81, 100–02
Ekallatum 89 Hanigalbat 124
Ekron 182 Hapalla 121
Elam, Elamites 75, 102 Hasmonean dynasty 254, 266
—— Old Elamite period 78 Hassuna, Tell 34
—— Middle and Neo-Elamite periods 152–4 Hatti 115–20
Emar (Meskene) 55, 108 Hattians 120
Emesa (mod. Homs) 284 Hattus (later Hattusa) 92
Enlil-nadin-ahi (r. Kassite Babylonia) 153 Hattusa (Boğazkale) 55, 118, 119
Ephesus 203 Hattusili I (r. Hatti) 119
Eretria 232 Hattusili III (r. Hatti) 120, 124
Ergani Maden 29 Hazael (r. Damascus) 159, 182
Eridu 36–7 Hellenistic Age 239–44
Esarhaddon (r. Assyria) 170, 194 Heraclius (r. Roman empire) 287
Eshnunna (Tell Asmar) 94, 95 Herod (r. Judaea) 266–8
Eumenes I (r. Attalid kingdom) 250 highways
Eumenes II (r. Attalid kingdom) 250 —— King’s Highway 176
Evagoras I (r. Salamis) 210 —— Persian royal road 230
—— Via Maris 261
Feheriyeh, Tell 98 —— Via Nova Traiana (former King’s Highway) 261
Fertile Crescent 14 Hilakku 163–5
Himyar 222, 223
Galaaditis see Gilead Hittites 115–20
Galatia 275 Hiyawa (= Ahhiyawa?) 145
Galatians 250 Humban-haltash III (r. Elam) 154
Gath 182 Hume 165, 217
Gaugamela 236 Hurrians 123–4
Gaza 182 Hupishna (Hubushna) 194
Gerasa see Jerash Hyksos 131
Gilead 176
Gilgamesh (r.Uruk) 68 Idalium 210
Göbekli Tepe 29–30 Idrimi (r. Alalah) 108, 125–6
 Index 315

Ionia 199 Lycia 206–7

Ionian rebellion 208, 210, 232 —— language & inscriptions 207
Ipsus 243 Lydia 187–8, 194
Iran 46 Lygdamis (Cimmerian leader) (Assyrian Tugdammu)
Isauria 205 194
Ishbi-Erra (r. Isin) 87 Lysimachus (one of Alexander’s heirs) 239, 243, 249–50
Ishchali see Nerebtum
Ishme-Dagan (Assyrian viceroy) 89 Maccabean rebellion 254–5
Isin 87–8 Macedon(ia) 232, 234
—— Second Dynasty of 87, 153–4 Magnesia-ad-Sipylum, battle of 248, 250, 259
Israel(ites) 178–80, 181 Ma’in 222
Issus (battle of) 234 Marathon 232
Marhashi (Barahshum/Parahshum) 80
Jebel Ansariyah 44, 172 Mari (Tell Hariri) 56, 89, 103–5
Jebel Khalid 248 Marion 210
Jehoiachin (r. Judah), 268 Mashkan-Shapur 81
Jehoram (r. Judah) 180 Mattathias (father of Judas Maccabaeus) 254
Jerash (Gerasa) 278 Mausolus (r. Caria) 204
Jericho (Tell es-Sultan) 25–7 Medes, Media 215–16, 227
Jerusalem 180, 266–8 Media Atropatene 215
—— First Temple Period 266, 268 Medinet Habu 151
—— Second Temple Period 268 Megiddo 134
Jewish exile 217, 268 Memphis 72
Jonathan (r. Maccabean dynasty) 254 Menes see Narmer
Jordan 46, 176 Mermnad dynasty, Lydia 188
Judaea (see also Judah) 254, 259, 266 Merneptah (r. Egypt) 150–1
Judah 180 Merneptah stele 178
Judas Maccabaeus (Jewish rebel leader) 254 Mesha (r. Moab) 178
Justinian (r. Roman empire) 278, 285 Mesopotamia 41
Midas (see also Mita) (r. Phrygia) 186
Kanesh, (Nesa, mod. Kültepe) 56, 92 Milawata (Millawanda) 145
Karabel monument 56, 122 Miletus (Late Bronze Age Milawata) 201–3
Kassites 87, 129 Minua (r. Urartu) 189
Khafajeh (Tutub, Dur-Samsuiluna) 94, 95 Mira (-Kuwaliya) 121–2
Kingdom of Upper Mesopotamia 89–91 Mita (= Greek Midas?) (r. Phrygia) 170, 186
King’s Highway 176 Mitanni (Mittani) 123–4
Kizzuwadna (Kizzuwatna) 124 Mithridates VI (r. Pontus) 224
Kululu 160, 163 Moab 176
Kuzi-Teshub (r. Carchemish) 160 Moabite Stone 178
Modein 254
Labarna (r. Hatti) 115 Mozan, Tell see Urkesh
Larsa 87–8 Mukish 106
Leilan, Tell see Shubat-Enlil Mureybet, Tell 23, 25
Levant 45–6 Mursili I (r. Hatti) 119
Lipit-Ishtar (r. Isin) 87 Mursili II (r. Hatti) 121–2
Lugal-zage-si (r. Uruk) 68 Mushki 186
Luwians 120, 122 Muwattalli II (r. Hatti) 119, 139–41
—— cuneiform script 50, 122 Mycenaean world 145–6
—— hieroglyphic script 50, 120, 122
Luwiya 122 Nabataeans 272–4
Lycaonia 205 Naplanum (r. Larsa) 87
316  Index

Nabonidus (r. Babylonia) 217, 227 Persian invasions of Greece 230, 232–3
Nabopolassar (r. Babylonia) 195, 215, 217 Petra 272
Nagar/Nawar (Tell Brak?) 96 Philetaerus (r. Pergamum) 249–50
Naqsh-i-Rustam 279 Philistines (Philistia) 181–3
Naram-Sin (r. Akkadian empire) 73 —— pentapolis 182
Narmer (r. Egypt) 72 Phoenicia(ns) 172–5, 208, 230, 243
Narseh (Narses) (r. Sasanian empire) 285 —— alphabetic script 49–50, 172
Natufian culture 23 Phraates IV (r. Parthia) 261
Nea Paphos 210 Phrygia 186–8
Nebuchadnezzar I (r. Second Dynasty of Isin) 87, Pirindu 163–4, 217
153–4 Pisidia 205
Nebuchadnezzar II (r. Babylonia) 180, 195, 217, 268 Plataea 232
Necho II (r. Egypt) 195 Pompey (Roman m.c.) 259
Neo-Babylonian empire 217–19 Pontus 224, 259, 275
Neo-Hittite kingdoms 122, 157, 160–2 Psammetichus III (r. Egypt) 195, 227
Nerebtum (mod. Ishchali) 94, 95 Ptolemy I Soter (r. Egypt) 239, 243, 245
Neriglissar (r. Babylonia) 217 Puzur-Inshushinak (r. Awan) 80
Nesa see Kanesh
Nesite (= ‘Hittite’) language 120 Qadesh (Kinza, Tell Nebi Mend)
Nevalı Çori 29 —— battle of 119, 131, 139–41
Nihriya 127 Qarqar, battle of 171
Nineveh 56, 170 Qarqur, Tell 171
Nippur 67 Qataban 222
Niqmaddu II (r. Ugarit) 106 Qatna (Mishrifeh) 56, 81, 109
Nişantepe archive (Hattusa) 52 Que (Adanawa, Hiyawa) 164–5
Niya (Nii) 108
Nuhashshi 108–9 Rabbath-Ammon (mod. Amman) 176
Nuzi (Yorgan Tepe) 56 Rabbel II (r. Nabataea) 274
Ramesses I (r. Egypt) 131
Odenathus (r. Palmyra) 282 Ramesses II (r. Egypt) 119–20, 131, 139–41
Ohalu II 21 Ramesses III (r. Egypt) 150–1
Omri (r. Israel) 180 Rim-Sin (r. Larsa) 87
Orodes (r. Parthia) 261 Romanization of the Near East 261
Rusa I (r. Urartu) 170, 189, 193
Palaians 119 Rusa II (r. Urartu) 192
Palaipaphos see Paphos
Palestine 46 Saba (Sheba) 223
Palmyra 282–4 Salamis (Cyprus) 208, 210
Pamphylia 205 Salamis (Greek island) 232
Paphos 210 Samaria 180
Parrattarna (r. Mitanni) 108, 126 Samsi-Addu (Akkadian Shamshi-Adad) (r. Kingdom
Parsa 227 of Upper Mesopotamia) 81, 89, 103
Parthian empire 261, 269–71 Samsu-ditana (r. Babylonia) 129
Pasargadae 227 Samsu-iluna (r. Babylonia) 70, 87, 95, 98
Peleset see Philistines Sardis 188, 227, 230
Pelusium 195 Sarduri I (r. Urartu) 189
Perdiccas (one of Alexander’s heirs) 239 Sargon (r. Akkadian empire) 68, 73
Pergamum 250 Sargon II (r. Assyria) 166, 170, 189
Persepolis 56, 230–1, 236 Sasanian empire 279–81
Persian empires see Achaemenid, Parthian, Sasanian satrapies 230
empires. Saul (r. Israel) 178–80
 Index 317

Scipio, Lucius Cornelius (Roman m.c.) 259 Tayma (Taima) 217

Scythians 193 Tepe Gawra 37–8
seals (stamp and cylinder) 50–2 Te-Umman (r. Elam) 154
Sealanders 129 Teushpa (Cimmerian leader) 194
Sea Peoples 150–1 Thebes (Egypt) 131
Seha River Land 121–2 Theodosius II (r. Roman empire) 285
Seleuceia in Pieria 245 Thrace 232
Seleuceia on the Tigris 245 Tiglath-Pileser I (r. Assyria) 127, 157, 162
Seleucid empire 245–8 Tiglath-Pileser III (r. Assyria) 166
Seleucus I Nicator (r. Seleucid empire) 243, 245, 251 Tigranes II (r. Armenia) 224
Sennacherib (r. Assyria) 170 Titus (Roman m.c., later emperor) 268
Septimius Severus (r. Roman empire) 271 trade 58–61, 92, 172, 220, 272
Seti I (r. Egypt) 131, 139 Trajan (r. Roman empire) 271, 275
Shakkanakku dynasty, Mari 103 Transjordan 46, 178
Shalmaneser III (r. Assyria) 166, 171 Triparadisus 243
Shalmaneser V (r. Assyria) 163, 180 Troad 122, 142, 199, 259
Shapur I (r. Sasanian empire) 279 Troy (Hisarlık) 142–44, 234
Shapur II (r. Sasanian empire) 279 Trojan War 142, 144, 145, 186, 234
Shar-kali-sharri (r. Akkadian empire) 73–80 Tudhaliya IV (r. Hatti) 124, 127
Shattiwaza (r. Hanigat) 124 Tugdammu see Lygdamis
Sheba see Saba Tukulti-Ninurta I (r. Assyria) 127, 129
Shemshara (Shusharra) 56–7 Tunip 109
Sheshonq I (bibl. Shishak; r. Egypt) 195 Tushpa (Van Kale) 57, 189
Shubat-Enlil (Shehna, Tell Leilan) 89, 98 Tushratta (r. Mitanni) 124
Shulgi (r. Akkadian empire) 75 Tutankhamun (r. Egypt) 53, 109, 131
Shutruk-Nahhunte I (r. Elam) 153 Tuthmosis I (r. Egypt) 109, 131, 134
Shutruk-Nahhunte II (r. Elam) 154 Tuthmosis III (r. Egypt) 108, 109, 131
Sikanu, Sikkan see Tell Feheriye Tuthmosis IV (r. Egypt) 124
Sippar 57 Tutub see Khafajeh
Siwah 234–6
Soli 210 Ubaid culture 34–8
Solomon (r. Israel) 180, 266 Ugarit (Ras Shamra) 49, 57, 110
Sumer(ians) 65–7 Uhhaziti (r. Arzawa) 121
Sumu-la-El (r. Babylonia) 100 Untash-Napirisha (r. Elam) 152
Suppiluliuma I (r. Hatti) 108–9, 119, 124 Ur 75–7
Suppiluliuma II (r. Hatti) —— ‘Royal Cemetery’ 75
Susa 57, 80, 153, 230 Ur III empire 75–7
Susiana 80 Urartu 189–92
Syria 44–5, 259 Urhilina (Assyrian Irhuleni) (r. Hamath) 171
Syria Coele 45, 243 Urhi-Teshub (r. Hatti) 109
Syria Palestina (formerly Judaea) 268 Urkesh 98
Syria Phoenice 45 Ur-Namma (r. Ur III empire) 68, 75, 80
Uruk (Warka) 57, 68–70
Tabal 163–4 Utu-hegal (r. Uruk) 68
Tamassus 211
Tarhuntassa 122, 205 Vaballathus (son of Zenobia) 282
Tarkasnawa (r. Mira) 122 Vespasian (r. Roman empire) 268, 275
Tarsus 204, 234
Taruisa 144 Washshukkanni 98, 124
Taurus mts 14 Wilusa 121–2
Tawagalawa letter 145 writing systems 47–52
318  Index

Xanthus 57, 206–7 Yarmuk, battle of 287

Xerxes I (r. Achaemenid empire) 230 Yasmah-Addu (Assyrian viceroy) 89
Yazılıkaya 124
Yahdun-Lim (r. Mari) 103
Yamhad 81, 106 Zagros mts 14
Yamutbal 81 Zedekiah (r. Judah) 268
Yarim-Lim I (r. Yamhad/Aleppo) 81, 102, 126 Zenobia (r. Palmyra) 282–4
Yarim-Lim III (r. Yamhad) 106 Zimri-Lim (r. Mari) 102, 103–5