|
Emar Tablets
Emar (, ), is an archaeological site at Tell Meskene in the Aleppo Governorate of northern Syria. It sits in the great bend of the mid-Euphrates, now on the shoreline of the man-made Lake Assad near the town of Maskanah. It has been the source of many cuneiform tablets, making it rank with Ugarit, Mari and Ebla among the most important archaeological sites of Syria. In these texts, dating from the 14th century BC to the fall of Emar in 1187 BC, and in excavations in several campaigns since the 1970s, Emar emerges as an important Bronze Age trade center, occupying a liminal position between the power centers of Upper Mesopotamia and AnatoliaSyria. Unlike other cities, the tablets preserved at Emar, most of them in Akkadian and of the thirteenth century BC, are not royal or official, but record private transactions, judicial records, dealings in real estate, marriages, last wills, formal adoptions. In the house of a priest, a library contained literary and lexical texts in the M ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
ĂŤmar
ĂŤmar ( ; died c. 873) was a powerful Viking leader in Ireland and Scotland in the mid-late ninth century. He was the progenitor of the UĂ ĂŤmair dynasty, who would go on to dominate the Irish Sea region for several centuries. He was the son of the king of ''Lochlann'', identified in the non-contemporary ''Fragmentary Annals of Ireland'' as Gofraid of Lochlann, Gofraid. The ''Fragmentary Annals'' name Auisle and AmlaĂb Conung as his brothers. Another Viking leader, Halfdan Ragnarsson, is considered by some scholars to be another brother. The Irish Annals title AmlaĂb, ĂŤmar and Auisle "kings of the foreigners". Modern scholars use the title "Kingdom of Dublin, Kings of Dublin" after the Viking settlement which formed the base of their power. Some scholars consider ĂŤmar to be identical to Ivar the Boneless, a Viking commander of the Great Heathen Army named in contemporary English sources who also appears in the Icelandic sagas as the eldest son of the legendary Viking Ragnar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Akkadian Language
Akkadian ( ; )John Huehnergard & Christopher Woods, "Akkadian and Eblaite", ''The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the World's Ancient Languages''. Ed. Roger D. Woodard (2004, Cambridge) Pages 218–280 was an East Semitic language that is attested in ancient Mesopotamia ( Akkad, Assyria, Isin, Larsa, Babylonia and perhaps Dilmun) from the mid- third millennium BC until its gradual replacement in common use by Old Aramaic among Assyrians and Babylonians from the 8th century BC. Akkadian, which is the earliest documented Semitic language, is named after the city of Akkad, a major centre of Mesopotamian civilization during the Akkadian Empire (–2154 BC). It was written using the cuneiform script, originally used for Sumerian, but also used to write multiple languages in the region including Eblaite, Hurrian, Elamite, Old Persian and Hittite. The influence of Sumerian on Akkadian went beyond just the cuneiform script; owing to their close proximity, a lengthy span of con ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of effective sole rule in 27 BC. The Western Roman Empire, western empire collapsed in 476 AD, but the Byzantine Empire, eastern empire lasted until the fall of Constantinople in 1453. By 100 BC, the city of Rome had expanded its rule from the Italian peninsula to most of the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and beyond. However, it was severely destabilised by List of Roman civil wars and revolts, civil wars and political conflicts, which culminated in the Wars of Augustus, victory of Octavian over Mark Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC, and the subsequent conquest of the Ptolemaic Kingdom in Egypt. In 27 BC, the Roman Senate granted Octavian overarching military power () and the new title of ''Augustus (title), Augustus'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Babylon
Babylon ( ) was an ancient city located on the lower Euphrates river in southern Mesopotamia, within modern-day Hillah, Iraq, about south of modern-day Baghdad. Babylon functioned as the main cultural and political centre of the Akkadian-speaking region of Babylonia. Its rulers established two important empires in antiquity, the 19th–16th century BC Old Babylonian Empire, and the 7th–6th century BC Neo-Babylonian Empire. Babylon was also used as a regional capital of other empires, such as the Achaemenid Empire. Babylon was one of the most important urban centres of the ancient Near East, until its decline during the Hellenistic period. Nearby ancient sites are Kish, Borsippa, Dilbat, and Kutha. The earliest known mention of Babylon as a small town appears on a clay tablet from the reign of Shar-Kali-Sharri (2217–2193 BC), of the Akkadian Empire. Babylon was merely a religious and cultural centre at this point and neither an independent state nor a large city, s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Meli-Shipak II
Meli-Šipak II, or alternatively ''Melišiḫu''''Me-li-''dŠI-ḪU or m''Me-li-''ŠI-ḪU, where the reading of ḪU is uncertain, -ḫu or -pak. in contemporary inscriptions, was the 33rd king of the Kassite or 3rd Dynasty of Babylon 1186–1172 BC and ruled for 15 years.''Kinglist A'', BM 33332, ii 12. Tablets with two of his year names, 4 and 10, were found at Ur. His reign marks the critical synchronization point in the chronology of the Ancient Near East. His provenance He is recorded as the son of Adad-šuma-uṣur, his predecessor, on a kudurru.''Estate of Takil-ana-ilīšu kudurru'', BM 90827, published as BBSt 3, column 4, line 31, but note King’s 1912 edition uses the alternative reading of the cuneiform –MU-ŠEŠto give ''Adad-nadin-aḫi''. Elsewhere he seemed reluctant to name him in his royal inscriptions, despite Adad-šuma-uṣur’s apparent renown as restorer of Kassite independence, which has been the subject of much speculation amongst historians. T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bronze Age Collapse
The Late Bronze Age collapse was a period of societal collapse in the Mediterranean basin during the 12th century BC. It is thought to have affected much of the Eastern Mediterranean and Near East, in particular Egypt, Anatolia, the Aegean, eastern Libya, and the Balkans. The collapse was sudden, violent, and culturally disruptive for many Bronze Age civilizations, creating a sharp material decline for the region's previously existing powers. The palace economy of Mycenaean Greece, the Aegean region, and Anatolia that characterized the Late Bronze Age disintegrated, transforming into the small isolated village cultures of the Greek Dark Ages, which lasted from to , and were followed by the better-known Archaic Age. The Hittite Empire spanning Anatolia and the Levant collapsed, while states such as the Middle Assyrian Empire in Mesopotamia and the New Kingdom of Egypt survived in weakened forms. Other cultures such as the Phoenicians enjoyed increased autonomy and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tell Fray
Tell Fray is a tell, or settlement mound, on the east bank of the Euphrates in Raqqa Governorate, northern Syria. The archaeological site takes its name from an ancient irrigation canal, hence 'Fray' or 'Little Euphrates'. It was part of a rescue excavation project for sites to be submerged by the creation of Lake Assad by the Tabqa Dam. Excavations It was excavated in 1972 and 1973 as a joint Syrian–Italian operation under the direction of Adnan Bounni of the Syrian Service of Archaeological Excavations and the Sapienza University of Rome under the direction of Paolo Matthiae, the excavator of Ebla along with the Aleppo Museum directed by Ch. Chaath, and Johns Hopkins University. The operation was part of the UNESCO-coordinated international effort to excavate as many sites as possible in the area that would be flooded by the reservoir of the Tabqa Dam, which was being constructed at that time. Tell Fray disappeared under the rising waters of Lake Assad in 1974. The e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hittites
The Hittites () were an Anatolian peoples, Anatolian Proto-Indo-Europeans, Indo-European people who formed one of the first major civilizations of the Bronze Age in West Asia. Possibly originating from beyond the Black Sea, they settled in modern-day Turkey in the early 2nd millennium BC. The Hittites formed a series of Polity, polities in north-central Anatolia, including the kingdom of Kussara (before 1750 BC), the Kültepe, Kanesh or Nesha Kingdom (–1650 BC), and an empire centered on their capital, Hattusa (around 1650 BC). Known in modern times as the Hittite Empire, it reached its peak during the mid-14th century BC under Šuppiluliuma I, when it encompassed most of Anatolia and parts of the northern Levant and Upper Mesopotamia, bordering the rival empires of the Hurri-Mitanni and Assyrians. Between the 15th and 13th centuries BC, the Hittites were one of the dominant powers of the Near East, coming into conflict with the New Kingdom of Egypt, the Middle Assyrian Empi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hattusa
Hattusa, also Hattuşa, Ḫattuša, Hattusas, or Hattusha, was the capital of the Hittites, Hittite Empire in the late Bronze Age during two distinct periods. Its ruins lie near modern Boğazkale, Turkey (originally Boğazköy) within the great loop of the Kızılırmak River (Hittite: ''Marashantiya''; Greek: ''Halys River, Halys''). Charles Texier brought attention to the ruins after his visit in 1834. Over the following century, sporadic exploration occurred, involving different archaeologists. The Deutsche Orient-Gesellschaft, German Oriental Society and the German Archaeological Institute began systematic excavations in the early 20th century, which continue to this day. Hattusa was added to the List of World Heritage Sites in Turkey, UNESCO World Heritage Site list in 1986. History The earliest traces of settlement on the site are from the sixth millennium BC during the Chalcolithic period. Toward the end of the 3rd Millennium BC the Hattian people established a settle ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Idrimi
Idrimi (meaning "It is my help") was the king of Alalakh c. 1490–1465 BC, or around 1450 BC. He is known, mainly, from an inscription on his statue found at Alalakh by Leonard Woolley in 1939.Longman III, Tremper, (1991)Fictional Akkadian Autobiography: A Generic and Comparative Study Eisenbraums, Winona Lake, Indiana, p. 60: "...discovered by Sir Leonard Woolley in 1939...Although found in the debris of Level IB (ca. 1200 B.C.), the statue was dated by most scholars back to Level IV (ca. 1500 B.C.)..." According to that inscription, he was a son of Ilim-Ilimma I the king of Halab, now Aleppo, who would have been deposed by the new regional master, Barattarna, king of Mitanni. Idrimi would have succeeded in gaining the throne of Alalakh with the assistance of a group known as the '' Habiru'', founding the kingdom of Mukish as a vassal to the Mitanni state. He also invaded the Hittite territories to the north, resulting in a treaty with the country Kizzuwatna. Jacob Lauing ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mitanni
Mitanni (–1260 BC), earlier called Ḫabigalbat in old Babylonian texts, ; Hanigalbat or Hani-Rabbat in Assyrian records, or in Ancient Egypt, Egyptian texts, was a Hurrian language, Hurrian-speaking state in northern Syria (region), Syria and southeast Anatolia (modern-day Turkey) with Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan Indo-Aryan superstrate in Mitanni, linguistic and political influences. Since no histories, royal annals or chronicles have yet been found in its excavated sites, knowledge about Mitanni is sparse compared to the other powers in the area, and dependent on what its neighbours commented in their texts. The Hurrians were in the region as of the late 3rd millennium BC. A king of Urkesh with a Hurrian name, Tupkish, was found on a clay sealing dated at Tell Mozan.Salvini, Mirjo. "The earliest evidences of the Hurrians before the formation of the reign of Mittanni." Urkesh and the Hurrians Studies in Honor of Lloyd Cotsen. Urkesh/Mozan Studies Bibliotheca Mesopotamic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Balis (Syria)
Balis (), also known as Barbalissos () and Barbalissus (Latin), was an ancient and medieval fortress on the Euphrates River near the ruins of the still more ancient Emar. It is particularly known for the 253 Battle of Barbalissos, where the Roman army was defeated by Sassanid Persia. The fortress town's own ruins are located at the modern Qala'at Balis () in the Aleppo Governorate of northern Syria. History The nearby bend of the Euphrates and its trade routes had been controlled in the 2nd millennium BC by nearby Emar, which was finally destroyed in The area also seems to have had a prehistoric ford at times. By the time of the Persian Empire, the area had been resettled and become known by the Aramaic name .. It is likely the area was used during the invasions by Cyrus and Alexander. Under the Roman Empire, Barbalissus was a city in the province of Euphratensis. An outpost near the Roman border with Parthia and Persia, it served as the garrison town for the Dalmatian Cavalry ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
