Bit-hilani

Hilani ( Bît Hilani bit, Hilani ) is a building form which occurred about 1500 BC to the end of the 7th century BC in Asia Minor and the Middle East. The term was derived from the Hittite word " hilatar, hilannas " for court.

The first Hilanihaus appeared in the 16th century BC in the palace of the kings of Jamchad in Alalakh (Tell Acana, Southeast Turkey). Hilani houses qualify as an invention of the Hurrians. During the 14th and 13th centuries the Hittites made ​​the Hilanistil in Anatolia and northern Syria (Tell Halaf, Tell Sheikh Hamad ) to their characteristic architectural form. Also in the Assyrian Empire and Palestine ( Megiddo ) received palaces since the 8th century BC, the shape of the Hilani.

Houses in Hilanistil consisted of a central courtyard, which was bounded on two sides by two elongated, arranged in parallel rectangular building structures. The front page of the decorated by stairs, columns or piers Relief wide entrance between the two building structures often found himself on the long side of the building. At the opposite end of the yard was closed by a narrow part of the building with an accessible from the court room sequence. A staircase at the side of the portal resulted in a first floor.

Hilani were self-contained buildings that could be within a larger palace complex. They had secular functions, the shape of the entrance hall is likely to have been derived from temple.