Til Barsip

36.70138888888938.086527777778Koordinaten: 36 ° 42 '5 " N, 38 ° 5' 12" E

Til Barsip is the ancient name of the modern Tell Ahmar ( " Red Hill " ) on the east bank of the Euphrates River at the mouth of Sajur. It was the capital of the Aramaean kingdom of Bit Adini small. The native name in Hittite times was Masuwari. In Assyrian inscriptions from Šulmanu - ašared III. (reigned 858-824 ) the place is called Til Barsip. The Assyrian king renamed it after his conquest in 856 Kar - Šulmanu - asared ( Kar Shalmaneser ), but the old name still remained, and even largely in use.

Cityscape and history

Tell Ahmar is located about 20 kilometers south of Carchemish ( Turkish border ) in northern Syria. The ancient settlement of hill rises in a fertile river plain. The place had earlier at an intersection of highways strategic importance. It was divided into a semi-circular Acropolis, a middle town west of it and into a lower town in the north. The city area was 60 hectares.

The earliest traces of settlement ( pottery ) are from the Ubaid period of the 5th millennium. A small settlement is detectable from the beginning of the third millennium. From the middle of the 3rd millennium comes a large chamber grave ( Hypogeum ), which was exposed at the edge of the hill. In the Iron Age, the end of the 2nd millennium, the city was nationally significant. It was conquered by the Hittites, the palace dates back to Assyrian times. The city was a center of worship of the Weather God, it was also a late Hittite statue of the same from the 10th or 9th century have been found, which is currently in the Louvre. From Til Barsip comes also a statue of the Assyrian king Assurhaddon.

In nachassyrischer time the place was still inhabited. The Greek geographer Ptolemy called the place Bersiba. In late antiquity it was abandoned. It was not until the mid 19th century was made at the settlement mound a new settlement.

Excavations

The first excavations conducted in 1908 David G. Hogarth, who found a lion with cuneiform, 1929-1931 deposited French archaeologists under François Thureau - Dangin the Assyrian palace freely. In the 1980s, Guy Bunnens of the University of Liège worked here. The modern housing development has so far had only exploratory cuts. The water of the Euphrates is sufficient for completion of the Tabqa Dam right up to the hill settlement.