Arslan Tash

36.84888888888938.407777777778Koordinaten: 36 ° 50 ' 56 "N, 38 ° 24' 28" E

Arslan Tash ( Turkish Arslan Tas " Lowenstein ", also Arslantaş and Aslantaş ) is an archaeological site in northern Syria. It was named the plant, there stood two lions reliefs both their western gate and on its eastern gate. In ancient times, the place Hadatu ( Akkadian Hadattu " the New " ) was called.

Location

Arslan Tash is located 9 kilometers south west of Ain ​​al-Arab in the village Sheeran (Arabic شيران ). Five kilometers north is the border with Turkey and 35 kilometers southwest of the archaeological site of Til Barsip. On the road to Helinge, west of the town, are now on both sides of the street each a reconstruction of the lion reliefs.

Research

In the 19th century Arslan Tash was described by Western travelers for the first time. The Indian infantry officer Lieutenant RB Lynch discovered in 1836 the two lions of basalt reliefs and the naval officer of the Royal Navy Lieutenant Henry Eden made ​​a drawing of a lion on. 1883 visited the archaeologist Eckhard Unger the site and photographed for the first time. In the same year the Turkish archaeologist Osman Hamdi Bey orthostat reliefs had her brought from the west gate to Istanbul. These are now exhibited in the Archaeological Museum of Istanbul.

1884 equipped the Wolfe expedition, which was funded by Catharine Lorillard Wolfe, Arslan Tash a visit. A year later, John Henry Haynes, 1904-1908 Albert T. Olmstead, 1912 Max von Oppenheim, in June 1917 Arnold Nöldeke, 1925 Paul Perdrizet and in May 1927, finally, the French archaeologist François Thureau - Dangin. The following year he led in two campaigns from 13 March to 2 June and from 27 September to 21 December there excavations and discovered the city wall with three gates, the Ištartempel and the palace. The finds are now in the Louvre.

1933 was acquired by the French archaeologist Robert du Mesnil du Buisson of a farmer from Arslan Tash, the two Arslan Tash amulets, which are dated to the 7th-6th century BC, the authenticity of some scientists, however, doubted.

Description

Arslan Tash had a stretch of 560 meters from north to south and 728 meters from west to east. The walls consisted of mud brick and rested on a stone foundation. It ran in the oval around the city and had a thickness of 4 meters. So far, three gates on the north, west and east were detected. The west and the east gate flanked by lions and had a double orthostat series. The lions at the west gate were broken and scattered the fragments over a large area. The lion reliefs, which were respectively south of the two gates were brought to al-Raqqa and are now placed in the garden Ar Rashid. The lion reliefs, which were respectively north of the two gates, and individual fragments of all lion reliefs are now in the National Museum of Aleppo. Further fragments can now be seen in the museum of ar - Raqqa. All lions had a trilingual inscription in Aramaic, Assyrian cuneiform and hieroglyphic Luwian, who reported the construction of the city wall.

In the center at the highest point, a palace and east of it was the Bâtiment aux Ivoire ( Ivory French building), a small palace where you found many ivory carvings. The throne room and the living rooms of the palace were decorated with wall paintings. Within the city walls there was also a temple dedicated to the goddess Ishtar district. The entrance to the temple was flanked by bull reliefs, which were also provided with inscriptions. In later times, was in Arslan Tash, a temple dating from the Hellenistic era.

History

Even at the time of Shalmaneser III. gave it to the place Hadattu, which probably was due to the Assyrian king road that led from Assyria at Carchemish. During this time the Bâtiment aux Ivoire, and the orthostat of the east gate were built with Taurus representation. They found ivories with the name of Hazael of Damascus, which is interpreted as parts of a bed frame and were probably brought here after the sack of Damascus. During the first half of the 8th century BC, the Assyrian General Samsi - ilu let by the governor of Kar - Salmanassur Ninurta -bel- usur expand the city walls and built the Ishtar Temple, the lion reliefs dated to this time.

Following the reorganization of the provinces by Tiglath- pileser III. Hadattu belonged to the province of Harran. In his government, the establishment of the great palace and the bull sculptures from the Temple of Ishtar, which are dated to the year 736 BC, in which the governor Ninurta ilija led the Eponymat falls.

The recent Assyrian finds come from the reign of Sargon II, but after that the place seems to have been inhabited even further, as the existence of the Hellenistic temple suggests.