Qatna
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Qatna is an ancient city in Syria, present day Tell-el-Mishrife in the Wadi il-Aswad, a tributary of the Orontes, 18 km northeast of Homs. The tell occupies 1 km², which makes it one of the biggest bronze Age towns in western Syria. The tell is located at the edge of the limestone-plateau of the Syrian desert towards the fertile Homs-Bassin.
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Visible remains
The remains of the town-wall are still preserved to a heigt of 20 m in parts. It consists of mudbricks and limestone rubble that probably were originally faced by a mudbrick wall. An artificial ditch ran in front of the wall. The wall encloses a square area, which is rather unusual for a Bronze Age town. There were four gates in the middle of each side. The gates were faced by orthostats of white limestone and black basalt, the foundations were partly cut into the rock. The entrance was about 4m wide and led to a gate-chamber 8 m deep.
The 'colline centrale' near the centre of the town may have been the acropolis. The Royal palace was located on the 'Butte de l'eglise' in the Northwest corner of the upper town. It is one of the biggest buildings of its kind known so far in Bronze Age Syria. Unfortunately, numerous mudbrick-walls were overlooked during the excavations in the 1920s and dug away. Only walls faced with stone slabs or delimited by the hard floor surface remained. The layout of the palace of Qatna is very similar to that of Mari. Numerous basalt pillar bases have been found. This use of pillars is comparable to the palace of Yarim-Lim in Alalakh VII. The big dimensions of some rooms (the 'cour du throne' measures 20 m across) may indicate that cedar beams were used for the roof. The Palace dates to the Old-Syrian period and was maybe the residence of King Ishi-Addu (see below).
On the "Small Acropolis" in the North of the central mound a second palace has been discovered in 2002 which may be the residence of a member of the Royal family.
The tell housed a small Christian town that was resettled in the 1980s. New Misrife has about 2500 inhabitants today (2000).
History of the excavations
Tell-el-Mishrife was excavated between 1924-1927 and 1929 by Robert du Mesnil du Boisson while Syria was a French protectorate. He uncovered parts of the Bronze Age Royal palace, three gates and tombs on the slope between the upper and lower town ('Falaise'). The Syrian Direction Générale des Antiquités excavated on the Colline centrale and the gates. In 1999 excavations have been resumed by the Direction Générale des Antiquités et des Musées in Damascus, the University of Udine and the University of Tübingen. The discovery of the Royal tombs and cuneiform tablets in 2002 have led to a state of cold war between the German and Italian excavation team.
Historical geography and trade
In the 2nd Millennium BC trade routes developed connecting Mesopotamia with Cyprus, Crete and Egypt. Qatna was then situated near the end of the road connecting the middle Euphates valley, for example Mari by way of Tadmor/Palmyra to the Mediterranean. Another route started from Aleppo, left the Euphrates at Emar and led via Halab, Qatna and Hazor to Egypt. The valley of Homs formed a connection to the Mediterranean near the port of Byblos and Tripoli, running between the Lebanon and the Ansari-mountains. Qatna is mentioned in the tin trade, which went from Mari via Qatna to the Mediterranean, Cypriote copper was transported in the other direction. The Mari texts mention cloth, clothing, a certain kind of bows, jewellery, woods, wine and two-wheeled chariots as trade goods reaching Mari via Qatna and partly going on to Babylon.
History
The first finds in Qatna date to the third dynasty of Ur. The find of an Egyptian sphinx belonging to Princess Ita, daughter of Amenemhat II (1875 - 1840 BC, 12th dynasty) shows early Egyptian influence.
The first king of Qatna (Qatanum) known by name from the Mari archives is Ishi-Addu (Adda is my help), an Amurru. He was a confederate of Shamshi-Addu of upper Mesopotamia. He was succeeded by his son Amut-pî-el who had been governor of Nazala as crown prince. This was in the time of Hammurapi of Babylon (1792-1750). Beltum, the sister of Amut-pî-el was married to Jasmah-Addu of Mari. Contracts between Mari and Qatna define her as the principal wife of Jasmah-Addu. Her mother might have been Lammassi-Ashur from Assur or Ekallatum. Zimri-Lim of Mari was married to another princess from Qatna, Dam-hurasim. After the destruction of Mari by Hammurapi, the written sources become scare. Aleppo (Yamkhad) now became Qatna's most powerful neighbour, during the reign of Jarim–Lim III. Qatna was temporarily dominated by Aleppo.
With the development of the Mitanni empire in upper Mesopotamia, Qatna was incorporated but was located in disputed territory between the Mitanni and Egypt. The inscriptions of the so-called Nin-Egal temple (part of the Royal palace, room C) show that Mittanni were resident in Qatna. The campaigns of Amenophis I (1515-1494) and Thutmosis I (1494-1482) in Syria might have reached Qatna, but there is no conclusive evidence. On the 7th Pylon of the temple of Ammun in Karnak Thutmosis III (1479-1425 BC) mentions that he stayed in the land of Qatna in the 33rd year of his reign. Amenophis II. (1427-1401) was attacked by the host of Qatna while crossing the Orontes, but of course he remained victorious and acquired booty, among which the equipment of a Mitanni charioteer is mentioned. Qatna is mentioned in Egyptian topographic lists till the time of Rameses III (1180 BC). Cuneiform tablets discovered under the Royal palace in Qatna mention a previously unknown king Idanda who ruled ca. 1400 BC.
During the Syrian campaign of the Hittite king Suppiluliuma I (1380-1340) Prince Akizzi of Qatna asked for the help of Amenophis IV, but the town was captured and plundered by the Hittites, the inhabitants deported to Hatti. Texts from Emar describe how Qatna was attacked by Aramaic tribes in the late Bronze age, so the town must still have been in existence.
The tell was settled in Neo-Babylonian times as well (a hilani has been excavated), but the town remained insignificant as nearby Homs (Emesa) had taken over its position on the trade routes.
Finds
The remains of the palace contained Cypriote imported ceramics dating from the middle Bronze Age. The new excavations have yielded locally made ceramics from the Old-Syrian (2000-1550 BC) and middle Syrian (1550-1200) period.
In 2002, an acepalous basalt statue was found in an in a Late Bronze Age I rubbish pit (1600-1400 BC). It wears the typical 'Syrian coat' with thick borders that is normally taken as a sign of Royalty and might thus represent a yet nameless king of Qatna.
In a subterranean corridor under the 'Cour de throne', 63 cuneiform tablets have been discovered in 2002. They were covered by the burned remains of several roofbeams. Maybe they were hidden during the Hittite invasion. The texts probably belong to the archive of King Idanda and contain both intelligence reports on the (desperate) political situation in northern Syria, the Hittite threat and domestic and administrative texts. The texts are written in a mixture of the Akkadian and Hurrite languages hitherto unknown.
Bibliography
- A. Abou Assaf, Mishrifeh. The Oxford encyclopedia of archaeology in the Near East 4 (Oxford 1997), 35-36.
- H. Klengel, Qatna - ein historischer Überblick. MDOG 132, 2000, 239-252.
- R. du Mesnil du Buisson, Le site archéologique de Mishrife-Qatna (Paris 1935).
- A. Ahrens, S. Mankel, K. Sternitzke, Erstellung einer Harris-Matrix der Grabungsstelle G von Tall Mishrife-Qatna, at: http:www.uni-tuebingen.de/ufg/lehrveranstaltungen/caa_ws0001/qatna.html
External links
- http://www.uni-tuebingen.de/uni/qvo/highlights/h23-syrien.html on recent finds of the German mission (in German)
- http://www.qatna.org/october2002.html on recent finds of the Italian Mission, photographs.