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Karkamýţ / Karkamiš
Karkamýţ (Kargamiš, Karkemish, Carchemish) was an important settlement even before the 2nd millemium BC. City may have been first occupied by Hittites for a short while during Muršili I (16th century BCE). Karkamýţ remained under Mitanni (Hurri) rule during 15th and 14th centuries and then came into full Hittite control during Šuppiluliuma I (c. 1330 BCE). Šuppiluliuma made it into a vassal kingdom ruled by his son Piyašili who is also known by his Hurrian name Šarri-Kušuh. Located on the west bank of Euprates river (today right at the border of Turkey and Syria) Karkamýţ became the administrative capital of the Syrian territories of the Hittites during the Late Bronze Age. After the Hittite empire collapsed around 1180 BCE, Karkamýţ survived as the stronggest of the several smaller Neo-Hittite kingdoms established in southeast Anatolia and northern Syria. It was an important trade center and reached its apogee around the 9th century BCE. The patron deity of Karkamýţ was Kubaba, a goddess of Hurrian origins. She was represented as a dignified woman wearing a long robe, standing or seated, and holding a mirror. In the 9th century BCE, the city was under pressure by the Assyrians and it is known that some tribute was paid at least in two occasians to Assyrian Kings Ashurnasirpal II and Shalmaneser III. The city was finally conquered by Sargon II in 717 BCE, during the reign of its last king Piširi.
In the first millennium BCE, Karkamýţ consisted of a high citadel mound on the River Euphrates, with a walled inner town and an outer town. Excavations revealed a processional way which led to the temple of the storm god and to a monumental stairway to the citadel. The whole complex was decorated with basalt and limestone sculptures.
Location of the city ruins was identified in 1876 by George Smith. The site was excavated initially by the British Museum, mainly between 1911 and 1914, by D. G. Hogarth, R. C. Thompson, C. L. Wooley, and T. E. Lawrence. These expeditions uncovered substantial remains of the Assyrian and Late Hittite periods, including defensive structures, temples, palaces, and numerous basalt statues and reliefs with Hittite hieroglyphic inscriptions. A good portion of the orthostats are currently in Anatolian Civilizations Museum in Ankara. Several other artifacts are in British Museum.
The site is located on the Turkish side of the Turkish-Syrian border and remained under a mine field since 1950s. In 2011 Turkish government cleaned up the mines and new excavations in Karkamýţ started the same year under the supervision of Prof. Marchetti of Bologna University.
36°49'46 N - 38°00'54 E Google Earth location
Click on pictures for a larger image.
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The City Plan
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Long Wall
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Stairways to the Citadel
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Herald's Wall
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Royal Buttress of Yariri and Kamani
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Procession Way
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Water Gate and other orthostats
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Statues, Inscriptions
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Image sources:
Tayfun Bilgin, 2006.
Kurt Bittel, Die Hethiter, Beck, München 1976, ISBN 3406030246.
Ekrem Akurgal, The Hattian and Hittite Civilizations, KTB, Ankara, 2001.
British Museum
Kings of Karkamýţ
Piyašili (a.k.a Šarri-Kušuh), son of Šuppiluliuma I, ca. 1325 BC.
[...]šarruma, son of Piyašili
Šarhurunuwa, son of Piyašili
Ini-Tešub I, son of Šarhurunuwa
Talmi-Tešub, son of Ini-Tešub
Kuzi-Tešub, son of Talmi-Tešub
[...] (Fall of Hittite Empire)
(Ini-Tešub II, Tudhaliya, [...]paziti, Ura-Tarhunza)
[...]
Šuhi I
Aštuwalamanza, son of Šuhi I
Šuhi II, son of Aštuwalamanza
Katuwa, son of Šuhi II
Šangara
Aštiruwa
Yariri
Kamani
Šaštura
Piširi, the last king, defeated by Sargon II, 717 BC.
