Guy Bunnens

J. David Hawkins

Isabelle Leirens

The present publication aims to make public a stele, carved with both a relief of the Storm-God and a Luwian inscription, that was discovered in the Euphrates river in 1999 between the modern village of Qubbah and the archaeological site of Tell Ahmar in northern Syria.

A New Luwian Stele and the Cult of the Storm-god at Til Barsib-Masuwari

Tell Ahmar  also known as Masuwari, Til Barsib and Kar-Shalmaneser in the first millennium BCE  was first inhabited in the sixth millennium, during the Ubaid period, and progressively developed to become a regional center and, in the eighth and seventh centuries, a provincial capital of the Assyrian empire. Remains from the third millennium (a temple and a funerary complex), the second millennium (an administrative complex and well-preserved houses) and the first millennium (an Assyrian palace and elite residences) are particularly impressive. The book offers an archaeological and historical synthesis of the results obtained by the excavations of François Thureau-Dangin (19291931) and by the more recent excavations of the universities of Melbourne (19881999) and Liège (20002010). It presents a comprehensive and diachronic view of the evolution of the site, which, by its position on the Euphrates at an important crossroads of ancient communication routes, was at the heart of a game of cultural and political interference between Mesopotamia, the Mediterranean world and Asia Minor.

From Chalcolithic Village to Assyrian Provincial Capital

Tell Ahmar on the Syrian Euphrates

The Iron Age, i.e. the period between c. 1200 and 300 B.C., is a crucial period in Mediterranean and Near Eastern history. Syria especially saw one of the most flourishing moments of its history in the early first millennium B.C. New kingdoms emerged which developed an intense cultural life and took advantage of their geographical location to gain a dominant position in interregional relations. As a consequence, Syria became the main target of Assyrian expansion. It also became an intermediary between Asia and the Mediterranean world. Twenty-two essays, aiming to reflect essential aspects of on-going research, review major historical, archaeological and linguistic aspects of Syria in the Iron Age. Interaction between Neo-Hittites and Arameans, new forms of art, changes in political and social structures, linguistic conservatism and innovation, regional particularism, impact of Assyrian expansion are some op the topics dealt with in the volume.

Guy Bunnens

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