The Euphrates is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia. Originating in Turkey, the Euphrates flows through Syria and Iraq to join the Tigris in the Shatt al-Arab in Iraq, which empties into the Persian Gulf.
The Hurrians were a people who inhabited the Ancient Near East during the Bronze Age. They spoke the Hurrian language, and lived throughout northern Syria, upper Mesopotamia and southeastern Anatolia.
Mitanni, earlier called Ḫabigalbat in old Babylonian texts, c. 1600 BC; Hanigalbat or Hani-Rabbat in Assyrian records, or Naharin in Egyptian texts, was a Hurrian-speaking state in northern Syria and southeast Anatolia with Indo-Aryan linguistic and political influences. Since no histories, royal annals or chronicles have yet been found in its excavated sites, knowledge about Mitanni is sparse compared to the other powers in the area, and dependent on what its neighbours commented in their texts.
Carchemish, also spelled Karkemish, was an important ancient capital in the northern part of the region of Syria. At times during its history the city was independent, but it was also part of the Mitanni, Hittite and Neo-Assyrian Empires. Today it is on the frontier between Turkey and Syria.
Alalakh is an ancient archaeological site approximately 20 kilometres (12 mi) northeast of Antakya in what is now Turkey's Hatay Province. It flourished, as an urban settlement, in the Middle and Late Bronze Age, c. 2000-1200 BC. The city contained palaces, temples, private houses and fortifications. The remains of Alalakh have formed an extensive mound covering around 22 hectares. In Late Bronze Age, Alalakh was the capital of the local kingdom of Mukiš.
Paolo Matthiae is an Italian archaeologist.
Mureybet is a tell, or ancient settlement mound, located on the west bank of the Euphrates in Raqqa Governorate, northern Syria. The site was excavated between 1964 and 1974 and has since disappeared under the rising waters of Lake Assad. Mureybet was occupied between 10,200 and 8,000 BC and is the eponymous type site for the Mureybetian culture, a subdivision of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA). In its early stages, Mureybet was a small village occupied by hunter-gatherers. Hunting was important and crops were first gathered and later cultivated, but they remained wild. During its final stages, domesticated animals were also present at the site.
The Tabqa Dam, or al-Thawra Dam as it is also named, most commonly known as Euphrates Dam, is an earthen dam on the Euphrates, located 40 kilometres (25 mi) upstream from the city of Raqqa in Raqqa Governorate, Syria. The city of Al-Thawrah is located immediately south of the dam. The dam is 60 metres (200 ft) high and 4.5 kilometres (2.8 mi) long and is the largest dam in Syria. Its construction led to the creation of Lake Assad, Syria's largest water reservoir. The dam was constructed between 1968 and 1973 with help from the Soviet Union. At the same time, an international effort was made to excavate and document as many archaeological remains as possible in the area of the future lake before they would be flooded by the rising water. When the flow of the Euphrates was reduced in 1974 to fill the lake behind the dam, a dispute broke out between Syria and Iraq that was settled by intervention from Saudi Arabia and the Soviet Union. The dam was originally built to generate hydroelectric power, as well as irrigate lands on both sides of the Euphrates. The dam has not reached its full potential in either of these objectives.
Emar, is an archaeological site at Tell Meskene in the Aleppo Governorate of northern Syria. It sits in the great bend of the mid-Euphrates, now on the shoreline of the man-made Lake Assad near the town of Maskanah. It has been the source of many cuneiform tablets, making it rank with Ugarit, Mari and Ebla among the most important archaeological sites of Syria. In these texts, dating from the 14th century BC to the fall of Emar in 1187 BC, and in excavations in several campaigns since the 1970s, Emar emerges as an important Bronze Age trade center, occupying a liminal position between the power centers of Upper Mesopotamia and Anatolia–Syria. Unlike other cities, the tablets preserved at Emar, most of them in Akkadian and of the thirteenth century BC, are not royal or official, but record private transactions, judicial records, dealings in real estate, marriages, last wills, formal adoptions. In the house of a priest, a library contained literary and lexical texts in the Mesopotamian tradition, and ritual texts for local cults. The area of Emar was fortified by the Romans, Byzantines, and medieval Arabs as Barbalissos or Balis but that location is slightly removed from the more ancient tell and is dealt with in its separate article.
Til Barsip or Til Barsib is an ancient site situated in Aleppo Governorate, Syria by the Euphrates river about 20 kilometers south of ancient Carchemish.
Lake Assad is a reservoir on the Euphrates in Raqqa Governorate, Syria. It was created in 1974 when construction of the Tabqa Dam was completed. Lake Assad is Syria's largest lake, with a maximum capacity of 11.7 cubic kilometres (2.8 cu mi) and a maximum surface area of 610 square kilometres (240 sq mi). A vast network of canals uses water from Lake Assad to irrigate lands on both sides of the Euphrates. In addition, the lake provides drinking water for the city of Aleppo and supports a fishing industry. The shores of Lake Assad have developed into important ecological zones.
Qal'at Ja'bar is a castle on the left bank of Lake Assad in Raqqa Governorate, Syria. Its site, formerly a prominent hill-top overlooking the Euphrates Valley, is now an island in Lake Assad that can only be reached by an artificial causeway. Although the hilltop on which the castle sits was possibly already fortified in the 7th century, the current structures are primarily the work of Nur ad-Din, who rebuilt the castle from 1168 onwards. Since 1965, several excavations have been carried out in and around the castle, as well as restoration works of the walls and towers. The castle was a Turkish exclave between 1921 and 1973.
Tell es-Sweyhat is the name of a large archaeological site on the Euphrates River in northern Syria. It is located in Raqqa Governorate roughly 95 km northeast of Aleppo and 60 km south of Carchemish. Also, a Uruk site of Jebel Aruda and a Bronze Age site Tell Hadidi (Azu) are located just across the river.
The Tishrin Dam is a dam on the Euphrates, located 90 kilometres (56 mi) east of Aleppo in Aleppo Governorate, Syria. The dam is 40 metres (130 ft) high and has 6 water turbines capable of producing 630 MW. Construction lasted between 1991 and 1999. Rescue excavations in the area that would be flooded by the dam's reservoir have provided important information on ancient settlement in the area from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) period upward.
Dibsi Faraj is an archaeological site on the right bank of the Euphrates in Aleppo Governorate (Syria). The site was excavated as part of a larger international effort coordinated by UNESCO to excavate as many archaeological sites as possible in the area that would be flooded by the reservoir created by the Tabqa Dam, which was being built at that time. An initial, small archaeological sounding was done at Dibsi Faraj by the Syrian Department of Antiquities in 1971. Following this investigation, the site was excavated between 1972 and 1974 as part of a joint operation of the Dumbarton Oaks Center for Byzantine Studies and the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology at the University of Michigan under the direction of Richard P. Harper. Since then, the site has disappeared under the rising waters of Lake Assad, the reservoir created by the Tabqa Dam.
Tell Afis is an archaeological site in the Idlib Governorate of northern Syria, lying about fifty kilometers southeast of Aleppo and 11 kilometers north of the ancient site of Ebla. The site is thought to be that of ancient Hazrek capital of the Kingdom of Hamath and Luhuti. The Stele of Zakkur, dated c, 785 BC, which contains a dedication in Aramaic to the gods Iluwer and Baalshamin, was discovered at the top of the acropolis in 1903 by the French Consul Henri Pognon. It is now in the Louvre Museum.
Tall Munbāqa or Mumbaqat, the site of the Late Bronze Age city of Ekalte, is a 5,000-year-old town complex in northern Syria now lying in ruins. The ruins are located on a steep slope on the east bank of the upper course of the Euphrates. In the 3rd and 2nd millennium BC the city was an important city-state in the region. Due to the establishment of the Tabqa Dam at Al-Thawrah, 35 kilometers west of Raqqa, the city ruins are partially flooded today by Lake Assad. Situated high above the steep drop of the eastern shore, Tall Munbāqa is still preserved. The Bronze Age site of Tell Hadidi (Azu) lies 5 kilometers to the north. The city-god of Ekalte was Baʿlaka. There are known to have been four temples in the city, three on the high ground by the Euphrates and one at a city gate.
Tell Judaidah is an archaeological site in south-eastern Turkey, in the Hatay province. It is one of the largest excavated ancient sites in the Amuq valley, in the plain of Antioch. Settlement at this site ranges from the Neolithic through the Byzantine Period.
Tell Hadidi, ancient Azu, is an ancient Near East archaeological site in Syria about 30 kilometers north of Emar and 5 kilometers north of Ekalte. It lies on the west bank of the Euphrates River on the opposite bank from Tell es-Sweyhat. It is thought to be a paired city with Tell es-Sweyhat controlling a Euphrates river crossing. There are prominent hollow ways between the site and Tell es-Sweyhat, Tell Othman, and Tell Jouweif. The site was occupied from the Early Bronze Age period to the Late Bronze Age and again to a lesser extent in Roman times. It was one of several rescue excavations sparked by the construction of the Tabqa Dam and the resulting Lake Assad. The town's primary god was Dagan.
Jebel Aruda, is an ancient Near East archaeological site on the west bank of the Euphrates river in Raqqa Governorate, Syria. It was excavated as part of a program of rescue excavation project for sites to be submerged by the creation of Lake Assad by the Tabqa Dam. The site was occupied in the Late Chalcolithic, during the late 4th millennium BC, specifically in the Uruk V period. It is on the opposite side of the lake from the Halafian site of Shams ed-Din Tannira and is within sight of the Uruk V site Habuba Kabira and thought to have been linked to it. The archaeological sites of Tell es-Sweyhat and Tell Hadidi are also nearby.
