Kadesh (Syria)
Qadesh | |
Location | Syria |
---|---|
Region | Homs Governorate |
Coordinates | 34°33′27″N 36°31′12″E / 34.5576°N 36.5200°E |
Site notes | |
Excavation dates | 1922-1923, 1975-1995 |
Archaeologists | Maurice Pezard, Peter Parr |
Kadesh, or Qadesh, was an
Name and location
The name is from the West Semitic (Canaanite) root Q-D-Š "holy". It is rendered Qdšw in Egyptian and Kadeš in Hittite.[citation needed] Akkadian spelling variants include Kinza, Kidša, Gizza.[1]
Kadesh is identified with the ruins at Tell Nebi Mend,[2] about 24 kilometers (15 mi) southwest of Homs near al-Qusayr and adjacent to the modern-day Syrian village of Tell al-Nabi Mando. The text of the Kadesh inscriptions locates Kadesh as being near Tunip in the land of the Amurru, itself assumed to have been near the Orontes River (perhaps at Tell Salhab).
Some scholars also identify Kadesh with the city of Kadytis (Καδύτις in Greek) mentioned by Herodotus (2.159, an alternative identification for Kadytis being Gaza.[1]
History
Early Bronze
In the late Early Bronze, the site is known for White-on-Blackweel Ware. This ware appeared in the transitional EB III/IV (Phase O), flourished and was trade in the Orontes Valley up to the Plains of Antioch and to eastern North Syria in EB IVA (Phase N).[3] In EB IVB (Phase M), the ware continued features from the previous phase, but is easily distinguishable. It disappeares in the transitional EB IV/MB I (Phase L). Comparison should be made with Hama J7-5 (EB IVA) and J4-2 (EB IVB).
Middle Bronze Age
Map of Syria in the second millennium BC, showing the location of Kadesh (Qadesh)
The city first entered historical records when it was mentioned in the archive of Mari in the 18th century BC as the headquarter of king Ishi-Addu of Qatna who took up residence there to oversee the quelling of a rebellion in the south of the city.[4]
Late Bronze Age
Kadesh was coming under the influence of the growing
Between 1504 and 1492 BC
Kadesh is first noted as one of two
Although
was independent of Egyptian rule.Amarna letters
Correspondence between the ruler of Kadesh and the pharaoh Akhenaten is preserved amongst the Amarna letters. Kadesh is known as Qidshu in these Akkadian language letters.
The names of three kings of Kadesh survive from contemporary sources: Suttarna (or Sutatarra; fl. c. 1350 BC);[5][6] Etakkama (c. 1340s) and his son Ari-Teshub (fl. c. 1330–1325).
Seti I campaign
The city was captured by the great pharaoh Seti I in 1306 BC, during his campaign to Syria. Kadesh had been lost to Egypt since the time of Akhenaten. Tutankhamun and Horemheb had both failed to recapture the city from the Hittites. Seti I was successful here and defeated a Hittite army that tried to defend it. He triumphantly entered the city together with his son Ramesses II and erected a victory stela at the site.[7]
His success was only temporary. As soon as
Battle of Kadesh
The city is best known as the location of one of the best documented battles of the ancient world, the Battle of Kadesh, staged between the superpowers of the 13th century BC: the Egyptian and Hittite Empires. An Egyptian vassal for approximately 150 years, Kadesh eventually defected to Hittite suzerainty, thereby placing the city on the contested frontier between the two rival empires.
In response to this Hittite ascendancy and expansion southwards, the Egyptian pharaoh Ramesses II prepared an aggressive military response and captured the coastal state of Amurru.
In 1274 BC, the fifth year of Ramesses' reign, he led a large force of chariots and infantry 1,000 miles (1,600 km) to retake the walled city. In the Battle of Kadesh, the two forces clashed, in what is widely regarded as the largest chariot versus chariot battle (5,000–6,000 between both sides) in history, on the plain south of the city and west of the Orontes River.
The next year, the Hittites moved south to recover Amurru, while the Egyptians moved north to continue their expansion into Syria. The inhabitants of the city of Kadesh had cut a channel from the river to a stream south of the town, which had turned the town into a virtual island.
The subsequent battle, fought at Kadesh, saw the Egyptians turning a near defeat into victory, routing the enemy forces. After Hittite spies convinced the Egyptians that the Hittites were further away than they were, the Hittites surprised the Egyptians in their own camp. The Egyptian army was only saved by the arrival of a supporting force from coastal Amurru. Ramesses II was able to recover the initiative, and the two armies withdrew in stalemate, both claiming victory.
Aftermath
Kadesh, however, remained under Hittite overlordship, Amurru returned to the Hittite fold, and the Hittite army continued its conquests southward as far as Upi, the territory around Damascus.
The subsequent impasse between Egypt and Hatti ultimately led to what is now recognised as one of the earliest surviving international peace treaties, concluded several decades later between Ramesses II and his Hittite counterpart,
End of Kadesh
Kadesh vanished from history after it was destroyed by the invading Sea Peoples in around 1178 BC. However, Hellenistic remains have been found in the upper levels of the tell (ruin-mound), and the summit is still occupied today. Continuous occupation throughout the Islamic period is likely, the mound having been named after a local Muslim saint or prophet, Nebi Mend. In Byzantine times, widespread occupation is evidenced by extensive remains at the foot of the tell, which is believed to represent the city of Laodicea ad Libanum.
Tell Nebi Mend
Tell Nebi Mend, consisting of an upper (450 x 200 meter) and lower tell, lies 10 kilometers southwest of the modern city of
The site has received damage in the Syrian Civil War.[18]
See also
- Cities of the ancient Near East
References
- ^ a b A. B. Lloyd, Herodotus, 1993, p. 162 Archived 2024-02-20 at the Wayback Machine.
- ^ Kitchen, K.A, "Ramesside Inscriptions", Volume 2, Blackwell Publishing Limited, 1996, pp. 16–17
- ^ Marta D'Andrea (2017) Note on Early Bronze IV Grey Hard-Textured Wares in the Levant, Studia Eblaitica 3, pp. 172-181.
- ISBN 978-88-8420-418-9.
- ISBN 0931464293
- ^ This name is similar to that of Shuttarna II of Amarna letters.
- ISBN 9004117709p. 120
- ^ [1] Archived 2024-01-04 at the Wayback Machine Bourke, SJ, "The transition from the Middle to the Late Bronze Age in the northern Levant: The evidence from Tell Nebi Mend, Syria", Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London), 1992
- ^ Bourke, Stephen J., "The transition from the Middle to the Late Bronze Age in Syria: the evidence from Tell Nebi Mend", Levant 25.1, pp. 155-195, 1993
- ^ [2] Archived 2024-01-04 at the Wayback MachineNishiaki, Yoshihiro, "Lithic technology of Neolithic Syria: A series of analyses of flaked stone assemblages from Douara Cave II, Tell Damishilyya, Tell Nebi Mend and Tell Kashkashok II", University of London, University College London, pp. 209-248, 1992
- ^ [3] Archived 2024-01-04 at the Wayback MachinePézard, Maurice, "Mission Archéologique a Tell Nebi Mend (1921): Rapport Sommaire", Syria, vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 89–115, 1922
- ^ Maurice Pezard, "Kadesh: Mission Archaeologique a Tell Nebi Mend, 1921-1922", Paris: Libraire Orientaliste, Paul Geuthner, 1931
- ISBN 978-1-78297-786-5
- ^ Bourke, Stephen J., "Sequence, chronology and culture at Tell Nebi Mend in the Middle and Late Bronze Ages", A Land in Between: The Orontes Valley in the Early Urban Age, pp. 229-266, 2020
- ^ Eriksson, K. O., S. J. Bourke, and J. B. Hennessy, "A Middle Cypriot sherd from Trench I, Tell Nebi Mend, Syria", Ägypten und Levante/Egypt and the Levant 10, pp. 205-210, 2000
- ^ Millard, Alan, "The Cuneiform Tablets from Tell Nebi Mend", Levant 42.2, pp. 226-236, 2010
- ^ Singer, Itamar, "The historical context of two Tell Nebi Mend/Qadeš letters", Kaskal, 8, pp. 161-175, 2011
- ^ "Satellite-based Damage Asessment to Historial Sites in Syria - UNITAR - 2014" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2024-01-04. Retrieved 2024-01-04.
Further reading
- Grigson, Caroline, "The fauna of Tell Nebi Mend (Syria) in the Bronze and Iron Age—a diachronic overview. Part 1: Stability and change—animal husbandry", Levant 47.1, pp. 5–29, 2015
- Grigson, Caroline, Yvonne Edwards, and Ruby Cerón-Carrasco, "The fauna of Tell Nebi Mend (Syria) in the Bronze and Iron Age—a diachronic overview. Part 2: hunting, fowling and fishing", Levant 47.2, pp. 164–185, 2015
- Kennedy, Melissa, "A New EB IV Cultural Province in Central and Southern Syria: The View from Tell Nebi Mend", in Pearls of the Past: Studies on Near Eastern Art and Archaeology in Honour of Frances Pinnock. Zaphon, pp. 429–448, 2019
- Kennedy, Melissa A., Kamal Badreshany, and Graham Philip, "Drinking on the periphery: the Tell Nebi Mend goblets in their regional and archaeometric context", Levant 52.1-2, pp. 103–135, 2020
- Mathias, V.T. and Parr, P.J., "The early phases at Tell Nebi Mend: A preliminary account", Levant XXI, pp. 13–33, 1989
- Mathias, V.T., "The Early Bronze Age Pottery of Tell Nebi Mend in its Regional Setting", in G. Philip and D. Baird (eds) Ceramics and Change in the Early Bronze Age of the Southern Levant, Sheffield Academic Press, Sheffield, pp. 411–427, 2000
- Oded, B., "Two Assyrian References to the Town of Qadesh on the Orontes", Israel Exploration Journal, vol. 14, no. 4, pp. 272–73, 1964
- Parr, P.J., "The Tell Nebi Mend Project", AAAS 33:2, pp. 99–117, 1983
- Sergey Ignatov, "Dardanians, Moesians and Phrygians in the Qadesh Inscriptions of Ramses II", Thraci', 11, 1995 (= Studia in honorem Alexandri Fol, Sofia, 1995)
- Whincop, M.R., "The Iron Age II at Tell Nebi Mend: towards an explanation of ceramic regions", Levant 39, pp. 185–212, 2007