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History
The site has been inhabited since the development of agriculture in the fertile crescent. It was called Maladiya, Melid, Milid or Meliddu by the ancient people. From the Bronze Age the site became an administrative center of a larger region in the kingdom of Isuwa. The city was heavily fortified, probably due to the Hittite threat from the west. The Hittites conquered the city in the fourteenth century BC. In the mid 14th century BC, Melid was the base of the Hittite king Suppiluliuma I on his campaign to sack the Mitanni capital Wassukanni.
After the end of the Hittite empire, from the 12th to 7th century BC, the city became the center of an independent Luwian Neo-Hittite state of Kammanu. A palace was built and monumental stone sculptures of lions and the ruler erected.
The encounter with the Assyrian king of Tiglath-Pileser I (1115-1077 BC) resulted in the kingdom of Melid being forced to pay tribute to Assyria. Melid continued to prosper however until the Assyrian king Sargon II (722-705 BC) sacked the city in 712 BC. At the same time the Cimmerians and Scythians invaded Anatolia and the city declined.
Archaeology
Arslantepe was first excavated by the French archaeologist Louis Delaporte from 1932 to 1939 followed by some soundings by Claude F.A. Schaeffer from 1946 to 1951. Since 1961 an Italian team of archaeologists have been working at the site, headed initially by Piero Meriggi of the University of Pavia, then Salvatore Puglisi and Alba Pamieri of the University of Rome. Today the excavation is led by Marcella Frangipane.1
Notes
References
- Historical Dictionary of the Hittites, Charles Allen Burney, Scarecrow Press, 2004, ISBN 0810849364
See also
External links
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