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Aleppo
Aleppo (Halab, Halep) came under Hittite rule in the 15th century BCE. In the 14th century BCE, after his Syrian campaign, Suppiluliuma I installed his son Telipinu as the ruler of Aleppo. Telipinu was succeeded by his son Talmi-Sharruma. During the Empire period, the city was overshadowed by Karkamis, which was the main administrative center of the Hittites in Syria. Aleppo was the center of the Storm-God cult in Syria.
Aleppo survived the attacks of the Sea Peoples as a Neo-Hittite city-state beyond 1200 BCE. Excavations in the Aleppo citadel revealed remains of a Storm-god temple with multiple orthostats that date to the post-Empire period, possibly around the 11th to 10th century BCE. The city came under Assyrian rule in the 9th century BCE.
A dedicatory inscription of Talmi-Sharruma (ALEPPO 1) is the only monumental inscription from the Empire period. Until the Syrian civil war, most of the orthostats from the Neo-Hittite period were still visible in the citadel, while some others were in the Aleppo Museum. A large stele of Storm-god (BABYLON 1) and a couple of inscribed stone bowls (BABYLON 2 & 3), which were excavated in Babylon at the palace complex of Nabuchadnezzar II in 1899 (last row of pictures below), were apparently carried away from Aleppo as trophies. The stele is currently in the Istanbul Archaeology Museum.
Click on the pictures for larger images.
Aleppo Citadel - Temple of the Storm God
Storm God Temple at Aleppo Citadel - D. Osseman, 2009
Storm God Temple at Aleppo Citadel - wmf.org, 2010
Storm God Temple, north wall of the cella - D. Osseman, 2009
Storm God Temple - D. Osseman, 2009
Storm God Temple - D. Osseman, 2009
Storm God Temple - wmf.org (2010)
Storm God Temple - wmf.org (2010)
Reliefs at the north wall of the cella - D. Osseman, 2009
View of the east wall of the cella - wmf.org, 2010
Reliefs at the east wall of the cella - D. Osseman, 2009
Reliefs at the east wall - K. Kohlmeyer, 2009
Mythological being - K. Kohlmeyer, 2009
Storm God relief - K. Kohlmeyer, 2009
King Taita of Palistin - K. Kohlmeyer, 2009
Storm God and King Taita - wmf.org (2010)
Mythological being - wmf.org (2004)
Fighting lions - wmf.org (2004)
Stele in Aleppo Museum - D. Osseman, 2009
Talmi-Sharruma inscription (ALEPPO 1)
ALEPPO 1 as built into a wall upside down - G. Bell, 1909
ALEPPO 1 - H. Gonnet 1979
King Taita's Inscription (ALEPPO 6)
Dedicatory inscription of King Taita - wmf.org (2010)
Inscribed Lion and Sphinx (ALEPPO 7)
Inscribed statue fragments (ALEPPO 7) - J. D. Hawkins, 2011
Storm God Stele (BABYLON 1) and a votive bowls (BABYLON 2 & 3)
BABYLON 1 - B. Bilgin, 2011
BABYLON 2 - British Museum
BABYLON 3 - J. D. Hawkins, 2000
Literature:
Gonnella, J., W. Khayyata, K. Kohlmeyer, Die Zitadelle von Aleppo und der Tempel des Wettergottes: Neue Forschungen und Entdeckungen. M?nster, 2005.
Hawkins, J. D. Corpus of Hieroglyphic Luwian Inscriptions, Vol 1, Berlin, 2000: 235?38, 388?97, 562 and plts. 206, 209?12, 320.
Hawkins, J. D. "Cilicia, the Amuq, and Aleppo: New Light in Dark Age," NEA 72.4, Dec. 2009: 164?73.
Hawkins, J. D. "The inscriptions of the Aleppo Temple," AnSt 61, 2011: 35?54.
Hawkins, J. D. Corpus of Hieroglyphic Luwian Inscriptions, Vol 3, Berlin, 2024: 14?17, 150?57, 250?51, 333?34, and plts. 4?5, 98?101.
Kohlmeyer, K. 典he Temple of the Storm God in Aleppo during the Late Bronze and Early Iron Ages.? NEA 74.4, 2009: 190?202.
Laroche, E. 1956. "L'inscription hittite d'Alep," Syria 33: 131?41 (ALEPPO 1)
Payne, A. Iron Age Hieroglyphic Luwian Inscriptions, Atlanta, 2012: 89?91 (BABYLON 1?3).
(List of Abbreviations)
Image sources:
Dick Osseman, 2009, Aleppo Citadel Gallery.
World Monuments Fund (wmf.org).
Kay Kohlmeyer, 2009.
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