Arpad, Syria
Template:Short description Template:Infobox ancient site
Arpad (Template:Langx; Template:Langx or Template:Langx;<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> modern Tell Rifaat, Syria) was an ancient Aramaean Neo-Hittite city located in north-western Syria, north of Aleppo. It became the capital of the Aramaean state of Bit Agusi established by Gusi of Yakhan in the 9th century BC.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Bit Agusi stretched from the A'zaz area in the north to Hamath in the south.<ref>Lipinsky, 2000, p. 99.</ref>
Arpad later became a major vassal city of the Kingdom of Urartu. In 743 BC, during the Urartu-Assyria War, the Neo-Assyrian king Tiglath-Pileser III laid siege to Arpad following the defeat of the Urartuan army of Sarduri II at Samsat. But the city of Arpad did not surrender easily. It took Tiglath-Pileser three years of siege to conquer Arpad, whereupon he massacred its inhabitants and destroyed the city.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Afterward Arpad served as a provincial capital.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Tell Rifaat, which is probably the remains of Arpad, has walls still preserved to a height of eight meters.<ref>Lipinsky, 2000, p. 529.</ref>
Biblical references
The city is mentioned several times in the Hebrew Bible:
- 2 Kings 18:34; 19:13
- Isaiah 10:9; 36:19; 37:13
- Jeremiah 49:23, within the oracle against Damascus, one of the poetic "oracles against foreign nations" found in the later chapters of the Book of Jeremiah.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
The Assyrian vizier, Rabshakeh, lists the god(s) of Arpad among those who he alleges have been unable to save their cities from Assyrian assault.<ref>Template:Bibleverse</ref>
Etymology
The word Arpad in Hebrew means 'the light of redemption',<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> or 'I shall be spread out (or: supported)'<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Archaeology
Tel Rifaat is an oval 250 by 233 meters. Within this, the main citadel is 142 by 142 meters with a maximum height of 30 meters. The defensive wall surrounding the site is about two miles long.
The site has been worked by a team from the Institute of Archaeology or the University of London. After a preliminary examination in 1956, Tell Rifa'at was excavated for two seasons in 1961 and 1964. The team was led by Veronica Seton-Williams.<ref>M. V. Seton Williams, Preliminary Report on the Excavations at Tell Rifa'at, Iraq, vol. 23, no. 1, pp. 68-87, 1961</ref><ref>M. V. Seton Williams, The Excavations at Tell Rifa'at: 1964 Preliminary Report on, Iraq, vol. 29, no. 1, pp. 16-33, 1967</ref>
In 1977, an archaeological survey was conducted of the area around Tell Rifa'at, also by the Institute of Archaeology.<ref>John Matthers, Tell Rifa'at 1977: Preliminary Report of an Archaeological Survey, Iraq, vol. 40, no. 2, pp. 119-162, 1978</ref>
See also
Notes
References
- Clayton, Peter A. "The Coins from Tell Rifa'at." Iraq 29, no. 2 (1967): 143-54. Accessed October 18, 2020. doi:10.2307/4199831.
- Millard, Alan R. "Adad-Nirari III, Aram, and Arpad" Palestine Exploration Quarterly, vol. 105 Issue 2 (1973): 161–164. Accessed October 18, 2020. doi:10.1179/peq.1973.105.2.161