Qatna (modern: Template:Langx, Tell al-Mishrifeh; also Tell Misrife or Tell Mishrifeh) was an ancient city located in Homs Governorate, Syria. Its remains constitute a tell situated about Template:Convert northeast of Homs near the village of al-Mishrifeh. The city was an important center through most of the second millennium BC and in the first half of the first millennium BC. It contained one of the largest royal palaces of Bronze Age Syria and an intact royal tomb that has provided a great amount of archaeological evidence on the funerary habits of that period.
First inhabited for a short period in the second half of the fourth millennium BC, it was repopulated around 2800 BC and continued to grow. By 2000 BC, it became the capital of a regional kingdom that spread its authority over large swaths of the central and southern Levant. The kingdom enjoyed good relations with Mari, but was engaged in constant warfare against Yamhad. By the 15th century BC, Qatna lost its hegemony and came under the authority of Mitanni. It later changed hands between the former and Egypt, until it was conquered and sacked by the Hittites in the late 14th century BC. Following its destruction, the city was reduced in size before being abandoned by the 13th century BC. It was resettled in the 10th century BC, becoming a center of the kingdoms of Palistin then Hamath until it was destroyed by the Assyrians in 720 BC, which reduced it to a small village that eventually disappeared in the 6th century BC. In the 19th century AD, the site was populated by villagers who were evacuated into the newly built village of al-Mishrifeh in 1982. The site has been excavated since the 1920s.
Qatna was inhabited by different peoples, most importantly the Amorites, who established the kingdom, followed by the Arameans; Hurrians became part of the society in the 15th century BC and influenced Qatna's written language. The city's art is distinctive and shows signs of contact with different surrounding regions. The artifacts of Qatna show high-quality workmanship. The city's religion was complex and based on many cults in which ancestor worship played an important role. Qatna's location in the middle of the Near East trade networks helped it achieve wealth and prosperity; it traded with regions as far away as the Baltic and Afghanistan. The area surrounding Qatna was fertile, with abundant water, which made the lands suitable for grazing and supported a large population that contributed to the prosperity of the city.
Aside from an obscure passage in the 20th-century BC Egyptian Story of Sinuhe, where the name Qatna is not clearly mentioned,Template:Sfn the earliest occurrence of the name comes from the Middle Bronze Age archive of Mari, where the city is mentioned as "Qatanum",Template:Sfn an Akkadianized format (ālQa-ta-nimki).Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn In Alalakh, the name "Qa-ta-na" was used,Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn an Amorite format that was shortened into Qatna during the Late Bronze Age.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The name is Semitic;Template:Sfn it derives from the root q-ṭ-n, meaning "thin" or "narrow" in a number of Semitic languages such as Akkadian, Syriac, and Ethiopian.Template:Sfn "Ga-da-nu" from the Eblaite archive may also derive from that root.Template:Sfn The toponym "Qatna" is strictly related to waterways and lakes;Template:Sfn this could be a reference to the artificial narrowing that created a lake from the springs located southwest of the city, since Qatna grew on the eastern shore of a now dried-up lake.Template:Sfn
The city is located in the countryside, Template:Convert north of Homs.Template:Sfn It was founded on a limestone plateau,Template:Sfn and its extensive remains suggest fertile surroundings with abundant water, which is not the case in modern times.Template:Sfn Three northward flowing tributary wadis (Mydan, Zorat and Slik) of the Orontes River cross the region of Qatna,Template:Sfn enclosing an area Template:Convert north–south and Template:Convert east–west.Template:Sfn The city lay along the central wadi (Zorat),Template:Sfn surrounded by at least twenty five satellite settlements, most of them along the Mydan (marking the eastern border of the region) and Slik (marking the western border of the region) wadis.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The wadis are now dry most of the year, but during the rainy season their discharge is disproportional to the size of their valleys, suggesting that the region was much more humid and water was more abundant in the past.Template:Sfn The early city, dating to the Early Bronze Age IV (2200–2100 BC), was built in a circular plan;Template:Sfn this circular site became the upper city (acropolis) of Qatna's later phases and was surrounded by a lower rectangular city.Template:Sfn
File:The Central Representative Units of the palaces of Qaṭna (a) and Mari (b), both plans to the same scale.pngFloor Plans of Qatna (A) and Mari (B) Central Representative Units.Building 8. The structure is dated to the transition period between the third and second millennia BC, and was abandoned in the late Middle Bronze Age II (1800–1600 BC).Template:Sfn Its walls, which are still preserved, are Template:Convert tall and Template:Convert wide.Template:Sfn The function of the building is not known, but its monumental nature and location on the upper city's summit, plus the existence of a pair of royal statues in it, suggest that it might have been a royal palace, especially since it preceded the erection of the main Royal palace of Qatna.Template:Sfn In the 1970s, a concrete water tower was built to supply the modern village of al-Mushrifah; the new structure destroyed the eastern and northern walls of the building.Template:Sfn
The construction of Qatna’s Royal Palace was commissioned by the kings Išḫi-Addu and Amud-pi-El, two powerful rulers during Middle Bronze Age Syria.<ref name=":0">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web
}}</ref> The palace was to be a physical representation of their strong identity, power, and control within the region. The Royal Palace was completed between 1790 and 1760 BC, the peak of the regional Syrian kingdom’s power, before later becoming an Egyptian vassal and finally conquered by the Hittite kingdom towards the end of the Bronze Age.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web
}}</ref> Though the palace was occupied by several empires throughout its existence, its architectural formal qualities maintained consistency until its destruction in 1340 BC.<ref name=":0" /> Qatna’s royal palace was fully explored and exposed by the collaborative efforts of the national Syrian, Syro-Italian, and Syro-German teams.<ref name=":1">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web
}}</ref> These excavations dating from 1999-2010 helped uncover new interpretations of the palace’s rooms and their function. Capturing the full scale of the Royal Palace, the documentations were known to clash against the original discoveries of the Count Robert du Mesnil du Buisson’s original excavation in the 1920s.<ref name=":1" />
The royal palace. Covering an area of Template:Convert, it was the biggest palace in the Levant of its time.Template:Sfn The palace's northeastern part consisted of two stories,Template:Sfn as did the northwestern wing.Template:Sfn In total, the first story contained at least eighty rooms.Template:Sfn Compared to other palaces of the era in the region, such as the Royal Palace of Mari, Qatna's palace was gigantic,Template:Sfn including massive halls such as hall C, formerly known as the temple of Belet-Ekallim (Ninegal),<ref group="note">Robert du Mesnil du Buisson discovered the hall in the 1920s and thought it, along with the whole western part of the palace, was a temple that he called the temple of Nin-Egal,Template:Sfn because it contained the inventories of the offerings presented to the goddess Nin-Egal.Template:Sfn Modern research showed the supposed temple to be a hall of the royal palace and it was named room C.Template:Sfn</ref>Template:Sfn which was Template:Convert in size,Template:Sfn and hall A, which was Template:Convert in size.Template:Sfn The palace was constructed during the Middle-to-Late Bronze Age transition period, c. 1600 BC,<ref group="note">The date of the palace's construction is debated; du Mesnil du Buisson dated it to the late third/early second millennium BC, while Ella Dardaillon, Peter Pfälzner and Mirko Novák believe it was built during the Middle Bronze I-Middle Bronze II ages transition period.Template:SfnDaniele Morandi Bonacossi prefers the 1600 BC date.Template:Sfn</ref>Template:Sfn in the northern part of the acropolis above an abandoned necropolis.Template:Sfn
File:Qatna's Royal Palace (Central Representative Unit).pngDetail of Hall CThe Central Representative Unit of the palace consisted of three primary halls, all roofed using imposing wooden beams, likely cedar.<ref name=":2">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web
}}</ref> The audience, governmental, and cultic halls are known to be the heart of the palace’s functional value. These units are built using the architectural Double-Hall Concept, seen as it is consists of two rectangular halls A and B, followed by a significantly larger square Hall C;<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web
}}</ref> Used as a communal banquet and gathering hall, highlighting an immense ceiling of 39 x 39 meters, structurally reinforced with four wooden pillars placed 12 meters apart from each other.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web
}}</ref> Hall B (46m x 14.6m) may be associated with the king’s political/ governmental operations such as overseeing working efficiency, reviewing output of goods, and accounting of payments.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web
}}</ref> Placed above the Palace’s Royal Hypogeum, Hall A (41m x 20m) held strong religious connotation and was reserved for ritual practice.<ref name=":2" /> Altogether, the Central Representative Unit acts as the Royal Palace’s functional identity, highlighting the roles that religious ritual, palatial politics, and commercial economy played into the identity of Qatna.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web
}}</ref>
The southern palace. Located immediately south of the royal palace, it had at least twenty rooms and concrete floors.Template:Sfn The structure is heavily damaged, making the dating of its construction difficult.Template:Sfn
The eastern palace. Located to the east of the royal palace in the upper city,Template:Sfn it is dated to the Middle Bronze Age II and consisted of at least one big courtyard and fifteen rooms.Template:Sfn
The lower city palace. Located in the northern part of the lower city, it was built in the 16th century BC.Template:Sfn It contains at least sixty rooms.Template:Sfn
The Middle Bronze Age necropolis, located near the northern edge of the upper city and heavily damaged by the royal palace constructed above it.Template:Sfn The necropolis contained three types of burials: simple graves bordered by bricks, cooking vessels, or shafts cut into the rocks.Template:Sfn The most notable shafts are tombs I, II, III and V.Template:Sfn
The Royal Hypogeum (tomb VI).Template:Sfn This is located Template:Convert beneath the royal palace,Template:Sfn at the northern edge.Template:Sfn The tomb consists of four chambers cut in the bedrock beneath the palace's foundations,Template:Sfn and a corridor, Template:Convert long, that connects it to hall A of the royal palace.Template:Sfn Four doors divide the corridor, which then takes a turn to the east and stops abruptly; an antechamber Template:Convert beneath the floor of the corridor follows and a wooden stair is used to descend to it,Template:Sfn after which a door leads to the burial chambers.Template:Sfn The hypogeum was in use for around 350 years,Template:Sfn and bodies of both genders and different ages were interred in it;Template:Sfn a minimum of 19–24 individuals were found in the tomb.Template:Sfn
Tomb VII. This is located beneath the northwest wing of the royal palace.Template:Sfn It consists of an antechamber, and a double chamber shaped like a kidney.Template:Sfn The tomb contained at least 79 individuals, in a striking contrast with the much bigger tomb VI that contained far fewer remains.Template:SfnPeter Pfälzner suggested that tomb VII was a place for re-burial; the very long period of the Royal Hypogeum's usage, meant that it needed to be cleared sometimes to make room for new interments and the older remains were thus transferred to tomb VII.Template:Sfn
Other landmarks
The walls. A large rampart surrounded Qatna reaching Template:Convert in height and Template:Convert to Template:Convert in width at the base.<ref group="note">Investigations of Qatna's fortifications were not carried out, hindering the determination of the rampart's age;Template:Sfn however, considering that similar large cities in the region, such as Ebla, had their fortifications built during the Middle Bronze Age I, a similar date is hypothesized for Qanta's rampart.Template:Sfn However, they might have been built during the late Middle Bronze Age II based on radiocarbon dating of the western section of the rampart, the only section to have been dated this way.Template:Sfn</ref>Template:Sfn The rampart contained many gates,<ref group="note">The number of gates and their dates is debated;Template:Sfn four main gates are visible,Template:Sfn but further investigation is needed.Template:Sfn</ref> and, according to a tablet from Qatna, the name of one of them was "(city) gate of the palace"; the royal palace lies east of the gate in the western rampart and might have been the palace named in the tablet.Template:Sfn
Mishrifeh Lake. Qatna grew on the shore of a lake that dried completely toward the end of the Bronze Age, in Template:Circa.Template:Sfn When the defenses were constructed, the northern and western parts of the rampart were built inside the lake, dividing it into an inner lake fed by a spring located in the northern foot of the upper city,Template:Sfn while the larger part locked outside the walls constituted a reservoir for the inhabitants.Template:Sfn
The site was first occupied during the Late Chalcolithic IV period (3300–3000 BC).Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn This early settlement was concentrated on the central part of the upper town; its function is unknown and it ended in the late fourth millennium BC.<ref group="note">Pisé installations and fireplaces were discovered.Template:Sfn</ref>Template:Sfn
Early Bronze
Early Bronze III
After a hiatus of several centuries, the site was reoccupied around 2800 BC during the Early Bronze Age III.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn
Early Bronze IV
The last two centuries of the third millennium BC saw widespread disruption of urban settlements in Syria and the abandonment of many cities;Template:Sfn however, Qatna seems to be an exception, as it continued to grow.Template:Sfn During the Early Bronze Age IV, Qatna was a circular city which reached a size of Template:Convert;Template:Sfn it included a dense residential quarter and facilities for the storage and processing of grains,Template:Sfn especially a large multi-roomed granary similar to the one in Tell Beydar.Template:Sfn The city may have been one of the urban centers of the Ib'al federation,Template:Sfn perhaps the center of a king or prince.Template:Sfn The early city occupied the acropolis, and none of its remains were found in the lower city.Template:Sfn Most of the small settlements surrounding Qatna, Template:Convert to Template:Convert, appeared during this period; this might have been connected with the emergence of a central institution in the city.Template:Sfn
|{{#invoke:InfoboxImage|InfoboxImage|image=Third Mari.png|size=|alt=|title=Qatna at its height in the eighteenth century BC }}{{#if:Qatna at its height in the eighteenth century BC|
Qatna at its height in the eighteenth century BC
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In the Middle Bronze, the Kingdom of Qatna was established around 2000 BC.Template:Sfn At the beginning of the Middle Bronze Age I, the city expanded and covered an area of Template:Convert.Template:Sfn This growth reduced the number of the small settlements as people were drawn into the expanded metropolis.Template:Sfn It is probable that the earliest mention of "Qatna" by this name dates to the same period.Template:Sfn According to Thomas Schneider, a city named Qedem, mentioned in a controversial passage in the Story of Sinuhe dating to the beginning of the Twelfth Dynasty of Egypt (early 20th century BC), is most probably to be identified with Qatna.<ref group="note">The text was studied by many scholars who presented similar readings of a sentence mentioning a ruler of a city;Template:Sfn the name of that city was read by different scholars as Kedme (Alan Gardiner), Kedemi (Adolf Erman), Qedem (Gustave Lefebvre) and Kedem (William Kelly Simpson).Template:Sfn</ref>Template:Sfn Qedem in the Egyptian text is written "Qdm",Template:Sfn and, in Egyptian, Qatna is written as "Qdn".Template:Sfn If Schneider's interpretation is correct, then this is the first known written mention of the city.Template:Sfn The text also mentions that the title of the ruler was Mekim (or Mekum), a royal title known from Ebla.<ref group="note">The title in the Egyptian text is Meki, a variant of Mekim.Template:Sfn Although ancient Mesopotamians treated the term Mekim as a proper name, and various modern scholars share this view, most researchers agree that Mekim is a title derived from the Semitic root Malākum (meaning "Ruling").Template:Sfn</ref>Template:Sfn The theory of Schneider is debated: in Sinuhe's story, the protagonist turned back to Qedem after reaching Byblos;Template:SfnJoachim Friedrich Quack pointed out that the Egyptian verb "ḥs ̯i" used in the text was known to indicate that a certain expedition had reached its final destination and was now returning to Egypt, indicating that Qedem was south of Byblos, while Qatna is to the north of Byblos.Template:Sfn
Zenith
The next mention of Qatna after the Story of Sinuhe comes from Mari in the 18th century BC, during the reign of Išḫi-Addu of Qatna.Template:Sfn However, a tablet found in Tuttul, dating to the early reign of the Mariote king Yahdun-Lim in the late 19th century BC, mentions a king named Amut-piʾel, who is most probably the father of Išḫi-Addu; this would make him the first known king of Qatna.Template:Sfn Also during the reign of Yahdun-Lim, the kingdom of Yamhad in Aleppo and its king Sumu-Epuh enter the historical record through the texts of Mari.Template:Sfn
Early in their history, Qatna and Yamhad had hostile relations;Template:Sfn Amut-piʾel I, in alliance with Yahdun-Lim and Ḫammu-Nabiḫ (probably king of Tuttul),Template:Sfn attacked the Yamhadite city of Tuba, which was a personal possession of Aleppo's royal family, and took a large booty.Template:Sfn Later, Yahdun-Lim embarked on an expedition to the Mediterranean Sea that was used for ideological purposes, as it was meant to echo Gilgamesh's deeds; the journey likely had undeclared political motives as well, when seen in the context of the alliance with Qatna.Template:Sfn The Mariote–Qaṭanean alliance, which was probably cemented by dynastic marriage,<ref group="note">Gabetum, a consort of Yahdun-Lim, was perhaps a princess from Qatna.Template:Sfn</ref> must have provoked Yamhad, which supported rebellions in Mari to preoccupy Yahdun-Lim with his own problems.Template:Sfn Despite the tension and battles, a full-scale war with Yamhad was avoided.Template:Sfn
Qatna was at its apex during the reign of Išḫi-Addu.Template:Sfn Mari was conquered by Shamshi-Adad I of Assyria, who appointed his son Yasmah-Adad as its king.Template:Sfn Išḫi-Addu was allied with Shamshi-Adad and is attested corresponding with Mari for a period of six years between Template:Circa.Template:Sfn At its height, the kingdom extended from the upper valley of the Orontes to Qadeš in the west,Template:Sfn while Palmyra was Qatna's easternmost city.Template:Sfn It was bordered by Yamhad in the north,Template:Sfn while the south was dominated by Hazor, a Qaṭanean vassal.Template:Sfn The many kingdoms of Amurru, which controlled the central Levantine coast between Byblos and Ugarit, bordered Qatna from the west and were counted among Išhi-Addu's vassals.Template:Sfn Also under the rule of Qatna were various cities in the Beqaa Valley and the cities in the region of Apum, in the modern Damascus Oasis.Template:Sfn
The kingdom was sometimes threatened by nomads; a letter sent to Yasmah-Adad informs him that 2000 Suteans conducted a raid against Qatna.Template:Sfn Relations with Yamhad worsened during Išḫi-Addu's reign and the conflict evolved into border warfare;Template:Sfn Qatna occupied the city of Parga in the region of Hamath for a while before Sumu-Epuh retook it.Template:Sfn In the south, Išḫi-Addu faced a general rebellion;Template:Sfn the alliance with Assyria was cemented by the marriage of Išḫi-Addu's daughter to Yasmah-Adad in Template:Circa.Template:Sfn The following year, after petitions by Qatna, Shamshi-Adad sent an army to help Išḫi-Addu deal with the rebellion.<ref group="note">Shamshi-Adad planned to send an army of 20,000 soldiers, and for his son Yasmah-Adad to lead them, but these plans could not be realized. Instead, a much more modest army was sent under command of generals who were placed in the service of Išḫi-Addu for four years (Template:Circa).Template:Sfn</ref>Template:Sfn The Assyrian troops avoided engaging Yamhad and did not participate in its war with Qatna, while Išḫi-Addu took up residence in Qadeš to oversee the suppression of the rebellion,Template:Sfn which apparently was supported by Yamhad.Template:Sfn After four years in the service of Qatna, Shamshi-Adad ordered his troops to return; this might have been connected to a peace treaty between Assyria and Yarim-Lim I, son of Sumu-Epuh. Išḫi-Addu, who in the past had declared that "even if Shamshi-Adad would conclude peace with Sumu-epuh, I will never make peace with Sumu-epuh, as long as I live!", was delivered a heavy blow, but Mari's sources are silent on how the king dealt with the situation, and by the time they resumed mentioning Qatna in Template:Circa, Išḫi-Addu was dead and succeeded by his son Amut-piʾel II.Template:Sfn
Decline
The political and military balance in the region changed dramatically during the reign of Amut-piʾel II;Template:Sfn Shamshi-Adad I had died by about 1775 BC, and his empire disintegrated,Template:Sfn while Yasmah-Adad was removed from his throne and replaced with Zimri-Lim.Template:Sfn Yarim-Lim I gained the upper hand and turned his kingdom into the supreme power in the Levant; Qatna was forced to respect the borders and interests of Yamhad.Template:Sfn In Mari, Zimri-Lim, who was Yarim-Lim's protégé,Template:Sfn married Amut-piʾel II's sister and Yasmah-Adad's widow Dam-Ḫuraṣi, and this seemed to satisfy the king of Qatna, as his relations with Mari were never hostile.<ref group="note">Although the identification of Dam-Ḫuraṣi, wife of Zimri-Lim, with the widow of Yasmah-Adad has an academic consensus, some scholars, such as Jack M. Sasson, argue against it.Template:Sfn</ref>Template:Sfn In 1772 BC, the Yaminite tribes revolted against Zimri-Lim, who asked Qatna for help; Amut-piʾel II sent his troops to Dūr-Yahdun-Lim (probably modern Deir ez-Zor) to support Mari, but when he asked for Mariote military support at a later time, Zimri-Lim hesitated as Yarim-Lim I was expressly against such a dispatch.Template:Sfn When Qatna tried to establish an alliance with Eshnunna, Mari, which was at war with Eshnunna, arrested the messengers on the pretext that Zimri-Lim feared for their safety; in reality, the king of Mari was probably acting on behalf of Yamhad to prevent Qatna from establishing such an alliance.Template:Sfn
The archive of Mari reports a plan between Zimri-Lim, the king of Carchemish and the king of Eshnunna (who made peace with Mari), to attack Qatna.Template:Sfn Such an alliance could not have been realized without the participation of Yamhad, overlord of both Mari and Carchemish; in the end, the plan was not pursued and the tense relations between Qatna and Yamhad eased toward the last years of Yarim-Lim's reign.Template:Sfn In a letter written to Zimri-Lim,Template:Sfn Yarim-Lim I agreed to establish peace with Qatna if Amut-piʾel II were to come by himself to Aleppo, thus acknowledging the supremacy of Yamhad; no proof can be shown for a meeting taking place between the two kings.<ref group="note">Yarim-Lim wrote: "we will establish good relations between me and him, an oath by the gods and a firm treaty."Template:Sfn</ref>Template:Sfn Just before his death in 1765 BC, Yarim-Lim called a meeting of his vassals, and Zimri-Lim traveled to Aleppo where he met messengers from Qatna and Hazor, indicating that Amut-piʾel II started recognizing the supremacy of Yarim-Lim, and that Hazor, Qatna's vassal, was now obeying Yamhad.Template:Sfn Yarim-Lim's successor Hammurabi I arranged a peace with Qatna that probably did not require the Qaṭanean king to visit Aleppo personally,Template:Sfn but indicated Qatna's acceptance of Yamhad's superiority.Template:Sfn This apparent yielding seems a mere formality as Qatna continued its aspirations for power, as became clear in its behavior during the Elamite invasion of Mesopotamia in year ten of Zimri-Lim's reign.Template:Sfn An Elamite messenger reached Emar and sent three of his servants to Qatna; Hammurabi I of Yamhad learned of this and sent troops to intercept them on their return.Template:Sfn The servants were captured and questioned, revealing that Amut-piʾel II told them to tell their monarch that "The country is delivered to you, come up to me! if you come up, you will not be taken by surprise."Template:Sfn The Qaṭanean king also sent two messengers to Elam, but they were probably captured in Babylon.Template:Sfn
The hegemony of Yamhad affected Qatna's economy; the trade route connecting Mesopotamia and Mari to Qatna through Palmyra lost its importance, while the trade routes from the Mediterranean to Mesopotamia came under the full control of Aleppo, contributing to Qatna's loss of wealth.Template:Sfn Following the destruction of Mari by Hammurabi of Babylon around 1761 BC, information about Qatna becomes scarce;Template:Sfn in the late 17th century BC, Yamhad invaded and defeated Qatna during the reign of Yarim-Lim III.Template:Sfn The political and commercial importance of Qatna declined quickly during the Late Bronze Age (LB I), around 1600 BC, as a result of growing Egyptian and Mitannian influences.Template:Sfn Numerous small states appeared in the region and detached from Qatna.Template:Sfn
Late Bronze
Mitanni Period
It is not known when Qatna lost its independence. It became a Mitannian vassal in the 16th century BC,Template:Sfn but the archive of Qatna proves that even in its final period during the 14th century BC, Qatna maintained a certain degree of autonomy.Template:Sfn Early Egyptian military intrusions to the region occurred under Thutmose I (Template:Reign). The name Qedem appears in an inscription found on a fragmented gateway from Karnak dated to the reign of Thutmose mentioning a military campaign in the northern Levant.Template:Sfn The inscription suggests that the mentioned cities submitted to the king.Template:Sfn The geographic sequence given in the inscription is Qedem ("Qdm"), Tunip ("Twnjp") and "Ḏj3 wny" (maybe Siyannu); Qatna (Qdn in Egyptian) would fit better in the geographic sequence and Alexander Ahrens suggested that the inscription might have meant Qatna.Template:Sfn Any oaths of loyalty to Egypt taken by Levantine rulers were forgotten after Thutmose I's death.Template:Sfn The Egyptians returned under the leadership of Thutmose III (Template:Reign), who reached Qatna during his eighth Asiatic campaign, Template:Circa.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Thutmose III did not rule directly in Qatna but established vassalage ties and attended an archery contest with the Qaṭanean king.Template:Sfn
Towards the end of Thutmose III's reign, and under the influence of Mitanni, the Syrian states changed their loyalty, causing Thutmose's successor Amenhotep II (Template:Reign) to march north in his seventh year on the throne,Template:Sfn where he fought troops from Qatna near the city.<ref group="note">Amenhotep did not state that Qatna was in a revolt; he only spoke of "a few Asiatics from the town of Qatna who came to cause troubles".Template:Sfn</ref>Template:Sfn The threat of the Hittites prompted Mitanni's king to sue for peace: Artatama I approached Amenhotep II for an alliance and long negotiations started.Template:Sfn The talks lasted until after Amenhotep's death, when his successor Thutmose IV (Template:Reign) finally sealed a treaty that divided the Levant between the two powers.Template:Sfn Qatna and the states north of it, such as Nuhašše, fell into the sphere of Mitanni.Template:Sfn Despite its reduced status, Qatna still controlled the Lebanon MountainsTemplate:Convert away in the 14th century BC.Template:Sfn
Possible incorporation into Nuhašše
During the reign of Adad-Nirari of Nuhašše in the 14th century BC, Qatna may have become part of his kingdom.Template:Sfn In 1977, Astour considered Qatna a constituent part of the lands of Nuhašše, and identified a king of Qatna named Adad-Nirari with the Nuhaššite king.Template:Sfn Astour was followed by Thomas Richter in 2002, who considered Qatna to be a secondary city in the domain of the Nuhaššite king. The tablets of Qatna mention a šakkanakku (military governor) named Lullu, and Richter considered him an official of Nuhašše.Template:Sfn The hypothesis of Richter is debated; a number of scholars accept it, for example Pfälzner, who suggested that the Nuhaššite king may have resided in Qatna's royal palace.Template:Sfn Richter dated the rule of the Nuhaššite king to the period preceding the Hittite king Šuppiluliuma I's first Syrian war, during which Adad-Nirari of Nuhašše opposed the Hittites, was defeated, and, according to Richter, had his kingdom split between different Hittite puppets including Idanda of Qatna.Template:Sfn
Gernot Wilhelm saw no ground for Richter's assumption concerning the identification of the Nuhaššite monarch with the Qaṭanean king.Template:Sfn This identification rests on the theory that Qatna belonged geographically to the region of Nuhašše,<ref group="note">Richter considered the "Nuhašše lands" to include Nuhašše, Qatna and Ugulzat.Template:Sfn</ref> but no solid evidence supports this assumption,Template:Sfn and the Shattiwaza treaty between the Hittites and Mitannians clearly mentioned Qatna as a different realm from Nuhašše during the first Syrian war when the Nuhaššite king ruled.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn If Qatna was part of the Nuhaššite kingdom, its submission to the Hittites would not have been mentioned separately in the treaty.Template:Sfn It is a fact that Qatna was ruled by Idanda during the first war and the Hittite documents do not mention a change of rulers in Qatna made by Šuppiluliuma, leaving no reason to suspect that Idanda ascended the throne as a result of the war.Template:SfnJacques Freu likewise rejected Richter's hypothesis. Citing different arguments, he concluded that Adad-Nirari of Nuhašše was a contemporary of Idanda, the successor of the Qaṭanean Adad-Nirari.Template:Sfn
The campaigns of Šuppiluliuma I
Early in his reign,Template:Sfn the Hittite king Šuppiluliuma I (Template:Reign) aimed at conquering Mitanni's lands west of the Euphrates.Template:Sfn Šuppiluliuma waged several campaigns to achieve his goal: the first Syrian foray, the second Syrian foray, the first Syrian war and the second Syrian war.<ref group="note">The campaigns of Šuppiluliuma I in Syria are debated,Template:Sfn and divided into four main phases by scholars:
First Syrian foray: the term was coined by Kenneth Kitchen;Template:Sfn it probably took place in southeastern Anatolia on the borders between Mitanni and the Hittites ending with a Mitannian victory.Template:Sfn Michael Astour dates the event to the period between years 30 and 34 of the Egyptian pharaoh Amenhotep III's reign (1391–1353 or 1388–1351 BC);Template:Sfn this offensive might have been led by Šuppiluliuma's father, Tudhaliya II.Template:Sfn
Second Syrian foray: also first suggested by Kitchen,Template:Sfn this was supposedly aimed at western Syria but its occurrence is highly debated.Template:Sfn Šuppiluliuma I, in his treaty with the Mitannian king Shattiwaza, mentions that he plundered the lands west of the Euphrates (i.e., western Syria) long before his "one year campaign" (which happened after the second Syrian foray),Template:Sfn and reached Mount Niblani (Lebanon).Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Astour dates the second foray to the eleventh regnal year of the Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaten (1353–1336 or 1351–1334 BC).Template:Sfn
The first Syrian war or one-year campaign,Template:Sfn was a direct confrontation between Mitanni and Šuppiluliuma and is given different dates by various scholars; William J. Murnane places it at any point between Akhenaten's 9th and 14th year.Template:Sfn A more suitable date would be the beginning of Akhenaten's 12th year on the throne.Template:Sfn The account of the first war is handed down in the historical prologue of the Shattiwaza treaty.Template:Sfn
The second Syrian war, also known as the six-year campaignTemplate:Sfn or the Hurrian war, was a conflict that brought Syria firmly under the rule of Šuppiluliuma I; it started at least ten years following Akhenaten's death.Template:Sfn</ref>Template:Sfn The events and chronology of the Hittites' subjugation of Qatna are debated.Template:Sfn King Idanda was a Hittite vassal; a letter sent by the Hittite general Ḫanutti contains a demand that Idanda fortify the city.Template:Sfn Freu believed that Idanda abandoned Mitanni and joined the Hittites as a result of Šuppiluliuma's first Syrian foray.Template:Sfn The Mitannian king Tushratta retaliated by invading Qatna,Template:Sfn and burning the royal palace;Template:Sfn an event dated to around 1340 BC.<ref group="note">Pfälzner attributed the destruction of the palace to Šuppiluliuma I,Template:Sfn while Richter believed that it was a Syrian state that opposed the Hittites, such as Amurru.Template:Sfn</ref>Template:Sfn Wilhelm, on the other hand, believed that Idanda submitted to the Hittites as a result of the first Syrian war.Template:Sfn
Collapse
The events leading to the destruction of the royal palace did not cause the destruction of the whole city.Template:Sfn The Shattiwaza treaty, which describes the events of the first Syrian war, mentions that Qatna was invaded and destroyed, and its people were deported during the war.Template:Sfn However, Idanda's successor, Akizzi, was ruling in the second half of the Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaten's reign following the first Syrian war,Template:Sfn or shortly before the second Syrian war.<ref group="note">Freu insisted that Qatna was destroyed during the first Syrian war, citing the fact that the letters sent by Akizzi to Egypt asking for help date to the Amarna Period, while the second Syrian war took place long after the abandonment of Amarna.Template:Sfn</ref>Template:Sfn This discrepancy can be explained if the treaty did not mention the events in a chronological order; many scholars, such as Wilhelm, believe that the author of the document organized the text according to the principle of association, rather than following the sequence of events.Template:SfnTemplate:Quote box
Akizzi contacted Egypt and declared himself a servant to the pharaoh.Template:Sfn An anti-Hittite coalition, probably organized by Akizzi, was established. Šuppiluliuma tried diplomatic means to solve the conflict but Akizzi rejected them.Template:Sfn Hittite military intervention soon followed and Akizzi asked Egypt for troops, but received none.Template:Sfn Šuppiluliuma himself came to Qatna, aided by Aziru of Amurru. The Hittite monarch took with him a statue of the sun deity, which had been given to Qatna by an ancestor of Akhenaten. This move symbolized the final capitulation of the kingdom.Template:Sfn
Akizzi survived the destruction of his city and continued his communication with the pharaoh for some time;Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn in an Amarna letter (EA 55), the king of Qatna described to Akhenaten the actions of Šuppiluliuma and his plundering of Qatna.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Hence, the final sack of Qatna occurred after the royal palace was destroyed in 1340 BC,Template:Sfn and before the death of Akhenaten, to whom the letter was addressed, in Template:Circa.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTrevor Bryce suggested that Akizzi might have accepted Hittite overlordship again.Template:Sfn In any case, he was the last known king.Template:Sfn The city lost its importance following its sacking and never regained its former status.Template:Sfn
Post-Hittite destruction
The destruction of the royal palace constituted a break in Qatna's history;Template:Sfn all other palaces were abandoned and the political system collapsed.Template:Sfn A pottery workshop was built in the place of the southern palace, while the lower city palace was replaced by two adjacent courtyards surrounded by walls.Template:Sfn Archaeological data suggest a much reduced settlement with no regional role.Template:Sfn Following the 13th century BC, no archaeological evidence exists to prove the city was occupied; the toponym Qatna stopped appearing and the next occupation level dates to the late 10th century BC, suggesting it was uninhabited for three centuries.<ref group="note">An early 12th century BC document from Emar mention the destruction of a land named KURqa-ad/t/ṭ-na by a governor of Sukhi; Murray R. Adamthwaite identified the land with Qatna but another city known as Qattunam (or Qattun, Qatni) located in the Lower Khabur can also be a candidate.Template:Sfn</ref>Template:Sfn
Syro-Hittite and following periods
In the late 10th century and early 9th century BC, the site was reoccupied but its name during that time is unknown;<ref group="note">In the 8th century BC, the toponym qt[n] was mentioned in Hama but the possibility that it refers to Qatna was denied by Edward Lipiński who noted that qt[n] was associated with the toponym Rg corresponding to the al-Rouge plain; therefore, Lipiński identify qt[n] as the ancient name of Qastun.Template:Sfn</ref>Template:Sfn three human head sculptures made of basalt were discovered in the site; they probably date to the mid-9th century BC.Template:Sfn At this time, the region was probably under the control of Palistin,Template:Sfn with Qatna under the rule of Hamath, which was probably part of Palistin.Template:Sfn The basalt heads bear similarities to a statue discovered in Palistin's capital,Template:Sfn but there is not enough information to allow a general conclusion over the borders of Palistin and its extent into Qatna.Template:Sfn The settlement was a small one; it included large buildings that were used both as residences and manufacturing facilities.Template:Sfn
By the 8th century, the site saw a revival in settlement; the city expanded and many houses, public buildings, and storage areas were built.Template:Sfn The newly expanded settlement was a contrast to the earlier 10th/9th century one;Template:Sfn the existence of official buildings and the emergence of many satellite settlements surrounding Qatna suggest that the city was a local center in the kingdom of Hamath.Template:Sfn The official buildings were violently destroyed, probably at the hands of the Assyrian king Sargon II (Template:Reign), who annexed the region in 720 BC.Template:Sfn The site continued to be inhabited during the Iron Age III, following the Assyrian destruction, but the settlement shrank considerably, being reduced to a village comprising the central part of the acropolis. It was abandoned in the mid-6th century BC.Template:Sfn
In the mid-19th century, a modern village (al-Mishrifeh) was built within the ancient site.Template:Sfn Houses were built on top of the royal palace floors, damaging them to a certain degree, but also protecting the underlying ruins.Template:Sfn In 1982, the Syrian Directorate-General of Antiquities and Museums resettled the inhabitants in a new village next to the ancient tell, thus making the site available for modern archaeological research.Template:Sfn
Society
Population and language
The kingdom of Qatna had a predominantly Semitic Amorite population; all the personal names from Qatna in the Mari archive were Amorite.Template:Sfn The royal family was also Amorite and it stayed as such during the Mitannian era, which witnessed the expansion of Hurrians;Template:Sfn by the fifteenth century BC, Qatna had a sizable Hurrian element.Template:Sfn The Arameans were responsible for the re-occupation of the site in the first millennium BC.Template:Sfn
The Amorites in Qatna spoke their own language,Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn but kings communicated with their counterparts using Akkadian,Template:Sfn which was the language of writing in the city.Template:Sfn Qatna's Akkadian became heavily influenced by Hurrian in the 15th and 14th centuries BC;Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Richter argued that a special Akkadian–Hurrian hybrid dialect developed in Qatna.Template:Sfn Texts from Qatna exhibit many Hurrian elements, proving that Hurrian was prominent among scribes, but its predominance as a spoken language by the general public cannot be determined.Template:Sfn
Details about the religious life in Qatna are not available due to the rarity of written evidence from the city; in general, many cults seems to have existed and mixed in Qatna,Template:Sfn most prominently the royal ancestor cult, the cult of gods and the cult of the dead.Template:Sfn
Belet-Ekallim (Ninegal) was a prominent deity in Qatna; the inventories of gifts presented to the gods found in hall C of the palace show that she was a prominent element in the royal liturgy,Template:Sfn where she was called the "lady of the palace" and "Belet Qatna", making her effectively the goddess of the city.Template:Sfn However, no trace of a temple or shrine has been found in the building.<ref group="note">After it became evident that hall C is not a temple of Belet-Ekallim,Template:Sfn Pfälzner suggested that only a small chamber (code named room P), located in the north-eastern corner of hall C (called the "Saint des Saintes" by du Mesnil du Buisson), and the area GO in front of it (called the "Sanctuaire" by du Mesnil du Buisson), can be considered as the sanctuary of Belet-Ekallim.Template:SfnDominique Charpin argued that no evidence for a Belet-Ekallim sanctuary exists in the palace; he believes that the temple should be looked for in Qatna, but outside the palace.Template:Sfn One of Charpin's arguments is that four inventories were found in the palace but only inventory I mentions Belet-Ekallim while the others speak about the "gods of the king" and no temple is mentioned.Template:Sfn</ref>Template:Sfn The inventories also mention the "gods of the king"; it is debated whether this referred to deities or to royal ancestors.Template:SfnJean Bottéro identified the "gods of the king" with the sun god Šamaš, whom Akizzi called the "god of my father" in his letter to Akhenaten.<ref group="note">More precisely, Akizzi mentioned "Šimigi" the Hurrian equivalent of Šamaš.Template:Sfn</ref>Template:SfnGregorio del Olmo Lete considered Šamaš the god of Qatna's dynasty, but the "gods of the king" probably included other deities as well.Template:SfnJean-Marie Durand considers Addu to be the god of the city based on a seal dating to Išḫi-Addu's reign describing Addu as such.Template:Sfn Another indication of the deities worshiped in Qatna comes from the archive of Mari; the daughter of Išḫi-Add was devoted to the goddess Ishtar and Zimri-Lim once invited Amut-piʾel II to Mari to take part in rituals for that goddess, indicating that the cult of Ishtar was prominent in Qatna.Template:Sfn
The cult of the Betyles
The texts of Mari show that the cult of stones, especially the "sikkanum" (i.e., Betyles—sacred stones), was widespread in western Syria,Template:Sfn and its practice in Qatna is plausible.Template:Sfn Du Mesnil du Buisson named room F in the royal palace "Haut-Lieu" and considered it a shrine of Ašera.Template:Sfn Research done after 1999 ruled out du Mesnil du Buisson's hypothesis and concluded that the room is a bathroom, but further research showed that the bathroom interpretation must also be wrong.Template:Sfn Pfälzner, based on its architecture being suitable for containing sacred stones,<ref group="note">The lime floor of room F had a gap that could have supported a wooden threshold that separated a rectangular area from the rest of the room.Template:Sfn This area was Template:Convert in size and its northern half two rows of brick installations; each row consists of two further rows: a northern three low pillars and a southern three flat podiums opposite each others.Template:Sfn There is a gap in the floor between each pillar and podium that could have been fitted with a slab of stone;Template:Sfn the pillar would have supported the stone from behind while the podium would have worked as pedestal.Template:Sfn However, the Betyles are missing,Template:Sfn and there is evidence that they were robbed as the lime plaster of the floor is broken and pushed around the pillars.Template:Sfn</ref> suggested that room F was the palace shrine for the cult of Betyles.Template:Sfn Pfälzner concludes that "an ultimate proof, however, for the function of Room F at Qaṭna cannot be deduced from this parallel. Nor is there a clue as to the dedication of the possible Betyle-sanctuary at Qaṭna".Template:Sfn
Royal ancestors cult
Ancestors were worshiped in Qatna;Template:Sfn the royal hypogeum provided a large amount of data concerning the cult of ancestor worshiping and the practices associated with it.Template:Sfn Two kinds of burials are distinguished; a primary burial intended to transport the dead into the netherworld,Template:Sfn and a secondary burial that was intended to transform the deceased into their ultimate form: an ancestor.Template:Sfn The royal hypogeum provides hints at the different rituals taking place during a secondary burial; a noticeable character is that skeletons were not complete, and no skulls are found for the majority of secondary burial remains.Template:Sfn There is no evidence that skulls decayed as they would have left behind teeth, of which very few were found, indicating that the skulls were removed to be venerated in another location.Template:Sfn
Bones in the secondary burial were arranged without respect for anatomical order;Template:Sfn it is plausible to assume that the distribution process was the result of symbolic rituals that indicated the changing of the deceased's role by incorporating him or her into the group of royal ancestors.Template:Sfn Pottery vessels were deposited next to the secondary burial remains; they were fixed on top of food offerings meant as a food supply for the dead, giving evidence for the performance of Kispu (nourishing and caring for one's ancestor through a regular supply of food and drink).Template:Sfn Hundreds of pilled vessels provide evidence that the living participated and dined with their ancestors, venerating them.Template:Sfn Pfälzner argues for a third burial process which he calls the tertiary burial; the eastern chamber of the hypogeum was used as an ossuary where human remains and animal bones left from the Kispu were mixed and pilled.Template:Sfn Pfälzner conclude that bones left in that chamber were deposited there because they had become useless in funerary rituals, thus the chamber was their final resting place.Template:Sfn Bones in the eastern chamber were stored with no respect for the unity of an individual, indicating that the persons buried were now part of the collective group of ancestors; this did not mean that the individuals were no longer cared for, as the many bowls in the chamber indicate the continuation of food offerings to those ancestors.Template:Sfn
According to Pfälzner, a final burial stage can be noticed, which he calls the quaternary burial.Template:Sfn Tomb VII, which most probably contained remains taken out of the royal hypogeum,Template:Sfn seems to have worked as a storage for the remains of individuals whose Kispu cycle came to an end;Template:Sfn very few bowls were found in that tomb.Template:Sfn The Kispu was important for demonstrating the legitimacy of the king, thus it needed to be public and visible to a large crowd; Pfälzner suggests that hall A in the royal palace was the place for the public Kispu and that the antechamber of the royal hypogeum was dedicated for private Kispu that included only the king and the spirits of his ancestors.Template:Sfn
Culture
Due to its location in the middle of the trade network of the ancient world, the cultural and social landscape of the city was complex, as the inhabitants had to deal with traders and envoys who brought with them different customs from distant regions.Template:Sfn The inventories of gifts presented to deities from the royal palace indicate that Qatna used the sexagesimal numeral system.Template:Sfn
Textiles dyed with royal purple, a symbol of social status, were found in the royal hypogeum.Template:Sfn Judging by the royal statues found in the royal hypogeum antechamber, a king of Qatna wore clothes different from those worn in Mesopotamia; his robes would have reached his ankles and the hem on his shawl would have been in the shape of a thick rope, while his beard was short and his headdress consisted of a broad band.Template:Sfn For royal primary burials, several steps were followed: constructing the burial container, anointing the body with oil, heating the body, leading the burial procession, laying the sarcophagus floor with textiles, burying the body with another layer of textiles, and finally depositing a layer of plants and herbs.Template:SfnElephants, which lived in western Syria, were esteemed in Qatna and connected to the royal family; they were apparently hunted by the royals and the king himself, as there is evidence that their bones were displayed in the palace; thus, elephants were part of the royal ideology and hunting an elephant was a symbol of prestige that glorified the strength of the king.Template:Sfn
An international style in art did not exist in Qatna;<ref group="note">The "international style" of the Eastern Mediterranean and Western Asian art of the second half of the second millennium BC is a heavily debated concept in archaeology;Template:Sfn it is defined as an artistic style that is impossible to trace to a certain regional origin as it lacks any regional characters.Template:Sfn</ref> instead, a regional hybrid style prevailed where international motifs appear along with regional ones, yet all the pieces reveal enough features to trace them to Qatna.Template:Sfn The volute-shaped plant is one of the most widespread international motifs;<ref group="note">The motif is called many names such as the "composite plants", "stylized trees" and the "tree of life".Template:Sfn</ref> many pieces from the royal hypogeum were decorated with the motif,Template:Sfn but Qatna had its own typical volute,Template:Sfn where the crown is a single long lobe with dotted pendants branching out of the corners of the upper volute.Template:Sfn The wall painting in Qatna's royal palace attests to contact with the Aegean region; they depict typical Minoan motifs such as palm trees and dolphins.Template:Sfn
Qatna also had a distinctive local craftsmanship; the wall paintings in the royal palace, though including Aegean motifs, depict elements that are not typical either in Syria or the Aegean region, such as turtles and crabs.Template:Sfn This hybrid style of Qatna prompted Pfälzner to suggest a "craftsmanship interaction model",Template:Sfn which is based on the assumption that Aegean artists were employed in local Syrian workshops.Template:Sfn Local workshops modeled amber in Syrian style; many pieces were found in the royal hypogeum including 90 beads and a vessel in the shape of a lion head.Template:Sfn Ivory was connected to the royal family and the pieces discovered reflect a high level of craftsmanship that was influenced by Egyptian traditions.Template:Sfn Jewelry was made to fit local tastes even when the origin of the concept was foreign; an example would be the scarabs, traditional Egyptian objects, that were modified in Qatna by engraving them with local motifs and encasing them with gold, which is atypical for Egyptian specimens.Template:Sfn Aside from two golden beads that seem imported from Egypt, no jewelry discovered was of foreign origin.Template:Sfn
Typical western Syrian architectural traditions are seen in the eastern palace, which has an asymmetrical plan and tripartite reception halls.Template:Sfn The lower city palace also shows typical second-millennium Syrian features, being elongated and lacking the huge courtyards that were a traditional Mesopotamian feature; instead, the palace had several small courtyards spread within it.Template:Sfn Qatna's royal palace was unique in its monumental architecture; it had a distinctive foundation and the throne room walls were Template:Convert wide, which does not occur elsewhere in the architecture of the ancient Near East.Template:Sfn The period following the destruction of the royal palace shows a clear break in culture,Template:Sfn evidenced by the poor building materials and architectural techniques.Template:Sfn
Finds in "Tomb IV" indicate that Qatna was engaged in long distance trade since its early history.Template:Sfn The city's location on the edges of the Syrian steppes turned it into a strategic stop for caravans traveling to the Mediterranean Sea from the east.Template:Sfn The countryside surrounding the city provided the key for its success in the Early Bronze Age IV; those lands were capable of supporting both agriculture and pastoralism.Template:Sfn Despite the modern scarcity of water, geoarchaeological research on the wadis of the region confirm the abundance of water during the Bronze Age.Template:Sfn The land was abundant in pasture lands; when drought struck Mari, Išḫi-Addu allowed its nomads to graze their flocks in Qatna.Template:Sfn
The written sources do not offer deep insight on the economy of the kingdom;Template:Sfn it counted mainly on agriculture during the Middle Bronze Age but, by the Late Bronze Age, it became based on trade with surrounding regions.Template:Sfn Securing raw materials scarce near the city was an important concern for the rulers;Template:Sfn basalt was an important building tool and it was probably acquired from the Salamiyah region or Al-Rastan.Template:Sfn Calcite was provided from either the Syrian coast or Egypt, amber came from the Baltic region, while regions in modern Afghanistan provided carnelian and lapis-lazul.Template:Sfn
The main routes passing Qatna were from Babylon to Byblos through Palmyra, from Ugarit to Emar, and from Anatolia to Egypt.Template:Sfn Taxes on caravans crossing the trade routes allowed the city's royalty to get rich;Template:Sfn an insight into Qatna's wealth can be acquired from the dowry of Išḫi-Addu's daughter, who was endowed with 10 talents of silver (288 kg) and 5 talents of textiles (worth 144 kg of silver).Template:Sfn White horses were among Qatna's most famous exports,Template:Sfn in addition to high-quality wines,Template:Sfn woods from the nearby Lebanon mountain,Template:Sfn and goods, such as chariots, from a highly skilled craft industry.Template:Sfn
Many Egyptian imports were found in the city,Template:Sfn including the "sphinx of Ita", which represents a daughter of the Egyptian pharaoh Amenemhat II,Template:Sfn and a vessel with the name of Senusret I inscribed on it, plus around 50 stone vessels in the royal hypogeum.Template:Sfn Another vessel lists the name of Queen Ahmose-Nefertari, wife of 18th dynasty Pharaoh Ahmose I.Template:Sfn Two units of weight and payment measurement are prominent in Qatna: the mina and the shekel.Template:Sfn The mina had different values from region to region but it seems that in Qatna the preferred value was 470 g, while the preferred value of the shekel is hard to figure.Template:Sfn
Government
The existence of agricultural facilities on the acropolis during the EB IV early city indicates that a central authority oversaw the production process;Template:Sfn perhaps the city was a center of one of the princes of Ib'al.Template:Sfn Another piece of evidence is "Tomb IV", which contained the remains of 40 people, 300 pottery vessels, weapons and ornaments.Template:Sfn The tomb probably belonged to the elite or the ruling family of the city.Template:Sfn In the kingdom of Qatna, the crown prince had the city of Nazala as his domain.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The palace was mainly a political and administrative institution devoid of religious functions, in contrast to the palace of Mari.<ref group="note">Pfälzner argues that the palace did have religious importance.Template:Sfn</ref>Template:Sfn In the realm of Hamath, Qatna was an administrative center probably in control of the kingdom's southern regions.Template:Sfn During the Assyrian period, Qatna lost its administrative role and even its urban character until its abandonment.Template:Sfn
Du Mesnil du Buisson led excavations starting in 1924, and annually from 1927 to 1929;Template:Sfn the third millennium BC remains provided scarce samples and most of the data come from Tomb IV.Template:Sfn In 1994, a Syrian mission led by Michel Al-Maqdissi conducted several surveys and surface excavations,Template:Sfn then, in 1999, a joint Syrian–Italian–German mission was formed that was headed by Al-Maqdissi, Daniele Morandi Bonacossi and Pfälzner.Template:Sfn Due to the development of the excavations, the Directorate-General of Antiquities and Museums split the mission into Syrian (headed by Al-Maqdissi), Syrian–German (headed by Pfälzner) and Syrian–Italian (headed by Morandi Bonacossi) missions in 2004.Template:Sfn
Research was focused on the upper city while the lower city remained largely untouched; by 2006, only 5% of the site's total area had been excavated.Template:Sfn The royal palace was split into two excavation areas: operation G covering the western part and operation H covering the eastern part.Template:Sfn Operation J covers the summit of the acropolis,Template:Sfn while the lower city palace is covered by operation K.Template:Sfn One of the most important discoveries came in 2002, when the archive of king Idanda was discovered, containing 67 clay tablets.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn As a result of the Syrian Civil War, excavations stopped in 2011.Template:Sfn
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