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