Kerkenes

Coordinates: 39 ° 45 ′ 0 ″  N , 35 ° 3 ′ 56 ″  E

Kerkenes​

Turkey

Ivory find from Kerkenes in the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations in Ankara

Kerkenes (or Kerkenes Dağı ; both names are modern) is an ancient settlement in ancient Cappadocia in today's Turkish province of Yozgat , around 200 km east of Ankara near Şahmuratlı in the Sorgun district .

The place was first explored in 1903 by John George Clark Anderson . In 1926 and 1927 Hans Henning von der Osten and Blackburn University of Applied Sciences undertook exploratory trips. Even Emil Forrer visited the place 1926. 1929 led Erich F. Schmidt for the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago a first short excavation by. In 1993 an international project to explore Kerkenes began under the direction of the British archaeologists Geoffrey Summers and Francoise Summers from the Technical University of the Middle East in Ankara.

The Kerkenes Dağı is identified with the Hittite cult mountain Daḫa . After 600 BC The Median city ​​of Pteria was built here in 547/6 BC. The battle of Pteria took place here, which is described by Herodotus 1, 72-76. The city was destroyed by the Lydian king Kroisos and not rebuilt afterwards.

With a city wall of over 7 km in length and an area of ​​approx. 2.5 km², the settlement is one of the largest ancient cities in Anatolia.

The ruins of the Hittite capital Ḫattuša have long been wrongly identified as Pteria.

literature

• Geoffrey Summers: The Identification of the Iron Age City on Kerkenes Dağ in Central Anatolia. In: Journal of Near Eastern Studies 56, 1997, pp. 81-94.
• Karl Strobel : Kerkenes Dağı. In: The New Pauly (DNP). Volume 6, Metzler, Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 3-476-01476-2 , column 442 f.
• Catherine M. Draycott, Geoffrey D. Summers: Kerkenes Special Studies 1. Sculpture and Inscriptions from the Monumental Entrance to the Palatial Complex at Kerkenes Dağ, Turkey . Oriental Institute Publications 135. The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, Chicago 2008. ISBN 978-1-885923-57-8 . Full text as pdf
  • Review by Lynn E. Roller in Bryn Mawr Classical Review 07/18/2009

Web links

• Homepage of the Kerkenes excavation

Individual evidence

1. ↑ John George Clark Anderson: A journey of exploration in Pontus. In: Studia Pontica 1, 1903, pp. 1-29.
2. ^ Hans Henning von der Osten: An unnoticed ancient metropolis of Asia Minor. In: Geographical Review 18, 1928, pp. 83-92.
3. ^ Emil Forrer: Results of an archaeological journey in Asia Minor 1926. In: Mitteilungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft 65, 1927, pp. 27–44.
4. ↑ Erich F. Schmidt: Test excavations in the city on Kerkenes Dagh. In: American Journal of Semitic Languages ​​and Literatures 45, 1928, pp. 221-274.