Tell el-Hajj

36.196944444444 38.075833333333Coordinates: 36 ° 11 ′ 49 ″ N , 38 ° 4 ′ 33 ″ E

Tell el-Hajj

Tell el-Hajj is the name of a settlement hill ( Tell ) in northern Syria , which contains the remains of the ancient city of Eragiza. The settlement west of the Euphrates was built as early as the Uruk period , with the base of the hill being filled with ceramic in several places. The settlement was probably established between the 3rd and the early 2nd millennium BC. Abandoned BC. Fortification took place in the 2nd millennium BC. BC, then again in Hellenistic times. The city may have been temporarily conquered as early as the Ubaid period .

It was developed into a fort in Roman times, probably before 88 AD. About 40 coins discovered there - so far the largest coin find from Roman systems in Syria of this time - could be assigned to the 1st and 2nd centuries. Inscriptions also mention two cohorts , namely the Cohors Secunda Pia Fidelis and the Cohors Prima Milliaria Thracum , which are documented in Syria in the years 88 to 124. The fort is the only Roman fort in early imperial Syria that has not only been excavated, but is also easily accessible from published excavation reports.

The site was excavated as part of an emergency excavation under the direction of the Swiss archaeologist Rolf Stucky from 1971 to 1972. The excavation had become necessary further downstream due to the construction of the Tabqa dam .

literature

Peter M. Edwell: Between Rome and Persia. The Middle Euphrates, Mesopotamia, and Palmyra under Roman Control. Routledge, London 2008, ISBN 978-0-415-42478-3 .
Rolf A. Stucky : A basalt column capital of the early first millennium BC from Tell el Hajj. In: Damascus communications. Volume 4, 1993, pp. 41-44.
Philippe Bridel, Rolf Stucky: Tell el-Hajj, place forte du limes de l'Euphrate aux 1 er et 4ème s. ap. J.-C. In: JC Margueron (ed.): Le moyen Euphrate, zone de contacts et d'échanges. Actes du Colloque de Strasbourg, 10-12 mars 1977. Brill, Leiden 1980, pp. 349-353.
Clemens Krause: Tell el Hajj in Syria. Second preliminary report. Archaeological Seminar of the University, Bern 1974.
Rolf A. Stucky: Swiss archaeological excavations on Tell el Hajj (Syria). In: Museum Helveticum. Volume 29, Number 3, 1972, pp. 228-231.
Burkhardt Wesenberg: To the capital of Tell el-Hajj. In: Damascus communications. Volume 6, 1992, pp. 253-256. ( online , PDF)

Remarks

^ Maria Giuseppina Trentin: North-western Uruk Period Pottery Assemblages. Dissertation, University of London [no year], pp. 15–17 ( online , PDF).
^ Constantina Katsari: The Monetization of Rome's Frontier Provinces. In: WV Harris (Ed.): The Monetary Systems of the Greeks and Romans. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2008, ISBN 978-0-19-958671-4 , pp. 242-266.
^ Fergus Millar: The Roman Near East, 31 BC – AD 337. Harvard University Press, Cambridge (Mass.) 1993, ISBN 0-674-77886-3 , p. 83.
^ Nigel Pollard: Soldiers, Cities, and Civilians in Roman Syria. University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor 2000, ISBN 0-472-11155-8 , p. 189.

[1] Maria Giuseppina Trentin: North-western Uruk Period Pottery Assemblages. Dissertation, University of London [no year], pp. 15–17 ( online , PDF).

[2] Constantina Katsari: The Monetization of Rome's Frontier Provinces. In: WV Harris (Ed.): The Monetary Systems of the Greeks and Romans. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2008, ISBN 978-0-19-958671-4 , pp. 242-266.

[3] Fergus Millar: The Roman Near East, 31 BC – AD 337. Harvard University Press, Cambridge (Mass.) 1993, ISBN 0-674-77886-3 , p. 83.

[4] Nigel Pollard: Soldiers, Cities, and Civilians in Roman Syria. University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor 2000, ISBN 0-472-11155-8 , p. 189.