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[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Diadochi and Epigoni | Phoenicians, Poeni Modern Amrīt, important town in northern Phoenicia south of Aradus [1], which controlled it in 333/2 BC (Arr. Anab. 2,13,8; 14,1; 15,6; Curt. 4,1,6) and in 218 (Pol. 5,68,7). Around the middle of the 2nd cent. M. was independent and was able to defend itself against the Aradians (Diod. Sic. 33,5f.). According to Str. 16,2,12, M. was destroyed and its land divided among settlers from Aradus, but the city must…

[German version] (ἡ Σουσιανή/ hē Sousianḗ), cf. OGIS 54,17; Pol. 5,46,7); today the plain forming part of Ḫūzestān in Iran. From the 3rd millennium onwards the main region of the kingdom of Elam, satrapy of the Achaemenid kingdom, in the Seleucid-Sassanid period referred to as Elymais. Its most significant town (from 4000 BC onwards) was Susa. Nissen, Hans Jörg (Berlin) Bibliography E. Carter, M. W. Stolper, Elam: Surveys of Political History and Archaeology, 1984  J. Wiesehöfer, Das antike Persien, 1993.

[German version] Mountain province of central Iranian Zagrus settled from the 6th millennium. L. is especially well known because of the large number of bronze weapons and artefacts from extensive (plundered) cemeteries, particularly from the 1st millennium BC, now in numerous museums. Nissen, Hans Jörg (Berlin) Bibliography F. Hole (ed.), The Archaeology of Western Iran, 1987 L. Vanden Berghe, La nécropole de Mir Khair au Pusht-i Kuh, L., in: Iranica Antiqua 14, 1979, 1-37.

[German version] (Ἰχάρα; Ichára, modern Failaka). Island in the Persian Gulf, on the east coast of Arabia. The island, mentioned in Ptolemy (6,7,47 N), is today generally regarded as a variant of  Icarus. While the identification fluctuated between Failaka, Kharg and Qaru for a long time, the equation of Icarus (and thus Ichara?) with Failaka has meanwhile been confirmed by inscriptions. According to Arrian (Anab. 7,20,2-3), the island received its name from Alexander, after an island in the Aegean…

[German version] According to Tac. Ann. 12,13,3 the place where Gotarzes II defeated Mithridates [15], his anti-king sent by Rome; it is also mentioned that the last battle between Alexander [4] the Great and Darius [3] III was fought in the same place. Reference is made to a fortress near Nineveh (Ninus [2]). S. is a mountain on which Gotarzes sacrificed to Hercules and is presumably close to the field of battle. S. has to date not been identified. Nissen, Hans Jörg (Berlin) Bibliography P. Bernard, Heracles, les grottes de Karafto et le sanctuaire du Mont Sambulos en Ira…

[German version] Hittite rock sanctuary (dated to c. 1260 BC), about 2 km to the northeast of the capital Ḫattusa. In a limestone layer – accessible from the outside by means of a cleft – there are two naturally formed main chambers and two side chambers, whose vertical rock walls are covered in reliefs. In front of the opening there were several buildings, serving as an entrance area for the sanctuary proper in the upwardly open rock chambers. In the centre of the depiction on the northern wall of Cha…

[German version] (Akkadian ziqqurratu, 'temple tower', from zaqāru, 'build high'). Tower of block-shaped stages, each smaller than the one below, used as the base for a temple. Although no remains of the uppermost part of a ziggurat are extant, it is definite from descriptions that this upper part existed. The term ziggurat is sometimes also used loosely in modern scholarly terminology for the architectural construction of a 'temple on terraces'. Apart from their stepped terraces, the characteristic feature of a ziggurat is its access via a free-standing flight of…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Mesopotamia full name S.-Yaẖrurum [1; 2], modern Abū Ḥabba. One of the most significant cities of northern Babylonia, counted among the cities 'before the flood' in the Sumerian kings' lists. Main cultic site of the sun god Šamaš. With origins going back to the 4th millennium BC; it reached its zenith in the 2nd and 1st millennia. The nearby twin city of S.-Amnānum (modern Tall al-Dair) can also be designated S. Supplementing the results of 19th…

[German version] Right-hand side valley of the Wādī al-Araba, about 30 km to the north of the Gulf of Aqaba. There were rich copper deposits there, which were mined from the 4th millennium BC until the Islamic period by means of galleries, up to 35 m long, cut into the rock. Smelting sites are evidence of smelting in situ. An Egyptian temple from the time of Sethos [1] I (1290-1279) and Ramses [2] II (1279-1213) particularly deserves mention. Nissen, Hans Jörg (Berlin) Bibliography W. G. Dever, s. v. Timna, The Oxford Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Near East, vol. …

[German version] (or Tape, Tappe; Turkish 'hill'). Frequent component of the modern name of ruin sites in the region from Near to Central Asia. Synonymous with tell. Nissen, Hans Jörg (Berlin)

[German version] (Taimā). Oasis in northwestern Arabia on the Incense Road, which led along the western side of the Arabian peninsula. The earliest traces of settlement point to the late 2nd millennium BC. T. is mentioned among the Arabian tribes defeated by the Assyrian ruler Tiglath-Pileser III in 733 BC (cf. OT Jes 21,14). The last ruler of the neo-Babylonian Empire, Nabonid, stayed in T. from 552 until 542 BC (cult city of the moon goddess (Moon deities)). After the Achaemenid period T. - its…

[German version] Town in northwestern Iran with Iron Age III remains (7th cent. BC). The objects made of gold, silver, bronze, ivory and ceramics, some magnificent, published as originating in Z. in numerous museums and collections are, however, all from illicit excavations of unknown location: Z. is a label created by dealers in antiquities and unchallenged by the majority of archaeologists. Nissen, Hans Jörg (Berlin) Bibliography O. W. Muscarella, 'Ziwiye' and Ziwiye: The Forgery of a Provenience, in: Journ. of Field Archaeology 4, 1977, 197-219 Id., Art and Archaeology in …

[German version] (Σογδιανή; Sogdianḗ). Region of the Achaemenid Empire between Oxus (Araxes [2]) and Iaxartes, part of the Sixteenth Satrapy; The inhabitants were called Sogdianoí or Sógdoi, Old Persian Sug(u)da, Avestan Su γδ a, Sogdian Sughdh. The capital was Maracanda (modern Samarkand), the Achaemenid base for ruling eastern Iran. In Darius [2] II's building report on his palace in Susa S. is mentioned as the supplier of lapis lazuli and cornelian. S. played an important part in trade with the peoples of the Steppes and the …

[German version] also Hüyük. Turkish for hill, mostly used for old settlement sites that have been built up in a mound-like manner and, similar to Arabic  tell, a component in the name of many ruin sites. Nissen, Hans Jörg (Berlin)

[German version] (or tall; Arabic tall, plural tulūl; 'hill', then also 'settlement mound'). A common component of present-day names of ruin sites in the Near East. It indicates a widespread shape for earlier places of settlement in the Near East and Central Asia, which grew, some to a considerable height, by the accumulation of layers of settlement on top of each other. This was caused by the most widespread building material, unbaked mud bricks, which often disintegrated after a few decades. The resu…

[English version] Gebirgsprov. des mittleren iran. Zagros, die seit dem 6. Jt. besiedelt war. Bes. bekannt ist L. durch die zahlreichen Bronzewaffen und -geräte aus (beraubten) ausgedehnten Friedhöfen v.a. des 1. Jt. v.Chr., die sich in zahlreichen Museen befinden. Nissen, Hans Jörg (Berlin) Bibliography F. Hole (Hrsg.), The Archaeology of Western Iran, 1987  L.Vanden Berghe, La nécropole de Mir Khair au Pusht-i Kuh, L., in: Iranica Antiqua 14, 1979, 1-37.

[English version] (Ἰχάρα, h. Failaka). Insel im Persischen Golf an der Ostküste Arabiens. Das bei Ptolemaios (6,7,47 N) genannte I. wird heute allg. als Variante zu Ikaros aufgefaßt. Während die Identifikation lange zwischen Failaka, Kharg und Qaru schwankte, ist die Gleichung von Ikaros (und damit Ichara?) mit Failaka inzwischen inschr. bestätigt. Nach Arrianos (an. 7,20,2-3) erhielt die Insel ihren Namen von Alexander nach einer Insel in der Ägäis. Vermutlich geht der Name jedoch auf ein Heiligtum é-kara zurück, das in assyr. und aram. Quellen bezeugt ist. Nissen, Hans Jörg (Be…

[English version] Dieser Ort ist auf folgenden Karten verzeichnet: Achaimenidai | Alexandros | Hellenistische Staatenwelt | Indienhandel (h. Taḫt-e Ǧamšīd; griech. Πέρσαι Πόλις/ Pérsai Pólis, Περσέπολις/ Persépolis (Diod. 17,70,1 u.ö.; Strab. 15,3,6); lat. Persepolis (Curt. 5,4,33 u.ö.; Amm. 23,6,42); altpersisch Pārsa, gleichlautend mit dem Namen der Landschaft Persis). Am NO-Rand der Marv Dašt-Ebene, ca. 60 km nördl. von Šīrāz nahe dem Ausgang des Tales gelegen, durch das im Alt. und h. die Straße nach Pasargadai und Iṣfahān verläuf…

[English version] Dieser Ort ist auf folgenden Karten verzeichnet: Diadochen und Epigonen | Phönizier, Punier h. Amrīt; bed. Stadt im nördl. Phönizien südl. von Arados [1], dem sie im J. 333/2 v.Chr. (Arr. an. 2,13,8; 14,1; 15,6; Curt. 4,1,6) wie auch 218 (Pol. 5,68,7) unterstand. Um die Mitte des 2. Jh. war M. unabhängig und konnte sich gegen die Aradier wehren (Diod. 33,5f.). Nach Strab. 16,2,12 war M. zerstört und sein Land an Siedler aus Arados aufgeteilt, doch muß die Stadt noch weiter existiert haben (M…

[German version] The capital of modern Uzbekistan, on the western slopes of Mount Tianshan, in an oasis irrigated by the Čirčik (a tributary of the Iaxartes). The country of Juni mentioned in 2nd cent. BC Chinese sources was later identified with the area of T. The local name was presumably Čač, as also used in the Islamic period; Arabic authors used Šaš. The earliest traces of settlement date from the 6th-4th cents. BC (Šaš-Tepe). From the 5th cent. AD several towns developed, which ultimately me…