Sultantepe
Huzirina
Middle Bronze to Neo-Assyrian·Hurrian → Mitanni → Assyrian·🇹🇷 Şanlıurfa Province, Southeastern Anatolia, Turkey
About
About Sultantepe
Neo-Assyrian provincial town Huzirina, famous for the Sultantepe Tablets: 600 cuneiform tablets of Gilgamesh, Enuma Elish and scholarly libraries found burnt in situ on the mound summit (Neo-Assyrian level 7th c. BCE). Beneath, Middle and Late Bronze Syrian–Mitanni town with Hurrian levels and Iron Age defenses. The tablets were found in a priest’s house outside the gate – the only in-situ Assyrian library after Ashurbanipal’s Nineveh. Unburnt EDIII jar burials underlie the mound, showing prehistoric antecedent.
Why it mattersOnly in-situ Assyrian scholarly library outside capital libraries; cornerstone for Akkadian literature transmission.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Why library outside city gate not in temple?
- 02How many tablets still buried in lower town?
Theories
- 01Private priest-scribe academy serving Harran Moon-god cult
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- Middle Bronze c.2000 BCE; Neo-Assyrian town 8th–612 BCE
- Period
- Middle Bronze to Neo-Assyrian
- Culture
- Hurrian → Mitanni → Assyrian
- Builders
- Mitanni kings then Assyrian provincial governor
- Purpose
- Trade and scholarly cult centre on Euphrates–Harran road
- Abandoned
- 612 BCE (Median sack)
- Rediscovered
- 1928–1951 Lloyd & Gurney (Anatolian Studies)
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
1928
Chiera identifies Huzirina
1951
Tablets excavated in burnt priest house
2010
Geophysics maps lower town wall
On the ground
Structures & features
37.0517° N · 38.9100° E · 500 m · 2 mapped features
Tablet Library House
archiveBurnt house outside gate with 600 tablets on floor
37.0520° N · 38.9105° EAssyrian Town Gate
gateMonumental basalt gate with guardian lions threshold
37.0514° N · 38.9096° E
Gallery