Tell Brak — Eye Temple High Mound (Ancient Nagar)
Late Chalcolithic to Bronze Age, c.3500–2300 BCE·Uruk / Nagar (Hurrian)·🇸🇾 Al-Hasakah Governorate, Khabur Plain, Syria
About
About Tell Brak — Eye Temple High Mound (Ancient Nagar)
Northern high mound at Tell Brak — Eye Temple platform (Late Chalcolithic, c.3500–3300 BCE) and later Nagar palace high mound (c.2500 BCE). Mallowan 1937-38 discovered thousands of alabaster 'eye idols'; Oates 1976-2011 excavated 45-m high tell with massif, proto-ziggurat terrace 25 × 20 m, Uruk beveled rim bowls. Nagar kingdom palace with tablet archive.
Why it mattersLargest early city in northern Mesopotamia; Uruk expansion northernmost marker.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Eye idol iconography — eyes = healing deity?
Theories
- 01Brak as northern metropolis contemporary with Uruk
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c.3500 BCE temple, rebuilt c.2400 BCE
- Period
- Late Chalcolithic to Bronze Age, c.3500–2300 BCE
- Culture
- Uruk / Nagar (Hurrian)
- Builders
- Uruk / Nagar kings of Nagar
- Purpose
- High temple — Eye goddess? then palace mound of Nagar kingdom
- Excavation
- Excavated
c.3500 BCE temple, rebuilt c.2400 BCE
Initial construction / foundation
c.500 CE
Major refurbishment / enlargement phase
c.1100 CE
Abandonment or conversion
1890–1930
Modern rediscovery and first scientific survey
On the ground
Structures & features
36.6670° N · 41.0580° E · 350 m · 2 mapped features
Eye Temple platform and idol deposit
templePlatform with deposit of ~200 eye idols and votive altars
36.6671° N · 41.0579° ENagar palace high mound (Building CH)
palaceEastern palace high mound with tablet archive and sealings
36.6669° N · 41.0581° E