Carchemish
A Hittite stronghold on the Euphrates that Ramesses III listed as overrun by the Sea Peoples, and where Babylon defeated Egypt in 605 BCE.
- Location
- West bank of the Euphrates, on the Turkey–Syria border near Jerablus
- Modern country
- Turkey and Syria
- Role
- Hittite viceroyalty; later Neo-Hittite kingdom
- Battle
- 605 BCE: Nebuchadnezzar defeated Necho II of Egypt
- Excavated by
- British Museum (Hogarth, Woolley, T. E. Lawrence), 1911–1914
- Medinet Habu
- Named among the lands overrun by the Sea Peoples
What is Carchemish known for?
Carchemish stood on the Euphrates at a key river crossing, today on the border between Turkey and Syria. In the 14th century BCE the Hittites made it the seat of a viceroy governing northern Syria. Ramesses III's inscription at Medinet Habu names it among the lands that could not stand before the Sea Peoples, though Carchemish in fact survived the collapse and became the center of a Neo-Hittite kingdom.
The Assyrians annexed it in 717 BCE. In 605 BCE the Babylonian crown prince Nebuchadnezzar crushed the Egyptian army of Necho II here, a battle recorded in the Babylonian Chronicle and in Jeremiah 46, which decided control of Syria and Judah.
The British Museum excavated the site from 1911 to 1914 under D. G. Hogarth and Leonard Woolley, with a young T. E. Lawrence on the team. Work resumed in 2011 as a Turkish-Italian project.
Named in the Medinet Habu Sea Peoples inscription during the Bronze Age collapse.
Mentioned on these pages
- Rabbit holeBronze Age collapse
- PersonNebuchadnezzar II
- PlaceMedinet Habu
Sources
- Encyclopaedia Britannica, 'Battle of Carchemish'Reference
- Jeremiah 46 (KJV), Bible GatewayPrimary text
- Wikipedia, 'Carchemish'Reference
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