Mysteria
Sultantepe Höyük
Verified37.0500° N · 38.9200° E · 430 m

Sultantepe Höyük

Sultantepe · Huzirina

Halaf → Mitanni → Neo-Assyrian (615 BCE lib) → Hellenistic → Islamic·Halaf → Mitanni Hurrian → Middle & Neo-Assyrian → Islamic·🇹🇷 Şanlıurfa Province, Harran Plain, Sultantepe village, Turkey

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About

About Sultantepe Höyük

Sultantepe Höyük, ancient Huzirina, is a 2.8 ha Neo-Assyrian provincial hill town excavated by Seton Lloyd (1951–52) after farmers uncovered tablets. Library of priest Qurdi-Nergal (615 BCE destruction) produced >400 tablets: Gilgamesh, Enuma Elish, Ludlul, and lexical lists — the largest Neo-Assyrian library outside Assur. On small EBA-Ur mound with Halaf base.

Why it mattersOnly peripheral Assyrian tablet library preserving standard Babylonian literature recensions for reconstruction of Gilgamesh XI.

Open questions

Mysteries & theories

Mysteries

  1. 01Identity of priest Qurdi-Nergal family archive?

Theories

  1. 01Oppenheim-Gurney: Huzirina scribal school copying Assur Vorlage

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 (Late Chalcolithic)
Period
Halaf → Mitanni → Neo-Assyrian (615 BCE lib) → Hellenistic → Islamic
Culture
Halaf → Mitanni Hurrian → Middle & Neo-Assyrian → Islamic
Builders
Halaf then Assamite townspeople
Purpose
Provincial Assyrian cult town with priestly library of Nabu
Abandoned
615 BCE (Median sack); reoccupied Hellenistic
Rediscovered
1951 plough tablets; Lloyd Anatolian Studies
Excavation
Partially excavated

  1. 1951–1952

    British–Turkish excavations (Lloyd)

  2. 615 BCE

    Median destruction burning library storage jars with tablets

On the ground

Structures & features

37.0500° N · 38.9200° E · 430 m · 4 mapped features

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