🇹🇷 Turkey · Tell
Sultantepe
Middle Bronze to Neo-Assyrian · Hurrian → Mitanni → Assyrian
Neo-Assyrian library mound Huzirina with 600 tablets outside the gate – scholarly twin to Nineveh.
🇮🇶 Iraq · Ancient city
Nippur
Ubaid to Islamic · Sumerian → Akkadian → Babylonian → Kassite
Holy city of Sumer and Akkad, seat of Enlil (Lord Air) whose Ekur temple gave legitimacy to kingship — 'king without Nippur is no king'.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Ancient city
Hattusa
Hittite Empire (Middle Bronze Age to Late Bronze) · Hittite
Capital of Hittite Empire (1600–1180 BCE) with double walls 8 km, Lion Gate, Sphinx Gate, Great Temple and rock sanctuary Yazılıkaya with 90+ reliefs of gods. Archives of 30,000 cuneiform tablets.