Qatna (Tell Mishrifeh)
قطنا (تل المشرفة)
Capital of the Bronze Age kingdom of Qatna northeast of Homs, where a royal palace and an intact royal tomb with its treasures were found.
About 18 km northeast of Homs, Tell Mishrifeh holds Qatna, capital of one of Syria's leading Bronze Age kingdoms. Founded in the third millennium BC, it flourished in the first half of the second millennium as a trading and political power in contact with Mari, Egypt and Mesopotamia.
It was enclosed by huge square earthen ramparts, visible around the site. Syrian and European excavations revealed a vast royal palace and cuneiform archives, and in the early 2000s an untouched royal tomb beneath the palace with remains of the ruling family, gold jewellery, vessels and statues — one of Syria's great discoveries.
The site was resettled in the 10th century BC, then destroyed by the Assyrians in 720 BC, leaving a small village that vanished in the 6th century BC. In the 19th century villagers lived on it until they were moved in 1982 to the new village of al-Mishrifeh, and excavation has gone on there since the 1920s.
Qatna's kings appear in the Amarna letters; the kingdom was destroyed by the Hittites in the 14th century BC. Many finds are in the Homs and Damascus museums.
Note: photos may not reflect the site's current condition.
For the visitor
Location: 34.8350, 36.8658 · Open on the map
Photos
Photos: Army of the Levant — via Wikimedia Commons (Licence Ouverte) (CC BY) · Frank Kidner — via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA)
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