Syria Trails › Places

Til Barsip (Tell Ahmar)

تل الأحمر (تل برسيب)

Capital of the Aramean kingdom of Bit Adini on the Euphrates, taken by the Assyrians, who built a palace with famous painted murals.

On the east bank of the Euphrates in eastern Aleppo province, Tell Ahmar holds the ruins of Til Barsip, capital of the Aramean kingdom of Bit Adini in the early first millennium BC.

The Hittites called the city Masuwari; it lies about 20 km south of ancient Carchemish and was inhabited as early as the Neolithic period. The Luwian language stayed in use even after the Assyrians conquered it in 856 BC.

In the mid-9th century BC the Assyrian king Shalmaneser III captured it and renamed it Kar-Shalmaneser, making it a forward Assyrian base on the Euphrates.

Its most famous find is the Assyrian palace decorated with painted murals of royal, military and animal scenes, among the most important Assyrian wall paintings known, uncovered by a French mission in the 1930s. Basalt reliefs and stelae inscribed in Luwian hieroglyphs and cuneiform reflect the meeting of Aramean, Hittite and Assyrian cultures. Later salvage excavations were linked to the Tishrin Dam.

Note: photos may not reflect the site's current condition.

For the visitor

Photos

Photos: Unknown authorUnknown author — via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain) · Lucien Cavro (1905-1973) : fac-similé — via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain) · Darafsh — via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA)