Qatna

Qatna, at the village of Mishrifeh northeast of Homs, was a royal city of the second millennium BC ringed by some of the largest earthen ramparts in Syria - square kilometres inside banks still twenty metres high. In 2002 excavators found the royal tomb untouched beneath the palace: gold, amber from the Baltic, and the bones of generations of kings, one of the great finds of Near Eastern archaeology. The palace's restored well shaft and the vast ramparts are the visit.

Background

The ruins form a tell, today called Tell al-Mishrifeh, about 18 kilometres northeast of Homs. A first, short-lived settlement dates to the later part of the fourth millennium BC, and people came back around 2800 BC. The early city of 2200 to 2100 BC had a circular plan, and that circle later became the upper city inside a rectangular lower town. The city lay along the Zorat, the middle one of three wadis that run north to the Orontes. By 2000 BC Qatna headed a regional kingdom, and its royal palace was built for Amud-pi-El and Išḫi-Addu. The earliest clear record of the name, written Qatanum, is in the archive of Mari. Digging began in the 1920s.

Source: Wikipedia, "Qatna"

What to look for

• The ramparts - earthen banks on a scale hard to credit.
• The palace area - the excavated royal quarter.
• The tomb shaft - the approach to the intact royal burial.
• The village-in-the-ruins - Mishrifeh living inside the ancient ring.

When to go

March to May and October to November are mild. Spring greens the ramparts. Summer is hot.

Things to know

The treasure is in museums, and the tomb itself is not generally enterable; what you see is earthworks and excavation areas. A guide makes the difference. Access arrangements should be checked locally.

Nearby

Homs is southwest, and Hama is northwest.

Key facts