Hama
Hama is a city on the banks of the Orontes River in west-central Syria. It is located north of Damascus and north of Homs. It is the provincial capital of the Hama Governorate, which is the only Governorate with no land borders with any foreign countries. With a population of 996,000, Hama is one of the four largest cities in Syria, with Damascus, Aleppo and Homs. Hama is known for its cheese-making tradition, notably reflected in a signature local dessert Halawet el Jibn.
The city is renowned for its seventeen norias used for watering the gardens, which are claimed to date back to 1100 BC. Though historically used for irrigation, the norias are used purely for show today and currently serve no direct purpose, being used as a tourist attraction and a symbol of the city.
History
The ancient settlement of Hamath was occupied from the early Neolithic to the Iron Age.Neolithic
The stratigraphy is very generalized, which makes detailed comparison to other sites difficult. Level M contained both white ware and true pottery. It may be contemporary with Ras Shamra V.Chalcolithic
Remains from the Chalcolithic period have been uncovered by Danish archaeologists on the mount on which the former citadel once stood. The excavation took place between 1931 and 1938 under the direction of Harald Ingholt. The overlying level L dates to the Chalcolithic Halaf culture.Bronze Age
Mitanni period
Although the town appears to be unmentioned in cuneiform sources before the first millennium BC, the site appears to have been prosperous around 1500 BC, when it was presumably an Amorite dependency of Mitanni, an empire along the Euphrates in northeastern Syria.Hittite period
By around 1350 BC, Mitanni was overthrown by the Hittites, who controlled all of northern Syria.In the south, the Hittites were in conflict with the Egyptians. Hamath became an important urban center. The conflict culminated in the famous Battle of Kadesh against Ancient Egypt under Ramesses II near Homs in 1285 BC.
In early 19th century, Johann Ludwig Burckhardt was the first to discover Hittite or Luwian hieroglyphic script at Hama.
Iron Age
The Fall of the Hittite Empire saw the Neo-Hittite/Aramaean Hama attested as the capital of one of the prosperous Syro-Hittite states known from the Hebrew Bible as Hamath, which traded extensively, particularly with Israel and Judah.Assyrian inscriptions
When the Assyrian king Shalmaneser III conquered the north of Aramea, he reached Hamath in 853 BC; this marks the beginning of Assyrian inscriptions relating to the kingdom. Irhuleni of Hamath and Hadadezer of Aram-Damascus led a coalition of Aramean cities against the encroaching Assyrian armies. According to Assyrian sources, they were confronted by 4,000 chariots, 2,000 horsemen, 62,000-foot-soldiers and 1,000 Arab camel-riders in the Battle of Qarqar. The attested win for the Assyrians seems to have actually been more of a draw, although Shalmaneser III continued on to the shore and even took a ship to open sea. In the following years, Shalmaneser III failed to conquer Hamath or Aram-Damascus. After the death of Shalmaneser III, the former allies Hamath and Aram-Damascus fell out, and Aram-Damascus seems to have taken over some of Hamath's territory.An Aramaic inscription of Zakkur, dual king of Hamath and Luhuti, tells of an attack by a coalition including Sam'al under Ben-Hadad III, son of Hazael, king of Aram-Damascus. Zakir was besieged in his fortress of Hazrak, but saved by intervention of the God Baalshamin. Later on, the state of Sam'al came to rule both Hamath and Aram.
In 743 BC, Tiglath-Pileser III took a number of towns in the territory of Hamath, distributed the territories among his generals, and forcibly removed 1,223 selected inhabitants to the valley of the Upper Tigris; he exacted tribute from Hamath's king, Eni-Ilu.
In 738 BC, Hamath is listed among the cities again conquered by Assyrian troops. Over 30,000 natives were deported to Ullaba and replaced with captives from the Zagros Mountains.
Destruction under Sargon II
After the fall of the northern kingdom of Israel, Hamath's king Ilu-Bi'di led a failed revolt of the newly organized Assyrian provinces of Arpad, Simirra, Damascus, and Samara.Styling himself the "Destroyer of Hamath," Sargon II razed the city c. 720 BC, recolonized it with 6300 Assyrians and removed its king to be flayed alive in Assyria. He also carried off to Nimrud the ivory-adorned furnishings of its kings.
Displaced persons from Hamath subsequently comprised an important part of the multi-ethnic Aramaean community at Elephantine and Syene in Egypt starting in 700 BCE, where alongside similarly displaced Jews they produced a large corpus of materials in Imperial Aramaic known as the Elephantine papyri and ostraca.
Hamath in the Bible
The few Biblical reports state that Hamath was the capital of a Canaanite kingdom, whose king congratulated King David on his defeat of Hadadezer, king of Zobah. In God's instructions to Moses, Hamath is specified as part of the northern border of the land that will fall to the children of Israel as an inheritance when they enter the land of Canaan. Solomon is said to have taken possession of Hamath and its territory and built store cities. names the "entrance of Hamath", or Lebo-Hamath, as the northern border of Israel at the time of the dedication of the first temple in Jerusalem. The area was subsequently lost to the Syrians, but Jeroboam II, king of Israel, is said to have "restored the territory of Israel from the entrance of Hamath to the Sea of the Arabah ".Assyria's defeat of Hamath made a profound impression on Isaiah. The prophet Amos also named the town "Hamath the Great".
Persian, Hellenistic and Roman history
In 539 BC, Cyrus the Great, King of Achaemenid Empire, took Syria as part of his empire, to be known as Eber-Nari. In July 522 BC, Cambyses II died at a location called Agbatana, which is most likely the modern city of Hama.In the second half of the 4th century BC the modern region of Syria came under the influence of Greco-Roman culture, following long lasting semitic and Persian cultures. Alexander the Great's campaign from 334 to 323 BC brought Syria under Hellenic rule. Since the country lay on the trade routes from Asia to Greece, Hama and many other Syrian cities again grew rich through trade. After the death of Alexander the Great his Near East conquests were divided between his generals, and Seleucus Nicator became ruler of Syria and the founder of the Seleucid dynasty. Under the Seleucids there was a revival in the fortunes of Hama. The Aramaeans were allowed to return to the city, which was renamed Epiphaneia, after the Seleucid Emperor Antiochus IV Epiphanes. Seleucid rule began to decline, however, in the next two centuries, and Arab dynasties began to gain control of cities in this part of Syria, including Hama.
The Romans took over original settlements such as Hama and made them their own. They met little resistance when they invaded Syria under Pompey and annexed it in 64 BC, whereupon Hama became part of the Roman province of Syria, ruled from Rome by a proconsul. Hama was an important city during the Greek and Roman periods, but very little archaeological evidence remains. As Syria became part of the Roman Empire, five hundred Hamian archers, known as "Cohors Prima Hamiorum Sagittaria", were stationed at Magnis on Hadrian's Wall in northern Britain starting from AD 120. The same unit or another one was later renamed to "Numerus Syrorum Saggitariorum" and located at Derventio Brigantum. The garrison unit was transferred to Bar Hill Fort on the Antonine Wall in Scotland in AD 142–157, then back to Magnis in AD 163–166, during the early reign of Marcus Aurelius. They might have also stationed at Housesteads, as a tombstone of an archer was located there. However, the cohort's presence in Britain was proven by military diplomas, found in Stannington and Ravenglass, in addition to altars dedicated to Syrian Goddesses discovered at Catterick.
In AD 330, the capital of the Roman Empire was moved to Byzantium, and the city continued to prosper. In Byzantine days, Hama was known as Emath or Emathoùs. Roman rule from Byzantium meant the Christian religion was strengthened throughout the Near East, and churches were built in Hama and other cities. The Byzantine historian John of Epiphania was born in Hama in the 6th century.
Two main personalities from Hama were documented during Greek-Roman times. The first is Eustathius of Epiphaneia, who was a Greek historian but all his works were lost. His most famous work was the "Brief Chronicle". The second personality is Euphrates the Stoic, who was from Epiphaneia according to Stephanus of Byzantium.
Early Islamic period
Hama was conquered by Muslim forces under Abu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah in 638 or 639, during the Muslim conquest of Syria. The town thereafter regained its ancient name and has since retained it. Little is known about Hama during the early Muslim period. After its capitulation to the Muslims, it became administratively part of Jund Hims, remaining as such through the 10th century. During Umayyad rule, it contained a congregational mosque, likely erected on the remains of a Byzantine-era church, parts of which were utilized in the mosque's construction.Under Abbasid rule, the caliph al-Mahdi restored the mosque. During the reign of Caliph al-Mu'tadid, Hama was large, walled trading town. On 29 November 903, the army of al-Mu'tadid's successor, Caliph al-Muktafi, defeated the Qarmatians, an Isma'ili Shia movement embraced by many Bedouin in the Syrian Desert, at the Battle of Hama, ending their dominance of the Syrian Desert.
In 944, the Hamdanids under Sayf al-Dawla captured the northern Syrian city of Aleppo and by the following year expanded their control to Jund Hims. Hama was thus incorporated into the Hamdanid emirate of Aleppo.. Hama remained in the orbit of Aleppo until the 12th century. These were considered the 'dark years' of Hama as the local rulers of northern and southern Syria struggled for dominance in the region. The Byzantines under emperor Nicephorus Phocas raided the town in 968 and burned the Great Mosque. By the 11th century, the Fatimids gained suzerainty over northern Syria and during this period, the Aleppo-based Mirdasids sacked Hama. The Persian geographer Nasir Khusraw noted in 1047 that Hama was "well populated" and stood on the banks of the Orontes River.