Open this page in a new tab

Hama

The Tell at Hama

click on image to explore this site on a new tab in Google Earth


Names

Transliterated Name Source Name
Hama Arabic حَمَاة
Hmt Syriac ܚܡܬ
Emathoùs Byzantine Era Greek Εμαθούς
Emath Byzantine Era
Epiphaneia Ancient Greek Ἐπιφάνεια
Epiphaneia Syriae Ancient Greek
Epiphaneia ad Orontem Ancient Greek
Hamat Biblical Hebrew חֲמָת
Hamath the Great Amos 6:2 in the Hebrew Bible
Amat Assyrian
Hamata Assyrian
Introduction
Introduction

Hama lies on the banks of the Orontes River in west-central Syria ~ 213 km north of Damascus, ~146 km. south of Aleppo, and ~46 km. north of Homs. It has a long history, documented for thousands of years by written, cultural, and archaeological remains ( Rudolph H. Dornemann in Meyers et al, 1997).

Description, History, and Excavations

Hama is a city on the Orontes River, between the barren Syrian steppe to the east and the well-watered western Mediterranean highland zone to the west (35°08' N, 36°44' E). The highlands include the Jebel Ansariye, which separates the Orontes Valley from the Mediterranean littoral. Hama is located 146 km (91 mi.) south of Aleppo, about 140 km (87 mi.) to the east of Banias on the Mediterranean coast, about 47 km (29 mi.) north of Homs and 209 km (130 mi.) north of Damascus. The course of the Orontes River moves through Hama in a northwesterly direction from the desert toward the Ghab, an area of exceptionally rich, dark soil from Asharneh to Qarqur that until recently was a marshy area. Hama has a long history, documented for thousands of years by written, cultural, and archaeological remains. The extended modern city, whose emblem is the nouria, or "water wheel," traces its history back to the Early Islamic city. Islamic buildings and building remains are still visible throughout the modern urban configuration, which supports almost 200,000 people and includes the classical city (Epiphaneia Syriae or Epiphaneia ad Orontem) and still earlier ones.

Medieval and classical remains were encountered in the highest levels of the ancient tell excavated by a Danish expedition supported by the Carlsberg Foundation between 1930 and 1938. An Iron Age acropolis, in phases E and F of the site's sequence, contains monumental buildings most likely associated with the capital city of the biblical land of Hamath (2 Sm. 8:9). In the Bronze Age, the site is identified with an Ematu mentioned in the Ebla texts and possibly with the Imat or Amata mentioned in Egyptian texts. After the Islamic conquest, the name reverted from its classical name to the earlier form.

Aerial Views
Aerial Views

Aerial Views

  • The Tell at Hama in Google Earth
    The Tell at Hama

    click on image to explore this site on a new tab in Google Earth

Chronology
8th century CE earthquake ? - based on wall construction or repairs

Walmsley (2013:89) reports possible earthquake evidence in Hamah in the 8th century CE:

The mound at Hamah apparently was walled (or re-walled) in the eighth century (Ploug 1985: 109-11), and although Ploug opts for a Byzantine date an Umayyad one fits better.

Notes and Further Reading
References

Articles and Books

Walmsley, A. (2013). Early Islamic Syria. United Kingdom: Bloomsbury Publishing.

Zaqzouq, A. "Fouilles preliminaires a Hama" (in Arabic). Annales Archeologiques Arabes Syriennes 33.2 (1983): 141-178.

Excavation Reports

Ploug, G., 1985. Hama: fouilles et recherches, 1931-1938; 3, pt. 1. The Graeco Roman town (Copenhague: Nationalmuseet) 109-111

Papanicolaou Christensen, Aristea, and Charlotte Friis Johansen. Hama, fouilles et recherches, 1931-1938, vol. 3.2, Les poteries hellenisliques el les terres sigillees orientales. Copenhagen, 1971.

Papanicolaou Christensen, Aristea, et al. Hama, fouilles el recherches, 1931-1938, vol. 3, The Graeco-Roman Objects of Clay, the Coins, and the Necropolis, Copenhagen, 1986.

Ploug, Gunhild, et al. Hama, fouilles el recherches, 1931-1938, vol. 4.3, Les perils objels medievaux sauf les veneries el poteries. Copenhagen, 1969.

Riis, P. J. Hama, fouilles et recherches, 1931-1938, vol. 2.3, Ixs cimelieres a cremation. Copenhagen, 1948.

Riis, P. J., et al. Hama, fouilles el recherches, 1931-1938, vol. 4.2, IJCS verreries et poteries medievales. Copenhagen, 1957.

Websites

Ancient Hama timeline from The History files

Bibliography from Meyers et al (1997)

Buhl, Marie-Louise. "Hamath." In The Anchor Bible Dictionary, vol. 3, PP- 33-3S- New York, 1992. Excellent summary.

Fugmann, Ejnar. Hama, fouilles et recherches, 1931-1938, vol. 2.1, L'architecture des periodes pre-hellenistiques. Copenhagen, 1958. Standard reference work for the pre-Hellenistic remains.

Modderman, P. J. R. "On a Survey of Palaeolithic Sites near Hama." Annales Archeologiques de Syrie 14 (1964): 51-66.

Papanicolaou Christensen, Aristea, and Charlotte Friis Johansen. Hama, fouilles et recherches, 1931-1938, vol. 3.2, Les poteries hellenisliques el les terres sigillees orientales. Copenhagen, 1971.

Papanicolaou Christensen, Aristea, et al. Hama, fouilles el recherches, 1931-1938, vol. 3, The Graeco-Roman Objects of Clay, the Coins, and the Necropolis, Copenhagen, 1986.

Ploug, Gunhild, et al. Hama, fouilles el recherches, 1931-1938, vol. 4.3, Les perils objels medievaux sauf les veneries el poteries. Copenhagen, 1969.

Ploug, Gunhild. Hama, fouilles et recherches, 1931-1938, vol. 3.1, The Graeco-Roman Town. Copenhagen, 1985.

Riis, P. J. Hama, fouilles et recherches, 1931-1938, vol. 2.3, Ixs cimelieres a cremation. Copenhagen, 1948.

Riis, P. J., et al. Hama, fouilles el recherches, 1931-1938, vol. 4.2, IJCS verreries et poteries medievales. Copenhagen, 1957.

Riis, P. J., and Marie-Louise Buhl. Hama, fouilles et recherches, 1931 - 1938, vol, 2.2, Les objets de la piriode dite syro-hiltite (Age du Per). Copenhagen, 1987. The Iron Age objects from the citadel at Hama.

Thuesen, Ingolf. Hama, fouilles et recherches, 1931-1938, vol. 1, The Pre and Protohistoric Periods. Copenhagen, 1988. Detailed presentation of the earliest remains from the tell at Hama.

Zaqzouq, A. "Fouilles preliminaires a Hama" (in Arabic). Annales Archeologiques Arabes Syriennes 33.2 (1983): 141-178. The most recent excavations on the tell at Hama.

Wikipedia page for Hama