Urkesh was a city situated at the base of the Taurus Mountains in what is now northern Syria near the modern city of Qamishli. It was founded during the third millennium BC by the Hurrians on a site which appears to have been inhabited on a small scale for centuries (at least since 5000 BC, the date of the earliest known remains found there). It came under the control of the Akkadian Empire in what is believed to have been a dynastic alliance between the kings of Urkesh and Akkad, with the daughter of the Akkadian king, Naram-Sin, being married to the king of Urkesh.

During the second millennium BC the city passed into the hands of the rulers of Mari, a city a few hundred miles to the south. The king of Urkesh became a vassal (and apparently an appointed puppet) of Mari. The Urkeshites evidently resented this, as the royal archives at Mari provide evidence of their strong resistance; in one letter, the king of Mari tells his Urkesh counterpart that "I did not know that the sons of your city hate you on my account. But you are mine, even if the city of Urkesh is not."

The city appears to have been abandoned about half-way through the second millennium BC, though the reason for this is as yet unknown.

The genealogy and identity of Urkesh's rulers is largely unknown, but the following names have been identified as being those of the city-state's kings. The first three known kings (only two of whom are known by name) bore the Hurrian title endan:

• Tupkish endan (c. 2250 BC)
• Tish-atal endan (date unknown)
• Shatar-mat (date unknown)
• Atal-shen (date unknown)
• Ann-atal (c. 2050 BC)
• Te'irru (c. 1800 BC)

The site was 'discovered' by Max Mallowan, who dug at the site during a survey. Agatha Christie, his wife, wrote that they chose not to continue at the site because it seemed to have Roman material. No trace of Roman occupation levels have been found in later excavations, however. Mallowan went on to excavate Chagar-Bazar, another site to the south of Mozan/Urkesh.

The site, at Tell Mozan, has been under virtually constant excavation since 1984 under the direction of Giorgio Buccellati (UCLA) and Marilyn Kelly-Buccellati (CalState LA) and various European (principally Italian) archaeological institutes.

External links

• Urkesh excavations (official website)