Bilkent University
The Department of Archaeology & History of Art
Newsletter No. 3 - 2004
FIELDTRIP TO SYRIA
On 2 February 2003, late at
night at Istanbul airport,
archaeology
students
returning from a twelve-day
trip to Egypt were already
demanding another such
trip, this time to Syria.
Almost exactly α year from
then,
some
found
themselves on α bus
heading for Aleppo. Among
archaeology students and
faculty members, our group
also included many other
Bilkent
students,
and
instructors
from
other
departments, who were to
develop a taste for mud
brick, sherds and elaborate
ancient façades during the
next eight days. Our journey
to the Cilvegözü border and
into Aleppo was a long, but
enjoyable one, during which
everybody
mingled
pleasantly. We arrived in
Aleppo in time for dinner.
(Day 2)
The day began with a city
tour, under a drizzle which,
everybody being in an eager
mood to explore, produced
no complaints at all. The
group first visited a couple of
Armenian churches in the
Jdeida Quarter, and had a
chance to listen to part of
the Sunday sermon in
Arabic
in
one,
while
admiring
the
beautiful
paintings.
Our next stop was the great
Aleppo Citadel, a dream
come
true
for
any
archaeologist, as the mound
it stands on has an amazing
stratigraphy extending from
the Neolithic all the way to
the Islamic period. An
analogy that archaeologists
are ever so fond of using of
a stratified mound is with
cake,
Fig. 1 A bull from the palace
at Tell Halaf, now on the
porch of the Aleppo museum.
with its different layers.
Keeping this in mind, I am
sure that all members of our
group will agree that our
eccentric guide who took us
around the citadel was
certainly the cherry on top—
he was always more than
ready to demonstrate the
acoustics of the Islamic
shrines by spontaneously
bursting into song and
prayer, insisting we all
listened solemnly until he
was finished. Before lunch
we visited the nearby
monuments, such as the
originally Omayyad Great
Mosque.
Lunch, which proved to be a
small adventure for some,
was followed by a visit to the
Archaeological
Museum,
where each archaeology
student and instructor found
the chance to be absorbed
in his or her own element,
whether it was Iron Age,
Roman or Islamic periods.
As
for
the
nonarchaeologists, they also
shared the enthusiasm, and
showered students and
43
(photo: B. Claasz Coockson)
teachers alike with countless
questions.
The city tour continued after
the museum visit, as the
group was led through the
narrow streets and alleys of
Aleppo, to see remarkable
structures such as the 12th
century city gate, Bab
Qinesrin,
and
Maristan
Arghoun, a 14th century
hospital. Ultimately we found
ourselves in the souks, the
busy maze-like market place
extending over at least a
couple of neighborhoods,
and where simply walking
around and exploring the
immense variety of shops
proved to be more popular
than a crazy shopping
spree, although virtually
each member of the group
finally showed up back in
the hotel with a Syrian scarf
around their necks. But the
day had not ended yet—we
returned to the Jdeida
Quarter, this time for a
delicious
dinner
at
a
beautiful restaurant in a
restored house.
Bilkent University
The Department of Archaeology & History of Art
Newsletter No. 3 - 2004
(Day 5)
Fig. 2
Explanation in
Ain Dara
(Day 3)
Although many spent the
early morning drive to Ain
Dara in a sleepy daze, each
one of us was certainly wide
awake once we stepped into
the astonishing 10th century
BC Iron Age temple, with its
basalt sphinxes in their full
Neo-Hittite glory.
Α short bus ride took us to
the Byzantine period, where
Charles Gates took over
from Marie-Henriette Gates
to guide us through Qala’at
Saman,
the
pilgrimage
church of St. Simeon the
Stylite. Lunch was followed
by a visit to the Bronze Age
mound of Tell Mardikh,
ancient Ebla, and then to the
Idlib museum, where the
hugely famous Ebla tablets,
along with the exquisite floor
mosaics recovered from the
Early Bronze Age palace of
Ebla, are displayed.
(Photo: B. Claasz Coockson)
background
and
the
archaeological features of
the
site
with
great
enthusiasm. Lunch followed
and by dusk, we had arrived
at
Halabiye,
Byzantine
Zenobia, where it was
difficult to decide what was
best: the view of the
Euphrates or the imposing
remains, from the top of
which we gazed at it. Only
when it became completely
dark did we agree to come
down and get back into the
bus which was to take us to
Deir ez-Zor.
Marie-Henriette Gates again
took over in Tell Hariri, on
which the incredibly wellpreserved
Bronze
Age
mudbrick palaces of Mari
stand.
While
the
archaeology students who
were already familiar with
the palace, albeit only as a
textbook ground plan, were
busy
relishing
the
experience
of
actually
walking through its rooms
and
courts,
the
nonarchaeologists were busy
absorbing the information
presented
by
MarieHenriette
Gates,
who
seemed to know the palace
better than king Zimri-Lim
himself.
The excellent picnic lunch
after the visit to Mari
certainly prepared the group
for the long walk through
Dura-Europos,
which
impressed
all,
despite
claims that it is
“of
archaeologist interest only”.
(Day 6)
We left Deir ez-Zor in the
morning, but not before
visiting the museum, its
(Day 4)
We left Aleppo in the early
morning to head to Deir ezZor, visiting two impressive
sites on the way. The first
was
Rusafa,
Byzantine
Sergiopolis. Just before and
during our visit, Julian
Bennett
gave
us
an
excellent lecture on the
historical
Fig. 3 Reconstruction of the
room with the Ebla tablets in
the Idlib museum
44
(photo: B. Claasz Coockson)
Bilkent University
The Department of Archaeology & History of Art
Newsletter No. 3 - 2004
(Day 8)
Fig. 4 Palmyra wine and
olives at sunset
Palmyrene sculpture giving
us a little taste of what
awaited us in our next stop,
Palmyra.
Our long journey to this
amazing
city
was
punctuated by a visit en
route to Qasr al-Hair eshSharki, an extraordinary
Omayyad outpost in the
middle of the desert.
As soon as we arrived in
Palmyra, we made our way
up to the medieval castle,
where our tour guides had
arranged
a
muchappreciated surprise for us:
wine to accompany the
captivating view of the entire
city at sunset! The proud
Syrian claim that Palmyra is
the “Bride of the Desert”, we
all agreed, was certainly
true. That night after dinner
we found ourselves bellydancing in a Bedouin tent—
α
pleasantly
surreal
experience for all.
(photo: Ertan Turgut)
dawn. The rest preferred to
sleep until the bus took us to
the tower tombs, content
with appreciating camels
from afar.
Our brief visit to the
archaeological museum was
followed by yet another
delicious Syrian lunch and a
long
walking
tour
of
Palmyra, led by Julian
Bennett. We never tired of
gaping in awe at the
astonishing remains, such
as those of the Temple of
Ba’al, the porticoed streets
and the agora of the city, as
well as the Tetrapylon,
among many others.
(Day 9)
Our stay in Tartus was a
brief one, just long enough
to
visit
the
Crusader
cathedral converted to a
museum. We were soon on
our
way to
Apameia.
Wanting to show us every
detail worth seeing, the
excited
Julian
Bennett
certainly made
us
all
deserve our lunch that day!
The last Syrian site we had
on our schedule was Ras
Shamra, ancient Ugarit,
boasting,
among
its
remarkable Late Bronze Age
remains, an incredibly deep
sounding,
treacherouslooking enough to strike
even the most dedicated
archaeologist
with
trepidation.
(Day 10)
(Day 7)
Nevertheless we all had
enough energy left for the
long day ahead of us, which
began very early for those
who went on a camel ride at
Day eight took us to Krak
des Chevaliers, the best
preserved of all Crusader
fortresses, the intriguing
historical background to
which was given by Charles
Gates at a deliberately
chosen spot overlooking the
castle—the rooftop of a
restaurant. Climbing up to it
was tricky, but worthwhile.
Then the group wandered
around inside the fortress at
their leisure, before lunch
and the drive to the
Phoenician site of Amrit,
visited on the way to Tartus
on the Mediterranean coast.
Fig. 5
European Gothic in
the Krak the Chevaliers
(Photo: B. Claasz Coockson)
45
By late morning on day ten,
we passed through the
Yayladağı border crossing
and already considered
ourselves home. The rest of
the day was spent at
Seleukia and at the Antakya
Museum, struggling to tear
ourselves away from its
astonishing mosaics. Finally
Bilkent University
The Department of Archaeology & History of Art
Newsletter No. 3 - 2004
Fig. 6 Speeches at the last
dinner in Latakya
(photo: Ertan Turgut)
we all climbed on the bus
which was to take us to the
Adana train station, where
we took the train to Ankara.
The decision to reach
Ankara by train instead of
making yet another bus
journey indeed proved to be
an excellent one, as we all
enjoyed
a
pleasantly
peaceful ride, much like the
one from Aswan to Cairo
last year in Egypt.
In early morning on the 3rd of
February, we made our
appearance at the Ankara
train station still in our
Syrian attire, eager to tell
family and friends of all the
wondrous things we had
seen and the great fun we
had had, and already
looking forward to yet
another trip, this time to
Jordan…
Yağmur Sarıoğlu
Fig. 7 View of Ugarit to the
sea
(photo: Ertan Turgut)
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