Ancient Near East

A new exhibition at Koç University's Research Center for Anatolian Civilizations (ANAMED), entitled "Archival Memories: Marcell Restle's Research in Anatolia and Beyond," opened last week within the scope of the 5th International Sevgi Gönül Byzantine Studies Symposium.

An ancient city on the Turkey-Syria border, which was the most significant administration center of the Hittites who ruled over Anatolia and Mesopotamia for centuries, is gearing up to open for visitors.     

Anatolia has been a popular region for settlement throughout history due to its geopolitical location and fertile lands. Humanity, on the other hand, has consistently built places of worship from past to present. Early periods of civilization are currently being rewritten with Göbeklitepe - home to the oldest known temple in the world.

Nine layers of millennia-old ruins dating back to the ancient Hittite civilization were discovered in the central Turkish province of Kırıkkale's Büklükale site.

The Hittite city of Sarissa is waiting to serve tourism. Located in the central Anatolian province of Sivas' Altınyayla district, the city dates back to 3,500-years.

Inverted tulips, which grow in mountainous regions of Anatolia in the spring and are called "crying bride" by locals, offer a visual feast with their red and yellow colors.

A 3,000-year-old carved stone tablet from Babylonia, which promises a curse on those who would destroy it, is to be flown home from Britain after being looted during the Iraq War.

Being in the presence of treasures that were hidden in the sands of Mesopotamia for more than 2,000 years until the mid-19th century, sculpted re-enactments of war and royal hunts, reading the words of kings, poets and chroniclers that were found in the palace library of Nineveh, is an unsettling experience.

On the opposite wall is a flickering video—a fire inside a cave where early man scribbled inscriptions on its walls in 50,000 BC. Iraq, formerly a part of Mesopotamia, was the birthplace of Babylon, an anicent kingdom and myth from our imaginations.

Police have seized 334 pieces of historical artifacts believed to have belonged to the Urartu period in the eastern province of Van and detained two people in the operation, Demirören News Agency reported on Dec. 30.