Hama

Hama (حَمَاة DIN, ħaˈmaː; ħ(ə)mɑθ; Biblical Hebrew: חֲמָת Ḥamāṯ) 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. With a population of 854,000 (2009 census), Hama is the fourth-largest city in Syria after Damascus, Aleppo and Homs. The city is renowned for its seventeen norias used for watering the gardens, which are locally claimed to date back to 1100 BC. Though historically used for purpose of irrigation, the norias exist today as an almost entirely aesthetic traditional show. Timeline of Hama The ancient settlement of Hamath was occupied from the early Neolithic to the Iron Age. The stratigraphy is very generalized, which makes detailed comparison to other sites difficult. Level M ( thick) contained both white ware (lime-plaster) and true pottery. It may be contemporary with Ras Shamra V (6000–5000 BC). Remains from the Chalcolithic 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. 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. 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.