Sam'al

Sam'al

Archeological site of Sam'al
Shown within Turkey
Location	Zincirli Höyük, Gaziantep Province, Turkey
Region	Anatolia
Coordinates	37°06′13″N 36°40′43″E / 37.10361°N 36.67861°E / 37.10361; 36.67861Coordinates: 37°06′13″N 36°40′43″E / 37.10361°N 36.67861°E / 37.10361; 36.67861
Type	Settlement
Site notes
Condition	In ruins

Kingdom of Sam'al
Principality/Kingdom
1200 BC–609 BC
Capital		Sam'al
Languages		Hittite Aramaic Akkadian
Political structure		Principality/Kingdom
History
•	Established	1200 BC
•	Disestablished	609 BC
Preceded by Succeeded by [[Carchemish]] [[Assyria]] Danuna

Sam'al (Hittite: Yadiya) was founded as a Hittite colony from 1725-1200 BC. It became an Aramaean Principality, following the collapse of the Hittite Empire in 1200 BC. In 940 BC it became a kingdom, and in 680 BC the state came under control of the Assyrian Empire. It was located at Zincirli Höyük in the Anti-Taurus Mountains of modern Turkey's Gaziantep Province.

The site of Sam'al was occupied in the Early Bronze Age, and became part of the kingdom of Yamhad (Aleppo) early in the second millennium. It was absorbed into the Hittite empire during the middle of that millennium. After the fall of the Hittites, it was controlled by the Neo-Hittites until the arrival of the Aramaeans established the city as the center of a kingdom called Sam'al. With the rise of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, Sam'al became a vassal state and later a province of that empire. This ended in the 7th century BC with the fall of the Assyrian Empire.

Kingdom of Sam’al (in Aramaic Ya’idi) was a middle power of the Middle-East in the first half of the 1st millennium BC. It was near the Nur Mountains. Sam'al was the capital of the country. Royal steles and stone tablets from the period, of Kilamuva and Panamuva II, are the main sources for historical data about this timeperiod.

It became a middle power at the end of the 10th century BC. It had expanded from being a city state and gained territories from Carchemish, around Adana from Quwê and remained independent. It didn’t become part of Cilicia. In 859 BC Alimus was saved with the help of Hayyanu, king of Sam'al. He didn’t participate in the Battle of Qarqar in 853 BC, but Assyria had been blocked in the Western area. Though the campaign of Assyria in 825 BC occupied the vital territories of Sam'al, Quwê had been defeated, but it had been reorganised as Denyen. After the death of Shalmaneser III, Ya’idi again became independent.