Excellent find. I hope they find more evidence there like the
Assyrian Tablets in the British Museum which were so instrumental in finally nailing down the whereabouts of the Lost Tribes of Israel.
Posted on 10/26/2002 12:56:48 PM PDT by blam
Capital city of ancient superpower discovered
By David Keys Archaeology Correspondent
26 October 2002
British archaeologists have discovered a capital city of one of the ancient world's most mysterious superpowers.
The metropolis, covering more than a square mile, was the main western administrative centre of the ancient Median Empire, a vast Middle Eastern imperial state which flourished in the first half of the 6th century BC between the fall of the Assyrian empire and the rise of Persia.
The discovery reveals the sheer scale of the threat which would soon be posed to Europe by the ancient Middle East. For the Medes' westward ambitions led directly to the invasion of Greece in the early 5th century BC by their imperial heirs, the Persians.
The archaeologists, led by Dr Geoffrey Summers, found the Medes built their western capital, Pteria, on conquered land near the border of their empire. The metropolis was a huge citadel on a 5000ft mountain near what is now the Turkish town of Sorgun.
It had four miles of massive stone walls and hundreds of defensive towers. Seven monumental gateways and hundreds of buildings, including an imperial palace, have been found. But not one hole has been excavated. Dr Summers' team used remote sensing and geophysical survey techniques to map the metropolis to an accuracy of 10 centimetres.
Excellent find. I hope they find more evidence there like the
Assyrian Tablets in the British Museum which were so instrumental in finally nailing down the whereabouts of the Lost Tribes of Israel.
Hope you enjoy having your own copy. It's cheaper than a trip to the British Museum. (But not as much fun...)
Yup. It's a nice hard bound copy, not the 'cheap' one like in your photo. (smile)
I was wondering where all the money was these days... {ggg}.
LOL, it wasn't a month ago that you were implying that I was 'cheap' for checking it out of the library (twice), so....
For a while...until they in turn were destroyed by the Greeks under the incomparable young man named Alexander.
Actually, freed the Northern Kingdom Israelites. The Southern Kingdom, remnants of which in another hundred years or so would become known as Jews, were still back in Canaan, awaiting their own capture and removal to Babylon and subsequent diapora.
To be even more accurate, the Northern Kingdom Israelites joined with the Medes and Persians to overthrow the Assyrians. They participated in their own freedom.
After the victory these Israelites "took counsel among themselves" and decided to NOT return to Canaan. Instead, they decided to get out of Dodge the only other way possible, to the North through the Caucasus Mountains (from which comes their name Caucasians) and West around the southern coast of the Black Sea.
This was a fortuitous decision, for if they had returned to join their Southern Kingdom cousins in Judea they probably would have been caught up in the Babylonian conquest and history would read a whole lot different. (They might even have been called Jews, like their cousins, since they would have come from Judea [or thereabouts]). {ggg}.
It had four miles of massive stone walls and hundreds of defensive towers. Seven monumental gateways and hundreds of buildings, including an imperial palace, have been found. But not one hole has been excavated. Dr Summers' team used remote sensing and geophysical survey techniques to map the metropolis to an accuracy of 10 centimetres.
Stupid question #46:
If no actual excavation has been done, how do they know it was a Capital city of the Medes? It could be anyone without evidence gathered during excavation of the site.
Along the same lines, without digging, how do they know it is an imperial palace there?
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