Crossing the Euphrates in antiquity: Zeugma seen from space

Abstract

This article reviews progress in extensive survey work using satellite photographs along the course of the reservoir of the Birecik dam, completed in June 2000. Particular attention has been paid during field work to routes both along and across the river; here it is the east-west routes crossing the river which are examined in detail and in the context of the region's historical geography. The city of Zeugma, which has been the object of recent excavations, was the principal such crossing point but by no means the only one on the middle course of the Euphrates. A subsequent article will discuss north-south routes in the vicinity of the middle Euphrates and the question of its navigability.

CORONA Photographs in Monsoonal Semi‐arid Environments: Addressing Archaeological Surveys and Historic Landscape Dynamics over North Gujarat, India

“…These advances were mostly developed within the framework of archaeological research, predominantly in the semi‐arid regions of the Near East (Philip et al, ; Galiatsatos et al, ; Alizadeh and Ur, ; Casana and Cothren, ; Bitelli and Girelli, ; Hall, ; Beck and Philip, ; Ur, ; see also references from the CORONA Atlas Project in Casana and Cothren, ) and temperate areas of North/Central Asia (Gheyle et al, ; Goossens et al, ; Rondelli et al, ). Most of these studies aimed at the detection of archaeological features at landscape level, such as tells or ancient hollow roads and pathways, especially in landscapes where features have been damaged or no longer survive (Kennedy, ; Ur, , ; Wilkinson, ; Comfort et al, ; Wilkinson et al, ; Hritz, ; Palmer, ). Furthermore, CORONA images have been compared with multispectral signatures from very high‐resolution Ikonos imagery for detecting non‐tell archaeological sites (Wilkinson et al, ; Beck et al, ) and crop marks (Fowler and Fowler, ).…”

Fortresses of the Tur Abdin and the confrontation between Rome and Persia

“…The research for this paper was conducted initially when I visited the region during an archaeological survey around the site of Zeugma on the Euphrates (a city of which much was drowned in 2001 by the Birecik dam: Comfort et al 2000;Comfort, Ergeç 2001). Subsequently, study of the satellite imagery and visits to Syria and the upper Tigris in Turkey culminated in the preparation of a doctoral thesis at Exeter University on the roads and bridges along the frontier between Rome and Persia in late antiquity (2009).…”

The Eighth Campaign of Thutmose III Revisited

“…north of Carchemish, made the immediate vicinity of this city one of the most strategically crucial sections of northern Mesopotamia, connecting East and West. 115 However, when we examine the sole reference to Carchemish in the sources relating to the eighth campaign the acknowledgment of this city as the key location for the next stage of the campaign becomes dubious. This reference comes in the autobiography of Amenemheb when he counts a third occasion of capture of POW en route of the same -eighth -campaign (wDjt Tn).…”

“…We are well aware of the complex road system connecting the Mediterranean and upper Mesopotamia crossing the region of Carchemish. 206 One of the major routes leading from Aleppo to the Euphrates, already known from the Mari archive, turned northeast through Bab and Membij and reached the Euphrates near the assumed location of the fortress town Dȗr Shȗmȗ Epuh, opposite Tell Ahmar about 20 km. south of Carchemish.…”