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The Origin of the Bît Hilani

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 August 2014

Extract

The subject of this article is a type of palace known in North Syria from the ninth to the seventh century B.C. There is no proof that the ancients called it bît hilani, but it is probable that the Assyrians, when using the term, had such a palace in mind. However, whether or not the designation is justified, we shall be dealing with concrete architectural forms. For the purpose of this article the bît hilani is a palace with two long narrow rooms, both with their main axis parallel to the façade. The first is a portico with from one to three columns, often placed at the top of a low flight of steps. Stairs to the upper storey are set to one side of the portico.

Type
Research Article
Information
IRAQ , Volume 14 , Issue 2 , Autumn 1952 , pp. 120 - 131
Copyright
Copyright © The British Institute for the Study of Iraq 1952

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References

page 121 note 1 The long and often reckless discussion of the date of the sculpture and buildings found at Tall Halaf was put on a sound basis by Bowman, R. and Braidwood, R. J. in A.J.S.L. LVII (1941), 559 ffGoogle Scholar. They established that the palæographic and archæological evidence pointed to the ninth-eighth and the ninth-seventh centuries B.C. respectively. Langenegger, , Müller, and Naumann, in Tall Halaf II (Berlin, 1950)Google Scholar argue in favour of the ninth century, as the historical evidence suggests. Guzana (Tall Halaf) was taken by Adad-nirari III in 808 B.C., after a rising. It met the common fate of the Syrian principalities earlier than the others, because it was nearest to Assyria and the first station on their ror.te to the west, which led via Harran and Arskn Tash to the Euphrates crossings at Catchemish or Til Barsip.

page 122 note 1 Langenegger, , Müller, and Naumann, , Tall Halaf II, 45 ff, and pl. 12Google Scholar.

page 122 note 2 Luschan, Von, e.a., Ausgrabungen in Sendschirli, abb. 49, 50Google Scholar.

page 122 note 3 The smallest bît hilani of the Upper Palace shows no room for a staircase. It may have existed over the bathroom (L) but it is also possible that there was no second storey, or that it (or a flat roof) was reached, as in many modern houses in the region, by means of a wooden staircase built against the outside.

page 123 note 1 Landsberger, , Sam'al I, 50, n. 128Google Scholar, ascribes this palace to Kilamuva on the evidence of Bar-Raldcab's building inscription.

page 124 note 1 Ausgrabungen in Sendschirlit 272.

page 124 note 2 Ibidem, 261.

page 124 note 3 Garstang, J., The Hittite Empire, 266, fig. 29Google Scholar.

page 124 note 4 A. J. A., XLI (1937), 9, fig. 4Google Scholar.

page 124 note 5 The Syrian Expedition, Oriental Institute Bulletin No. 1, Chicago, 1937Google Scholar.

page 125 note 1 Ausgrabungen in Sendschirli, 293 f.; pl. LIII, and A.J.A., XLI (1937, 15, fig. 8)Google Scholar. Behind the bît hilani in our Fig. 1 is a temple on the Assyrian plan, in which the usual anteroom has been replaced by a north Syrian portico with two pairs of lions as bases for columns in amis. At Tall Halaf, too, an Assyrian temple was found, namely “der Stadttempel”; see Langenegger, , Müller, , Naumann, , Tall Halaf II, 349356Google Scholar.

page 125 note 2 Loud, Gordon, Khorsabad II (Chicago, 1938), 11 and pl. 86Google Scholar; and R.A., XXXIII (1936), 153160Google Scholar.

page 125 note 3 Loud, Gordon, Khorsabad, I (Chicago, 1936), 56 ffGoogle Scholar.

page 126 note 1 Layard, , Nineveh and its remains, II, 14 ff. and plan 4Google Scholar.

page 126 note 2 Dangin, Thureau, e.a., Arslan Tash, 23, fig. 10Google Scholar.

page 126 note 3 Thureau Dangin, e.a., Til Barsip, plan B, room XXIV.

page 126 note 4 Frankfort, , Lloyd, and Jacobsen, , The Gimilsin Temple and the Palace of the Rulers at Tell Asmar (Chicago, 1940), pls. I, IIGoogle Scholar. Notice that the stair-well lies at the side of the first room (throne-room) as in the Assyrian palaces. However, two subsidiary rooms are placed between the throne room and the next large hall.

page 126 note 5 Syria, XX (1959), pl. XIGoogle Scholar. The throne room with its dais lies on the south side of the almost square court in the middle of the palace, and the second long hall lies immediately behind it.

page 126 note 6 L.A.R., II (Chicago, 1927), § 84Google Scholar. Similar descriptions occur in the texts of Tiglath-pileṣer III, Sennacherib and Aššur-bani-pal.

page 126 note 7 Hall, H. R. H., Babylonian and Assyrian Sculpture in the British Museum (London, 1928), pl. LVIII, B.M. 90954Google Scholar.

page 126 note 8 Loud, , Khorsabad, II, pls. 32B; 41; 48Google Scholar.

page 126 note 9 Layard, , Discoveries in the ruins of Nineveh and Babylon, 590Google Scholar.

page 127 note 1 The columns are marked with two squares because they rest on square plinths. Cf. Loud, , Khorsabad, II, pl. 75, room 15 (portico), 13 (corridor)Google Scholar.

page 127 note 2 Gadd, , Stones of Assyria (London, 1936)Google Scholar, Appendix 3, fig. 1. (S, portico; R, corridor).

page 127 note 3 Dangin, Thureau, e.a., Arslan Task, 41, pl. V, 2Google Scholar; and on the Plan No. 1 (portico) and No. 2 (corridor).

page 127 note 4 Friedrich, Joh., in Z.A., XXXVII, 179Google Scholar; Goetze, , ibidem, XLI, 246, n. 2Google Scholar.

page 127 note 5 Bossert, , Archiv für Orientforschung, IX (1934), 127Google Scholar.

page 127 note 6 Bittel, Kurt and Naumann, Rudolf, Bogazköy II (Abh. Akad. d. Wiss., Berlin, 1938, Phil.-Hist. Kl. No. 1), 18 ff. and pl. IIIGoogle Scholar.

page 127 note 7 See my forthcoming Art and Architecture of the Ancient Orient.

page 131 note 1 There are two suites behind the throne room, a smaller one, presumably with room io as bedroom, while 9 is a bathroom and 5 a lavatory; and a bigger one (rooms 6, 14-18) with a bathroom (15) and a lavatory (14).

page 131 note 2 Syria, XXVIII (1951), fig. 7Google Scholar. While the excavations are stiil in progress we can say nothing about the significance of these rooms in the palace as a whole.

page 131 note 3 A.J., XVIII (1938), pl. XVGoogle Scholar; XIX (1939), pl. IX.

page 131 note 4 Ausgrabungen in Sendschirli 155, fig. 63.

page 131 note 5 A.J.A., XLI (1937), 13, fig. 5Google Scholar.

page 131 note 6 Naumann, R., Tell Halaf II, figs. 25; 3840Google Scholar; but here the wood strengthens apparently only the joint between the lower part of the wall, wiih its stones, and the upper part of the wall, of bricks.