| Kapara | |
|---|---|
| King of Bit Bahiani | |
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Rider and horse relief from the palace now in the British Museum
King Kapara (also Gabara) was an Aramean king of Bit Bahiani,[1] one of the Post-Hittite states, centered in Guzana (modern Tell Halaf, in northeastern Syria).[2] He ruled sometime in the 10th or 9th century BCE, according to some estimations ca. 950-875 BCE.[3] He built Bit-hilani, a monumental palace in Post-Hittite style, discovered by Max von Oppenheim in 1911, with a rich decoration of statues and relief orthostats.
In 894 BC, the Assyrian king Adad-nirari II recorded the site in his archives as a tributary Aramaean city-state. In 808 BC the city and its surrounding area was reduced to a province of the Neo-Assyrian Empire.
References
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This relief carving was found at the temple-palace of Guzana. It depicts two heroes subduing a foe. Walters Art Museum, Baltimore.
- ^ Lipiński 2000, p. 121.
- ^ Lipiński 2000, p. 130-132.
- ^ [W. F. Albright, The Date of the Kapara Period at Gozan (Tell Halaf), Anatolian Studies, (1956).]
Sources
- Bryce, Trevor R. (2012). The World of The Neo-Hittite Kingdoms: A Political and Military History. New York: Oxford University Press.
- Gzella, Holger (2015). A Cultural History of Aramaic: From the Beginnings to the Advent of Islam. Leiden-Boston: Brill.
- Lipiński, Edward (2000). The Aramaeans: Their Ancient History, Culture, Religion. Leuven: Peeters Publishers.
- Sader, Hélène (2010). "The Aramaeans of Syria: Some Considerations on their Origin and Material Culture". The Books of Kings: Sources, Composition, Historiography and Reception. Leiden-Boston: Brill. pp. 273–300.
- Younger, Kenneth Lawson (2016). A Political History of the Arameans: From Their Origins to the End of Their Polities. Atlanta: SBL Press.