Syro-Mesopotamian religion in Anatolia

What is it about?

Kultepe (ancient Kanesh) was the centre in Anatolia (modern Turkey) for an extensive international trade network between the 20th-17th centuries BC. Expatriate merchants from Assur (modern Iraq) settled and lived here for generations. This article revisits archaeological evidence from old excavations to identify formal ritual areas in ordinary households where families would have carried out religious rites. Such areas are marked by stone uprights (stelae), which are heavily influenced by Syrian/Mesopotamian traditions of the foreign residents of Kanesh who apparently maintained their own traditions despite intermixing with the local community.

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Why is it important?

The article invites questioning the long-held scholarly opinion that the archaeological evidence at the key site of Kultepe/Kanesh is entirely local. Instead, careful reassessment and cross-cultural comparisons show Syrian/Mesopotamian practices to be detectable in the archaeological record, in keeping with the character of the foreign residents of Kanesh.