Qatna

A broad tell beside the village of al-Mishrifeh, 18 km northeast of Homs. Around 2000 BC it was the capital of a kingdom, and in the Middle Bronze Age the city covered 110 hectares, which made it one of the largest in Syria at the time. Its palace was the biggest in the Levant of its period, and beneath it excavators found a royal tomb that had never been opened.

Getting there

Half an hour by car from Homs on the road toward Salamiyah. You reach the tell through the village; the dirt track to the excavation begins at the eastern edge of it. There is no public transport, so you need a vehicle.

How long it takes

An hour and a half. The excavation area is wide and unshaded, and climbing the rampart fits inside that time.

What is there

The earth rampart around the city stands 18 metres high in places and is tens of metres thick at the base; from the plain it reads as a square frame. Inside it the palace has been dug out: mud-brick walls, door sills, at least 80 rooms on the ground floor. The palace was destroyed around 1340 BC and the city was wrecked for the last time by the Assyrians in 720 BC. The concrete water tower on the mound was put up later to supply the village and took out the walls of an older building; it is still standing.

What most people miss

Climb onto the rampart and look inward. The square plan of the city, the palace mound and the present-day village all sit inside one frame. The village moved outside the tell in 1982, to the newly built al-Mishrifeh, and the empty ground inside dates from that move.