Ancoz is the name used in academic literature for an ancient settlement, which is located below the

Atatürk Reservoir The Atatürk Reservoir ( tr, Atatürk Baraj Gölü) is a reservoir on the Euphrates, created by the Atatürk Dam in Turkey. It is located between Adıyaman, Şanlıurfa, and Diyarbakır provinces. The reservoir has a surface area of 817 km² and a ...

in the modern state of

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

. It is located in the modern town of Eskitaş, which used to be called Ancoz.

Location

The ancient settlement, whose name is unknown, was in

Commagene Commagene ( grc-gre, Κομμαγηνή) was an ancient Greco-Iranian kingdom ruled by a Hellenized branch of the Iranian Orontid dynasty that had ruled over Armenia. The kingdom was located in and around the ancient city of Samosata, which ser ...

, north of the

Euphrates The Euphrates () is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Tigris–Euphrates river system, Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia ( ''the land between the rivers'') ...

, on the Chabinas (modern Cendere Çayı), opposite the ancient city of Charmodara. On the hill where the acropolis was located there were two large springs. Both cities are now under the

History

During the

Neo-Hittite The states that are called Syro-Hittite, Neo-Hittite (in older literature), or Luwian-Aramean (in modern scholarly works), were Luwian and Aramean regional polities of the Iron Age, situated in southeastern parts of modern Turkey and northwestern ...

period (1200-700 BC), Ancoz was a sanctuary site, where the gods

Runtiya __NOTOC__ Runtiya was the Luwian god of the hunt, who had a close connection with deer. He was among the most important gods of the Luwians. Name The name was written in the Luwian cuneiform of the Bronze Age as , which can be read as *Runtiya ...

and Ala-Kubaba were worshipped, with dedicatory inscriptions from King and his son Hattusili. Later, the Commagenian king Antiochus I Theos (69-36 BC) had a sanctuary for the royal cult built - from which many Greek inscriptions survive. This was one of a series of similar sanctuaries built by the same king; the most significant of which was visible from Ancoz:

Nemrut Dağı Mount Nemrut or Nemrud ( tr, Nemrut Dağı; ku, Çiyayê Nemrûdê; hy, Նեմրութ լեռ; Greek: Όρος Νεμρούτ) is a mountain in southeastern Turkey, notable for the summit where a number of large statues are erected around what ...

. The

Luwian hieroglyphic Anatolian hieroglyphs are an indigenous logographic script native to central Anatolia, consisting of some 500 signs. They were once commonly known as Hittite hieroglyphs, but the language they encode proved to be Luwian, not Hittite, and the ter ...

inscriptions: Ancoz 1 (lower part), , , , und , are kept in the

Adıyaman Archaeological Museum Adıyaman Archaeological Museum ( Turkish: tr, Adıyaman Müzesi) is an archaeology museum in Adıyaman, southeastern Turkey. It is located at the corner of Atatürk Boulevard and Cumhuriyet Avenue in the heart of the city. The museum displays ar ...

. The upper part of Ancoz 1 is in

Adana Archaeology Museum Adana Archaeology Museum ( tr, Adana Arkeoloji Müzesi) is a museum in Adana that houses the historical heritage of Cilicia in a converted textile factory. It is one of the oldest archaeological museums in Turkey. History Adana Archaeology Mus ...

and the location of the rest is unknown.

Bibliography

* J. Wagner & G. Petzl, "Relief- und Inschriftfragmente des kommagenischen Herrscherkultes aus Ancoz." in G. Heedemann et al. ''Neue Forschungen zur Religionsgeschichte Kleinasiens : Elmar Schwertheim zum 60. Geburtstag gewidmet''. * J. David Hawkins, "Gods of Commagene: The cult of the Stag-God in the inscriptions of Ancoz." in et al.: ''Diversity and Standardization'' Akademie Verlag, 2013, {{ISBN, 978-3-05-005756-9. pp. 65–80.

External links

Neo-Hittite Inscriptions of Ancoz
Archaeological sites in Southeastern Anatolia Hittite sites in Turkey Ancient Greek archaeological sites in Turkey Commagene History of Adıyaman Province