Sumur

Tell Kazel

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This is most probably Sumur of the early antiquity. It was the residential seat of the kingdom of Amurru, which formed a buffer-state between the Egyptian and Hittite influence. It is mentioned in the Bible (Genesis 10.18), in the Tell el-Amarna tablets (51x) and by Thutmosis III (6^th campaign), Tiglath-Pileser I + III, Plinius (NH V 20) and Strabo (XVI 2.12). Strabo: Simyra was the last of the possessions of Aradus to the south. In Genesis the inhabitans of the town are called the Semarites. Tell Kazel is the biggest tell in the Akkar plain. It is situated on the right shore of the Nahr el-Abrach at about 3.5 km from its mouth. Because there were many commercial relations with Cyprus and the Minoic world there must have been a harbour. Tell Tabbat el-Hamman has a harbour, but that was hardly used in de middle and late bronze age. Tell Abou Ali near the village Simyrian is must too small (150 m2) for it and it has no walls. This implicates that either Tell Laha on the left bank of the Nahr el-Abrach was the riverine port of Sumur, or the harbour (al-Mina) has been forgotten and lies underwater somewhere.

L.Badr and E.Gubel (AUB) have done a lot of excavations here.

ncfps