Editing Aleppo (section)

===Pre-history and pre-classical era===
{{main|Armi (Syria)|Yamhad|Yamhad dynasty}}
[[File:Mosques and minarets of Aleppo, Syria.jpg|thumb|left|[[Ancient City of Aleppo|The old town of Aleppo]]]]
Aleppo has scarcely been touched by archaeologists, since the modern city occupies its ancient site. The earliest occupation of the site was around 8,000 BC, as shown by excavations in Tallet Alsauda.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dailysabah.com/history/2015/12/07/meet-some-of-the-worlds-oldest-continually-inhabited-cities |title=Meet some of the world's oldest continually inhabited cities |website=[[Daily Sabah]] |date=7 December 2015 |access-date=9 August 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160820032133/http://www.dailysabah.com/history/2015/12/07/meet-some-of-the-worlds-oldest-continually-inhabited-cities |archive-date=20 August 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Aleppo appears in historical records as an important city much earlier than [[Damascus]]. The first record of Aleppo comes from the third millennium BC, in the [[Ebla tablets]] when Aleppo was referred to as '''Ha-lam''' (𒄩𒇴).<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hFRwonqqNCUC&pg=PA250 |title=Orientalia: Vol. 63 |author=Alfonso Archi |publisher=Gregorian Biblical BookShop |page=250 |year=1945 |access-date=12 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151016214635/https://books.google.com/books?id=hFRwonqqNCUC&pg=PA250 |archive-date=16 October 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref> Some historians, such as [[Wayne Horowitz]], identify Aleppo with the capital of an independent kingdom closely related to [[Ebla]], known as [[Armi (Syria)|Armi]],<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9bbgJzacoJYC&pg=PA482 |title=6 ICAANE |author1=Paolo Matthiae |author2=Licia Romano |year=2010 |publisher=Otto Harrassowitz Verlag |isbn=978-3-447-06175-9 |page=482 |access-date=12 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151016214635/https://books.google.com/books?id=9bbgJzacoJYC&pg=PA482 |archive-date=16 October 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref> although this identification is contested. The main temple of the storm god [[Hadad]] was located on the citadel hill in the center of the city,<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Xno9AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA111 |title=Ancient Syria: A Three Thousand Year History |author=Trevor Bryce |page=111 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-964667-8 |date=2014 |access-date=12 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160610161033/https://books.google.com/books?id=Xno9AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA111 |archive-date=10 June 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref> when the city was known as the city of '''Hadad'''.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AaZg0ypYrnQC&pg=PA264 |title=Ebla and its Landscape: Early State Formation in the Ancient Near East |author1=Paolo Matthiae |author2=Nicoló Marchetti |page=250 |publisher=Left Coast Press |isbn=978-1-61132-228-6 |date=2013-05-31 |access-date=12 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151016214636/https://books.google.com/books?id=AaZg0ypYrnQC&pg=PA264 |archive-date=16 October 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref>
[[File:Udgravning (Citadellet Aleppo).jpg|thumb|Hadad Temple inside [[Aleppo Citadel]]]]
[[Naram-Sin of Akkad]] mentioned his destruction of [[Ebla]] and [[Armanum]],<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P8fl8BXpR0MC&pg=PA82 |first=Wayne |last=Horowitz |title=Mesopotamian Cosmic Geography |publisher=Eisenbrauns |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-931464-99-7 |page=82 |access-date=19 September 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160424075219/https://books.google.com/books?id=P8fl8BXpR0MC&pg=PA82 |archive-date=24 April 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref> in the 23rd century BC.<ref>Pettinato, Giovanni (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1991) ''Ebla, a new look at history'' p.135</ref><ref name="Hawkins, John David 2000 p.388">Hawkins, John David (2000) ''Inscriptions of the iron age'' p.388</ref> However, the identification of Armani in the inscription of Naram-Sim as Armi in the Eblaite tablets is heavily debated,<ref name=Herzl>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0Rwals-oh6kC&pg=PA63 |title=Eblaitica: Essays on the Ebla Archives and Eblaite Language, Volume 4 |author1=Cyrus Herzl Gordon |author2=Gary Rendsburg |author3=Nathan H. Winter |page=63,64,65,66 |isbn=978-1-57506-060-6 |year=1990 |publisher=Eisenbrauns |access-date=12 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151016214635/https://books.google.com/books?id=0Rwals-oh6kC&pg=PA63 |archive-date=16 October 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref> as there was no Akkadian annexation of Ebla or northern Syria.<ref name=Herzl/>

In the [[First Babylonian dynasty|Old Babylonian]] and [[Old Assyrian Empire]] period, Aleppo's name appears in its original form as Ḥalab (Ḥalba) for the first time.<ref name="Hawkins, John David 2000 p.388"/> Aleppo was the capital of the important [[Amorite]] dynasty of [[Yamhad|Yamḥad]]. The kingdom of Yamḥad (c. 1800–1525 BC), alternatively known as the 'land of Ḥalab,' was one of the most powerful in the Near East during the reign of [[Yarim-Lim I]], who formed an alliance with [[Hammurabi]] of [[Babylonia]] against [[Shamshi-Adad I]] of [[Assyria]].<ref>Kuhrt, Amélie (1998) ''The ancient Near East'' p.100</ref>

====Hittite period====
Yamḥad was devastated by the [[Hittites]] under [[Mursili I]] in the 16th century BC. However, it soon resumed its leading role in the Levant when the Hittite power in the region waned due to internal strife.<ref name="Hawkins, John David 2000 p.388"/>

Taking advantage of the power vacuum in the region, [[Baratarna]], king of the [[Hurrian]] kingdom of [[Mitanni]] instigated a rebellion that ended the life of Yamhad's last king [[Ilim-Ilimma I]] in c. 1525 BC,<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=41-MAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA34 |title=Ancient Syria: A Three Thousand Year History |author=Trevor Bryce |page=34 |year=2014 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-100293-9}}</ref> Subsequently, Parshatatar conquered Aleppo and the city found itself on the frontline in the struggle between the Mitanni, the Hittites and [[ancient Egypt|Egypt]].<ref name="Hawkins, John David 2000 p.388"/> [[Niqmepa, King of Alalakh|Niqmepa]] of [[Alalakh]] who descends from the old Yamhadite kings controlled the city as a vassal to Mitanni and was attacked by [[Tudhaliya I]] of the Hittites as a retaliation for his alliance to Mitanni.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Agg5-lpVI2MC&pg=PA152 |year=1999 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-924010-4 |title=The Kingdom of the Hittites |author=Trevor Bryce |page=152 |access-date=12 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151016214635/https://books.google.com/books?id=Agg5-lpVI2MC&pg=PA152 |archive-date=16 October 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref> Later the Hittite king [[Suppiluliumas I]] permanently defeated Mitanni, and conquered Aleppo in the 14th century BC. Suppiluliumas installed his son [[List of rulers of Aleppo#The Hittite Dynasty|Telepinus]] as king and a dynasty of Suppiluliumas descendants ruled Aleppo until the [[Late Bronze Age collapse]].<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6TwiY96cunQC&pg=PA388 |year=2000 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |isbn=978-3-11-080420-1 |title=Inscriptions of the Iron Age: Part 1 |author=John David Hawkins |page=388 |access-date=12 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160623161755/https://books.google.com/books?id=6TwiY96cunQC&pg=PA388 |archive-date=23 June 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref> However, Talmi-Šarruma, grandson of Suppiluliumas I, who was the king of Aleppo, had fought on the Hittite side, along with king [[Muwatalli II]] during the [[Battle of Kadesh]] against the Egyptian army led by [[Ramesses II]].{{efn|Rimisharrinaa was also reported to be the king of Aleppo at that time.{{sfn|Elliott|2020|p=117}}}}
 
[[File:Al_Qaiqan-Moschee3.JPG|thumb|[[Al-Qaiqan Mosque]] was originally a Hittite pagan temple during ancient times; in addition, a stone block with [[Anatolian hieroglyphs]] can be found on the southern wall.]]
Aleppo had [[cult]]ic importance to the Hittites as the center of worship of the [[Teshub|Storm-God]].<ref name="Hawkins, John David 2000 p.388"/> This religious importance continued after the collapse of the Hittite empire at the hands of the [[Assyria]]ns and [[Phrygians]] in the 12th century BC, when Aleppo became part of the [[Middle Assyrian Empire]],<ref name="bryce3">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q8Z7AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA111 |year=2014 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-100292-2 |title=Ancient Syria: A Three Thousand Year History |author=Trevor Bryce |page=111 |access-date=12 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151016214636/https://books.google.com/books?id=q8Z7AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA111 |archive-date=16 October 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref> whose king renovated the temple of Hadad which was discovered in 2003.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YMxY_hfXkCQC&pg=PA130 |year=2006 |publisher=Peeters Publishers |isbn=978-90-429-1817-7 |title=A New Luwian Stele and the Cult of the Storm-god at Til Barsib-Masuwari |author=Guy Bunnens |page=130 |access-date=12 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151016214636/https://books.google.com/books?id=YMxY_hfXkCQC&pg=PA130 |archive-date=16 October 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref>

In 2003, a statue of a king named Taita bearing inscriptions in [[Luwian language|Luwian]] was discovered during excavations conducted by German archeologist Kay Kohlmeyer in the [[Citadel of Aleppo]].<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YMxY_hfXkCQC&pg=PA130 |title=A New Luwian Stele and the Cult of the Storm-god at Til Barsib-Masuwari |author=Guy Bunnens |page=130 |isbn=9789042918177 |year=2006 |publisher=Peeters Publishers |access-date=12 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151016214636/https://books.google.com/books?id=YMxY_hfXkCQC&pg=PA130 |archive-date=16 October 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref> The new readings of Anatolian hieroglyphic signs proposed by the Hittitologists Elisabeth Rieken and Ilya Yakubovich were conducive to the conclusion that the country ruled by Taita was called [[Palistin]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Rieken |first1=Elisabeth |last2=Yakubovich |first2=Ilya |year=2010 |editor-last=Singer |editor-first=I. |title=The New Values of Luwian Signs L 319 and L 172 |url=https://www.academia.edu/617478 |journal=Ipamati Kistamati Pari Tumatimis: Luwian and Hittite Studies Presented to J. David Hawkins on the Occasion of His 70th Birthday |publisher=Institute of Archaeology |location=Tel-Aviv |access-date=1 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191029010330/https://www.academia.edu/617478/The_New_Values_of_Luwian_Signs_L_319_and_L_172 |archive-date=29 October 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref> This country extended in the 11th-10th centuries BC from the [[Amik Valley|Amouq Valley]] in the west to Aleppo in the east down to [[Maharda]] and [[Shaizar]] in the south.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q8Z7AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA111 |title=Ancient Syria: A Three Thousand Year History |author=Trevor Bryce |page=111 |isbn=9780191002922 |date=2014-03-06 |publisher=OUP Oxford |access-date=12 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151016214636/https://books.google.com/books?id=q8Z7AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA111 |archive-date=16 October 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref> Due to the similarity between Palistin and Philistines, [[Hittitologist]] John David Hawkins (who translated the Aleppo inscriptions) hypothesizes a connection between the [[Syro-Hittite states]] Palistin and the Philistines, as do archaeologists Benjamin Sass and Kay Kohlmeyer.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gBCl2IQfNioC&pg=PA662 |title=The Philistines and Other "Sea Peoples" in Text and Archaeology |author=Ann E. Killebrew |page=662 |isbn=9781589837218 |date=2013-04-21 |publisher=Society of Biblical Lit |access-date=1 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190520075325/https://books.google.com/books?id=gBCl2IQfNioC&pg=PA662 |archive-date=20 May 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref> [[Gershon Galil]] suggests that King David halted the Arameans' expansion into the Land of Israel on account of his alliance with the southern Philistine kings, as well as with Toi, king of Ḥamath, who is identified with Tai(ta) II, king of Palistin (the northern Sea Peoples).<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.haifa.ac.il/index.php/en/2012-12-16-11-30-12/new-media/900-the-history-of-king-david-in-light-of-new-epigraphic-and-archeological-data |title=The History of King David in Light of New Epigraphic and Archeological Data |access-date=1 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181001070407/https://www.haifa.ac.il/index.php/en/2012-12-16-11-30-12/new-media/900-the-history-of-king-david-in-light-of-new-epigraphic-and-archeological-data |archive-date=1 October 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref>

====State of Bit Agusi====
During the early years of the 1st millennium BC, Aleppo was incorporated into the [[Arameans|Aramean]] realm of [[Bit Agusi]], which held its capital at [[Arpad, Syria|Arpad]].<ref name="Lipinsky, Edward 2000. p. 195">Lipinsky, Edward, 2000.'' The Aramaeans: Their Ancient History, Culture, Religion'' (Peeters), p. 195.</ref> Bit Agusi along with Aleppo and the entirety of the Levant was conquered by the [[Assyrian people|Assyrians]] in the 8th century BC and became part of the [[Neo-Assyrian Empire]] during the reign of [[Tiglath-Pileser III]] until the late 7th century BC,<ref name="Healy, Mark 1992 p. 25">Healy, Mark (1992). ''The Ancient Assyrians'' (Osprey) p. 25.</ref> before passing through the hands of the [[Neo-Babylonian]]s and the [[Achaemenid|Achaemenid Persians]].<ref name="Kipfer, Barbara Ann 2000 p. 626">Kipfer, Barbara Ann (2000). ''Encyclopedic Dictionary of Archaeology''. p. 626.</ref> The region remained known as [[Aramea]] and [[Eber Nari]] throughout these periods.