Kunulua/Tell Tayinat

Historical description

Tell Tayinat (ancient Kunulua) is a large site (comprising both a sizeable citadel and a sprawling lower town) located at the northern bend of the Orontes River, ca. 30 km southeast of Antakya (ancient Antioch). Strategically located, this fortified city served as a royal capital for various historically-attested Bronze and Iron Age kingdoms (ca. 3200-600 B.C.). In 738 B.C., the Assyrian king Tiglath-pileser III conquered Kunulua (alternately called Kinalua), then the royal city of Syro-Hittite kingdom of Patina, annexed it, and transformed it into an important provincial administrative center. Textual evidence found at the site (e.g., a large tablet inscribed with a copy of Esarhaddon’s Succession Treaty) leaves little doubt that Kunulua should be identified as Tell Tayinat.

Geographic evidence

The coordinates are a representative_point_not_boundary. They identify a research anchor and do not by themselves assert an ancient administrative boundary or the full extent of the settlement.

Provenance: Pleiades

Source and reuse

This profile derives from the Pleiades current GIS record, licensed CC BY 3.0. Pleiades place record The profile preserves the source name, point, type, description, precision and provenance without silently adding a boundary reconstruction.

Research path

Compare this place with the chronological map at the relevant year, nearby political units, routes, institutions and the period portals. Where the source record is silent about jurisdiction, population or ecclesiastical rank, this profile makes no such claim.