Sultantepe Attractions

About 15km/9mi south of Urfa on the east side of the road to Harran a massive hill rises up from the plain. It conceals the tiny village of Sultantepe. Excavations on the hill have unearthed remains of a eighth/seventh century B.C. Assyrian settlement (citadel). Discoveries include countless clay tablets forming a library of epic poems, including parts of the Epic of Gilgamesh, prayers, letters, texts relating to mathematics, astronomy, astrology and medicine and an exercise book belonging to an eighth century B.C. scholar. The writings ended two years after the destruction of Nineveh. Some of the finds are on display in an Ankara Museum.