archeologist have latterly been sleuth around an ancient fortress in modern - day Iraqi Kurdistan and believe they may have trip across the lost metropolis of Natounia , an important fortified royal city that was antecedently only known thanks to a few coin .
As report today in the journalAntiquity , excavations and aerial mapping with the help of drones have shed more light on the mountain fortress of Rabana - Merquly , one of the major regional centres of the Parthian Empire around 2,000 years ago .
High among the hills of Mount Piramagrun in the Zagros Mountains , the squad has revealed that the site is comprised not only of a 4 kilometers ( 2.4 miles ) farsighted fortification rampart , but also two smaller settlements adorned with what may have been barracks , impressive rock reliefs , and a religious complex . The temples , they trust , were maybe dedicated to the Zoroastrian Iranian goddess Anahita .
One of the seven inscribed Natounia coins recovered from a hoard at Nisibis, modern-day Nusaybin in south-east Turkey. Image credit: © The Trustees of the British Museum.
“ The considerable effort that must have gone into planning , construction , and maintaining a fortress of this size maneuver to governmental activities , ” Dr Michael Brown , a researcher at the Institute of Prehistory , Protohistory and Near - Eastern Archaeology of Heidelberg University in Germany , enjoin in astatement .
Given the patent enormousness and complexness of the colony , the investigator now mistrust that this glorious situation may be the lost city of Natounia ( aka Natounissarokerta ) , which was dedicated to Natounissar , the founder of the regal dynasty in Adiabene , an ancient kingdom in northerly Mesopotamia .
antecedently , the only grounds of this urban center was found on a few coin dating from the first century BCE unearth in advanced - solar day Nusaybin in south - eastward Turkey ( render above ) .
The wall reliefs at the entrance to the fortress could depict the city’s founder, either Natounissar or a direct descendant. Image credit: © Rabana-Merquly Archaeological Project.
The researchers stress that their claims are only supposition , for now , but they believe there are some clues that Rabana - Merquly may be the long - lost metropolis of Natounia .
First of all , there ’s the dating of the urban center . The inscriptions on the coins suggest they may have been minted during the first one-half of the first 100 BCE , which is around the same time this closure ’s remains are date to .
The study source also contend that the place name Natounissarokerta , as well as being indite of the royal name Natounissar , contains the Parthian word for fosse or fortification .
“ This description could apply to Rabana - Merquly , ” explain Dr Brown .
Furthermore , two rock music reliefs at the gate entrances to Rabana - Merquly picture a biography - size rule in ceremonial headgear . There is no inscription to place the man , but the archaeologists say they bear a strong resemblance to other reliefs of Parthian - era swayer , suggest it may portray Natounissar or one of their lineal posterity .
The location is also a possible clue . The closure is situate on the easterly border of Adiabene , which was governed by the kings of a local dynasty dependant on the Parthians . It ’s possible that the settlement became a vital outport along the outer stint of the Adiabene royal dynasty ’s domain to swop with ( or perhaps keep military pressure level ) on the bucolic tribes found just outside the realm .
“ Iconographic similarities between the nameless ruler(s ) depict in relief at Rabana - Merquly and the statue of King Attalos at Hatra further us to debate for a reliable association between Rabana - Merquly and the kingdom of Adiabene , and , more speculatively , with the site of Natounia , ” the study author write .
