Arpad (Old Aramaic: 𐡀𐡓𐡐𐡃, romanized: ʾRPD; Biblical Hebrew: אַרְפַּד, romanized: ʾArpaḏorאַרְפָּד, ʾArpāḏ;[1] modern Tell Rifaat, Syria) was an ancient AramaeanSyro-Hittite city located in north-western Syria, north of Aleppo. It became the capital of the Aramaean state of Bit Agusi established by Gusi of Yakhan in the 9th century BC.[2] Bit Agusi stretched from the A'zaz area in the north to Hamath in the south.[3]
Arpad later became a major vassal city of the Kingdom of Urartu. In 743 BC, during the Urartu-Assyria War, the Neo-Assyrian king Tiglath-Pileser III laid siege to Arpad following the defeat of the Urartuan army of Sarduri IIatSamsat. But the city of Arpad did not surrender easily. It took Tiglath-Pileser three years of siege to conquer Arpad, whereupon he massacred its inhabitants and destroyed the city.[4] Afterward Arpad served as a provincial capital.[5] Tell Rifaat, which is probably the remains of Arpad, has walls still preserved to a height of eight meters.[6]
Jeremiah 49:23, within the oracle against Damascus, one of the poetic "oracles against foreign nations" found in the later chapters of the Book of Jeremiah.[7]
The Assyrian vizier, Rabshakeh, lists the god(s) of Arpad among those who he alleges have been unable to save their cities from Assyrian assault.[8]
Tel Rifaat is an oval 250 by 233 meters. Within this, the main citadel is 142 by 142 meters with a maximum height of 30 meters. The defensive wall surrounding the site is about two miles long.
Clayton, Peter A. "The Coins from Tell Rifa'at." Iraq 29, no. 2 (1967): 143-54. Accessed October 18, 2020. doi:10.2307/4199831.
Millard, Alan R. "Adad-Nirari III, Aram, and Arpad" Palestine Exploration Quarterly, vol. 105 Issue 2 (1973): 161–164. Accessed October 18, 2020. doi:10.1179/peq.1973.105.2.161
