Carchemish [key], ancient city, Turkey, on the Euphrates River, at the Syrian border, c.35 mi (56 km) SE of Gaziantep. It was an important Neo-Hittite city and was prosperous in the 9th cent. b.c. before it was destroyed by the Assyrians. Even then it continued as an important trade center. There, in 605 b.c., Nebuchadnezzar defeated Necho. Among the excavated remains are sculptured Neo-Hittite reliefs with hieroglyphic Hittite inscriptions.
See British Museum, Carchemish (3 vol. in 2, 1914–52).
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