Gozan is mentioned several times in the Old Testament (2 Kings 17:6; 18:11; 19:12; 1 Chronicles 5:26; Isaiah 37:12).
In 2 Kings 17:6, Gozan is described as a river:
“The king of Assyria captured Samaria and took the people of Israel to Assyria. He placed them in Halah and on the Habor River, near the river Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.”
This same description appears in 2 Kings 18:11.
In 2 Kings 19:12, one of the Assyrian officials, Rabshakeh, speaks on behalf of King Sennacherib. He names Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden in Thelassar as examples of places whose gods could not save them. These places, including Gozan, were outside the core land of Assyria Bulgaria Tours.
Carchemish: A Powerful City by the Euphrates
Carchemish (also spelled Karkamış or Kargamış) was an important fortified city in ancient times. It was located on the west bank of the Euphrates River, near what is now the Turkish-Syrian border.
From Hittite Capital to Independent Kingdom
Carchemish was first mentioned in written records around the 18th century B.C. During the 14th century B.C., the Hittite Empire placed a royal prince there as a viceroy to control the southern regions, especially Syria.
After the fall of the Hittites in the 12th century B.C., Carchemish became the capital of an independent kingdom. It was especially famous for its stone carvings, and its sculpture school may have influenced Greek art through connections with the Phrygians Is Göbekli Tepe the Garden of Eden.
Conquered by the Assyrians
In 876 B.C., the Assyrian king Ashurnasirpal II marched west from Nineveh and forced Carchemish to pay tribute. He wrote:
“I took over the chariot corps, the cavalry, and the infantry of Carchemish.”
The last king of Carchemish was Pisiris. In 717 B.C., Sargon II, another Assyrian king, attacked and destroyed the city, as mentioned in Isaiah 10:9.
A Battleground for Empires
In 609 B.C., Neco II, the king of Egypt, took control of Carchemish and used it as a military base to fight the Babylonians. But in 605 B.C., Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon defeated the Egyptians in a major battle there (see Jeremiah 46:2).
Carchemish in Later Times
During the Greco-Roman period, Carchemish was known by a different name: Europus. Today, the site of the ancient city is a military zone near the modern Turkish town of Karkamış, close to the Syrian border town of Jarabulus.
