Bit-hilani

The major feature for a visitor would have been the monumental entrance loggia or portico with columns[1] flanked by large massive parts of the building and approached by a broad but relatively low flight of steps.

The iron age hilani of the Levant[dubious – discuss], may well be the combination of the old broad-room concept with a Hittite-style portico.

The palace is thought to have been built by Niqmepa, a son of Idrimi of the royal family of the Amorite state of Yamhad based in Halab.

[6] Kapara, king of the Hittite[7] kingdom of Bit Bahiani in the 10th or 9th century BCE, built himself a palace of this style in his capital at Guzana (Tell Halaf).

Some of the finds were taken to Berlin, much of them destroyed when von Oppenheim's private museum was hit during a bombing raid in November 1943 and recently partially reconstructed from the preserved pieces.

Other buildings of this type have been excavated, among others at Tell Tayinat,[9] Qatna, Sam'al, Sakçagözü, Carchemish, Tell Seh Hamad,[10] maybe Kinet Höyük[11] and at Emar.