Editing Arqa (section)

==History==
===Early Bronze===
In the [[Bronze Age|Early Bronze IV]], the Akkar Plain had three major sites in Tell Arqa, [[Tell Kazel]], and [[Tell Jamous]].<ref>Thalmann 2007:221</ref> The cultural focus had been towards the south and southern Levant, but now changed with more influence from Inner Syria and the use of copper.
===Middle Bronze===
In the MB I the Akkar Plain still saw smaller settlements being added near Tell Arqa and the region reach its highest population density in MB II.<ref>Thalmann 2007:221</ref>
===Late Bronze===
====Amarna Period ''Irqata'' (c. 1350 BC)====
{{Further|Amarna letter EA 100}}
Arqa has the distinction of being a city-state that wrote one of the 382 [[Amarna letters]] to the [[Pharaoh]] of Ancient Egypt.<ref>{{Cite web |date=15 February 2016 |title=Tal Arqa, a great city in Antiquity - LebanonUntravelled.com |url=https://lebanonuntravelled.com/tal-arqa-great-city-antiquity/ |access-date=4 August 2024 |language=en-US }}</ref>

The [[city-state]] Irqata was the 3rd city of the [[Rib-Hadda]] letters, (68 letters), that were the last hold-outs against the [[Habiru|(H)Apiru]] invasion. Sumur(u)-([[Zemar]]) was the 2nd hold-out city besides Rib-Hadda's Byblos, (named [[Gubla]]).<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Amarna Letters; Rib-addi of Byblos {{!}} Ancient Egypt Online |url=https://ancientegyptonline.co.uk/earibbaddi/ |access-date=4 August 2024 |language=en-GB |archive-date=31 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230531061447/https://ancientegyptonline.co.uk/EAribbaddi/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Eventually, the king of Irqata, [[Aduna (Irqata mayor)|Aduna]] was killed along with other city kings, and also the 'mayor' of Gubla, Rib-Hadda. Rib-Hadda's brother, [[Ili-Rapih]], became the successor mayor of Gubla, and Gubla never fell to the Hapiru.

During Rib-Hadda's lengthy opposition to the Habiru, even the city-state of Irqata and its elders, wrote to the [[Ancient Egypt|Egyptian]] Pharaoh [[Akhenaten]] for assistance. (EA 100, [[EA (el Amarna)|EA]] for el [[Amarna]]).

The letter is entitled: "The [[City-state|city]] of Irqata to the [[Pharaoh|king]]".

:This tablet-(i.e. tablet letter) is a tablet from Irqata. To the King, our Lord: Message from Irqata and its el[d]ers. We [[Prostration formula|fall at the feet]] of the king, our lord, 7 times and 7 times. To our lord, the Sun: Message from Irqata. May the heart of the king, (our) lord, know that we guard Irqata for him.
:When the [ki]ng, our lord, sent [[DUMU-Biha|D[UMU]-Bi-ha-a]], he said to [u]s, "Message of the king: "Guard Irqata"! " The sons of the traitor to the king seek our harm; Irqata see[ks] loyalty to the king. As to [ silver ] having been given to [[Subaru (region)|S[u]baru]] al[ong with] horses and [[Chariot|cha[riots] ]], may you know the mind of Irqata. When a tablet from the king arrived (saying) to ra[id] the land that the [[Habiru|'A[piru] ]] had taken [from] the king,'they wa[ged] war with us against the enemy of our lord, the man whom you pla[ced] over us. Truly&mdash;we are guarding the l[and]. May the king, our lord, heed the words of his loyal servants.
:May he grant a [[Greeting-gift (Šulmānī)|gift]] to his servant(s) so our enemies will see this and eat dirt. May the breath of the king not depart from us. We shall keep the [[city gate]] barred until the breath of the king reaches us. Severe is the war against us&mdash;terribly! terribly! -EA 100, lines 1-44 (complete)<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Pryke |first=Louise M. |date=2011 |title=The Many Complaints to Pharaoh of Rib-Addi of Byblos |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41380709 |journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society |volume=131 |issue=3 |pages=411–422 |jstor=41380709 |issn=0003-0279 |archive-date=4 August 2024 |access-date=4 August 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240804145943/https://www.jstor.org/stable/41380709 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Moran |first=William |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.56021/9780801842511 |title=The Amarna Letters |date=1992 |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |doi=10.56021/9780801842511 |isbn=978-0-8018-4251-1 }}</ref>
===Hellenistic and Roman period===
[[File:Monnaie - Dichalque, bronze, Césarée du Liban, Phénicie, Sévère Alexandre - btv1b11318310b (2 of 2).jpg|thumb|A coin of [[Alexander Severus]] from Caesarea ad Libanum (Roman Arqa)]]
After the death of [[Alexander the Great]] Arca came under the control first of the [[Lagids]] then of the [[Seleucids]]. When the [[Roman Empire|Romans]] gained control over this part of western Asia, they entrusted Arca as a client [[tetrarchy]] or vassal principality to a certain Sohaimos, who died in AD 48 or 49. It was then incorporated in the [[Roman province]] of [[Syria (Roman province)|Syria]], but was soon entrusted to [[Herod Agrippa II]]. [[Pliny the Elder]] counts it among the tetrarchies of Syria. It was at this time that its name was changed to Caesarea,<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=9y7nTpFcN3AC&dq=arca+caesarea+province+syria&pg=PA77 ''The Middle East under Rome''], [[Maurice Sartre]] (Harvard University Press 2005 {{ISBN|978-0-67401683-5}}), p. 77</ref> distinguished from other cities of that name by being called '''Caesarea ad Libanum''' or '''Arca Caesarea'''. Under [[Septimius Severus]] (193–211) it was made part of the province of [[Phoenice (Roman province)|Syria Phoenicia]] and so became known as '''Arca in Phoenicia'''. Under his son [[Caracalla]] (198–217) it became a ''[[colonia (Roman)|colonia]]'' and in 208 [[Alexander Severus]] was born at Arca during a stay of his parents there.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/tell-arqa_%28Enciclopedia-dell%27-Arte-Antica%29/ |title=S.M. Cecchini, "Tell'Arqa" in ''Enciclopedia dell'Arte Antica'' (Treccani 1997) |access-date=29 November 2014 |archive-date=5 December 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141205061502/http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/tell-arqa_%28Enciclopedia-dell%27-Arte-Antica%29/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
===Crusades period===
At the time of the [[First Crusade]], Arca became an important strategic point of control over the roads from [[Tripoli, Lebanon|Tripoli]] to [[Tartus]] and [[Homs]]. [[Raymond IV, Count of Toulouse|Raymond of Toulouse]] unsuccessfully [[Siege of Arqa|besieged it]] for three months in 1099. In 1108, his nephew [[William II Jordan]] conquered it and it became part of the [[County of Tripoli]]. It resisted an attack by [[Nur ad-Din, atabeg of Aleppo]], in 1167 and another in 1171.

It finally fell to Muslim forces of the Sultan [[Baibars]] in 1265 or 1266. When Tripoli itself [[Fall of Tripoli (1289)|fell in 1289]] to the army of Sultan [[Qalawun]] and was razed to the ground, Arca lost its strategic importance and thereafter is mentioned only in ecclesiastical chronicles.<ref>{{Cite web |date=15 February 2016 |title=Tal Arqa, a great city in Antiquity - LebanonUntravelled.com |url=https://lebanonuntravelled.com/tal-arqa-great-city-antiquity/ |access-date=4 August 2024 |language=en-US |archive-date=4 August 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240804144524/https://lebanonuntravelled.com/tal-arqa-great-city-antiquity/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
===Later period===
In 1838, [[Eli Smith]] noted the village, whose inhabitants were [[Greek Orthodox Christianity in Lebanon|Greek Orthodox]], located west of [[esh-Sheikh Mohammed]].<ref>Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, 2nd appendix, p. [https://archive.org/stream/biblicalresearch03robiuoft#page/183/mode/1up 183]</ref>