Amik Valley


The Amik Valley, also "Amuk", "Amuq" or "Amaq Valley", is located in the Hatay Province, close to the city of Antakya in the southern part of Turkey. Along with Dabiq in north western Syria, it is believed to be one of two possible sites of the battle of Armageddon according to Islamic eschatology.

Archaeological significance

It is notable for a series of archaeological sites in the "plain of Antioch". The primary sites of the series are Tell al-Judaidah, Çatalhöyük , Tell Tayinat, Tell Kurdu, Alalakh, and Tell Dhahab. Tell Judaidah was surveyed by Robert Braidwood and excavated by C. MacEwan of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago in the 1930s.
There is also archaeological evidence for Caspian tigers in this valley.

Islamic eschatology

In a hadith, Abu Hurayrah reported that Muhammad said:
Islamic scholars and hadith commentators suggest that the word "Romans" refers to Christians. The hadith further relates the subsequent Muslim victory, followed by the peaceful takeover of Constantinople with invocations of takbir and tasbih, and finally the defeat of the Anti-Christ following the return and descent of Jesus Christ. Other hadiths relate the appearance of Imam Mahdi immediately before the Second Coming of Jesus.