HATTUSAS-HATTUSA

The historical site of Bogazkoy (Hattusas) is located at 82 km. to the southwest of Corum and it is 208 km. from Ankara. Bogazkoy (Hattusas) site which was located at the core region of the Hittite state is at the southern end of the Budakozu River valley, at an elevation of 300 meters from the plain surrounded by numerous rock masses and the seperations of mountain sides and deep clifts to the north and west. The city is open towards the north and surrounded by city walls on all sides except the north.
       Hattusas was the capital of the Hittite empire in the 2nd millenium BCE. The city was located on a mountain slope at the southern end of a small fertile plain. It lay between two deeply-cut streams which converged on the plain (at an elevation of about 3,100 ft), forming the northernmost point of the city. The city then stretches to the south, rising about 1000 feet over a distance of 1-1/4 miles. In some places the eastern valley narrows to a deep gorge. It seems surprising that such a remote city could have been the capital of an empire, but besides tradition there were the factors of plentiful water and good natural defenses that kept the Hittite kings there. The first settlement at the site dates from the Early Bronze Age, but no documents exist that could identify the people who built them. They lived on the top and northwest foot of the high hill which dominates the east side of the city, called Büyükkale ("Great Fortress"). This hill later became the Hittite Acropolis.

    The first writing from the site are clay tablets with Old Assyrian cuneiform. These demonstrate the presence of Assyrian merchants at the city, then called Hattus, around 1800 BCE. The largest Assyrian trading center in Anatolia was at Kanesh, which flourished from 1950 BCE to 1850 BCE (end of First Intermediate Period and beginning of Twelfth Dynasty), was destroyed, and then became active again around 1820 BCE and lasted another two generations (late 12th Dynasty). Assyrian trading at Hattusas is contemporary only with the later period. The early settlers of Hattus spoke a language with the same name. It belongs to no other known family and scholars call it Hattic to distinguish it from Hittite. Hittite is an Indo-European language and probably arrived with Indo-European conquerors, although details of this "conquest" are lacking. Indo-European names appear at Kanesh before 1850 BCE, and it is possible that the native Hattic people made up the ruling class or even the entire population during this period, but this cannot be proven. The merchants lived in the lower part of the city, which extended up to the great hill, whereupon the king's palace was probably located. The entire city was destroyed, probably by a King Anittas of Kussara sometime after 1800 BCE. A Hittite text supposed to have been written by him describes his conquests in Anatolia, noting he destroyed Hattusas, killed its King Piyusti, and cursed the city's site. The Indo-Europeans added an a to the city's name and declined it according to their own language, giving it the nominative form Hattusas. The first mention of the name in that form is in a tablet from Mari, on the middle Euphrates, from the time of Hammurabi (1792-1750 BCE, end of the Twelfth Dynasty). This may be a reference to the city before its destruction.

YAZILIKAYA

The official temple and sanctuary of the Hittite Empire is now called Yazilikaya.  A shrine carved into a natural alcove of rocks lies about a mile and a half northeast of Hattusa. It's being open to the sky and nature, it is thought that the rites were nature oriented.
     There were two alcoves, one larger than the other, both somewhat separated form each other. Yazilikaya comprises two chambers or alcoves and a roofless sanctuary containing reliefs of gods and goddesses on parade. Goddesses appear in profile, wearing long robes; gods, most wearing kilts, face forward. 

   The deities' names are often inscribed over their heads. At first the alcoves were enclosed with a simple wall. During a later building phase, a small temple building was added, in front of the alcoves, and a large gateway was also added. A gateway was also added in front of the smaller alcove. During an even later phase, a larger building was added, and the gateways were rearranged to accommodate entrance to the smaller alcove. The temple buildings were rooms arranged around a courtyard. The religious ceremonies took place outside, with the rock relief figures in attendance. Apparently each alcove was used in a slightly different ceremonies, which is now lost to us. In the larger alcove, one wall has mostly gods, while the other has mostly goddesses. At the meeting point of the two walls are found the chief divinities. The smaller alcove seems to have been devoted to one of the past kings, either Tudhaliya II or III. The alcove seems to have be use exclusively for King Tudhaliya IV during his lifetime.

There is one relief showing him in the embrace of the god Sharruma, and a sword sticking out of the rock before him. There was also his statue in the central position, while all the gods in relief on the walls were oriented toward this statue. One’s imagination runs wild with this information. There are also 12 gods In relief, thought to represent the twelve months of the year, rather like our zodiac. Yazilakaya was outside the city of Hattusas, near where a spring issued from the rocks, and flowed through a small alcove. Shaded by trees and carpeted with grass and flowers, the alcove must have inspired the Hittites to worship of their deities here, and perhaps their kings as well.