Historical Dictionary

of the Hittites

Charles Burney

The Scarecrow Press

Dedicated to Brigit, for three Hittite years

“I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills”

Psalm 121
 Contents

Editor’s Foreword: Jon Woronoff ix

Preface xi

Maps and Plans xiii

Chronological Table xviii

Introduction xxi

THE DICTIONARY 1

Appendix: Hittite Collections 327

Bibliography 329

About the Author 365

 Editor’s Foreword

Less well known than civilizations in Mesopotamia and Egypt, the

Hittites nonetheless created one of the great civilizations of the ancient
world. It was no mean feat to rule a vast empire, establish important
cities, preside over a conglomerate of peoples, encourage a flowering of
culture and religion and, yes, engage in incessant warfare. Some of this
was against attacking enemies, some against relative innocents who
happened to be in the way, and part within the royal families. This
impressive history spanned nearly five centuries during the second
millennium BC, although predecessors and successors stretch over a
much longer period. Yet despite the mark they made on ancient history,
the Hittites were largely forgotten until curious travelers and then
professional archaeologists had excavated important sites, verified
some of the crucial events, and deciphered the languages. This
Historical Dictionary of the Hittites therefore consists of two stories,
that of the Hittites themselves and that of the rediscovery of the Hittites.
This volume, like others in the series, provides most of the basic
information in a dictionary section with hundreds of entries on
important persons (kings, queens and archaeologists), places (temples,
palaces and excavations), essential institutions (kingship and cults) and
significant aspects of the society, economy, material culture and,
inevitably, warfare. These numerous detailed studies are integrated in a
broader overview in the introduction, while the time sequences are
sorted in chronological charts. The bibliography offers the basis for
further reading on related topics. The contribution of photographs is not
only to show what has been described but to remind us what the Hittites
could accomplish in art and architecture.
This volume was written by Charles Burney, whose interests cover
much of the Near East and Caucasus, but focus especially on Eastern
Turkey. There he has worked on and directed excavations at Kayalıdere
(Urartu) and carried out extensive archaeological surveys. He has
written several books on the ancient Near East including From Village
to Empire: An Introduction to Near Eastern Archaeology and many
articles for journals such as Anatolian Studies and Iran. He also
collaborated with the late David Lang, and is the author of the greater
part of Peoples of the Hills: Ancient Ararat and Caucasus.
x ● EDITOR’S FOREWORD

During most of this period from 1958 to 1995 Charles Burney was
senior lecturer in Near Eastern Archaeology at the University of
Manchester. This book has therefore benefited from a long career both
on digs and in the classroom and, as a special bonus, the expertise of
someone who knows his field and the enthusiasm of someone who
enjoys it.

Jon Woronoff
Series Editor
 Preface

The preparation of this Historical Dictionary of the Hittites has proved

to be a challenge, both in the scope of the subject matter and in selec-
tion of entries. It is in relation to the latter that I have inevitably exer-
cised individual judgment: no two authors would choose the same top-
ics, and all would be inclined to favor their own particular field of
expertise. The philosophy behind this publication is that the civilization
of the Hittites can be adequately understood only by reference to all the
evidence, not merely to the written records. It is surprising to note how
certain publications purporting to bring the Hittites to a wide readership
almost totally ignore several lines of research.
Certain topics have had to be restricted, in order to maintain a bal-
ance and keep within the prescribed length for the text as a whole.
Some may regret that more of the hundreds of Hittite geographical
names have not been included, even though their locations remain un-
certain. Others may deplore the absence of certain gods and goddesses;
but they too are largely obscure. The Hittite laws could not be discussed
in very great detail, nor could I include any discussion of the grammar
and syntax of the Hittite language. Not every archaeological site could
be included, nor could the problems surrounding Indo-European migr-
ations be fully aired. Perhaps the most arbitrary component of this
Historical Dictionary of the Hittites is the selection of biographical en-
tries, mostly of deceased scholars. Famous names have been excluded
where the Hittite connection is unclear.
Now the Hittites are a major subject of study for the philologists,
students of ancient languages; for the linguists, trying to reassemble the
components of the family of languages to which Hittite belongs; for the
historians, endeavoring to understand the royal annals and other texts;
for the anthropologists, using contemporary sociology to illuminate as-
pects of Hittite society; for the geologists, mineralogists and paleobota-
nists, concerned with the natural resources available to the Hittites, as
likewise with their natural environment; for the archaeologists, investi-
gating the material culture of the Hittites, from architecture to portable
artifacts, including pottery and metalwork; and for art historians and
specialists in ancient technology. Perhaps it is understandable that some
prefer to retreat into their own academic foxhole!
xii ● PREFACE

I wish to acknowledge help and guidance from a number of differ-

ent quarters. Dr. Tom Rasmussen (University of Manchester) first sug-
gested this project. James Mellaart, F.B.A, gave generously of his time
and immense knowledge in discussion of matters of historical geogra-
phy: I hope he will forgive my not following his every suggestion in
this controversial field. Dr. Jürgen Seeher, director of the Boğazköy ex-
cavations, most kindly provided hospitality for two nights in the expe-
dition house, and gave his time to show me round the site of Hattusa,
the Hittite capital, in August 2001. Two successive directors of the Brit-
ish Institute of Archaeology at Ankara, Dr. Roger Matthews and Dr.
Hugh Elton, have provided accommodation in Ankara.
On a more personal note, I would like to thank Howard Greville
for tolerating my idiosyncrasies during nearly four weeks of traveling
in Anatolia, and for being there just when most needed!
This publication would not have seen the light of day without the
skill and patience of Jonathan Pickup, M.A. (University of Manches-
ter), without whose dexterity on the computers I could not have sur-
mounted the inevitable moments of frustration with my own machine.
I acknowledge permission from Professor David Hawkins to use
his map of western Anatolia in Hittite times; and likewise permission
from Dr. Jürgen Seeher to reproduce his site plan of Boğazköy-Hattusa.
Otherwise the maps and photographs are my own. Turkish names have
been given their correct accentuation. I have followed the style set by
Trevor Bryce in omitting accents from Hittite names: the most notewor-
thy effect is that “s” replaces “sh,” as in the names of the god Tes(h)ub
and the city of Kanes(h).
One specific detail is worth noting: following academic custom,
the term Anatolia is used throughout in preference to Turkey. It applies
specifically to the plateau and to the highlands to the north, south and
east, but not to the coastal regions fringing the Black Sea, the Aegean
and the Mediterranean, nor to the lowlands of southeastern Turkey,
bordering modern Syria and Iraq.
Finally, I must record my acknowledgment of the tolerance shown
by my publisher. Any shortcomings are my own responsibility.
 HATTI EGYPT MITANNI ASSYRIA & BABYLON SYRIA ARZAWA LANDS
DYNASTY XII SHAMSHI-ADAD I OF ALALAKH (LUWIYA)
PITHANA ANITTA 1991–1785 ASSYRIA
1813-1781
OLD KINGDOM SECOND INTERMEDIATE BABYLON
LABARNA PERIOD
HAMMURABI
1650 +HYKSOS 1792-1750
HATTUSILI I 1650–1620 1785-1550
MURSILI I First Hittite Campaigns in
1620–1590 Raid on Babylon Arzawa
HANTILI I 1595
1590–1560
ZIDANTA I
AMMUNA NEW KINGDOM
HUZZIYA I AHMOSE
[1560–1525] 1550–1525
TELIPINU AMENHOTEP I
1525–1500 1525–1504
THUTHMOSE I
{ALLUWAMNA 1504–1491
TAHURWAILI THUTHMOSE II (first ref. to Mitanni)
HANTILI II, ZIDANTA II 1491–1479 PARRATTARNA KASSITE RULE IN SARRA-EL
HUZZIYA II HATSHEPSUT (CA.1480?) BABYLON ABA-EL
MUWATALLI I} 1479–1458 KIRTA 1595-1155 ILIMILIMMA
1500–1400 THUTHMOSE III SUTTARNA I IDRI-MI
1479–1425 PARSATATAR
EMPIRE SAUSTATAR UGARIT
AMENHOTEP II (PARRATTARNA II?) KUPANTA-KURNTA
{TUDHALIYA I/II ARTATAMA I
1425–1398 (MADDUWATTA)
ARNUWANDA I SUTTARNA II
HATTUSILI II} ARTASUMARA AMMISTANRU I
TUTTHMOSE IV
1402–1360 TUSRATTA
1398–1390
AMENHOTEP III (+ARTATAMA II,
1390–1336 SUTTARNA III) NIQMADDU II TARHUNDARADU
TUDHALIYA III SATTIWAZA
AKHENATEN
1360–1344
1352–1336
SUPILULIUMA I SATTURA II
SMENKHARE UHHAZITI
1344-1322 ARHALBA
1338–1336
 TUTANKHAMUN NIQMEPA (MANAPA-TARHUNDA)
1336–1327
ARNUWANDA II AY ASSYRIA
1322–1321 1327–1323
MURSILI II HOREMHEB AMMISTAMRU II (TARGASNALLI)
ASSUR-UBALLIT I
1321–1295 1323–1295
1353–1318
RAMESSES I IBIRANU (PIYAMARADU)
1295–1294
ADAD-NIRARI I
MUWATALLI II SETI I
1295–1264
1295–1272 1294–1279 (TARHUNARADU)
NIQMADDU III
RAMESSES II WALMU (WILUSA)
1279–1213
SHALMANESER I
1263–1234
URHI-TESUB Battle of Kadesh
1272–1267 1274

HATTUSILI III Treaty with Hatti AMMURAPI

1267–1237 1258

TUDHALIYA IV
1237–1228
TUKULTI-NINURTA I
1227–1209
1233-1197
MERNEPTAH
ARNUWANDA III 1213–1204
1209–1207

SUPPILULIUMA II RAMESSES III

1207–?1176 1184–1152
Destruction of Ugarit
-FALL OF HATTI- Sea Peoples
1176
ASSUR-DAN I
1179–1134

TIGLATH-PILESER I
1114–1076

Chronological Table
 Introduction

Much has changed since knowledge of the Hittites was based solely on
the Old Testament, where the “sons of Heth” are recorded in Genesis
10, Heth being the second son of Canaan and the eponymous ancestor
of the Hittite race. It was through the Bible that the modern western
world first became aware of an otherwise totally obscure ancient
people. Historical records outside the river valley civilizations of
Mesopotamia and Egypt were unknown, aside from the Old Testament
and much later references in Classical sources, for the most part Greek.
It was somewhat ironically a British clergyman, Archibald Henry
Sayce, who first began to make the Hittites of the Bible, now known as
the Neo-Hittites, better known to the world of scholarship, as well as
their predecessors, the Hittites of the Empire centered in Anatolia.
It was not till October 1906 that the Hittites quite suddenly came
into the bright sunshine of modern academic research, through the
opening of the German expedition’s excavations at Boğazköy (ancient
Hattusa) under Hugo Winckler and Theodore Makridi. But their
recognition of the Hittites as a distinctive people speaking an Indo-
European tongue was quickly understood. The centenary of these
excavations is fast approaching. The fragments into which so many of
the clay tablets had been smashed, however, has made the task of
piecing together and translating the texts that much slower and harder
than it would otherwise have been.
Meanwhile, the increase of knowledge has, as so often occurs,
merely complicated matters. If attention is focused solely on the
successive Hittite kings, it may seem easy to identify the Hittite people
and their civilization in second-millennium BC (Middle and Late
Bronze Age) Anatolia; and the legacy of the Hittite Empire to successor
states is now more fully understood. It therefore seemed appropriate to
include the Neo-Hittite (formerly “Syro-Hittite”) city-states in this
Historical Dictionary of the Hittites. But archaeological discoveries
indicate that the fashion—still followed by some—of using the term
“Hittite” for everything in Bronze Age Anatolia has been gravely
mistaken, just as “Phrygian” has been misused for the Iron Age. For
some decades there was a climate of opinion in the new Turkish
Republic for identifying the Hittites as ancestors of the Turks. While
xxii ● INTRODUCTION

many elements over the millennia have naturally gone into the
composition of the present-day population of Anatolia, and in that
context the Hittites were forebears of the modern inhabitants of
Anatolia, neither linguistically nor culturally can the present population
be termed in any way Hittite. This is now generally agreed.
Anyone traveling extensively in Anatolia (the greater part of
modern Turkey, comprising the whole plateau and surrounding
highlands) must become aware of something of the environment in
which the Hittites established their homeland, though the areas of forest
must have been far more extensive than today. The achievement of the
Hittite kings was somehow to impose a centralized administration on
naturally centrifugal districts. In so doing they managed to achieve a
coalescence of disparate ethnic groups. They ended up, however, with
so mixed a population, augmented by repeated arrivals of deportees
brought as prisoners of war to work the landed estates, that the
government could no longer rely on its subjects’ loyalty in the face of
enemy incursions. Indeed, under the Empire (ca.1400–1180 BC) the
ethnically Hittite percentage of the population may have shrunk to quite
a small minority. Attention is therefore drawn to the whole question of
identity, which essentially boils down to language and cultural
traditions, of which religion forms an integral part. The extreme
devotion to rituals and festivals by the Hittite royal family underlines
the indivisibility of state from religion, the two being later constructs.
The Hittite Laws help to bring to modern attention a state and
society evincing a contrasting blend of harshness with relative
humanity, the latter more in evidence than (say) in the famous Code of
Hammurabi of Babylon. While much is obscured by magic and
superstition, a civilization emerges from the mist as possessing certain
appealing traits, while fully proficient in the arts of war and also of
international diplomacy. Assessment of artistic talent is usually
subjective; but it has to be admitted that the distinctively Hittite
elements seen in an eclectic artistic repertoire—notably the sculpture—
demonstrate rather more originality than taste. It is unfortunate that
Hittite music cannot be adequately understood: like their Hurrian
mentors, they may well have been skilled in this art.
While much emphasis tends to be laid upon the political and
military vicissitudes experienced by the Hittite state, life would have
continued largely unchanged for most of the time in much of the
territory under Hittite rule at its most extensive. Such continuity is
implied by the evidence gathered from archaeological surveys, with
collection of surface sherds from numerous settlement sites: only in
metropolitan centers were the latest fashions followed.
 INTRODUCTION ● xxiii

Physical environment

The land of the Hittites has changed greatly over the past 50 years or
so. Deforestation has been halted by rigorous governmental control,
though woodland is far less extensive and the stature of trees
diminished since the days of the Hittite Empire. Altitude is the principal
factor determining local climate on the Anatolian plateau, temperatures
being higher in the Hittite-controlled lands of Syria and Kizzuwadna at
the northeast corner of the Mediterranean, closer to sea level. There
rainfall is fairly reliable in winter and spring, and densely populated
areas included the Amuq (Plain of Antioch). The Hittite homeland
escaped the extreme cold of winters in the highlands further east, in
parts approaching 2,000 meters above sea level. Most of the Hittite
homeland lies at 1,000 to 1,300 meters.
To the north the homeland was fringed by the forest-clad Pontic
highlands south of the Black Sea, a rich source of timber and also of
copper and other mineral deposits, though many too small and remote
to be commercially viable today. Here the rainfall is relatively high,
with winds from the north bringing rain along the Black Sea littoral and
into the highlands behind even in summer. Hattusa (Boğazköy) itself
stood exposed to northerly winds, giving cool weather at times in
summer, the winters being bitterly cold.
To the southwest extended the region south of the Salt Lake, today
semiarid and probably little different in Hittite times. Much of the
Konya Plain (the Lower Land) can be thus described. Immediately to
the east the region around Niğde yielded invaluable supplies of tin,
compensating for the end of the Old Assyrian trading network.
The Marrassantiya River, now the Red River (Kızıl Irmak),
provided a boundary from southeast to northwest for the Hittite
homeland. It was, however, no barrier to an advancing enemy, nor were
the rivers of Anatolia suitable for navigation. Their seasonal
fluctuations are extreme; and they drop sharply from the plateau down
to the Black Sea or Mediterranean or, with the Euphrates, into the
lowlands of Syria. Consequently, the rivers were of little use for
communication.
Did the Hittites choose the rather uninviting territory within the
great bend of the Marrassantiya River as their homeland? Or was it the
only region relatively empty on their arrival? It is impossible to be sure.
Overland movement with chariots or wagons was easy in the wide,
open expanses of central Anatolia. Thus the effectiveness of military
xxiv ● INTRODUCTION

deployments and commercial movements was assured. In the

mountainous lands to the north and east this did not apply; and there
were few natural routes to the Mediterranean. The first runs through the
Cilician Gates to the Cilician plain (Hittite Kizzuwadna), where Mersin,
Tarsus and Adana are the chief cities today. The second, to the west,
runs through the forests of the Taurus range down the Calycadnos (Gök
Su) valley to Silifke. The third, further west, reaches the sea by
Antalya. Hittite control of Kizzuwadna was essential for access to
Syria.
The routes westward toward the Aegean Sea presented no physical
barrier, so that it is perhaps remarkable that the evidence for trade with
Ahhiyawa (Mycenae) is sparse. That power had its eyes turned to the
ports of Syria, notably Ugarit, and en route to Cyprus (Alasiya).
There were less easy routes giving access to parts of the Black Sea
coast: the fierce independence of the inhabitants of the hinterland is
thus understandable.
Modern roads and means of transport have made comparisons
between ancient and contemporary Anatolia largely meaningless.
Nowadays every village in Turkey by law has vehicular access to the
public road system, a radical change for remoter districts. Today the
traditional building materials and methods have largely been
abandoned: the old timber-framed houses fall into decay, their owners
anxious for the amenities of modern living. It is therefore harder for the
visitor to Turkey to envisage aspects of life in Hittite times which were
more readily discernible only 50 years ago. The trebling of the pop-
ulation of Turkey since World War II has involved immense expansion
of cities and towns. This makes accounts by 19th-century travelers
especially relevant, and all the more so for their breadth of interests.
Çorum, Yozgat, Kayseri and Nevşehir are bases from which to
explore the Hittite homeland today, while for the Neo-Hittite period
Osmaniye lies close to the site of Karatepe and Ereğli to the Ivriz relief.

Political vicissitudes of the Hittite state

The Hittite kings left no king-lists, making it difficult to achieve

complete agreement on every detail of chronology. The most
straightforward division is between the Old Kingdom (ca.1680–1400
BC) and the New Kingdom or Empire (ca.1400–1180 BC). Description
of the 15th century BC as the Middle Kingdom is based solely on
linguistic developments during a time of political division and
weakness.
 INTRODUCTION ● xxv

Throughout their history the Hittites were never entirely free of

threats from surrounding peoples and states all too eager to take
advantage of any military, political or economic weakness. The survival
of the Hittite state lay as much in the lack of political cohesion among
its rivals as in its own strength.
The story begins with the people of Nesa (Kanes), as evidently
constituting the earliest documented focus of Hittite power in central
Anatolia, not unconnected with the wealth and influence of that city
arising from the Old Assyrian trade. At that stage, and indeed stretching
back well into the third millennium BC (Early Bronze Age), a network
of city-states seems to have dominated much of the Anatolian plateau,
controlling trade taken over by the Assyrian merchants.
The earliest in the enduring dynasty which, through one branch or
another, was to rule Hatti for some five centuries was Labarna, whose
name was so greatly respected as to become a royal title for each
succeeding king. Much more is known of his successor, Hattusili I,
whose achievements can be reckoned among the most enduring of all
the Hittite rulers. Not only did he aspire to military and economic
control over the wealthy lands to the southeast, extending from Aleppo
to Babylon, but he also endeavored to exalt the status of the kingship,
clouded in the final phase of his reign by internecine strife. This was
aggravated by a problem destined to recur at times, the absence of a
direct male heir. In the end it was his young grandson, Mursili I, who
was to continue the expansionist policy in the southeast, culminating in
the raid on Babylon (1595 BC). These two reigns mark the emergence
of Hatti as a leading Near Eastern power.
Yet at the moment of triumph the assassin’s blow was to imperil all
that had been gained. The murder of Mursili I by his brother-in-law
inaugurated a long period of internecine strife, eventually restrained by
the Proclamation of Telipinu, laying down regulations for the
succession to the throne, which were more or less adhered to thereafter.
Successive assassinations had created a demand for law and order.
Military successes marked the reign of Tudhaliya I/II and the dawn
of the Empire. He stands indeed in the same rank as his two illustrious
predecessors. Yet his achievements were not to prove enduring. This
time it was external threats which were to endanger the very survival of
the state, brought to a low point by invaders from all directions at once,
as vividly described in the annals of Tudhaliya III. Even Hattusa, the
capital, fell.
Still, all was not lost. The counter-attacks were led, from before his
gaining the throne, by Suppiluliuma, destined to become the most
successful of all the Hittite kings, not merely to recover territories
xxvi ● INTRODUCTION

recently overrun but also to extend the power of Hatti deep into Syria
and across the Euphrates River into Mitanni. The Hittite Empire, now
one of the leading powers of the Near East, came into direct
confrontation with Egypt, then in a period of relative weakness; and for
a brief moment it seemed possible that a political alliance through
marriage might have united the two powers under Hittite leadership.
Even at its zenith, however, the Hittite realm was vulnerable to
rebellions by vassals and dissension within the royal family. Violence
reverberated down the generations. The divisions which ultimately laid
low the Hittite power may possibly be traced back as far as the slaying
of the heir to the throne of Tudhaliya III by his younger son,
Suppiluliuma I. His son Mursili II attributed the plague which ravaged
the land for 20 years largely to his father’s sins, among which neglect
of certain religious festivals weighed as heavily as his fratricide.
Suppiluliuma devoted most of his energies, after regaining the lost
lands in Anatolia, to the southeast, to the reduction of minor kingdoms
of north Syria and the major diplomatic gain of securing the support of
the rich city of Ugarit as a vassal, lured away from its fealty to Egypt.
To the east the kingdom of Mitanni was subjugated and the nascent
power of Assyria curbed.
The regions north and west of the Hittite homeland demanding
attention—the lands of Kaska, Arzawa and their neighbours—remained
to be subjugated by Mursili II, the fifth and youngest son of
Suppiluliuma, whose interests in Syria were guarded by two older
brothers, appointed in their father’s reign as viceroys of Aleppo and
Carchemish. Mursili II’s reign is distinctive for its legacy of royal
annals, the principal evidence of Hittite leadership in ancient Near East-
ern historiography. It is also remarkable for his two surviving brothers’
acceptance of his designation to the throne of Hattusa. Fratricide was
not to be repeated.
The annals of the next king, Muwatalli II, have not been recovered,
so that question marks hang over these years. Two events stand out: the
removal of the seat of government south from Hattusa to Tarhuntassa
and the battle of Kadesh, after lengthy mustering of forces. The result
was a draw in favor of the Hittites, who regained control of lands in
Syria wrested from them by Seti I, the father of Ramesses II. But
Muwatalli met a probably violent end soon afterward, the throne pass-
ing to his son Urhi-Tesub.
Certainly it was with this reign that a division appeared in the royal
family with repercussions over the next half century. Muwatalli seems
to have been unaware of the legacy he would bequeath, when he gave
his brother Hattusili virtually viceregal powers over a wide tract along
 INTRODUCTION ● xxvii

the sensitive border with the Kaska lands lying to the north. This
became a provocation for his nephew Urhi-Tesub, less experienced in
war and peace than his uncle. The usurpation of the throne by the latter
followed. There ensued a reign more notable for international
diplomacy than military successes, partly owing to the advanced years
of Hattusili III, perhaps 50 on his seizure of the throne. There began too
an inordinate attention to building and endowing temples, which were
to occupy the greater part of the Upper City of Boğazköy (Hattusa).
Indeed the major undertaking of restoration of the capital after its sack
in the time of Tudhaliya III, begun in the 14th century BC, was
continued with renewed vigor by Hattusili III and his son and successor
Tudhaliya IV.
By his reign the Hittite Empire was showing signs of decline, most
dramatically in defeat at the hands of Assyria. A wide swathe of
territory, created as the kingdom of Tarhuntassa in the south, around the
Taurus highlands, seems to have become virtually independent under
the rule of Kurunta, a son of Muwatalli II. In spite of outwardly friendly
relations between the cousins, Kurunta must have believed he had as
strong a claim to the throne as Tudhaliya IV. Rebellion ensued, with a
short-lived seizure of Hattusa. Tudhaliya IV, however, soon regained
his throne. The Hittite Empire was far from expiring, for military
activity continued in the far west.
The full range of factors behind the final fall of Hatti is uncertain.
Luwian influence at the heart of government is perhaps implied by the
adoption of the hieroglyphic script, best suited for inscriptions on rock
faces or masonry. The last king of Hatti, Suppiluliuma II, was a
vigorous ruler, extending his campaigning even to Cyprus. The Hittite
nobility—the essential support through the generations of the monarchy
—seems to have perished or dispersed, in part to north Syria, in the
obscure events in the early 12th century BC commonly associated with
the Sea Peoples. Luwian elements survived, however, at the head of a
number of principalities in Tabal (centered on the Kayseri-Sivas
region), the old Lower Land and beyond. The direct Hittite legacy was
manifested until as late as the eighth century BC not in the former
Anatolian homeland but in the Neo-Hittite zone to the southeast, most
notably at Carchemish and Malatya.
At Boğazköy itself and elsewhere a “dark age” followed the fall of
the Hittite Empire, with clear archaeological indications of newcomers,
evidently from the north. Though the break in cultural continuity may
have been less abrupt than long supposed, Anatolia was never the same
again. The literate, highly organized bureaucracy of Hattusa had
xxviii ● INTRODUCTION

vanished forever, its memory not to be recovered until the Germans

began excavations (1906).

Neighbors and contemporaries

At various times reckoned as international powers—a status recognized

through the title of “Great King” —Aleppo was the earliest such threat
to Hittite ambitions, in the days of Hattusili I. Behind it lay Mitanni, in
the 16th century BC emerging as a danger to Hatti in the east, being the
constant support of Hurrian groups pressing in on the Hittite domain, at
one stage even controlling Kizzuwadna and thus cutting the Hittites off
from the rich trade of Syria. The kingdom of Mitanni could boast of
advanced chariotry and horsemanship, influencing the Hittite army. But
it had one fatal weakness, the murderous rivalry between branches of
the royal dynasty. Moreover, it lacked naturally defensible borders. In
the end, after its defeat by Suppiluliuma I, it was absorbed by the rising
power of Assyria.
To the south, the Egyptian New Kingdom extended its rule in Asia
as far as the bend of the Euphrates River in north Syria, confronting
Mitanni but in due course establishing diplomatic relations by the tried
method of royal marriages. Egypt controlled the Mediterranean coast,
including the territory of Ugarit. The weak foreign policy of Egypt,
from the reign of Amenhotep III (1390–1352 BC) onward, made the
small kingdoms of Syria more prepared to switch their allegiance from
Egypt to Hatti. But the balance of power in this region depended as
much on Egyptian vicissitudes as on the energy of Hittite kings and
their viceroys. The advent of the 19th Dynasty brought an aggressive
expansion under Seti I (1294–1279 BC), which Muwatalli had to
accept. The death of Seti I brought a young new pharaoh, Ramesses II,
stronger in courage than generalship. This gave Muwatalli his chance.
Amurru and Kadesh were recovered, with the battle of Kadesh leading
16 years later to a treaty which brought international peace to Syria-
Palestine until the fall of Hatti.
In western Anatolia Arzawa was a loose coalition only rarely
centralized enough seriously to threaten the Hittite homeland. Yet
successive Hittite kings found it essential to curb the desires of its
vassals for independence or their being drawn into the sphere of
Arzawa or even of the Mycenaean state (Ahhiyawa). Mursili II was
successful in dividing and ruling these western lands, though recurrent
punitive expeditions were called for in later reigns.
The least sophisticated of the Hittites’ neighbors, with no tradition
of centralized authority, were the Kaska tribes in the Pontic hills to the
 INTRODUCTION ● xxix

north of the Hittite homeland. Yet it was these who proved the least
tractable of all the enemies of Hatti, never effectively subjugated.
Kaska elements came into their old enemy’s land on the fall of Hattusa,
squatting in its ruins.

Hittite civilization and society

Hittite society reflected the general characteristics of daily life and

material culture throughout Anatolia, with shared traditions largely
distinct from those of the lands to the south and southeast. Anatolian
culture was of course much influenced by the older urban societies of
Assyria, Babylonia and Syria. The Assyrian impact was strongest
through the activities of the merchants who conducted a highly
organized long-distance trade over some three centuries (ca.2050–1750
BC). Later on, Babylon probably had a greater impact, with the
importation of scribes to the Hittite court. Hittite rule in north Syria
inevitably introduced elements hitherto not found in the Hittite
homeland: one example is the winged sun -disk, derived from Egypt.
It is almost impossible to detect socioeconomic differences
between Hatti and its neighbors, owing to the lack of written records
from the latter. The king, the royal family and the major temples
wielded decisive economic power, controlling much of the labor force
and exacting taxes in kind from the less dependent inhabitants.
Manpower—and womanpower, too, in the fields—was the decisive
resource. A chronic shortage of manpower can be only partly explicable
by the demands of the army and the intermittent ravages of famine and
plague. The temples certainly diverted many men from productive
work, though administering extensive estates.
Warfare was an economic as well as a political necessity, with
deportation of prisoners of war a regular feature of Hittite policy. This
worked adequately so long as the political center stood firm. Once
developments began which presaged the final decline and fall of the
government centered on Hattusa, the thousands of those who cannot
have believed themselves genuinely Hittite were ready to desert their
masters.
War could be conducted only through the military caste or nobility
surrounding the throne, whose support depended on the qualities of the
king ruling at the time. He had perforce to trust his seasoned generals,
quite often named in the surviving records, though the first rank under
the king was accorded to his heir from a surprisingly early age. Life
expectancy even in the royal family was not long, and years of
energetic good health even less so. No doubt the rigors of constant
xxx ● INTRODUCTION

campaigning accounted for this. Consequently, many recorded military

actions were led by the crown prince of the day or by a younger son.
Chariotry provided the shock force whereby the Hittite army could
overpower its enemies, most of whom could not afford the outlay
required. Infantry were more evenly matched: where chariotry could
not be deployed, the issue was liable to be less certain. This is
especially evident in conflicts with the recalcitrant northern tribes in
their forest-clad hills. These constituted the major and recurrent threat
to the very survival of the Hittite state.
Though in origins a military monarchy, the Hittite Empire during
its final century became increasingly theocratic, with an inordinate
proportion of the resources of the realm and of the king’s and queen’s
time devoted to religious festivals, with endowments to the leading
temples. Some see such a trend as an indication of an introverted
attitude in the face of growing external threats. Yet the gravest dangers
came on the whole from dissension in and around the royal family.
Such strife could emerge from the traditional status enjoyed by the
queen mother, often to the detriment of her son or stepson. Polygamy,
not normal in Hittite society, was permitted the king. A particularly
bloody period of assassinations was followed by a largely successful
attempt to lay down clear rules for the succession, in the Proclamation
of Telipinu.
Inevitably the principal inspiration for the arts came from the royal
court, and was largely concentrated in the capital city of Hattusa
(Boğazköy). There were, however, numerous and widely distributed
rock reliefs, located from the Aegean almost to the upper Euphrates
River. Many are associated with springs or rivers. The centralized
character of Hittite art is demonstrated by the sharing of the same
motifs between reliefs and, on a far smaller scale, seals and jewelry.
Style of clothing, including footwear, and muscular representations of
the human form are both uniquely Hittite. This legacy was perpetuated
through several centuries after the fall of the Hittite Empire.
In the more humdrum manifestations of material culture, including
pottery and metal tools and weapons, the Hittites are not altogether
distinguishable from their Anatolian neighbors. It is, anyhow, inadvis-
able to attach ethnic labels to artifacts. Admittedly, however, the Late
Bronze Age pottery of central Anatolia and some regions to the south-
east differs from that found elsewhere in Anatolia, being marked by a
monotony resulting from a degree of mass production.
Perhaps some insight can be gained into the outlook of the Hittite
population from the gods and goddesses they worshiped, though these
had much in common with those revered outside the Hittite lands.
 INTRODUCTION ● xxxi

Inevitably the universe and the powers shaping the weather loomed
large, with the sun foremost in the pantheon, later displaced by the god
of weather and storm. The harvest had to be secured by appointed
prayers and rituals. Before battle the omens had to be consulted and the
appropriate rituals performed; failure to observe these rituals could
make the difference between victory and defeat. Above all, life after
death required, especially for the royal family, protracted ceremonies
before and after cremation. The divinities of the Underworld were as
fearful as their gloomy abode.
The Hittites can nevertheless be credited with certain attitudes
which give them an image a fraction closer to modern ideals than that
displayed by their supposedly more sophisticated contemporaries
elsewhere in the Near East, notably in Syria and Mesopotamia. Women
were in some respects, as in the context of rape, better treated than
elsewhere in the second millennium BC. Capital punishment was
restricted to a minority of crimes and offenses against the moral code.
Though slavery became more widespread as time passed, it was not
always entirely oppressive for the individual concerned. The gods and
goddesses had to be kept satisfied by performance of the precise rituals
required by each of them. Wrongdoing brought its punishment even on
succeeding generations. Respect for the ancestors was a prerequisite for
a successful reign; and later kings of the Hittite Empire showed
particular devotion to the memory of their namesakes generations back.
Three or four kings bore the name of Tudhaliya, three Arnuwanda and
possibly three Hattusili. The last king of the Empire echoed in his name
the greatest of all the Hittite kings, Suppiluliuma I. There was thus a
strong sense of dynastic identity, not diminished by the ever more
prominent influence of Hurrians at the Hittite court.
The economy of the Hittite realm was remarkably centralized, a
source of strength under the more successful kings but of serious, even
fatal weakness at times of defeat and during the final decline and
disintegration. While the Assyrian merchants had introduced a form of
private enterprise, the family firm, from Assur to Kanes and in due
course to other trading colonies in central Anatolia, the bureaucracy
which characterized the Hittite state ensured regular payments in kind
to the royal treasury in Hattusa. Its only competitors were the major cult
centers, with assured revenues from their estates and from worshipers,
from the king downwards. Such centers had a corporate identity
enduring through successive generations, in contrast to the vicissitudes
of inheritance in individual families. There was special satisfaction at
the recovery of the revered shrine of Nerik from the northerners after
several generations.
xxxii ● INTRODUCTION

The ethnic and cultural elements contributing to make Hittite civil-

ization what it became in the 14th and 13th centuries BC were essent-
ially fourfold. The Indo-European components were the Hittite and the
Luwian. The Hattians, long seen as the indigenous pre-Hittite popul-
ation of central Anatolia, may in fact have arrived later than hitherto
supposed but well before the emergence of the Hittites as a political
force to be reckoned with. This is a point of continuing debate. The
Luwians, whose hallmark is the hieroglyphic script, became ever more
dominant in the population of the Hittite homeland, so much so that
Luwian had displaced Hittite as the spoken language early in the
Empire; and it was the Luwian traditions which persisted in the so-
called Neo-Hittite principalities, which were heirs to the Hittite Empire
in the southeast.
The Hurrian contribution to Hittite civilization became particularly
prominent in the 13th century BC, after the Hurrian tribes pressing in
from the east had ceased to pose a threat to Hatti. The royal family had
married into Hurrian bloodstock from the opening of the New Kingdom
(Empire), as indicated by personal names. There is no evidence,
however, to suggest a less aggressive policy toward lands to the east,
including Isuwa across the Euphrates River. It was Puduhepa, the
young priestess from the Anti-Taurus region, who systematically
introduced—with the full support of her husband Hattusili, before and
after his seizure of the throne—the Hurrian pantheon, familiar in the
reliefs of the shrine of Yazilikaya. Hurrian influence undoubtedly
permeated the royal court in Hattusa, notably in literature and music.
How extensive it became outside Hattusa, in the small towns and
villages, surely varied with their location. To the north and west the
Hurrian impact was weaker.
Who then precisely were the Hittites? It may seem strange to pose
this question at the conclusion of this introduction. Questions of ident-
ity revolve around cultural factors, notably language, religion and gov-
ernment, far more than around genetic inheritance. Studies of DNA can
illuminate the dark recesses of ethnic movements, and thus point
toward possible homelands; but in themselves they can reveal little or
nothing of the character of the population in question. Those seeking
answers to this problem of identity may look to different sources of
evidence: to religion through written and iconographic records; to
methods of warfare; to the laws and charisma surrounding kingship;
and, most complex of all, to clues for the ancestry of Hittite and the
other Anatolian languages. This last, the field of linguistics, is a
minefield for the unwary or dogmatic enquirer and a discipline
approached with understandable caution by the archaeologist. Perhaps
 INTRODUCTION ● xxxiii

it is safest to identify the Hittites with their kings and nobility and royal
court, for without these they would not have played their role among
the leading powers of the ancient Near East. While absorbing
cosmopolitan elements—exemplified by the eight languages attested at
Hattusa—they yet retained their Anatolian character, in its ultimate
roots Indo-European but long diluted and diversified.

Conclusion

Emerging from the ever-increasing body of data on the Hittites is a

kaleidoscope of disparate elements tending to form a picture on which
unanimity is never likely to be achieved. The Hittites are worthy of
study as one of the great powers of the ancient Near East, as recognized
for some decades. Their full identity and achievements in their
Anatolian homeland remain tantalizingly elusive in certain respects. It
is hoped that this Historical Dictionary of the Hittites will lift at least
some of the fog and will stimulate further inquiry.
 The Dictionary

-A-

ABSOLUTE CHRONOLOGY. The dates of kings’ reigns in the dif-

ferent states of the ancient Near East are significant for piecing to-
gether the pattern of international relations and the mechanisms of
diplomacy. King lists give regnal years; but they do not in them-
selves answer the question of how they should be moved up or
down the columns of a chronological table. Babylon, Assyria and
especially Egypt provide a framework for Hittite and other chro-
nologies to which all other dates have to be attached. A modifica-
tion of Egyptian requires the same for Hittite dates. It is the chro-
nology of the 18th and 19th Dynasties of New Kingdom Egypt
which is most directly relevant for the Hittite Old Kingdom and
Empire.
For the immediately preceding years the reign of Hammurabi,
the greatest king of the First Dynasty of Babylon, and the Hittite
raid on Babylon under Mursili I are the focal points for the abso-
lute chronology of Mesopotamia and surrounding lands. The so-
called middle chronology places his reign—known to have lasted
42 years—at 1792–1750 BC, with the Hittite raid at 1595 BC. The
high chronology dates Hammurabi to 1848–1806 BC and the raid
on Babylon to 1651 BC, while the low chronology gives dates of
1728–1686 BC and 1531 BC respectively.
Based in southern Mesopotamia but extending its sway far
north, the Third Dynasty of Ur (Ur III) lasted 108 years (2113–
2004 BC). The occurrence of seals of Ur III style provides a
chronological link with Kültepe (karum II); but a firmer correla-
tion is between karum IB and Samsi-Adad I of Assyria (middle
chronology: 1813–1781 BC), through the coincidence of limmu-
names.
The Assyrian king-list affords a chronological anchor from the
mid-second millennium BC, though links with Hittite kings are few
before Suppiluliuma I.
The dates given here follow the middle chronology for the ear-
lier phases, until the rise of the New Kingdom in Egypt and the
rather later beginning of the Hittite New Kingdom (Empire), after
which a slightly lower chronology is followed, with the long reign
of Ramesses II beginning in 1279 rather than 1304 or 1290 BC.
2 ● ACEMHÖYÜK

The lengths of each reign are undisputed, apart from one or two
question marks in the period of Tell el-Amarna, with the compli-
cations of coregencies in Egypt. Dates for Hittite kings’ reigns be-
fore the Empire can only be estimated, with the one fixed point of
the raid on Babylon. See also RELATIVE CHRONOLOGY.

ACEMHÖYÜK (BURUSHATTUM/ PURUSHANDA). This settle-

ment mound, one of the largest in central Anatolia, is situated 14
kilometers west of the town of Aksaray and about 20 kilometers
from the south end of the Salt Lake (Tuz Gölü). Excavations have
been undertaken there since 1962, under the direction of Nimet
Özgüç. After a few years’ interruption, work was resumed in 1988;
and in 1989 the direction of these excavations was passed to Dr.
Aliye Özten. The expedition has been under the aegis of the Uni-
versity of Ankara and the Turkish Historical Foundation.
The identification of Acemhöyük with Burushattum of the
Akkadian texts and Purushanda of the Hittite texts is generally,
though not unanimously, agreed. An alternative identification of
Acemhöyük with Zalpa “by the sea,” with the latter taken to be the
Salt Lake rather than the normally accepted Black Sea, lacks credi-
bility. There is a difficulty, however, in that the most prosperous
phase of Burushattum, on the textual evidence, seems to have been
during the period of Kültepe-Karum II, when it was particularly
prominent, along with the kingdoms of Kanes and Wahsusana,
and when its ruler enjoyed the title of ruba’um rabi-um, (King of
Kings). The major archaeological remains come from a level con-
temporary not with Kültepe II but IB.
A deep sounding on the east side of the mound reached an oc-
cupation level (10) with some pottery paralleled in Tarsus Early
Bronze II, Mersin and Karahöyük (Konya). Painted “metallic
ware” is characteristic of the Early Bronze II period at Acem-
höyük, in the Konya Plain and in the Taurus Mountains. Another
trench, on the south side of the mound, revealed four levels ante-
dating the main palatial building period, from Early Bronze Age
onward.
The most important period by far at Acemhöyük is dominated
by a large palatial building, initially distinguished as two separate
structures, the palaces of Sarıkaya and Hatipler Tepesi, with the
latter on a grid plan and functioning largely as a storehouse. This is
now seen, however, as essentially one and the same building with
Sarıkaya, though the latter includes the most prestigious residential
and public quarters. Heavily burnt in the destruction ending its life-
 ACEMHÖYÜK ● 3

time, from this palace abundant charred timbers were recovered,

demonstrating the timber-frame construction so widespread
through Anatolia and exemplified even more dramatically in the
fire which destroyed the approximately contemporary palace of
Beycesultan V, in the Arzawa lands of southwestern Anatolia.
Pine and juniper were the woods most abundantly used at
Kültepe and Acemhöyük alike for building work, with rather less
cedar and rarely boxwood and oak. The rarity of oak is surprising,
seeing it was so commonly in use in Anatolia during the Middle
Ages. Timbers at Acemhöyük were not extensively shaped, though
peeled by the carpenters.
Though sharing the general Anatolian structural techniques,
the palace of Acemhöyük represents a local tradition in many of its
features. These are most graphically displayed in the decoration of
a bathtub: it seems reasonable to suppose that the major building it
depicts is in fact the palace. It has an open façade with two stories
of balconies over a socle, with slender supporting wooden posts
with large flat capitals, the lower posts being taller than the striped
upper posts. Openwork railings serve as parapets for the balconies.
Stairs are clearly if sketchily shown in two locations. Solid black,
checkerboard or criss-cross linear patterns represent the walls. It
has been suggested that the design of this palace indicates close
connections with Minoan Crete; but there is a radical difference.
While the façades of the palace of Acemhöyük look outward, the
Minoan palaces look inward on to a central court.
Bullae and seal impressions provide much of the evidence of
economic activity here and in other centers, as well as suggesting
the functions of various rooms. They occur in almost every
ground-floor room of Sarıkaya and Hatipler Tepesi, thus through-
out the palace, except in those rooms which were filled with large
storage jars (pithoi). Bullae impressed with the same seal were
found in the same storeroom, especially those containing jars with
covers or lids. It might be thought that such lumps of clay, once the
goods sealed by them had been unpacked, would be of no further
use; but that would be to ignore the necessity of record keeping for
business purposes. After removal of incoming merchandise, their
bullae or labels were saved, collected in two special rooms and
filed on wooden shelves along the walls, forming a commercial ar-
chive. The bullae arriving at Acemhöyük were attached to various
types and sizes of container or package, sometimes secured with
string or cord, string holes being visible on some bullae.
The name of the owner included on a bulla inscription can be
4 ● ACEMHÖYÜK

useful in suggesting the origin of the merchandise. Moreover, for-

eign rulers occurring on bullae indicate some of the commercial
connections of the merchants of Acemhöyük: such are Samsi-Adad
I of Assyria (1813–1781 BC), Aplahanda of Carchemish, Anum-
Hirbi of Mama and a daughter of Zimri-Lim of Mari. It is the ar-
chaeological finds, however, which add weight to the evidence of
close trading links with Syria, including ivories and objects of lapis
lazuli and rock crystal. One particularly fine example is a carved
ivory box with crowded design and with bronze, iron and lapis
lazuli studs. From the palace, other buildings on the mound and the
lower city comes a wealth of metalwork, ivories, terracottas, stone
vases and, last but not least, the glyptic art of the numerous bullae
with their cylinder and stamp-seal impressions in different styles,
including the native Anatolian. The stone vessels include some
made of obsidian. Among the metalwork are lead figurines, for
some of which the molds have been found.
The glyptic art of Acemhöyük, together with that of Kültepe-
Kanes, is discussed elsewhere, and has been the subject perhaps of
greatest interest and a special concern of Nimet Özgüç. It is worth
mentioning here the suggestions that the seals betray in their de-
signs art on a larger scale, such as mural paintings, reliefs in gate-
ways or divine statues, the last being the most probable. Whether
the seal cutters were inspired by sculptors and painters or vice
versa one cannot be sure, although it is hard to believe that works
on such a small scale could have been the dominant artistic influ-
ence.
One thing is seemingly almost certain, that Burushattum was a
leading actor on the political scene as early as the days of Sargon
of Agade and Naramsin, and likewise was playing a major eco-
nomic role. There is as yet a dearth of documentary evidence for
the details of its trading colony (karum) in the time of Kültepe II,
apart from the tablets from that site, where the Old Assyrian trade
was centered. This seems to have been so, even if Burushattum
was every bit as powerful and prosperous as Kanes at that time. In
the later period of the Assyrian trade, Kültepe IB, levels of that
time were reached outside the mound at Acemhöyük at a depth of
seven meters. Thus a lower city, doubtless housing the merchants,
stood here at an absolute level some 22 meters below that of the
contemporary Sarıkaya palace.
Acemhöyük provides data for the relative and absolute chro-
nology of central Anatolia in the early second millennium BC
(Middle Bronze Age), obtained from comparative dating and
 ADAD-NIRARI I ● 5

physical analyses through radiocarbon and dendrochronology.

That the palace of Acemhöyük was active at least as late as the
conquest of Mari by Samsi-Adad I (ca.1810 BC) is suggested by
cylinder-seal impressions of an official known also from Mari and
Tell Leilan to the northeast. The data from dendrochronology indi-
cate a dating of 1791 +- 37 BC for the construction of the palace of
Acemhöyük, unlikely to have been occupied for less than the
minimum life span of 61 years assigned by the same technique to
the palace of Warsama, king of Kanes (Kültepe IB). That was built
58 years before the construction of the palace of Acemhöyük, sug-
gesting a dating around 1850 BC for the beginning of Kültepe IB,
in turn tending to support not too low a dating for Kültepe II, plau-
sibly ca.2050/2000–1900 BC, with a minimum of a century indi-
cated by the limmu names. Accepting the dendrochronological
(tree-ring) dating for the palace of Sarıkaya (Acemhöyük), a much
longer time-span than widely accepted is implied for Kültepe IB,
unless the Assyrian trade is thought to have continued some dec-
ades later at Burushattum, until at least ca.1750 BC. That seems
unlikely, seeing that Kanes was the main center of that trade in
Anatolia. Therefore a date of around 1750 BC for the destruction
of Acemhöyük III (the palace) and Kültepe-karum IB seems to be
indicated, though the recovery of the Old Assyrian trading network
evidently came some decades later to Burushattum than to Kanes.
The final stages of the Assyrian trade were marked by decline,
though at Acemhöyük successive building levels were constructed
over the burnt ruins of the palace.
Undoubtedly Acemhöyük must have been a major center of
industry as well as trade, though it is rather hard to understand such
prosperity located in one of the least hospitable areas of Anatolia,
with its low rainfall and the proximity of the Salt Lake. Perhaps
this was less saline 4,000 years ago? Its workshops must have
been very busy, among them those of the ironsmiths, producing
items such as the throne and scepter presented as a gift or tribute to
Anitta, king of Kanes.
The Old Assyrian trade never recovered from the unrest of the
immediate sequel to its ending ca.1700 BC or slightly earlier.
Many cities, among them Burushattum, vanished for good, unlike
Hattusa. When commerce revived, it took a very different form,
being controlled by the palace, the centralized administration of the
Hittite kingdom.

ADAD-NIRARI I (1295–1264 BC). He continued Assyrian expansion

6 ● AGRIG

westward toward the Euphrates River, capturing the city of Taide,

which had replaced Wassukanni as the capital of Mitanni. He was
rebuffed by Urhi-Tesub on writing to him in terms of “brother-
hood.” Hattusili III characteristically adopted a more conciliatory
stance toward the rising power of Assyria, accepting the loss de
facto of Hanigalbat.

AGRIG. Most references to this official occur in the Hittite records

broadly defined as “festival texts,” the agrig fulfilling the func-
tions of a quartermaster, responsible for the food, drink and other
rations required by the local temple and described in detail. Unlike
the senior palace officials, military commanders and high priests,
normally recruited from the extended royal family, the agrig did
not enjoy high social status. Lists and sequences of agrigs show
some geographical clustering, but these were not itineraries. At
least 29 in all are recorded and maybe a few more. The major clus-
ters were in the north, including Nerik, Hanhana and Kastama,
and in central Hatti, with three near Hattusa, including Ankuwa.
Other centers with an agrig were located in eastern Hatti, in the
Upper Land and southwest of Samuha; and widely scattered cen-
ters in the Lower Land included Tuwanuwa. It seems clear that
these centers, given the function of the agrig, were associated with
cults of differing importance.

AHHIYAWA. Few topics have aroused greater controversy than the

identity and location of this land. In the 1920s Emil Forrer
equated Ahhiyawa with the Homeric Achaia, observing that Homer
refers not to Greeks but to Achaeans. His view attracted both sup-
porters and skeptics. Locations for Ahhiyawa have been proposed
for the western mainland of Anatolia, the Aegean islands, Thrace
and the mainland of Mycenaean Greece. In fact most specialists
have envisaged its extending over more than one of these. The least
plausible location would be entirely on the Anatolian mainland.
With the title of “Great King” for the rulers of Ahhiyawa, it cannot
have covered only a very restricted area; and western Anatolia now
appears fully occupied by the various components of Arzawa, be-
fore and after its division by Mursili II. Likewise a carefully ar-
gued case for locating Ahhiyawa as an island realm with a narrow
coastal strip on the Anatolian mainland from Millawanda south-
eastward, centered perhaps in the island of Rhodes and subsisting
in large part by its command of the sea route from the Aegean to
Cyprus and the Levant, lacks credibility. How could such a limited
 AHHIYAWA ● 7

territory be ruled by a Great King?

Essential to the location of Ahhiyawa are references to men
fleeing across the sea, notably Uhhaziti of Arzawa and, most ex-
plicitly, Piyamaradu. This would fit a location of Ahhiyawa in
Thrace, but that goes against identifying Millawanda as Miletos.
This leaves only Mycenaean Greece, a location fitting the archaeo-
logical evidence of a Mycenaean presence at Millawanda and
elsewhere along the Aegean coast. The language of Ahhiyawa
would therefore have been Mycenaean Greek rather than, for ex-
ample, Luwian, as would have been likely if Ahhiyawa were to be
centered between Miletos and Rhodes. This may still have been
spoken by most of the population of that region, even though for a
time at least it was under Mycenaean control, without being part of
the central homeland.
The difficulty of determining Hittite relations with Ahhiyawa
lies largely in the fundamental divergence of their interests, the one
being a land-based power with only intermittent maritime interests,
and those largely near the end of the Empire, and the other being
concerned with command of the maritime trade routes through the
Aegean and the east Mediterranean. Whereas the Hittite Empire
stood as one of the great powers of the Near East and precursor of
the Assyrian state and other powers of the first millennium BC,
Ahhiyawa (Mycenae) in economic terms foreshadowed the Phoe-
nician cities and their adventurous sailors. It seems a reasonable
guess that the rulers of Ahhiyawa saw the outside world very dif-
ferently from the kings of Hatti, nor were their priorities similar.
Both textual and archaeological evidence, the latter mainly in
the form of pottery, indicate that the area of closest contact be-
tween Ahhiyawa and the Anatolian mainland was around Apasa
(Ephesus), the royal center of Arzawa, where excavations are re-
vealing Late Bronze Age occupation levels. The close involvement
of Ahhiyawa with Millawanda is quite well documented. The pot-
tery found along the Aegean littoral, from Troy southward as far as
the island of Rhodes, suggests an ethnic and cultural mix, demon-
strated by pottery of Anatolian, Mycenaean and Minoan affinities.
Pottery from the northern and central littoral is largely Anatolian,
while in the south there is a large percentage of Mycenaean wares.
In addition to this ceramic evidence, such sites as Trianda and Lin-
dos on Rhodes were likely palatial centers; and Iasos was a flour-
ishing community with a rich cemetery. Rhodes would have bene-
fited from its position guarding the sea route from Mycenae to
Ugarit and other ports in the east.
8 ● AKURGAL

References to Ahhiyawa occur in Hittite texts over almost two

centuries. The earliest is in the Madduwatta Text, of the time of
Arnuwanda I (ca.1380 BC), when Attarisya (Atreus?) was king of
Ahhiyawa, mentioned in the Hittite text as “the man of Ahhiya,”
the early form of the name. He clearly commanded considerable
forces by land and sea, for he is recorded as having many chariots
as well as raiding Alasiya (Cyprus), which became a major focus
of Mycenaean settlement and trade. Then come the annals of Mur-
sili II, when Apasa, Troy and Millawanda were all coastal towns.
In the reign of Hattusili III the Tawagalawa letter was in effect an
appeal to the king of Ahhiyawa to hand over the renegade Piyama-
radu, whom the Hittite king had failed to capture: this was a tacit
admission of failure. But Hattusili had other priorities, and did not
wish for further entanglement in the west. Under Tudhaliya IV the
text entitled “Sins of the Seha River Land” finds the king of Ah-
hiyawa supporting the ruler of that land, Tarhunaradu. The last im-
portant reference to Ahhiyawa comes in the Sausgamuwa treaty
made by Tudhaliya IV with the vassal king of Amurru, containing
a prohibition of Assyrian use of his ports—at a time when Hatti
and Assyria were at loggerheads—and by implication an obstacle
to Ahhiyawan sea trade with the region by then equivalent to mod-
ern Lebanon. This is the famous text in which the king of Ahhi-
yawa—along with those of Egypt, Babylon and Assyria—is in-
cluded by the Hittite king in the top rank of international affairs,
being granted the title of Great King, the name of Ahhiyawa being
then deleted. Much discussion has revolved round this deletion.
Was it a mere scribal error? Hardly likely! A mark of a change of
attitude by Tudhaliya IV and a desire to demote Ahhiyawa? Con-
ceivably. The result of a sudden decline in the power of Ahhiyawa
in western Anatolia? This seems the most probable explanation.
Relations between Hatti and Ahhiyawa had been cool but relatively
peaceful. This changed with the successful intervention by Tud-
haliya IV, when Ahhiyawan control over Millawanda ceased, thus
causing the loss of its one major foothold on the Anatolian main-
land. Tudhaliya’s main concern, however, was to exclude Ahhi-
yawa from the Near East at a time when Assyria was the major
threat to Hatti. Thus Ahhiyawa automatically ceased to be a great
power, whatever the circumstances in the Mycenaean homeland.

AKURGAL, EKREM (1911–2002). While primarily known as a

Classical archaeologist and art historian, he was formerly director
of the School of Fine Arts in the University of Ankara. He has pub-
 ALACA HÖYÜK ● 9

lished general works on Hittite art and architecture: The Art of the
Hittites (1962) and The Birth of Greek Art (1968), the latter largely
devoted to Neo-Hittite civilization.

ALACA HÖYÜK: EARLY BRONZE II TOMBS. Situated 25 kilo-

meters north of Boğazköy, this easily accessible site is neverthe-
less far less visited than its more famous neighbor. This was the
site of the major pre–World War II Turkish-run excavation, di-
rected by the late Hamit Koşay, who, as director of the Hittite Mu-
seum (as it was then called) in Ankara, the new capital of the Turk-
ish Republic, organized the display of the major finds from 13
tombs, attributable to a stage during the third millennium BC. On
the high chronology, these tombs fall within the years ca.2800–
2600 BC, though still often dated to the later third millennium BC.
While the site was settled already in the fourth millennium
BC, the earliest major discovery is the cemetery of 13 pit graves,
each most probably with a canopy supported by corner posts sur-
mounted by a “standard” in the form of a stag or a bull or a trel-
lised disk, so called from the rather implausible suggestion that
they were carried in procession before the burial; another theory is
that they were mounted on wagons, but no traces of such have been
found. The bulls and stags, with massive dowels for attachment to
the tops of the corner posts, were of copper, inlaid and sometimes
partly sheathed in electrum. Concentric circles may have had some
esoteric significance.
Any belief that the trellised disks are solar emblems, repre-
senting a cult of the Sun-God or Sky-God, must stimulate debate
concerning the whole question of early Indo-Europeans in Ana-
tolia, their date of arrival and geographical limits, in this case in the
third millennium BC. Without doubt this group of richly furnished
tombs, sited at the edge of the town, demonstrates the cultural in-
terface between Anatolian (Near Eastern) craftsmanship and north-
ern (steppe) burial customs. A similar phenomenon appears else-
where, notably at Maikop in the Kuban valley, north of the
northwestern Caucasus. The skills of the indigenous population
are particularly evident in the metalwork, while the northern tradi-
tions are discernible in the pit graves, roofed with timber and then
covered with earth, with remains of animal sacrifices above. There
was, however, no tumulus (kurgan) above ground: in this respect
the northern tradition had been modified. Each tomb must have had
its own marker, for none overlap.
It does seem very possible that those buried in these tombs
10 ● ALACA HÖYÜK

were Indo-European intruders from the north or possibly from the

west, ruling over a more sophisticated central Anatolian popula-
tion. Swords, daggers, maceheads, battle-axes and spears may in-
dicate a warrior class. It may not be going too far to suggest these
were Hittites who had gained political power over the indigenous
Hattians, inhabitants of the great bend of the Halys River (Mar-
rassantiya), though the Hattians may have arrived after the initial
Hittite migration into the Anatolian plateau. Thus may have begun
the long process of cultural assimilation. Alaca Höyük was not the
only manifestation of the cultural interface between the steppes and
the Near East, a phenomenon seen from Troy in the west to Horoz-
tepe in central Anatolia and beyond.
The Alaca craftsmen had mastered hammering and casting in
open and closed molds and by the lost wax (cire perdue) method,
used for the difficult casting of a copper stag and “standard” com-
bined. A technique widely used in Anatolia in the third millennium
BC, as at Alaca, was the casting of arsenical bronze, producing an
attractive silvery surface. Hollowing or sinking and raising, for
making metal vessels, was also evident, in fluted jugs and goblets
of gold, silver, electrum, copper and bronze. These demonstrate
close parallels with contemporary pottery, as occur widely, though
fluting is more typical of Early Bronze Age pottery from western
rather than central Anatolia.
The skills of the Alaca goldsmiths, whose work is seen in the
13 tombs, bear comparison with those of the craftsmen of the ap-
proximately contemporary “Royal Cemetery” of Ur, in southern
Mesopotamia. A variety of techniques is apparent. Chasing, but not
engraving, was practiced, together with soldering, sweating, inlay
and repoussé work. Troy is the richest site for comparative material
(in Troy II).
Only cemeteries are likely to yield items of gold and silver.
The discoveries at Alaca Höyük surely indicate that it lay within
the range of distribution of metalworking skills common to much
of the Near East in the third millennium BC.
The Early Bronze II town of Alaca Höyük was destroyed by
newcomers, who appear not to have settled in the area, the site be-
ing only intermittently occupied until ca.1850 BC. When the town
rose to prominence again, it had become a principal center in the
Hittite state.

ALACA HÖYÜK: LATE BRONZE AGE. The most impressive re-

mains are the reliefs carved in andesite. The originals are now in
 ALACA HÖYÜK ● 11

Ankara in the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations, with excellent

replicas in their place. These reliefs certainly are older than those
of Yazılıkaya. There is, however, a similarity in the overall ar-
rangement of two processions from left and right meeting in the
center, the Storm-God at Alaca Höyük being on the left and a
seated goddess on the right.
In favor of the dating of these sculptures to the reign of Mu-
watalli II (1295–1272 BC) rather than to a date around 1400 BC is
the undoubted Egyptian inspiration for the two guardian figures
flanking the inner entrance to the focal sector of the town, giving it
the modern appellation of the Sphinx Gate. These figures have
heavy wigs and long hairstyle: it has even been suggested that they
may have become an ideal of feminine beauty for the Hittite ruling
class. Be that as it may, the Lion Gate in the outer perimeter of the
central enclosure probably marked the beginning of a processional
road to the inner entrance, the Sphinx Gate. This in turn leads into
what may best be described as a temple-palace, protected by a de-
fensive perimeter. Within the Sphinx Gate was a courtyard giving
access to a small square drained by a sewer. Beyond is a large rec-
tangular area with porticoes alongside. On the right was a public
building, evidently the palace, including private quarters, govern-
mental offices and a temple. At the end of this open space was a
postern tunnel leading outside the walls, and bringing to mind that
in the perimeter wall of the Upper City of Boğazköy-Hattusa.
Alaca was indeed a major city with an area of 40,000 square me-
ters and a diameter of 250 meters, prospering through successive
Hittite phases. Alaca IIIa ended about the time of the death of
Mursili II (1295 BC); and Alaca II continued till the fall of the
Empire. The fortifications befitted this prestigious city and cult
center, having towers along the city wall and a strong gateway.
The reliefs adorning the base of towers flanking the Sphinx
Gate are notable for their secular content and style. On the side of
the right-hand figure of the Sphinx Gate, where the sphinxes are
carved in frontal view only, a double-headed eagle, grasping two
rabbits or hares, was surmounted by a robed figure, possibly a king
or a goddess: this motif occurs already on Old Assyrian seals from
south central Anatolia. A readily recognizable scene depicts a king
and queen worshiping the Storm-God, represented by a bull on a
high stand with an altar in between. Elsewhere goats are being
taken for sacrifice. Some of the Alaca Höyük reliefs are of typi-
cally processional figures; but others are altogether secular in
spirit. Musicians and acrobats, the latter depicted swallowing a
12 ● ALALAKH

sword or climbing a ladder, are altogether less usual themes in the

art of the ancient Near East, implying perhaps a less dominant role
for the court religion than appears at Yazılıkaya two generations
later. Higher on the façade are hunting scenes, including wild boar,
especially vigorous in style. These scenes, as well as the sword-
swallower, point to a very possible association with the cult of the
goddess Teteshapi, attested by 40 or more tablets from Hattusa:
her festival was marked by music, dancing, games and acrobatics,
her cult being centered at Tawaniya, with which Alaca Höyük
may conceivably be identified. The Hattian identity of Teteshapi
reinforces a dating for the reliefs before the 13th century BC.
There are very strong arguments, however, for identifying
Alaca Höyük with Arinna. Alternative identifications, as with
Zippalanda or Kussara, are less plausible. Considerable wealth
must have accrued to this, the most revered of all Hittite cult cen-
ters, with economic activity exemplified by workshops attested in
the texts.

ALALAKH (TELL ATCHANA). This large settlement mound, with

an area of 750 x 300 meters, stands just east of the River Orontes,
in the Amuq plain. From the Early Bronze Age until the end of the
Late Bronze Age the excavations, directed by Sir Leonard Wool-
ley, revealed a sequence of 17 levels of occupation, the earliest be-
ing below the modern water table, contemporary with references to
Alalakh in the archives of Ebla.
Successive palaces and temples were excavated, the earliest
palace (ca.2000 BC) being followed by that of Alalakh VII. The
city was then a vassal of Yamhad, the kingdom of Aleppo, ruled
by Yarim-Lim, a contemporary of Hammurabi of Babylon. Some
of the 500 Akkadian cuneiform tablets come from this building,
recording trade with Syria, Babylonia and Alasiya (Cyprus). This
palace had two or three stories, some rooms having wall paintings
showing parallels with Minoan Crete. Basalt was used for or-
thostats as a dado for the rooms and courtyard of the most impor-
tant of the three sections of this palace, as well as for column bases
and door sills: it was to be the favorite material for the mason and
sculptor in north Syria for 1,000 years to come. The combination
of stone, timber and mudbrick was more typical of Anatolia than
of the Levant or Mesopotamia. Ivory inlays were produced at Ala-
lakh, with some of the storerooms containing elephant tusks.
The following period, after the destruction by Hattusili I, saw
Alalakh a vassal of Mitanni, having broken free from the suze-
 ALALU ● 13

rainty of Aleppo. This period is illuminated by the colorful autobi-

ography inscribed on the statue of Idri-Mi set up by his son,
Niqmepa, who built the palace of Alalakh IV. This building was
designed as an early version of the bit hilani, with the living quar-
ters on the upper floor, as with the palace of Alalakh VII. The tab-
lets from the palace of Niqmepa cast light on administration of the
territory, on foreign relations and on legal cases. This palace was in
its turn destroyed by a Hittite attack, probably under Tudhaliya
I/II, in his campaign to reassert Hittite authority in Syria.
Alalakh remained under Mitannian rule until its conquest by
Suppiluliuma I, when it was incorporated into the viceroyalty of
Aleppo. Inscriptions, seals and a stela attest Hittite rule, under
which Alalakh remained until its final destruction in the early 12th
century BC by the Sea Peoples. It was not reoccupied.

ALALU. The ruler of heaven and the gods, he was the first in the suc-
cession described in the Hurrian theogony; and he is attested in a
Babylonian list of gods as one of the ancestors of Anu.

ALASIYA (CYPRUS). The island appears intermittently in the affairs

of the Hittite state, which at least from the time of Tudhaliya I/II
(ca.1400 BC) was claimed by Hatti as a vassal. The troublesome
Madduwatta, of this same time, recruited ships from Lukka for an
attack on Alasiya, provoking a protest from Hattusa.
The account of the attack on Alasiya by Tudhaliya IV is pre-
served on a cuneiform tablet of his son Suppiluliuma II, a copy
of two Luwian hieroglyphic inscriptions. This campaign was suc-
cessful, with deportation of royal family and prisoners and seizure
of gold, silver and other goods. Alasiya was rich in timber and
copper, both in constant demand in Hatti. But the obvious reason
for this otherwise eccentric campaign was the threat of seaborne at-
tacks on the shipments of corn from Egypt and Canaan to the Ana-
tolian granaries. Piracy was a recurrent hazard to Mediterranean
shipping in the second millennium BC: possibly elements later to
form the Sea Peoples were already arriving in Cyprus.
Suppiluliuma II engaged the Alasiyan fleet in a sustained sea
battle, when the Hittite fleet, probably of ships from Ugarit, de-
feated the enemy, as subsequently also in a land battle. Alasiya is
listed in the famous account of Ramesses III of the coming of the
Sea Peoples, and was clearly seen by the last Hittite kings as a se-
rious threat to vital maritime imports as well as to Ugarit, a major
vassal. See also TRADE.
14 ● ALEPPO

ALEPPO. The second city of present-day Syria, the ancient city was
centered on the mound crowned by the great medieval castle of
Salah-ed-Din, built by Crusader prisoners from the Horns of Hattin
(1187 AD). To this day it remains a major focus of trade. In the
second and first millennia BC it was a major cult center of the
Storm-God Hadad, identifiable with the Anatolian Tesub and the
Canaanite-Phoenician Ba’al.
Aleppo was regarded by Hattusili I and Mursili I as a serious
obstacle to Hittite ambitions for political and economic expansion
southeastward. It had already played a significant role in the Near
East as center of the kingdom of Yamhad in the time of Hammu-
rabi of Babylon (1792–1750 BC): while, according to one text, 10
to 15 kings were following Hammurabi, 20 kings were following
Yarim-Lim of Yamhad. The high status of Aleppo is recorded in
the treaty between Mursili II and Talmi-Sarruma, which includes
an account of relations between Aleppo and the Hittite state. It nar-
rates that in former years Aleppo had a “great kingship,” to which
Hattusili, the Great King of the land of Hatti, had put an end, with
further destruction inflicted by his grandson Mursili. Thus it ap-
pears that the Hittites had at first ranked the kings of Yamhad
(Aleppo) as their equals.
With the Hittite conquests in Syria under Suppiluliuma I,
Aleppo became one of two viceroyalties, together with Carchem-
ish, initially held by a son and then a grandson of the great king.
Aleppo was militarily more secure than Carchemish, not facing any
direct threat from a great power.
Aleppo continued as a major city in the Iron Age, to which
dates the temple of the Weather-God currently being excavated
by a German expedition led by Kay Kohlmeyer. Over 26 relief-
blocks have been uncovered, decorated with characteristic Neo-
Hittite subjects, including the Weather-God clasping thunderbolts,
a charioteer, a bull with the sacred tree, a god armed with a bow, a
god seizing a prisoner by the hair and a scorpion-man. The style of
some of the blocks is not dissimilar to that found at Guzanu (Tell
Halaf). The excavator assesses the reliefs as dating to the early
first millennium BC, antedating those of Sakçegözü and demon-
strating a symbiosis of Luwian and Aramaean traditions.

ALIŞAR III (CAPPADOCIAN) WARE. Typical of the Early Bronze

III period of the later third millennium BC, notably at Alışar
Höyük (Level III) and the city mound of Kanes (Levels 13–11).
 ALIŞAR IV ● 15

Forms comprise cups, bowls, jugs and jars, the last two ranging in
height from about 40 centimeters to one meter. A degree of conti-
nuity from Early Bronze II (formerly termed the Copper Age) and
down into the subsequent Middle Bronze Age is apparent, espe-
cially at Kanes.
This ware is handmade, with a rich variety of painted designs,
albeit based on rather few motifs. These are arranged in continuous
bands or separated into defined areas, or metopes, divided by broad
vertical bands or by narrow lines, straight or wavy. A reddish slip
usually covers the interior of the cup or bowl, making a stripe be-
low the rim outside, a lighter slip covering the exterior.
This pottery is often termed Cappadocian, from its arrival on
the antiquities market at the same time as the tablets plundered
from the site of the karum of Kanes, which drew Bedrich Hrozny
to undertake his excavations.

ALIŞAR IV WARE. Misnamed Phrygian, the repertoire of this ware

nevertheless includes similarities of form to Iron Age gray ware,
notably the channel beneath the inside of the rim, a telltale sign of
Iron Age date. Most pottery is wheelmade, with painted pottery
exceeding the finer qualities of plain ware. Painted decoration is
the most obvious feature of this ware, with black, dark brown,
brown and red paint on a buff ground. Among larger vessels the
storage jar, or krater, is typical: decoration includes fine lines
drawn with a brush well loaded with paint and thickening the line
as it was withdrawn. Concentric circles were compass-drawn.
Stags with “feathered” antlers are distinctive of this period.
The distribution of Alışar IV ware covers a very wide zone
across the old Hittite homeland in and around the bend of the Mar-
rassantiya, the Pontic region near the Black Sea, formerly the
Kaska lands, and southeastward to the upper Euphrates, where it
occurs at Malatya (Arslantepe). There is a tendency erroneously
to attribute most pottery of this class to the eighth century BC.
There is, however, a considerable ceramic continuity into the Per-
sian and Hellenistic periods (Alışar V).

ALIŞAR HÖYÜK. This large settlement mound is now generally

identified with Ankuwa, though previously with Kussara. It is
situated between Sorgun and Kayseri, 15 kilometers northwest of
Sarıkaya. This site was excavated by the Oriental Institute of the
University of Chicago between 1927 and 1932, under the direction
of Erich Schmidt and Hans Henning von der Osten. This was
16 ● ALP

one of many expeditions funded by the Oriental Institute through

Rockefeller munificence, running simultaneously in the Near East,
in Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Iraq, Iran and Turkey.
Many occupation levels were distinguished on the summit and
in the lower areas of this extensive site, the separation of the areas
of excavation contributing to a certain eccentricity in the number-
ing of the main successive periods. The earliest occupation, dating
well back into the fourth millennium BC, was followed by Early
Bronze Age levels. Then the sequence of periods jumps from I to
III, the later Early Bronze Age, approximately the second half of
the third millennium BC, followed by Alışar II, the Middle Bronze
Age or early second millennium BC. The site appears to have been
deserted during the Late Bronze Age, the time of the Hittite state,
although this fact was not recognized by the excavators, at a time
when knowledge of Anatolian prehistory was in its infancy. The
site was reoccupied during the Iron Age and down into Hellenistic
times (Alışar IV–V).
The painted pottery of Alışar III is the most distinctive feature
of this period, being thus named or, alternatively, Cappadocian
ware: cups and large jars are the most typical forms, the vessels be-
ing handmade. The following period, Alışar II, yielded evidence of
an Assyrian karum, one of the network of trading colonies cen-
tered on Kültepe-karum IB (ca.1850–1800 BC). Tablets of this
time from Alışar Level 10TC mention both Pithana and his son
Anitta, rulers of the city of Nesa (Kanes). The abrupt end of this
trade throughout central Anatolia may well have contributed to the
abandonment of the whole settlement, which had been heavily for-
tified, especially in its gateways.
The reoccupation, some time after the fall of the Hittite Em-
pire, is marked by distinctive painted pottery, with forms largely
similar to those of the so-called Phrygian gray ware so widespread
in western Anatolia and the Konya Plain. Though complete pots of
this Alışar IV painted ware are readily distinguishable from the
painted Alışar III vessels, small sherds collected on the surface of
sites can be hard to differentiate, although the general context usu-
ally clarifies matters.

ALP, SEDAT. Turkish Hittitologist in the University of Ankara. He

has directed excavations at Karahöyük (Konya), intermittently
since 1953; and has also carried out investigations at Kululu.

ALSE. A land lying between Isuwa and the heartland of Mitanni,

 ALTINTEPE ● 17

whose ruler allowed Suppiluliuma I to march through from his

conquest of Isuwa to Wassukkanni. Mitannian rule must have
been resented, for Alse joined in the devastation of the kingdom by
Assur-uballit I (1354-1321 BC) of Assyria, carrying off and bru-
tally executing the charioteers, finally destroying the army of Mi-
tanni.

ALTINTEPE. An Urartian citadel in the Erzincan plain, not far east of

the modern city and one of two adjoining Iron Age hill sites. Exca-
vations were conducted under the direction of Tahsin Özgüç
(1959–1966). Its most notable features are a square temple of the
standard Urartian design and a large columned hall. Large storage
jars are incised with annotations of content and capacity in “Hit-
tite” (Luwian), not Urartian hieroglyphs.
This citadel guarded the northwest frontier of the kingdom of
Urartu, though the trade route on which it stood was never as im-
portant as the more southerly routes.

AMARNA. The term commonly applied to the period, religion and art
of the reign of the heretic pharaoh Akhenaten (1352–1336 BC).
See TELL EL-AMARNA (AKHETATEN).

AMMUNA. Though the Proclamation of Telipinu depicts a reign of

utter disaster and disintegration, this may not have been true
throughout his rule, for he campaigned from Arzawa in the south-
west to the Euphrates River in the east. But an array of subject and
neighboring territories seem to have banded against Hatti, includ-
ing Arzawa and Adan (iy) a in Kizzuwadna. The loss of the latter,
along with Hahha (Lidar Höyük), deprived the Hittite kingdom of
its grip on north Syria with its resources. Hurrians and probably
already northerners from Kaska were encroaching on the Hittite
realm, with even the homeland endangered. Though Ammuna died
of natural causes, bloodshed followed his death.

AMURRU. Previously a term applied to a wide zone over which the

pastoralist Amorites roamed in the later third millennium BC, it
had—from the time of the archives of Mari and Alalakh—
become restricted to a region of central and southern Syria and fi-
nally to the territory between the upper Orontes valley and the
Mediterranean coast, thus including modern Lebanon and lying
south of the kingdom of Ugarit. Earlier it had been associated with
the Habiru.
18 ● ANATOLIAN RELIGION

Relations between Amurru and Egypt underwent marked

changes, from its conquest by Thutmose III (1479–1425 BC)
through the seizure of power with the help of marauding Habiru by
one named Abdi-Asirta to the succession of his son Aziru. Fifteen
of his letters to the pharaoh Akhenaten (1352–1336 BC), his over-
lord, survive. Gradually Aziru came to switch his allegiance from
Akhenaten to Suppiluliuma I, who already had his own nominee
as Hittite vassal at Kadesh. Though obliged to go to Egypt for a
year or more, Aziru was finally released to defend Amurru against
a probable Hittite attack. Instead, Aziru made a treaty with Suppi-
luliuma, his position reinforced by alliances with Niqmaddu of Ug-
arit and Aitakkama of Kadesh. He remained a loyal Hittite vassal
to his death.
Seti I of Egypt (1294–1279 BC), launching an aggressive pol-
icy in Asia to regain the Empire of the 18th Dynasty, achieved the
reconquest of both Kadesh and Amurru, which Muwatalli II was
obliged, however reluctantly, to accept. The major Hittite gain
from the battle of Kadesh (1274 BC) was indeed the regaining of
Amurru. Ramesses II, however, in his eighth and ninth years again
marched into the Hittite zone, down the Orontes valley. Until the
treaty between Hattusili III and Ramesses II (1258 BC) there re-
mained the threat of another confrontation between the two great
powers.
Although Muwatalli II removed Bentesina, ruler of Amurru
(ca.1290/1280–1235 BC), he was eventually reinstated by Hattusili
III. His standing was improved by a double marriage between the
Hittite royal family and that of Amurru. After the death of Ben-
tesina Tudhaliya IV confirmed the succession of his son Sausga-
muwa by treaty. Complications arose when Ammistamru of Ugarit
divorced the sister of Sausgamuwa, in a bitter dispute possibly aris-
ing from her adultery. A dispute between two leading vassals was
most unwelcome in Hattusa.
Amurru is mentioned at the fall of the Hittite Empire, when
Ramesses III’s inscription on the walls of his temple of Medinet
Habu states that the Sea Peoples set up a camp in one place in
Amurru, devastating the land.

ANATOLIAN RELIGION: EARTH AND WATER. While the pre-

dominant deity in the pantheons—Hattian, Hittite, Luwian and
Hurrian—of the second millennium BC is most widely reckoned
to have been the Weather-God or Storm-God, greater emphasis is
sometimes placed on the god or gods of earth and especially of wa-
 ANCESTOR CULT ● 19

ter, notably in the Hattian pantheon. This certainly had far-reaching

impact on Hittite religion, so much so that it is hard to separate the
two, although the Hurrian pantheon is readily distinguishable.
Water divinities were associated especially with springs and
holes in the ground, where Hattian rituals were particularly per-
formed. Earth was linked with a goddess rather than a god, compa-
rable with the “Earth Mother” or Demeter/Gemeter of the Classical
world, and thus naturally with fertility of the crops. It is in such a
context that one may approach the reliefs of Eflatun Pınar
(“Plato’s Spring”).
It does seem possible that Indo-European elements were less
prominent in Hattian-Hittite religion than might have been ex-
pected, if sky-, mountain-, storm- and weather-gods were not
placed in the highest rank. Yet Taru, a Storm-God, had as his con-
sort the Sun-Goddess of Arinna, this pair heading the Hattian
pantheon. Thus it is difficult to argue that chthonic elements, wor-
ship of earth and water from the earth, predominated over those as-
sociated with the sky. Perhaps the former were essentially the fo-
cus of ritual for the rural poor, not requiring the construction of
shrines or the support of a priesthood.
The limitations of the evidence still challenge the specialists,
the archaeological data, including the glyptic art, naturally being
susceptible to speculation and differences of interpretation. Moreo-
ver, the textual records are related almost exclusively to ritual and
cult: mythology independent of these, such as would have been
transmitted from one generation to the next, has not survived. The
available picture of Hittite-Hattian religion and related literature is
therefore far from complete. Let it not be forgotten that the word
DU (“god”) is probably related to Proto-Indo-European deus.
The chthonic aspect of Anatolian religion persisted through and in-
deed beyond the time of the Hittite Empire, evident in the rituals
associated with the Underworld and in the role of Nergal, promi-
nent in the reliefs of Yazılıkaya.

ANCESTOR CULT. Reverence for forebears in Hittite society nor-

mally focused on the gods and the kings, with close association
with the Underworld, presided over especially by the goddess
Lelwani. The center of attention in the Underworld was the sacred
cultic ditch, references to which indicate a feature varying between
a deep hole resembling a well and a shallow, narrow incision with
a cup-like depression, such as occurs widely carved into rock-cut
shrines. The cultic ditch was the abode of gods and dead kings
20 ● ANCESTOR CULT

alike.
The Hittite kings were never deified during their lifetime, but
became divine at the moment of death, thus differing from other
rulers, including the pharaohs of Egypt. A new king owed a special
debt of veneration for his dead father and predecessor on the
throne; and this seems curiously accentuated where there was an
identity of name, notably as between Tudhaliya IV and I and be-
tween Suppiluliuma II and I, separated by several generations.
The name always had a deep meaning, almost magical, in the an-
cient Near East, reflected in the deliberate obliteration of the name
of the god Amun by the heretical pharaoh Akhenaten in New
Kingdom Egypt and by the subsequent erasures of his own name.
Moreover, the psalmists frequently refer to blotting out the name.
It seems that the gods of the Underworld had more direct con-
nection with the royal funerary rituals than did those of agriculture,
notably Telipinu, the god generally responsible for the fertility of
the soil and thus for human sustenance. Yet one text credits this
god, son of the Storm-God, with the foundation of the Hittite
kingdom. Moreover, in the eighth day of the royal funerary ritual,
the image given to the king is that of a shepherd, accompanied by
the pious prayer that his livestock may graze unharmed in his
meadow.
Of course patriarchal succession had its roots in the earliest
Indo-European tribal communities, and veneration for his royal an-
cestors had the objective of strengthening the king’s claim to le-
gitimacy. The cult of the ancestors was linked not only to the gods
of the Underworld and of agriculture but also to the solar cults of
earth and sky, the latter particularly ancient among the Indo-
Europeans. The gods were conceived as above, though not far re-
moved from, the king, as he was above his subjects. Indeed, one
myth told of a marriage between a goddess and a mortal, which
gave birth to the Hittite people. Marriage between a Hittite divinity
and a man from the enemy side, however, was literally fatal in its
outcome.
The development of the ancestor cult among the Hittites, most
evident in the royal family, had its roots in several ethnic back-
grounds, initially Hattian from the central lands in and around the
Halys basin and then also Palaic, from Paphlagonia adjoining the
Black Sea, Luwian from the Taurus region and eventually Hur-
rian from Kizzuwadna. Thus it reflected the heterogeneous char-
acter of the religion of the Hittite state, in due course codified as
the official pantheon, the “thousand gods.”
 ANITTA ● 21

In one ritual, on the 16th day of the Spring Festival, devoted to

the War-God, after the meat offering and libations in the sacred
places of the temple, a final libation was poured out by Tudhaliya
IV at the statue of his father Hattusili III, who had become his
ancestor and thus a god. The sense of dynastic continuity was
thereby reinforced. See also ANATOLIAN RELIGION: EARTH
AND WATER.

ANITTA. The son and successor of Pithana, through the record he left
in the Anitta Text he is the earliest king whom we may term Hit-
tite, even with a questionmark over this description. His reign is
reasonably well documented, albeit from one main source, the so-
called Anitta Text. This was in the original probably written in
“Hittite” (Nesite) cuneiform rather than in Old Assyrian.
The conquests of Pithana and Anitta in due course extended
from Zalpa in the Pontic region near the Black Sea southward to
Ullamma, the Lower Land of later sources. These territories were
inhabited by different ethnic groups, perhaps aware of their differ-
ences mainly through language. A sense of territorial identity had
been strengthened as a result of the trading network established by
the Assyrian merchants, with the opportunities afforded for levying
local taxes on the merchandise.
Almost inevitably Anitta soon faced a major rebellion, requir-
ing firm and continued military responses. One of these rebels was
Piyusti, king of Hatti, whose royal seat, Hattusa, was captured and
destroyed, though only after a long siege had reduced the inhabi-
tants to starvation. A curse was laid on the site by Anitta: “On its
site I sowed weeds. May the Storm-God strike down anyone who
becomes king after me and resettles Hattusa.”
This recalls the later sowing of salt on the site of Carthage by
the victorious Romans. This destruction is archaeologically attested
in Boğazköy: Büyükkale IVd and Kültepe-Kanes IB.
Anitta had not finished his campaigning, for he next had to
march south against Salatiwara, a city on the road from the king-
dom of Wahsusana to that of Burushattum. He interrupted his
military activities by building fortifications and several temples in
Kanes, the latter used for storing booty. A sense of royal prestige
and propaganda is hinted at by the importation of a varied range of
animals, from lions and leopards to wild pigs and goats: the nov-
elty of a zoological collection appealed to a number of Near East-
ern rulers, including Assyrian kings. Word would get around, all
the more quickly in a society where the overwhelming majority
22 ● ANKHESENAMUN

was illiterate.
On his second southern campaign Anitta carried off much sil-
ver and gold from Salatiwara, as well as soldiers and 40 teams of
horses. Finally he marched against Purushanda (Burushhattum in
the Old Assyrian merchant tablets). Its king, albeit ruling a widely
respected realm, had the wisdom voluntarily to submit to the up-
start Anitta, king of Kanes, bringing gifts including a throne and a
scepter of iron. Perhaps owing to his submission, he was treated
honorably: his precise status thereafter is unknown; but the control
of Burushattum was a prestigious addition to Anitta’s power.
It is remarkable how rapidly Anitta’s conquests dissolved after
his death, followed by the collapse of the Assyrian merchant colo-
nies, Kültepe-Kanes IB and its contemporaries. Yet a precedent
had been set for the more enduring achievements of Hattusili I and
his successors.

ANKHESENAMUN (ANKHESENPAATEN). A remarkable event

occurred in the later years of the reign of Suppiluliuma I, an event
over which hangs the mystery of an unsolved crime, and which had
unforeseeable and disastrous consequences.
Tutankhamun, the young Egyptian king, had died at the age
perhaps of no more than 18 years, leaving a young widow, Ankhe-
senamun (Ankhesenpaaten before the restoration of the cult of
Amun), depicted in silver on the back of an ornate chair from the
tomb of Tutankhamun, whose treasures are now displayed in the
Cairo Museum. This Egyptian queen, who had no children, felt
herself under dire threat from those who would try to seize the
throne, notably the priest Ay, who was much her senior and whom
she had no wish to marry.
It is to the Deeds of Suppiluliuma that one must turn for the
extraordinary approach by the Egyptian queen to the Hittite king,
all the more remarkable given the recent hostilities between the
two kingdoms. The death of the Egyptian pharaoh Niphururiya is
mentioned, an exact rendering in the cuneiform script of
Nebkheperure, the prenomen of Tutankhamun. In the Deeds is the
queen’s request, almost curtly stated: “I have no sons. But they say
you have many sons. If you would give me one of your sons, he
would become my husband. I will never take a servant of mine and
make him my husband!”
This request came to Suppiluliuma by a messenger from
Egypt, as he was making ready his final attack on Carchemish.
“Such a thing has never happened to me in my whole life!” he ex-
 ANKUWA ● 23

claimed. He sought the advice of his nobles, and then decided to

dispatch his chamberlain to Egypt, to discover the full facts, having
presumably realized the far-reaching political implications: the
possibility of the union of the two great kingdoms, Egypt and
Hatti, the one in a slow decline and the other reaching its zenith.
The reaction from Ankhesenamun was swift and sharp, de-
manding to know why her word was doubted. Her letter in turn
provoked the anger of Suppiluliuma, who recalled the treacherous
attack on Kadesh and the consequent Hittite retaliation against
Amka, in Egyptian territory. In the Deeds he responded that his
son: “…will in some way become a hostage. You will not make
him king!” Then an experienced Egyptian diplomat, Hani, spoke in
very conciliatory, even ingratiating tones, finally winning Suppilu-
liuma over, the text of the Deeds expressing matters thus: “Since
my father was kind-hearted, he complied with the word of the
woman, and concerned himself with the matter of (supplying her
with) a son.”
Suppiluliuma had five sons, but the only one available, be-
cause not assigned specific responsibilities, was the fourth son,
Zannanza, who was sent on his way to Egypt, his father having as-
sured himself that the young man would come to no harm. When
news reached him at Hattusa that his son had been killed, it was
inevitable that he would seek revenge against Egypt and specifi-
cally against Ay, the one-time adviser of Akhenaten and now the
new pharaoh. On the principle of cui bonum? he was the prime
suspect beyond doubt, though there seems no proof of his guilt. He
certainly did not want a confrontation with Hatti: that is the one
point in his favor.
Hittite forces were dispatched to southern Syria under the
command of the crown prince, the future Arnuwanda II, and
thousands of prisoners of war were taken and sent back to the Hit-
tite homeland. With them they took the plague which was to afflict
Hatti for up to 20 years, carrying off both Suppiluliuma and his
immediate successor and leaving the throne to his youngest son,
Mursili II. Thus did momentous events follow from the premature
death of Tutankhamun and the spirited effort by his widow to find
a new royal husband. She had in the end to be content with Ay.

ANKUWA. A town located probably approximately halfway between

Nesa (Kanes) and Hattusa, this can arguably be identified with
Alışar Höyük, and more specifically with Alışar 10TC-TB, con-
temporary with Kültepe Karum IB. It was the site of a royal palace
24 ● ANNALS

favored by the Hittite kings as a winter residence, presumably ow-

ing to its milder climate compared with Hattusa. One consignment
of 70 kilograms of copper was sent to Hattusa in the 13th century
BC, originating from Ankuwa, although normally goods were sent
to Hattusa from Ankuwa as tribute (mandattu) in fairly small quan-
tities.
The archaeological record, however, attests a period of aban-
donment of the site of Alışar Höyük during the Late Bronze Age,
between Alışar II and Alışar IV. This presents something of a prob-
lem, therefore, in relation to the identification of Ankuwa, since its
role in the days of the Hittite state is documented solely in the sur-
viving written records from Hattusa, without archaeological sup-
port. Yet it must be remembered that large areas of the mound of
Alışar Höyük, excavated before the modern techniques of surface
exploration had been developed, have not been investigated.

ANNALS. This, the most readily understandable if not necessarily en-

tirely reliable form of historiography, was developed by the Hit-
tite kings before any others in the Near East, beginning with the
opening of the Empire period, under Tudhaliya I/II and for later
reigns. The annals of Arnuwanda I, Suppiluliuma I (composed
by his son) and, most outstanding of all, Mursili II have been pre-
served; but those of Muwatalli II have not yet been recovered. The
annals of Hattusili III survive only in fragmentary form. For
Tudhaliya IV and Suppiluliuma II there are no cuneiform an-
nals, the fashion changing radically to hieroglyphic inscriptions in
the Luwian language.

ANU. Mesopotamian Sky-God, who features in Hurrian mythology.

He overcame Alalu as King of Heaven, being ousted in turn by his
son Kumarbi. Like other dethroned gods, he was consigned to the
Underworld.

ARCHERY. At its most deadly as a chariot-borne mode of attack dur-

ing the battlefield charge, the light infantry also used the composite
bow, made of strips of wood and horn glued and bound together. In
reliefs the bow is depicted either in triangular form or with its ends
curving outward. It had been introduced into Anatolia most proba-
bly from Mitanni or its Hurrian precursors, but conceivably as
early as the Akkadian period. The manufacture of the composite
bow was costly in time and the craftsmen’s skills, and it required
selected materials: it would hardly have been available to the poor;
 ARCHITECTS ● 25

and its possession carried a certain prestige. Arrows were of

bronze, with a tang attaching the head to a wood or reed shaft and
sometimes barbed. Arrows were not made of iron widely in the
Near East before the eighth century BC, for it was too valuable to
be thrown away. Quivers were made of bark or leather, probably
taking up to 30 arrows.

ARCHITECTS. There are a few Hittite texts which cast light not only
on building methods and materials but also on the responsibilities
and remuneration of the architect. Such texts are essentially foun-
dation rituals, involving many sacrifices. Archaeological evidence
reflecting these texts occurs at Hattusa and elsewhere, as at Maşat
Höyük.
A unique foundation ritual of the 13th century BC may refer to
a private house rather than a temple, though it is noteworthy that
three pillars are described, the same number as in the stoa of Tem-
ple I at Hattusa. If these pillars (or, more precisely, piers) can be
equated with those set on the massive stone footings of Temple I
and elsewhere, these will be the pilasters which are a basic element
of Hittite architecture, in effect part of the timber frame, support-
ing the roof. A sacrifice for the foundation stones—comparable in
intent with the foundation deposits so common in Mesopotamia—
and a magical formula to ward off evil from the building are in-
cluded in this text from Hattusa.
The architects must have been young and energetic, their agil-
ity indicated by a passage in the above-mentioned text:

When the workmen haul the beams up to the roof, the ar-
chitect who builds the house is the one who shall climb up
the rope to the roof. He goes up the rope to the roof (?)
twice and [he goes] down twice. While he is climbing the
rope, the singers run around the hearth. The third time
[the architect] cuts the sling. When the architect cuts the
sling, the cheer-leader claps his hands. But there is a sash
dangling from the roof beam. In this sash are bound an ax
of silver and a knife of silver. Now that sash too he cuts
off. Then the architect comes down by the rope, and he
bows to the owner of the house. When he goes to his own
house, the architect takes the ax of silver and the knife of
silver for himself (as his fee).

ARCHITECTURE. See ARCHITECTS; BUILDING METHODS;

CYCLOPEAN MASONRY; TIMBER AND TIMBER CON-
26 ● ARCHIVES

STRUCTION.

ARCHIVES. For efficient business administration, filing systems for

clay tablets were essential, being exemplified by those in the
house of one of the Assyrian merchants at Kanes in karum II:
opened correspondence was kept in orderly rows in the storeroom
separate from the unopened tablets, still in their envelopes and with
their bullae. In another merchant’s house letters were kept quite
separate from loan documents, probably in another room or even
another house. The texts often refer to mobility of documents, and
by implication to their storage. On the death of a merchant or his
permanent return to Assur, all or part of his archives were taken
thither. Documents might be circulated or moved about within
Anatolia. Legal requirements often necessitated dispatch of tablets
to or from Assur. Memoranda of original texts mainly concerning
Assyrians in summary or complete copy were sent to Assur.
Twenty-four tablets, mostly credit or debt notes or bonds, survive
from the records of a lawsuit between two merchants, the com-
plainant alleging theft of sealed tablet containers from the “guest
house.”
In karum II at Kanes the Assyrian merchants’ houses have
yielded many more tablets than those of the Anatolian merchants,
housed in areas in the north and south respectively of the karum.
The local traders were surely not less literate so much as less in
need of extensive correspondence with Assur. Not every house had
tablets, numbers varying greatly. In the larger houses a “store”
room tended to serve as the archive, with other tablets—perhaps
those most likely to be required for reference—in the “main” room.
In smaller houses available spaces in the living quarters had to be
used for storing tablets. Containers for tablets might be pottery
jars, boxes or baskets. Tablets were also stored on shelves, as, for
example, at Ebla and Hattusa, on straw matting, in rows or in
stacks. Boxes of tablets could be sealed and held in a “safe” or
sealed room. Labels were often found with tablets.
As yet the published data do not make it possible to connect
seals with those officials or traders in charge of archives. Two dif-
ficulties are the rarity of fathers’ names and the method of storage
of the tablets.
In marked contrast with the individual or family basis of the
Old Assyrian archives at Kültepe-Kanes, with tablets of the karum
IB period found also at Hattusa and Alışar Höyük, the archives of
the Hittite Empire—mainly from Hattusa but also exemplified by
 ARCHIVES ● 27

tablets from Maşat Höyük and Ortaköy and other cities outside
the homeland but under Hittite control—illuminate the administra-
tion of a far-flung state, with its powerful bureaucracy. The most
important of those archives only partly relevant to Hittite affairs
have been found in a number of the major buildings of Ugarit.
Shelving has naturally not survived, but the manner in which
tablets had fallen, as found by the excavators, makes this method
of storage and filing apparent, notably at Ebla in Syria in third-
millennium BC context.
It is on Boğazköy: Büyükkale that the major royal archives of
Hattusa have been recovered by the German excavators, from their
first season (1906) onwards. That first discovery was made in
Building E in the royal residential quarters and on the slope in
front. Other archives were found in Buildings A and K, north of the
East Gate. Yet more tablets were recovered from Temple I
(Boğazköy). As Jürgen Seeher puts it:

The archives of clay tablets found in Buildings A, E

and K have played a most important role in our re-
search of Hittite history. The hundreds of tablets that
had been stored on wooden shelves here have per-
petuated not only contracts and official documents
but oracular prophecies, instruction in cult practice,
folklore, collections of legal decisions and historical
texts as well. While most of these survived the burn-
ing of the palace complex, the information included
in the archives of wooden tablets has been lost for
ever.

In the archive rooms of Hattusa mud-plastered stone benches

were surmounted by the wooden shelves, where the tablets were
originally arranged by their content and labeled, under the supervi-
sion of the “tablet librarian.” Comparable duties were assigned to
those responsible for the wooden tablets. During the final years
leading to the downfall of Hatti, however, this orderly filing was
probably discontinued.
The archives at Hattusa included that in the House on the
Slope and, more significantly, thousands of tablets and fragments
from the storerooms outside the southeast side of the temple
proper in the Temple I precinct. It was here that, among other texts,
treaties were kept, perhaps from their association with the gods.
One disruption brought about by the rebellion by Kurunta
28 ● ARIK

was widespread disturbance of the archives of Hattusa, especially

those on Büyükkale. The tablets therefore cannot have been exca-
vated in their original filing order. Likewise the move to and back
from Tarhuntassa, under Muwatalli II and Urhi-Tesub, doubt-
less involved transfer of archives.
The archives of Ugarit comprise six in the palace and many in
private houses, including that of Urtenu, a powerful figure close to
the throne in the last decades of the city’s history. Foreign relations
are attested, principally with Hittite centers (Hattusa, Tarhuntassa,
Carchemish, Usnatu, Kadesh and Emar) but also with Egypt,
Canaan (Beirut and Sidon), Assyria and the land of Suhi, on the
middle Euphrates. As the central Hittite power weakened, Ugarit
was becoming increasingly restive.

ARIK, REMZI OGUZ. Codirector, with Hamit Koşay, of the first

campaign of excavations at Alaca Höyük. He also directed exca-
vations at Göllüdağ.

ARINNA. One of several major cult centers, this became probably the
leading holy city of the Hittites by the time of the Empire. Like so
many sites recorded in the texts, it is yet to be located with cer-
tainty, although anywhere outside the central Hittite homeland is
ruled out by a reference to Arinna as being situated within one
day’s march of the capital, Hattusa. A location west of another
shrine, Nerik, would place Arinna just west of the lower Marras-
santiya River, approximately north-northwest of Hattusa. Surely
more plausible a location would be at Alaca Höyük, a short day’s
march north-northeast of Hattusa, where there is clear archaeologi-
cal evidence of its status in the Empire, as well as earlier remains
likely to have relevance to the cult of Arinna.
The origins of Arinna undoubtedly lie in the Hattian traditions
and pantheon rooted in the prehistory of central Anatolia and even-
tually by stages adapted by the Hittite state. The early pantheon of
Arinna includes the Sun-God, Sun-Goddess and Storm-God. The
Sun-Goddess of Arinna was considered to be married to the Storm-
God of Hatti, both helping the Hittite king in battle. In the six-year
annals of Hattusili I we find not the Sun-God but the Sun-
Goddess of Arinna, making her earliest textual appearance. Hat-
tusili I brings back booty to her temple, as well as to those of the
Storm-God and Mezulla, divine daughter of the Sun-Goddess.
Though this text survives only in late copies, there are sound ar-
guments against any suggestion that the name of Arinna was a later
 ARMOR ● 29

insertion by a scribe. The Sun-Goddess of Arinna, later often

named Wurusemu, was certainly Hattian: her relationship to the
Hattian sun-deity Estan, especially if she is also a goddess, remains
problematical.
It is in the early 13th century BC that the documentation for
Arinna and its Sun-Goddess is particularly clear, at a time when—
largely on the initiative of the Great Queen Puduhepa, wife of
Hattusili III—both Hurrian and Hattian divinities were being as-
similated into the large and varied Hittite pantheon, the so-called
“Thousand Gods of Hatti.” Puduhepa addresses this leading divin-
ity simply as “Sun Goddess of Arinna.” Hattusili III had a prayer to
her composed following his deposition of his nephew Urhi-Tesub
(Mursili III) and his seizure of the throne: “O Sun Goddess of
Arinna, lady of the land, queen of heaven and earth, the lady of the
king and the queen of the Hatti lands, the light of the country of
the Hatti. . . . ” More personal and informative is another prayer,
composed by Puduhepa herself:

O Sun Goddess of Arinna, queen of all the lands! You

bear the name of the Sun Goddess of Arinna in the coun-
try of the Hatti, but in the country which you created, the
country of the cedar trees, your name is Hepat, and Pudu-
hepa has always been at your service.

“The country of the cedar trees” has to be the eastern Taurus

range rather than the Lebanon. While Hepat was indeed goddess of
the Hurrians, the Hattian ancestry of the Sun-Goddess of Arinna
has already been stressed. She was no Hurrian. Here was a strong
political agenda.

ARMOR. This, with protective clothing as an alternative, was in com-

mon use, though it is usually hard to determine for sure whether it
is being depicted. The figure in the King’s Gate at Hattusa may be
wearing a sleeveless shirt of scale armor: pieces of bronze scale
armor have been excavated at Hattusa; and two probable iron ar-
mor scales were found at Korucutepe. Chain mail was also used,
and may conceivably be represented at the King’s Gate, although it
is more probably chest hair that is indicated. The long, ankle-length
clothing of the Hittite infantry depicted on the Egyptian reliefs of
the battle of Kadesh could represent chain mail, seeing that they
are not carrying shields.

ARMY. The Hittite state should not rightly be termed militaristic, for
30 ● ARMY

the kings did not glory in war after the manner of Egypt and
Assyria: no reliefs survive depicting a Hittite king on the battle-
field, and, for example, the only pictorial records of the engage-
ment at Kadesh are to be found in Egypt. With the possible excep-
tion of Hattusili I, Hittite kings did not revel in the bloodshed
suffered by their enemies. Nevertheless, war was the natural condi-
tion of men: there was no ideal vision of peace. Moreover, war
benefited the state, both in material plunder and in subsequent trib-
ute, as well as essential augmentation of manpower through pris-
oners of war.
The king was commander in chief, leading his forces on cam-
paign but always, it seems, avoiding exposure to mortal danger on
the battlefield. This was not out of timidity but for sound political
reasons: the risks to the internal security of the kingdom from a
sudden royal death were far too great to bear contemplation. If en-
gaged elsewhere or in ill-health, the king would delegate supreme
military command to his designated successor, the crown prince,
whose first exposure to campaigning might come as early as about
12 years of age. The crown prince was succeeded in rank by the
king’s brothers. Perhaps the outstanding example of successful
delegation occurred under Suppiluliuma I, whose eldest son, later
to become Arnuwanda II, became a seasoned commander in his
father’s reign, while two other sons became viceroys of Aleppo
and Carchemish.
The Hittite army carried out nonmilitary duties when not on
campaign, such as helping with construction works or even on oc-
casion at festivals. Senior commanders might be selected as gover-
nors, as was Hannutti, appointed by Suppiluliuma—before or after
his ascending the throne—to administer the strategically important
Lower Land. Individual generals are named quite often in the Hit-
tite records, usually but not invariably in the context of successful
operations.
Officers of rather lower rank, roughly equivalent to colonel,
would be in command of about 1,000 men. The great majority of
soldiers were infantrymen, up to 90 percent, the remainder forming
the elite chariotry. The few horse riders were deployed as scouts
and dispatch riders: the army had no cavalry. This was, by ancient
Near Eastern standards, a disciplined, well-trained force, the train-
ing of the charioteers being particularly rigorous, as implied by the
famous manual of Kikkuli. For junior officers and those in the
ranks there was a stern oath-taking ceremony: those breaking the
oath were to become as women!
 ARNUWANDA I ● 31

While most of the troops were required on campaign, spending

winter in barracks in Hattusa, some units were deployed along the
borders, especially confronting the Kaska tribesmen in the north,
under the control of officers with the title of “Lord of the Watch-
Tower.”
Specialist training was desirable for sieges, though this does
not seem to have been a strong point with the Hittite army. Never-
theless, this was the natural sequel to defeating an enemy on his
own ground.
Undoubtedly the demands of the army for manpower were a
constant drain on a realm in large areas underpopulated. For many
years this drain could be countered by deportation and resettle-
ment, mostly of prisoners of war, who might be employed on the
land, in building works and even assisting at festivals. With the 20-
year plague afflicting the realm from the final years of Suppiluli-
uma I, however, came a disaster from which to a degree the Hittite
Empire probably never fully recovered. Recruitment to the army
must have been affected. For a normal campaign against a rebel-
lious vassal or hostile neighbor 10,000 soldiers sufficed, their dis-
cipline and weaponry usually assuring victory. No fewer than
some 47,500 troops were led by Muwatalli II against Ramesses II
at Kadesh; but these included units from Syrian vassals, notably
Ugarit and Amurru. A considerable time had been required in
preparation for this major campaign.

ARNUWANDA I (ca.1380–1360 BC). A capable and trustworthy suc-

cessor to Tudhaliya I/II, who must have made him coregent, a fact
indicated by his bearing the title of Great King before his acces-
sion. Tudhaliya called him his son; but this raises the problem of a
brother-sister marriage, strictly prohibited under the Hittite Laws.
Arnuwanda’s wife was Asmunikal, daughter of Tudhaliya and his
wife Nikkalmati. The likeliest explanation is that Tudhaliya made
his son-in-law his adopted son, in the absence of a legitimate male
heir: this device was permitted by the Telipinu Proclamation. It
was a wise choice, for Arnuwanda became a seasoned campaigner,
like his grandson Suppiluliuma I, with considerable achievements
to his credit before ascending the throne. Yet he faced mounting
dangers.
In the lands of Nerik, Kastama and other areas in the north
numerous cult centers were looted and destroyed, in spite of
prayers uttered in the joint names of Arnuwanda and Asmunikal. A
series of treaties was drawn up with the Kaska people, though to
32 ● ARNUWANDA II

little avail.
In the southeast Arnuwanda endeavored to shore up his power.
A treaty was drawn up with the city of Ura on the Mediterranean
coast in Kizzuwadna. He also took steps to punish Mita of
Pahhuwa, a city near the upper Euphrates. His offense was to have
married the daughter of a known enemy of Arnuwanda, who sum-
moned neighboring cities to his aid, ordering them to move against
Pahhuwa, failing surrender of the errant Mita. The outcome is not
known; but some comparison with the Indictment of Madduwatta
is appropriate. In both regions Hittite propaganda was brought into
play.
In Syria there was a resurgence of Mitanni, eventually sealed
by a diplomatic marriage alliance with Egypt, providing a political
settlement excluding Hittite intervention anywhere in Syria. Egypt
secured all the territory as far north as Kadesh and to Amurru and
Ugarit on the Mediterranean coast.

ARNUWANDA II (1322–1321 BC). The eldest son and heir of Suppi-

luliuma I, he had become an experienced commander, leading an
army against Carchemish to prepare for the siege by his father
and later a foray into Egyptian-controlled territory. Succeeding to
the throne in Hattusa, he died soon afterward, most probably a
victim of the plague, as his father before him.

ARNUWANDA III (1209-1207 BC). Up to 45 seal impressions in the

“seal archive” of Nişantepe are attributable to this obscure, brief
reign. Serious unrest had erupted, and continued after his brother’s
accession. Arnuwanda III was childless, leaving the throne clear
for his brother Suppiluliuma II, who was probably very anxious to
avoid internecine strife within the royal family and their respective
supporters. This can explain his vehement disclaimer of any hand
in the death of Arnuwanda III. See Boğazköy: Nişantas and Envi-
rons

ARZANA-HOUSES. These were hostelries or inns, dispensing food,

beer and wine, as well as a drink of uncertain character. Music and
entertainment might be provided, and royal guests could be enter-
tained. While there are scant references in official documents, data
can be gleaned from legal, literary, ritual and festival texts. The
precise character of the arzana-house nevertheless remains ob-
scure: there are no records of payments for food or drink. Thus
they may have been attached to the local temple, though this sug-
 ARZAWA ● 33

gestion is hard to reconcile with references to their being sited on a

road at a moderate distance outside the city wall. Prohibitions
against construction of an inn up against the city wall imply that
this did occur. All in all, a secular context seems most likely. If the
arzana-house could serve also as a brothel, discretion has pre-
vailed.

ARZAWA. Centered in the fertile Aegean hinterland, with its capital at

times located at Apasa (later, Ephesus), this could be regarded as
the precursor of the kingdom of Lydia in the Iron Age. It formed a
major part of the lands known to the Hittites as Luwiya, the spo-
ken language being Luwian. Arzawa suffered from inherent dis-
unity, with rival rulers claiming sovereignty with varying success
at different times. Although hardly anything would be known of
Arzawa without the Hittite records, most notably those of Mursili
II, this kingdom enjoyed a brief prominence with the discovery of
the Tell el-Amarna (Akhetaten) tablets in Egypt. These include
an exchange of correspondence between the Egyptian pharaoh Ni-
muwariya (Neb-kheper-Re/ Amenhotep III) and Tarhundaradu,
king of Arzawa, revealing acceptance by the former of the Great
King status of the latter, at a time of great weakness of the Hittite
kingdom. Indeed, the language of Arzawa was briefly expected to
be that of the archives of Hattusa!
Hittite-Arzawan relations are recorded from the time of Tud-
haliya I/II, with the names of several Arzawan rulers preserved,
though probably not all of them. Relationships are often unclear.
Among the enemies of Tudhaliya and his successor, Arnuwanda
I, was “the man of Arzawa,” Kupanta-Kurunta, who was involved
with Madduwatta, first as enemy and later as prospective son-in-
law, political marriages of course being an accepted device. Tud-
haliya I/II’s triumph over a coalition of 22 allies, possibly led by
Assuwa, secured Hittite supremacy in the west for some years but
not indefinitely.
Indeed in the following generation, under Tudhaliya III
(ca.1360–1344 BC), Arzawa was to reach the zenith of its power,
thanks to disastrous invasions of Hatti. The defeated Hittites ex-
pressed the crisis in dramatic terms: “From the Lower Land the
Arzawan enemy came, and he too ravaged the Hatti lands and
made Tuwanuwa and Uda his frontier.”
The fall of Tuwanuwa (Tyana) into Arzawan hands is attested
by the Deeds of Suppiluliuma (I), by whom it was recovered,
while he was in military command as crown prince acting for his
34 ● ARZAWA

father. The Deeds are too fragmentary to give a full narrative of

Suppiluliuma’s own campaign into Arzawa, though several territo-
ries are mentioned, including Pitassa (Pedassa), west of the Salt
Lake, Mira and Hapalla. This is the earliest mention of Mira. Uh-
haziti, king of Arzawa, is now first mentioned, in the Deeds.
The accession of the youthful Mursili II was marked by wide-
spread rebellions, that in Arzawa being especially serious, the anti-
Hittite disaffection being finally quelled in the 12th year of the
reign. After dealing with trouble in the north (Kaska), Mursili
turned his attention to the west, the casus belli being the refusal by
the Arzawan ruler Uhhaziti to surrender Hittite fugitives, a frequent
pretext for war. His Extended Annals record that Mursili II ap-
proached Arzawa via the Sehiriya River, then on to Sallapa, situ-
ated perhaps not far from Eskişehir, and finally to victory over Pi-
yama, son of the Arzawan king, at Walma on the River Astarpa,
near modern Afyon. Though still well inland, Mursili made a rapid,
apparently unopposed, advance into the heart of Arzawa, reaching
Apasa. Meanwhile Uhhaziti had fled across the sea to the islands,
the population fleeing likewise. The onset of winter compelled
Mursili to withdraw to winter quarters on the River Astarpa,
whence he returned the next spring, after Uhhaziti had died “in the
sea.” He was then able to move his forces against the northern sec-
tor of the Arzawan homeland, the Seha River Land. Renewed re-
bellion broke out in the 12th year of Mursili II, Arzawa inciting
Mashuiluwa, king of Mira-Kuwaliya, to join him against Hittite
rule. Perhaps owing to memories of the Hittite success early in the
reign of Mursili II, he did not gain wide support, and was deposed
in favor of his son Kupanta-Kurunta, a young man whose popular-
ity among his own people secured him the support of Hattusa,
Mursili drawing up a treaty with him. He imposed one and the
same oath on Kupanta-Kurunta and on the rulers of the Seha River
Land and Hapalla. The power of Arzawa was never again to reach
its former extent. The kingdom was in effect divided into vassal
states, the three main ones being Mira with Kuwaliya, the Seha
River Land with Appawiya and Hapalla. A fourth vassal state ap-
pears in the treaty of Muwatalli II with Alaksandu, ruler of Wi-
lusa.
Thenceforward peace endured into the next reign, when Mu-
watalli II, preoccupied with planning the campaign against Egypt,
had to send Gassu, a senior commander, to quell unrest largely in-
cited by Piyamaradu. During the civil conflict between Urhi-
Tesub and his uncle Hattusili (III) Arzawa remained mostly loyal
 ARZIYA ● 35

to the former. Owing in part to the machinations of Ahhiyawa,

Hattusili III was not very successful in restoring Hittite control in
the Arzawa lands, a task achieved later by his son Tudhaliya IV.
Hittite rule remained far from popular in the west, even though
Mursili II had reduced Arzawa to a rump, Uhhaziti at that time be-
ing ruler of “Arzawa Minor,” centered on Apasa (Ephesus). This
fertile territory eventually became the heart of the kingdom of
Lydia, with its capital at Sardis, one of several examples of the im-
pact of the environment on political and economic developments
over many centuries in Anatolia. The last reference to Arzawa oc-
curs in the Medinet Habu inscriptions of Ramesses III in Upper
Egypt, recording its sharing with Hatti the devastating impact of
the Sea Peoples.

ARZIYA. A land adjoining the territory of Carchemish, subdued by

Telipinu—second son of Suppiluliuma I and viceroy of Aleppo—
in a successful campaign designed to thwart the ambition of Tus-
ratta, king of Mitanni, to regain territory west of the Euphrates
River lost to the Hittites.

ASSEMBLY. This body, known as the panku or sometimes as the tu-

liya, has attracted more attention among modern specialists than it
really merits, often being credited with genuine political power,
at least in the Old Kingdom, with its role later diminished, as the
monarchy became more attuned to the traditions of Syria and
Mesopotamia, not to say Egypt.
While there is some slight truth in this view, in reality the
panku had strictly limited judicial functions, and could always be
overridden by the king. Hattusili I advised his grandson and heir,
Mursili I, to refer anyone committing a major crime such as mur-
der to the panku, while always reserving the final verdict to him-
self. The functions of the assembly may therefore be seen as
largely ceremonial, with any real powers lost in the mists of the
Indo-European background, in preliterate times.
The assembly was convened only when the king desired, thus
very irregularly, indeed rarely in the Middle Kingdom and under
the Empire. It did not comprise the great men or nobility, as for-
merly supposed, nor any single social class, but rather the higher
state bureaucracy, augmented by members of the royal household.
As the Proclamation of Telipinu phrased it: “Now, from this day
in Hattusa, may you observe this order, you palace officials,
members of the guard, ‘golden grooms,’ cupbearers, waiters,
36 ● ASSUR-UBALLIT I

cooks, heralds, charioteers and commanders of thousands.” These

evidently composed the assembly. Small wonder that it would not
attempt to resist the wishes of the king, their master!
The term panku can refer to bodies of men or of troops or even
carry the meaning of the Greek hoi polloi, the common people,
while the largely synonymous term tuliya occurs most often in ref-
erence to gods witnessing a treaty.
There is no evidence of an elective system of kingship, the he-
reditary principle being laid down in the Proclamation of Telipinu,
announced before the panku specially summoned by the king to
hear his decisions on the succession to the throne. This may be
seen as the most significant of all recorded sessions of the assem-
bly.
One point remains problematical: this is the precise relation-
ship between the nobility and the state bureaucracy, for recruitment
to which aristocratic birth, as in Pharaonic Egypt, does not seem to
have been a prerequisite.

ASSUR-UBALLIT I (1353–1318 BC). Assyrian king who began the

revival of Assyrian power, his reign inaugurating the Middle
Assyrian period. He weakened the power of Mitanni, after its de-
cisive defeat by Suppiluliuma I.

ASSUWA. This land has frequently had its name compared with the
Roman province of Asia, which lay in the same northwest Ana-
tolian region. Various locations have been proposed: north of the
heartland of Arzawa, in Wilusa or at varying distances east of the
Sea of Marmara. If the name is indeed reflected in the Roman
province, it could be supposed that Assuwa was an important terri-
tory in the Late Bronze Age. No such location, however, can be
pinned down.
Rather it appears that Assuwa must have been a name applied
in some sense as an alternative to Arzawa, though embracing terri-
tories further north. Tudhaliya I/II describes it as the leader of a
confederacy of 22 allies, extending from the Lukka Lands north-
ward: with his stunning victory over this coalition of doubtless ill-
assorted units, he claims to have destroyed the land of Assuwa, re-
turning to Hattusa with immense booty. A bronze longsword
found in 1991 near the Lion Gate at Hattusa has a dedicatory in-
scription of Tudhaliya to the Storm-God after a victory over As-
suwa. This sword is of a type indicating a workshop in western
Anatolia or the Aegean lands, and was presumably part of the
 ASTATA ● 37

booty. Curiously, Assuwa does not feature in later Hittite records.

ASTATA. A kingdom straddling the Euphrates River around the great

bend, where it turns southeast to flow into Mesopotamia. This land
was situated in a sensitive area, on the ancient trade route from the
Mesopotamian cities up the Euphrates into Syria and beyond.
Whosoever controlled Astata would gain great economic benefits.
During the reign of Tudhaliya III, when Hittite power was starting
to recover, Astata appealed first to Mitanni and then to Hatti
against the encroachments of Aleppo, in each case gaining a favor-
able response.
Astata comprised a number of excavated sites in the basin of
the Tabqa Dam, not only Emar but also Ekalte (Tall Munbaqa),
Azu (Tall Hadidi), Tall as-Sweyhat, Tall al-Qitar, Tall Frey and
Tall Halawa. Almost every text from these sites can be dated to the
Late Bronze Age (ca.1600–1200 BC), making them relevant to the
power politics involving Mitanni, Egypt, Hatti and Assyria, espe-
cially from Suppiluliuma I (ca.1344–1322 BC) onward.
Sarrikusuh (Piyassili), third son of Suppiluliuma, successfully
campaigned across the Euphrates from Carchemish, together with
Sattiwaza, in order to restore the latter to the throne of Mitanni.
This had become a much reduced realm, partly because, under a
treaty imposed by Suppiluliuma and binding Sattiwaza in a firm
alliance with the viceroyalty of Carchemish, four towns of Astata
on the west bank of the river and three on the east were transferred
from Mitannian control to the viceroyalty of Carchemish under
Sarrikusuh. When he died suddenly on a visit to an Anatolian
shrine, his nephew Mursili II had to march into Syria to quell a re-
volt, beginning his task with Astata, thus securing his left flank.
Discoveries in Astata, particularly Emar, have added to under-
standing of the Hurrian impact on much of the Near East. Hurrian
society in Astata was both patriarchal and patrilineal.

AXES. Many axes will have been used in furtherance of timber con-
struction of buildings rather than as battle axes. These are most
graphically represented by the weapon carried by the figure in the
King’s Gate at Hattusa. This has spikes above the shaft hole, and
in appearance resembles forms found in the Caucasus and Iran, il-
lustrating the international character of the metal industry. The
wooden shaft is curved. Axes were of bronze shaft-hole type or the
more primitive design, with a flat blade pushed into a split wooden
shaft and bound with leather thongs. Axes of iron were appearing
38 ● AZZI

in the last years of the Hittite Empire.

AZZI (-HAYASA). Often synonymous with Hayasa, but should be

located immediately to the north, as far as the Black Sea coast.
Here the fortress of Aripsa, captured by Mursili II, may be identi-
fied with Giresun, on an isthmus beside the sea. The annals of
Mursili II are the chief source for data on Azzi-Hayasa, though it
appears earlier in the Hittite records. Tudhaliya III relates how the
Azzian enemy came from afar and sacked all the Upper Land,
making Samuha his frontier. Then the Hittite counter-offensive
began with attacks on Kaska and Azzi-Hayasa, described as a
kingdom. After defeating the king of Azzi-Hayasa near the city of
Kummaha, Suppiluliuma I established it as a vassal state by
treaty with its ruler Hukkana. Mursili II had trouble with
Azzi-Hayasa from his seventh till his 10th year, after an attack on
the land of Dankuwa, led by its king, Anniya. After a delay to ob-
tain the omens, Nuwanza, a highly experienced general, finally de-
feated Azzi-Hayasa, restoring the Upper Land to Hittite rule in the
king’s ninth year. But it took another campaign the following year
for Mursili II again to reduce Azzi-Hayasa to vassaldom. This un-
ruly mountain population was never well disposed to the Hittite
power, and with Kaska was always a potential menace. Later,
Tudhaliya IV refers to Azzi as enemy territory.

-B-

BEAD-RIM BOWLS. These are among the most widespread Ana-

tolian pottery forms in the second millennium BC, a chronological
hallmark for anyone undertaking an archaeological survey, with
collection of surface sherds. Sites such as Beycesultan, where the
influence of metal prototypes is particularly evident, have yielded
countless examples. A metal vessel would have a dangerously
sharp rim, if not folded outward: this has the further advantage of
strengthening the vessel. Bead-rim bowls of fired clay, normally in
red or buff ware and wheelmade, imitate the folding outward of the
metal rim, with varying depth of fold. This is by no means an ex-
clusively Hittite category.

BEYCESULTAN. This large settlement mound in the upper Menderes

(Maeander) valley was excavated for six seasons (1954–1959) by
an expedition directed by Seton Lloyd, assisted by James Mel-
 BEYCESULTAN ● 39

laart, under the auspices of the British Institute of Archaeology at

Ankara. This site has two summits, and extends for over 500 me-
ters from west to east. Surface pottery had indicated occupation of
the Late Bronze Age, the period when Arzawa flourished as the ri-
val of the Hittite power in the west. Although hopes of discovering
an archive of cuneiform tablets were not to be fulfilled, and iden-
tification of the site remains less than certain, the results were to
prove significant in a less colorful manner.
Beycesultan is one of two sites, along with Mersin, providing
a long, unbroken stratigraphic sequence of occupation levels over
millennia. Though its origins are much later than those of the
Mersin settlement, in the early fifth rather than the early seventh
millennium BC, it continued as an important community almost to
the end of the second millennium BC, well past the time of the fall
of Hattusa.
Excavations on the western summit revealed a sequence of 21
Late Chalcolithic levels (XL–XX), followed by Early Bronze
(Levels XIX–VI), Middle Bronze (V–IV) and Late Bronze Age oc-
cupation (III–I). Pottery provides most of the evidence for cultural
changes in the Early Bronze Age, with burnished wares compara-
ble with those of Troy I giving way in the third and final period to
red, highly fired pottery often betraying the influence of metal ves-
sels, with features such as imitation rivets.
The suggestion has been made that the drastic changes in pot-
tery from Early Bronze II to Early Bronze III at Beycesultan can be
associated with a specific group of newcomers, the Luwians. At a
time when it seemed probable that this Indo-European people had
arrived in western Anatolia from the Balkans early in the third mil-
lennium BC as the first wave of Indo-European immigrants, pre-
ceding the Hittites, this was a very reasonable theory. With the
raising of the approximate dating for the first Indo-European arri-
vals in Anatolia, however, this may require some reconsideration.
The houses of the Early Bronze III period included some of the dis-
tinctive but simple megaron plan, with porch and central hearth,
indicating a west Anatolian architectural tradition.
Already in the first season of excavations remains of a major
burned building were being investigated on the eastern summit.
This proved to be a structure rightly described as the burnt palace
of Beycesultan V, the most striking example in Anatolia of Bronze
Age timber construction. As a result of the fire which raged
through the building after it had been very thoroughly looted, the
walls had sunk down below the earth floors. Along the walls ran
40 ● BIBLE

cuts which Seton Lloyd surmised to be heating ducts.

The limestone footings had been calcined by the heat, the mas-
sive timbers carbonized and the courses of mud brick vitrified.
Nevertheless, it proved possible to reconstruct much of the design
of this palace, which had at least two stories, a staircase, mural
paintings and a courtyard lined on all four sides by colonnades.
There are parallels, though not close, with Minoan Crete. This
burnt palace was approximately contemporary with the Old
Assyrian colonies of central Anatolia, including the karum of
Kanes, and was clearly the residence of an important dynasty, oc-
cupied for some generations. It seems virtually certain that there
must have been a link with Arzawa; and its destruction may well
have been the work of a Hittite force in the early Hittite Old King-
dom. A long period of poverty ensued (Beycesultan IV).
The Late Bronze Age at Beycesultan marks a decline in the
importance of this site, though further excavation might reveal that
the buildings of Levels III–I represent not merely a residential area,
complete with stables and a shop selling wine, but a palace, albeit
less magnificent than that of Beycesultan V. The pottery is highly
distinctive and quite different from any found in the lands under
Hittite control, including stemmed goblets resembling in form
champagne glasses. The clay used by the potters contained mica,
giving a sparkle to the surface of the vessels: this was used very
deliberately, yellow mica imitating gold, red mica like copper and
mica giving the effect of silver. From such hints one may guess the
wealth of metal vessels which have perished.
In Beycesultan I, the final level—apart from Byzantine occu-
pation over much of the mound—comes a hint of a refugee move-
ment, like those of earlier times in Anatolia, in the changes in pot-
tery. Beak-spouted and foliate-mouthed jugs of central Anatolian
forms and wares make their appearance. Thus can be detected a
faint echo from the downfall of the Hittite state, Beycesultan com-
ing to an end ca.1050/1000 BC.
As for identification of Late Bronze Age Beycesultan, and by
implication the city with the burnt palace of Level V, the city of
Salawasa in Arzawa is a good candidate. It was from here that
Tudhaliya I/II rescued the wives and children of Madduwatta,
held captive by the king of Arzawa.

BIBLE. The biblical evidence for the Hittites is limited, with a number
of brief references to their land and to individuals, many living in
the land of Canaan, later the home of the Israelites. This evidence
 BIT HILANI ● 41

is, however, of some interest, if only because the Old Testament

provided the only knowledge of the Hittites until the records of an-
cient Egypt, most notably the account of the battle of Kadesh, be-
came known following the decipherment of the hieroglyphs.
Of course the picture became infinitely clearer with the dis-
covery of the royal archives of Hattusa. It was at last evident that
the Hittites of the Old Testament were largely Neo-Hittites of the
postimperial age. It seems likely that elements of the population of
Hatti proper in Anatolia on the fall of the Hittite state found their
way southward through Syria into Palestine (i.e. the Israelite
lands). Hittites are listed as one of the peoples of Canaan, though
such references seem to be anachronistic, in particular the mention
of Hittites as occupying Hebron (Genesis 23). There are scattered
references to the land of the Hittites, among them the promise to
the Israelites of the territory “from the wilderness and this Lebanon
even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the
Hittites” (Joshua 1:4). King David’s domain in the north bounded
“the land of the Hittites towards Kadesh” (II Samuel 24:6). There
were two Hittites in David’s entourage, albeit both with Semitic
names, Ahimelech and Uriah (II Samuel 11). Solomon, requiring
horses and chariots, obtained the former from Que, the western
part of the former Kizzuwadna, and the latter ready-made from
Egypt. Thus he acted as a middleman (I Kings 10: 28ff.). Hittite
women were included in his ample harem (I Kings 11:1). Later, we
read of Ezekiel often reminding Jerusalem that the Amorite was
her father but a Hittite her mother (Ezekiel 16:3,45).
For the earliest reference to the Hittites in the Old Testament
we can turn to Genesis 10:15, in the so-called Table of Nations,
where Heth appears as a son of Canaan, being the eponymous an-
cestor of the Hittites. For another early reference, a case can be
made for “Tidal king of nations” as being identifiable with Tud-
haliya I/II. Tidal/Tudhaliya may therefore be dated to around 1400
BC. He is recorded as accompanying the alliance led by the king
of Elam named Chedorlaomer, and, whatever the historicity of this
account, he was probably the effective founder of the Hittite New
Kingdom or Empire, in a disturbed period of ancient Near Eastern
history.

BIT HILANI. This was a building plan characteristic of north Syria

from the second millennium BC, being found at Alalakh, in the
palaces of Levels VII and IV. It is, however, most typically Neo-
Hittite, notably at Zincirli, Carchemish and Guzanu (Tell Halaf).
42 ● BITIK

The bit hilani comprised a portico with one to three columns,

sometimes in human form, giving access to a broad room, probably
the throne room, with rooms or stairs to one side of the portico.
Sargon II of Assyria (722–705 BC), in his inscription record-
ing the construction of his palace in his new foundation of Khorsa-
bad (Dur-Sharrukin), refers to “a portico patterned after a Hittite
palace, which they call a bit hilani in the Amorite tongue.” The
term “Hittite” here means north Syria, more specifically the terri-
tory around Carchemish. Tiglath-Pileser III and Sennacherib were
other Assyrian kings mentioning the bit hilani.
The visitor to Syria today will see the entrance to the Aleppo
Museum, a reconstruction of the portico of the bit hilani at Tell
Halaf.

BITIK. A site near Ankara best known as the findspot of a fragment of

a large polychrome relief-decorated jar. It depicts a scene compa-
rable with the better-preserved four-handled jar from Inandiktepe,
likewise dating to the Hittite Old Kingdom. The top surviving
scene shows a man lifting a woman’s veil and offering her a drink-
ing bowl, perhaps in the context of a sacred marriage. Below is a
row of worshipers; and below them a possible dance with daggers.

BIT KARIM. This was the head office for administration of the Old
Assyrian trade centered on Kültepe-Kanes. Though frequently
mentioned in the cuneiform tablets forming the business records,
it has yet to be located through the excavations.

BITTEL, KURT (1908-1991). Arriving at the age of 23 at the site of

Boğazköy, still relatively remote, he directed the German excava-
tions until 1939 and from 1952, handing over to Neve as field di-
rector (1963), while retaining overall control to 1978. His excava-
tions were centered on Büyükkale and the Lower City. He brought
modern methods to the excavations, employing Güterbock as epi-
graphist in defiance of Nazi policy (1933–1939). A broad minded
and respected scholar, he published many excavation reports and
general works. He was the first director of the German Institute in
Istanbul (1938–1944, 1953-1959), then President of the German
Archaeological Institute (1960-1972). His contribution to Hittite
archaeology will not be surpassed.

BOEHMER, RAINER MICHAEL. Longstanding member of the

German expedition at Boğazköy, international authority on glyptic
 BOĞAZKÖY ● 43

art and author of the major report on seals from Hattusa.

BOĞAZKÖY: BÜYÜKKALE. This was the royal citadel, the most

important area of Hattusa throughout its checkered history, from
the rebuilding by Hattusili I onward. Unassailable from its north
and east sides, this rocky outcrop was far more accessible from the
south and west. Hantili II sought to remedy this weakness by
building a defensive wall eight meters thick. The buildings within
the citadel were by and large not preserved above floor level, pre-
senting a challenge to the excavators overcome by their architec-
tural vision, in the best tradition of German archaeology in the
Near East over the past century.
A causeway 85 meters long led up through the main south
gate, its mud brick superstructure erected on top of the stone walls
beneath. Possibly wooden planks over the surface were laid to fa-
cilitate the ascent of horse-drawn wheeled vehicles into the cita-
del. Across a first court, a gate led into the lower court, the second
in a series of four courts of differing areas: long colonnaded walks,
or stoas, extended along the southeast and northwest sides. Build-
ings M, N, H, A and G around the lower court housed palace offi-
cials and the palace guard.
An impressive gateway, with central chamber, gave access to
the central court of Büyükkale, lined with colonnades. Another
gate, in the north corner of the lower court, allowed admittance to
the heart of the citadel. To the left of the approach to Building D
(the palace) stood Buildings B and C, evidently serving as palace
chapels. In the middle of Building C a pool—six by five meters
and over two meters deep—contained many pots, clearly votive of-
ferings.
The largest structure, to which important visitors seeking an
audience with the king would have been led, was Building D, the
royal palace, not preserved above floor level. The “basement” had
an area of 39 by 48 meters, with five long partition walls acting as
foundations for the five rows of wooden columns, 25 in all, sup-
porting the roof of the great reception or audience hall, 32 meters
square. Such a columned hall—compared by Kurt Bittel with the
far larger Coronation Hall at Tell el-Amarna (Akhetaten) in
Egypt—was not typical of the Near East at this time. Direct Egyp-
tian architectural inspiration is unlikely. The main entrance to the
palace was on its southeast side. Beyond the palace stood Build-
ings E and F, the private quarters of the king, with a striking view
over the city to one side and the gorge below. The first discovery
44 ● BOĞAZKÖY

of an archive of tablets was found in the very first season of exca-

vations (1906), within and on the slope in front of Building E. The
upper court of the citadel, east of the palace, was surrounded by
poorly preserved colonnades.
Other archives were found in Buildings A and K, with a large
pool (24 meters long) nearby, for cultic purposes but perhaps also
for extra water supply: sloping embankments were paved with
limestone. A small third gate, in addition to an east gate and the
main south gate, gave direct access to the city below from Büyük-
kale and also to a spring, the only immediate source of water for
the citadel. Thus this small entrance was vitally important.

BOĞAZKÖY: BÜYÜKKAYA. Prehistoric occupation has been ex-

amined during the fairly recent excavations on this steep-sided hill-
top in the northeast of the area of Hattusa. Occupation deposits of
the sixth millennium BC had been disturbed by two phases of late–
third millennium BC occupation.
On all three plateaux within the area of the summit of Büyük-
kaya were found settlement remains of the Hittite Old Kingdom,
again much disturbed. The east wall, dating ca.1400 BC at the lat-
est, was the earliest defensive wall. A large building complex of
the Hittite Empire presumably served an administrative function,
standing on the south spur of the upper plateau on Büyükkaya.
Remains of squatters’ habitations have been found on Büyük-
kaya, and can be dated to the earliest period of the Iron Age, the
so-called dark age following the fall of the Hittite Empire and last-
ing until ca.900 BC. Primitive dwellings and handmade pottery
mark this as a retrograde culture with nothing in common with the
Hittite city before. Significantly, this material culture has much in
common with that of the Early and Middle Bronze Age centuries
earlier. No trace suggesting conquest was found. Rather were these
squatters, very probably people from Kaska in the north, who had
moved into the homeland of their old enemy. There is a complete
dearth of inscriptions, suggesting illiteracy.

BOĞAZKÖY: CHRONOLOGY. The sequence of occupation is best

distinguished on Büyükkale, with eight periods, to be summed up
thus: (1) Pre-Hittite (Early Bronze Age) (Büyükkale V); (2) Col-
ony period (Büyükkale IVd); (3) Hittite Old Kingdom (Büyükkale
IVc); (4) Early Empire (Büyükkale IVb-a); (5) Later Empire
(Büyükkale IIIc-a); (6) Early Phrygian (Büyükkale IIb-a); (7) Late
Phrygian (Büyükkale Ic-a); (8) Hellenistic-Roman building period.
 BOĞAZKÖY ● 45

BOĞAZKÖY: CUNEIFORM TABLETS. The larger proportion of

these were recovered in the pre–World War I excavations of Hat-
tusa, and were taken to Germany for study. With the onset of
World War I, the world of scholarship outside Germany did not
become acquainted with the Hittite archives until after 1918.
While philologists from other countries—some being refugees
from the Nazi regime—have made significant contributions over
the years, it is German Hittitologists, such as Heinrich Otten, who
have labored unremittingly at the task of transliteration and transla-
tion of the texts, along with the even harder task of piecing to-
gether the thousands of fragments into which these clay tablets had
been shattered.
Since World War II these tablets have been returned to Tur-
key, the majority to Ankara and the rest to Istanbul. They have
been published in two series. The earlier volumes of Keilschrift-
texte aus Boghazkoi (KBo) publish tablets from the early seasons
before World War I. This series was revived for publication of tab-
lets from the post–World War II seasons, all being deposited in the
tablet collection of the Ankara Museum. The second series—
Keilschrifturkunden aus Boghazkoi (KUB)—comprised 58 vol-
umes by 1989, being published in Berlin from 1921. It has covered
tablets excavated in the early seasons and for some years housed in
the Pergamon Museum in Berlin.

BOĞAZKÖY: EARLY TRAVELERS. The ruins of Boğazköy were

unknown to foreigners and unappreciated locally until 28 July
1834, when Charles Texier, a young French traveler, first set eyes
on the site. He spent a considerable time in Anatolia, his first jour-
ney being undertaken in 1833–1837, and longer at Boğazköy than
most subsequent visitors in the 19th century. Given the Classical
upbringing of his time, it is scarcely surprising that he identified it
with the city of Pteria, recorded by Herodotus; but this is now far
more plausibly located at Kerkenes Dağ, not far from Yozgat. It is
worth noting that Texier made the first suggestion about the reliefs
of Yazılıkaya, associating them with the Amazons of Classical
mythology.
Brief, two-day visits were made by William Hamilton (1836)
and years later by Heinrich Barth and Andreas Mordtmann (1858).
Members of the expedition led by Georges Perrot, of Perrot and
Chipiez fame, spent one week at Boğazköy (November 1861).
Edmond Guilaume, an artist, drew the reliefs, while Jules Debet, a
46 ● BOĞAZKÖY

medical doctor, was an early practitioner of photography. A later

two-day visitor was Rev. Henry J. van Lennep, “30 years a mis-
sionary in Turkey” (1864). Others visited the ruins, including rep-
resentatives from the Prussian Academy who made squeezes of the
Yazılıkaya friezes (1882). But the initial impact of Charles Tex-
ier’s account was unsurpassed until the brief excavations by
Ernest Chantre led to the recovery of cuneiform tablets (1893).
It was then inevitable that Boğazköy would attract a major expedi-
tion, as occurred from 1906 under Hugo Winckler.

BOĞAZKÖY: EXCAVATIONS. It would not be a gross overstate-

ment to equate the history of Hittitology with the story, still unfold-
ing, of the excavations at Boğazköy by the German expedition. The
romantic aura that some may see surrounding the early travelers in
Anatolia, at this site beginning in 1834 with the rediscovery of the
ruins by Charles Texier, may have departed; but Hattusa, the an-
cient capital of the kings of Hatti, will always impress the visitor, if
only by its commanding landscape, cyclopean masonry and sheer
scale.
In strict truth the history of these excavations began in 1893–
1894 with the very limited trenches dug by Ernest Chantre in
Boğazköy: Büyükkale, Temple 1 and Yazılıkaya, resulting in the
discovery of fragmentary clay tablets written in the cuneiform
script and Akkadian language. The fierce conflagration at the de-
struction of Hattusa in the early 12th century BC caused the clay
tablets to be baked hard and thus to survive even the methods of
the early excavators.
Fortunately scholarship, save only in time of war, is interna-
tional. Among the many clay tablets recovered by happy accident
from Tell-el-Amarna (Akhetaten) in Egypt were two letters, from
a correspondence between the Pharaoh Amenhotep III and a king
of Arzawa, a land till that moment unknown to the modern world.
The philologist J.A. Knudtzon deciphered these, and recognized
that they were written in an Indo-European language. This discov-
ery, in 1901, was quickly followed by the realization that the lan-
guage of these two Amarna letters was closely comparable with
that of the tablets found by Chantre at Boğazköy-Hattusa.
This was enough to send Hugo Winckler, a German
Assyriologist, together with Theodore Makridi, the second direc-
tor of the Istanbul Museum, to Boğazköy in 1905, in search of Ar-
zawa. The following year—after the personal intervention of Kai-
ser Wilhelm II—the application for a permit to excavate this site
 BOĞAZKÖY ● 47

was refused the front-runner John Garstang and granted instead to

Winckler. Excavations began promptly, in 1906, under the aus-
pices of the Istanbul Museum but partly funded by the Deutsche
Orient-Gesellschaft (D.O.G.). Very soon they found thousands of
clay tablets and fragments on the west slope of the royal citadel of
Büyükkale. Winckler at once recognized the title “Great King,
King of Hatti.” The identification of Boğazköy as the Hittite capi-
tal Hattusa was clinched beyond any doubt.
Excavations continued in 1907, 1911 and 1912, being ex-
tended to some of the storerooms of Temple 1. By then some
10,000 tablets had been found, providing a large enough corpus for
the systematic development of Hittitology by German scholars, a
task continued through World War I. In 1907 a team of archaeolo-
gists and architects, the latter from the earliest days of excavation
in the Near East prominent in German expeditions, worked under
the auspices of the German Archaeological Institute and directed
by Otto Puchstein. Their task was to survey the walls of the
Boğazköy: Upper City in particular, with five gates and five tem-
ples then known, and to carry out some excavations. This they did
with remarkable dispatch, the results being published by Puchstein
in 1912.
The ensuing break in excavations at Boğazköy, not resumed
until 1931, was by no means entirely unfortunate, for it allowed the
direction of the fieldwork to pass to the next generation in the per-
son of Kurt Bittel, whose lifetime’s work it became. He was des-
tined to lead the German expedition at Boğazköy over many sea-
sons (1931–1939 and 1952–1977) until his retirement. Like most
cuneiformists, Winckler had been interested only in tablets, a spe-
cialism balanced by the exclusive concern of Puchstein with the
monumental architecture, especially the defenses. There was an ur-
gent need to determine the stratigraphy of the site by modern exca-
vation methods, not easy at Boğazköy, being as it is a hill site
rather than a stratified mound. In this respect it more closely re-
sembles Anatolian sites of the Iron Age rather than the Bronze
Age. Temple 1 and Büyükkale were among the principal areas of
work under Bittel.
Peter Neve, a dedicated architect and archaeologist, turned his
attention to the Upper City, including the temple area and
Boğazköy: Südburg, from the 1978 season. He also carried out
extensive conservation on the defenses, going further by recon-
structing considerable lengths, an operation requiring funding at
this present stage beyond the expedition’s resources. The present
48 ● BOĞAZKÖY

director since 1993, Jürgen Seeher, has carried out extensive ex-
cavations on Boğazköy: Büyükkaya, thus filling in gaps in the
known story of settlement at this immense and diversified site.
Among his results in the Upper City has been the excavation of a
number of granaries and ponds designed for water supply for the
whole of Hattusa, with results affecting the absolute chronology
of Hattusa, especially the Upper City.
Although the work at Boğazköy remains essentially a German
undertaking, for many decades in highly experienced hands both
on site and in post excavation work on artifacts ranging from pot-
tery to tablets, there has been collaboration with scholars of other
nationalities, notably American, French, Italian and British, the last
recently in the person of David Hawkins. He deployed his exper-
tise in deciphering the hieroglyphs of the Südburg and Boğazköy:
Nişantaş inscriptions.
It goes without saying that the excavations at Boğazköy are
the focus of attention above all others for everyone interested in
Hittite civilization. Even today, however, the overriding concern of
Hugo Winckler still remains to some degree dominant, for most of
the publications are related to the tablets and rock inscriptions. The
ubiquitous attention to pottery and other artifacts in the archaeo-
logical profession can help to place Hattusa in its wider Anatolian
Late Bronze Age context.

BOĞAZKÖY: IRON AGE. Though the great days of Hattusa as cen-

ter of the Empire were never to return, there are widespread indica-
tions of later occupation on Boğazköy: Büyükkaya, Büyükkale
and elsewhere. While it is not till the ninth century BC that signifi-
cant building works are found, humbler traces of occupation
abound. The concept of a “dark age”—a term which often implies
modern ignorance of the past rather than cultural backwardness—
of three centuries or more after the fall of the Hittite Empire has
largely been discarded, on the evidence of excavated sites, notably
Boğazköy and Gordion. On Büyükkaya there are traces of squat-
ters, relatively primitive newcomers living in simple dwellings and
making pottery by hand, a complete break with the Late Bronze
Age. These may well have been Kaska tribesmen, arriving after
rather than causing the fall of Hattusa. Comparable Early Iron Age
occupation occurs near the House on the Slope in Boğazköy:
Lower City, on Büyükkale and around Temple 7 in Boğazköy:
Upper City.
Early in the Middle Iron Age (ninth–eighth centuries BC)
 BOĞAZKÖY ● 49

Büyükkaya grew into an extensive settlement across the whole of

that rocky hill. By the eighth century BC parts of Büyükkale and
the Lower City were also occupied.
Then in the Late Iron Age (early to mid–seventh century BC,
alternatively termed the later Phrygian period) Büyükkale was en-
circled by strong fortifications, a massive wall with rectangular
towers. There were no major public buildings; but gradually the in-
terior came to be filled with houses. The population was now
largely concentrated on Büyükkale, Büyükkaya and the Lower City
being almost deserted. Further south the Southern Citadel
(Boğazköy: Südburg) was built, with stone footings four meters
thick, and houses above the East Ponds and near Boğazköy:
Nişantaş—all in the eastern half of the Upper City. The defenses
of Büyükkale were very possibly built in the face of danger from
the Cimmerian invaders sweeping across Anatolia from the Cauca-
sus soon after 700 BC.
A fine statue of Kybele, the Phrygian goddess equivalent to
the Neo-Hittite Kubaba, was found at the southeast gate of the
Iron Age fortress of Büyükkale. Cultural links with the west, the
Phrygian heartland, are exemplified by sherds incised with Phry-
gian script and by a few sherds of East Greek imported pottery.
From 585 BC Boğazköy—along with all central Anatolia east
of the western reaches of the Halys River (Marrassantiya)—came
under the rule of the Medes, followed by that of the Persians (547–
336 BC). Political changes had little initial impact on life in
Boğazköy, the site mistakenly identified by Charles Texier with
Pteria, conquered by Croesus of Lydia in a campaign ending with
the complete victory of Cyrus over Croesus and the annexation of
Lydia to the Persian Empire (547 BC).

BOĞAZKÖY: LOWER CITY (OLD CITY). While the earliest oc-

cupation dates back well into the Early Bronze Age, the earliest no-
table structures are the houses of the Old Assyrian karum of Hat-
tus, one of the trading colonies established in the time of Kültepe-
Kanes IB (18th century BC). By the 16th century BC the Lower
City had been protected by a fortification wall.
The major excavations in the Lower City have been concen-
trated in Temple 1 and in the extensive residential quarter to the
west, between it and the defensive wall, as well as in official hous-
ing to the south. The earlier houses had a central open court. Con-
ceivably for reasons of climatic change, the “vestibule house”
with roofed living area came into fashion. Housing did not reflect
50 ● BOĞAZKÖY

status, for priests, civil servants, industrial workers and merchants

lived side by side, with the agricultural population living in the
countryside.
The standard of urban living was far from unbearably primi-
tive. Ovens and open fireplaces provided for cooking and warmth
in the long Anatolian winters, while water came from neighboring
fountains or perhaps piped from the reservoirs for water supply
constructed high in Boğazköy: Upper City. Some houses had
bathtubs of fired clay. Drains beneath the streets served as sewers.
One hundred meters southeast of Temple 1 stood the House on
the Slope (Haus am Hang). This steep slope up toward the Citadel
(Boğazköy: Büyükkale) was included within the old Lower City
and occupied by various terraced buildings, the House on the Slope
being the best preserved and largest, with an area of 36 by 32 me-
ters with two stories. On the upper floor was a hall clearly for pub-
lic purposes, 17 by 13 meters. Domestic needs and storage were
provided for on the ground floor. Here a large archive of tablets
was recovered in the early seasons of excavation. The mud brick
walls have largely survived, owing to the fire which destroyed this
administrative building, perhaps deliberately torched during the un-
rest at the time of the short-lived usurpation by Kurunta.

BOĞAZKÖY: NIŞANTAŞ AND ENVIRONS. Along with Sarıkale

and Yenicekale, Nişantepe is a rock outcrop in and Boğazköy:
Upper City, on whose summit are only traces of the Hittite struc-
ture, perhaps of a defensive character, including cuts in the rock
making it possible to trace the line of the walls. This is a fortuitous
similarity with some of the later fortresses in the kingdom of
Urartu. At the foot of the rock there originally stood a gateway
approached by a ramp and flanked by sphinxes. On the southeast
side was the major Nişantaş rock inscription.
To the north of the rock of Nişantepe stood two buildings
forming the North Complex and facing Büyükkale. Behind this on
the slope stood the West Building, of which only the basement cel-
lars survive, the fierce fire of the destruction preserving over 3,000
clay bullae with their seal impressions. Bags, baskets, sacks and
other containers were tied around the top with string or strips of
leather thong, then having a lump of clay pressed on them. In turn
a stone or metal seal was then impressed on the clay, normally
marking the sealed containers as belonging to the royal administra-
tion. The fire had preserved these bullae, though nothing else, in
the basement stores where they belonged, baking the clay hard.
 BOĞAZKÖY ● 51

More than half the bullae have royal seal impressions of all the
great Hittite kings from Suppiluliuma I onward. These have typi-
cal bilingual stamp-seal designs, inscribed in cuneiform and hi-
eroglyphs. Particularly common are those of Suppiluliuma I, Urhi-
Tesub and Tudhaliya IV. Kurunta, son of Muwatalli II, is repre-
sented, clear evidence of his status as Great King. The seal impres-
sions of Hattusili III have him usually represented jointly with
Puduhepa. King and queen seals occur also for Muwatalli II and
his son Urhi-Tesub (Mursili III). It seems possible that this was a
reflection of Egyptian influence, in the years preceding the battle
of Kadesh, for at this time Tiy and Nefertiti were queens exerciz-
ing undoubted influence on affairs of state in Egypt in the reigns of
Amenhotep III and Akhenaten.
The other bullae were of high officials, most of them scribes
and including royal princes with governmental responsibilities.
Earlier in date are land grants, with seal impressions of kings of
the late Old Kingdom, including Hantili II, Huzziya II and Muwa-
talli I. These needed to be filed and kept indefinitely.
The bullae in this building were filed in some typological and
chronological order. Thus this west building below Nişantepe evi-
dently housed a palace archive.

BOĞAZKÖY: SÜDBURG. Beneath the remains of the Iron Age

Southern Citadel (Südburg), in the northeast area of Boğazköy:
Upper City, were excavated two semi subterranean chambers, the
second of which (Chamber 2) is the better preserved and includes a
hieroglyphic inscription. The blocks indicate that the whole in-
scription has been preserved. It is carved in Luwian hieroglyphs of
less refined character than those of the inscriptions of Tudhaliya
IV at Yalburt and Emirgazi, suggesting some haste by the sculp-
tors working for Suppiluliuma II. The form of the royal name in-
dicates a probability of that king rather than Suppiluliuma I; and
the evidence elsewhere indicates that hieroglyphic inscriptions did
not come into vogue before Tudhaliya IV, the earliest datable ex-
ample being Aleppo I, of Talmi-Sarruma, grandson of Suppiluli-
uma I and successor of his son Telipinu as viceroy of Aleppo.
The inscription refers to a “divine earth road,” implying an en-
trance to the Underworld and thus a shrine dedicated to a chthonic
cult. Sited near the eastern ponds or reservoirs. The true character
of these two chambers is now apparent: they had at first been inter-
preted as tombs within tumuli, and indeed had been protected by
earth heaped over them at the time. The stones robbed had been
52 ● BOĞAZKÖY

used in the Iron Age for the Southern Citadel built nearby.
On the rear wall of the second chamber is a relief of the Sun-
God holding a lituus and a modified Egyptian ankh, the sign of
life. Above the god’s head is a winged sun disk. On the left wall is
a relief of Suppiluliuma II as a warrior armed with bow, sword and
lance: he wears the typically Hittite shoes with turned-up toes and
a horned headdress. This last is unusual, since this symbol of divin-
ity had not hitherto been associated with a Great King before his
death, when he “became a god.” The finish of the relief carving
suggests that much detail was left to the painters.

BOĞAZKÖY: UPPER CITY. The former belief that the Upper

(Southern) City of Hattusa was largely built in the early Empire
rather than in its last decades under Tudhaliya IV and Suppiluli-
uma II is now supported by recent data in the form of radiocarbon
determinations from the highest area of the Upper City, where a
group of five ponds has been investigated by Jürgen Seeher. It
never seemed plausible to suggest that all the construction work in
the Upper City, including the fortifications 3.3 kilometers in
length, could have been completed in one generation. While the
temples were built under the later kings, probably beginning with
Hattusili III, it would surely have been in character for those en-
ergetic warriors Suppiluliuma I and Mursili II to undertake the
formidable task of fortifying this vast extension to the area of Hat-
tusa, even though no record to this effect has yet been found.
The outstanding features of the defenses are three ornate gate-
ways: the Lion Gate, Sphinx Gate and so-called King’s Gate, from
west to east. The lions carved in relief at the Lion Gate, not espe-
cially ferocious in aspect, would have greeted people arriving at
the city from the south: they are in the long Near Eastern tradition,
originating in Mesopotamia, of guardian lions. The figure at the
King’s Gate in exceptionally high relief—often described as quin-
tessentially Hittite—is facing inward, toward those leaving the city.
He is almost certainly a god, with his battle-ax indicating warlike
character: he may be Sarruma, the special protector of Hittite
kings, and very possibly an addition to the original gateway. An-
other distinctively Hittite element is the use of massive “whale-
bone” monoliths on either side of the gate, with cyclopean ma-
sonry on either side.
While the overall layout of Hattusa supports the theory of a
predominantly religious and ritual role for the Upper City—with
temples there and administrative and residential quarters in the
 BOSSERT ● 53

Lower City and the royal palace on Boğazköy: Büyükkale—the

oldest and by far the largest of all the shrines, Temple 1, was sited
in Boğazköy: Lower City and probably built by Hattusili III. It is
difficult to believe that the Upper City had no secular function: it
may not have become so devoted to religious celebrations until the
reign of Tudhaliya IV. A major occasion would have been the
spring festival (purulli), starting from Temple 5, when the statues
of the gods would have been carried in public procession out of the
Upper City by the King’s Gate, along the outside of the defenses
and back through the Lion Gate, perhaps ending at Temple 30. The
Sphinx Gate (Yerkapi), at the highest point along the circuit of the
fortifications, led directly to the central temple area: the least ac-
cessible of the three gates, it was probably the least used.
The need for internal security inside the city is implied by the
erection of the strongholds of Sarıkale and Yenicekale on the top
of rocky outcrops within the Upper City, built of cyclopean ma-
sonry.

BOSSERT, HELMUTH THEODOR (1889–1961). German archae-

ologist and Hittitologist. Professor and director of the Department
of Near Eastern Studies in the University of Istanbul. Together
with Halet Çambel and Bahadir Alkim he found the site of
Karatepe, directing excavations there and working at the deci-
pherment of the Luwian hieroglyphs.

BUILDING METHODS. The Hittites employed the usual Near East-

ern methods of wall construction in undressed stone and mud
brick, sometimes with timber reinforcement, for the houses of the
population as a whole. For the flat roofs of houses and public
buildings alike, wooden beams, matting and mud were used. For
the most massive walls, notably fortifications, casemate construc-
tion was used, saving time and effort: the compartments thus cre-
ated were normally filled with rubble. An imposing effect was
achieved with cyclopean masonry. Blocks were fitted closely,
even though this often required specially carved irregularities. Lo-
cal stone—limestone at Hattusa—was in general use, though gran-
ite was employed for the footings of the sanctuary of Boğazköy:
Temple I.
Two idiosyncratic features appear in the masonry of Temple I
and other buildings in Hattusa. One is the custom of forming the
junction of pavement or floor with wall by cutting the corner from
one and the same block, bronze chisels being the tools of the pe-
54 ● BULLA(E)

riod. The other is the use of the drill, evident in numerous drill-
holes in the tops of masonry: given the great weight of these
blocks, at first sight this seems wholly unnecessary. Yet these drill
holes may have been associated with the massive timber frame
construction with mud brick filling for the walls standing on their
stone footing, all that survives today. Timber construction—an
essential element of Hittite architecture—alone depended on bring-
ing raw materials from a distance to Hattusa.
Corbeling was used for posterns and for the great gateways of
Boğazköy: Upper City. More remarkable is the construction at
Hattusa of the oldest known stone-built domes in the ancient Near
East, roofing two semi subterranean chambers, Chamber 2 being
the better preserved. Its pointed vault has been described, however,
as rather unstable. These are true vaults, unlike (for example) the
chamber tombs of Ugarit and its port of Minet el-Beidha, with
corbeling carved in the form of round or pointed vaults.

BULLA(E). A Latin term in general use to denote lumps of clay used

to seal the contents of any container, the clay then being impressed
with a seal. When subject to burning, the clay is fired, preserving
the seal impressions very well.

BURIAL CUSTOMS. The majority of Anatolian cemeteries of the

second millennium BC date to the Middle Bronze Age, though
some continue through the Late Bronze Age, with a tendency to
shift from inhumation to cremation. The two burial customs often
coexisted. The normal custom was for extramural cemeteries,
which consequently have in many places yet to be located, if not
destroyed by recent tomb robbers.
Intramural burials represent the survival of an earlier, prehis-
toric tradition, rather stronger in central Anatolia, though found
also in the west. Perhaps here can be seen evidence not simply of
family continuity but also of an ancestor cult. Intramural burials,
largely of children, occur at Hattusa, Maşat Höyük, Acemhöyük;
at Karaoğlan (near Ankara) and Polatli (near Gordion); further
west at Demircihöyük and Bozüyük; in southwest Anatolia at Ku-
sura, Beycesultan and Aphrodisias; and at Troy.
While at Osmankayasi (Boğazköy) and at Ilica, 70 kilometers
west of Ankara, inhumations and cremations are both found, as
likewise at Karahöyük (Konya) in the Middle Bronze Age, at
Gordion only inhumations occur. Numerous Middle Bronze buri-
als have been excavated at Ikiztepe on the Black Sea, at Alışar
 BURUNKAYA ● 55

Höyük and at Kültepe (Kanes).

Inhumations might be simple earth burials, in stone-lined cists
or in large jars (pithoi): contracted and facing southeast, these con-
tinued the Early Bronze Age tradition evident, for example, at
Karataş-Semayük in the Elmali plain in the Taurus zone of the
southern Anatolian plateau. Their grave goods indicate the cists as
the burials of the upper class, with pithos burials for poorer folk.
No Hittite royal tomb has yet been identified. In contrast with
Egyptian funerary customs, for the Hittite monarchy—once the
royal funerary rituals had been performed—the physical body
had no enduring significance. Were it otherwise, cremation would
not have been invariable for royal obsequies.

BURUNKAYA. A hieroglyphic inscription found in 1971 on the west

slope of a hill of this name northeast of modern Aksaray. Here, as
in the Karadağ-Kızıldağ inscriptions, appear the names of Har-
tapu and his father Mursili.

BURUSHATTUM, PURUSHANDA. See ACEMHÖYÜK.

BÜYÜKKALE. See BOĞAZKÖY: BÜYÜKKALE.

BÜYÜKKAYA. See BOĞAZKÖY: BÜYÜKKAYA.

-C-

ÇALAPVERDI. A very large hill fort situated not far from Alışar
Höyük, on the north side of the Kızıl Irmak (Marrassantiya),
commanding the old route from central Anatolia to Erkilet and
Kayseri. It stands on a steep-sided, naturally defensible hill. In
parts of the site there are six meters of occupation deposits, cover-
ing the Iron Age, Hellenistic and Roman periods. This is one of the
major Iron Age strongholds, comparable with Göllüdağ, Kululu
and Havuzköy and the later vast stronghold of Kerkenes Dağ, near
Yozgat. Çalapverdi has yielded typical Iron Age painted pottery. It
stood on the northern periphery of Tabal and the northernmost
limit of hieroglyphic inscriptions.

CANBY, JEANNY VORYS. Ph.D. from Bryn Mawr College, fol-

lowed by teaching at several U.S. institutions. She has published
widely on Hittite art, and has participated in the excavations at
56 ● CAPPADOCIAN WARE

Gordion, Kültepe, Boğazköy and elsewhere.

CAPPADOCIAN WARE. See ALIŞAR III WARE.

CARCHEMISH/KARKAMIS. This city, on the west bank of the Eu-

phrates, stood at the crossroads of the ancient Near East, where
major trade routes—north-south along the river and east-west from
Mesopotamia to the Mediterranean—meet. Today this large site is
divided by the Istanbul–Baghdad railway, marking the modern
frontier between Turkey and Syria, the overriding factor in the dis-
continuing of the excavations in the early 20th century.
In the written records, for the most part clay tablets in the cu-
neiform script, Carchemish appears from the mid–third millen-
nium BC onward, disappearing from the historical scene only at
the end of the seventh century BC. Beginning with the archives of
Ebla in Syria and later of Mari, there ensue references to the city
in the tablets found at Hattusa¸ Ugarit and Emar (Tell Meskene).
The Assyrian annals also include such references, from the time of
the Hittite Empire until the final destruction by Sargon II of
Assyria (717 BC).
In the mid–second millennium BC (ca.1750–1350 BC) Car-
chemish found itself successively within the sphere of influence of
Aleppo, Hattusa and Mitanni. At the siege of Ursu it sided with
Aleppo against Hattusili I; but by the reign of his successor, Mur-
sili I, Carchemish must have come under Hittite suzerainty. Under
Hantili I it seems to have rebelled, soon coming within the control
of the expanding kingdom of Mitanni, an ill-documented develop-
ment. Two Hittite treaties included retrospective references to the
earlier history of Carchemish.
From the time of Suppiluliuma I (1344–1322 BC) Carchem-
ish came under Hittite rule until the fall of Hatti in the early 12th
century BC, and indeed continued long after to preserve much of
its Hittite heritage. With the conquest of the Syrian kingdoms from
Aleppo to Kadesh in his Second Syrian War, Suppiluliuma reduced
Carchemish to little more than the city itself, seizing its surround-
ing territory. Yet it was only some years later, during the “Hurrian
War,” that Carchemish itself was taken, after a week’s siege. Sup-
piluliuma respected the temples on the citadel, including that of
the goddess Kubaba; but the lower town was sacked and 3,330
prisoners taken off to Hattusa. The defensive rampart encircling the
lower town contains Middle Bronze Age sherds in its earthen fill,
so that the archaeological evidence will fit with dating this to the
time of Suppiluliuma I, to the new Hittite regime rather than to the
 CARCHEMISH ● 57

defenders of the city against the Hittite attack, who of course

would not have had the necessary time for such a construction.
The long history of the viceroyalty of Carchemish then en-
sued, with the appointment as “king” of Carchemish of Piyassili
(Sarri-Kusuh), the third of the five sons of Suppiluliuma I. His re-
sponsibilities from the first were primarily military, opening with a
campaign in Mitanni. The boundaries of the territory of Carchem-
ish were extended by addition of towns of the country of Astata,
on both sides of the Euphrates; on the west side only Mukis can be
identified.
While eight kings ruled in Hattusa, from Suppiluliuma I to II,
only four—Sarri-Kusuh, Sahurunuwa, Ini-Tesub and Talmi-
Tesub—ruled in Carchemish, over a time span of some 150 years.
Their dates are attested by synchronisms with Hittite and other
kings. Sarri-Kusuh had the task of ensuring Hittite control of Car-
chemish following the setbacks of the deaths in rapid succession
from the plague of Suppiluliuma I and his eldest son and succes-
sor, Arnuwanda II (1322–1321 BC). By the third year of Mursili
II, however, Sarri-Kusuh was able to go to the assistance of his
brother in Anatolia, the threat from Assyria having been warded
off. The next problem in Syria came with the king of Nuhasse, a
principality bordering the lands of Carchemish and Ugarit. Egypt
was still capable of interfering in Syria, though a shadow of its
power in the days when Tuthmose III crossed the Euphrates, men-
tioning Carchemish (ca.1447 BC). At Egyptian instigation Nuhasse
rebelled against Carchemish. A Hittite army commanded by Kan-
tuzzili marched to suppress this revolt, while Sarri-Kusuh made an
agreement with Niqmaddu II of Ugarit to attack Nuhasse. For a
time peace was restored. But in his ninth year Mursili II was joined
by Sarri-Kusuh at the festival of the goddess Hebat at Kum-
manni, where he died.
Mursili II was obliged to go in person into Syria, after rebel-
lion by Nuhasse and Kadesh, to stave off a further threat of attack
from Assyria and to install his nephew, Sahurunuwa, the son of
Sarri-Kusuh, as viceroy in Carchemish, to which Mursili trans-
ferred some of the territory of Ugarit on the sea coast.
After the accession of Muwatalli II Carchemish was again
endangered from Assyria and by the threat from Egypt posed by
the capture of Kadesh by Seti I, father of Ramesses II.
This threat was removed in the fifth year of Ramesses by the
outcome of the battle of Kadesh; but in the east the Assyrian king
Adad-nirari I (1295–1264 BC) claimed in his annals to have con-
58 ● CARCHEMISH

quered the cities of Hanigalbat (Mitanni), including Harran, “as

far as Carchemish of the bank of the Euphrates.”
Ini-Tesub probably reigned the longest of the sequence of Hit-
tite viceroys during the Empire, and is the best documented at Uga-
rit, with four different seals and legal documents and letters of the
reign of Ammistamru II from Ugarit. In some legal cases the king
of Carchemish acted on his own authority, in others subject to the
leadership of the Hittite king. Ini-Tesub moreover controlled af-
fairs in Emar, as indicated by the tablets found there.
The reign of Talmi-Tesub, last ruler before the downfall of
Hatti, is attested in only a few texts. He must have been in power in
Carchemish when the attack by the Sea Peoples occurred. Unlike
Hattusa and Ugarit, however, there was scant archaeological evi-
dence at Carchemish to prove a massive destruction. The levels of
this period were scarcely investigated by the British Museum ex-
pedition. It seems very possible that the reference by Ramesses III
of Egypt to the devastation brought about by the Sea Peoples might
have indicated Hittite-ruled north Syria rather than the city of Car-
chemish itself. Be that as it may, it was not very long before Car-
chemish revived to become one of the leading cities of the Neo-
Hittite world during the Iron Age.

CARCHEMISH IN THE IRON AGE. Nearly all the archaeological

evidence, from the British Museum excavations, pertains to the
Neo-Hittite period, in effect from the early 10th to the later eighth
century BC. Yet this is frustrating in its incompleteness, owing to
the political circumstances preventing continuation of the excava-
tions and also to the damage caused by buildings of the Roman pe-
riod, when the town was named Europos.
The excavated buildings give only rather indirect hints of the
prosperity of a city standing at a commercial crossroads, as it had
done in the third and second millennia BC. Few structures were
excavated at all completely, the emphasis being on uncovering the
sculptures of the facades: interiors were indeed left largely un-
touched. Quite apart from this, the city had been plundered by Sar-
gon II of Assyria (717 BC), later falling to the Babylonians (605
BC), so that the chances of finding treasures were virtually nil.
It is an irony that one must turn to the annals of the Assyrian
enemy for a record of the wealth exacted as tribute from Carchem-
ish, notably by Assurnasirpal II from its ruler Sangara (ca.870 BC).
The list is impressive, including 20 talents of silver, daggers and a
couch of gold, 100 talents (three tons) of copper and 250 talents
 CARCHEMISH ● 59

(seven and a half tons) of iron. Other tribute included metal vessels
and the contents of the royal palace “whose weight could not be
computed.” Mention is made of beds, chairs and tables of box-
wood, the last inlaid with ivory, as well as elephants’ tusks, at a
time when the Syrian elephant was about to become extinct
through generations of hunting for its ivory. The significance of
textiles for the economy of Carchemish is illustrated by the inclu-
sion of garments of linen and brightly colored wool and of blue and
purple wool, the purple dye doubtless coming from the Mediterra-
nean coast. A ceremonial chariot is mentioned in the list of tribute.
War chariots were also taken, as well as human tribute in the form
of 200 young women, cavalrymen and infantry to reinforce the
Assyrian army. Military reinforcements in the shape of prisoners of
war were likewise taken from Carchemish by Sargon II on his cap-
ture of the city. The tribute exacted from Sangara of Carchemish
demonstrates its great wealth at the height of its prosperity, under
the dynasty of Suhis (ca.970–870 BC), to which the majority of the
excavated monuments can be ascribed.
Links with the well-attested historical chronology of Assyria,
especially the royal annals, and the internal chronology of the hi-
eroglyphic inscriptions provide the epigraphic evidence for dating
the buildings and their sculpture, assisted by stylistic analysis of
the sculpture. The archaeological horizon is entirely Early Iron
Age. Over 50 years of study of the material from Carchemish is
achieving a growing consensus, with two extreme dissidents (Ek-
rem Akurgal and David Ussishkin).
The hieroglyphic inscriptions of Carchemish, with correla-
tions with Assyrian chronology, make it possible to determine the
successive dynasties and individual rulers. After two early rulers
meagerly documented came the House of Suhis, comprising Suhis
I, Astuwatamanzas, Suhis II and Katuwas, preceding Sangara and
spanning the years ca.970–870 BC. Following Sangara came the
House of Astiruwas, comprising Astiruwas, Yariris (Araras) and
Kamanis, this sequence being confirmed by the inscriptions of
Korkun, and dated between Sangara and Pisiri, ca.840–740 BC.
Finally came “son of Sastu(ras),” on the later inscriptions of the
Great Staircase, plausibly identified with Pisiri, ca.740–717 BC.
The excavations were concentrated in an area of the Inner City
just below the Citadel, extending westward from the west bank of
the Euphrates. On the Citadel little could be recovered, owing to
the deep disturbance caused by the Roman buildings: here must
have stood the royal palaces of the Hittite viceroyalty and of the
60 ● CARCHEMISH

Neo-Hittite successors, as well as the temple of the patron goddess

of the city, Kubaba, attested in the texts. A processional stairway,
with two inscriptions of Katuwas, son of Suhis II and the greatest
royal builder of the city, must have led up to the Citadel. Badly
damaged reliefs in the gate of this Great Staircase, however, can be
stylistically compared with a fragment of a colossal statue with in-
scribed base from the south gate of the Inner Town as well as with
sculptures from other Neo-Hittite sites, giving a dating to the pe-
riod of Tiglath-Pileser III—Sargon II of Assyria, ca.745–705 BC.
Just as the Assyrian tribute–lists provide the most vivid evidence of
the wealth of Carchemish and indeed many other cities, so the
decorated bronze bands of the gates of Balawat, now displayed in
the British Museum, depict the fortifications of the Citadel with
parapets, towers and arched gates, associated with an undated
campaign early in the reign of Shalmaneser III of Assyria (859–
824 BC).
The Water Gate, giving entry from the river close to the revet-
ted river wall, was at first dated back in the Late Bronze Age by
the excavator, Leonard Woolley, but this dating has now been
brought down into the Neo-Hittite period, along with the other ex-
cavated structures. The Water Gate could be reconstructed from the
remaining south portion.
A road led from the Water Gate to the square at the foot of the
Great Staircase, next to which stood the Temple of the Storm-
God, identified by an inscription of Katuwas recording its restora-
tion, thus indicating a date in the 10th century BC for its original
construction. Its plan, with the sanctuary approached through an
outer and an inner cobbled court, demonstrates some similarities to
the temple of Solomon at Jerusalem, almost contemporary: a com-
mon Canaanite origin rather than any direct connection must be the
explanation.
Along the southeast façade of the Temple of the Storm-God
stretched the Long Wall of Sculpture, whose inscriptions show that
it was entirely the work of Suhis, certainly the second king of that
name. This is a victory procession, commemorating battles de-
scribed in the accompanying inscriptions of Suhis II, whose wife
Watis appears in the procession of gods and goddesses, followed
by chariotry and infantry. An interesting detail is the crested hel-
met of the spearmen, a design not found in the Assyrian army until
the time of Tiglath-Pileser III (744–727 BC). Any suggestion of
Greek influence can be dismissed outright! This is the most signifi-
cant sculptural series attributable to the first of the three phases of
 CARCHEMISH ● 61

stylistic development at Carchemish. The suggestion that such re-

liefs betray the influence of New Kingdom Egyptian monumental
or public art is arguable, if not altogether convincing. More signifi-
cant is their dating, not later than ca.900 BC and perhaps rather
earlier, for this precludes direct Assyrian influence, seeing that the
first of the Late Assyrian palaces, the North-West Palace of Assur-
nasirpal II at Nimrud, was not built for another generation. Neo-
Hittite sculpture has its detractors, its limitations in part attributable
to the inflexible character of basalt; but, whatever their shortcom-
ings, the sculptors cannot accurately be accused of producing
merely provincial Assyrian works. The chronological evidence is
against such a charge. By the eighth century BC matters had
changed, though the Assyrianizing style by then in fashion is
barely reflected at Carchemish, the leading custodian of the Hittite
heritage.
More or less facing the Temple of the Storm God across the
square ran a series of relief-carved orthostats termed the Herald’s
Wall, so named presumably from the symmetrical design of each
slab, with echoes of Sumerian art of a much earlier period as well
as Hurrian influence, among the characters portrayed being the
bull-man. The slabs alternate dark and light, basalt and limestone.
There is no narrative theme here. Rather than a survival from ear-
lier centuries, as once suggested, the Herald’s Wall probably dates
from the reign of Katuwas. This too belongs to the first stylistic
phase. The second phase is represented by the reliefs of the so-
called Royal Buttress, which date to the reign of Yariris, being an
addition to the original structure by the entry to the “Lower Pal-
ace,” extending south. The third and final stylistic phase is repre-
sented on the Great Staircase by the additions attributable most
probably to Pisiri.
The perimeter wall of the Outer Town, very probably dating to
the 10th century BC, is barely discernible for much of its course.
Within this area was excavated a house with vivid evidence of its
destruction by the Babylonian army (605 BC). At the same time
the Gold Tomb in the Northwest Fort, at the north end of the Cita-
del, was looted. This yielded clear proof of the long-lived survival
of Hittite artistic tradition from the time of the Empire, with a
wealth of tiny gold appliqué ornaments, many reproducing designs
from Yazılıkaya, including the king embraced by his protective
god, Sarruma. It is remarkable that these had survived over a cen-
tury after the sack of Carchemish by Sargon II. The memory of
“Great Hatti” could not so easily be obliterated.
62 ● CENTRAL ANATOLIA

CENTRAL ANATOLIA BEFORE THE HITTITE OLD KING-

DOM. There was a complex pattern of principalities throughout
the lands from the great bend of the Marrassantiya River (Kızıl
Irmak) southward to the Taurus Mountains and southwestward to
the Konya Plain. Relations in one form or another, military or
commercial, are attested with Mesopotamia from the 24th until the
18th century BC. The evidence for these relations ranges from the
legendary to the matter-of-fact, the former best exemplified by the
King of Battle text found with the cuneiform tablets from Tell el-
Amarna in Egypt, recounting the achievement of Sargon of
Agade in marching as far as Burushanda/Burushattum (Acem-
höyük), near the Salt Lake. The latter category is abundantly pre-
served in the tablets from the karum of Kültepe-Kanes.
While the King of Battle text is a millennium after the events
described, and thus questionably reliable, inscriptions from the
reign of Sargon’s grandson Naramsin record revolts over a vast
zone from Anatolia to the Gulf, involving in one case 20 and in an-
other 17 kings. Naramsin was victorious in nine battles. His ac-
count indicates that certain central Anatolian communities—
Kültepe, Boğazköy, Alışar and Acemhöyük—were already promi-
nent in the Akkadian period, before the foundation of the pre-
Assyrian trading post at Kültepe-Kanes (karum IV). Whatever the
precise facts, which seem unlikely ever to be recovered, interfer-
ence by the Akkadian dynasty in the affairs of Anatolia may well
have provided information handed down the generations and taken
up some three centuries later by enterprising Assyrian merchants.
There was a brief inclination among specialists to interpret the
Old Assyrian trade with its colonies in the context of an Old
Assyrian Empire in Anatolia, foreshadowing Assyrian imperial ex-
pansion many centuries later. Even then, however, Assyrian territo-
rial control north of the Taurus range was extremely limited, if it
existed at all. The theory of foreign rule over the Anatolian plateau,
with a network of roads built along Roman lines, in the early sec-
ond millennium BC was based on misconceptions, one being that
there was textual evidence that the rulers of the petty Anatolian
kingdoms were compelled to swear fealty to the city of Assur. The
truth was the reverse, that the merchants were obliged to follow the
orders of the local rulers. Common sense should have indicated the
absurdity of this theory.
Over 30 Anatolian principalities are mentioned in the Old
Assyrian texts, with Hatti and Harkiuna appearing in the Anitta
 CENTRAL ANATOLIA ● 63

text. Three kingdoms—Kanes, Wahsusana and Burushattum—

were particularly prominent in the 20th century BC, contemporary
with Kültepe-karum II, the ruler of Burushattum being entitled
ruba’um rabi’um, “Great Prince,” literally “King of Kings.” The
status of the other principalities of this period, independent or in
vassalage, is uncertain. One Old Assyrian text reveals a treaty re-
lationship between Kanes and Wahsusana, which may have been a
major vassal of Burushattum. Such treaties were quite distinct from
those between the Assyrian merchants and the local rulers.
For the period of reoccupation of the karum of Kanes and ex-
tension of the Old Assyrian trading network beyond it (IB), a letter
written by Anum-Hirbi, king of Mama, to Warsama, king of
Kanes, is very informative. Each kingdom controlled a number of
vassals, this letter distinguishing vassal (sarrum) from suzerain
(ruba’um). Under Inar, father of Warsama, the two had been in
conflict; and, after an interval of peace sought by both sides, trou-
ble broke out again, ostensibly from the behavior of vassals. It was
especially in the interests of Kanes to safeguard the Assyrian trade
route which Mama evidently commanded.
Evidence concerning the native Anatolian kingdoms and their
vassals can be garnered from the approaches made by the Assyrian
merchants, as revealed in the tablets. For them the term “palace”
was commonly in use, clearly signifying the local power, often in-
tervening in the trade to the irritation of the merchants: on one oc-
casion Assyrians went in a delegation to the palace of Hahhum.
References to wars do not occur directly in the Old Assyrian tab-
lets, possibly from a desire to avoid any loss of confidence back in
the city (Assur), which could damage trade. Quite a modern note!
But there are references to “troubles.”
Each Anatolian city was recognized by the Assyrian mer-
chants as being under the authority of a king (lugal) or a prince
(ruba’um), Akkadian terms. Various official ranks are attested be-
neath the ruler, the highest ranking being the “grand chamberlain”
(rabi similtim), literally, “great one of the staircase.” The other of-
ficials indicate the predominance of agriculture in the economy:
not being of the first concern for the Assyrian merchants, however,
it is poorly documented. The same is true of industry. The service
industries rather than manufacturing, that is, trade and finance, are
the main subjects covered by the tablets. These, moreover, come
disproportionately from the later years of karum II at Kanes.
Assyrians could and did open accounts in the palace, which
thus functioned as a bank rather in the manner of the karum. The
64 ● CHANTRE

palace was often involved in the seizure of bankrupt stock. Goods,

including textiles, were often assigned to the palace. Assyrian and
Anatolian merchants followed organizational and commercial prac-
tices not so very different, though, with a long Mesopotamian tra-
dition behind them, the Assyrians had refined their methods.

CHANTRE, ERNEST. His significance in the development of Hitti-

tology rests on the brief excavations he carried out at Boğazköy
(1893), when he discovered the first tablets which could be firmly
attributed to this site, even though their language was not yet iden-
tifiable. This discovery naturally awakened interest in Boğazköy
among scholars. He published Recherches Archéologiques dans
l’Asie Occidentale—Mission en Cappadoce 1893–4 (Paris, 1898).

CHARIOTS AND CHARIOTRY. Charioteers have traditionally been

seen as the shock troops who commanded the open battlefield,
most famously at the battle of Kadesh in Syria, the scene of the
confrontation between Ramesses II and Muwatalli II, pharaoh
and Hittite king respectively. Ramesses claims to have faced no
fewer than 2,500 Hittite chariots, each with a crew of three, driver
and two armed men. Whatever the accuracy of this number, it is
certain that the chariotry formed the elite wing of the Hittite army.
In texts from the 17th century BC onward charioteers are listed in
records of personnel before the infantry, although by the 13th cen-
tury BC, curiously, the order is reversed. This has no known sig-
nificance.
The Hittites were not alone in developing chariotry as the
leading military wing. It appeared in New Kingdom Egypt from
ca.1550 BC as a clear innovation, though it was not widely used
throughout the ancient Near East for some generations: for exam-
ple, Shalmaneser I (1263–1234 BC) is the first Assyrian king to
record deployment of chariots on the battlefield.
It is mistaken to assume that chariots were deployed only in
open battle; and still more so to suggest that they were responsible
for the use of the glacis in military architecture. Control of cities
and towns was an essential method for the Hittite kings of securing
control of new territories. To this end siege warfare was a frequent
and often protracted phenomenon. But chariots would have been
useless as assault vehicles against fortifications, let alone as a
method of undermining city walls: it was against undermining that
the glacis was built, not against chariotry. A Hittite account of the
siege of the city of Ursu, in the southeast, makes it clear that
 CHARIOTS AND CHARIOTRY ● 65

chariots were deployed as backup for the besieging force, to secure

surrounding areas and cut off supplies from reaching the garrison.
Chariots also served nonmilitary functions, notably in hunting
and as parade vehicles. Possession of horses and chariots was
surely a mark of wealth and social standing.
Chariots must be distinguished from the heavier four-wheeled
wagons and two-wheeled carts with solid wheels. The evidence for
the development of the spoked wheel in Anatolia comes from
small-scale representations on seals from the Old Assyrian mer-
chant colony of Kanes (Kültepe) near modern Kayseri, ca.2050–
1750 BC, with depictions also of the more primitive crossbar
wheel, surely the precursor of the spoked wheel. In the light of the
evidence from central Asia, it may be significant that a rather ear-
lier instance of the crossbar wheel occurs in northeastern Iran, at
Tepe Hissar, dated ca.2350 BC. The Hittite army was making full
use of chariots by the reign of Hattusili I (ca.1650–1620 BC),
probably of the six-spoked wheel design depicted later in the Egyp-
tian reliefs of the battle of Kadesh. The bent-wood technology es-
sential for constructing chariots must have become established in
Anatolia some generations earlier than Hattusili I. Manufacture of
heavy, solid-wheeled vehicles was a simpler affair. The Hittite
chariots were protected with leather. Their crew comprised driver,
spearman and shield bearer.
The rapid dissemination across the Near East, including Egypt,
of the horse-drawn chariot is attested from ca.1700 BC. The argu-
ment is between those suggesting an independent development of
the Near Eastern chariot from the heavy, disk-wheeled ox cart and
proponents of an Indo-European, more specifically Indo-Aryan,
origin. The wide dispersal of Indo-European words for “wheel”
(ratha, rota etc.), “shaft-pole,” “axle,” “yoke” and “harness” has
influenced discussion. Perhaps it would be wiser to make a contrast
simply between a Near Eastern and an intrusive origin, the latter
not exclusively Indo-European. The archaeological evidence,
though not abundant, may be said to support the argument for an
intrusive, non–Near Eastern origin of the chariot, while the re-
markable rapidity of its spread in the early second millennium BC
also suggests its importation. The crucial innovation was the
spoked wheel, widely attested, initially with only four spokes, in
New Kingdom Egypt, known to have imported horses and chariots
from Mitanni.
While the bulk of the evidence from central Asia—arguably
the original homeland whence the Hittites derived their chariots—
66 ● CHRONOLOGY

points to the major role played by horsemen and chariotry, there

are certain caveats to be noted. The light two-wheeled vehicles, so
much more maneuverable than the cumbersome four-wheeled
wagons, are, with many other items, widely depicted in rock draw-
ings found for the most part in remote mountain valleys over a vast
expanse from Mongolia and the Altai to Kirghizia and the Pamirs.
Several of the scenes with two-wheelers appear to depict the
rounding up of cattle. The construction of the two-wheelers was
normally flimsy, to a degree that they would not have had a long
life. Certainly for most of the time the majority of these vehicles
were used for peaceful, everyday purposes, such as transporting
family belongings from one tented encampment to the next, with a
move to fresh pastures.
The horse-drawn chariot seems first to have arrived south of
the steppes with the Indo-Aryan migration. One group entered In-
dia and the other northeastern Iran, the latter perhaps by ca.3000
BC. It is noteworthy that early sources from India accord a special
status to the cartwright as well as to the smith. It has been postu-
lated, with good reason, that the Indo-Aryans first introduced or
developed chariotry in Iran; and that it was adopted by the Hur-
rian and Kassite populations occupying much of western Iran.
Chariotry was playing a significant role in the Near East by the
13th century BC and indeed earlier. The subsequent defeat in the
later 12th century BC of northern invaders, the Mushki, by
Tiglath-Pileser I of Assyria, when he captured 120 chariots, and
Late Assyrian dependence on a supply of horses from such regions
as the Urmia basin of northwestern Iran are relevant.
The spread of the lightly constructed chariot—suited to pa-
rades, hunting and raiding as well as to the battlefield, where it was
controlled by the blowing of trumpets—westward to central
Europe (Slovakia) and eastward to Vedic India and even to China
during the Shang period (ca.1850–1027 BC) emphasizes the im-
mense span of Indo-European activity.
Although the Hittites can hardly be credited with inventing
chariotry, once it had arrived upon the scene in the ancient Near
East they deployed it to excellent effect on campaign. If they had
left us a pictorial and written record to compare with the vainglori-
ous inscriptions and reliefs of the Egyptian kings, the Hittite
achievement in this sphere of warfare would be given the recogni-
tion it deserves.

CHRONOLOGY. See ABSOLUTE CHRONOLOGY; RELATIVE

 CISTERNS ● 67

CHRONOLOGY
CISTERNS. Water supply was naturally vital for all communities, not
least for those in towns liable to suffer a prolonged siege. Cisterns,
cut out of the bedrock, are a common feature of the fortresses of
Urartu in the Iron Age, but fewer examples are known from the
second millennium BC. At Hattusa cisterns about two meters
across and 2.7 meters deep were cut into the rock on Büyükkale
and Sarıkale. At Troy VI, in the northeast corner of the citadel, a
cistern four meters square and nine meters deep was cut into the
rock and defended by a great tower of limestone masonry no less
than nine meters high.

CLIMATIC CHANGE. Nowadays a common topic of discussion,

much of it ill-informed and overstated. Given the fact that present-
day trends are by no means altogether clear, taking Earth as a
whole, any comment on climatic changes four or five millennia be-
fore our time has to be treated with some caution. Nevertheless,
there are indicators which can hardly be ignored, sometimes of
abrupt change.
Volcanic eruptions have more than once occasioned dramatic
falls in temperature; and one such occurred round about 2250 BC,
striking traces of which have been found in cores obtained from the
depths of the Greenland ice sheet, in the form of volcanic ash.
Whether or not a violent eruption was the sole cause of climatic
change at this time, it has been detected in a wide zone including
the Near East. The effects may have been most dramatic in Egypt,
contributing to the collapse of the Old Kingdom, with records of
famine and the likelihood of low levels of the Nile flood over a
prolonged period. It is conceivable that climatic factors had an im-
pact on political changes in Mesopotamia from the Akkadian pe-
riod until the Third Dynasty of Ur, approximately 2370–2000 BC.
The effects of climatic change in Anatolia in the late third mil-
lennium BC are not documented in any written records, although
there was a collapse of settled life over wide areas during the Early
Bronze III period. Hardship from failure of harvests would almost
certainly have contributed to political unrest, and may have helped
the growth of the Hittites as a force to be reckoned with in central
Anatolia.
There is some evidence of low solar activity and thus a rela-
tively cool and rainy period in the Near East from mid–15th to
mid–13th century BC. The picture is more certain for the final cen-
tury of the Hittite Empire, some of the clearest data coming from
68 ● COPPER

Ugarit and pointing to a period of drought and high temperatures,

in contrast with the cold, dry conditions of a millennium earlier de-
scribed above. This climatic phase lasted until ca.900 BC, and may
have been a factor in the decline of Assyria and Babylonia. Claude
Schaeffer recorded a soil layer up to two meters deep all across the
excavated areas of Ugarit: this consisted of fine powdery light yel-
low or whitish particles. This did not seal the buildings destroyed
at the fall of the city: rather, they were built into it.
Grain shortages in the Hittite Empire became serious from
time to time before the onset of the three centuries or so of hot, dry
conditions; but they were surely aggravated, an additional factor in
the final decline and fall of Hatti.

COPPER. Copper-working can be dated back well before the Bronze

Age to the eighth millennium BC at a few widely scattered settle-
ments in and beyond Anatolia. By the mid–third millennium BC it
was becoming far more widespread and on a larger scale, although
most sources mined were too small or too inaccessible to be com-
mercially viable today, an exception being Ergani Maden, near
Diyarbakir (whose Turkish name means “copper walls”). By
ca.2800 BC copper was being mined at Közlü, not very far from
Ikiztepe. Unalloyed copper was then still widely in use, arsenical
bronze being the most popular alloy in the third millennium BC,
exemplified by the contents of the rich tombs of Alaca Höyük.
This was superseded by tin bronze, from the period of the Old
Assyrian colonies onward.
For the Assyrian merchants at Kanes and elsewhere copper
was the third largest item of trade, after tin and textiles, its value
averaging 130:1 in silver shekels. The Assyrians distinguished
several grades of copper, from “washed” and “refined” to the infe-
rior grades, classed as “black,” “poor” or “in pieces.” Refining cen-
ters were not clearly distinguished from sources. It is hard to be-
lieve that the copper trade was mainly carried on only within
Anatolia. Once sources in Oman became less accessible, the cities
of Mesopotamia turned to Anatolian sources, though overland was
more expensive than seaborne transport.
From the Hittite Old Kingdom onward trade was altogether
less extensive and less sophisticated in organization than under the
Assyrian merchants. Unfortunately textual records for commercial
activity and industrial production in the countryside outside the
control of the palace at Hattusa are very limited. Copper, however,
was a prominent item in dealings between those cities and towns
 CREMATION ● 69

remaining active throughout the centuries of Hittite power. It was

moreover one of the resources for which the local centers had to
account to Hattusa in the form of taxes. One city sent 190 kilo-
grams of copper and 22 kilograms of tin; but payments were usu-
ally much smaller. Sickles, arrows, horse bits, vessels, knives, axes
and hatchets are listed as gifts or as tribute (mandattu). Thus cop-
per-working obviously flourished under Hittite rule, even though
inadequately recorded.

CREMATION. Cremation was once regarded as a hallmark of the Iron

Age, a distinctive tradition marking out those practicing it from
those with a custom of inhumation. Now, however, there is wide-
spread evidence of the coexistence of cremations and inhumations
even in the same cemetery. This variety of burial customs may
appear surprising, as differing concepts of the Underworld are im-
plied.
Cremations usually take the form of jars containing the burnt
remains of the dead. Several hundred were found at Gedikli, in the
Islahiye district of Gaziantep province in southeastern Anatolia,
and were dated by the excavator to the 22nd to 20th centuries BC.
It was then suggested that here was a link with the arrival of the
first Indo-Europeans in Anatolia, a development now dated consid-
erably earlier. However that may be, it is now quite clear that cre-
mation was not an innovation of the Iron Age, even though large
cemeteries comprising only cremations do not appear till that pe-
riod.
In Bronze Age Anatolia cremations occur at several sites, in-
cluding Troy VI (where they were first discovered), Ilica and
Karahöyük-Konya I. Most noteworthy, however, is the rather
small cemetery of Osmankayasi at Boğazköy (Hattusa), rediscov-
ered by the German expedition in 1936. It is located across the
gorge north of Hattusa and north of Büyükkaya, lying not far west
of Yazılıkaya. This cemetery has been dated ca.1800–1400 BC,
the stratigraphy revealing three phases for the 54 cremations and
36 inhumations identified in the shelter of overhanging rocks. Ce-
ramic parallels begin in the period of Kültepe-Karum IB.
The pots were mostly used as urns for the ashes, fewer being
tomb gifts. Horses and donkeys had not been incinerated, and were
surely ritual offerings. Archaeologically these can be observed
elsewhere, as in the Caucasus and Greece, and philologically in
Hittite funerary texts. Dogs too are found, as well as food offerings
of pigs, sheep and cows. The human bones were not completely in-
70 ● CULT CENTERS

cinerated, making it possible to ascertain the interesting fact that a

high percentage of adult-and-child cremations occurs. The signifi-
cance of this can only be a matter for speculation.
Comparative evidence occurs in two categories. The pottery
shows close parallels with Tarsus to the south, while the analyses
of the skeletal data indicate parallels between some of the Hittite
men and the inhabitants of Tepe Hissar III in northeastern Iran.
The royal funerary customs of the Hittites involved crema-
tion, known only from their rituals as described in the texts: such
cremations are yet to be found. An indirect reflection of their
wealth may be detectable in the later (Neo-Hittite) “gold grave” at
Carchemish.
Two extensive Neo-Hittite cremation cemeteries were found in
the British Museum excavations at Carchemish, in the Yunus
cemetery, and in the Danish excavations at Hama (Hamath).
There four phases were distinguished, the first two dating from the
coming of the Sea Peoples (ca.1170 BC) to the end of Hama Pe-
riod F (ca.900 BC), the third to the ninth century BC and the fourth
to ca.800–720 BC. The grave goods tend to suggest a progressive
decline in the social status of this cemetery.
Comparisons with Homeric customs are suggested by offer-
ings of meat put beside the urn containing the ashes of the dead, a
practice evident elsewhere and demonstrating belief in an afterlife,
apparently not inconsistent with cremation. Otherwise this must
surely have been far less popular as a funerary custom, given the
almost universal expectation of some kind of life after death.

CULT CENTERS. Two intact tablets from Hattusa preserve a long

prayer of Muwatalli II, invoking the aid of every conceivable di-
vinity of Hatti. The order in which these are listed is clearly related
to rank in the Hittite pantheon, with geographical sequence also a
factor. Their cult centers are also recorded beside their names,
though in many cases several deities are bracketed with one center.
“Gods, goddeses, mountains and rivers” are regularly mentioned.
The purpose of this prayer, however, is uncertain.
While the Sun-God and Sun-Goddess of Arinna take prece-
dence in the hierarchy associated with the preeminent cult center of
the Hittite realm, the Storm-God (alias Weather-God) takes third
place, followed by a variety of deities and by unnamed mountains
and rivers. The primacy of the Storm-God, however, can be seen in
his being accorded first mention in connection with the great ma-
jority, though not all, of the other cult centers in this prayer.
 CREMATION ● 71

Other cult centers listed in this royal prayer comprise:

Samuha; Aleppo (Halap); Katapa; Hattarina, Pirwa and As-
kasepa; Zippalanda; Kummanni; Sanahuitta; Nerik and Kas-
tama; Hatenzuwa and Takupsa; Sarissa; Hurma; Lawazantiya;
Pittiyariga and Uda; Parsa; Hissashapa and Kuliwisna; Kar-ahna;
Sugziya; Lihsina; Turmitta; Nenassa; Hupisna; Tuwan-uwa; Il-
laya; Suwanzana; Arziya; Hurniya; Zarwisa; Sahhaniya; Pahtima,
Sahhuwiya and Mallitaskuriya; Harziuna; Sallapa; Ussa and Par-
sunta; Wasutuwanda and Innuwita; Alazhana, Hahana and Am-
mama; Tawiniya and Katahha; Waskhaniya; Landa and Hattena;
Harbisa and Kalimuna; Hakpissa; Ankuwa; Nenisankuwa, Duru-
waduruwa and Iksuna; Sullama, Hatra and Isuwa; Tegarama;
Paliya; Tupazziya; Kariuna; Apzisna; Kalasmitta; Tapikka.
The Storm-God appears in this list in a number of guises, re-
lated to thunder, the (army) camp, the Underworld and prosperity,
the last clearly through rain on the crops. Four paragraphs relate to
the king’s family, including his grandparents and father; and the
third paragraph has an invocation of the gods of the grandfather’s
palace. Mountains and rivers are normally linked to a particular
territory, for example the Lower Land. Though the Marrasantiya
is named once, rivers are normally anonymous, mountains being
named more often. This is scarcely remarkable, since they were di-
rectly associated with the Storm-God.
Most of the above cult centers lay within the Hittite lands
proper. Clearly not all were of great importance; but they serve to
demonstrate the breadth and pervasiveness of the cults, as well as
the readiness of Muwatalli II to invoke not only the state gods and
goddesses but those closer to the hearts of the majority of their sub-
jects, continuing their devotion to divinities of the natural world,
whose cults long preceded the advent of the Hittite state with its re-
ligious centralization. Many rituals and paraphernalia are found
spread across different cults.

CULT INVENTORIES. Without these the long-lasting local cults in

the Hittite lands would be little understood. These inventories were
compiled by officials sent out by Tudhaliya IV, as part of his pro-
gram of religious reform and reorganization at the behest of his
mother, Puduhepa. The officials had to collect evidence on the
condition of local shrines. Some of these reports are no more than
lists of temple furniture, sometimes including recent royal dona-
tions. Others, more thorough, include descriptions of the local re-
ligious festivals.
72 ● CULTS

In most of these shrines the deity had been represented only by

a symbol or by a stela (Hittite: huwasi stone). The Storm-God
(Weather-God), however, was usually represented by a bull, both
before and after enrichment of the shrines by Tudhaliya IV, under
whom for the first time appeared cult images in human form. The
reliefs at Alaca Höyük give a well-known example of the
Weather-God worshiped as a bull.
In provincial centers it seems the statues were only small, no
bigger than statuettes, measured by the unit sekan, probably about
22 centimeters. On this basis the statuettes measure 22 to 44 centi-
meters in height. Unfortunately no inventories have been found for
the temples of Hattusa, though the stone bases in the sanctuaries
of the excavated temples must have been designed for full-size
statues, as mentioned in a prayer of Puduhepa for her ailing hus-
band, Hattusili III.

CULTS. See ANATOLIAN RELIGION: EARTH AND WATER;

ANCESTOR CULT; ARINNA; CULT CENTERS; CULT IN-
VENTORIES; FESTIVALS; HEARTH (CULT OF); NERIK;
STATUES; STELAE; TEMPLES.

CUNEIFORM. This Mesopotamian script was originally adapted from

Sumerian to Akkadian writing in the land of its birth and only
much later was it used for texts in the Hittite language, with adap-
tations required of the students undergoing the lengthy, laborious
process of learning the syllabic script and the craft of incising the
signs in clay. Students perforce were recruited very young, forming
a privileged and valued caste, the scribes.
The dating of Hittite tablets is by no means always clear from
their content, as for example where two kings of widely different
date share the same name. Now some texts can be ascribed to an
earlier date than before, on the basis of their script and, secondar-
ily, on grammatical details. These criteria can be used to test the
hypothesis that, until the destruction of Mitanni by Suppiluliuma
I, scribal borrowings by the Hittites from Assyria and Babylonia
could occur only through Hurrian intermediaries. In Hattusa it
was diplomatic texts in the Akkadian language which were the first
to be susceptible to changes introduced from Mesopotamia, gradu-
ally appearing only later in the style of cuneiform script used for
Hittite texts.
In the earlier stages of cuneiform writing in Anatolia, the
script used for the cuneiform tablets of the Old Assyrian period,
 CURTIUS ● 73

notably in Kültepe-Kanes, is markedly different in the shapes and

values of signs from that used in tablets of the earliest Hittite kings,
including Hattusili I. Therefore the Hittite Old Kingdom cannot
have derived its script from the former Assyrian colonies, but
rather, in the 17th century BC, from a scribal center in Syria, very
possibly from Ebla. The script more closely resembles that of the
earlier Old Akkadian period rather than those of contemporary
Assyria and Babylonia.
During the Hittite Empire abundant and varied literary imports
from Mesopotamia have been found at Hattusa, among them many
Sumerian-Akkadian bilingual texts. Imported Mesopotamian texts
occur both in Middle Babylonian script and in a Hittite hand, indi-
cating the employment of both foreign and local scribes. Among
Hurrian imports are the Gilgamesh epic and the myths of the
Kumarbi cycle. Direct contact between Hatti and Mesopotamia
must have begun before the mid-14th century BC on quite a regu-
lar basis, and certainly was reflected in the development of the Late
Hittite cuneiform script under the Empire.
Similarities between the Middle Hittite script and the script of
the cuneiform tablets recovered from Tell el-Amarna (Akhetaten)
suggests it may well have been Hittites who taught Egyptian
scribes to write cuneiform. This is certainly an attractive theory.
An exchange of letters in Hittite between the Pharaoh and a ruler of
Arzawa named Tarhundaradu demonstrates the ability of Egyp-
tian scribes to master the writing of Hittite. It is noteworthy that
these exchanges occurred in the Middle Kingdom, certainly be-
fore ca.1380 BC. Such contacts did not have to await the time of
military expansion of Hittite power under Suppiluliuma I.

CURTIUS, LUDWIG (1874–1954). German archaeologist, who took

part in the early excavations at Boğazköy as assistant to Hugo
Winckler. He kept a detailed diary, though not publishing this till
decades afterward. While very critical of the methods used for ex-
tracting tablets, with no record of their findspots, he was too dip-
lomatic and too junior to be in a position to speak out. He did also
witness the more methodical work of Otto Puchstein.

CYCLOPEAN MASONRY. This style of construction used large rec-

tangular and polygonal blocks up to one and a half meters long,
carefully though not exactly fitted together, their mass providing
structural stability. Best known in the defenses of Boğazköy: Up-
per City, as on either side of the King’s Gate, cyclopean masonry
74 ● DELAPORTE

can be seen also in the Mycenaean world, at Mycenae and Tiryns.

There is no reason to suggest a western influence on the architects
of Hattusa. It may, however, be relevant to note that traces of
similar masonry, not known to be of Phrygian workmanship, sur-
vive in a few of the kales in the area of Midas City in Phrygia.
Strongholds of Arzawa or its allies could have preceded the
monuments of Phrygia built in the first millennium BC.

-D-

DELAPORTE, LOUIS (1875–1944). French Assyriologist and Hitti-

tologist, who led the first expedition to carry out excavations at
Malatya (Arslantepe), revealing both sculptures of the Neo-
Hittite period and prehistoric occupation levels, yielding painted
pottery not of Hittite date as he suggested but of the late third mil-
lennium BC.

DENDROCHRONOLOGY. A dating technique through counting of

tree rings, correlated to demonstrate a sequence spanning many
centuries, in Anatolia and elsewhere. This is a valuable aid to es-
tablishing absolute chronology, and is normally more accurate
than any other method. This technique has been advanced, ex-
tended and publicized by Peter Kuniholm (Cornell University).
Dendrochronology can also be applied to research into climatic
change: the greater the precipitation for a given year, the wider its
tree ring, and the converse.

DEPORTATION AND RESETTLEMENT. This policy was pursued

consistently by successive Hittite kings at least from the time of
Tudhaliya I/II, in whose reign the only recorded rebellion of de-
portees occurred. Perhaps learning from this, subsequent Hittite
kings suffered no such confrontation. Nevertheless, the transporta-
tion of such large numbers, sometimes whole communities, of
conquered enemies or rebellious vassals must have presented prac-
tical problems: living off the land would have been a necessity, as
indeed for the army on campaign. Yet this seems to have been an
even more prominent aspect of regular royal policy for the Hittites
as for the later Assyrians.
Prisoners of war either went to serve the king, becoming his
property and thus effectively in a state of slavery, or they might be
assigned to the estates of his senior officers. Alternative duties
 DIPLOMACY ● 75

might be in the service of a temple or in a frontier garrison. In this

last function they would be among those sent to resettle the de-
populated areas along the frontiers, especially those bordering the
Kaska lands.
Persistent importations of prisoners of war made for an ethni-
cally mixed population, increasingly so as the generations passed.
It is very possible that this was a factor contributing to the abrupt
downfall of the Empire.

DIPLOMACY. This required trained civil servants to act as envoys or

intermediaries, especially when negotiations were in progress be-
tween Hatti and one of the other great powers. A common topic
was dynastic marriage, with which was associated gift exchange
as a routine element in the proceedings. Records survive giving the
names of individual diplomats as well as foreigners of lower status
visiting or residing at the Hittite court in Hattusa.
One of the best known diplomatic negotiations, destined to
end in tragedy, involved the urgent request of Ankhesenamun to
Suppiluliuma I. A Hittite envoy named Hattusa-ziti was dis-
patched to Egypt, returning to the Hittite court the following spring
together with Hani, a special emissary of the widowed Egyptian
queen. He was clearly a highly experienced, sophisticated diplo-
mat, who by his conciliatory tone succeeded in winning the ag-
grieved Suppiluliuma over to consenting to the proposed royal
marriage. Hani was active in Egyptian–Hittite relations over some
years. The personal link counted for as much as it does today.
The names of two Babylonian ambassadors and one Assyrian
accredited to the court of Hattusili III are known. A regular ex-
change of messengers, specialists and information among the lead-
ing powers of the Near East in the Late Bronze Age is exemplified
by a long letter in which Hattusili III rebukes the king of Babylon,
Kadashman-Enlil, for breaking off regular diplomatic contacts. The
excuse was unrest caused by semi nomadic tribes, the Ahlamu, as-
sociated in the Assyrian annals with the Aramaeans. The only
states whose rulers were recognized by the Hittite kings as “broth-
ers,” thus of equal standing, throughout the period of the Hittite
Empire were Egypt and Babylon, dealings with the latter being
rather intermittent. The status of Mitanni fell and that of Assyria
rose as time passed. Relations with Ahhiyawa were for most years
remote.
International relations had been well established even before
the rise of the Hittite Empire, as demonstrated by developments in
76 ● DIVINATION

the cuneiform script in Hattusa, beginning in the reign of Hattusili

I.

DIVINATION. Three professions practiced this art of interpreting

omens: the “diviner,” the “bird operator” and the “Old Woman.”
The first was expert in reading the omens from liver and entrails,
by extispicy; the second in interpreting the flight of birds; and the
third was involved with an enigmatic type of oracle termed the
KIN. This last was manifested in symbols representing divinity,
human beings and positive and negative entities. One tablet from
Boğazköy: Büyükkale IVb confirms the Anatolian origin of the
KIN system of divination, being written in archaic language, and
thus a unique oracular text of the Hittite Old Kingdom. When the
diviners practiced magic, this was commonly done by foreigners.
It seems that the diviners were apt at times to dabble in magic
without official permission, this being outside their remit. Hattusili
I recorded his strong disapproval of such activities by the Old
Women, suggesting that they wielded excessive influence over the
ordinary Hittite population. A college of divination was established
in Hattusa, where it was well developed and frequently practiced.

DOMUZTEPE. A companion fortress to Karatepe, on the farther side

of the River Ceyhan, dated to the ninth century BC and perhaps the
original location of the earlier reliefs found at Karatepe, to which
they would have been removed. (This site is not to be confused
with the large mound of the Halaf period dating to the fifth millen-
nium BC and situated near Kahramanmaraş.)

DRESS. Many representations, notably on reliefs, tend to depict ritual

dress of king, queen or deity rather than everyday clothing and ac-
cessories. Small caps crowned the head, allowing thick hair to fall
from beneath. Horns appearing on these caps indicate divinity, fol-
lowing Mesopotamian style. Short-sleeved shirts or tunics and
short kilts, worn above the knee, were typical, practical attire,
originating at least as early as the Kültepe-karum IB period. This
is the style depicted on Sarruma and many of the other deities of
Chamber A at Yazılıkaya; on the god and king at Fraktin; on the
huntsmen on the Alaca Höyük reliefs; by the presumably princely
figures on the Imamkulu, Hanyeri-Gezbel and Hemite rock re-
liefs; and by the glyptic art of Hattusa and Maşat Höyük, seal
impressions and a seal respectively.
Boot-shaped terracotta (pottery) drinking-cups from Kültepe-
 DUMANLI ● 77

karum II indicate forerunners of the highly distinctive “winkle-

picker” footwear with exaggerated pointed toes—boots rather than
shoes—found in the Hittite Old Kingdom and common under the
Empire. Presumably these were made of animal hide.
For ordinary purposes belts would have been made of leather
or possibly of woven string. More decorative belts, such as those
on the bowl from Kinik, were of metal. Stitch holes occur else-
where on some excavated examples, for attachment of a backing of
leather or hide, a style recurring in the splendid bronze belts from
Urartu.
The roughest garment was the simple shepherd’s cloak, even
donned by the king during certain festivals.

DUMANLI. As the result of an archaeological survey of Çankiri prov-

ince, northeast of Ankara, by Roger Matthews, then director of the
British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara (1995–2001), many set-
tlement sites of the Late Bronze Age have been found, Dumanlı
having especially well-preserved fortifications. Many of these
sites have stone-built defenses and access ramps, and clearly were
tactically sited to serve as centers of local control and links in a
system of in-depth border defenses in the repeated confrontations
of the Hittites with their Kaska neighbors to the north.
In the Iron Age, in common with most of the Anatolian pla-
teau, there emerged new categories of site—hilltop forts, tumuli
and rock-cut tombs—continuing into the Hellenistic period.

DÜNDARTEPE. A short distance east of Samsun, this was the most

important of three settlement sites—with Tekkeköy and Kavak-
Kaledoruğu—excavated by Kiliç Kökten with Tahsin Özgüç and
Nimet Özgüç (1940–1941). All three sites, including Dündartepe
III, revealed Middle Bronze Age occupation, preceded by Early
Bronze Age levels with characteristic dark burnished handmade
pottery.

-E-

EARLY TRANSCAUCASIAN (ETC) CULTURAL ZONE. A vast

territory extending from the Malatya-Elaziğ region in the west
eastward to the Caucasus and the Urmia basin of northwestern
Iran. It is readily distinguishable by its pottery, much of it with re-
lief or incised decoration, and by its buildings, rectangular or
78 ● ECONOMY

round. There was an ubiquitous hearth cult. This cultural tradition

spanned ca.3500–2000 BC, with three sub periods (ETC I–III). By
the ETC III period, in the later third millennium BC, the unity of
this zone had broken down: in the Malatya-Elaziğ region a painted
pottery developed. This cultural zone impinges on Hittite history,
as having in all probability been the homeland of the Hurrians be-
fore their southward and westward expansion in the second millen-
nium BC.

ECONOMY. See DEPORTATION AND RESETTLEMENT;

GRANARIES; KARUM; PRICES; STORE CITIES; TAXES;
TEXTILES; TRADE.

EFLATUN PINAR. A spring near Lake Beyşehir—the most easterly

of the lakes that lie along the north side of the Taurus range—that
had its area increased to make a pool of 30 by 35 meters, by the
construction of a small dam of two rows of orthostats with rubble
filling and a sluice. Here was the site chosen for a remarkable
spring sanctuary, with masonry forming a façade on the north side,
in the absence of a natural rock face, the sanctuary facing south.
The blocks of the relief-decorated façade are seven meters long.
The masonry has carefully drafted edges, and is of the highest
quality, surely indicating a date in the later 13th century, very
probably in the reign of that great builder, Tudhaliya IV.
Across the top of the façade stretches a badly worn winged sun
disk, supported at either end by two hybrid demons, one standing
on the shoulders of the other. Beneath the great winged disc are
two lesser winged sun disks, side by side, supported by six demons
in superimposed pairs. The lesser suns crown two seated deities: to
the left a god with a peaked cap, to the right a goddess with the
disk of Hathor. One interpretation describes these as a mountain
god and goddess of the spring, respectively. Recently the pool has
been drained, with excavations taking place nearby. While this has
removed some of the visual impression of this sanctuary, no longer
as immediately appealing to the eye, it has exposed a whole lower
section of the façade, comprising five identical figures resembling
mountain gods, depicted with tall headdress, hands clasped and
scaly lower half. The surface of the pool must therefore have been
lower than in modern times, silt indeed being required to be re-
moved by the excavators. The most likely reconstruction puts two
colossal statues crowning the façade, on the left a god and on the
right a goddess, the former most probably being represented by the
 ELECTRUM ● 79

great monolithic statue lying on the ground at Fasillar, some 50

kilometers away, evidently awaiting transportation. The fact that
this never took place is a hint that by then the Hittite Empire was
approaching its downfall. An alternative reconstruction would have
two statues which would have been larger versions of those on the
façade below.
There is no proof that Eflatun Pınar was the work of any Hit-
tite king or provincial ruler, the character of the masonry being
perhaps the strongest clue in this direction. Yet it could well have
been erected by a local ruler much influenced by Hittite art, for the
absence of any inscription distinguishes it from the monuments of
Tudhaliya IV—Yazılıkaya, Karakuyu, Emirgazi and Yalburt—
all inscribed with his name. There can be not the slightest doubt
that spring sanctuaries in Anatolia were not a Hittite innovation;
and indeed they persisted after the end of the Empire. Eflatun Pınar
may be compared with Mount Sipylus.
The deities represented on the façade of Eflatun Pınar are gen-
erally agreed to be related to the Hattian, non-Indo-European
mainstream tradition in early religion in Anatolia. One may follow
the suggestion that the god and goddess were intended to be seen
as rising out of the waters of the pool, to symbolize its importance
as the source of all life. They are thus depicted not in their Indo-
European transformation as Storm-God and Sun-Goddess but in
their primary non-Indo-European characters as god of streams and
the Underworld and goddess of fertility and the earth. There is a
strong argument for ascribing a dominant role in Anatolian reli-
gion to earth and water.
An archaeological field survey suggests Tolca Höyük, on the
northeast shore of Lake Beyşehir, as the probable administrative
center of the district, with the main second-millennium BC sites in
the Beyşehir area located at the north end of the lake. Recent re-
search into Hittite and related historical geography points to
Hapalla as the land in which Eflatun Pınar was constructed. See-
ing that this was a frontier area, sometimes under the rule of Ar-
zawa but whenever circumstances allowed under Hittite control, as
it was in the period to which this sanctuary can be ascribed, Eflatun
Pınar owed its existence at least to a concept inspired by Tudhaliya
IV, even if not directly designed by his orders.

ELECTRUM. See GOLD.

EMAR (TELL MESKENE KHADIME). Excavations conducted by

80 ● EMAR

a French expedition (1972–1976). This city, on the right (west)

bank of the Euphrates by the great bend where the river turns
southeast into Mesopotamia, was a major trading center and river
port in the early second millennium BC, attested by references in
the archives of Mari. In one letter Zimri-Lim, the last king of
Mari, refers to the control then exercised over Emar by the king-
dom of Yamhad (Aleppo) and his prohibition of the sale of any
corn bought or sold in Emar to Mari. The circuitous route of the
mission, swift but brief, from Larsa in southern Mesopotamia to
Emar recorded on this tablet may best be explained by the interpo-
sition of a hostile or obstructive power in the Euphrates valley.
Which more likely than Mari itself, and what better background to
the eventual conquest of Zimri-Lim by Hammurabi (ca.1757 BC)?
Later, in the 15th century BC, Emar appears in the inscription of
Idri-Mi from Alalakh, as his mother’s birthplace and the city
whither he fled into exile. The site of Emar in these years has not
been located: it was presumably not far from the new foundation.
This new city was built under Hittite supervision and inaugu-
rated by Mursili II: there is no trace of earlier building levels. This
new kingdom, under Hittite overlordship, stretched from the bor-
ders of Carchemish in the north to those of Aleppo in the west,
both Hittite viceroyalties. Indeed, Emar came under the direct ju-
risdiction of the viceroy in Carchemish, administrative powers be-
ing divided between him and a local king, backed by a body of eld-
ers with power to curb his authority. Thus government was more
complex than in other vassal states.
The Hittite authorities did not interfere in business or trade in
Emar, but were closely concerned with the administration of justice
and anxious to be seen as being fair to local interests.
It was not the official or royal cults which dominated the lives
of the majority of the population, but rather the domestic (or fam-
ily) cult. The principal sources of tablets documenting this cult are
from the site of Nuzi, in the kingdom of Arrapha, some 13 kilome-
ters southwest of modern Kirkuk, but also from Emar. From these
it is clear that cultic traditions differed widely from those of Baby-
lonia. Emar and the other cities of Astata have yielded data on the
domestic cult comparable with the textual evidence from Nuzi to
the east. There seem to have been five formulae, the most signifi-
cant reading thus: “The gods belong to the main house. The main
house is the portion of my eldest son.” This goes far to explaining
the other formulae, two of which read: “The gods belong to the
main house.” The status of chief heir—normally but not quite in-
 EMAR ● 81

variably the eldest son—carried with it the responsibi-

lity of looking after the gods, whose cult had to be maintained
without interruption, being clearly associated with the main house.
This was the cult of “the gods and the dead,” thus directly attached
to the family’s ancestors. It had no connection with priesthoods or
temples. This was a funerary cult: hence the references to “honor-
ing” the dead, “offering” and providing them with food. The close
connections between family gods and family house may explain
the popularity of baked clay models of houses and towers at Emar,
providing interesting architectural details.
Hurrian society in Astata was saved from excessive rigidity
by the frequent necessity for younger children, after division of the
family property, to set up homes elsewhere for themselves and
their families. The overriding consideration was the strength and
survival of each family, centered round the “main house,” the
dwelling of the head of the family and the household gods in the
form of statuettes, groups of which were housed in the homes of
leading families in Nuzi and elsewhere. The implication of the
texts is that minor houses were grouped around the main building,
thus often accommodating large extended families. The archaeo-
logical evidence does not corroborate this conclusion, but neither
does it disprove it. There was a code of conduct to be observed:
thus, when an elder son behaved unacceptably, as by insulting his
father, he might in effect be disinherited, an adopted son or even a
family friend being chosen in his stead.
The position of women in Hurrian society was stronger than
might be expected. A widow, when head of the family, was cus-
tomarily given the legal status of father; and a father without sons
might make his daughters legally sons, while making his will in
their favor. This has bearing on the prominent role of women in a
rather earlier period, in the Old Assyrian trade with Anatolia.
Families passed down from father to son their ilanu, statuettes
of the so-called gods, in fact quite evidently the ancestors, and as
such the focus of the domestic cult. All the family had the right to
attend the ceremonies and to see the statuettes personifying their
forebears. There is no evidence revealing how far back in time this
domestic cult was practiced among the Hurrian people, though it is
not too fanciful to imagine their introducing it to the middle Eu-
phrates valley from their highland home in eastern Anatolia. If so,
this would have come about during or immediately after the Early
Transcaucasian III period, around the end of the third millennium
BC. Distinctively Hurrian as this domestic cult appears to have
82 ● EMIRGAZI

been, it can hardly have originated in cities such as Emar.

EMIRGAZI. Located 46 kilometers north-northwest of Ereğli and 50

kilometers south-southwest of Aksaray, in the Konya Plain,
Eskikişla being the findspot of six stone blocks, four of which are
more probably altars rather than stelae, with hieroglyphic inscrip-
tions written on the orders of Tudhaliya IV, setting out highly de-
tailed rules and regulations for offerings and the use of the original
sanctuary.
Almost all the remains were discovered by W. M. Ramsay in
1904 and 1908. Bedrich Hrozny, the first to study the inscriptions,
labeled the four altars A, B, C and D. Later E. Masson labeled the
better preserved rectangular block V. The inscription includes the
words: “I made the divine mountain throne; (and) I placed (these)
victory monuments; and I placed for myself this altar in front.”
The inscription continues with injunctions to honor the altar
and the sacrificial offerings, specifically sheep, with dire threats of
divine punishment for those scorning or flouting these regulations.
Implied is the common curse formula against anyone destroying or
obliterating the inscription, such as occurs repeatedly, for example,
in the later inscriptions of Assyria and Urartu.
The inscription on the two rectangular blocks is closely related
in content to part of the Yalburt annalistic text, and can thus also
be connected to the campaign of Tudhaliya IV in the Lukka Lands
(Lycia), of which he was inordinately proud. In Emirgazi V the
place-names Pinata and Awarna occur, indicating a campaign not
in the Konya Plain but in the Xanthos valley of Lycia, as demon-
strated by the references in the Yalburt text to Awarna, Pinata,
Patar and Talwa, whose Lycian equivalents are Arnna, Pinale,
Pttara and Tlawa.
With the agreement that the Emirgazi remains comprise four
round stone altars and two rectangular blocks of uncertain function,
the reference to the “divine mountain throne” could conceivably
signify the mountain whereon the altars were placed; but more
probably it signifies the sanctuary in which they were erected.

ERGANI MADEN. The major source of copper to this day in Turkey,

halfway between Diyarbakir and Elaziğ in the uppermost Tigris
basin. Copper has been mined here for millennia. It was readily ac-
cessible to the merchants of the cities of Mesopotamia, an alterna-
tive supply whenever access to Oman was barred.
 ESKIYAPAR ● 83

ESKIYAPAR. Heavily fortified in the second millennium BC, this

site—situated 25 kilometers northeast of Boğazköy and 20 kilome-
ters southeast of Alaca Höyük—was excavated by Raci Temizer
(1968–1983). It was occupied from the Early Bronze Age until the
Roman period.
In the Late Bronze Age it was a town devoted in part, doubt-
less like many other communities, to production of pottery. Two
round kilns in an open courtyard were 1.5 meters in diameter: the
firing chamber was supported by a central pier and radiating struts.
The clay was mixed with water from terracotta pipes. Wasters, un-
fired and misfired, illustrate the use of these kilns.
Already in the third millennium BC the Early Bronze Age set-
tlement had an urban character. From the very last phase of this era
(Early Bronze III.3) came two treasure hoards, buried each in a
container in pits under the floor of the same room. These were
definitely not grave-goods, but were buried before the house was
abandoned after a fire. Silver goblets and a ceremonial ax of elec-
trum were in the larger hoard, the other one being entirely of jew-
ellery, including pins, earrings, bracelets and beads. Significantly,
the parallels for these finds are with the west, especially Troy and
Poliochni in the Aegean island of Lemnos, including shell-shaped
earrings and basket-shaped beads, the latter occurring in central
Anatolia only at Eskiyapar. The closest correlations with Alaca
Höyük are with the later Early Bronze tombs, of Level 5 rather
than Level 6. A dating for these hoards to ca.2200-2000 BC seems
plausible.

EXTISPICY. “Reading” the entrails of animals sacrificed for purposes

of divination. This was practiced commonly both in Mesopotamia
and in Anatolia.

-F-

FALCONRY. Whereas this was unknown in Mesopotamia, there is

varied evidence for the practice of this skill in Anatolia, primarily
in depictions of the equipment peculiar to this sport. This activity
has engendered a considerable literature over the centuries until the
present day, although no work surpasses the treatise written in
Latin on falconry (De Arte Venandi cum Avibus) by the emperor
Frederick II Hohenstaufen (1194–1250). Falconry demands im-
mense knowledge, skill and patience on the part of the falconer in
84 ● FALCONRY

training a bird. The relevant equipment comprises jess (short strap

around the leg of the falcon or hawk), leash, neck band, glove,
curve-ended stick for flushing game and perhaps a lure.
Suitable for falconry are: goshawks, sparrow hawks, a few fal-
cons other than peregrines and golden eagles. Though in English
usage “falcon” and “hawk” are generally synonymous, in fact these
birds belong to different genus, family and species. They differ in
appearance, flight, diet and habitat, as well as their nesting habits.
In Anatolia it was probably the short-winged goshawk that was
used in falconry. While the falcon is represented in ancient Egypt
as the god Horus, with large black eyes distinct from the smaller
eyes of the goshawk, only two examples are known for sure in
Anatolia, both in Egyptianizing style, an ivory falcon from Acem-
höyük and a bone inlay from Alaca Höyük.
The bones of a hare, golden eagle and kestrel (a kind of fal-
con) were found in subsidiary chamber C at Yazılıkaya, with
traces of burning and repeated cleaning, in an unburnt level among
bones of cattle, sheep and dog.
Falconry is depicted from the mid–third millennium BC, with
a representation of a falconer holding up his dead prey from Tell
Chuera in Syria; and one of the “standards” from Alaca Höyük has
birds of prey perched along the top, two with a small animal in its
beak. In the Old Assyrian Colony period, potters fashioned raptors
perching menacingly on rims or handles. Stamp seals of the time of
karum IB show hawks hovering over hares and gazelles. Some of
these birds have neck bands. A highly unusual sealing of Mursili
(probably Mursili II) shows a god brandishing a lituus, while he
mounts a chariot in the form of a hawk, drawn by divine bulls. A
mountain god with falcon or mace appears on two sealings of the
time of Arnuwanda III. Falconry continues to be depicted either
directly or by representations of the lituus in the Iron Age, at
Malatya, Zincirli, Guzanu, Carchemish and Karatepe. In the
Iron Age the falconer might often be depicted as lion-headed: thus
at Carchemish a lion-headed figure with short stick and prey is
shown on the right jamb of the King’s Gate. At Karatepe is a relief
of a hunter with spear and prey, here a lion, dangling from his left
arm; and close to his left shoulder is a falcon facing outward,
wings raised and with a hare in his talons. Equally vivid, if on a
different scale, are numerous much earlier sealings showing a rap-
tor on someone’s hand or lap or in front of the human figure on a
table, these dating to the period of Karum II of Kanes.
 FAMINE ● 85

FAMINE. This became a recurrent problem for the Hittite lands from
the time of Hattusili III onward, when Puduhepa refers to a
shortage of grain in a letter to Ramesses II. Even if a serious and
prolonged famine did not occur till the reign of Tudhaliya IV,
Hatti seems to have become dependent on shipments of grain from
Egypt and Syria on a regular basis. During the reign of Hattusili III
a Hittite prince was sent to Egypt to organize a shipment of grain.
The onset of serious famine was more the result of the decline of
Hittite power and prestige, inhibiting regular imports of grain, than
of any climatic change. Repeated demands from the army for re-
cruits and a reduction in the manpower available from the policy of
deportation will have depleted the agricultural labor force. Plague
would at times likewise have diminished the labor force.

FASILLAR. Near Lake Beyşehir, west of Konya, is a large unfinished

stela 7.30 meters tall, lying on a hillside. A deity wearing a conical
cap stands on the head of a mountain god. This was very probably
intended to be set up at the spring shrine of Eflatun Pınar. A rep-
lica is now standing in the garden of the Museum of Anatolian
Civilizations in Ankara.

FERZANT. Thirty-five kilometers northeast of Çorum, plundered Hit-

tite cemeteries at Ferzant-Buget, dating to the period of Kültepe-
karum IB and the Old Kingdom.

FESTIVALS. These were the major religious celebrations, both royal

and public, in the Hittite lands and the subject of the largest cate-
gory of texts surviving from Hattusa. No complete record of any
festival has yet been recovered.
The principal festivals were associated with spring or autumn
and directly related to the agricultural cycle. The “crocus” and the
purulli festivals were observed in the spring and the “festival of
haste” (whatever the precise significance of its title) in the autumn,
probably also the season of the briefer “gate-house” festival. The
duration of a festival might extend over hours, days or even weeks.
Most were celebrated annually. As many as 165 festivals featured
in the official calendar of religious functions, representing the state
cults. Numerous smaller local festivals were not reckoned in this
number. Some were associated with particular activities, such as
the grape harvest.
The prime purpose of the religious festivals was to keep the
deities contented and satisfied with the deeds and dutiful demeanor
86 ● FESTIVALS

of the king and queen. This was achieved by precise observance of

the ceremonies, down to the most minute detail: hence the complex
regulations preserved in the texts, which were instruction manuals
for those controlling the proceedings on behalf of the king and
queen. Any error or omission might bring disaster. Moreover, the
gods would not necessarily reveal what had displeased them! The
offerings of food and drink of the finest quality were likewise es-
sential, the deities being particularly partial to fat.
The king and queen, as high priest and high priestess, held the
religious leadership of their realm. No human beings took prece-
dence over them. Yet they were obliged to humble themselves, at
times almost abjectly, before the god or goddess. They wore spe-
cial robes, the color distinctive of each festival. The king could
even wear a rough shepherd’s mantle, with gold earrings and skull
cap. In some festivals he would remove his ceremonial robes and
don military attire, symbolizing his role as war leader, along with
the spear he could be given. Both king and queen had had to un-
dergo the most thorough ablutions before donning their festal at-
tire, to ensure ritual purity. This insistence on cleanliness extended
to the strict hygiene demanded for the food offerings for the gods.
Royal duties related to the major religious festivals were strin-
gent. While for many celebrations these functions could be dele-
gated, the major festivals required the presence of the king, even if
it meant his breaking off a campaign. Suppiluliuma I allegedly
neglected some of his religious duties, the explanation for the vari-
ous misfortunes of his own and his successors’ reigns, so Mursili
II claimed. This may explain that king’s outstanding piety, compa-
rable only with the assiduous attention to festivals by Puduhepa,
sometimes deputizing for her ailing husband Hattusili III. It has
been asked how the Hittite kings found time for all their religious
obligations. There can be little doubt that the man-hours, material
and consumable resources required made an inordinate drain on the
wealth of the state, in the end contributing to its downfall.

The festivals, though centered around the king and queen,

were also the major public events of the year for the majority of the
population. Only at this time was the statue of the god or god-
dess—itself representing the very person of the deity—brought out
of its seclusion in the innermost sanctuary of the temple. Accord-
ing to the texts, this statue would have been sheathed in gold with
rich encrustations; and it might be transported to the site of the
public celebrations in a heavy ox-drawn wagon.
 FOOD ● 87

After the solemnity of the most sacred rituals, the festival be-
came the occasion for public feasting and for entertainments by
tumblers, jugglers, dancers, musicians, acrobats and athletes. These
last might include wrestlers, whose contests were especially popu-
lar with king and people alike. The reliefs at Alaca Höyük may
well depict a festival, with a hunting ritual.
The routes taken by some festival processions ranged from
short distances to a nearby cultic site, with its huwasi stone, to
routes extending over several days. Among these was the proces-
sion for the purulli spring festival, stopping after one day from
Hattusa at Arinna, and continuing north to Nerik, until that cult
center was overrun by the Kaska tribesmen. This is the leading
example of a non-Hittite origin: the very name of the purulli festi-
val derived from the Hattic word for “earth,” while its deities—
Telipinu, the Storm-God and Inar(a)—were Hattian.

FOOD. Except in times of famine, the population of the Hittite lands

was probably adequately fed. In Anatolia there was enough fertile
land to provide a good variety of cereals, vegetables and fruit, with
extensive arable areas, orchards, gardens and vineyards. The vege-
tables were comparable with those found today, ranging from peas,
beans and lentils to root vegetables, cucumber and parsley. Garlic
and herbs such as coriander gave extra flavor to meals; and olives
were everywhere available. Farmers of moderate wealth possessed
an orchard, often serving also as a vineyard, and producing crops
of apples, pears, figs, apricots, pomegranates and, of course,
grapes. Dairy produce and honey from beehives were abundant.
Bread must have been a staple food, the cultivation of four
strains of wheat and two or three of barley, the latter perhaps
largely for brewing, suggesting several varieties of loaf. Grain was
an important source of revenue for the state through taxes.
Livestock—cattle, sheep, pigs, goats and poultry—provided a
varied meat component in the Hittite diet, supplemented by duck
and partridge.
Naturally modern dietary fads were not found, fat being espe-
cially prized, by gods as well as men. The Hittite words for “oil,”
“fat,” “lard,” “tallow” or “grease” are commonly concealed behind
Sumerian logograms, a usual phenomenon in the Hittite texts. Oil
and fat from animal or vegetable sources were signified by the
same word. The essential role of oil and fats in diet is illustrated by
injunctions to show liberality to the poor by meeting their basic
needs for oil. Such generosity must also be shown to the gods, as
88 ● FORRER

demonstrated by a passage in a recently discovered Hurro-Hittite

bilingual text, where Tesub is said to be in need of food, clothing
and oil from the other gods and goddesses.
In a Hittite Old Kingdom text a list of foodstuffs begins with
“high-grade lard”—pig or sheep fat—followed by cheeses, rennet,
wheat flour and bread. Such was the value of lard that it was le-
gally permitted to kill a dog eating this very solid substance, to slit
open its stomach and to recover the lard!
The gods delighted not only in fat and oil but in a variety of
foods, presumably of the highest quality available. Butter and
honey especially pleased the god Telipinu. Olives, figs and grapes
are often mentioned together in relation to rituals.

FORRER, EMIL (1894-1986). Swiss philologist, who published a

ground-breaking article entitled “The eight languages of the
Boghazkoy inscriptions” (1919). Later, he published preliminary
decipherments of the so-called Hittite hieroglyphs, now recog-
nized as Luwian. He was one of a new generation attempting to
overcome the considerable difficulties in this field.

FORTIFICATIONS. Anatolian fortifications attained a higher stan-

dard than before in the Middle Bronze Age, with earlier defenses
built most notably at Troy. The objective was, of course, to make
the greatest possible difficulties for any besieging force. Weak
points such as corners, gateways, wall footings or the crowning
parapets had to be reinforced as far as practicable; and indirect ac-
cess through the city gates was highly desirable. The glacis—a
sloping surface at the foot of the main defensive wall—achieved
the dual purpose of preventing undermining by battering rams and
exposing attackers to a shower of missiles from the wall above.
This was never a device to thwart chariotry, anyhow not suitable
for direct assault on a fortified stronghold.
Apart from those of Boğazköy, Troy, Alaca Höyük and
Alışar Höyük, fortifications were built at Eskiyapar, Beycesul-
tan, Kusura (near Afyon), Porsuk, Meydancık, Mersin,
Norşuntepe and Korucutepe. Hittite influence is also apparent in
Syria, at Alalakh and Ugarit.
There are some specialists who doubt the strictly military or
defensive function of the great circuit enclosing Boğazköy: Upper
City. While it is true that it would have required an extremely large
garrison adequately to man the five kilometers’ perimeter, any
suggestion of a purely symbolic purpose behind this vast construc-
 FRAKTIN ● 89

tion project exceeds the bounds of credibility. The earth rampart it-
self, 70 meters wide at the base, must have required a very large
labor force; and masons were needed for facing with dressed stone
some stretches of the glacis. The main city wall above the rampart
was of double casemate construction, with outer and inner masonry
skins and rubble filling in the compartments. On top of this stone
wall ran a mudbrick wall, presumably with battlements, like those
depicted on a baked clay model from the excavations. Rectangular
towers projected from the wall at intervals of 30.5 meters or so,
with an additional apron wall in front of vulnerable stretches of the
main wall, as well as bastions midway between the towers.
The main gateways were flanked by massive towers. The
bronze-plated gates were set some distance back from the façades
of these towers; secondary gates were flush with the inner faces of
the gate towers. Steep ramps parallel with the city wall gave access
to the gates, exposing the flanks of an attacking force. A paved
street, well preserved by the Sphinx Gate (Yerkapi) in the Upper
City, allowed rapid deployment by a garrison, wherever it might
come. There were fortifications within the city of Hattusa, notably
around Boğazköy: Büyükkale, making defense of the different
sectors of the city possible, even if the main wall was breached.
Strong fortifications, enclosing an oval area, were built to de-
fend Alışar Höyük (Level II), including towers, gates and bastions.
The masonry was of limestone blocks up to 0.50 meter wide, care-
fully set. There was also a perimeter wall enclosing the Lower For-
tress, covering a terrace beneath the citadel mound. A later system
of defenses at Alışar Höyük can be securely dated to the Iron Age:
this settlement, smaller than its Middle Bronze Age predecessor,
fell to a siege and was completely destroyed, after the gateway had
been blocked.

FRAKTIN. Rock relief located 18 kilometers southeast of Develi and

thus 50 kilometers south-southeast of Kayseri, on a signposted
road, yet requiring local guidance, as with so many ancient sites in
Anatolia. It has been equated with the Classical town of Dastar-
cum, mentioned by the geographer Strabo. This relief is near the
Yenice River, the ancient Carmalas: it is carved on the face of a
low rock escarpment beside a modern irrigation channel, being
largely obscured by a plantation.
This is the most westerly, and arguably the most important, of
a series of four rock reliefs, the others being at Taşcı, Imamkulu
and Hanyeri-Gezbel. It is doubtful whether the Yenice River is
90 ● FRAKTIN

wide enough to be termed a river frontier. Rather, this was a sig-

nificant natural highway, clearly regarded as such at this period,
during and just after the reign of Hattusili III.
This is a double relief, having a male group on the left and a
female group on the right, each group comprising three elements—
deity, altar and worshiper. Whereas the male group is finished, de-
picting Hattusili III pouring a libation on an altar, as the
Storm-God approaches, and with accompanying hieroglyphic in-
scription, the sculptor abandoned his task before finishing the fe-
male group, of Puduhepa pouring a libation on an altar before a
seated goddess, identifiable as Hebat or the Sun Goddess of
Arinna. It cannot be said why this part was abandoned in an unfin-
ished if recognizable state. There are stylistic traits leading to iden-
tification of a “Fraktin Master” responsible for the early work at
Yazılıkaya. He was very probably dispatched to Fraktin from the
court at Hattusa, whither he may have been urgently recalled. Al-
ready, though less so than at Yazılıkaya, the influence of the royal
seal cutters on the relief sculptors is detectable at Fraktin.
A fairly close dating for the Fraktin relief is suggested by the
representation of Hattusili III as divine, necessarily indicating that
this work was not carried out until after his death, since no Hittite
king claimed divinity during his lifetime. Was there perhaps a co-
nundrum facing the court and its sculptors, in that the queen, des-
tined in fact to live on for many long years, could not, strictly
speaking, share her dead husband’s divine status? This could ex-
plain the rather blurred representation of Puduhepa, in its unfin-
ished state: no definitive answer to this problem is ever likely to
emerge.
The figures stand 1.30 meters tall, over half life size, the
treatment of the garments being characteristic of the so-called
Fraktin Master. The male figures are depicted frontally instead of
in profile, as at Yazılıkaya, where a new fashion in feminine head-
gear is to be seen in the form of the polos, in contrast to the conical
crown worn by the goddess at Fraktin. Here the outlines of the fig-
ures are emphasized by grooves, probably intended to guide the
semiskilled craftsmen whose task it was to grind or rub down the
rock surface, as required.
Nearby is a settlement site excavated by Tahsin and Nimet
Özgüç (1947 and 1954), where a Mycenaean IIIC stirrup jar and
sword were found in the burnt destruction of the final Hittite level.
This settlement stands 1,800 meters east of the Hittite reliefs. Be-
neath Roman and Iron Age levels, the later Hittite level yielded
 GARSTANG ● 91

many finds, including bronze axes, spearheads, arrowheads and

bracelets. The pottery is typical of the Empire, different from that
found in the earlier Hittite level, also burnt, which contained walls
of mud-plastered cyclopean masonry. This level dates either to the
Old Kingdom or to the early Empire. See also SCULPTURE.

-G-

GARSTANG, JOHN (1876–1956). Though he read Maths at Jesus

College, Oxford, he then turned to archaeology, at the age of 23
joining Flinders Petrie in Egypt. Then he worked in Anatolia
(1904–1909), excavating Sakçegözü, near Gaziantep, with a later
final season (1911). He traveled extensively across the Anatolian
plateau, often by oxcart on the rough roads of the time, acquiring a
knowledge of the lie of the land which was later—after the first de-
ciphered Hittite texts became known outside Germany after World
War I—to be of fundamental value in his work on Hittite histori-
cal geography. At this time Garstang suffered the major disap-
pointment of seeing the concession for excavating the Hittite capi-
tal of Boğazköy (Hattusa), which he had had reason to believe
might be granted to him, given instead to Hugo Winckler. This
did not damp his enthusiasm for all things Hittite, however, and in
1910 appeared his widely read and unforeseeably influential book
The Land of the Hittites.
Garstang had already (1902) been appointed Honorary Reader
in Egyptian Archaeology at the University of Liverpool, five years
later becoming professor of the Methods and Practice of Archae-
ology, continuing at Liverpool until his retirement (1941). He was
founding director of the British School of Archaeology in Jerusa-
lem (1920) and of the Department of Antiquities of Palestine
(1920–1926), drafting the first antiquities laws. He was later
founding director of the British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara
(1947), it being his decision to site it in the new capital of the
Turkish Republic rather than in Istanbul, where the other archaeo-
logical institutes were based.
Garstang worked at the great cemetery of Beni Hasan in Mid-
dle Egypt. He also conducted excavations in the Sudan at Meroe
(1909–1914) and in Palestine at Jericho (1930–1936), finally re-
turning to Turkey to direct excavations at Yumuktepe, Mersin, not
far from Tarsus (1937–1939 and 1947). This project was pub-
lished in quasi-narrative form as Prehistoric Mersin (1953).
92 ● GAVURKALESI

GAVURKALESI. Situated about 50 kilometers south-southwest of

Ankara, on the road to Haymana, short of that town by 14 kilome-
ters and close to the village of Dereköy, being accessible by car.
This site comprises a small plateau 36.5 meters square, fortified
with cyclopean walls and crowned by a later enclosure of Iron Age
date. A stone-built chamber on the summit is commonly described
as a tomb, dating to the main period of occupation, of the Hittite
imperial period, probably 13th century BC: it may alternatively
have served as a shrine. The dating to the 13th century BC depends
solely on the style of the rock relief just below the fortress. It de-
picts two gods advancing toward a seated goddess, and has been
compared in its general composition with the processions of
Chamber A of Yazılıkaya, though less refined in execution. One
god carries a sword, probably of western or Aegean type. Attribu-
tion to the reign of Hattusili III seems plausible, making it con-
temporary with the relief at Fraktin.

GIFT EXCHANGE. In his Apology, Hattusili III claims that diplo-

matic relations continued unbroken after his seizure of the throne;
and that gifts were still being sent to Hattusa. The exchange of
gifts was a prerequisite for sound international relations, almost as
important as recognition of relative status and fundamental to the
smooth operation of trade in the second millennium BC in and
around the Near East and likewise for arranging a royal marriage.
Among the best known records of gift exchange were those of
Akhenaten in his new capital of Tell el-Amarna (Akhetaten) and
Tusratta, king of Mitanni, who openly demanded more gold.
There were few inhibitions regarding dissatisfaction with a gift!
See also DIPLOMACY; HATTUSILI III: THE APOLOGY.

GLYPTIC ART. This was the craft of the seal-cutter, recognized

from Sumerian times onward in Mesopotamia, at Kultepe-Kanes
and elsewhere in the ancient Near East.
The tools used depended on the hardness of the material,
mainly limestone, shell and haematite successively in Mesopota-
mia. For shell and bone seals a graver was used, while the drill was
essential for seals of stone. The greater the pressure of the drill, the
higher the relief, in “blobs,” in a seal impression.
The term “glyptic” is often employed as shorthand for the
various styles and subject matter displayed by seals. See also
BULLAE; SEALS.
 GODS AND GODDESSES ● 93

GODS AND GODDESSES. See ALALU; ANU; HEBAT; ISHTAR;

KUBABA; KUMARBI; LELWANI; NERGAL; PANTHEON
(HITTITE); PANTHEON (YAZILIKAYA); SARRUMA;
SAUSGA; STORM-GOD; SUN-GODDESS; TELIPINU; TESUB;
TETESHAPI; THEOGONY; WURUSEMU.

GOLD. It is not surprising that no records survive of the precise loca-

tion of sources of this most precious of metals, prized for its rarity,
appearance, malleability and incorruptibility. Ancient miners kept
their trade secrets. Hints, however, may be gleaned from scattered
clues.
In the Kestel mining area, the center of known Anatolian pro-
duction of tin, gold is one of the many minerals found in the allu-
vial deposits in the nearby stream. It was certainly among the met-
als extracted in the third and second millennia BC from the Taurus
Mountains, although that region was better known as the principal
source in the ancient Near East of silver. Just one example of what
must surely have been many places where gold was found and
worked is the north slope of Bakirtepe, even though this Turkish
name signifies “copper hill”: this is situated 20 kilometers east of
Kangal and 80 kilometers southeast of the provincial capital Sivas,
in east central Anatolia, in the vicinity of Çetinkaya. Here were
found indications of mining activity with large stone mortars, in-
side some of which were traces of gold. This site has been linked
with Hahhum, whence, according to Mesopotamian written re-
cords, gold was being brought to Mesopotamia in the second mil-
lennium BC. Regrettably, however, the lack of dating evidence
means that, in common with so many metallurgical sites, Bakirtepe
cannot be fixed in any period with certainty.
The wealth of finds from Early Bronze Age cemeteries, nota-
bly Alaca Höyük and Troy, provides clear proof of the availability
of gold through the third millennium BC in central and western
Anatolia; and there were sources, too, in eastern Anatolia. The rar-
ity of such burial goods in later periods, in part the result of recy-
cling, in no way implies a decline in the popularity of gold: the Hit-
tite kings, with their known exploitation of iron, are hardly likely
to have lacked other metals.
Much of prehistoric gold contained a high proportion, in some
examples over 30 percent, of silver, being thus the natural alloy of
gold and silver known as electrum. There is a strong argument to
support the view that little distinction was made between gold and
electrum in the centuries before the first introduction of coinage, so
94 ● GOLD

that the technology required for separating the gold from the silver
content of electrum may not have been developed before the reign
of Croesus king of Lydia (561–547 BC).
That notoriously opulent ruler, not content with the electrum
coins first produced by his predecessors in the seventh century BC,
decided to issue coins of pure gold and pure silver. Archaeological
investigation and experimentation have revealed the processes in-
volved, starting with alluvial electrum from the Pactolus River be-
side the city of Sardis and recycled electrum coins. This material
was beaten into wafer-thin foils and packed in salt in porous earth-
enware cooking pots, which were then heated, probably for several
days, to a temperature between 600 and 800 degrees Celsius. The
chlorine gas released from the salt removed the silver in the elec-
trum foils as silver chloride vapor, thus absorbed into the wall of
pot and hearth. This raised the gold content of the foil from 70 per-
cent by weight to the coinage alloy of more than 99 percent purity.
The silver was mostly recovered by crushing the silver-
impregnated pots and furnace linings and smelting them with lead.
The silver-bearing lead was then converted into molten lead oxide,
from which the molten metallic silver would separate at about
1,000 degrees Celsius. If pure gold was thus obtained at earlier
dates than the reign of Croesus of Lydia, it must surely have been
by this process: the evidence is so far lacking. Its absence else-
where in the Near East, including Egypt, is discouraging.
The largest quantities of gold in the Early and Middle Bronze
Age (mid–fourth till mid–second millennium BC approximately)
have in fact been found not in the Near East proper but in the Cir-
cum-Pontic region and in Trans-Caucasia, in many burial mounds
(kurgans). The legend of the Golden Fleece in Colchis may reflect
the long-standing wealth of Trans-Caucasia, dating back long be-
fore the first millennium BC. It is against this background that the
rich tombs of Alaca Höyük may be set.
Any doubt about the value put on gold compared with silver,
tin and copper is dispelled by scrutiny of the relevant written re-
cords. At Ebla, in north Syria in the late third millennium BC, one
shekel of gold was priced at seven or eight shekels of silver, while
one shekel of silver was priced at eight to 10 shekels of tin, gold
thus having 60 to 80 times the value of tin. A little later, in the Old
Assyrian trade with central Anatolia, the price of gold could vary
slightly, usually from seven to nine shekels of silver. When differ-
ing grades of gold were used, some containing copper and thus
meriting the term orichalchum, the price could drop as low as four
 GÖLLÜDAĞ ● 95

shekels of silver. See also METALWORK.

GÖLLÜDAĞ. An Iron Age city in the province of Niğde, on a hilltop

2,143 meters high with a crater lake. Its area of three square kilo-
meters, wall with three surviving gates, regularly laid out buildings
and streets and central complex with twin-headed lion statues at
the entrance, sphinxes on the inner portal and column bases with
four lions all indicate its importance. It must be placed within the
general Neo-Hittite cultural zone. The burning of Göllüdağ in the
eighth century BC is possibly to be associated with Phrygian ex-
pansion eastward.

GORDION. The capital of the kingdom of Phrygia, at its zenith in the

eighth century BC, it has been the site of limited earlier excava-
tions, followed by an ongoing campaign of fieldwork directed by
Rodney S. Young for the University of Philadelphia from 1950 un-
til his accidental death in 1974, the excavations being currently un-
der the direction of Mary Voigt. While the emphasis was at first
largely on the tumuli, yielding remarkably rich and well-preserved
finds, including the timber burial chambers and many wooden arti-
facts, work has increasingly been concentrated on the remains of
the Phrygian and later levels of the great city, sited on the Sakarya
River west of Ankara. Though there are some examples of Neo-
Hittite sculpture, no strong cultural legacy from the Hittite Empire
is apparent, either in architecture or artifacts, including pottery.
The city mound of Gordion (Yassi Höyük) has yielded a
stratigraphic sequence of occupation levels from medieval times
back to the Middle Bronze Age and earlier. Preceding medieval,
Roman and Hellenistic levels (from 330 BC) were Late, Middle
and Early Phrygian phases (4–6), dated ca.950–330 BC. The Early
Iron Age (ca.1100–950 BC) marks the first occupation by the in-
coming Phrygians, though if correctly identified with the Muski
they were present in Anatolia during the 12th century BC. Before
then there was a hiatus in occupation, perhaps no more than a cen-
tury. Dates from dendrochronology have ignited a current debate
concerning the absolute chronology of Gordion during the Phry-
gian period. The Late Bronze Age (phases 8–9) was contemporary
with the Hittite Empire and the Middle Bronze Age (phase 10) can
be dated ca.1600–1400 BC, thus contemporary with the Old and
“Middle Hittite” periods.
There is a suggestion that Gordion was the site of the major
Hittite cult center of Sallapa, though a more southerly location is
96 ● GOVERNMENT

conceivable. Hittite stamp impressions are inconclusive. A Hittite

Old Kingdom cemetery comprises inhumations exclusively.
The pottery of Late Bronze Age Gordion provides ample evi-
dence of specialist production, though more notable for its stan-
dardization and quantity, more than could have been required at
Gordion alone, rather than any aesthetic merit. In this respect it is
typical of the Late Bronze Age pottery of much of Anatolia. All
the principal ceramic forms found at Gordion occur also at Hat-
tusa; but the converse does not apply.

GOVERNMENT AND ADMINISTRATION. See AGRIG; AS-

SEMBLY; HITTITE LAWS; KINGSHIP; QUEENS;
SCRIBES; TABLETS; TAXES; VICEROYALTIES.

GRANARIES. These played an essential role in the government of the

Hittite Empire, for here was stored the vast quantity of grain,
mainly barley but with some einkorn wheat, required for the popu-
lation of Hattusa and the surrounding region. Numerous silos have
been excavated in recent seasons at Boğazköy by the German ex-
pedition under Jürgen Seeher, including some 11 on Büyükkaya,
and other large granaries in Boğazköy: Lower City—behind the
postern wall, halfway between Kizlar Kaya and Büyükkale. These
were constructed in a complex of the 14th century BC (early Em-
pire) 118 meters long by 35 to 40 meters wide, orientated north-
west to southeast and with two rows of 16 chambers, each being 6
meters wide by 13 to 16 meters long. The building was mostly un-
derground, as indicated by clay packing used as insulation on the
outer walls. Silos were designed to be airtight with a thick straw
layer then a one-meter-thick layer of clayey earth.
Several hundred tons of semi carbonized grain were found
here, the largest quantity anywhere in the ancient Near East. The
silo complex could have stored up to 7,000 to 9,000 cubic meters
of grain, enough for a year for as many as 30,000 people. Clearly
this was not for the city of Hattusa alone. It could be said that this
represented part of the basis of royal power in the Hittite Empire.

GURGUM. Neo-Hittite kingdom centered on Kahramanmaraş.

GURNEY, OLIVER ROBERT (1911–2001). The leading British

Hittitologist of his generation, also becoming a specialist in
Assyriology, which he taught during his academic tenure at the
University of Oxford (1945–1978). He had undergone an initial
 GÜTERBOCK ● 97

train-
ing in Hittite in Berlin (1935–1936), then the center of Hittite
scholarship.
At Oxford he published many cuneiform tablets, including
those excavated by Seton Lloyd at Sultantepe, near Urfa. Training
several young scholars, he helped to raise the standing of his sub-
ject. His main scholarly contributions were in Hittite, beginning
with his doctorate “The Hittite Prayers of Mursili II.” With his un-
cle, John Garstang, he published The Geography of the Hittite
Empire (1959). Though quite largely superseded by more recent
discoveries, it remains remarkably prescient and unsurpassed in its
comprehensive coverage of a notoriously contentious subject. His
monograph The Hittites (1952, revised 1990) remains a masterly,
concise work, more comprehensive than some lengthier publica-
tions and designed for a wide readership.
Associated with the British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara
from its foundation (1947), he was for 40 years the efficient and
scholarly editor of its journal, Anatolian Studies.

GÜTERBOCK, HANS GUSTAV (1908–2000). A leading Hittitolo-

gist of his generation, the political vicissitudes of the 20th century
led to his becoming the apostle of this scholarly discipline in North
America. Combining a formidable intellect with friendly support
for younger scholars seeking his guidance, his major achievement
in Chicago was the establishment of the Chicago Hittite Diction-
ary, work on which continues. His record over many decades of
publication and commentary on Hittite texts was remarkable.
He studied in his native Germany at Berlin, Marburg and
Leipzig (1926–1934), from 1930 publishing volumes of texts from
Boğazköy and invited by Kurt Bittel to become the Hittitologist
on the staff of the Boğazköy excavations. In 1936—excluded by
the Nazi regime from academic appointments in Germany—he
moved to Turkey, where several scholarly opponents of the Third
Reich gathered in Ankara. There he joined the new Faculty of Lan-
guages, History and Geography established in the University of
Ankara on the initiative of Atatürk: here he helped to train the first
Turkish academics in this discipline. He was also responsible for
organizing the display of reliefs from Alaca Höyük, Malatya and
Carchemish in the newly restored Bedestan building on the citadel
of Ankara, as the centerpiece of the new museum. With other aca-
demics he left Ankara in 1948, being appointed in 1949 to the chair
of Hittitology in the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago.
98 ● GUZANU

He remained active long after retirement in 1976.

GUZANU (TELL HALAF). This site, excavated by Max Freiherr von
Oppenheim, is well known for its prehistoric painted pottery
termed Halaf ware, found over a wide zone from the Mediterra-
nean to the Zagros Mountains. In the first millennium BC this was
the city of Guzanu (biblical Gozan), on the Khabur River. The
population was largely Hurrian, though ruled by the Aramaean
dynasty of Bahiani, Kapara being the best-known ruler.
Seeing that the Aramaeans were virtually illiterate, even
though gradually achieving the spread of their alphabetic script,
Kapara had his inscriptions carved in Assyrian cuneiform. Assur-
nasirpal II (884–859 BC) and Adad-Nirari III (810–783 BC) were
among the Assyrian kings who campaigned through or against
Guzanu (Bit-Bahiani), the latter in 808 BC, from which date the
city came firmly under Assyrian control.
Hittite traditions were retained in the relief sculptures, in a
flamboyant version of Neo-Hittite art at its easternmost center,
with Mesopotamian elements more evident than elsewhere and
with greater variety of repertoire. The palace, badly denuded, is the
greatest bit hilani so far excavated, approached by the Scorpion
Gate and decorated along the façade of the supporting terrace with
reliefs in alternating basalt and reddish limestone, a style reminis-
cent of the Heralds’ Wall at Carchemish. A statue-base or altar in
front of the palace portico was decorated in green, yellow and
white glazed bricks. The description of this building as a palace
rather than a temple is supported by its similarity of plan to others
elsewhere and by inscriptions.
The most memorable works of the sculptors of Guzanu are the
three statues supporting the architrave of the bit hilani portico: they
lack the usual horned headdress of deities, and may represent
members of the Kapara dynasty. Above these figures were conical
elements, not accurately to be termed capitals. The statues them-
selves were nearly three meters high, two standing on a lion and
the middle one on a bull, each animal being one and a half meters
high. Such statues are unique in Neo-Hittite architecture.

-H-

HABIRU. A term occurring frequently in the records of the ancient

Near East, especially Syria, it was understandably equated with the
 HAHHUM ● 99

Hebrews by earlier Old Testament scholars. In fact, however, it can

now be seen that this was not a simple ethnic name. Rather, it de-
scribed under one heading various groups of rootless people and
refugees who survived as itinerant laborers, mercenaries or even
vagabonds. As such they seem to have been widely despised or
feared, often raiding settlements near the edge of cultivated land.
They probably originated from the economic and environmental
changes beginning in the late third millennium BC, and might be
officially reckoned as dependent personnel, as in a long list from
the kingdom of Tikunani in the 17th century BC. They came into
contact with the Hittite state in its involvement in Syria.

HAHHUM (HAHHA). An important staging point, where datum

payments could be made, on the Old Assyrian route from Assur to
Kanes, this was a major commercial center with a karum and a
producer of textiles from pre–Old Assyrian times. Several scholars
located it in the Elbistan plain or (less plausibly) northeast of
Malatya. Another opinion placed Hahhum in a north Syrian rather
than an Anatolian milieu, and this will fit with its identification
with the excavated site of Lidar Höyük, on the Euphrates upstream
from Carchemish. This town (Level 8) was thoroughly destroyed,
almost certainly by Hattusili I. Thus ended the prosperity of
Hahhum (Hahha in the Hittite records).

HAKPISSA (HAKMISSA). When Muwatalli II assigned a wide

stretch of the northern borderlands to his brother, Hattusili (III),
he also made him “king of Hakpissa” and priest of the Storm-God
of Nerik, symbolizing the military and religious duties respectively
now assigned to him. Hakpissa was essentially a garrison town,
making a good administrative base and located on the strategic
route running northeastward from Hattusa to Nerik and on into
Kaska territory. Late in his reign, Hattusili III appointed his son
Tudhaliya (IV) as chief of the Bodyguards at Hakpissa, a very
high-ranking office to which he himself had been appointed at the
start of his career.

HAMA (HAMATH). Significant alike for its historical role and for the
results of the excavations before World War II by the Danish ex-
pedition funded by the Carlsberg Foundation, this was the site of a
settlement mound originating in the seventh millennium BC (Pe-
riod M) and continuing with successive cultural periods, those of
the Iron Age (Periods F and E) covering the time–span from
100 ● HAMA

ca.1190 to 720 BC, when Hama was annexed to the Assyrian Em-
pire. The architectural monuments date to Period E (ca.900–720
BC), while four phases of cremation cemeteries, outside the area
of the citadel but underlying the modern city, span Periods F–E. It
is the “Stones of Hamath,” highly significant in the story of the
decipherment of the “Hittite” hieroglyphs, which provide the
strongest justification for classifying Hama as a Neo-Hittite city, in
spite of its pronounced Aramaean character.
The steep sides of the ancient mound of Hama, whereon stood
the citadel, have deterred settlement in the Christian era, though the
present-day city closely surrounds the citadel mound. In Hellenistic
times and later, however, the summit of the mound was honey-
combed with pits, the bane of the archaeologist. The excavators
were nevertheless able to expose impressive buildings in the south-
east sector of the citadel.
The most important structure, Building II, was clearly a pal-
ace, found in fairly ruinous state, though in some parts with the
walls standing 3.5 meters high. The plan indicates that the ground
floor comprised almost exclusively storerooms. The living quarters
were in the upper story, evidence of which was found in the burnt
debris lying over the remains of the ground-floor rooms, including
an important clue for reconstructing the height of this building, in
the form of 48 courses’ height of brickwork, fallen from above.
Significantly, the buttressed façade of this palace has no columned
porch, so that—as the report observes—it cannot in any sense be
described as a bit hilani. Thus Hama stood to some degree apart
from the mainstream Neo-Hittite civilization of north Syria and
southeast Anatolia in the centuries following the fall of the Hittite
Empire. Here it was the Aramaean rather than the Hittite element
that was uppermost politically, though culturally it was less tangi-
ble than the Hittite legacy. There are only hints of the upper story,
which must have been richly decorated, as traces of gold leaf and
fragments of red, blue and white plaster indicate. Ten coats of plas-
ter were found in part of the upper story. A basalt throne and win-
dow grille, found in the central square, probably came from the
upper floor of the palace. A staircase had two flights, providing
evidence that the total height of the façade, looking on to the cen-
tral square, was 14.40 meters, with seven meters as the height of
the upper story. Five rooms were found full of rows of storage jars,
covered with lids. Corbeling was used for at least some of the
doorways, which had wooden door frames, wood also being very
extensively employed as a reinforcement for the brick-
 HAMA ● 101

work of the walls, as in Anatolia and north Syria. This imposing

palace had nothing in common with the design of Assyrian palaces,
which were on one floor, but bore a fortuitous resemblance to some
of the citadels of Urartu. Two red polished bricks were found ly-
ing in the square, bearing the inscription in Aramaic “Adanlaram,
Governor of the King’s House.” This palace was constructed in the
ninth century BC, with restorations in the eighth, largely during the
reign of Eni-Ilu (743–732 BC).
One reason for describing Building III, on the east side of the
square, as a temple is that one room seems to have served as the
archive, containing fragmentary tablets, mostly omens and magi-
cal and religious texts. Building III has its walls orientated to the
cardinal points. Over the stone-paved threshold was the antecham-
ber, whence one entered an open courtyard, giving access to the ar-
chive room on the south side, with another room on the north. Here
there may possibly have stood a statue of a deity; and comparison
has been suggested with a hieroglyphic inscription on the “Great
Stone” of Hama (“Urhilina, king of Hamath, eldest son of E-tas,
erects a seat for the goddess Ba’alatas of Hamath, in the anteroom
(?) of the temple”). Remains of the preceding phase (Period F1), on
the same general alignment, were found beneath most of the
rooms. A reused, rather worn stele, presumably of the earlier
phase, was found set in the threshold between the anteroom and the
temple court: it depicts a seated figure at table with another facing,
and with the crescent moon, emblem of the god Sin, above. The
presence of the cult of the Moon-God at Hama is scarcely surpris-
ing, given his prominence in Aramaean religion, with Hadad (iden-
tified with Ba’al and Tesub) as the chief deity. Here was essen-
tially an agglomeration of the beliefs of the older population of the
regions overrun by the Aramaean tribes.
Building IV was a gateway giving access to a higher part of
the citadel, of simple construction and evidently the earliest of the
excavated buildings of the citadel. There is some similarity to the
south gate of the palace at Guzanu (Tell Halaf). About 50 meters
northwest of Building IV stood Building V, from the wealth of its
contents evidently a palace, earlier in construction than Building II.
This was only partially excavated in 1938 at the end of the cam-
paign.
The main gate into the citadel was Building I, with a long
staircase and a landing on the threshold, but with a simpler plan
than in other Neo-Hittite cities, such as Carchemish. Although
there is the same use of orthostats, they are plain, the work of the
102 ● HAMA

sculptors at Hama being almost confined to the provision of guard-

ian lions. Moreover, there are no guardrooms on either side, though
there are flanking towers.
One curious fact is that the central axes of Buildings I–IV
converge on one point in the central court, whose surface was in
part covered with a layer of hard white plaster.
The fragmentary contents of Building V give a tantalizing
glimpse of the riches of one of the wealthiest cities of Syria, which,
among other crafts, was probably a major center for ivory carving.
Carved bone plaques, pieces of gold leaf and numerous iron ar-
rowheads occur. Pottery, plain and painted, from Period E, mostly
found near the west end of the palace (Building II), is paralleled in
the fourth and last phase of the cremation cemeteries outside the
citadel mound, and only in that phase. This is to be expected, see-
ing that pottery found in a building which ended its days in de-
struction inevitably belongs almost entirely to its last decade or
two.
Apart from two on the outside of the main gateway (Building
I), clearly reused and older, the guardian lions are all of compara-
ble style and can be attributed with confidence to the ninth century
BC, those of the eighth being altogether more savage and feline, as
evident at Tell Tayanat and Sakçegözü.
The cemeteries naturally provide abundant funerary evidence,
with no inconsistency seen in providing certain grave goods with
the cremations, discussed elsewhere. The general character of the
grave goods shows continuity from the Late Bronze Age, but in the
fourth phase (eighth century BC) no weapons were included. The
decline in the richness of grave goods from the first to the fourth
phase may well have been owing to a fall in social standing, when
the burials of the rich must have been at some other, unexcavated
cemetery.
Significant historical detail is provided by the famous “Stones
of Hamath,” which hold a special place in the colorful story of
early travelers in the Near East. Irkhuleni of Hamath, the ruler re-
corded by Shalmaneser III of Assyria as one of his opponents at the
battle of Qarqar (853 BC), is clearly identifiable with the “Urhilina,
son of Paritas, Hamathite king” of the largest of the “Stones of
Hamath,” who, with other inscriptions, is revealed as an active
builder. Very similarly worded are the three other “Stones of Ha-
math” and two more recently discovered inscriptions, all of the son
of Urhilina, named Uratamis, otherwise unattested but necessarily
dating to late in the reign of Shalmaneser III. They refer to the
 HANHANA ● 103

building of “this fortress,” maybe the citadel of Hama itself.

This Assyrian king records the contribution by the city of Ha-
math of no fewer than 700 chariots, 700 cavalry and 10,000 or
perhaps 20,000 soldiers to the anti-Assyrian alliance which fought
at Qarqar.

HANHANA. The location of this town cannot be precisely fixed: it

was closely associated with Nerik. A governor is mentioned in a
land grant text from Inandik of the Old Kingdom, though it is un-
likely to be identifiable with that site. Hanhana was one of the
towns under the jurisdiction of Hattusili as appointed to control the
Kaska borderlands in the reign of his brother Muwatalli II. One
text early in the reign of Tudhaliya IV refers to it as a land.

HANIGALBAT. See ADAD-NIRARI I; MITANNI.

HANTILI I. Coming to the throne by the assassination of his brother-

in-law, the illustrious Mursili I, he did so with the help of his son-
in-law Zidanta I, years later to murder one of his sons and his
grandsons, to secure the throne for himself. Hantili himself proved
to be a survivor, living to old age.
Initially active in the field, he campaigned to Carchemish. On
his return march to Hattusa he came to Tegarama, probably to be
identified with modern Gürün near Sivas, where, according to the
Proclamation of Telipinu, the gods sought revenge for the blood
of Mursili. No one dramatic disaster seems to have occurred then,
but this moment may mark the beginning of the long decline of
Hittite power.

HANTILI II (mid–15th century BC). Son of Aluwamna. In his reign

the Kaska people made their first recorded appearance in Hittite
history, capturing Nerik and Tiliura. He claimed to have built for-
tifications for Hattusa and other cities. He seems, like his succes-
sor Zidanta II, to have maintained close diplomatic relations with
Kizzuwadna.

HANYERI-GEZBEL. Hittite rock relief situated southeast of Kayseri

and 65 kilometers east-southeast of Develi, immediately beside the
road and between the Gezbel and Küçük Gezbel passes. Though
very accessible, this relief is so badly worn that it can be distin-
guished properly only at first light. A figure, probably a prince,
carries bow and lance, and faces two mountain gods standing on
104 ● HAPALLA

bulls. The relief is in three parts. A bull or calf has its front hooves
resting on a mountain god, while the mountain is named in a hi-
eroglyphic inscription. Facing the bull’s head can be read the
words: “King of the mountain Sarruma.”

HAPALLA. This territory comprised the districts around Lake

Beyşehir and westward to Lake Eğridir. It adjoined Pedassa to the
northeast and Kuwaliya to the west, but was separated from them
by the Sultan and Karakuş mountain ranges.
Hapalla was the territory of Arzawa closest to the Hittite
realm, and accordingly came under Hittite rule as often as the
power of Hattusa allowed, notably under Tudhaliya I/II in the
early 14th century BC. It lay between Arzawa proper and the
Lower Land. It is recorded in the Deeds of Suppiluliuma I
(1344–1322 BC) as being reconquered by the Hittite general Han-
nutti, marching southwestward from the Lower Land, who carried
off the inhabitants, their cattle and sheep to Hattusa. This was to
become a usual Hittite policy, both subjugating enemies and add-
ing to the population of the Hittite homeland. Hapalla joined the
rebellion against the young king Mursili II on his accession. On
the victorious outcome of his two years’ campaign against Arzawa,
however, he brought Hapalla once again firmly under Hittite rule.
The vassal ruler, Targasnalli, was reinstated, Mursili II enforcing
an oath of submission on Hapalla. It was to cause no more trouble
to Hatti, although this land was almost certainly included within
the territories forming Tarhuntassa, as established by Muwatalli
II. Later, very probably after the rebellion by Kurunta, it was to
be restored to direct rule from Hattusa.

HASANLU. The major settlement mound in the Solduz plain, immedi-

ately south of the Urmia basin in northwestern Iran. Here stood an
imposing citadel of the Iron II period (ca.1100–800 BC) with a
group of public buildings with columned halls, all looted and
burned, almost certainly by an Urartian force (ca.800 BC). The fa-
mous gold bowl was found crushed beneath the body of a looter,
killed by a falling roof. The motifs include a procession of chariots,
the leading one manned by a god, plausibly though not necessarily
to be identified as Tesub, and drawn by a bull.
Cultural links with regions to the west are less surprising
against the background of Hurrian mythology, especially the tale
of the god Kumarbi, demonstrating parallels with Greek myths.
The reliefs of Neo-Hittite date at Malatya (Arslantepe) include a
 HATIP ● 105

chariot closely comparable with those on the Hasanlu gold bowl,

suggesting a date in the 11th or .10th century BC.

HATIP. Quite recently discovered Hittite rock relief located 15 kilo-

meters southwest of Konya. The inscription of Kurunta gives
himself the titles of “Great King, Hero, son of Muwatalli, Great
King, Hero.” Far-reaching political implications are possibly dis-
cernible.

HATTENA. One of the towns or lands in the viceroyalty of Hattusili

in the Kaska borderlands.

HATTIANS. According to conventional wisdom, these formed the

indigenous population of central Anatolia before the irruption of
Indo-Europeans, comprising Hittites, Luwians and Palaites (see
Pala) How long they had inhabited the land will probably never be
known. They may well, however, have arrived later than the first
Indo-Europeans, but seem to have been the first permanently set-
tled population in central Anatolia.
The conquering Hittites were in due course to dominate in the
fields associated with government and administration, as is ap-
parent in historical, administrative, legal and diplomatic texts. The
Hattian impact remained prevalent, however, until well into the
New Kingdom in cult, mythology and art. These were the fields in
which the older population group, subjugated as they may have
been in political terms, could still exercise a profound influence
over rulers all too susceptible to fear of divine wrath and the need
to satisfy the demands of the gods. These demands were conveyed
through the mediation of native Hattian priests and priestesses pre-
siding over the local cults. Moreover, the festival rituals continued
to be conducted in Hattic.
Hattian myths were written down early in the Hittite Old
Kingdom, in the 17th century BC, often on tablets in the form of
bilinguals, with a Hittite (Nesite) text in the column to the right of
the Hattic transcription. In other examples the only written record
was a Hittite translation of the Hattic original.
A tablet pre dating Suppiluliuma I—the Protocol of the
Gateman—lists the Hattic titles, with translation into Hittite, of
certain personnel housed in the palace, that is Boğazköy: Büyük-
kale. These include cup bearers, waiters, couriers, cooks, jesters,
singers, marshals, scouts and “tentmen,” none of them (it seems) of
the highest status in society. Another bilingual text includes the
106 ● HATTIC

Hattic word for “smith.”

The emphasis on religion notwithstanding, Hattian influence
on the Hittite Old Kingdom was pervasive. Nearly all the Hittite
kings from Hattusili I until Suppiluliuma II bore Hattian throne
names. Thus Hattusili, Mursili and Hantili all show the Hattic suf-
formative il, to which a Nesite (Hittite) theme vowel i has been
added. The stem of these names was probably a toponym, clearly
so with Hattus plus -il. The dynastic titles of the king (Labarna or
Tabarna) and queen (Tawannana) are non-Indo-European.
The chief deities in the state religion until well into the New
Kingdom were Hattian, comprising the following, whose precise
order or ranking varies to some extent: a Storm-God (Taru); his
consort, the Sun-Goddess of Arinna (Wurusemu); their daughter
and granddaughter, Mezzulla and Zintuhi; another daughter of the
Storm-God and the genius or special guardian of Hattusa (Inara); a
son of the Storm-God, probably less a god of vegetation than re-
lated to the weather-gods (Telipinu, originally Talipinu in Hattic
form); a Moon-God (Kasku) and a Sun-God (Estan); the throne-
goddess (Halmasuit); and the War-God (Wurunkatte), appearing in
treaty lists under the logographic form Zababa.
Deities associated with death and destiny comprised: Siwat,
“The Lucky Day,” a euphemism for “Day of Death,” especially
frequent in the funerary rituals; Lelwani, associated with the Un-
derworld, at first a god though later a goddess; similarly associ-
ated, Sulinkatte, equivalent to the Babylonian Nergal; Istustaya
and Papaya, who spin the threads of fate.
Pirwa, Ilali, Tarawa and Assiyat were included among the
“gods of Kanes,” their names recurring in the Old Assyrian colo-
nies, these later being addressed in Luwian. Zithariya was a god
represented by a shield borne in procession. Kait was goddess of
grain. Hapantalli, the Sun-God’s shepherd, was among deities oc-
curring in the Hattian myth of The Moon That Fell From Heaven.
The god Hasammeli may have been a smith, god of metalworkers.

HATTIC. Formerly considered to be the indigenous, pre-Hittite lan-

guage of the people living in central Anatolia. Indeed of
non-Indo-European affinity, this language is now widely judged to
belong to the West Caucasian branch of the North Caucasian lin-
guistic family, and to have become established in central Anatolia
as the result of migration from the northeast. The Hattians cer-
tainly exerted a profound and lasting cultural influence on the Hit-
tites, but seemingly as an intrusive element, arriving later than the
 HATTUSA ● 107

Indo-European groups, including the Hittites.

HATTUSA. The Hittite capital, at the site of Boğazköy (Boğazkale
being the modern name of the Turkish village promoted to the
status of district center), in hilly country near Sungurlu, some 200
kilometers east of Ankara. The ongoing Boğazköy excavations
have been conducted by the German expedition since 1906, with
long interruptions caused by World War I and II.
In Boğazköy: Lower City there was a trading colony (karum)
contemporary with Kültepe-Kanes IB. Anitta of Kussara de-
stroyed the city, leveled the remains and laid a curse upon the site.
In spite of this it was rebuilt by Hattusili I, who made it his capi-
tal. Nearly two centuries later, at a time of weakness for the king-
dom, Hattusa was fortified by Hantili II, he claimed for the first
time. It was destroyed by Kaska and other invaders in the troubled
reign of Tudhaliya III, but rebuilt once it had been recovered soon
afterward. The Upper City was first fortified in the 14th century
BC, when construction began.
When Muwatalli II transferred the capital to Tarhuntassa in
the south, the administration of Hattusa was entrusted to Mittan-
namuwa. Widespread damage to temples and other buildings oc-
curred during the brief seizure of power by Kurunta from his
cousin Tudhaliya IV; and the tablet archives in Boğazköy:
Büyükkale were disordered. The city as recovered by the excava-
tors is largely the work of Tudhaliya, when the archives were reor-
ganized and an extensive building program undertaken, continued
under Suppiluliuma II and not completed at the downfall of the
Empire.

HATTUSILI I (ca.1650–1620 BC). Acceded to the throne of Hatti

ca.1650 BC, reigning for some 30 years. He was probably the
grandson of Labarna I, founder of the Hittite kingdom, and de-
scribed himself as nephew of Tawananna, the earliest recorded oc-
currence of this title, subsequently as a rule associated with Hittite
queens.
Hattusili I was in many respects the greatest of the Hittite
kings, in that his reign witnessed formative developments in politi-
cal, economic and cultural terms. Inheriting a legacy of conquest in
central Anatolia under Labarna I, rebellions, in Sanahuitta and
elsewhere, had to be suppressed before he could restore his grand-
father’s realm. Having achieved this objective, his next act was to
establish a new seat of government on the ruins of Hattusa, de-
stroyed by Anitta, whose curse upon the site he chose to ignore:
108 ● HATTUSILI I

this is an argument against any familial descent of Hattusili I from

Anitta. This new foundation was very probably made as a measure
against the growing threat from the north, notably from the Kaska.
Defensively strong, Hattusa was strategically badly sited by com-
parison with Kussara, for purposes of access to north Syria and
Mesopotamia. It seems that Hattusili took his name from his new
capital.
The ideology of kingship was ever a driving motive in the an-
cient Near East, not least for the Hittite kings. Hattusili I was con-
scious of his roots, styling himself as “man of Kussara” and as
“Great King Tabarna, Hattusili the Great King, king of the land of
Hatti.” He, alone among Hittite kings, identified himself as a mat-
ter of policy with the image of the lion, presumably to reinforce his
political power. Moreover, the most plausible explanation for his
Syrian campaigns was a desire to surpass his predecessor’s
achievements, limited as they had been to the Anatolian plateau.
Military prowess and ruthlessness were the accepted marks of suc-
cessful kingship, though at times mercy could properly be shown
to an enemy submitting: any backsliding from surrender to the Hit-
tite king would be punishable by death.
Hattusili I seems likely to have planned his first Syrian cam-
paign right from the beginning of his reign, since the preparations
began the very year following the suppression of the rebellion cen-
tered on Sanahuitta and Zalpa. He could not contemplate a direct
attack on Aleppo, a formidable power for several generations and
the center of the kingdom of Yamhad. He did, however, attack and
destroy Alalakh—in archaeological parlance Tell Atchana Level
VII—to whose rescue Aleppo failed to come. Possibly Alalakh had
rebelled against the suzerain power and declared its independence.
Having achieved this preliminary success, Hattusili set off on the
homeward march, attacking a number of towns lying west of the
River Euphrates and north of Carchemish, including Ursu (War-
suwa). The siege of this stronghold lasted six months, as described
in a later legendary text giving vivid detail of the king’s anger at
the incompetence of his commanders and his ordering a battering
ram “in the Hurrian manner.” Enemy personnel were evidently
able to enter and leave Ursu despite the siege; and the Hittite army
sustained heavy casualties. Eventually Hattusili arrived back at
Hattusa. The tangible benefits from this bold venture, taking the
Hittite army well beyond its range up to that time, were perhaps
minimal, though an economic motive, a desire to secure the trade
in tin from the east, may well have been significant, even though
 HATTUSILI I ● 109

not recorded.
In the year following this first Syrian campaign, Hattusili
marched west against Arzawa, mentioned for the first time in the
Hittite texts, and is recorded simply as taking cattle and sheep. It is
possible that a serious campaign was undertaken later in his reign,
but the records have not survived. Meanwhile, a crisis threatening
the whole kingdom arose in his rear: from the east and southeast
the Hurrians overran the land, only Hattusa holding out. Though
the Hurrians withdrew on the approach of the Hittite army, more
than a year passed before Hattusili was able fully to restore his
authority. This crisis was to be repeated throughout Hittite history,
a frequent occurrence when the king was away on campaign for a
prolonged period, far from the homeland. This time the threat
seems to have been external, possibly a sequel to the sack of Ursu;
but on many other occasions dissension had arisen within the royal
family.
The second Syrian campaign of Hattusili I was marked by sig-
nificant victories, notably the destruction of Hassuwa and
Hahhum (Hahha): the latter, mentioned in Old Assyrian, Old Hit-
tite and Mari texts, is probably to be identified as Level 8 of Lidar
Höyük, in which a great burning has been found, and from which
four wagon loads of silver were removed to Hattusa. The king
himself took particular pride in his crossing of the Euphrates, emu-
lating the earlier achievement of Sargon of Agade, and thus plac-
ing himself in the ranks of the most renowned rulers of the ancient
Near East. He claimed to have crossed the river with dry feet, pre-
sumably by some sort of pontoon bridge. He had good reason for
pride, seeing that by his sixth campaign he had won control of all
lands from the Black Sea through eastern Anatolia to the borders of
western Mesopotamia.
The reign of Hattusili I ended with his death in circumstances
not altogether clear. On the one hand, he gathered around him the
leading men of the kingdom, constituting the assembly (panku), to
inform them of his decision on the succession—not to consult,
merely to inform. Perhaps significantly, they met not at Hattusa but
at his ancestral headquarters, Kussara. Commentaries on this as-
sembly generally state that the king was ill, indeed on his deathbed;
but this could be an overstatement. What is certain is that first his
sons and then his nephew had betrayed him or proved inadequate
as heir to the throne, among those conspiring against him being his
daughter. The claim of his family to the dynastic succession seems
to have been undisputed: it was the recurrent curse of the Hittite
110 ● HATTUSILI III

state, the ambitions of royal princes, which created the political dif-
ficulties. Hattusili declared his achievements, stressing the pun-
ishment meted out to the numerous rebels who had at one time or
another opposed his rule. Where were they now (he asked)? It is
not hard to imagine the tension as men waited for the decision of
Hattusili, who announced that the heir to his throne would be a mi-
nor, Mursili, his grandson, whose upbringing he entrusted to the
leading men of the realm. On the other hand, Hattusili may have
died as a result of a late campaign against Aleppo, of which little
record survives, for his successor states that he marched against
Aleppo to avenge his grandfather’s death.
Hattusili I may probably be credited with establishing the Hit-
tite tradition of historiography, manifested in his annals, covering
a period of six years early in the reign, discovered at Hattusa in
1957 and emphasizing his military achievements. Domestic politics
were recorded in the Testament (or Bilingual Succession Edict)
concerning the assembly at Kussara. Both survive in Hittite and
Akkadian cuneiform versions. The Proclamation, or Edict, of
King Telipinu is preserved only in late copies: this includes a long
historical preamble down to his succession (ca.1525 BC), covering
the reign of Hattusili I and filling in gaps in the more contemporary
records, though less reliably. The colorful legendary text covering
the siege of Ursu dates from the Hittite Empire.
Stylistic parallels between the annals of Hattusili I and the
Anitta text suggest a thread of continuity between the earlier text
and Hittite annalistic language. This could perhaps throw doubt on
the general acceptance of a lapse into illiteracy following the end
of the Old Assyrian trading colonies. If this did indeed occur, it
was under Hattusili I that cuneiform scribes once again became ac-
tive in Anatolia. These came not so much from Aleppo, the enemy
of Hatti, as from Ebla, known for its scribal school. There is no
evidence to indicate whether the king was personally responsible
for this development; but it seems fair to suggest that Hattusili I
considered not merely the territorial aggrandizement of his realm
but also its constitutional, economic and cultural well-being. His
memory was indeed respected by successors over the generations.

HATTUSILI III (1267–1237 BC). During his reign the Hittite Empire
enjoyed a period of peace and stability in some respects comparable
with that earlier enjoyed in Egypt under Amenhotep III (1390–1352
BC), though not on so extravagant a scale. In both reigns diplo-
macy took precedence over military enterprises. With Hattusili III
 HATTUSILI III ● 111

this was probably in a large degree owing to his advanced age: he

may have been 50 by the time he seized the throne from his nephew
Urhi-Tesub, an act he sought to justify in his Apology. That would
give an age at death of 80: a sickly child, he suffered bouts of ill
health throughout his life, to the consternation of Puduhepa.
Hattusili claimed that, while acknowledging his nephew’s le-
gitimate claim to the throne of Muwatalli II, he had deposed him
owing to injustices he himself had suffered and to grounds for
questioning his fitness for the crown. Gifts were exchanged and
correspondence conducted, especially with Egypt and Babylon and
to a lesser degree with Assyria. In military terms his main suc-
cesses had been in the Kaska borderlands, before ascending the
throne. His subsequent ventures in western Anatolia, when king,
proved less successful; and he recognized the practical limits of
Hittite power in that zone.
The fullest light on international diplomacy in this reign shines
on Hittite relations with Egypt, then under the long rule of
Ramesses II (1279–1213 BC). Early contacts were unfriendly, as a
result of the suspicion of Hattusili III that Ramesses II had been
harboring his exiled nephew, an accusation rebutted by the phar-
aoh. It took some 14 years, halfway through the reign of Hattusili
III, for mutual self-interest to dictate an end to friction along the
border between these great powers in Syria. This treaty was to en-
dure some 75 years. Relations are illuminated by lengthy corre-
spondence between Ramesses II and Puduhepa, largely concerning
royal marriages, especially of a Hittite princess with Ramesses II
himself. An invitation for Hattusili III to visit Egypt—without
precedent in the ancient Near East—was not taken up, perhaps ow-
ing to residual reservations on the part of the Hittite king. The tone
adopted by Ramessses could at times be patronizing to the point of
arrogance.
Hattusili III had from the start of his reign sought to improve
relations not only with Egypt but also with Assyria. With Adad-
nirari I (1295–1264 BC) he tried to mend fences after the brisk
rebuff from Urhi-Tesub to his claim to brotherhood, thus equal
status with the Hittite king. Hattusili wrote off Hanigalbat, the
remnant of the kingdom of Mitanni, and ignored appeals for help
from Sattuara in his vain rebellion against Assyria under Shal-
maneser I (1263–1234 BC). The Assyrian king nevertheless
claimed a great victory, that he had “slaughtered like sheep the ar-
mies of the Hittites and Ahlamu, his allies,” but this was certainly a
gross exaggeration. Some years later a second Hittite princess was
112 ● HATTUSILI III

sent to marry Ramesses II, perhaps after the death of Hattusili III.
By then Ramesses may have been 70 years of age. Ramesses enu-
merated the splendid dowry—doubtless jewelry and textiles but
also livestock—dispatched from Hatti.
Hattusili was much concerned in his later years with the suc-
cession and the very real possibility of conflict arising from the ri-
val claims of different royal lines. One aspect was the presence of
children of an earlier marriage, before that to Puduhepa. The Em-
pire could not any longer have survived unharmed in the hands of
an elderly king. See also HATTUSILI III: THE APOLOGY.

HATTUSILI III: THE APOLOGY. The main source for the life and
reign of Hattusili III is the so-called Apology (or Autobiography).
In addition, there are an abbreviated version and an edict for Mit-
tannamuwa. There has been much debate concerning the reliability
of the Apology as a historical source: some authorities dismiss it as
essentially a piece of propaganda, as such to be disregarded as a re-
cord of fact; others assert, perhaps more reasonably, that it contains
historical events recorded with a degree of accuracy, although none
can deny the largely propagandist intent. The simple truth is that it
is the only source surviving for much of the story it relates.
Hattusili had an active and honorable career as soldier and
administrator during the reign of his elder brother Muwatalli II,
who clearly relied on him as his leading adviser and supporter.
While preparations were being undertaken for the campaign which
was to culminate in the confrontation with Ramesses II of Egypt at
Kadesh, he was dispatched to the north, to deal with the threat on
that front from the old enemy, the people of the Kaska lands. The
king showed his partiality by removing a successful governor from
office in the Upper Land and replacing him with Hattusili, who
had (he claims) reconquered this territory against an enemy with
superior numbers. Hattusili’s seizure of Nerik from the Kaska peo-
ple was among his outstanding achievements, with its reconstruc-
tion as the final stage in the reorganization of the whole Upper
Land. During the earlier New Kingdom, with Nerik in enemy con-
trol, its cult was moved to Hakpissa; and it declined in favor of the
Weather-God of Zippalanda.
The Apology of Hattusili III takes the form of a decree order-
ing the establishment of a sacred foundation for the goddess Ishtar
of the city of Samuha: she was goddess not of love but of war, in-
troduced by the Hurrians irrupting into Anatolia; and Samuha was
the center from which the restoration of Hittite rule had been organ-
 HAVUZKÖY ● 113

ized by Tudhaliya III. Moreover, it lay in the Upper Land. Thither

Hattusili, after visiting Lawazantiya on his return north from the
Egyptian campaign, brought his young bride Puduhepa, who thus
was to gain experience of high status before becoming queen, and
to exercise a profound and enduring influence on her husband and
on affairs of state.
Justification of his seizure of the throne was the leading mo-
tive underlying the Apology. Hattusili claims to have suffered slan-
der and the effects of hostile magic at the instigation of his nephew
Urhi-Tesub. Some scholars have found in the reign of his brother
Muwatalli II evidence of long plotting and planning to seize the
throne from his nephew, the dissensions within the royal family be-
ing largely owing to the ambitions of his stepmother Tanuhepa.
Initial difficulties, return to action, war and achievements in a
peaceful context are all to be found in the Apology, which thus fol-
lows a certain established pattern. Hattusili had a difficult child-
hood, dogged by ill-health which he was not expected to survive;
then came fighting in the north and against Egypt, with the trial of
Arma-Tarhunda, the ousted governor of the Upper Land. On a hap-
pier note, there came his marriage, which seems to have been a
love match, his nomination to the viceregal throne of Hakpis, the
final condemnation of Arma-Tarhunda followed by his reprieve,
and the restoration of Nerik. Urhi-Tesup was then installed as king
after his father’s death. His enmity toward his uncle Hattusili,
claims the Apology, led to civil war. There eventually ensued the
uncle’s victory, the exile of the deposed king and the accession of
Hattusili as the third ruler of that name. Prosperity and peace pre-
vailed throughout the realm, and other kings paid homage to Hat-
tusili III, who in gratitude created a new foundation for the goddess
Ishtar, the patron to whom he attributed his good fortune throughout
his long life. Thus the Apology ended on a note of self-satisfaction.

HAVUZKÖY. Situated 60 kilometers south of Sivas and 23 kilometers

west of Kangal, on the northern edge of a high plateau, the Üzün
Yayla (“Long Plateau”), in modern times known as a breeding
ground for horses. The site lies some distance up a valley to the
south of a village of this name, not far from the old Ottoman road
to Aleppo. It was first noticed, in one of his journeys by car in the
inter-war period, by Hans Henning von der Osten, although he
seems not to have ventured beyond the valley. Thus he observed
the sculptured stone gate lions in Neo-Hittite style, now removed
to the Museum in Ankara, but did not discover the very extensive
114 ● HAWKINS

site above.
Up on the plateau a citadel can be seen, the stone walls, both
external and internal, being clearly discernible above the pre-
sent-day surface. The quality of the masonry, and especially of the
glacis of dressed stone, at first suggested a dating to the imperial
Hittite period. But this was plainly negated by the surface pottery
of unmistakably Iron Age type, in line with the style of the gate li-
ons. Outside the citadel but also on the edge of the plateau lies an
extensive cemetery of cairn burials. One suggestion is that Havuz-
köy was constructed by the rulers of Malatya or Tabal, more
probably the former, against attacks by the Cimmerians in the late
eighth century BC. This seems improbable, however, in view of
the time required to build such a citadel.

HAWKINS, JOHN DAVID (1940– ). Professor of Anatolian Lan-

guages in the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of
London. His major achievement has been the decipherment of the
Luwian hieroglyphs, on which he recently published his definitive
work. He has demonstrated how a number of false trails have been
followed over the years by various scholars, ever since the days of
Bedrich Hrozny. As he is the first to admit, he has owed much to
the work of such scholars as Emmanuel Laroche and Piero
Meriggi, with the more recent contributions of Massimo Poeto and
Sargon Erdem. He has published studies of the Kululu lead strips
and the badly weathered inscription of Boğazköy: Nişantaş, work-
ing on the latter in collaboration with the German expedition, then
under Peter Neve.

HAYASA. See AZZI (HAYASA).

HEARTH, CULT OF. For all ancient peoples, particularly in lands

with cold winters, the hearth was the focus of the family house, and
understandably so. This applied to the Hittites, who naturally had
to survive the harsh cold of the Anatolian plateau. A foundation
ritual embraces each of the four corners of the building, the four
pillars, the hearth and the door: purification and blessing also pro-
tected the windows and altar. The ritual of the hearth became in
part absorbed into Hattian mythology. One foundation ritual sur-
vives in a Hattian-Hittite bilingual version. Then in a mythical ses-
sion the goddess Kamrusepa used a hearth of iron.
The cults of hearth and fire, largely interlinked, can be traced
across central Asia into Iran and Anatolia, demonstrating that these
 HEBAT ● 115

are not exclusively Indo-European in their context. The family

hearth had its essential function through the cold, windswept win-
ters of the open plains of central Asia. In the equally cold, if more
sheltered, winters of eastern Anatolia and the Caucasus—the Early
Trans-Caucasian cultural zone and the homeland of the Hurri-
ans in the later fourth and third millennia BC—the domestic hearth
had a comparable significance. This is indicated by ornately deco-
rated portable hearths.
For the Indo-lranian tribes, further east, there persisted a
strong devotion to fire centered around the family. The flame was
lit when the man first set up house, transported in a pot during no-
madic journeys over great distances or shorter movements of sea-
sonal transhumance and reestablished in each new home, however
transitory. It was extinguished only on the death of the head of the
family, in a strictly patriarchal society. This may have been a natu-
ral concept for people lacking the assurance provided by fixed
landmarks such as temples.

HEBAT. Chief goddess of the western Hurrian pantheon, she was the
spouse of Tesub, a position held in more easterly lands by Ishtar.
In the 13th century BC in Hatti she was syncretized with the Sun-
Goddess of Arinna, largely on the initiative of Puduhepa, in
whose time the sanctuary of Yazılıkaya was designed. Here Hebat
leads the procession of goddesses meeting the gods, led by Tesub.

HELMETS. Best known from the figure in the King’s Gate but also
from an incised drawing on a fragmentary pottery bowl dated
ca.1400 BC, likewise from Hattusa. This shows a horn, crest and
flowing ribbons, and may be of Aegean origin, perhaps depicting a
soldier of Arzawa. Cheek flaps and neck flaps appear in both rep-
resentations. A more formal design appears in the Iron Age in the
crested helmets of soldiers on the Long Wall of Carchemish, later
worn by Assyrian soldiers.

HEMITE (HAMIDE). One of a number of Hittite rock reliefs—along

with Sirkeli, Hanyeri-Gezbel and Karabel—whose locations in-
dicate their demarcation of boundaries, conceivably inspired by the
slightly earlier boundary stelae of Tell el-Amarna (Akhetaten) in
Egypt. The miniature depiction of a bull on the headgear of the
brother of Tesub at Yazılıkaya, virtually as a badge, is paralleled
at Hemite. This site is located 75 kilometers northwest of Adana on
the right bank of the Ceyhan River in the Cilician plain (Kizzu-
116 ● HIEROGLYPHS

wadna).
HIEROGLYPHS. From the discovery of the “Stones of Hamath”
onward scholarly interest in the distinctive script carved on stone
blocks or statues grew steadily, led initially by Archibald Sayce,
his quest helped by the seal known as “Tarkondemos,” in fact the
silver plating of a hemispherical seal, with an inscription not
(strictly speaking) bilingual but digraphic, that is, in the same lan-
guage but written in two different scripts, with one line of cunei-
form around the circumference and hieroglyphs in the middle.
Sayce was able to recognize the signs for “king” and “country.”
The first advance in understanding the hieroglyphs came with
the decipherment of the cuneiform Hittite tablets from Boğazköy-
Hattusa, the work of Bedrich Hrozny in the years following
1915. The number of hieroglyphic inscriptions had meanwhile al-
most doubled through the British Museum excavations at Car-
chemish, cut short by the outbreak of war in 1914. This accretion
of inscriptions enabled five leading scholars from different coun-
tries, working independently, to reach broad agreement on the val-
ues of most of the signs as used phonetically and on the structure
of the language.
In 1947 a new stage in the decipherment came with the dis-
covery of a long bilingual inscription, in Phoenician and hiero-
glyphic, at Karatepe in the former land of Kizzuwadna, giving vi-
tal data on the many ideograms. Soon afterward, digraphic seal
impressions from Ugarit, with hieroglyphic inscriptions tran-
scribed into cuneiform, confirmed earlier readings and provided
additional ones.
The modern phase of research into the hieroglyphs began
when David Hawkins (School of Oriental and African Studies,
University of London) began to address the possibility of amassing
a corpus of all hieroglyphic inscriptions with a view to publication,
a most ambitious and onerous undertaking only quite recently
completed for the Iron Age. In visiting the sites and museums with
these inscriptions, he soon began to find a number of deficiencies
in the published copies. Further discoveries provided help, notably
in the indications of measures scratched on storage jars excavated
at Altıntepe in the Erzincan plain, near the northwest frontier of
the kingdom of Urartu: these are not in Urartian but “Hittite” hi-
eroglyphs, and moreover they match cuneiform inscriptions of the
same measures on storage jars at other sites. Later came new ar-
chives of digraphic seal impressions from the Hittite new founda-
tion at Emar in Syria on the middle Euphrates. A highly signifi-
 HISSASHAPA ● 117

cant advance was made with the identification of the negative na in

the hieroglyphs, found from close examination of the stela from
Sheizar, now in two parts, one in the museum in Hama and the
other in that in Beirut.
Hawkins has classified the great majority of the inscriptions
forming his Corpus into 10 groups according to provenance. These
groups are: Cilicia [former Kizzuwadna]; Carchemish; Tell Ahmar
(Til-Barsip); Maraş; Malatya; Commagene (Kummuhu); Amuq;
Aleppo; Hama; and Tabal.
The beginnings of the use of the hieroglyphic script by the Hit-
tite kings seem to have come five generations earlier than previ-
ously supposed, with an inscription recording a military feat by a
king named Tudhaliya, almost certainly the first king of that name
rather than the fourth. The end of the story of the hieroglyphs
comes with the bilingual inscription of Karatepe, of the early sev-
enth century BC.
There are indisputable arguments for identifying the language
of the hieroglyphs, at first termed Hittite, as in fact the related
Indo-European language of Luwian. It seems very likely that many
records were written in this script but have perished, having been
inscribed on tablets of wood, to which there are textual references,
as well as to “scribes in wood”. The carving of the signs on basalt,
as with many of the inscriptions, must have been a laborious task.
There are steady additions to the total of inscriptions carved in
hieroglyphs, reinforcing the data for their thorough comprehension.

HISSASHAPA. One of the towns or districts in the viceroyalty of Hat-

tusili in the Kaska borderlands.

HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY. The identification of geographical

names simply and solely on the basis of their sounding like later
names, sometimes nicknamed the “cling-clang” method, is not a
sound approach to solving the difficult problems of historical geog-
raphy in Hittite Anatolia and surrounding lands. Yet there are ex-
ceptions, where a number of names can be correlated with later
versions, usually in Greco-Roman times. Not isolated but clustered
similarities can build up a convincing case. Among such names
are the Lukka Lands, Millawanda and perhaps Wilusa. With
other names and the locations of certain inscriptions, such as
Karabel, a general westward shift of geographical names relating
to the Hittite world has become inevitable for the regions west of
the homeland in central Anatolia. One of the difficulties has been
118 ● HISTORIOGRAPHY

the enormous fluctuations in the territories controlled by the lead-

ing and most persistent opponent of Hatti in the west, Arzawa.
From the Lower Land eastward there has been less change in
the interpretation of historical geography, the location of such
lands as Kizzuwadna and Isuwa remaining fixed. The eastern
zone of the Hittite Empire is illuminated not exclusively by Hittite
texts but also by the annals of its often hostile and expanding
neighbor Assyria, in the years of Adad-nirari I (1295–1264 BC),
Shalmaneser I (1263–1234 BC) and Tukulti-Ninurta I (1233–
1197 BC). These Assyrian annals are particularly relevant to lands
near the middle and upper Euphrates—Hanigalbat, Isuwa and
Carchemish. The reconstruction of Hittite historical geography
proposed by John Garstang and his nephew Oliver Gurney in
The Geography of the Hittite Empire (1959) in the end requires
fewer modifications than had until recently appeared necessary.

HISTORIOGRAPHY. If the aim of the ruler ordering his scribe to

record his deeds is that knowledge of them, and thereby his fame,
should be spread far and wide among his subjects, then not every
monarch in the ancient Near East achieved this. The Egyptian
pharaohs were most obviously successful in the New Kingdom, no-
tably in the temple reliefs and inscriptions of Seti I, Ramesses II
and Ramesses III. In contrast, the Hittite kings almost always re-
corded their military and other achievements on clay tablets, his-
torical records being destined for their archives in Hattusa, hardly
the most effective method of making their contents known among
the general population. One can only conclude that this was never
their intention. Perhaps it is significant that the one important ex-
ception to this rule came in the reign of the last Hittite king, Suppi-
luliuma II, when events were conspiring against the Hittite Em-
pire, and when it is conceivable that some doubts had crept in
concerning the efficacy of divine protection for the king and his
realm. The reality of events was to be proclaimed with strict adher-
ence to factual accuracy, if we are to believe the inscription of
Boğazköy: Nişantaş, in the Upper City of Hattusa.
A historical preamble was to become the norm for many major
royal texts, from the time of Hattusili I onward, although Hittite
historiography could be said to date back to the time of Anitta, in
which period a legendary element might be incorporated, itself in-
cluding a kernel of fact, as with the story of the queen of Kanes
and Zalpa. In the Hittite Old Kingdom the main objective seems to
have been the straightforward glorification of the king on the bat-
 HISTORIOGRAPHY ● 119

tlefield, in celebrating the religious festivals, in enriching the realm

through his wars and in showing implacable ferocity to the recalci-
trant enemy, balanced by justice and mercy for those who willingly
submitted. Strength, wisdom, enlightenment and a sense of right
conduct were the qualities to be stressed in the historical accounts
by the Hittite king of his own reign. Warfare, hunting, commis-
sioning of new buildings, worship and presiding at cultic festivals
were the royal activities most clearly highlighted in historical ac-
counts of the deeds of the king.
Unfortunately it is impossible to assign a precise findspot to
all known tablets, including historical texts, from the excavations
at Boğazköy-Hattusa. In the early seasons, under the direction of
Hugo Winckler, recording was not up to the standard of the later
years, from the seasons under Kurt Bittel onward. It is apparent
that many tablets were missed, being found later on excavation of
dumps from early seasons, especially near Temple 1 and the
House on the Slope. In such ways have missing fragments of his-
torical records been recovered and painstakingly joined to pieces
already excavated. It is important to stress the incomplete condition
of many major texts. In the early years of work at Hattusa a con-
siderable number of tablets found their way, perhaps inevitably,
into the antiquities market.
The surviving texts can of course only provide an individual
viewpoint, often from someone with an ax to grind, a propagandist
message to record. This is particularly evident when the author is a
usurper, and is seeking to legitimize his position as de facto king:
Telipinu in the later Old Kingdom and Hattusili III in the 13th
century BC both fall into this category. In each case—in the Proc-
lamation of Telipinu and the Apology of Hattusili III—there is a
very lengthy historical preamble, designed to demonstrate how
events had led up to their inevitable conclusion, the accession of
the rightful king destined to save his realm from all its enemies.
There had been in the duration of over two centuries between these
two reigns, however, a marked change of emphasis. In the Old
Kingdom, notably under Hattusili I, all attention is centered on the
king, with no reference to the gods: indeed, it might be said that a
spirit almost of humanism prevailed. Well before Hattusili III that
had radically changed: now the gods were the constant protectors
of the king and his people, Ishtar, in Anatolia goddess of war
rather than love, being the patroness of that king. The all-pervasive
influence of the Hurrians in the New Kingdom or Empire, not
least within the royal family, being of that ethnicity, may well have
120 ● HISTORIOGRAPHY

been a dominant factor behind this change compared with the Old
Kingdom.
Hittite texts of royal annals, in one form or another, from Hat-
tusili I to Hattusili III were normally written in the first person,
while Akkadian versions tended to be in the third person. Never-
theless, it took generations for the development of Hittite histori-
ographic technique to reach maturity in the reign of Mursili II.
The major texts from his reign are the Ten-Year Annals, the De-
tailed Annals covering events at least through his 21st year and the
Deeds of Suppiluliuma. Of these the most relevant for study of Hit-
tite historiographic technique are the Ten-Year Annals, since this
text alone has survived virtually complete, the existence of serious
gaps making stylistic analysis far harder in the other texts. In the
Ten-Year Annals of Mursili II a prologue is followed by a longer
central section and a concluding epilogue, picking up the points in
the prologue. In the central section are included terse reports of
campaigns in the north against the Kaska, little better than stereo-
typed formulae; but the lengthy war against Arzawa and other af-
fairs of state are dealt with in a more literary style with more de-
tailed description and extensive use of speeches, letters, accounts
of simultaneous actions in separate locations and even speculations
about hypothetical moves by the king or his adversary. A hint that
this must be a shortened, edited version culled from a larger range
of records which have not survived or which—conceivably but
rather improbably—may have been deliberately destroyed is af-
forded by a passage in the epilogue stating that “the enemy lands
which the king’s sons and the lords conquered are not included
here.”
Historical prologues to state treaties survive for the reigns of
Suppiluliuma I, Mursili II, Hattusili III, Tudhaliya IV and Suppi-
luliuma II. These seek to justify Hittite imperial foreign policy, and
as such are thoroughly tendentious in tone. Given the incomplete-
ness of surviving historical texts, however, these cannot be ig-
nored.
In his annals Mursili II shows himself frequently on the defen-
sive, rebutting accusations of immaturity on his accession, Uh-
haziti, ruler of Arzawa, describing him as a mere child: “You have
continually called me a child and have belittled me,” wrote Mursili.
It was an age when personal prestige and indeed amour propre
counted for much in international relations, as well as affecting the
king’s image among his own subjects. The king’s ego was also
threatened when he suffered speech loss, the result either of apha-
 HISTORIOGRAPHY ● 121

sia or perhaps more probably of the milder dysphasia. As discerni-

ble in his Plague Prayers, Mursili II sought in the sins of his father
the causes of the plague which afflicted Hatti for 20 years.
Causality was scarcely understood by the Hittite historians,
though frequent reference was made to past events by way of
precedents for the future. The Hittite kings believed to some degree
in fate, a belief strengthened as time passed, and divine interven-
tion was given greater prominence. A stereotyped wording for di-
vine help given to the Hittite king on the battlefield first appears in
the annals of Mursili II, the formula in his Ten-Year Annals read-
ing thus: “The Sun Goddess of Arinna, my lady, the mighty
Storm God, my lord, Mezzulla and all the gods ran before me, so
that I defeated. . . .”
A variant was the formula in the Detailed Annals of the same
reign: “The mighty Storm God, my lord, the Sun Goddess of
Arinna, my lady, the Storm God of Hatti, the tutelary god of Hatti,
the storm god of the army, Ishtar of the (battle-) field and all the
gods ran before me, so that. . . .”
Mursili II sometimes recounts startling divine intervention, on
one occasion the hurling of a bolt of lightning against the foe.
More prosaically, he is the first to describe the terrain of some of
his battlefields:“Now the city of Ura, which was the first border
fortress of the land of Azzi, was situated in a very inaccessible
place. Let whosoever hears these tablets [read aloud] send and look
at that city of Ura, how it was fortified!”
The reference by implication to the reading aloud of tablets
may suggest some qualification of the earlier comment about the
lack of public dissemination of royal annals. Is it too far-fetched to
visualize a messenger returning hotfoot to Hattusa with news of a
great victory far from the homeland?
While Mursili II should perhaps be given the greatest credit
for the development of Hittite historiography from its earlier mani-
festations, the reign of Hattusili III, his younger son, is likewise
marked by outstanding historical texts, of which his Apology (or
Autobiography) is the best known. Its long historical prologue cov-
ers all but the last two paragraphs, and it is clearly a piece of
propaganda, designed to defame the deposed Urhi-Tesub, his
nephew, as well as his supporters, and correspondingly to exalt his
own legitimacy and his past achievements. Unlike most other Hit-
tite texts, no human causation is recorded here: direct divine inter-
vention is claimed for every major event, instigated by the patron-
ess of Hattusili III, the goddess Ishtar of Samuha, exercising
122 ● HITTITE

“divine justice,” as the usual translation goes. See HATTUSILI

III: THE APOLOGY
There survive also from the reign of Hattusili III large frag-
ments, constituting an attempted historical review unparalleled
since the time of Telipinu and spanning the reigns of Suppiluliuma
I, Arnuwanda I, Mursili II, Muwatalli II, Urhi-Tesub and of
course Hattusili III, who attributes his predecessors’ successes en-
tirely to his own patron goddess, ignoring their respective patron
deities!
It is fair to claim that the Hittites were in the forefront of histo-
riography in the ancient Near East, probably providing some of the
inspiration for the better-known annals of their Assyrian succes-
sors, and including human touches seldom found in Assyria at least
before Sennacherib (705-681 BC). Yet the annals were not the sole
source of historical record in the Hittite state: royal prayers often
include historical reviews at some length, while court records con-
tain much detail on the lives of all ranks of civil servants. It is well
to remember that less than 10 percent of the total of tablets recov-
ered contain historical data. By far the largest proportion of tablets
concerns rituals and festivals.

HITTITE (NESITE). This is one of the Anatolian group of

Indo-European languages, at first associated with the city of Nesa
(Kanes), whence the term Nesite (Nesili). Two other languages,
Luwian and Palaic, are noteworthy in the second millennium BC,
with Lycian, Milian, Lydian and Carian appearing in the first mil-
lennium BC. For the non linguist two examples may serve to un-
derline the Indo-European identity of Hittite, namely water, mean-
ing “water,” while the Hittite word for “fire” is pahhur, clearly
related to the Greek pur and to the English “pyre,” “pyrotechnic,”
and so on. As many as four stages of development have been dis-
tinguished for the Hittite language from the Old Kingdom to the
fall of Hatti, equivalent to the three main periods, with a fourth
stage in the final decades.
The cuneiform adopted from the 17th century BC by the Hit-
tite state was the Old Babylonian variant, not surprising in view of
the campaigns of Hattusili I and his successor Mursili I and the
economic interest of Hatti in expansion southeastward. Royal
names can be written either phonetically or ideographically.
By the New Kingdom Hittite had become confined to the rul-
ing class as a spoken language, with the majority of the population
speaking Luwian. It would, however, be going too far to suggest
 HITTITE LAWS ● 123

that by this time Hittite had ceased to be a spoken language, for

there is linguistic evidence demonstrating ongoing changes indica-
tive of a spoken tongue. The Hittite Laws have the same passages
surviving in different styles of script, the outcome of the scribal
habit of partially updating texts they were copying: this makes dis-
tinguishing the developmental stages of Hittite much harder.

HITTITE LAWS. These differ markedly from the better-known Code

of Hammurabi of Babylon (1792–1750 BC), not only in content
but also in the form in which they have survived. Whereas the laws
of Hammurabi are inscribed on a stela found by the French expedi-
tion in Susa, southwestern Iran, the Hittite laws have been translit-
erated, translated and edited from hundreds of fragments of clay
tablets excavated in Hattusa, for the most part in Büyükkale. In-
evitably many such pieces duplicate larger fragments; but gaps in
the texts have been filled from elsewhere, such is the number of
fragments recovered by the German expedition.
The Hittite Laws have been published in successive editions in
French, English, German, Italian and most recently again in Eng-
lish, beginning with the pioneer publication by Bedrich Hrozny
(1922). Johannes Friedrich used contemporary grammatical and
lexical research to produce an updated German edition (1959); and
Fiorella Imparati’s Italian edition (1964) built on the work of Frie-
drich. Since then the late Annelies Kammenhuber, in due course
in collaboration with Inge Hoffmann, developed the work of Frie-
drich (1975– ). Now the Hittite Dictionary of the Oriental Institute
of the University of Chicago is under the sole command of Harry
Hoffner, following the death in 2000 of Hans Güterbock. Ameri-
can scholarship has indeed played an increasing role in Hittite stud-
ies over the past two decades. These details serve to exemplify the
international character of research into the civilizations of the an-
cient Near East, unimpeded by claims for patents!
There is agreement among specialists that there was a code of
laws divided into two series, each numbering 100, and accordingly
numbered 1–200B in the modern literature. The laws were each
worded beginning with a conditional clause (“if a man. . . .,” “if a
vineyard. . . .”), the first series concerned mainly with persons and
the second largely with property, although the order of subject-
matter is by no means entirely logical. This suggests additions
made from time to time, without redrafting the entire code. The
matters covered by the Hittite Laws are remarkably wide-ranging,
more so than the Babylonian code. It is worth listing these: homi-
124 ● HITTITE LAWS

cide, justifiable or not, or by pushing a man into a fire; assault and

battery; ownership of slaves; sanitation; marriage procedure, in
exceptional cases or where irregularity has been alleged; feudal du-
ties in the context of land tenure, and conditions of land tenure; hir-
ing for a campaign; accidents at a ford; magical contamination;
finding property; offenses related to cattle; theft; arson; offenses
related to vineyards and orchards; theft and damage to various
types of property; irregularities in sale and purchase; rates of pay
for various services; offenses connected with canals, and with cat-
tle; religious ordinances related to agriculture; sorcery; disinheri-
tance by a mother; compensation for maintenance during famine;
refusal to comply with a legal sentence; an obscure offense (besti-
ality?) connected with a bull; list of prices; sexual offenses; the
standard fee for instruction of an apprentice.
The wide range of the Hittite Laws gives a clear indication of
the complexity of the state. Unfortunately there is only the most
meager evidence concerning the Hittite courts and legal tribunals,
largely owing to the total absence of private lawsuits, in marked
contrast with Babylonia, though textual references do occur. The
specific coverage of some of the laws indicates their basis in case
law, in decisions over the years by the courts. The king was the
fount of all law, and his decisions are frequently recorded, often in
the context of changing a penalty formerly in force to one now de-
creed, usually less severe. This is one of the indications that Hittite
law was always evolving, without excessive respect for the precise
regulations of the past. Indeed, it seems to have come into force
only as the need arose, custom presumably governing such fields
as inheritance and contract, not included in the Hittite Laws.
It has been claimed with some reason that the laws of the Hit-
tite state were more humane than those of Babylon and Assyria.
This claim rests primarily on the more sparing application of the
death penalty, the Hittite courts often imposing fines instead: as
with the Germanic (including Anglo-Saxon) wergeld, payment de-
pended on the status of the victim. Capital punishment was re-
served for only a few crimes, comprising bestiality, incest, sorcery
by a slave against a free man and stealing a bronze weapon from
the King’s Gate. This last—reminiscent of the English law against
setting fire to the king’s docks—is a hint of fears for the security of
the state. It could also of course be an indication of the value at-
tached to the products of the bronzesmiths.
While there is no doubt of the evolving character of the main
law code, never as rigid as the word “code” may imply, another
 HOFFNER ● 125

factor probably limited its remit. This was the likelihood that the
law was not uniform throughout the Hittite Empire, and that this
was an accepted fact, with tolerance of local customs. At one point
garrison commanders were ordered to apply the death penalty
wherever this was customary for certain crimes; but elsewhere ban-
ishment was to continue as the appropriate penalty.

HOFFNER, HARRY. Leading American Hittitologist, who has pub-

lished prolifically on Hittite civilization. Long-serving assistant to
the late Hans Güterbock in working on The Hittite Dictionary in
Chicago, of which he is now in charge. See also HITTITE
LAWS.

HOGARTH, DAVID GEORGE (1862–1927). Early in his career he

took part in excavations in Cyprus, Melos and Crete and briefly in
Egypt at Asyut. He was the excavator of the Artemision at Ephesus
and first excavator of Carchemish, whither he brought on his staff
T. E. Lawrence. Hogarth was a fluent Arabist, heading the Arab
Bureau in Cairo in World War I, afterward becoming director of
the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. He published a seminal work
on Hittite seals (1920), over 30 books and many articles.

HORSES. Whether or not they were from the first domesticated, which
seems improbable, horses formed a regular part of the diet in the
steppes west of the Urals, along with cattle and sheep, from as
early as the sixth millennium BC. That these animals were valued
by the population is indicated by the occurrences of their heads in
clearly ritual contexts from the same period, with horse extremities
likewise. Carved bone figurines of horses were deposited above
human graves, in pits stained with ochre, a tradition surviving from
the Old Stone Age (Upper Palaeolithic) times. Horses long contin-
ued to be prized beyond their economic functions.
The early story of the horse cannot be considered in isolation.
Rather is it linked with the controversial problem of the Urheimat
(homeland) of the Proto-Indo-Europeans as well as with the
question of the origins of wheeled vehicles. Until recently the
Dnieper basin in the fifth millennium BC was regarded as the like-
liest home of the first domesticated horses; but now a wider geo-
graphical perspective is called for, most recently as the outcome of
mitochondrial DNA analyses. It is often hard to be sure of the do-
mesticated status of prehistoric horses, which were clearly hunted
as a source of meat: they may conceivably have also been rounded
126 ● HORSES

up for other purposes.

The crucial developments occurred, it seems, in the later half
of the fourth millennium BC, when the most striking evidence that
horses were being bitted and ridden, probably to hunt wild horses,
comes from the site of Botai, east of the Urals, where horses ac-
count, remarkably, for 99.9 percent of 300,000 identified animal
bones. Contrary to the misconception that early steppe horses were
the size of donkeys, the horses of Botai were big enough to ride
comfortably: wear on their teeth proves use of the bit.
The economic importance of horseback riding in the steppes
was at least as great as the military role of horses. Grassland herd-
ing benefited in efficiency and scale from riding. Ethnographic
data suggest that one herdsman with a well-trained sheepdog could
manage up to 200 sheep on foot, but 500 sheep on horseback. With
a horse and wagon, for which oxen were the draught animals, the
steppe herdsman could live with the herd and his family for months
at a time. The wagon’s ability to move the herdsman’s household
to distant summer pastures greatly expanded the potential scale of
grassland grazing, with even larger herds thus possible. The com-
bination of these three elements—grazing stock, horses and wag-
ons—in the later fourth millennium BC radically changed society
on the Eurasian steppes. With the disappearance of settlements
across the western steppes, a far more mobile pastoral or semi pas-
toral economy emerged.
It took time for the horse to be introduced from the Eurasian
steppes throughout the Near East. Horse bones occur in the
Altınova, in fourth-millennium BC context, in the Elaziğ region of
eastern Anatolia just east of the upper Euphrates, in Hittite imperial
times the land of Isuwa. Human remains of Early Dynastic I date,
of the early third millennium BC, in Mesopotamia suggest
bow-legged individuals accustomed to horse riding. The most vivid
illustration of adaptation to horse riding comes from the archives of
Mari, the great city on the middle Euphrates, now just within the
territory of Syria. Bahdi-Lim, vizier of the last ruler of Mari,
Zimri-Lim, writes to his master to urge him to remember that he is
king of the city dwellers as well as of the semi pastoralist folk liv-
ing around Mari; that he may with perfect propriety be seen riding
in a chariot through the city; but that it is distinctly not the done
thing for him to be seen in public riding on horseback! This dates
to the early 18th century BC, before the sack of Mari by
Hammurabi of Babylon (1757 BC). It was not until about 1700 BC
that the horse was introduced to Egypt, along with the chariot, by
 HROZNY ● 127

the Hyksos invaders (“Rulers of Foreign Lands”).

The Hittites inherited the traditions of horsemanship associ-
ated with the ancestral Indo-European lands. Yet the most illumi-
nating single piece of evidence on horsemanship in Hittite imperial
times, though found on a tablet from the royal archives of Hat-
tusa, is related to Mitanni, where one named Kikkuli was a horse
trainer, concerned with the details of horse racing, such as the
length of the course. The Indo-Aryan words used have long at-
tracted scholarly attention. The archaeological record from sites of
Hittite date in Anatolia is not abundant. A stable with mangers,
tethering posts, grooms’ quarters and straw was excavated at Bey-
cesultan II, approximately contemporary with the final days of the
Hittite Empire. At Tarsus a house built on a slope had a semi-
basement room with a manger. A slight link with the ritual prac-
tices of the steppes may be suggested by the horses’ heads found
with cremations at Osmankayasi, Boğazköy.
As to written records relating to horses, apart from the Kikkuli
training manual, they were of course the constant unsung heroes of
military engagements involving chariots; and the Hittite army
probably used them for messengers and for reconnaissance. Earlier,
during Kültepe (Kanes) II, around 2000 BC, seal impressions re-
veal religious iconography, with the Storm-God paramount but an
important status accorded a god named Pirwa, having close links
with the horse. It could be argued that this provides a hint of
Indo-European affinities, evident in other forms at this site.
Horses were imported from Arzawa, where there was a tradi-
tion of horse training. The enemies of the Hittite kings—notably
Kaska, Arzawa and Ahhiyawa—had significant chariotry, as
likewise the city of Ugarit in Syria, one of the major vassals of
Hatti. In Neo-Hittite times, horses were employed for chariotry,
notably at Carchemish, though it could be that the most skilled
horsemen were then to be found further east, in the kingdom of
Urartu (Van). Cavalry was generally introduced some time after
chariotry, in Assyria not until the early ninth century BC.

HROZNY, BEDRICH (1879–1952). Czech nationalist, Assyriologist

and Hittitologist. During World War I, he was allowed to spend his
time on academic research rather than active service in the Austro-
Hungarian army. He published a decipherment of the Hittite texts
and a study of the Indo-European affinities of the language (1915).
He conducted excavations at Kültepe (Kanes), in the hope of find-
ing tablets in situ, following the appearance of such on the antiqui-
128 ● HULAYA

ties market. In this he failed until the divulgence of the area of the
karum by a discontented villager. It is rather for his work as a phi-
lologist that he deserves to be remembered.

HULAYA RIVER LAND. Probably located immediately south of the

Salt Lake, or alternatively along the Çarşamba River southwest of
Konya: in either case it formed part of the Lower Land, and was a
frontier district of importance. It was added to the already exten-
sive territories of Tarhuntassa by Hattusili III. In due course he
waived the levy of chariotry and troops required for a Hittite cam-
paign, implying a fertile, well populated area. It lay in the line of
march for many westward campaigns starting from Hattusa.

HUPISNA. Securely located at modern Ereğli (in Classical times the

city of Cybistra within the region of Tyanitis) on the southeastern
fringe of the Konya Plain, this city is associated in the Hittite re-
cords with Tuwanuwa (Bor). It is listed among the conquests of
Labarna, founder of the Hittite kingdom; and nine centuries later
it is a component of the Iron Age confederacy of Tabal.

HURRIAN. This language was first encountered in modern times on

a large clay tablet from the cuneiform archive accidentally recov-
ered from Tell-el Amarna (Akhetaten) in Middle Egypt: the short
introduction, written in Akkadian, revealed that this was a letter
from Tusratta, king of Mitanni, to the pharaoh Amenhotep III. It is
thus not surprising that this newly discovered language was at first
termed “Mitannian.” Later, the term “Subarian” came into vogue,
signifying the language of Subartu or the North, one of the Four
Quarters of the Sumerian world, recognized as being
non-Indo-European.
Hurrian is an agglutinative language, suffixes and associated
particles being added to the word root, to express attribution, tense
and case. As for the original homeland of the Hurrians, a clue may
be found in the very term hurri-le, signifying “easterners” or
“northeasterners.” This fits with the description of Hurrian as a
North Caucasian language of the eastern branch, and therefore not
unrelated to Hattic of the western branch. The Hurrian moon-god
Kushuh has been associated with the proto-Hattian moon-god
Kasku, suggesting very early linguistic contacts between Hurrians
and Hattians, and thus between central and eastern Anatolia.
These may well have come about at some stage in the fourth mil-
lennium BC. The principal sources of Hurrian texts and for knowl-
 HURRIANS ● 129

edge of the Hurrian language have been recovered from Ugarit,

Hattusa, Emar and Tell el-Amarna, the Hurrians of the northern
east Tigris region at Nuzi writing in an early Middle Babylonian
dialect. Bilingual and even quadrilingual vocabularies (Akkadian,
Sumerian, Hurrian and Ugaritic), as well as literary and religious
fragments and musical texts, have been found at Ugarit. At Hattusa
was found a large, still not entirely understood, corpus of religious
and ritual texts, usually accompanied by a Hittite version. From
Emar have come a few lexical, medical and omen texts. The long,
carefully written and perfectly preserved Hurrian letter from Tus-
ratta of Mitanni to Amenhotep III of Egypt, from Tell-el Amarna,
is still the basis of most knowledge of Hurrian grammar.

HURRIANS. Hurrian words and names have been recognized in

documents of the Akkadian period from the Khabur basin, from
Gasur (later Nuzi) and from Nippur, though suggesting no more
than a limited infiltration at this early stage. While a Hurrian pres-
ence in northern Mesopotamia and Syria during the later third mil-
lennium BC is perforce agreed, there remains a reluctance to con-
cede the case for a Hurrian homeland coterminous with the
extensive Early Trans-Caucasian (ETC) cultural zone. There is,
however, now some qualified support for this theory and a willing-
ness to postulate a Proto-Hurrian homeland. This nomenclature is
logical, given the wide agreement that Hurrian and Urartian were
linguistically related through common Proto-Hurro-Urartian ances-
try, with possible East Caucasian affinities. To attempt any solu-
tion to the problem of the original Hurrian homeland, it is essential
to look back at the very least to the fourth millennium BC. This as-
sertion runs counter to traditional historical opinion, based on the
cuneiform sources.
Unfortunately for its ready recognition, the Hurrian contribu-
tion to the cultural landscape of the Near East became obscured by
acculturation: the Hurrians became in effect the apostles of
Sumero-Akkadian learning in the lands to the west and northwest
of Mesopotamia, culminating in their role in the civilization of the
Hittite Empire. Ardent warriors as they were, the more peaceful
accomplishments of the Hurrians—in literature, music and their re-
ligious manifestations—have long been recognized, from central
Anatolia to upper Mesopotamia. These were the Hurrians of the di-
aspora, who had undergone a long process of acculturation: those
who remained behind in the ETC cultural zone stayed largely un-
touched by the urban world of the southern plains. It seems likely
130 ● HURRIANS

that there was a gradual and largely peaceful settlement of Hurrian

groups in Anatolia west of the upper Euphrates, before the unifica-
tion of north Syrian principalities into the kingdom of Mitanni.
Such groups were willing to accept Hittite rule for much of the
time, but proved susceptible to the ambitions of successive kings of
Mitanni in times of Hittite weakness.
The rate of Hurrian settlement in Anatolia is uncertain, though
only some individuals had reached Kanes in the time of the ka-
rum. It must be assumed that penetration of the lowlands of Meso-
potamia and north Syria continued steadily through the centuries
following the first arrival of Hurrians. By the later 17th century
BC, in the time of Hattusili I and Mursili I, a large percentage of
the population of Alalakh was Hurrian, judging by their personal
names (onomastica). Few such, however, occur in the Old
Assyrian colony of Kanes. Hurrians attacked the Hittite lands while
Hattusili I was campaigning in the west, and subsequently harried
the army of Mursili I during its withdrawal from the raid on Baby-
lon (1595 BC), the earliest recorded military confrontations be-
tween Hittites and Hurrians. Later texts from Alalakh mention Te-
sub and Hebat, the leading members of the Hurrian pantheon.
Hurrian proficiency in warfare was recognized at an early
stage by the Hittites, as shown by Hattusili I’s reference to batter-
ing rams in the Hurrian style at the siege of Ursu. A word for
“watch soldier” or “sentry”—possibly of Hurrian origin as well as
Urartian, though found also in Late Akkadian, Ugaritic and espe-
cially in Assyrian—is huradi. This may be associated with the
stem hur, related to the vocabulary of war. In chariotry in the
lands which became Mitanni Hurrian dominance is beyond doubt.
The undoubted manifestations of the Hurrian presence over a
wide zone of the Near East in the early second millennium BC and
indeed rather earlier should not be allowed to obstruct investigation
into earlier origins. The theory of an ETC Hurrian homeland—
extending from Malatya in the west to Lake Urmia in the east and
to the Caucasus in the northeast—cannot be dismissed out of hand,
even though it cannot be proved on present evidence. It may be ob-
jected that the later fourth and third millennia BC are simply too
early, seeing that written references do not antedate the Akkadian
dynasty (2334–2154 BC). Admittedly, the highland zone of eastern
Anatolia was occupied by a preliterate population with a culture al-
together less sophisticated than that of the Mesopotamian and north
Syrian lowlands, with their urban communities. Yet these Early
Trans-Caucasian people showed adaptability to change when com-
 HURRIANS ● 131

ing into contact with southern communities, especially in the latest

of three sub periods distinguished largely on ceramic evidence
(ETC III). This is most apparent in the upper Euphrates region near
Malatya and Elaziğ, where a distinctive handmade painted pottery
developed, retaining some earlier forms but with lighter-colored
wares, the painted decoration possibly in part derived from that of
Alalakh XVI–VIII to the south. Faint hints of early Hurrians lurk in
linguistic data: thus the Sumerian word talibira (“copper worker”)
can with certainty be attributed to a Hurrian derivation. Copper
working in the Malatya-Elaziğ region dates back well before the
ETC III period, especially at Norşuntepe but also at Tepecik and
Malatya (Arslantepe).
The Sumerian presence in merchant colonies and along the
upper Euphrates valley and influence as far upstream as Arslantepe
suggest, with the metallurgical evidence, a favorable cultural cli-
mate for the first entry of the Hurrian highlanders from their ETC
homeland into the lowlands. Therefore, economic stimuli would
have predominated, well before the military factors of chariotry
and cavalry of the period of Mitanni. Thus may be explained the
distinctive character of the ETC III culture of the Malatya-Elaziğ
region, a constant factor being the nearby abundant source of cop-
per in Ergani Maden. Hurrians may well have penetrated widely
through northern Syria and Mesopotamia by virtue of their skills as
coppersmiths and very probably also as traders. Thus a favorable
climate was created, with appropriate incentives, for the later mass
movements of Hurrians into the lowlands. What then of the Hur-
rian homeland in the ETC zone? This seems far more plausible
than the location of the Proto-Indo-European Urheimat in the
same territory, leaving to one side the Indo-Hittite hypothesis.
Precisely when this population group arrived from beyond the
eastern Caucasus remains to be determined. Archaeological indica-
tions of the Hurrian impact on the lowlands have long been associ-
ated with the emergence of the kingdom of Mitanni, first expand-
ing toward the Mediterranean under its king Parattarna, who came
to control the whole territory from Kizzuwadna and Alalakh in the
west to Nuzi in the east. The excavations at Tell Brak, in the
Khabur basin, remove any possibility that the Hurrian presence
there was culturally negligible. On top of the ruins of the major
temple was built a palace, whose private quarters were reached by
staircases to an upper story, as at Alalakh, a departure
from previous design. Traces of inlaid glass, with the historical re-
cord, indicate a date close to 1500 BC, Parattarna being contempo-
132 ● HUSEYINDEDE

rary with the Hittite king Zidanta II. The desecration of the temple
and secularization of its site surely mark an alien intrusion on a
massive scale. The kingdom of Mitanni was correctly described as
Hurrian in the Hittite records, for the Indo-Aryan impact has been
exaggerated.
Among the periods of Hurrian menace threatening the survival
of the Hittite kingdom, the most dramatic came in the reign of
Tudhaliya III, when there seems to have been some sort of con-
certed alliance against him. Whenever a Hittite king was in the
field, especially in the west against Arzawa, the Hurrians seized
their opportunity, support often coming indirectly from Mitanni or
directly, as with rebellions by Isuwa. When the throne of Hatti was
disputed, as occurred with the murder of the last ruler of the Old
Kingdom, Muwatalli I, Hurrians came to the aid unsuccessfully of
a supporter of the dead king.
The high point of Hurrian influence in the Hittite Empire came
with the marriage of Hattusili III to Puduhepa, who imported
many Hurrians, including priests, to Hattusa. With them came the
Hurrian pantheon, magnificently displayed on the rock faces of
Yazılıkaya. Before this the royal family in the Empire were of
Hurrian ancestry, but felt it desirable or essential to assume a Hit-
tite name on accession to the throne. Nikkalmati, the queen of
Tudhaliya I, and her daughter-in-law Asmunikal, had names in-
corporating the Hurrian goddess who was wife of the Moon-God
and derived from the Sumerian Ningal. The Hurrian antecedents of
these two queens, at the beginning of the New Kingdom (Empire),
seem to have had an abiding influence on the dynasty. Was it pure
coincidence that the one king who did not use a Hittite throne
name, though adopting that of Muwatalli (III), was the ill-fated
Urhi-Tesub?
A Hurrian legacy to Near Eastern sculpture and glyptic art is
discernable in gods and goddesses standing on the back of an ani-
mal such as Tesub on a bull, seen at Yazılıkaya.

HUSEYINDEDE. An Old Hittite cult center about 30 kilometers

north of Çorum, with excavations from 1998. Large rectangular
stone wall footings with smaller stonework above display typically
Old Hittite building techniques. The walls of the apparent cult
room are thickly plastered. Parallels are drawn with Alaca Höyük
IIIa and Boğazköy: Büyükkale IVc. A large relief-decorated pot-
tery vessel is comparable with that found at Inandiktepe. The ex-
cavators suggest that this was a cult center for the Storm-God.
 IKIZTEPE ● 133

-I-

IKIZTEPE. In spite of its Turkish name (“twin mounds”), no fewer

than four mounds make up this settlement and cemetery site, situ-
ated just west of the mouth of the Kızıl Irmak (Marrassantiya),
where excavations were conducted by the late Bahadir Alkim and
then by Önder Bilgi. Ikiztepe seems to have thrived on trade
across the Black Sea and trans-Anatolian land trade linking with
regions to the south through the territory which became the nucleus
of the Hittite state. This prosperity was well established in the third
millennium BC: figurines and weapons came from a rich Early
Bronze III cemetery on Mound III, though most finds came from
the settlement, including items of bronze, lead and gold. On
Mound I was found an Early Bronze II–III cemetery. Pottery was
in the handmade tradition of the era.
Ikiztepe provides an unbroken stratified sequence of occupa-
tion deposits from the Late Chalcolithic period (fourth millennium
BC) to the middle of the Middle Bronze Age, followed by a long
desertion until the Late Iron Age. In the Middle Bronze Age
Mound I has Level 1, and contemporary occupation on Mound
III—a hilltop promontory site east of the delta of the Marrassantiya
—falls in a succession of 11 building levels. The traditional build-
ing methods, using wood and clay, continued, but buildings had
become larger. Pottery is now wheelmade and hard-fired.
It can only be a matter for speculation whether the Middle
Bronze Age folk of Ikiztepe were Kaska, abandoning their coastal
homes for lands nearer the Hittite realm, or whether they were ex-
pelled by Kaska newcomers. Whatever the facts, this Pontic coastal
region has yielded data of relevance to the Hittite background.

ILUYANKA. Mythical serpentine dragon, depicted in one of the early

Neo-Hittite reliefs at Malatya (Arslantepe). The slaying of this
monster was the theme of one of the best-known Hattian and Hit-
tite myths, of which two accounts have been preserved. This myth
may perhaps be interpreted as handling the universal theme of the
struggle between good and evil, in which the triumph of the good
is achieved only after initial defeat and grievous hurt.
One version has the Storm-God, the adversary of Iluyanka, at
first defeated but then victorious by guile, after the dragon and his
children were tempted out of the safety of their hole in the ground
to partake of a great feast: incapacitated by their gluttony, they
134 ● IMAMKULU

were slain. Another version has the Storm-God deprived of his

eyes and heart: he has to bide his time, begetting a son by a poor
woman. This son then marries a daughter of Iluyanka, and has his
father’s missing parts willingly restored. The Storm-God then de-
parts to fight a battle at sea, in which he is victorious over the
dragon. The whole myth belongs to primitive folklore, without lit-
erary or theological embellishment.

IMAMKULU. One of the series of Hittite rock reliefs extending from

Fraktin eastward to Hanyeri-Gezbel, this is carved on a large
boulder located near the Yenice River, 70 kilometers southeast of
Kayseri. The iconography is rather enigmatic. The likeliest descrip-
tion has a prince—possibly Muwatalli II, though the inscription is
too worn for this to be certain—on the left side; in the middle is the
Storm-God in a wagon drawn by bulls, supported by mountain-
gods standing on mythical creatures; on the right stands a goddess,
possibly Ishtar, wearing an open white robe.

IMUKUŞAĞI. Excavations at this settlement site on the east bank of

the Euphrates were directed by Veli Sevin, then of the University
of Istanbul. A long sequence of occupation levels from the Middle
Ages back to the Middle Bronze Age was revealed (Levels 1–13).
Imukuşaği probably had its most prosperous period in the Middle
Bronze Age, on the evidence of a public building preserved to a
height of three meters and fortifications including a large tower at
the south gate.
Pottery demonstrates links with the region using Khabur
Ware (Level 12); parallels with Kanes (Karum IB) and types typi-
cal of the Hittite Old Kingdom (Levels 11–10); some painted pot-
tery (Levels 9–8); and coarse wheelmade pottery typical of the Hit-
tite Empire (Level 7). After Late Bronze II, with the fall of the
Hittite Empire, there is a complete change in pottery. In the Iron
Age Imukuşaği was fortified with a double wall.

INANDIKTEPE. An excavated site about 40 kilometers south of

Çankiri and northeast of Ankara. The principal building was a Hit-
tite Old Kingdom shrine, associated with a cult center. Here was
found a polychrome relief-decorated jar in the same genre as that
of Bitik, a tradition continuing under the Empire, though in frag-
mentary monochrome examples, quite numerous at Boğazköy and
earlier at Alışar Höyük. A tablet recording a land grant mentions
a governor of Hanhana.
 INDO-HITTITE ● 135

INDO-HITTITE. The ancestor of all the Indo-European languages of

Anatolia.

IRON. Although the most widespread of metals in use by man, iron is

not the easiest to place in its ancient contexts in Anatolia, where
many sources are post-Hittite, among these being Divriği in Sivas
province (Roman) and a number of sites south of Lake Van
(mostly medieval or later). Along the southeastern shore of the
Black Sea are black sands rich in iron. Kizzuwadna was an impor-
tant source of iron for the Hittite kings.
Among iron artifacts of the third millennium BC is a hilted
dagger from Alaca Höyük, containing a percentage of nickel but
not therefore automatically to be termed meteoric. Smelting iron
with arsenic or antimony usually results in an intermediate product
containing such metals as iron, nickel and copper with arsenic or
antimony. There is one pitfall related to the earliest reported exam-
ples of iron artifacts in Anatolia and indeed to later pieces too.
Many are badly corroded, little better than lumps of rust, often be-
ing thrown out by earlier excavators: others, including some from
Alaca Höyük, have been wrongly identified as iron.
The trade in iron was clearly on a significant scale in the time
of the Old Assyrian merchant colonies, significant in its value if
not in the quantities involved. It was to be many centuries before
iron became a bulk commodity. At first it was used largely for or-
naments. According to one text from Kültepe-Kanes, iron (amu-
tum) was exchanged for precious metals, gold and silver, but not
for copper. At that moment eight shekels of gold was not enough to
buy one shekel of iron; but that must have been a brief episode.
Other texts imply that iron was 40 times more valuable than silver
and that there was close control over the iron trade.
In the following Hittite period, it was long believed, there was
probably a state monopoly of iron and its associated craft secrets.
This theory, now discredited, was seemingly supported by a well-
known letter from Hattusili III, probably addressed to the
Assyrian king, and including the following passage:

Concerning the good iron which you mentioned in your

letter, the store in Kizzuwadna has run out of good iron. I
wrote to you that it is not a suitable time to produce iron.
They will produce iron, but they have not finished yet.
When they have finished, I will send it to you. . . .Now I
am sending you an iron (sword/dagger) point
136 ● IRON

The distinction between “good iron” and other iron in this let-
ter has led to the suggestion that it refers to the production of steel,
a theory indirectly supported by the distinction between a “steel
dagger” and an “iron dagger” in the list of gifts recorded in one of
the letters from Tusratta of Mitanni to Amenhotep III of Egypt. A
more plausible interpretation, however, connects the passage of the
letter from Hattusili III with the rather haphazard control of the
iron smelting processes in Hittite times, producing a large percent-
age of material unfit for working into artifacts.
Iron was much more available under the Hittite Old Kingdom
and thereafter than beforehand, and was now used not simply for
ornaments but also for tools and weapons. Its distribution may
have been largely in the hands of itinerant smiths, guarding the se-
crets of their craft, the forerunners of the Chalybes of the Pontic
and Erzurum regions. Significantly, iron was no longer weighed
like gold and silver, by the shekel, but like copper, by the mina.
Ironsmiths and other metalworkers are listed in records related to
religious festivals. While amutum had been the term for iron in the
Old Assyrian colonies, the Hittites later used the Sumerian term
AN.BAR, employed in the 18th century BC at Alalakh (Tell
Atchana) for 400 weapons, possibly spears. One famous early
Hittite text of the 16th century BC mentions an iron (AN.BAR)
throne and a scepter of great size and weight. It does seem that the
word “iron” had royal associations. Another reference to iron furni-
ture occurs in a myth in a Luwian purification associated with a
ritual of the substitute king: “The Sun-God and the goddess Kam-
rusepa are combing sheep. They are vying with each other and
wrangling. Then Kamrusepa placed an iron chair, and put on it a
wool-comb of lead. They combed a pure kid”
The biblical reference to Og the king of Bashan (Deuteronomy
3:11) variously has him possessing an iron bedstead (Authorized
Version) or a basalt sarcophagus (New English Bible).
By the addition of carbon to iron in the process of smelting, a
development which could well have occurred accidentally in the
heat of the smithy, the technique of carburization produced steel,
first occurring in the Levant in the 12th century BC. With this can
be associated the general proliferation of iron working in the east
Mediterranean zone before the end of the second millennium BC.
In spite of the efficiency of the Assyrian civil service and war ma-
chine, iron was less widely in use in Assyria until the eighth cen-
tury BC, iron arrowheads being a telltale sign of the abundance of
 INDO-HITTITE ● 137

the metal. Unfortunately the dearth of documentation for the Ana-

tolian plateau for four centuries after the fall of Hatti makes it im-
possible to be sure about the development of iron working there at
that time.
There are numerous references to iron in the lists of tribute
which feature prominently in the royal annals of Assyria from the
ninth to the seventh century BC. Noteworthy is the record of 250
talents (about seven and a half tons) of iron given by the king of
Carchemish to Assurnasirpal II, demonstrating the ready access to
sources of iron by that city.

IRON AGE GRAY WARE. This is the ubiquitous pottery of western

Anatolia from the northwest to the Konya Plain during the early
first millennium BC. At Gordion, the capital of the Phrygian king-
dom, it is overshadowed by “palace wares” with a magnificent va-
riety of maeander and other motifs in painted decoration and nu-
merous imitations of metal prototypes. But outside the large cities
gray ware was in general use, sharing some forms with the con-
temporary Alışar IV ware of central Anatolia, found in the lands
controlled by Tabal and Milid (Malatya). With heavy rim and
channel along the inside of the rim, the deep bowls of krater form
are especially typical of the instantly recognizable Iron Age gray
ware, a hallmark of its period wherever found. In the Konya Plain,
for example, it occurs in Iron Age building levels crowning a long
succession of earlier strata in steep-sided mounds.

ISHTAR. Goddess of love and war, never seen as mutually incompati-

ble in the ancient Near East, she was an established member of the
Mesopotamian pantheon, her cult extending thence far and wide.
In Canaan and the Phoenician cities she was worshiped as Astarte,
appearing in the Bible as epitomizing the evils of paganism over
and against the cult of Yahweh.
Ishtar appears in Anatolia through her guise as Ishtar of
Nineveh, often though by no means invariably known as Sausga.
In the Hittite context she appears in the reign of Arnuwanda I, in
the early 14th century BC, in a list of divine witnesses to a treaty
with the Kaska; but already a statue of the goddess had been
translated from Kizzuwadna to the major eastern Hittite city of
Samuha. She continued to be venerated in Kizzuwadna, in the city
of Kummanni.
Ishtar of Nineveh was popular in Hattusa in the period of the
Empire, and she may have had a temple or at least a cult room
138 ● ISUWA

there. Monthly festivals and seasonal rites in winter, spring and

autumn were held in her honor. In the imperial cult, however, Ish-
tar had lost precedence in favor of the Syrian goddess Hebat and
also Tesub and Sarruma.
As with many deities, there were numerous different local va-
rieties of Ishtar, some 25 being recorded in the Hattusa archives,
usually named after towns or mountains, mostly in north Syria or
southeastern Anatolia. Significantly, none is named after the early
Hittite cult centers. Ishtar of Samuha and Ishtar of Nineveh are the
most frequently mentioned. Yet Ishtar as such, followed by Ishtar
of the Battlefield, is usually put before Ishtar of Nineveh in lists of
divine witnesses, as for treaties, of the Hittite Empire.

ISUWA. This region was centered on the fertile Altınova (“plain of

gold”) east of the modern provincial capital of Elaziğ, and in the
time of the Hittite Empire constituted its firmest base to the east of
the Euphrates River. Nevertheless, it had an identity of its own,
outliving the Empire: Shalmaneser III of Assyria, in the mid–ninth
century BC, refers to “Enzite of the land of Ishua,” whose settle-
ments he duly devastated. Its allegiance fluctuated between Hatti
and Mitanni, notably in the reign of Tudhaliya I, who was able to
restore Hittite control, though not permanently: Isuwa was then es-
sentially pro-Mitannian in loyalty, having a Hurrian population. In
the disasters afflicting Hatti after the accession of Tudhaliya III,
forces from Isuwa penetrated as far west as the land of Tegarama
in the area of modern Gürün.
After his seizure of the throne Suppiluliuma I was free to turn
his attention to the southeast. After an initial setback, in the fourth
or fifth year of his rule he marched against the heart of Mitanni, the
power behind Isuwa, which he conquered en route, to the border
with the kingdom of Alse. Isuwa had long benefited from its geo-
graphical position, athwart a natural trade route from upper Meso-
potamia into Anatolia, for centuries before the imposition of Hittite
rule, and from access to natural resources, notably the copper of
Ergani Maden, factors which must have been of some benefit to
the Hittite Empire.
The importance which continued to be attached to Isuwa by
the kings in Hattusa was demonstrated by the giving by Hattusili
III of a daughter or perhaps sister of Puduhepa in marriage to the
vassal king of Isuwa. Vassals, however, were by the nature of
things fickle: when Assyria had for some time been a growing
threat to Hittite rule east of the Euphrates, Isuwa failed to answer
 IRON AGE ● 139

the urgent request by Tudhaliya IV for troops to join his army in

its ill-fated march to Nihriya. Only the involvement of Tu-
kulti-Ninurta I (1233–1197 BC) in Babylonia preserved the Hit-
tite hold on Isuwa.
The archaeological data indicate -- through the number, size
and density of settlement mounds especially in Altınova—a popu-
lous and wealthy region, very different from many of the lands
neighboring and often threatening the Hittite realm. Moreover, the
pottery from excavated sites and surface collection includes un-
mistakable central Anatolian wares attributable to the Late Bronze
Age, for which the sequence of stratified deposits at Korucutepe
has permitted a subdivision into Late Bronze I (Phase I: ca.1600–
1400 BC) and Late Bronze II (Phase J: ca.1400–1200 BC), with
Level III at Norşuntepe contemporary. The parallels with Hittite
central Anatolia in the mass-produced buff ware bowl and platter
sherds found widely distributed in this region were immediately
obvious to the writer on his field survey (1956), and were con-
firmed in the subsequent rescue excavations before the flooding by
the Keban dam. It is not that common for political developments to
be directly reflected in the archaeological record.

IVRIZ. One of the best preserved Anatolian rock reliefs, the Ivriz
monument may well owe its survival to a widespread regard for
springs of clear, cold water: into this one today many coins have
been thrown. This relief, till recently (it seems) relatively inacces-
sible, lies near the village of Kaydikent at the foot of the Taurus
Mountains, about 20 kilometers south of the town of Ereğli. The
relief is carved on a rock face directly above the powerful spring,
which waters extensive gardens below, before flowing into the
plain.
The hieroglyphic inscription records that this was set up by
Warpalawas, king of Tyana, the former Hittite city of Tuwanuwa,
located at modern Bor. It is thus firmly dated not simply within the
Iron Age (Neo-Hittite) period but more precisely to ca.740 BC, in
the reign of Tiglath-Pileser III of Assyria, since Warpalawas ap-
pears in a long list of rulers, including eight from Anatolia, through
compulsion or prudence sending tribute to Assyria. He is named in
the annals of Tiglath-Pileser III (745–727 BC), sadly incomplete,
as Urballa of Tyana.
On the left of the relief, facing right, stands the sturdy figure
of the god of vegetation, Tarhundas, whose name indicates a Lu-
wian origin. He wears the horned headdress of divinity, and holds
140 ● IYAYA

in his left hand ears of corn and in his right a bunch of grapes. His
muscular legs and style of dress reveal clear descent from the Hit-
tite artistic tradition of the imperial age. The figure of Warpalawas,
on the right, is much smaller, and stands in the humble attitude of
prayer. His headgear and dress are quite different in style from
those of the god, betraying direct Assyrian influence in the decora-
tion of his fringed robe, very possibly with brocade design of tex-
tile, probably woolen. This robe is fastened with a brooch of fibula
type, equivalent to a safety pin, for which the Ivriz relief provides
secure dating.
The juxtaposition of these two very different cultural traditions
in the same relief, at a site on the Anatolian plateau, is highly sig-
nificant. It shows that at the beginning of the revival and expansion
of the Assyrian state, which started with the seizure of the throne in
Nimrud by Tiglath-Pileser III (745 BC), Assyrian cultural influ-
ence was already permeating the Neo-Hittite lands. The Hittite leg-
acy to the principalities of the first millennium BC was about to go
into decline.
IYAYA. A local Mother-Goddess, worshiped in the Anatolian towns of
Lapana and Tiura, neither definitely located. Her chief interest lies
in the description of her statue as seated and one cubit high (i.e. 50
centimeters), plated with gold and tin, with the latter used for plat-
ing also two wooden mountain sheep and one eagle. Two copper
staves and two bronze goblets served as the cultic equipment. This
description no doubt would have applied to many other statuettes
of local divinities, not in the first rank but much revered by the
populace.

IZGIN. Findspot, five kilometers southwest of Karahöyük (Elbistan),

of a stela to be dated to the 11th century BC: discovered ca.1880, it
probably came from Karahöyük. The name of the author of this hi-
eroglyphic inscription is uncertain, but he was ruler of Malatya.
His predecessors had already left inscriptions recording building
works during the 12th century BC, at Gürün, Kötükale, Ispekçur
and Darende.

-K-

KADESH, BATTLE OF. This is the best known of all major military
engagements in the second millennium BC, entirely owing to the
 IVRIZ ● 141

flamboyant record left by one of the antagonists, Ramesses II,

Pharaoh of the 19th Dynasty of Egypt. On one point all are agreed,
that it took place in the fifth year of his long reign of 67 years. The
battle is recorded in large-scale reliefs and hieroglyphic inscrip-
tions on the walls of five temples in Upper Egypt, including the
Ramesseum (the king’s mortuary temple) on the west bank and
Karnak and Luxor on the east bank of Thebes. In the normal Egyp-
tian fashion, the reliefs give the picture of the overwhelming
strength of the Pharaoh, depicted on a superhuman scale. The ab-
sence of any counter comment from the Hittite side, led by their
king Muwatalli II, is partly explicable by subsequent events in
Hatti. But it makes it difficult, if not impossible, to determine the
precise outcome of the battle. This is one of the points of dis-
agreement among specialists, the other being centered on the co-
nundrums of absolute chronology. On the latter, a choice has to be
made and consistency maintained. There is a difference of 30 years
between the highest and lowest dates proposed for the accession of
Ramesses II, between 1304 and 1274 BC. The highest date is no
longer widely supported. There is still strong support for 1279 as
the date of this king’s accession, putting the battle in 1274 BC, the
date followed in this work.
As to the outcome, one authoritative suggestion is that this was
merely a skirmish, in which the two sides had taken up positions at
an expected location, though there are objections to this theory.
Not only Ramesses but also Muwatalli seem to some degree to
have been taken by surprise, though Ramesses more seriously so,
having been credulous enough to believe the report by two Bed-
ouin sent by Muwatalli, to the effect that he had retreated to or lin-
gered in the land of Aleppo, in fear of the Egyptians! The Hittite
clearly grasped a weak point in his enemy, susceptibility to flattery.
Imagine Ramesses’ surprise when he discovered his mistake, on
learning that the Hittite forces were lurking behind the walled city
of Kadesh, standing on its mound (Tell Nebi Mend), while he, hav-
ing crossed the Orontes River, was setting up his headquarters to
the northwest of the city! Thus it would seem that only for the Hit-
tites was Kadesh the spot chosen for the test of strength between
the two rivals for control of the lands of Syria.
With other threats to face, Muwatalli was willing to give
Ramesses some rope. He even half chided him for the severity of
his treatment of those soldiers of Re, the second of his four bri-
gades in line of march on Kadesh, who had panicked under the un-
expected attack of a detachment of the Hittite forces dispatched
142 ● KADESH

across the river to surprise and harass the enemy.

Perhaps asking who was the victor of Kadesh is the wrong
question, if indeed the battle was inconclusive, never completed,
with the majority of troops on both sides never engaged. Ramesses
was indeed more courageous than thoughtful, not ensuring that his
full forces were brought to the battlefield in time, like an inexperi-
enced chess player who fails to deploy all his pieces. One recon-
struction of events has some 4,000 Hittite “chariots” of the heavy,
ox-drawn, solid-wheeled variety—as depicted on the reliefs of the
successful attack by Seti I, father of Ramesses II, on the city of
Kadesh—in effect kept in reserve. These vehicles would have
served simply as troop carriers, transporting some of the infantry to
the front line but not maneuverable like true chariots. Here we are
up against a problem of terminology, with “chariot” being far too
loosely employed as a term for certain wheeled vehicles.
Ramesses II had four “brigades” (Amun, Re, Ptah and Sutekh,
in that order of march on Kadesh from the south). They may have
been at about a day’s march apart or rather less. While only the
first two were heavily engaged in the fighting, the fourth brigade,
Sutekh, arrived just in time to save the day. While the first three
brigades, or divisions, had been recruited in major centers in
Egypt—Thebes, Heliopolis and Memphis—the fourth brigade,
Sutekh, appears to have comprised auxiliaries from the land of
Amurru in southern Syria, a key region in the power struggle be-
tween Egypt and Hatti. Indeed, these troops were described as “the
Ne’arin of Pharaoh from the land of Amor.” Already the Egyptian
army was dependent on foreign soldiers to make up its strength, as
discernible under Ramesses II and III in the recruitment of Sherden
(Shardana) mercenaries, distinguishable by their bronze horned
helmets.
The Hittite king seems to have relied overwhelmingly on his
chariotry, forming his shock troops: his army comprised Hittite
regulars, forces from the vassal states and mercenaries, probably
only the first being altogether reliable. The chariots would have
been most effective in an open plain rather than crossing a river
such as the Orontes. Ramesses II refers to his confronting 2,500
Hittite chariots, a force comprising 7,500 men and 5,000 horses.
This is significant as an assessment of the overall strength of the
Hittite army, though virtually certain to be a gross exaggeration of
the number of the enemy directly facing Ramesses in hand-to-hand
fighting, in which he undoubtedly displayed courage in compensa-
tion for his lack of generalship. It would have taken too long a time
 KADESH ● 143

to bring thousands of horses across the river.

The sources for the battle comprise the Literary Record/Poem
and the Pictorial Record, consisting of the Bulletin and Reliefs.
These last have generally been credited as more reliable as ac-
counts of events than the Literary Record, whose propagandist
character makes it suspect. Though by far the fullest record of any
battle in Egyptian history, this was not displayed until some years
after the event, making any directly political intent less probable.
Of course, few of Ramesses II’s subjects could read. One motive
might conceivably have been to ward off opposition within Egypt,
where the fairly new northern 19th Dynasty was unpopular in the
south (Thebes). While there is a considerable element of vainglori-
ous boasting, Ramesses does not try to present this as an over-
whelming Egyptian victory.
Seeing that it was the Hittites who remained in the field after
this battle or confrontation, to them must surely be awarded the
victor’s palm. The more is the pity that we lack their side of the
story!

KALE. Turkish word meaning “castle,” “fortress” or “citadel,” nor-

mally on a steep hill and naturally defensible. Sometimes kale re-
fers simply to a steep-sided hill. Compare Büyükkale (“great/large
castle/citadel”) at Hattusa.

KAMAN-KALEHÖYÜK. This large settlement mound lies about 80

kilometers southeast of Ankara and 35 kilometers northeast of the
north end of the Salt Lake, in the province of Kirşehir. A Japanese
expedition led by Sachihiro Omura has continued excavations an-
nually since 1987.
The earliest occupation (Kaman V) dates to the final phase of
the Early Bronze Age. Contemporary with the Assyrian merchant
colonies is Kaman IIIC, the settlement suffering the destruction in-
flicted on so many other sites of the period: skeletons in some
rooms had bronze weapons beside the graves similar to some from
Kültepe-Karum IB. A massacre may have occurred. Contempo-
rary with the Hittite Old Kingdom is a food store (Kaman IIIB),
when the site may have been partially deserted. In a thick ash layer
were found bullae of the 15th and early 14th centuries BC, Kaman
IIIA dating to the Hittite Empire.
A long sequence of 18 levels spans the Iron Age, in which
some objects show close cultural links between the Neo-Hittite
zone and Phrygia.
144 ● KAMMENHUBER

KAMMENHUBER, ANNELIES (1922–1995). Among her under-

graduate studies were Indology, ancient languages and Indo-
European studies. From 1950 she began work on Hittite grammar.
She became the editor of Munich Studies in Linguistics. For a dec-
ade she worked in collaboration with E. Benveniste and Em-
manuel Laroche (1959–1969). She was then appointed professor
of Hittitology in Munich. In 1973 she embarked on Materials for a
Hittite Dictionary: the first fascicle of this, her magnum opus, ap-
peared in 1975.

KANES. See KARUM; KULTEPE

KARABEL. The most westerly Hittite rock relief, this attracted atten-
tion in the 19th century, being readily accessible from Izmir. It
stands some 40 kilometers inland from that city, in a pass across
the Tmolos range between Ephesus and Sardis. Originally four in
number (Karabel A, B and C1–2), all but Karabel A were de-
stroyed a generation ago, though not before several records had
been made.
The royal figure here standing represents Tarkasnawa, king of
Mira. He holds a bow and spear, and wears a sword with crescen-
tic pommel and a tall peaked headdress stylistically comparable
with other sculptures of the reign of the last powerful king of
Hatti, Tudhaliya IV. Parallels have been drawn with the reliefs of
Mount Sipylus, Gavurkalesi, Yazılıkaya, Fraktin and Sirkeli.
As recently as 1997 David Hawkins was first able to read the in-
scription, in hieroglyphs, of Karabel A, thus removing uncertain-
ties, attributing this relief to Tarkasnawa, king of Mira, who men-
tions also his father and grandfather. Their names cannot yet be
deciphered.
The stylistic evidence agrees with the textual, in ascribing the
Karabel relief to the time of Tudhaliya IV.

KARABURUN. An Iron Age stronghold overlooking the Kızıl Irmak

(Marrassantiya) between Hacibektaş and Gülşehir. The fortified
citadel is approached by a road up the side of the hill through a
gateway. Just outside this is a three-line rock inscription in hiero-
glyphs, being an agreement between the local ruler and his col-
laborator to respect the contribution made by each to the building
of the fortress, dateable to the eighth century BC.
 KARAHÖYÜK ● 145

KARADAĞ-KIZILDAĞ. In the southeast Konya Plain, 25 kilometers

north of Karaman, stands a group of hieroglyphic inscriptions, two
on the mountaintop sanctuary of Karadağ and five from the city
site of Kızıldağ. These were written at the command of the “Great
King” Hartapu, son of Muwatalli, and can be dated to the years
immediately after the fall of the Hittite Empire. If earlier in date,
the title “Great King” would hardly have been used while kings
were still reigning in Hattusa.
Muwatalli, the “Great King” and father of Hartapu, may have
been none other than Urhi-Tesub (Muwatalli III). Hartapu would
thus have been of the same generation as Suppiluliuma II, his
second cousin, and could have outlived him. These inscriptions are
indeed similar in style to those of the last Hittite king. An alterna-
tive possibility is that Hartapu and his father descended from Ku-
runta of Tarhuntassa, perhaps the center of a south Anatolian
kingdom under Hartapu, the immediate heir of the Hittite Empire.
A figure in relief, next to the Kızıldağ I inscription, has been
dated on stylistic criteria to the eighth century BC, and probably
represents Wasusarma (Uassurme), king of the united confederacy
of Tabal, centered at Kululu, near Kayseri.

KARAHÖYÜK (ELBISTAN). Excavations were directed by Tahsin

Özgüç and Nimet Özgüç (1947), revealing Late Bronze and Iron
Age occupation of a settlement which must have been located,
from the 12th century BC, in the kingdom of Milid (Malatya),
near the border with Tabal. A stela was set up here by one named
Armanani, describing himself as “Lord of the Pithos-Men.” This
inscription recounts the arrival of one claiming the title “Great
King,” who found the city devastated. The palaeographical style
fits a date between the late Hittite Empire and the Neo-Hittite cit-
ies, and the event could well fall around 1150 BC, a generation af-
ter the sack of Hattusa, this ruler having connections with Tar-
huntassa.

KARAHÖYÜK (KONYA). This large settlement mound, with an area

of about 600 by 450 meters, has been excavated intermittently
since 1953 by Sedat Alp of the University of Ankara. Its greatest
period coincided with the Old Assyrian merchant colonies and
their immediate sequel (Middle Bronze Age), though the settle-
ment was established much earlier. Among the major buildings is a
large palace; residential quarters with streets have also been exca-
vated. This is one of a number of Anatolian cities with substantial
146 ● KARAKUYU

casemate walls as fortifications, as at Alışar Höyük.

Though the absence of an archive means that the name of this
city is unknown, Karahöyük has an outstanding wealth of bullae,
seals and seal impressions, particularly of the native Anatolian
style. Seal impressions are found on some loom weights, a hint of
the importance to the local economy of textiles. Among artifacts
are baked clay and lead figurines. Pottery includes forms familiar
at Kanes and elsewhere in this period, such as grape-cluster bowls
and the ubiquitous beak-spouted jugs. Burial customs are diversi-
fied, with both intramural graves and cremations.

KARAKUYU. A dam of Hittite date in the district of Pınarbaşı in the

province of Kayseri: excavations were carried out by Kutlu Emre.

KARATEPE. On a hilltop overlooking the River Ceyhan, now

dammed to form a reservoir, this site was found by Helmuth T.
Bossert (1946), excavations beginning in 1947. It is situated near
Kadirli, some 100 kilometers northeast of Adana, with a twin cita-
del of Domuztepe on the opposite bank, also on a hilltop. The
natural route through Karatepe leads up from the Cilician plain
(Kizzuwadna in the Late Bronze Age) towards the foothills of the
Taurus to the north, and one inscription states that the citadel was
built to protect this route; the Amanus forms a mountain barrier to
easy communications with the long rift valley leading from
Kahramanmaraş (Neo-Hittite Gurgum) southward to the Amuq
plain, so that contact with the city of Zincirli (Sam’al), though
only 32 kilometers distant, was much less easy than with Adana
and the Mediterranean coast. Culturally, Karatepe was almost as
much Phoenician as Neo-Hittite. The archaeological evidence pro-
vided by the citadel and its relief sculptures, the historical content
of the inscriptions and the important additions and clarifications to
knowledge of the hieroglyphs are all aspects of Karatepe making it
a site of primary significance, even if it must be admitted that the
quality of the reliefs is provincial if not barbaric and the historical
content of the inscription set up by the local ruler Azatiwada
(ztwd) rather limited. The fortified area of 400 by 200 meters is
enclosed by a wall about one kilometer in circumference, with two
monumental gates, the lower part of each having orthostats and
lengthy inscription in hieroglyphs, paraphrased on the side facing
in Phoenician.
The reliefs make up in liveliness and variety of theme for what
they lack in artistry and technical skill. Undoubtedly some reliefs
 KARATEPE ● 147

are unfinished, suggesting a rather brief duration for this citadel

and providing evidence of the methods used by the stone masons,
whom it would flatter to call sculptors. First the scene was incised
in outline; then the background had a layer of stone removed by
chiseling, the chisels probably being of iron by this period, early
in the seventh century BC. This crude technique rather strongly
suggests that the craftsmen of Karatepe were more accustomed to
wood carving than working in stone, and that the hieroglyphs, Lu-
wian in origin, were first carved on wooden tablets, scribes in
wood being recorded at Hattusa under the Empire. At the very
least two craftsmen are indicated by the wide variation in standard
and style of different relief-carved orthostats. The juxtaposition of
different styles shows how style and date can by no means always
be regarded as equivalent, Phoenician art being par excellence
eclectic. Assyrian influence is also apparent, notably in the genius
with bird’s head and four wings, supporting the sun disk, and in a
maritime scene, very possibly depicting Cilician ships. The tone of
the reliefs is secular, depicting the ruler at ease, enjoying a sump-
tuous banquet and music provided by lyres. The food is varied, in-
cluding bread, hare and other meats, as well as fruit and drink.
Birds of prey peck at a hare, a monkey squats beneath the table,
and bears perform a dance. The Monkey-God Bes, originating
from the Sudan (ancient Kush) and associated with good luck in
childbirth, has two monkeys on his shoulders. Warriors and a
mother suckling her infant also appear.
There has been considerable debate over the date of Karatepe,
some of the reliefs being earlier in style than those associated with
Phoenician elements and possibly transported over the river from
Domuztepe. These would date to the ninth century BC. The proud
boast of the ruler, Azatiwada, that he was the vassal of Urikki is
agreed to signify Urik of Que, lord of the fertile plain of Adana, the
“cotton plain” of modern Turkey. He is listed with many other rul-
ers in the inscriptions of Tiglath-Pileser III (745–727 BC) of
Assyria. Such was the prestige of Urikki that his name was re-
corded by Azatiwada some years after his death, his descendants
also being mentioned. Indeed, Azatiwada claims to have kept them
in power. Urikki is named in the Phoenician text as ‘wrk mlk
Dnnym, “king of the Danunians.” Azatiwada may well have built
on the remains of an earlier citadel. The inscriptions must date to a
time when the Assyrian presence was weak or absent in the plain
of Adana.
Following his policy of turning vassal territories into directly
148 ● KARUM

administered provinces of the resurgent Assyrian Empire, Sargon

II (722–705 BC) made Que into a province. His death in battle in
the Taurus region, however, was followed inevitably by wide-
spread revolts, extending through Tabal and Malatya (Melid); and
his successor, Sennacherib, was engaged elsewhere, eventually
marching into Que. It remained for his son, Esarhaddon (681–669
BC) to subdue Que and neighboring areas. His campaign against
Tabal (679 BC) implies safe passage through Que. Subsequently,
Sanduarri, king of Kundu and Sussu, northeast of the plain of
Adana, allied with the Phoenician city of Sidon against Assyria,
but was captured and beheaded. Thereafter, Que remained an
Assyrian province until the fall of the Empire. The suggested iden-
tification of Sanduarri with Azatiwada seems plausible, giving a
historical setting for the inscriptions of Karatepe, never the seat of
a major power, but an exemplar of the cosmopolitan character of
much of the Near East by that time.

KARUM. This Akkadian term, widely current in Mesopotamia as well

as in the contemporary Old Assyrian merchant colonies in Anatolia
in the early second millennium BC, has been variously translated,
the most common meaning being that of “merchant colony”; an al-
ternative is “quay”; but “bank” is less probable. The karum in
many cities in Mesopotamia as well as in Anatolia was in essence a
settlement of foreigners living side by side but separately from the
local townspeople, comprising living quarters and business offices
as well as depots.
It was the bit karim, or “house of the quay,” which centralized
the business activities of the Assyrian merchants. It had control of
the trade in copper, but tin, textiles and skins were also stored in
the depots. Merchants could draw copper from the large stocks
held by the various karum centers, not only that of Kanes.
All the operations of the bit karim required periodic account-
ing, as much to satisfy the regulations imposed by “the City” (As-
sur) as the demands of the native Anatolian authorities. Problems
concerning the taxes levied by the karum are very complex, de-
pending on the precise interpretation of various terms. The karum
of Kanes had to dispatch or pay over dues to the central treasury of
Assur in northern Mesopotamia (Assyria). The nibum, most proba-
bly the Kaneshite representative at Assur, wrote in one letter:

The City has fixed at ten minas of silver your contribution

for the fortifications. A messenger has been chosen, who
 KARUM ● 149

must be sent to you in this connection. Yet we have made

the following request to the Elders: ‘Don’t send a messen-
ger, to avoid burdening the karum. . . . Please send ten mi-
nas of silver by the first messenger. Moreover, following
the regulations of the City [Assur], write to the other karu,
and make them pay the silver.”

The term karum indeed originated in Mesopotamia, where

ships loaded and unloaded their cargoes beside the levees built up
along rivers and canal-side settlements, whence the meaning
“quay” or “dam embankment.” The Anatolian trade was of course
by land caravans, so that these early meanings of karum did not
apply in any literal sense. Those administrative bodies, judicial and
commercial, responsible for regulating the business of the mer-
chants could themselves be termed the karum.
The related term wabartum signifies an officially constituted
form of settlement with legal jurisdiction over the Assyrian mer-
chants: it may derive from ubaru, meaning “resident alien,” “emi-
grant” or “neighbor,” and thus a community of such.
The role of the merchant in the early second millennium BC
reflects a subtle change in Mesopotamian society not closely paral-
leled in Anatolia, largely because there was no such theocratic tra-
dition, with government centered on the temples, as had prevailed
in earlier times in the cities of Sumer and Akkad. After the Third
Dynasty of Ur, whose Empire collapsed shortly before 2000 BC,
economic power shifted to the great merchant families, also by
then dominant in Assyria and destined to initiate and as widely as
politically practicable to control the Old Assyrian trading network
in Anatolia. An essentially secular, profit-orientated ethos came to
prevail.
The karum did not reemerge as an institution after the collapse
of the Old Assyrian network; and trade was centered on the local
palace or seat of administration in the days of the Hittite state. No
sophisticated mercantile class survived. To some degree the great
Hittite protectorate under the Empire, the city and port of Ugarit,
maintained the tradition of welcoming communities of foreign
traders, such as the Mycenaeans, to a city noted for its diversity of
cultural traditions with their attendant cults. There is, however, no
such record of tightly organized mercantile enclaves as there is of
those in the Old Assyrian period. Maritime trade brought with it a
freer spirit of enterprise, extending across the eastern Mediterra-
nean. As for the craft guilds of Nineveh in the Late Assyrian pe-
riod, they were restricted to their own city.
150 ● KASKA

KASKA (KASKU). The evidence gathered from historical geography

through textual records and from field archaeology, including in-
tensive surveys, combines to indicate the Kaska homeland as hav-
ing covered the modern provinces of Samsun with Sinop to the
west and Ordu to the east. Through this coastal Pontic region set-
tlements were deserted around 1750 BC and not reoccupied until
well into the Iron Age; but the inland central Pontic region, equiva-
lent to modern Amasya province, has settlements continuing dur-
ing the Hittite Old Kingdom. A number of sites here are of the
right date to have served as part of a Hittite buffer zone against re-
peated Kaska incursions.
Some 2,000 places of varying size are documented in the Hit-
tite texts; but only a modest percentage has been recorded on the
ground. This is largely owing to vegetation cover and the use of
timber construction for buildings. The nature of the terrain,
moreover, made any enduring successes by the Hittite army im-
possible: the ground was totally unsuitable for chariotry.
The Kaska tribes may have come from across the Black Sea in
the early second millennium BC; and their arrival could have trig-
gered ethnic movements leading to the widespread destructions at
the end of the Assyrian colonies in central Anatolia.
One difficulty the Hittite kings, including Mursili II, faced
was the absence of any coherent political system among the Kaska
people, in contrast with the Arzawa lands. The Kaska first defi-
nitely irrupted on the Hittite scene in the reign of Hantili II, cap-
turing and holding Nerik. They attacked again while Tudhaliya
I/II was campaigning in the west; but he quickly expelled them
from the Hittite homeland. A very serious invasion of the northern
territories occurred under Arnuwanda I and his queen Asmunikal,
whose prayers concerning the destruction of Hittite cult centers
and scattering of their priests reveal real anguish.
In the reign of Tudhaliya III the Kaskans invaded as far as
Nenassa, sacking Hattusa. When the Hittite counter-attack began,
led by the young Suppiluliuma I, repeated assaults on the Kaska
marked the first phase, with the capture of many prisoners. The
first two years of Mursili II were occupied with campaigning in the
Kaska lands, to which he had to return in his fifth year, with more
devastating effect. A tribal chief named Pihhuniya caused particu-
lar concern, not only because he had taken and annexed the Upper
Land but also owing to his political ambitions, succinctly outlined
by Mursili: “Pihhuniya did not rule in the Kaskan manner. But
 KASTAMA ● 151

suddenly, where in the Kaskan town the rule of a single man was
not customary, Pihhuniya ruled in the manner of a king.”
With the appointment of his brother Hattusili as virtual vice-
roy of the troublesome Kaska borderlands, Muwatalli II inaugu-
rated the final pacification of these persistent enemies of Hatti.
Ramesses II records the inclusion of the rich booty of Keshkesh
(Kaska) among the gifts dispatched as marriage dowry by Hat-
tusili III. Kaska remained an occasional threat, however, with
Tudhaliya IV campaigning vigorously there in his youth, before
his accession.
Texts from Tabal and the Assyrian annals mention the Kasku,
clearly Kaskan descendants and neighbors of Tabal in the early
first millennium BC.

KASTAMA. This was a city in the north, one of those pillaged by in-
vading Kaska tribesmen in the reign of Arnuwanda I, whose cult
center was destroyed. A text concerning the palace (e-gal) of Kas-
tama reveals the grip held by the administration on the agricultural
land, with issues of seed corn for sowing from the palace stores,
with quantities specified, and with the enforcement of the corvée
for sowing and reaping, from which none was exempt. First, how-
ever, the property of the crown in each village was listed. Here was
a bureaucratic machinery as intensive as that deployed for the Do-
mesday Book survey in England (1086). It is at this level that the
sophistication of Hittite state control becomes most evident. A pal-
ace such as that of Kastama would have ranked below the “houses
of the seal” described as the administrative framework of the state
by Telipinu, in relation to his wide-ranging governmental reforms.

KATAPA. One of the lands in the viceroyalty of Hattusili in the

Kaska borderlands.

KESLIK YAYLASI. Quarry and sculptors’ yard northwest of Niğde,

with scatter of stelae bases and uninscribed stelae. The carvings re-
late to the cult of Kubaba and other deities, with dating to the later
eighth century BC, just after the reign of Warpalawas of Tyana.
There is a rock-cut road for transportation of the blocks.

KESTEL. An Early Bronze Age tin mine and associated mining areas
are located near the small town of Camardi, 30 kilometers east-
southeast of the city of Niğde and above several rivers flowing
through the Niğde Massif. The mine was cut into a slope composed
152 ● KIKKULI

of granite, marble, gneiss and quartzite, with a number of shafts

and galleries: in the beginning (ca.3000 BC) it had been an open-
cast operation. Workshops were built outside the entrance to the
mine. The evidence from Kestel indicates a remarkable mastery of
the geology of metal ores and the chemistry of tin, the local ore be-
ing cassiterite. Clearly, the Kestel mining areas must be related to
those in the Bolkardağ region a little distance to the south. Moreo-
ver, Kestel, Göltepe and the other centers of tin mining seem to
have controlled resources, production and long-distance trade in
tin in the generations before Sargon of Agade initiated Mesopo-
tamian involvement in Anatolian trade (from ca.2370 BC). A hint
of this economic power is provided by the growth of Göltepe, close
to Kestel, into a considerable walled town, with workshops for
processing tin.

KIKKULI. Four tablets excavated at Hattusa comprise a detailed

treatise on the training and acclimatization of horses, ascribed to a
horse trainer named Kikkuli coming from Mitanni, presumably in
order to instruct the Hittite chariotry in the most up-to-date meth-
ods. Long after the first Hittite contacts with Mitannian forces, the
Hittite army was not too proud to learn from the kingdom most
advanced in several aspects of warfare.
The training of the horses—for pulling chariots, not for rid-
ing—was a lengthy affair, and this treatise includes a number of
technical terms in the Indic language, akin to Sanskrit, notably re-
lating to the number of turns on the course, of which two examples
may suffice: first, tera-wartanna (“three turns”), compared with
Sanskrit tri vatana-m; second, satta-wartanna (“seven turns”),
compared with Sanskrit sapta vartana-m. Such skills in turning
were essential for chariotry.

KILISE TEPE. Settlement site with occupation from the third millen-
nium BC until the Byzantine period, located about 45 kilometers
northwest of Silifke, above the left bank of the Göksu near where
the river leaves the Mut basin to drop down between cliffs to the
Mediterranean. Excavations began in 1994 under the direction of
Nicholas Postgate (Cambridge). Stable conditions under the Hittite
Empire (Level III) are accompanied by the standard Late Bronze
Age pottery. A date of 1380 BC was obtained by dendro-
chronology.
Dating of the later levels is not precise, until close links with
Cypriot pottery can be dated ca.750–650 BC. Four short-lived
 KINET ● 153

phases (IIa–d) seem to cover only 50 years (ca.1200–1150 BC),

suggesting unsettled conditions.

KINET HÖYÜK. Excavations have been carried out at this settlement

mound, ancient Issos on the Mediterranean coast near Iskenderun,
since 1992 under the direction of Marie-Henriette Gates (Bilkent
University, Ankara). This was a major port, with occupation from
the Middle Bronze Age until the Iron Age. Medieval occupation
ensued after a hiatus.
A large public building of Middle Bronze II (Kinet V) stood
on the east terrace of the mound: an original structural phase was
followed by a careless rebuilding, though storage jars indicate con-
tinued prosperity. To the original phase belong many containers
holding liquids and perishable goods, in the southern rooms, while
in the five northern rooms in the later phase cereals and oil were
stored. In the west wing, with a large open court, was found evi-
dence of metallurgy, including crucibles.
Painted pottery of earlier Middle Bronze II originating from
Cilicia (Kizzuwadna) and imports from Alasiya (Cyprus) occur.
Calibrated radiocarbon dates for the two building phases span from
the late 18th until the mid–15th century BC. This building, perhaps
a palace, was destroyed by earthquake and buried under gravel and
marine shell deposits. The east terrace was not reoccupied until the
Hellenistic period.
Three Late Bronze II building levels were uncovered on the
west slope, demonstrating the integration of this harbor town into
the Hittite Empire. The earliest level (Period 15) has stone founda-
tions of a major building, with three separate stages until its aban-
donment. The pottery is similar to central Anatolian wares of the
early Empire (14th century BC), with highly burnished jugs as well
as bowls and coarser plates and platters of typically central Ana-
tolian or “Hittite” forms, with occasional pot marks. Storage jars,
however, are of “Canaanite” type. After this building was aban-
doned, its brick superstructure was razed and sealed by two levels
of domestic houses, dating to the 13th century BC (Periods 14–13/
Kinet IV:1). Both levels were violently burned. Spearheads and
other weapons in the destruction debris of Period 14 indicate an at-
tack; but it is difficult to relate this to the historical record of an es-
sentially peaceful century. Could this conceivably have occurred in
the aftermath of the battle of Kadesh, when Hittite vassals were
restive? Kinet had a considerable economic role as a sea-trading
community. Canaanite jars and a few Cypriot imports supplement
154 ● KINGSHIP

the mainly “Hittite” fabrics and forms.

The abrupt end of Late Bronze Age occupation at Kinet
Höyük was followed by radical changes at the opening of the Iron
Age (Period 12/Kinet III:3). A new land-loving population, unfa-
miliar with the sea, turned away from the Late Bronze reliance on
fish to a meat diet of sheep, goat and pig. So much for the term
“Sea Peoples.”
On the east slope, pottery kilns of the eighth to sixth centuries
BC were found. See also TRADE.

KINGSHIP, KINGS. The most ancient title of the Hittite kings was
Labarna (Tabarna in Luwian and Akkadian), while under the Em-
pire “My Sun” came additionally into use. While this has been seen
as a manifestation of an “orientalizing” tendency, the adoption of
traditions of government native to Syria and Mesopotamia and the
abandonment of older Indo-European institutions, more probably it
expresses the devotion of the king to the Sun-Goddess of Arinna
and to the Sun-God. Admittedly, from the reign of Suppiluliuma I
the winged sun disk came into regular use in royal iconography,
persisting through the Neo-Hittite period: of its Egyptian derivation
there can be no possible doubt.
The ethos of the kingship was more strongly theocratic in the
time of the Empire than in the Old Kingdom, largely through grow-
ing Hurrian influence. Mursili II was notably pious, interrupting
campaigns in order to preside at major festivals. In large part this
was owing to his urge to appease the gods for the plague, begin-
ning in the time of Suppiluliuma I, who died from it, and lasting 20
years.
The king was servant or steward of the gods, especially the
Storm-God and the Sun-Goddess.. He was not deified in his life-
time, in spite of references to his filial relationship to various di-
vinities, to be regarded as mere figures of speech. Scattered allu-
sions alone cast light on the question of the divinity of the Hittite
kings. Ritual purity was nevertheless an essential attribute of the
Hittite kings. For example, the finding of a hair in his washing
bowl was a capital offense! This has to be understood in the con-
text of the properties of hair in the realm of magic.
Few texts set out anything approaching a philosophy of king-
ship, one such being a ritual for building a new palace:

To me, the king, have the gods, the Sun-God and the
Weather-God, entrusted the land and my house. I, the king,
 KINIK ● 155

will protect the land and my house. . . . To me, the king,

have the gods granted many years. To these years there is
no limit.

There is no full surviving record of the coronation ceremony.

Hattusili III complained—in a letter to the king of Assyria—that
on his accession he had not sent him the customary gifts, such as
“the royal vestments and fragrant oil for the coronation.” Perhaps
he was sensitive, after usurping the throne from his nephew Urhi-
Tesub? The succession normally depended on an act of nomina-
tion by the ruling king, clearly not given in this case.
Mursili II came before the gods in humble prayer for the
whole realm, not simply for his own health, in contrast with the
prayers of Puduhepa for her ailing spouse Hattusili III. The role of
the king as pastor of his people was thus emphasized in the plague
prayers of Mursili II.
It is well documented that the Hittite king was leader in war,
supreme judge and chief priest of the national cults, in this last
function aided by the queen. The largest category by far of tablets
in the royal archives of Hattusa deals with the king’s priestly du-
ties; but most are fragmentary and thus hard to interpret in detail.
The ceremonies described are normally termed festivals.
Each king tended to have a patron divinity to whom he was
especially devoted, as with the devotion of Hattusili III to Ishtar of
Samuha; of Tudhaliya IV to Sarruma; of Mursili II to Telipinu;
of Muwatalli II to the “Weather-God pihassassis.”

KINIK (KASTAMONU). Metal vessels of definitely Hittite style

from the area of Kinik in the Devrekani district, where a dam was
under construction, were brought to the museum in the provincial
center of Kastamonu—north-northeast of Ankara and 92 kilome-
ters south of the Black Sea coast at Inebolu—in November 1990, at
much the same time as a statuette of Hittite style was acquired by
the Metropolitan Museum of New York.
It would seem curious that this hoard comprises almost exclu-
sively vessels of varied forms and quality, lacking items found in
groups of metalwork housed in private collections on either side
of the Atlantic. Though proof is lacking, it seems very likely that
the hoard brought to the Kastamonu Museum had been stripped of
those artifacts expected to bring the highest price. This was an op-
eration carried out by professionals.
What were these vessels? The most plausible answer is that
156 ● KIZZUWADNA

they were from a local cult center, part of the equipment of a tem-
ple. The geographical location places this hoard in the Pontic hills
for generations under the control of the Kaska tribes, but largely
reclaimed by the Hittite state in the early years of Hattusili (III).
His brother Muwatalli II had made him semi-independent ruler of
a broad swathe of territory forming the northern borderlands of
Hatti, when he recovered the long revered shrine of Nerik. The
decorative style of the finest vessel in the Kinik hoard suggests a
date in or close to the reign of Tudhaliya IV. A hint of the wealth
of the region is provided and by implication of the resources so
long at the disposal of the Kaska enemies of Hattusa.
Outstanding in the Kinik hoard are three bull rhytons and a
bowl inscribed in hieroglyphs and decorated with registers of
“typical Hittite figures.” On this small bowl are depicted floral and
figurative motifs in the repoussé technique. The longest frieze, just
below the shoulder of the bowl, depicts a hunt involving the hunter
and many deer and ibexes. A sacred tree flanked by two griffins
appears in the lowermost register. The hunt is a characteristic
theme of Hittite art, as for example on the reliefs of Alaca Höyük.
This is a small vessel, the largest register being only 3.3 centime-
ters high.

KIZZUWADNA. Commonly equated with Classical Cilicia, the terri-

torial limits of Kizzuwadna fluctuated considerably over the gen-
erations, largely depending on power politics, specifically the ex-
tent of Hittite control over north Syria and the strength or weakness
of the kingdom of Mitanni.
During the Hittite Old Kingdom the later Kizzuwadna was a
part of Hatti named the province of Adaniya (Adana), centered in
the fertile plain now called Pamukova (Cotton Plain), one of the
most prosperous areas of modern Turkey. It may already have been
under Hittite rule in the time of Hattusili I, the first objective of
whose Syrian campaign was Alalakh.
It was in the disordered reign of Ammuna that Adaniya seems
to have rebelled, in the mid–16th century BC, becoming the inde-
pendent kingdom of Kizzuwadna. The leader of this revolt and first
king may have been one named Pariyawatri, though this cannot be
proved. His son was Isputahsu, whose seal found at Tarsus is in-
scribed with the title Great King. He made a treaty on the basis of
equality with the Hittite king Telipinu (ca.1525–1500 BC). A later
king of Kizzuwadna, Pilliya, concluded a treaty with the Hittite
king Zidanta II: in this reign the city of Lawazantiya is first men-
 KIZZUWADNA ● 157

tioned as lying within Kizzuwadna. At some stage after the treaty

with Pilliya, Hatti appears to have suffered a breach of its relations
with Kizzuwadna, for Sunassura, presumably then king of Kizzu-
wadna, appears in a position of vassalage to the Hurrian power of
Mitanni, ruled then by Saustatar.
The independence of Kizzuwadna seems to have persisted
through the time when a treaty between this same Sunassura of
Kizzuwadna and the Hittite king of the day was drawn up. This
king, formerly supposed to have been Suppiluliuma I, now seems
almost certainly to have been Tudhaliya I/II. In the text of this
treaty, preserved at Hattusa, can be seen his viewpoint on events
past and present:

Formerly, in the time of my grandfather, Kizzuwadna was

on the side of Hatti. Later, Kizzuwadna released itself from
Hatti and turned toward Hurri. . . . Now Kizzuwadna is on
the side of Hatti. . . . Now the people of the Land of Kiz-
zuwadna are Hittite cattle and chose their stable. From the
Hurrian they separated and shifted allegiance to My Sun.
The Hurrian sinned against the Land of Hatti, but against
the Land of Kizzuwadna he sinned particularly. The Land
of Kizzuwadna rejoices very much indeed over its libera-
tion. Now the Land of Hatti and the Land of Kizzuwadna
are free from their obligations. Now I, My Sun, have re-
stored the Land of Kizzuwadna to its independence.

This treaty provides an insight into international relations, with

Kizzuwadna as a buffer between Hatti and Mitanni, whose enmity
is clearly stated. The unusual feature is the emphasis on the oppres-
sive character of Mitannian rule.
At some later date, possibly still in the reign of Tudhaliya I/II,
Kizzuwadna was annexed, coming under direct Hittite rule, as it
remained thereafter. Certainly it was not independent under Suppi-
luliuma I, for he appointed one of his sons, Telipinu, as “priest of
Kizzuwadna,” by a decree resembling a vassal treaty with its obli-
gations. This same son later led forces in support of the Hittite
army in Syria, with which no king of Kizzuwadna is mentioned.
Although Kizzuwadna had ceased to play a role in interna-
tional relations, being a territory vital for Hittite access to Syria, its
cultural influence on the Hittite monarchy seems to have grown,
reaching its apogee with the marriage of Hattusili III, before he
seized the throne, to Puduhepa, daughter of a priest of Lawazan-
tiya in the Anti-Taurus of northeastern Kizzuwadna. Mitanni had
158 ● KORUCUTEPE

long vanished from the political map. At least in the sphere of cult
and ritual, however, the once hated Hurrian had in a sense tri-
umphed.

KORUCUTEPE. A settlement mound situated 30 kilometers east of

Elaziğ, in the Altınova, near the village of Aşaği Içme, its height
was 16 meters and diameter about 190 meters. From 1968 three
seasons of excavations were carried out under the direction of
Maurits N. van Loon, sponsored by the University of Chicago and
other institutions. A long sequence of stratified occupation levels
through the Chalcolithic period, Bronze Age and Early Iron Age,
with some medieval remains, was subdivided into 12 phases. These
comprised no less than 140 strata, extending over a time span from
ca.4500 until ca.800 BC, with occupation in a final phase,
ca.1200–1400 AD.
Korucutepe, along with the whole Altınova, was occupied
from the mid–fourth millennium BC by people whose material cul-
ture has been termed Early Trans-Caucasian, with good reason,
though without conclusive proof associated with the Hurrians.
Certainly they formed the population of Isuwa before the advent of
Hittite rule. By the Middle Bronze II period (Phase H: ca.1800–
1600 BC) Korucutepe was defended by a strong stone-built city
wall. Probably it was at the opening of the Late Bronze II period
(ca.1400 BC) that a corbeled stone postern tunnel on L-shaped
plan was built. Could this have occurred in the reign of Tudhaliya
I/II? If so, it would have been designed for a threatened siege by
the forces of Mitanni. This postern antedates the better-known ex-
ample at Hattusa: that at Ugarit suggests influence from Syria,
consistent with other evidence of cultural contacts from the west.
Central Anatolian connections become very evident in the pot-
tery from Phase H at Korucutepe, contemporary with the earlier
Hittite Old Kingdom and showing beforehand parallels with
Kültepe-Karum IB and also with the first half of Boğazköy:
Büyükkale IVc and with early Late Bronze I at Tarsus. Such con-
nections cannot have been entirely divorced from the Old
Assyrian caravan routes in their late period of use or from the
expansion of Hittite power under Hattusili I and Mursili I. Hittite
power was by and large weaker during the Late Bronze I period at
Korucutepe (Phase I: ca.1600–1400 BC), when ceramic parallels
with central Anatolia and Tarsus continue, especially in orange and
red burnished, slipped and smoothed wares. In Late Bronze II
(Phase J: ca.1400–1200 BC), when Hittite power was dominant in
 KOŞAY ● 159

Isuwa, these wares were displaced by orange wheelmarked ware

and drab unburnished buff ware, shallow bowls or platters demon-
strating the marked decline in quality of much of the Phase J pot-
tery, in line with the Hittite dominions as a whole. Pottery had de-
clined in status, becoming almost mass-produced. Nearby
excavations at Norşuntepe III and Tepecik have yielded the same
pottery. Further afield parallels occur in Kizzuwadna at Late
Bronze II Tarsus and Mersin V; at Hattusa in Boğazköy:Lower
City I (ca.1300–1200 BC); and at Beycesultan I.
The prevalence of central Anatolian pottery in Isuwa could
imply deliberate transplantation of people from the Hittite heart-
land, to counterbalance the pro-Mitannian sentiments of the local
Hurrian population.

KOŞAY, HAMIT ZUBEYR (1897–1984). A man of wide learning in

ethnography as well as archaeology, his outstanding achievement
was the foundation of the Ethnography Museum in Ankara, of
which he was the first director (1927-1931). He was born in Rus-
sia, studied in Budapest and became (1924) one of the Turks com-
ing to the new Republic from abroad.
Atatürk saw Hamit Koşay as the leading archaeologist in his
new state, whom he encouraged to carry out fieldwork around the
new capital Ankara, at a time when communications were not easy
with the more outlying areas of Turkey. The most important of his
projects was the excavation of Alaca Höyük (1935-1948, 1963-
1967), but he excavated at least nine other sites mainly in central
and eastern Anatolia. Koşay published over 35 books and 150 arti-
cles on ancient Anatolia.

KÖYÜTLÜ. A dam of earth construction with masonry footings, mak-

ing it clearly of Hittite date, it is 900 meters long and 25 to 30 me-
ters high. It lies near the hill fort of Bulacan (Zaferiye), close to the
ancient and modern route from Konya to Akşehir. This fortified
site was, from the surface pottery, occupied both in the second
millennium BC and in the Classical period. Beneath the fort
stretches a lower fortified town, whose limestone cyclopean walls
are in the tradition of monumental Hittite masonry apparent at Ga-
vurkalesi, Eflatun Pınar and Sirkeli, similar to the extensive
stronghold of Yaraşlı.

KUBABA. Anatolian Mother-Goddess, identifiable with Ky-

bele/Cybele in Phrygia and elsewhere in the first millennium BC.
160 ● KÜLTEPE

She was the patron divinity of Carchemish, and can be set within
the long tradition of the Mother-Goddess cult which can be traced
back at least to the seventh millennium BC.

KÜLTEPE (KANES). This large settlement mound (höyük), origi-

nally named Karahöyük in common with many other ancient
mounds in Turkey, lies 20 kilometers northeast of the city of Kay-
seri (Roman Caesarea) in Cappadocia, a short distance southeast of
the Kızıl Irmak (Red River), in Hittite times Marrassantiya and in
Greco-Roman times Halys. One of the most important excavated
sites in Anatolia, Kültepe is of special relevance for this dictionary,
owing to its certain identification as the city of Nesa, which in its
turn can be equated with Kanes, after Kussara, the first center of
Hittite political and military power on the Anatolian plateau. Exca-
vated since 1948 by an expedition directed by Tahsin Özgüç, of
the University of Ankara, and sponsored by the Turkish Historical
Foundation, it had been the site of earlier excavations between
World Wars I and II under Bedrich Hrozny of Prague.
As happens all too often in the Near East, it was through the
appearance of antiquities in the markets of Constantinople (Istan-
bul) and further afield, as well as locally, that scholarly attention
was first drawn to south central Anatolia, Cappadocia in Greco-
Roman times. Both inscribed clay tablets and distinctive painted
pottery surfaced in considerable quantities, some 3,000 tablets in
all, both categories being described as “Cappadocian.” This Cap-
padocian ware is now commonly termed Alışar III ware, having
been found in that excavated mound in stratified context. This pot-
tery and these tablets have found their way into a number of muse-
ums and private collections around the world, unlike the material
from the official excavations at Kültepe, now displayed in Ankara
and among the major attractions of the museum.
Hrozny, a brilliant philologist, had been led to believe that this
was the source of the Cappadocian tablets, though as a field ar-
chaeologist he found himself out of his depth. During his campaign
of excavations at Kültepe (“ash mound”) he eventually unearthed
some 600 tablets, among them finding references which proved he
had located the ancient city of Kanes, whose full importance was
not yet realized. It was, however, some time before he stumbled
upon the major feature of this large site, the presence at the foot of
the main mound of an extensive low platform, not immediately
recognizable as an outer, lower area of the town. He might not
have located it when he did, had it not been for a disgruntled vil-
 KÜLTEPE ● 161

lager who came to Hrozny and divulged the secret of the area
whence his fellow villagers were extracting clay tablets for sale in
the markets. This was to prove to be the site of the greatest Old
Assyrian trading community (karum), from which some 15,000
tablets and innumerable other finds have subsequently been recov-
ered by the Turkish expedition.
There is a very long sequence of occupation levels in the main
mound, or citadel, of Kültepe, from the Chalcolithic period (fourth
millennium BC) down into the Iron Age (first millennium BC). For
our purposes the strata from the later Early Bronze Age till the end
of the Late Bronze Age are especially significant, the Iron Age also
being not without interest.
It is apparent that the karum of Kanes was first built and in-
habited before the arrival of the Assyrian merchants and the orga-
nization of the Old Assyrian trade, for the earliest levels (Karum
IV–III) are completely devoid of clay tablets. One theory is that
tablets of wood, mentioned in later Hittite texts, may have been in
use: if so, this would tend to add weight to the suggestion of an
Anatolian, more specifically Luwian, presence here. But without
further evidence this remains a matter of enlightened guesswork.
The city of Kültepe-Kanes, contemporary with Level II of the
karum and thus dating ca.2050–1950 BC or a little later, was pro-
tected by two defensive lines, the inner wall being built on large
unhewn stones, reused in the later defenses of Kanes IB attribut-
able to Anitta, son of Pithana. Among the buildings excavated in
the city is a likely palace, with residential quarters and a large
paved open square. A palace and five temples are mentioned in the
tablets. The entire city and the karum outside the walls were burnt
in a violent destruction, conceivably the result of a Hittite attack,
although Anitta’s association with Kanes IB and the intervening
phase of Kanes IC make it chronologically unlikely to have been
attributable to Pithana. The stratigraphy of the city, however, does
not indicate any desertion of the site between Kanes II and IB, in
spite of the destruction of Kanes II. The palace containing tablets
of Warsama, king of Kanes, however, most probably belongs to a
phase (IC) when the karum was abandoned, and the merchants had
withdrawn within the walls of the Anatolian city, if they had not
indeed retreated to Assur. A bronze spearhead with typically Ana-
tolian bent tang bearing the inscription “Palace of Anitta the king”
was recovered from a public building within the city in Kanes IB
context, adding weight to the claims made in the Anitta Text.
In the karum of Kanes the orientation of streets and many
162 ● KÜLTEPE

buildings remained essentially the same from Level II through IB–

IA. The buildings all have andesite footings up to floor level only,
with mud-brick walls above, though the stonework was in some
places carried higher, as behind kitchen ovens. The whole charac-
ter of the buildings was Anatolian, with no trace of influence from
Assyria, the houses being plastered and whitewashed. There is no
evidence of gabled roofs. Details such as door jambs, charred re-
mains of wooden door frames and pivot stones demonstrate the ac-
cess to buildings. Stone paving was used where water was much in
use.
The majority of houses in Level II of the karum either have
two rooms and a rectangular plan or two rooms opening on to a
large main room or many rooms off a corridor. Houses were ex-
tended as required, presumably with the growth of the household,
often with walls set at irregular angles. The population was evi-
dently increasing.
Five districts have been identified in the areas occupied by the
merchants’ houses, with varying yields of tablets, while other
houses excavated 1.5 kilometers to the south contained none. The
significance of this can only be surmised. The makeup of the popu-
lation of each district can be estimated from its tablets. Most of the
Assyrians lived in the first and second districts, being in the major-
ity in the third and fifth districts, alongside native Anatolian mer-
chants. Only the fourth district was perhaps exclusively Anatolian,
and the native houses yielded notably fewer tablets. The major ar-
chives were housed in the north, northeast and central areas of the
karum.
Another area was devoted to workshops and supporting serv-
ices in the southeast part of the karum, where native householders
mostly dwelt. Workshops occur in widely separated parts of the
karum, not grouped all together, though no bit karim has been
found, this being known only from the tablets. Much evidence re-
mains to be uncovered in the form of more workshops as well as in
the thousands of as yet unpublished tablets, which must include
references to copper, gold and silver artifacts. Tools, weapons and
decorative items of metal, stone and terracotta were manufactured
by the craftsmen, no doubt following traditional practices dating
back well before the arrival of the Assyrian merchants. One work-
shop of the later period (IB) yielded portable and large fixed
molds, crucibles, blow-pipes and pot-bellows, indicating metal-
lurgy on an organized footing.
It would be mistaken to suggest that it was solely owing to the
 KÜLTEPE ● 163

arrival of the foreign traders from Assur that the level of sophisti-
cation in the economy of central Anatolia was attained. More
probably a network of trade routes had evolved through the activi-
ties of native Anatolian merchants, with the Assyrian newcomers
being adept at profiting from established business networks. Kanes
had a long history of urban life, the growth of trade in Anatolia
emerging during the Early Bronze III period, whose beginning in
the mid–third millennium BC could be said to mark a cultural wa-
tershed not repeated until the advent of the Iron Age in the 12th
century BC. The characteristic Alışar III (Cappadocian) ware ap-
pears at Kültepe in the levels termed Early and Middle Cappado-
cian, continuing through the Late Cappadocian phase, which in-
cludes the first two levels (IV–III) of the karum of Kanes. This
painted pottery underwent three phases of development conform-
ing with the sequence of levels at Kanes. It is noteworthy that it
was in the Early Cappadocian phase, long before the arrival of
Assyrian merchants, that the Anatolian city contained a public
building of megaron plan, either a temple or a palace, suggesting
western influence on central Anatolia. Could this have been an
outcome of the Luwian migrations?
The vicissitudes of Anatolian society, with growing conflicts
between the various minor kingdoms perhaps in part stimulated by
competition to enjoy the benefits accruing from the presence of
foreign merchants able to pay tolls to allow safe passage of their
caravans, had driven the Assyrian inhabitants of the karum of
Kanes away. The perimeter wall surrounding the karum of Kanes
IB suggests the necessity of effective protection for the merchants
returning to Kanes and in fact extending their trade to other mer-
chant colonies. How much significance is to be attached to the
smaller number of tablets found in karum IB compared with karum
II is not entirely clear. What is evident is that the second period of
Assyrian activity at Kanes lasted a shorter time, on the evidence of
limmu names on the tablets, than the first period (karum II). After
the first destruction the period of desertion of the karum (IC)
probably lasted not less than 50 years, seeing that graves of this
time dug into the ruins of karum II were evidently unknown to the
inhabitants of the reoccupied colony (karum IB), not being robbed
of their contents.
Though there are fewer tablets to reveal details of the Old
Assyrian trade in the time of karum IB, it would be mistaken to
conclude that this trade had shrunk in volume or variety. Two fac-
tors indicate the contrary: first, the expansion of the area of the ka-
164 ● KULULU

rum of Kanes to a diameter of over one kilometer, within a wall

built on a footing of massive andesite blocks, at the same time as
the native Anatolian city grew in size; second, the establishment of
other trading posts or colonies, each a karum, at Alışar II,
Boğazköy (Hattusa) and Acemhöyük (Burushattum).
The relative chronology of Kültepe-Kanes is greatly clarified
by limmu names synchronizing Kültepe IB, Alışar II and Tell Cha-
gar Bazar in the Khabur valley with the reign of Samsi-Adad I of
Assyria (1813–1781 BC), overlapping with that of Hammurabi of
Babylon (1792–1750 BC). The following absolute chronology for
the successive periods of the karum of Kültepe-Kanes therefore
seems plausible: Kültepe II, ca.2050/2000–1900 BC; Kültepe IC,
ca.1900–1850 BC; Kültepe IB, ca.1850–1800 BC or slightly later;
Kültepe IA, ending ca.1750 BC.
The final phase of the karum (IA) was but a pale reflection of
what had gone before. It was undoubtedly owing to growing unrest
and insecurity for the caravans with discord among the Anatolian
kingdoms, rather than any economic changes in Assyria, that the
Old Assyrian trade finally came to an end. A brief dark age de-
scended upon the Anatolian plateau, to be lifted a century later un-
der Hattusili I. Never again, however, was such a sophisticated
commercial network to flourish in the lands destined to come under
Hittite rule. The state would step in where the great merchant fam-
ily firms had once ruled.

KULULU. This site lies 18 kilometers east of Sultanhanı, which stands

on the Kayseri-Sivas road 30 kilometers northeast of Kültepe
(Kanes). It was occupied during the third and second millennia
BC, first on the citadel. Relief-carved orthostats and fragments of
statues show two styles of Iron Age date (ca.850/800–700 BC).
Kululu is best known for its inscribed lead strips, the hiero-
glyphs being examined first by Emmanuel Laroche and then by
J. David Hawkins. They were unearthed by villagers, who used
them in part to make lead shot, and were acquired by purchase
(ca.1967). Though of little historical significance, they have con-
tributed to decipherment of the hieroglyphs. Two of these inscrip-
tions mention Tuwatis and Wasusarma, both well-known “great
kings” of Tabal, as well as three other rulers, hitherto unknown.
These lead strips list personal names, commodities (including
sheep) and towns.
Such lead strips seem to have become the common medium
from the eighth century BC for writing letters, business documents
 KUMARBI ● 165

and treaties. These underline the importance of Kululu at this time,

very possibly as the capital of Tabal, if not located too near its pe-
riphery.

KUMARBI. The Hurrian god often termed “King of the Gods” and
the central player in the best surviving compositions of Hittite-
Hurrian mythology, he was the protagonist in dramatic events af-
fecting the community of gods. The main source concerning
Kumarbi comprises mythological texts from Hattusa, especially
the fragmentary Kingship in Heaven and The Song of Ullikummi.
He appears also in cultic texts from Mari, Nuzi and Ugarit as well
as in the myth concerning silver connecting him with his special
cult center at Urkesh (Tell Mozan) and on a first-millennium BC
hieroglyphic stela from Tell Ahmar (Til-Barsip) on the Euphrates
River.
The Hurrian theogony is set out in the Kingship in Heaven
text, giving Kumarbi as the third in succession to celestial sover-
eignty, after Alalu and Anu. At times Kumarbi is equated with En-
lil, king of the Sumerian gods, whose seat was at Nippur in central
Mesopotamia. The reference in one passage to Kumarbi’s going to
Nippur reinforces this identification. There are indubitable western
links, with Greek mythology as narrated by Hesiod, although the
roots of Hurrian theogony lie in Mesopotamia.
The second myth of the Kumarbi cycle, The Song of Ulli-
kummi, has Kumarbi begetting the stone monster Ullikummi for
the purpose of regaining the throne of heaven from Tesub.
Kumarbi, setting out from his town of Urkesh, arrives at a spot
called Cool Pond, where a great Rock is lying. Kumarbi is then in-
vited by the Sea-God to have his child by the Rock brought up
there. In due course the Rock bears Kumarbi a child, who, accord-
ing to the text, it was hoped would “hit Tesub and pound him like
chaff.” After a warning from the Sun-God about the diorite stone
child, offspring of the Rock Ullikummi, Tesub and his brother
Tasmisu go to reconnoiter, being joined by their sister Ishtar (Hur-
rian: Sausga). All three ascend Mount Hazzi, on the Mediterranean
coast near Antioch: this is the classical Casius. Then we read of
Tesub ordering Tasmisu to prepare his war chariot and the two sa-
cred bulls to haul it into battle. In this first confrontation, even with
the support of “70 gods,” Tesub is unsuccessful against the Stone.
In the great second battle Ullikummi boasts of the role his father
Kumarbi has assigned him. Thereafter, though there is a complete
break in the text, it can be assumed the outcome is the final tri-
166 ● KUMARBI

umph of Tesub, since he is the supreme god in historical times.

There is a particularly close parallel with the Hittite-Hurrian
myth of Kumarbi in the Greek story of Typhon, a new rival to Zeus
in Hesiod’s Theogony. A first, unsuccessful battle is even located
on Mount. Casius (i.e. Mount. Hazzi). Typhon was believed to
originate from Cilicia, and in a cuneiform text a Mount Ullikummi
occurs in a list of mountains of Kizzuwadna.
It is uncertain whether the Kumarbi cycle survives in a Hittite
translation of a Hurrian original or as the work of a creative Hittite
writer based on Hurrian tradition. In another, very fragmentary
myth, Kumarbi, helped by the giant daughter of the Sea-God, cre-
ates a snake monster, Hedammu, who develops a measureless ap-
petite. The wise god Ea, at a gathering of the gods, accuses
Kumarbi of having harmed the gods by annihilating mankind, re-
sulting in the loss of sacrifices. The gods were going to be obliged
to gather their own food!
The Hurrian character of the theme of the dethroned king of
the gods seeking restoration is undoubted. The theater of action,
however, cannot have been within the ancestral Hurrian homeland
in the highlands of eastern Anatolia. The reference to Mount. Hazzi
and other clues indicate a north Syrian setting. Ullikummi’s child
will thus have been growing out of the Gulf of Iskenderun, at the
northeast corner of the Mediterranean Sea. The mythology of Uga-
rit has the Sea-God Yam allied with El (= Kumarbi) against the
Storm-God Ba’al.
The inclusion of rivers in the domain of the Sea-God is paral-
leled in Ugaritic mythology, whereas in Hurrian religion the sea
has no role, and rivers are always mentioned in association with
mountains, characteristics of an inland people. The theme of birth
from stone may just possibly have been brought by the Hurrians
from their ancestral homeland in the Early Trans-Caucasian cul-
tural zone.
Kumarbi was the Hurrian Grain-God, a role perhaps subordi-
nate to his more prominent manifestations in the pantheon. A relief
figure at Yazılıkaya of a god, 1.35 meters high, with an ear of corn
in front of him seems to represent Kumarbi. His cult continued into
the Neo-Hittite period, when he occurs sometimes under the name
of Kuparma.
A remarkable artistic manifestation of the myth of Kumarbi
can very possibly be associated with the elaborate and unique con-
glomeration of motifs on the gold bowl excavated by the Univer-
sity Museum of Philadelphia expedition under the direction of
 KUMMANNI ● 167

Robert H. Dyson at Hasanlu in the Urmia basin of northwestern

Iran in 1958. It is the privilege of the writer to have been the only
person to draw this vessel at firsthand rather than from photo-
graphs. The focal point of the design shows a man with knuckle-
dusters confronting a composite monster comprising a human fig-
ure emerging from a rock, from whose rear grows a scaly dragon
with three heads. Tesub is depicted in a chariot drawn by a bull,
his special animal, from whose mouth gushes a torrent of water,
falling on the dragon below: behind him come two other chariots,
drawn by horses. The date of the context from which this bowl
was recovered is well attested by radiocarbon determinations
around 800 BC. The period of its production is far less certain,
though one suggested dating as high as the 13th century BC seems
rather improbable. A valuable piece such as this would be unlikely
to have survived more than three or four generations.

KUMMANNI. Though described as a city of Kizzuwadna, it lay in the

extreme northeast of that land, and was generally reckoned in Hat-
tusa to be a Hittite city. Identified with Classical Comana, it can be
located north of Tutanbeyli, in the valley of the Sariz Su, one of the
headwaters of the Seyhan River, flowing to the Mediterranean past
Adana. This was a major cult center, listed in the prayer of Mu-
watalli II, with the Storm-God, Hebat of Kummanni and Ningal,
wife of the Semitic Moon-God Sin, as the chief divinities wor-
shiped there.

KURUNTA. The second son of Muwatalli II by a concubine and

brother of Urhi-Tesub. His father entrusted his upbringing to his
brother Hattusili (the future Hattusili III), who claimed to have
treated him as his own son, alongside his younger cousin, the fu-
ture Tudhaliya IV. There has been debate over the identity of
Ulmi-Tesub, the prevailing opinion being that he was one and the
same as Kurunta, who adopted his Luwian name on accession to
the throne of Tarhuntassa. His birth name, like that of his brother,
had been Hurrian.
Evidently on close personal terms with his cousin Tudhaliya,
the theory of a coup d’état by Kurunta (1228–1227 BC), perhaps in
the aftermath of the serious defeat suffered by the Hittite army in
the east at Nihriya, appears at first sight implausible. He may of
course have harbored resentment, as son of Muwatalli II, that his
line of the royal family had been passed over in favor of the son
and heir of Hattusili III. Yet Tudhaliya IV had caused a doctor to
168 ● KUŞAKLI

be sent from Egypt, with the consent of the Pharaoh Ramesses II,
successfully to treat Kurunta for a serious illness.
The case for a coup d’état resulting in the seizure of the throne
by Kurunta rests primarily on bullae found at Hattusa, bearing the
inscription “Kurunta, Great King, Labarna, My Sun.” By them-
selves these bullae do not provide absolute proof, only that he had
come to claim a title not granted to him. There is, however, the cir-
cumstantial evidence of destruction at Hattusa—mainly along the
walls and in the temple area—subsequently repaired as part of a
wider building program directed by Tudhaliya IV. Civil strife
seems indicated.
The fate of Kurunta following the regaining of his throne by
Tudhaliya IV is unknown. If a deliberate policy of suppressing any
record of an uprising was followed, it was all too successful. Ku-
runta is most unlikely to have been allowed to remain as ruler of
Tarhuntassa.
The part played by Kurunta has become much clearer since the
unearthing (1986) of a perfectly preserved bronze tablet under the
pavement just inside the Sphinx Gate in Boğazköy: Upper City.
The text, of 350 lines of cuneiform Hittite, is of a treaty drawn up
between Tudhaliya IV and Kurunta. The preamble clarifies the role
of Kurunta in the years following his uncle’s usurpation of the
throne from Urhi-Tesub, as well as providing welcome new data
on historical geography.

KUŞAKLI. Located south of the provincial center Sivas, this is cur-

rently the site of excavations directed by Andreas Müller-Karpe.
This has been identified with the Hittite Sarissa, listed by Muwa-
talli II in his long prayer invoking the Hittite gods and goddesses
in relation to their respective cult centers. For this city the Storm-
God, Ishtar and unnamed gods and goddesses are mentioned. Sa-
rissa was associated with the widespread cult of a god of the coun-
tryside, whose symbol was a stag.
Kuşaklı has yielded Hittite building levels of both Old King-
dom and Empire. On the west slope three levels have been distin-
guished, the earliest of the Old Kingdom. The plans of houses of
Empire date are similar to those found at Alışar Höyük: in domes-
tic buildings continuity of design is unremarkable. There are both
differences and similarities in architecture compared with
Boğazköy. The design of the city gate of Kuşaklı is more akin to
plans seen in Syria than at Boğazköy, where this plan is not found.
Similarities to Boğazköy are the use of a causeway as access to the
 KUSSARA ● 169

city gate and of drilled stone blocks, some filled with burnt wood.
Temple II was a major structure, with at least 83 rooms, forming a
single complex around a central court: there were two entrances,
each three meters wide, one having a guardroom. This temple was
possibly dedicated to the Storm-God, associated with a major-
ity of Hittite cities. Tablets indicate the presence of archives in a
major center not too far removed from Maşat Höyük.

KUSSARA. Earlier identification of this city with Alışar 10TB–C has

been abandoned in favor of a more southerly location, probably in
the Anti-Taurus region on one of the trade routes from Assyria,
possibly near the Roman site of Commana Cappadociae.
Kussara attained its highest status during the later Colony pe-
riod, ca.1900–1750 BC, when it was the seat of the dynasty of
Pithana and his son Anitta, before shifting their center of power to
Nesa (Kanes). Hittite military and political power was first built
up at Kussara, even if there was no blood line linking Anitta with
Hattusili I and his successors. At his accession (ca.1650 BC) Hat-
tusili I was based at Kussara, though soon establishing his new
center of government on the ruins of Hattusa. Yet he must surely
have retained a royal palace at Kussara, for it was there that he held
a great assembly shortly before his death. It would seem a rather
inexplicable move of the chief seat of government northward, away
from a site relatively accessible to Syria and Mesopotamia, during
the reign of the very king who initiated Hittite military and politi-
cal involvement in the heartland of Near Eastern civilization.
Awareness of the constant threat from the Kaska tribes to the north
seems the likeliest explanation.

KUWALIYA. A land formerly located in the area around Lake

Beyşehir, now identified as Hapalla. In accordance with the west-
ward shift of a number of geographical names in Anatolia, Ku-
waliya now seems likely to have included the upper Meander val-
ley, in the modern province of Denizli, and thus the major site of
Beycesultan, even though the Late Bronze buildings excavated
there are not on the same scale as the Middle Bronze burnt palace
of Beycesultan V. It lay along the Astarpa River (Akar Çay?),
across from the frontier with Hatti. Kuwaliya would thus cover the
route southwest to Dinar on one branch of the upper Maeander, and
could well have included the other branch and thus the district of
modern Çivril and Bronze Age Beycesultan. Alternatively, Mira
may have extended far enough south from the area of Kütahya to
170 ● KUZI-TESUB

include Beycesultan.

KUZI-TESUB. He became known from publication in 1986 of seal

impressions excavated at Lidar Höyük on the Euphrates River. He
is styled “King of Carchemish, son of Talmi-Tesub.” He was thus
the fifth generation of viceroys descended from Suppiluliuma I.
In 1987 Kuzi-Tesub was identified as the grandfather in the gene-
alogies of two different kings of Malatya who were brothers,
where—on their monumental hieroglyphic inscriptions—he has
the titles of “Great King, Hero of Carchemish.”
Kuzi-Tesub was in office in Carchemish when the downfall of
Hattusa brought the end of the Hittite Empire. His claim to the
status and title of Great King derived from his being the great-
great-great-grandson of Suppiluliuma I: he presumably assumed
this title after the end of the dynasty of Hattusa. He formed a link
between the line of viceroys and a dynasty of at least four genera-
tions recorded at Malatya.

-L-

LABARNA (before 1650 BC). This king was regarded by his succes-
sors as the founder of the royal dynasty, and his name was assumed
as a title by each king on his accession, though for his lifetime
only, not after death. Clearly therefore his achievements must have
been such as to command lasting respect; and it seems most im-
probable that he could have been confused with his grandson Hat-
tusili I, even though their military feats are described in similar
language by Telipinu in his Proclamation. Labarna was more
likely to have been the grandfather than the uncle of Hattusili I,
who recalled the rebellion against him as a warning against dis-
unity in the kingdom.
Labarna was probably based at Kussara, previously the ances-
tral home of Pithana and Anitta and the likely focus of the early
Hittite kingdom. There are no surviving records from his reign, the
one major source being the later Proclamation of Telipinu, well
over a century after his death. This included a historical prologue
containing a message for posterity, namely, that only at times of
unity in the royal family and stability in the Hittite homeland was
military expansion possible. Had Labarna himself achieved this
stability early in his reign, or did he inherit it? There is just a pos-
sibility that an earlier king, Huzziya, preceded him.
 LALANDA ● 171

Labarna conquered far-flung regions as far south as the Medi-

terranean. Though there is no mention of campaigning in Arzawa,
he did reach the Konya Plain. A suggestion that he may have been
responsible for the burning of the palace of Beycesultan V is thus
very doubtful. A later date, in the reign of Hattusili I, would fit the
Hittite records. The Proclamation of Telipinu mentions the con-
quest of Hupisna, Tuwanuwa, Nenassa, Landa, Zallana, Parsu-
hanta and Lusa—assigned to his sons to govern, summing matters
up thus: “Formerly Labarna was the Great King. Then were his
sons, his brothers, his relations by marriage, his (blood) relations
and his troops united. And the land was small.”
The name of this king, like many in Hatti, was of Hattic origin
and thus non-Indo-European, being written Labarna in Hittite but
Tabarna in Akkadian and Luwian.

LALANDA. An area within the Lower Land, whose rulers prudently

submitted to Hannutti, the general appointed by Suppiluliuma I to
consolidate the recently reclaimed Hittite hold on the Lower Land,
when they feared retribution from the Hittite army. Later, early in
the reign of Tudhaliya IV, their rebellion is mentioned in a letter
from the king to Puduhepa, his mother, when the people are de-
scribed as “notorious troublemakers.” This rebellion was sup-
pressed.

LANDA. One of the conquered areas, in or near the Lower Land,

assigned by Labarna to his sons to govern. It is listed between
Tuwanuwa and Nenassa and between Zallara and Parsuhanta.

LAND GRANTS. These were probably given as early as the reign of

Hattusili I, though surviving examples date to ca.1500–1300 BC,
or late Old Kingdom and early Empire (the so-called Middle
Kingdom). As reward for services rendered or to ensure their loy-
alty, Hittite officials were granted land in different localities: the
king thus deliberately prevented concentration of wealth and power
and the risk of sedition from a power base. Estates and landed
property granted included not only open land but also gardens,
woods and meadows and even the inhabitants dwelling there.

LANGUAGES. Anatolia was home to several languages whose ante-

cedents can be traced back many generations before the first ap-
pearance of written records on the plateau shortly before the end of
the third millennium BC, in the Old Assyrian karum of Kanes.
172 ● LANGUAGES

Just how many generations back remains uncertain, a matter of

scholarly debate, since the rate of changes and development in lan-
guage cannot be determined with any precision. Such is the ortho-
dox view: exponents of glottochronology, who claim to know what
sounds were produced by people speaking a given time span before
the present day, set out formulae to support their arguments. It is
fair, however, to state that few take them seriously. The principal
spoken languages of the Bronze Age in Anatolia are Hittite, Lu-
wian, Hattic and Hurrian, with Palaic only meagerly represented
in surviving records. Hittite, Luwian and Palaic are undoubtedly
Indo-European, a fact recognized for Hittite for the past century.
Equally clear is the non-Indo-European character of Hurrian. Only
Hattic presents a problem, discussed below. Akkadian was used,
along with Hittite, for official documents, while Sumerian features
in Sumero-Hittite vocabularies, being widely used in the training of
scribes.
In the absence of genetic data such as are now available for
prehistoric Europe, the ethnicity of the various attested population
groups in Anatolia can be studied effectively only in the linguistic
context. To grasp the salient factors in relation to the languages of
prehistoric Anatolia, however, it is essential to go back several mil-
lennia, in an effort to determine their ancestry. This involves con-
sideration of the so-called Indo-Hittite hypothesis, first published
in a lecture by Edgar Sturtevant in the United States in 1938: at
first largely overlooked, with the advent of World War II in
Europe, it was then rejected by most specialists, for reasons not en-
tirely academic. Less than 20 years ago opinion began to change,
under the impact of fresh thinking in Proto-Indo-European (PIE)
research, and now the Indo-Hittite theory has gained growing ac-
ceptance, though inevitably with wide divergences of application,
and still rejected by many scholars. Until this line of inquiry was
developed, it was very difficult to understand how Hittite could
have been the direct ancestor of the majority of Indo-European
languages, given its many idiosyncrasies.
Unlike other Indo-European languages, the Hittite verb is con-
jugated in only two moods, indicative and imperative, and in only
two tenses, present-future and preterite. Moreover, it lacks the
feminine gender, found in Proto-Indo-European languages. These
lost certain elements retained in Hittite, while demonstrating inno-
vations not found in Hittite or the other Anatolian languages. It is
now generally, though not universally, accepted that there was a
separation of Proto-Anatolian (PA) from the linguistic stem origi-
 LANGUAGES ● 173

nating in one ancestral language termed alternatively Pre-PIE or

Proto-Indo-Hittite (PIH). The two problems remaining unsolved
are where and when this separation occurred: the more conserva-
tive view still attracting majority support would place this separa-
tion in the Pontic-Caspian region north and east of the Black Sea,
on the basis of the likely location of the PIE homeland. This must
imply a movement of population from the north into Anatolia, still
impossible to date with any certainty, but perhaps in the late sixth
or fifth millennium BC: the older opinion that such a movement
did not occur till the fourth or even the third millennium BC can be
discounted.
A radically different approach, first advocated in 1987 by
Colin Renfrew, has attracted some support from archaeologists but
much less from linguists: this would locate the earliest Pre-PIE or
PIH homeland in south central Anatolia, including the Konya
Plain, at a date as early as around 7000 BC. By this reconstruction
of developments, the PA linguistic group would have remained on
the Anatolian plateau, while the others, to be termed PIE-speakers,
migrated north into the Pontic-Caspian region, whence they moved
away in stages to form new Indo-European linguistic entities.
Whichever theory is correct, the Anatolian languages evolving
from their PA ancestor were destined eventually to die out, though
only after several millennia, while the main body of Indo-European
languages, from Sanskrit in the east to Celtic in the west, were to
flourish indefinitely.
Efforts to reconstruct the PIH lexicon suggest an economy
with no wheat or rye nor cattle. Words for “sheep” and “wool”
have, however, been detected, but not for flax. The inclusion of
wool in the PIH lexicon has aroused controversy, in the light of the
absence of sheep with fleece suitable for spinning in the Near East
before ca.4000 BC. This has caused linguists to question Ren-
frew’s high dating for the separation of PA from PIE groups. An
inland home for the PIH people has been suggested, since among
terms for landscape there is none for “sea.” Hardly remarkable is
the absence of any word for metal. By this scenario the languages
of the PA group would have begun to evolve at least during the
sixth millennium BC or alternatively by the early fourth millen-
nium, if they had come from a northern homeland.
Of the Indo-European languages spoken in Anatolia in the
Bronze Age, Hittite is by far the best understood, because most
richly preserved in the archives of Hattusa and elsewhere. Wide-
spread as Luwian was as a spoken language, it is still only inade-
174 ● LAROCHE

quately deciphered, though its dialect form, written in hieroglyphs,

is now much better understood as a result of the long labors of
David Hawkins, following earlier false starts. Another derived
dialect form of Luwian was the language of Lukka, Lycian. The
poorly represented Palaic, the language of Pala spoken in part of
northern Anatolia and perhaps over a considerable territory north-
west of the Hittite homeland in the bend of the Marrassantiya
River, was probably closer to Hittite than to Luwian. Two major
non-Indo-European languages were spoken by populations which
arrived at different stages in Anatolia, both of which belonged to
the North Caucasian linguistic family, the Hattians to its western
and the Hurrians to its eastern branch. The latter gained a wide
homeland in the highlands of eastern Anatolia from about the mid–
fourth millennium BC, and then percolated slowly but surely into
much of the Anatolian plateau west of the upper Euphrates, as well
as into Kizzuwadna by the late third millennium BC. The Hattians
appear to have settled earlier in central Anatolia, at least by some
date in the fourth millennium BC. They constituted not a
pre-Indo-European indigenous population, as long assumed, but
rather an intrusive group supplanting the earlier inhabitants and
presumably absorbing many of their traditions. Since that popula-
tion was probably Hittite, it would be fair to claim that Hattian cul-
ture, in spite of its distinctive religious aspects and the affinities of
Hattic, its language, became to a significant degree Indo-European.
While discussion of the different languages evolved in or in-
troduced into Anatolia will tend to stress cultural differences, it
would be mistaken to overstate these. By the second millennium
BC much of the population of the Anatolian plateau was bilingual
or polyglot. At the same time language was a channel for the per-
petuation of ethnicity and cultural identity, in its written form most
strongly represented in the annals compiled by some of the Hittite
kings.

LAROCHE, EMMANUEL. The leading French Hittitologist, publish-

ing seminal works on Hittite language and history, as well as con-
tributions to the decipherment of the Luwian hieroglyphs. Profes-
sor at the Collège de France, formerly director of the French
Institute in Istanbul and excavator of Meydancık, he published
penetrating insights into the meaning of Yazılıkaya.

LATE BRONZE AGE POTTERY. A great number of sites have

yielded an abundance of relevant pottery, published in excavation
 LATE BRONZE AGE POTTERY ● 175

reports including those on Boğazköy, Maşat Höyük, Gordion,

Porsuk Höyük, Kaman-Kalehöyük, Tarsus and Beycesultan. In
general, these sites demonstrate a decline in quality, aesthetic and
technical, of the potter’s craft from the Middle into the Late Bronze
Age, especially in Late Bronze II (Hittite Empire). This is evident
too in the land of Isuwa, notably at Norşuntepe. Beycesultan, lo-
cated in the Arzawa lands, had an entirely different ceramic tradi-
tion until the final period (Beycesultan I), when Late Bronze Age
pottery of central Anatolian types appears, perhaps marking a refu-
gee movement from the Hittite Empire after the fall of Hattusa.
Beycesultan was not finally deserted until around 1000 BC.
The pottery of Boğazköy reveals a considerable degree of con-
tinuity from Büyükkale IVd (contemporary with the Assyrian ka-
rum at the foot of the citadel) until the final period of the Empire
(Büyükkale IIIa), beak-spouted jugs being especially prominent.
There is also a range of handled vessels, flasks, bowls and platters.
It is the finish of the pottery as a whole which displays a steady de-
terioration, pottery no longer carrying the status of earlier times,
presumably supplanted in fashionable circles by metal vessels. One
form distinctive of the last century or so of the Hittite Empire is a
stumpy version of the beak-spouted jug, with thick stem and heavy
ring base, the whole being smaller than the majority of beak-
spouted jugs. As for surface treatment, a creamy white slip only
very slightly burnished is distinctive of some Late Bronze Age
wares in and well beyond the Hittite homeland. Many jugs have a
round base, and lentoid flasks are common in the 13th century BC.
Open bowls with round base and often with inverted rim are very
common, and naturally well represented in surface collections of
sherds from numerous sites. Many bowls have triangular handles,
occurring from Büyükkale IVd at least down to the early Empire.
Originality was hardly the mark of the Hittite potter.
The Late Bronze pottery from Gordion, after intensive study,
has yielded technical and comparative data for the time of the Hit-
tite Empire. Standardization of forms and rather careless finishing
characterize the Gordion pottery. Painted pottery with unsophisti-
cated linear decoration, very rare at Boğazköy, occurs also at Gor-
dion. Color ranges from creamy white through buff to reddish or-
ange or brown. Wheelmade and handmade pottery and vessels
turned on a slow wheel are all found, the coil method often being
employed for larger vessels such as pithoi. Simple surface smooth-
ing was commoner than a slip. Small shallow bowls with rounded
rim, about 17 centimeters in diameter and similar to examples from
176 ● LATE BRONZE AGE POTTERY

Maşat Höyük and Boğazköy, are typical. Production techniques

mirrored those found at Hattusa, though not every form found there
occurs at provincial Gordion. Nevertheless, it seems plain that pro-
duction of pottery here greatly exceeded possible local demand.
Here, through trade, pottery was exchanged for raw materials in
demand. Yet it is unlikely that the Gordion vessels were trans-
ported any great distances, since other centers of production would
have made this inappropriate.
At the time of the excavations at Tarsus this was one of the
most important sites for the study of Anatolian Late Bronze Age
pottery, and remains so today. Plain monochrome ware came into
general use in Late Bronze IIa (ca.1450–1180 BC), continuing in
Late Bronze IIb (ca.1180–1100BC). Wet smoothing and more
commonly burnishing in streaks are found in use. The sharply cari-
nated bowls of Late Bronze I are replaced in Late Bronze IIa by
thick-walled vessels, some with two handles. Shallow bowls and
large flat platters, the ubiquitous hallmark of Hittite pottery, appear
in Late Bronze IIa Tarsus, while high-pedestaled bowls had van-
ished. Jugs with round or pointed base outnumber those with flat or
ring base and trefoil mouth, typical of the Hittite Old Kingdom
(Late Bronze I) at Tarsus, pottery being generally wheelmade.
There was less ceramic continuity at Tarsus from Late Bronze
I to Late Bronze IIa (Old Kingdom to Empire) than in the same pe-
riods at Boğazköy, where earlier slipped, highly burnished wares
persisted under the Empire, suggesting more conservative potters.
Imported pottery—from Alasiya (Cyprus) and Syria—was rare at
Tarsus, where Mycenaean pottery of “Granary” style (Late Hel-
ladic IIIC) occurs only in the Late Bronze IIb levels, brought by
the Sea Peoples after the sack of the public buildings of the time of
the Empire.
Porsuk Höyük (Level V) has yielded abundant Late Bronze
Age pottery, overwhelmingly plain, with a very few sherds with
painted decoration. At Kilise Tepe there was strong ceramic conti-
nuity from Middle to Late Bronze Age, the most marked changes
coming between Early Bronze III and Middle Bronze Age.
At Boğazköy flasks and bottles of coarse ware with rope im-
pressions first appear with the reign of Tudhaliya IV; and these
occur in small numbers in the final phase of Beycesultan II, whose
pottery had developed from the rich variety of forms found already
in Beycesultan III. Most distinctive is the “champagne glass,” with
shallow bowl and tall thin stem. Not only shapes but also wares are
of metallic inspiration, with yellow, red and silvery mica in the
 LAWAZANTIYA ● 177

clay imitating gold, copper/bronze and silver respectively.

With Beycesultan I, after the burning of the previous level, 24
new forms of pottery appear beside 27 preexisting forms. Diverse
elements occur, including instantly recognizable central Anatolian
Hittite forms, such as highly burnished red, orange or porcelain-
colored flasks, lentoid bottles, hemispherical bowls with lids and
coarse-ware platters and large dishes. The fine flasks occur in the
15th–14th century BC levels at Boğazköy, disappearing by the
time that the other, less refined pottery appears there. At Beycesul-
tan I, however, they occur together.

LAWAZANTIYA. Telipinu campaigned to the southeast against La-

wazantiya, Zizzilippa and Hassuwa, the first two later recorded as
belonging to Kizzuwadna, in its northeastern area. This city came
into the limelight not long after the battle of Kadesh, when Hat-
tusili, then serving his elder brother Muwatalli II, was permitted
to return north. En route from Syria, he visited Lawazantiya, to
perform rituals in honor of Ishtar, his divine protectress. There
perhaps the most significant event of his life occurred, apart from
his seizure of the throne, when he met and married Puduhepa,
daughter of a priest of the goddess and herself a priestess. Hattusili
declared his marriage to have been made in heaven, although it
does seem to have been based on genuine affection. He could not
linger in Lawazantiya, for serious troubles in his northern viceroy-
alty demanded his urgent attention.

LAWRENCE, THOMAS EDWARD (1888–1935). It is not univer-

sally realized that the man best known as Lawrence of Arabia and
the author of The Seven Pillars of Wisdom began his career in ar-
chaeology, after leaving Oxford. He went to the Levant in order to
study Crusader castles for his intended thesis. He was recruited by
D.G. Hogarth for the British Museum excavations at Carchem-
ish, where he continued to work until the advent of World War I,
through the seasons of 1911–1914. He and C. L. Woolley were
engaged in the spring of 1914 to carry out an archaeological survey
of the Negev, at that time a sensitive frontier region within the Ot-
toman Turkish Empire, adjoining British-controlled Egypt and of
interest to the authorities in Cairo at a time of growing interna-
tional tension.

LAZPA(S). A dependency of the Seha River Land under Manapa-

Tarhunda, it was attacked by Piyamaradu. Close to the land of Wi-
178 ● LELWANI

lusa, Lazpa can confidently be identified with the island of Lesbos.

Less certain is the recent suggestion that it was the base from
which Achilles and his forces landed near Troy, though probably
some distance to the south of the city. It was the earliest Greek
foothold off the north sector of the Aegean coast.

LELWANI. Hattian goddess of the Underworld, associated with the

chthonic role of the Sun-Goddess. She attracted Hittite veneration
ever since the Old Kingdom, when she had a sanctuary on
Boğazköy: Büyükkale; but she did not attain her highest status un-
til the reign of Hattusili III, when Puduhepa frequently prayed to
Lelwani to cure her ailing husband, the king.

LIMMU. A uniquely Assyrian institution, the limmu was appointed for

one year only, seemingly with no powers attached to the office but
a certain honorific status. Normally an Assyrian king became
limmu at his accession. Assyrian historical records tend to refer to
the limmu for a particular year, sometimes an invaluable aid for
absolute chronology.

LITUUS. Numerous examples on Hittite reliefs and seals long seemed

to indicate a purely ritual or ceremonial function for this long staff,
curving at its foot and ending in a spiral, so common in sculpture
and glyptic art alike. The best known examples are perhaps at
Yazılıkaya, in the figure of Tudhaliya IV in Chamber A and of
the same king in the embrace of his protector god Sarruma in
Chamber B. The lituus of Rome was used by the augur, and this
Latin word is still in general usage among Hittite specialists,
though the Hittite word is thought to be kalmus.
There is ample evidence, however, to assign a specific origin
to the lituus, even if it often came to be ceremonial in character.
This was the throwing stick, an essential item in the equipment for
falconry, used to flush out game and in the hunting of hares: once
flushed out, the game was chased, brought down and killed by the
falcon or the hunter. In Anatolia, falconers long carried these
throwing sticks, sometimes being depicted brandishing them.
Curved metal sheaths, 15 to 22 centimeters in length, in many
of the Early Bronze II tombs of Alaca Höyük may well have be-
longed to the curved throwing sticks (litui) seen in the following
period. These began to appear over the shoulders of falconers on
Anatolian-style seal impressions, notably from Kanes and Acem-
höyük in the time of Karum II. At Fraktin Hattusili III is de-
 LLOYD ● 179

picted pouring a libation to a god shouldering the lituus. At

Yazılıkaya the “stag god” Karzi (no. 32 in the male procession in
Chamber A) may well be carrying a lituus. The bullae of Kurunta
show a god on a stag brandishing a lituus behind him, presumably
about to throw it.
The longer lituus seems to be the earlier form, surviving into
the Iron Age at Malatya, carried by a king, and by a god on a lion
at Guzanu. A very short lituus is carried by gods at Malatya, while
the falconers with lituus at Zincirli appear to be off duty.
The falconers of Bronze Age and Iron Age Anatolia can justly
be seen as the forerunners of those practicing this skilled sport in
much later generations. The explanation of the lituus in Hittite art,
otherwise having no obvious function, as the falconer’s throwing
stick poses the question why it seems to have assumed a regular
significance in courtly ritual and monumental art. Hunting was
ever a prime diversion for kings, princes and nobility from the te-
dium of affairs of state. But could this possibly represent a survival
from times long passed, when hunting played a leading role in the
economy? If so, royal prowess in this field—and nowhere more
forcibly than in falconry—would have been a mark of leadership in
food gathering, not merely in sport. This could hark back to the
very first days of Hittite settlement in Anatolia, for which the evi-
dence to date remains all too sparse.

LLOYD, SETON (1902–1996). After qualifying as an architect

(1926), he began a distinguished archaeological career briefly in
Egypt and then for nearly 20 years in Iraq, notably with the Chi-
cago expedition to the Diyala valley north of Baghdad and at Eridu
in the far south. In 1949 he came to Turkey to succeed the founder,
John Garstang¸ as director of the British Institute of Archaeology
at Ankara (1949–1961), subsequently holding the Chair of Western
Asiatic Archaeology in the London Institute of Archaeology
(1962–1969). While at Ankara he directed excavations succes-
sively at Sultantepe (Harran), Polatli, Beycesultan and (jointly
with the author) at Kayalidere in Urartu. He brought with him the
benefits of a training in architecture, in this respect unlike the ma-
jority of British and American archaeologists working in the Near
East but in line with the German tradition. His disentangling of the
heavily burned ruins of the Middle Bronze Age palace of Beyce-
sultan V was an outstanding achievement.
Like Leonard Woolley, Seton Lloyd was a fluent writer, with
a gift not shared by all his successors of being able to bring ar-
180 ● LOWER LAND

chaeology in the Near East to the general reading public. His

Foundations in the Dust told the colorful tale of the pioneering
days of archaeology in Mesopotamia. He was also the author of
many excavation reports and articles.

LOWER LAND. This stretch of territory covered the Konya Plan and
beyond to the southwest border of Hatti proper. Its possession was
essential for the security of the Hittite homeland and for control of
the main route south into Kizzuwadna and thence into north Syria.
The most critical phase in the history of the Lower Land, from
the Hittite viewpoint, came with its fall to western invaders from
Arzawa during the dark days of Tudhaliya III. It was here that his
son had his first major confrontation with the Arzawan enemy,
successfully expelling his forces from the Lower Land, though
only after hard fighting. After his accession Suppiluliuma I, to end
this threat to the Hittite homeland, appointed a seasoned com-
mander, Hannutti, as governor. He was provided with infantry and
chariotry, enabling him in due course to move against the Ar-
zawan state of Hapalla.
Lalanda was an area which had come to heel at this time, but
rebelled later, early in the reign of Tudhaliya IV, who feared for
the security of Hittite rule in the whole Lower Land. Moreover, the
secession of Tarhuntassa, obscure as the precise course of events
remains, involved the southern areas of the Konya Plain, thus im-
pinging on the Lower Land. This was Luwian territory, as demon-
strated by the principalities of the early first millennium BC.

LUKKA. The region known by this name was the precursor of the
Classical Lycia, extending over the southwestern corner of modern
Turkey and increasingly popular with tourists. Though featuring
quite frequently in the Hittite records, it was never one unified
kingdom, and thus could not be brought under vassalage. Nor was
its population at all consistent in loyalty to the kings in Hattusa,
for there was often the contrary influence of Arzawa, the long-
standing opponent of the Hittite state.
The men of the Lukka Lands had a long tradition of seafaring,
which they put to good use through piracy in the eastern Mediter-
ranean, at least from the Amarna period in the 14th century BC,
with Greek historical sources revealing the depredations of Lycian
pirates. In the Late Bronze Age they commanded the sea route
from the Mycenaean world (Ahhiyawa) eastward to Alasiya (Cy-
prus) and Ugarit. Lycian was an Indo-European language, one of
 LUSCHAN ● 181

those derived from Luwian.

LUSCHAN, FELIX VON (1854–1924). Anthropologist and prehisto-

rian, directing excavations at Zincirli (Sam’al) (1888, 1890–1891,
1894 and 1902).

LUWIAN. This language has been described as more vigorous than

Hittite by as early as ca.2000 BC, with its cuneiform variety
drawing on Hurrian and Akkadian scribal traditions and its sepa-
rate, indigenous hieroglyphic variety. It is therefore rather surpris-
ing to find it so poorly deciphered compared with Hittite. One Rus-
sian specialist detected no fewer than 53 features distinguishing
Luwian from Hittite; but his employment of the technique of glot-
tochronology must put a question mark over his conclusions, which
do not readily square with the Indo-Hittite hypothesis. Neverthe-
less, it is of interest to note his highlighting words connected with a
number of aspects of everyday life and religion, which appear dis-
tinctive of Luwian and Hittite respectively, such as terms relating
to wheeled vehicles, military matters and personnel, women, wine
and vine, water and washing. As for religion, there are indications
that evil was associated with the left side, and the right side with
good luck. The Luwian language was ancestral to languages which
evolved in western Anatolia—Lycian, Lydian and probably also
Carian—in the early first millennium BC, the first of these being
the language of Bronze Age Lukka.
The spread of Luwian eastward into Kizzuwadna may well,
on the evidence of pottery, have initially come about by maritime
links from the Lukka Lands and the Aegean region; but by the time
of the Hittite Empire there was certainly a landward expansion of
Luwian-speaking people, with their extensive penetration of the
homeland of Hatti. This may, however, have occurred largely
through the Hittite policy of deportation, deliberately increasing
the population of the homeland for military and economic pur-
poses. The original settlement of Kizzuwadna by Luwian immi-
grants may be associated with the appearance at Tarsus of pottery
with parallels at Troy and elsewhere in the west, notably the “red
cross” bowls of Troy V dating to late in the third millennium BC.
Luwian survived as a spoken language over the wide Neo-
Hittite zone during the Iron Age, down to the destruction of the
city-states by Assyria late in the eighth century BC. Ironically it
was Hittite, in spite of being better represented in surviving re-
cords, which began to decline as a spoken language well before the
182 ● LUWIYA

fall of Hattusa, an event which brought about its disappearance

from the linguistic map. The virility of the Luwian language is
demonstrated by its manifestation in two scripts, cuneiform and hi-
eroglyphic, the latter becoming the dominant medium of royal re-
cords by the reign of Tudhaliya IV. Grammatical divergences be-
tween cuneiform and hieroglyphic Luwian are exemplified by the
absence of a genitive case from the former and its presence in the
latter.

LUWIYA. A term applied by the Hittites to the greater part of western

Anatolia in the Old Kingdom, in a general ethnic and geographical
sense. This was supplanted by the name Arzawa, when political
entities became more clearly defined, but it reveals the Luwian ba-
sis of the population.

-M-

MACQUEEN, JAMES G. A student of Oliver Gurney, he carried

out an archaeological survey around the Salt Lake. Subsequently
(until 1992) at the University of Bristol, he has contributed to the
debate on historical geography, especially of western Anatolia,
tending to accept the views of James Mellaart. He is the author of
The Hittites and Their Contemporaries in Asia Minor (revised
1986).

MAGIC. No ancient Near Eastern people could cope with the hazards
of life, not least with war and sickness, without the penetrating
power of magic. In some sense it was the link between the more
complex manifestations of religion and the unsophisticated beliefs
and practices of the majority of the population, undirected by priest
or scribe. Though the Hittites owed much to Mesopotamian and
Hurrian traditions, their magical texts were a collection of indi-
vidual prescriptions rather than official products of temple schools.
It was not so much the heartland as the outlying regions, nota-
bly Kizzuwadna and Arzawa, that supplied a large number of
those skilled in the magical arts. Linked with these was the art of
divination. Only when a god or goddess was involved were
prayers and sacrifices necessarily incorporated to reinforce the
rituals of magic.
Hittite magical texts are more illuminating than those of
Mesopotamia and Egypt, for the name of the practitioner, his or her
 MAGIC ● 183

profession and sometimes also the nature of the emergency requir-

ing attention are clearly described in the opening words and in the
colophon at the end of the tablet. In Mesopotamia, however, the
priest acted merely as the agent or intermediary of the god Ea, god
of the waters, dictating instructions to his son, thus in the second
person. In Egypt magical spells or rites were ascribed to Thoth,
ibis-headed scribe of the gods. Early in the Old Testament Yahveh
conveys ritual instructions to his subordinate Moses.
Most of those practicing magic were women, among whom
the “Old Woman” or “Wise Woman” features most prominently.
Rarer professions associated with magic were those of midwife,
doctor, temple slave and temple singer. Male magicians were de-
scribed either as a priest or, more often, as a type of diviner. One
ritual is attributed to a king of Kizzuwadna, Palliya, thus antedating
the annexation of this region to the Hittite Empire.
Animals were prominent in Hittite magical practice, ranging
from bull to ram to goat to mouse. This last features in one of the
simplest rituals:

She (the Old Woman) wraps up a small piece of tin in a

bowstring, and attaches it to the patients’ right hands and
feet; then she takes it off again, and attaches it to a mouse,
saying: “I have taken the evil off you and attached it to this
mouse. Let this mouse carry it on a long journey to the high
mountains, hills and dales.”

The technical word for such a scapegoat or animal carrier is

nakkussi, revealed in a ritual of the city of Samuha in the Upper
Land, designed to purge the king of any defilement caused by
curses. Many creatures—human beings, animals and birds—could
function as nakkussi. This was a Hurrian word, reaching Hatti, like
most Hurrian terms, from Kizzuwadna. The idea of a living carrier
to remove evil from the community appears in Syria as well as in
Anatolia. One exception to the norm that the nakkussi was a living
being was a boat, occurring in the ritual of Samuha: “They make
little oaths and curses of silver and gold, and place them in the
(silver- and gold-lined) boat.”
The river was seen as bearing the uncleanness downstream. In
common with the Hebrews of the Old Testament and other peoples
of the ancient Near East, the concept of the scapegoat was funda-
mental to Hittite magical practice. The English word “scapegoat”
clearly derives from the Old Testament (Leviticus 16), where
Aaron is ordered to take two goats and to cast lots. One is to be of-
184 ● MAGIC

fered to the Lord (Yahveh) for a sin offering; but the goat on which
the lot falls is to be presented alive “for a scapegoat” (Authorized
Version, 1611), surely as good a translation as any of the modern
versions. This was to make atonement and to be released into the
wilderness: “The goat shall carry all their iniquities upon itself into
some barren waste, and the man shall let it go, there in the wilder-
ness.”
The concept of a moral dimension, or sin, in connection with
the scapegoat was apparently unique to the Hebrews, with their in-
cipient monotheism. For the Hittites and others the scapegoat was
commonly employed to remove harm from the army before battle
or from the royal family, plague and pestilence being a recurrent
menace. The Hittites might lay a wreath of colored wool on a
ram’s head, then drive it toward the enemy, according to a pre-
scription of one named Uhhamuwa, a magician from Arzawa in the
west. The ritual of Pulisa requires a bull to be garlanded, the pre-
scription ending thus:

Whatever god of the enemy country has caused this pesti-

lence, if it be a male god, I have given thee a lusty, deco-
rated bull with earrings. Be thou content with it. This bull
shall take the pestilence back to the enemy country.

And he does the same with a decorated ewe, if it be a female

deity.
A more elaborate if similar prescription—that of Ashkella, a
man of Hapalla—is inscribed on the same tablet as the ritual of
Uhhanuwa mentioned above:

Each army commander, the evening before battle, is to pre-

pare a ram, twining a cord of white, red and green wool; a
necklace, ring and chalcedony stone are to be hanged on
the ram’s neck and horns. At night they tie the rams in front
of the tents and say: “Whatever deity has caused this pesti-
lence, now I have tied up these rams for you, be appeased!”
With each ram in the morning they take one jug of beer,
one loaf and one cup of milk (?). Then in front of the king’s
tent he makes a finely dressed woman sit, and puts with her
a jar of beer and three loaves. . . .The rams and the woman
carry the loaves and the beer through the army, and they
chase them out to the plain. And they go running on to the
enemy’s frontier without coming to any place of ours, and
the people say: “Look! Whatever illness there was among
men, oxen, sheep, horses, mules and donkeys in this camp,
 MAKRIDI ● 185

these rams and this woman have carried it away from the
camp. And the country that finds them shall take over this
evil pestilence.”

The animal in each case is offered to the enemy deity in lieu of

human flesh. Evidently there was a strong prophylactic basis to
much, if not most, of Hittite magic and its attendant rituals. The
appropriate ceremonies must have been seen as essential for the
morale of the army; ill fortune would immediately have been
blamed on any failure in this respect. It is hard, however, to avoid
the impression that the Hittite kings ensured that such rituals func-
tioned in the higher interests of the state.

MAKRIDI, THEODOR. Conservator in the Imperial Ottoman Mu-

seum in Constantinople. He undertook excavations with Hugo
Winckler at Boğazköy (1906–1907 and 1911–1912), as well as
previously with him at Sidon in Phoenicia. At Boğazköy he has
been described as “companion, collaborator, government official
and executive head of the expedition all rolled into one.” He had
no idea how to control the excavations, keeping hardly any records,
nor preventing robbery of tablets and other finds at Hattusa.

MALATYA (ARSLANTEPE). This site, now best known for its

fourth-millennium BC occupation, is one of three locations for this
settlement, situated in a very fertile, well-watered plain just west of
the upper Euphrates and commanding a major trade route from
north Syria and Mesopotamia into central Anatolia. The early town
is located at Arslantepe, a stratified settlement mound; then in the
Greco-Roman period it moved some kilometers to the site of Me-
litene, now called Eski (Old) Malatya; and finally it moved to the
present location of the burgeoning Turkish provincial capital, the
home ground of Atatürk’s successor, Ismet Inönü.
Three expeditions have excavated at Arslantepe in the past 70
years. First was Louis Delaporte (1932–1939); then Claude F. A.
Schaeffer made some soundings, in the early 1950s, leaving a very
useful collection of pottery from successive levels from the fifth
millennium BC onward; but it has been the Italian expedition,
working here regularly since 1961, which has made the greatest
impact, in scale and quality of excavation alike. The first director
was Piero Meriggi (Pavia), followed successively by Salvatore
Puglisi and Alba Palmieri (both University of Rome). After the lat-
ter’s untimely death (1990), the excavations have been directed by
186 ● MALATYA

Marcella Frangipane, whose major discoveries fall too early to be

relevant here.
From ca.2700 BC emerged the local Early Trans-Caucasian
II–III culture of the Elaziğ-Malatya region, characterized by a dis-
tinctive handmade painted pottery (Arslantepe VIC–VID). During
VID a walled town was well laid out to a plan, with large terraces
around the mound. This local culture did not change radically in
the ensuing Middle Bronze Age (ca.2000–1700 BC) (Arslantepe
VA). The Italian expedition began its campaign of excavations in
the northeast area of the site, near the buildings exposed by De-
laporte: here the period of Hittite influence, during and after the
Empire (ca.1500–900 BC), was distinguished by successive phases
of town walls and gates. There does not appear to have been the re-
sistance to Hittite rule implied by the destruction at Korucutepe,
but that town lay within the enemy land of Isuwa.
The first historical reference to Malatya occurs in the context
of a Hittite offensive not long before the beginning of the Empire,
around 1400 BC. Immediately after the fall of the Hittite Empire
and the sack of Hattusa which accompanied that catastrophe,
Kuzi-Tesub was ruling Carchemish as successor to the imperial
viceroyalty, his father Talmi-Tesub having been viceroy during
the reign of Suppiluliuma II. The territory under his rule stretched
along the west side of the Euphrates River, from Malatya in the
north through Carchemish to Emar in the south, much reduced
from the bounds of the imperial viceroyalty. Thus began the long
history of Malatya as a Neo-Hittite center, lasting till the later
eighth century BC.
Malatya is an example of the remarkable endurance of a place-
name through many centuries, even millennia: to the Hittites it was
Malidiya; to the Assyrians, Melid or Melidu; to the kings of
Urartu, Meliteia; to Greeks, Romans and Byzantines, Melitene
(Eski Malatya); and Malatya in Turkish times.
Malatya remained relatively peaceful until menaced by the
Assyrian king Tiglath-Pileser I on his fourth campaign (1110 BC),
having advanced through the land of Hanigalbat (originally the
remnant of the kingdom of Mitanni) across the Euphrates, when
he describes Malatya as being within “the great land of Hatti.” That
the territory was predominantly Hurrian is suggested by its earlier
links with Mitanni and further by a hieroglyphic inscription from
Karahöyük (Elbistan) mentioning Arhi-Tesub, king of Malatya.
After a period of weakness in Assyria, Assurnasirpal II (883–
859 BC) summoned envoys from Malatya to the refoundation
 MALATYA ● 187

ceremonies at Nimrud (Kalhu). Shalmaneser III in his sixth cam-

paign received tribute from Sangara of Carchemish and from Lalli,
king of Malatya (853 BC), whose city was also among the objec-
tives of his 15th and 23rd campaigns. Malatya was evidently con-
sidered necessary as a tributary state by the Assyrian kings: it was
the decline of Assyria in the last years of the ninth century BC
which left the way open to Urartian expansion westward under
Menua (ca.810–786 BC). The next recorded king of Malatya was
Suliehauali, mentioned in a rock inscription of Menua carved on
the summit of a natural stronghold at Palu, near the Arsania (Mu-
rat) River. One section of the annals of Argishti I of Urartu
(ca.786–764 BC) deals with campaigns in the west, mentioning
Malatya and its king Hilaruada, though Urartian control in this re-
gion seems to have been firmly established by Menua. At some
date after the accession of the next king of Urartu, Sarduri II
(ca.764–735 BC), Sulamal succeeded Hilaruada as king of Malatya
and joined the ill-starred alliance against Assyria, defeated at Halpa
(Halfeti, not Aleppo) on the banks of the Euphrates and within the
territory of Kummuhi, the Urartian Qumahi and Classical Comma-
gene, lying south of the kingdom of Malatya. This victory by
Tiglath-Pileser III (745–727 BC) began the process of final subju-
gation of the Neo-Hittite city-states and their annexation under di-
rect Assyrian rule rather than as tributary states as hitherto. Sargon
II (722–705 BC) completed this process, involving the destruction
of Melidu (Malatya), which he “smashed like a pot.” Its days as an
independent entity were over.
The excavations under Delaporte revealed significant, if
hardly sophisticated, examples of Neo-Hittite art in the form of re-
liefs of a period when Malatya was enjoying something of a renais-
sance of Hittite civilization from soon after the fall of the Empire.
In due course, by the ninth to eighth centuries BC, cultural contacts
with central Anatolia become evident in the occurrence of Alışar
IV ware: the Euphrates formed a ceramic boundary, with scarcely
any of this pottery to be found on the east side, in the western re-
gion of Urartu, which had its own wares.
The dating of the Malatya reliefs has been raised, so that they
are now attributed to the 12th century BC and thereafter, making
them the earliest examples of Neo-Hittite sculpture. In style they
are forerunners of the Iron Age city of Carchemish, very much Hit-
tite rather than Aramaean, with such details as the distinctive
pointed footwear. Two of the most important reliefs, in the Lion
Gate, are centered on the act of libation, portraying the king pour-
188 ● MALPINAR

ing a liquid offering to the gods, in each case into a handled vessel
with ring base. In one scene the king faces four gods, headed by
the Storm-God, grasping the telltale thunderbolts, with the second
and fourth gods holding an ax over their left shoulder; the second
god appears to be holding a lance. In the other scene the king faces
left toward the Storm-God, and behind him is a related god riding a
heavy wheeled vehicle drawn by a bull, the sculptor having failed
to allow enough space on the block for a competent depiction. This
last bears some similarity to one of the scenes on the gold bowl
from Hasanlu, implying a shared Hurrian cultural heritage. An-
other relief demonstrates the memory in Malatya of the myths of
its Hittite forebears: it shows the fight of the Storm-God against the
dragon Iluyanka, depicted in multi-serpentine form. These reliefs
can be attributed to the 12th and 11th centuries BC. Much later is a
colossal statue of a king of Malatya in semi-Assyrianizing style
and attributable to the eighth century BC.

MALPINAR. This village derives its modern name (“cattle spring”)

from an artificially enlarged cave whence a spring flows into the
Göksu, a tributary of the Euphrates on its west bank and down-
stream from Samsat. The proximity of this spring may well have
influenced the choice of location, 150 meters away, of a hiero-
glyphic rock inscription of Atayazas, largely dealing with offerings
to his “statue.” He styles himself “River-Lord of the cities Sarita
and Sukita,” with his overlord Hattusili being entitled “Ruler,
King.” The style is similar to the Boybeypınarı blocks, naming
“Panamuwatis, wife of Suppiluliuma the Ruler. . . .mother of Hat-
tusili.” The Assyrian annals mention kings of Kummuh (Comma-
gene) by the names of Qatazili and Ispululume (Hattusili and Sup-
piluliuma), recorded in the annals of Assurnasirpal II and
Shalmaneser III (883–824 BC) and of Adad-nirari III and Shal-
maneser IV (809–772 BC) respectively. It is clearly these who are
named at Boybeypınari. By ca.750 BC another ruler, Kustaspi, was
on the throne of Kummuhu, being the victim of an Urartian offen-
sive recorded in the annals carved at Van of Sarduri II of Urartu.

MAMA. A kingdom flourishing only during the Old Assyrian period,

it is best known from the letter written for Anum-hirbi, its king,
and dispatched to Inar, then king of Kanes. Periodically at war,
these kingdoms shared a common interest in protecting the profit-
able Old Assyrian trade, from which both benefited. While the
precise location of Mama is uncertain, it probably was centered ei-
 MARI ● 189

ther at Göksün or in the Elbistan plain. If in the latter, its distance

east of Kanes implies that, with their vassal territories, these two
kingdoms commanded a wide territory controlling the route of the
trade into Anatolia from Assur.

MARI. Major city on the right bank of the middle Euphrates, coming
into indirect contact with the Hittite sphere through Emar, Car-
chemish and Aleppo in the early second millennium BC. Its pros-
perity always depended on transit trade between the cities of
Mesopotamia and those of Anatolia and the Mediterranean coast,
though it had workshops for textiles and other industries, flourish-
ing at the same time as the Old Assyrian trade with Kanes and be-
yond.
The great palace of Mari, eventually comprising over 250
rooms and covering more than 34 hectares, was repeatedly en-
larged over four centuries, until its destruction by Hammurabi of
Babylon. The ruler of Ugarit asked Hammurabi to present his son
to Zimri-Lim, last of the kings of Mari, to enable him to widen his
education by visiting one of the recognized wonders of the world.
This combined several functions, being the private residence of the
royal family, the center of the civil service, the place of reception
for foreign visitors and embassies and the depot for taxes and trib-
ute received in the form of food and other commodities needing
extensive storage space, a feature it had in common with all ancient
Near Eastern palaces.
Some 25,000 cuneiform clay tablets were recovered by the
French expedition under the late André Parrot in the inter war sea-
sons, the work on the site having resumed after World War II. Of
these 1,600 were found in one room, evidently an archive, within
the civil service quarters and close to two rooms with benches and
exercise tablets, the school rooms for the young trainee scribes.
One of the most interesting aspects of life in Mari, as revealed
by its tablets, is the evidence for the relations of the settled urban
population and agriculturalists with the pastoralists exploiting the
less fertile land outside the limits of irrigation. If such a delicate
balance of differing interests obtained also in the less fertile parts
of Anatolia, as for instance the environs of Acemhöyük, there is
no documentation yet found.
The removal of Mari, which never revived, from the interna-
tional scene indirectly assisted the rise of the kingdom of Mitanni
and eventually also the expansion of Assyria.
190 ● MARRASSANTIYA

MARRASSANTIYA RIVER. The Hittite name of the river forming

the natural but by no means impregnable frontier of the homeland
of Hatti, from southeast to northwest. This was the Halys of Clas-
sical times and today the Kızıl Irmak (Red River), from the silt
brought down each spring. This river is too shallow and swift-
flowing to be suitable for navigation.

MARRIAGE. The Hittite attitude to marriage was down-to-earth and

tolerant for the times. Naturally the economic aspects loomed large
in the formalities leading up to official marriages, with substantial
gift exchange, including the “bride-price” (kusata). While present-
day thinking would not suggest a privileged position for married
women in Hittite society compared with their husbands, the laws
of property were by no means one-sided. A wife retained the
dowry provided on marriage by her family, with the view of its
eventual inheritance by her children: only if she predeceased her
husband did he acquire the investment represented by his wife’s
dowry; and, if Babylonian practice was observed, this wealth might
descend directly to the children. Nor were arrangements as
straightforward as might be expected: if the wife went to become a
member of her husband’s family household, her dowry passed
from the donors, her family, in a “patrilocal” marriage; but some-
times, for whatever reason, the young husband went to live with
his wife’s family, in a “matrilocal” marriage, when he surrendered
his economic rights.
In some circumstances, such as marriage between a male slave
and a free woman, her status might be at risk. Young persons were
cautioned against this type of mixed marriage, but it was not for-
bidden. Incest—such as intercourse with a sister-in-law—was
strictly forbidden, as for the same reason was homosexual inter-
course within the family: this seems to have been intended more as
a protection of health than a moral judgment. This was of course
different from Mosaic Law, though Hittite custom happened to
parallel Hebrew tradition, as stated in Deuteronomy 25: 5–6, posi-
tively enjoining the survivor of brothers to take his widowed sister-
in-law as wife, with any offspring being given his dead brother’s
name. Thus was each branch of the family to be preserved.
With the notable exception of the king, who might take a
number of wives through diplomatic alliances, monogamy was the
norm in Hittite society, even for junior members of the royal fam-
ily. Infighting might quite often have been averted if the king had
been content with one wife and her children!
 MASA ● 191

Rape, adultery and divorce all feature in the Hittite records.

There was a genuine attempt to face the difficult question of con-
sent in relation to rape: location, the laws decided, was the deter-
mining factor. If a man raped a married woman on the mountain-
side, he must die; if in her house, she must die. Adultery was a
very serious offense in Hittite law. A husband committing a crime
passionel by killing his wife and her lover if caught in flagrante
delicto had committed no crime; but if he later sought recompense,
he was obliged to go to court. His wife’s fate would then depend
largely on his decision: he might take her back and “veil” her, or he
might demand her death, along with her lover’s. The sentence then
lay with the king or his judges. Sparing his wife meant, however,
also sparing the life of her lover.
Marriages might be formal, with the kusata arrangement, or
they might be simple cohabitation. In either type, divorce proceed-
ings could be initiated by husband or wife, quite regardless of so-
cial status. Normally all but one child went with the wife after di-
vorce, and property was equally divided. Occasionally divorce
occurred in the highest circles, causing serious diplomatic reper-
cussions, as happened with two kings of Ugarit, Ammistamru II
and Ammurapi.
Hittite marriages could be affairs of the heart, as seems to have
been true of at least two royal marriages, that of Mursili II, devas-
tated by the untimely death of his first wife, and the famous union
of Hattusili III with Puduhepa. In the latter case it is clear that the
queen successfully combined conjugal and political roles.

MASA. A land difficult to locate with certainty, Masa seems to have

shifted from a more northerly region, not too far east of Wilusa,
southward toward Lukka, on the evidence of the Hittite records.
One explanation could be that the people of Masa were semi-
nomadic, and that the name represents a population group more
than a well-defined territory.
A northerly location is indicated by most of the relevant Hittite
records, from the campaign of Suppiluliuma I with his father
Tudhaliya III against the lands of Masa and Kamalla through the
capture of a disloyal vassal (Mashuiluwa) by Mursili II in his 12th
year to the destruction of Masa by Muwatalli II. As recorded in
his treaty with Alaksandu, he was coming to the aid of Wilusa.
Later, Piyamaradu was causing trouble for Hattusili III in Masa
and Karkiya.
In the reign of Suppiluliuma II Masa was among the targets
192 ● MAŞAT HÖYÜK

of the first part of his western campaign, along with lands includ-
ing Wiyanawanda and Lukka, as recorded in the hieroglyphic
Boğazköy: Südburg inscription. A more southerly location for
Masa is thus suggested, as likewise by the reference in the
Tawagalawa letter. The inclusion of a mock battle in the rituals or-
dained by Tudhaliya IV’s religious reforms hardly implies very
friendly relations between the Hittite king and the men of Masa.

MAŞAT HÖYÜK. Attention was first drawn to this major Hittite site
with the discovery of a tablet (1943). Excavations have been con-
ducted by Tahsin Özgüç, of the University of Ankara (1973–
1984). This site is located 116 kilometers northeast of Hattusa, 20
kilometers south-southwest of Zile and 312 kilometers east of An-
kara, standing just west of the modern village of Maşat, and is al-
most certainly identifiable with the Hittite city of Tapikka. This
was a major administrative center near the border with the Kaska
lands, sharing the same material civilization with the cult center of
Arinna (Alaca Höyük) and the seat of royal government (Hat-
tusa).
The history of settlement here began in the third millennium
BC, the Early Bronze Age ending with a burnt destruction. Maşat
V likewise ended in violent burning, as did the contemporary set-
tlements of Kanes (karum IB), Boğazköy: Büyükkale IVd and
Lower City 4, Alaca Höyük 4, Alışar Höyük and Acemhöyük.
Maşat IV was contemporary with early Büyükkale IVc (Hittite Old
Kingdom).
Maşat III can be dated to the very early Empire (early 14th
century BC), when Hittite control over the troublesome Kaska bor-
derlands was briefly restored, after the setbacks under Hantili II.
The archive of tablets, most being letters, may represent only a
decade or so, in the reigns of Tudhaliya I/II and Arnuwanda I.
Their “Middle Hittite” script is consistent with a dating ca.1400
BC. These tablets were found in the palace built on the citadel,
with a contemporary temple in the lower city, both destroyed at the
same time. The latter is very similar in plan to other Hittite tem-
ples, with paved central court, magazines and other rooms.
Very soon after the destruction of Maşat III, large new public
buildings were constructed under Suppiluliuma I. Dating for
Maşat II is provided by tablets, still in the “Middle Hittite” script, a
seal impression and seal of Suppiluliuma found together in one
major building. This building level was short-lived, destroyed
probably in the reign of Mursili II, shortly before the second major
 McEWAN ● 193

Kaska raid on the Hittite lands. Maşat II can be correlated with

Boğazköy: Büyükkale IVb and Lower City 2. The city never fully
recovered from this destruction.
Maşat I is likely to have been built directly after the previous
destruction, very probably under the viceroyalty of Hattusili. A
large building set on a high rock outcrop in the west sector of the
citadel yielded tablets in the script of the Hittite Empire, attribut-
able to Hattusili III and his successors. Many buildings were
completely razed in the destruction of Maşat I at the fall of the
Empire. There was some Iron Age occupation on the citadel.
The pottery from Maşat Höyük reveals a continuing tradition
from the Middle Bronze Age until the destruction of Maşat II, with
forms including teapots, goblets, beak-spouted jugs, “fruitstands,”
pithoi and braziers. Maşat I shows a complete break in ceramic
continuity, with a range of vessels in the Hittite Empire style and
its associated deterioration in quality. Most pottery has a buff, light
red or gray slipped surface. Five Mycenaean IIIB vessels have
been distinguished, hardly evidence of significant dealings with the
Aegean world but demonstrating imports from Alasiya (Cyprus)
via north Syria or Kizzuwadna.
Of the tablets 96, the largest number, are letters, sent by the
king to his local officials; copies or drafts sent by officials to the
king; and exchanges between officials, sometimes critical. One
named Kassu, in command of regional defense and entitled “Over-
seer of the Military Heralds,” was the most frequent addressee of
royal letters. Next to him in rank stood Himuili, the local “Lord of
the Watchtower” (bel madgalti). A Hittite text gives a detailed re-
cord of his responsibilities as district governor, especially impor-
tant along the frontiers, where security was the prime requirement:
fire and infiltration by hostile intruders mingling with the peasants
returning in the evening from the fields were particular hazards.
Another rank of official likewise answerable directly to the king
was the agrig, in charge of the local government storehouse, the
collection point for taxes and sometimes also an arsenal.
This was the first Hittite archive to be found outside Hattusa.
Its tablets include land grants, inventories of goods and personnel
and consultations with the oracle. The letters reveal the close at-
tention to administration and security by the king, taking most de-
cisions personally.

McEWAN, CALVIN W. He served in a senior capacity with the expe-

dition of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago to the
194 ● MEDICINE

Amuq plain (Plain of Antioch), where excavations were carried out

before the annexation of the Hatay by Turkey (1938). He subse-
quently directed excavations at Tell Fakhariyah, near Guzanu
(Tell Halaf) (1940).

MEDICINE. Among causes of sickness were reckoned sins of the fa-

thers, a concept of course not peculiarly Hittite. Ritual acts, includ-
ing speech, were highly relevant. Many gods and goddesses could
be healers, among them Ishara, Sausga and Kamushepa. It is not
known that any Hittite temples functioned as sanitoria, but prayers
and divination had their roles, as did female healers or diviners
and midwives, some having their own associations. External influ-
ences had a significant impact on Hittite medical theory and prac-
tice, Luwian and Hurrian traditions being incorporated. Already
in the Old Kingdom Hittite physicians are recorded, some probably
trained by Assyrian doctors, whose influence may have been
stimulated by the importation of the cuneiform script under Hat-
tusili I. Professional healers were brought in from Mesopotamia
and Egypt during the Empire, on one occasion on the initiative of
Ramesses II. As for symptoms, disorders of eye, mouth, throat and
intestine are recorded.
In spite of the extended plague prayers of Mursili II, the epi-
demic which struck the Hittite realm with the arrival of Egyptian
prisoners of war at the end of the reign of Suppiluliuma I, and
which persisted for some 20 years, remains unidentified, for lack of
description of the symptoms.
Poor sanitation was a major cause of sickness, more so in the
towns than villages. Drain pipes have been found at Boğazköy,
Alaca Höyük and other Late Bronze Age centers, some wealthier
households at Boğazköy and elsewhere having toilets. Dysentry
must have been endemic, with dire effect on infant mortality. Pesti-
lence was a recurrent fear for the army embarking on a battle, lest
it be contracted from the enemy. Magic was the most usual anti-
dote.

MELLAART, JAMES (1925– ). He graduated in Egyptology (Leiden

and London). In 1951 he began his first archaeological survey, or
reconnaissance, continuing into 1953, across the southern regions
of the Anatolian plateau, from the Konya Plain westward. Assistant
director of Beycesultan excavations, with Seton Lloyd (1954–
1959), he excavated Hacilar and Çatal Höyük (1957–1965).
He has published excavation reports and numerous articles on
 MELLINK ● 195

pottery, historical geography and other aspects of Anatolian pre-

history, including Indo-European migrations. While his work has
largely centered on earlier periods, he has long participated in de-
bates on Hittite matters. He has also distinguished the different cul-
tural provinces of Anatolia, previously inadequately discerned.

MELLINK, MACHTELD. Professor and long-serving faculty mem-

ber in Bryn Mawr. A widely renowned archaeologist many years
active in Anatolia, where her fieldwork has included excavations at
Karataş-Semayük, just southeast of Elmali, in the plain in the Tau-
rus region. She has put every Anatolian archaeologist in her debt
by her annual reports, published in The American Journal of Ar-
chaeology, with short contributions from excavators, usually
within a year of their previous season.

MERIGGI, PIERO. Italian Hittitologist. He attempted decipherment

of the Luwian hieroglyphs, although his work is now largely su-
perseded. He led archaeological surveys in the areas between Sivas
and Malatya (Arslantepe), where he became the first director of
the Italian excavations, succeeded by Salvatore Puglisi, Alba Palm-
ieri and now Marcella Frangipane.

MERSIN (YUMUKTEPE). British excavations, directed by John

Garstang before and after World War II, revealed a succession of
occupation levels beginning in the Neolithic period (seventh mil-
lennium BC). While less informative than its neighbor Tarsus for
the Bronze Age, the expansion of the Hittite Old Kingdom into
Kizzuwadna was apparent in the design of its fortifications. Tow-
ers were built wherever the wall changed direction, and a street
along the inside allowed movement of the garrison as required.

METALLURGY. The metalsmiths who served the requirements for

peace and war of the Hittite state were highly skilled and in all
probability well organized and able to guard the secrets of their
trade; and it was in the interests of the Hittite kings that they
should do so, for it protected their advantage over their interna-
tional rivals, who did not possess the resources of the Anatolian
highlands. The Hittite state inherited a metallurgical tradition ex-
tending back well into the third millennium BC and indeed even
earlier. Only with the expansion of iron working beyond its early
limited uses was that tradition seriously threatened. Hittite texts
mention iron blooms, lumps of ore and hearths.
196 ● METALS

Hammering and casting were used largely for tools and weap-
ons but also for a variety of non utilitarian items such as figurines
and personal ornaments. The exploitation of alloys was first devel-
oped late in the fourth millennium BC, the commonest in early Hit-
tite Anatolia being arsenical copper, continuing the tradition evi-
dent at Alaca Höyük and elsewhere in the Early Bronze Age and
outlasting the imports of tin in the Old Assyrian period. Alloys of
copper with nickel, tin and lead occur under the Hittite Empire.
It was in remote, relatively inaccessible mountain sites that the
laborious tasks of mining, extraction, smelting and refining were
carried out, unfortunately not recorded in the Hittite texts. For such
a record it is necessary to turn to the Assyrian annals of the first
millennium BC. Modern mining activities are of limited use in ef-
forts to pinpoint prehistoric metallurgical sites, since the smaller
metal sources once exploited have no commercial value today. Ar-
chaeological science, however, includes the technique termed lead
isotope analysis, now quite widely employed to determine sources
of metals.
Sheet metal was produced and shaped, and jointing was
achieved by casting or riveting. For decorative metalwork and per-
sonal ornaments the various techniques found as early as the mid–
third millennium BC in the “Royal Cemetery” of Ur in southern
Mesopotamia—chasing, cloisonné, filigree, granulation, gilding
and repoussé—were practiced in Hittite Anatolia, with wire-
drawing as an innovation. Repoussé was the technique used for the
small-scale friezes on a bowl from the rich hoard of metal vessels
from Kinik (Kastamonu).

METALS. See COPPER; GOLD; IRON; KESTEL; METAL-

LURGY; METALWORK; SILVER; TIN.

METALWORK. The rich metal sources of the Anatolian plateau and

mountains, contrasting with the metal-starved Tigris-Euphrates ba-
sin of Mesopotamia, might suggest that the Hittite state would have
been wealthier than Assyria or Babylonia, not dependent on long-
distance trade for these raw materials, essential in peace and war
alike. Internal dissensions and a chronic shortage of manpower,
however, reduced this natural advantage. The relative paucity of
metal artifacts among the finds from excavations is nevertheless no
reflection of the quantity and variety of metalwork manufactured
by artisans under the Old Kingdom and Empire nor of the produc-
tion and uses of iron, from early beginnings to the fuller exploita-
 METALWORK ● 197

tion of this metal in the first millennium BC.

Apart from some smaller tools and weapons, direct knowledge
of metalwork derives overwhelmingly from burials and hoards
rather than buildings, normally emptied on abandonment or looted
at their destruction. This goes to explain the taste among archae-
ologists until fairly recent times for excavating cemeteries. Metal-
work can be broadly classified into a few main categories, in the
Hittite lands as elsewhere in the ancient Near East: tools for farm-
ing, construction purposes and fashioning objects of wood or bone;
components for wheeled vehicles; items or parts of furniture;
weapons and military equipment; jewelry and personal orna-
ments; and vessels of all sizes, utilitarian and decorative. Metal
was also used for some seals and, uniquely, for the cuneiform text
of a lengthy treaty, the other copies of which have not survived or
at least remain to be found.
The survival of metalwork is indeed a matter of chance, most
being melted down for reuse in antiquity, plundered after enemy
attack or looted by grave robbers in modern times. The Turkish
Republic has an uphill struggle to foil the efforts of those trying to
satisfy the demands of the market for antiquities.
Relevant to the centuries of the Hittite state are assemblages of
metalwork from central Anatolia excavated at Boğazköy, Alaca
Höyük and Maşat Höyük, as well as recently published hoards
from Kinik, near Kastamonu north of Ankara, and from the area of
Bolu further west. The latter hoard includes a number of shaft-hole
axheads and plain bowls. Though tools and weapons do survive,
their disproportionately small numbers suggest that it was these
which were most likely to be melted down rather than ritual objects
offered to the gods.
Figurines and pins of bronze are common, but decorated ves-
sels such as rhytons are rarer. Swords and axes could be decorated
in relief against a smooth ground. The best known objects ascribed
a ritual purpose are: the bronze spearhead inscribed “Anitta the
king”; a sword dedicated to Nergal; a sword recording the victory
of Tudhaliya I/II over Assuwa; and a spearhead inscribed walwa-
ziti (“Great Scribe”).
The evidence for metalwork of Hittite times does not stop at
the surviving examples now in museums or private collections.
There are three categories of data to be noted. First, the pictorial
record, from sculpture and seals, including the so-called Dagger
God at Yazılıkaya and, best known of all, the battle-ax held by the
figure, almost certainly divine, in the “King’s Gate” at Hattusa.
198 ● METALWORK

With its spiked butt it resembles axheads found widely in western

Iran, especially in the cemeteries of Luristan, exemplifying the
cosmopolitan character of the metalworkers’ trade, recognizing no
political frontiers. In the Neo-Hittite zone of the first millennium
BC, a distinctive metal artifact was the crested helmet, as worn by
the soldiers of ca.900 BC depicted on the Long Wall at Carchem-
ish, and the precursor of the helmets of Classical times in Greece.
Almost the richest source of information on metalwork is de-
rived from the Hittite texts, the Assyrian annals with their long
lists of itemized plunder and tribute giving even more vivid detail
for the early first millennium BC. Hittite state inventories list mili-
tary equipment such as chariots, horse bits, arrows, axes and
maces; sickles too are recorded. Luxury items also are listed,
among them those associated with dress, for which gold and silver
brocade and appliqués were clearly in fashion at court in Hattusa.
Gold and silver necklaces as well as pins, pendants and beads con-
tributed to rich trousseaux of personal adornments. Bathtubs of
copper, cymbals and other musical instruments appear too. Metal-
work might occur also among items presented as diplomatic gift
exchange or as tribute or a straight gift to placate a possible an-
tagonist: that this occurred at a very early stage is demonstrated by
the gift of an iron throne to Anitta, king of Kanes. Such items as
writing implements of gold have not been recovered, nor are ever
likely to be. Cream, yellow, blue, gold and silver colors sparkled
on ceremonial paraphernalia, inlaid with metals and stones and
adorned with materials ranging from ivory to lapis lazuli and crys-
tal. Human statues are recorded as being fashioned of wood or cast
in iron, with gold, silver and tin inlays. Figures of lions and bulls
made of iron were associated with the major divinities.
A third category of evidence on metalwork is less direct but
very widespread, being related in essence to vessels of many forms
and sizes. For some years students of Anatolian pottery, not exclu-
sively that from the Hittite lands, have recognized the pervasive
impact of metalwork on the potter, though this is more prominent
on Middle Bronze Age pottery than on that of the Hittite Old
Kingdom and Empire, when the quality of pottery by and large de-
clined. Whether this was the result of a greater use of metal vessels
is far from certain. There can be no disputing the skeuomorphs dis-
cernible on many pots, the imitations of rivets and handles, the
long spouts and carinated, or sharply angled, profiles, represented
in fired clay but more natural in metal: for example, a carinated
profile strengthens a metal vessel but creates a potential line of
 MEYDANCIK ● 199

fracture for a pot. High burnish may even be another indication of

metallic origins. These are apparent at many sites, including
Kültepe (Kanes) in the Middle Bronze Age and Beycesultan—in
Hittite times in the Arzawa lands—from Early Bronze III to the
end of the Late Bronze Age. Here a deliberate admixture of mica
of different colors with the clay produced the effect of gold, silver
and copper: forms, too, were largely of unmistakable metallic in-
spiration, including goblets with slender stem. In prehistoric Iran
also there was clear metallic impact on pottery of the finer quali-
ties. Indeed the plunder of clandestine excavators in Iran as well as
the contents of certain private collections suggest that for every
pottery form there exists a gold or silver prototype. See also
METALLURGY.

MEYDANCIK KALESI. Fortified citadel in Kizzuwadna of Hittite

Empire date, with later Persian, Hellenistic and Byzantine remains.
Excavations were directed by Emmanuel Laroche, who errone-
ously believed that this might have been the royal residence in
Tarhuntassa of Muwatalli II, whose name can be read in one of
the hieroglyphic inscriptions at this site. On the corner of the
monumental northeast entrance is the upper part of a relief of a
royal figure, similar in style to the Hanyeri-Gezbel relief. The Hit-
tite masonry is composed of regular courses, though of differing
height and only roughly dressed, not to be termed cyclopean.

MIDDLE BRONZE AGE POTTERY. From excavations and surface

surveys alike a marked change is evident in the pottery following
the end of the Early Bronze Age throughout and indeed beyond
central Anatolia. At the risk of oversimplification, it can be said
that handmade dark burnished wares, fired at a low temperature,
give way to wheelmade red and buff wares, fired at a high tem-
perature and commonly highly burnished. Painted decoration is
relatively rare. The influence of metal prototypes is certain, proba-
bly including the characteristic “teapot” jugs with long spout and
pronounced carination, a hallmark of this period. It must be
stressed, however, that it is primarily in the main centers that this
radical change in pottery is to be seen. As in all periods, the vil-
lages and small towns of Anatolia remained conservative in mate-
rial culture and in other respects, tending to cling to earlier styles.
Ceramic changes of fashion were largely the effect of external con-
tacts through trade and conquest, explaining the extraordinary va-
riety of pottery from the excavations of Kültepe (Kanes), where
200 ● MIDDLE KINGDOM

the native Anatolian population lived side by side with the

Assyrian merchants, albeit in separate quarters.
In Kültepe karum II, no fewer than 20 forms, including the
“teapot” with “basket” handles, were continuing earlier Anatolian
types, though some altogether new vessels appear, among them
“fruitstands” with eagles perching or antelopes sitting on the rim,
jugs with quatrefoil mouth and vessels shaped like a bunch of
grapes, a hint of the importance of wine for the economy. Painted
designs are distinctive of karum II, though the popular “pot-hook”
motif originated in Alışar III ware. Contacts with north Syria are
evident, but there is no slavish ceramic imitation.
There are marked differences between the pottery of Level II
and Level IB of the karum of Kanes: the typical Middle Bronze
Age highly burnished, red-slipped ware gave place to wares simply
wet-smoothed, leaving the color of the clay on the surface. Painted
pottery was now less prominent, but comprised Anatolian products
and the widespread Khabur ware at home in north Syria and upper
Mesopotamia, where it persisted for some centuries. The distribu-
tion of Kültepe IB pottery was much wider in Anatolia than that of
Kültepe II had been, indicating the expansion of the Old Assyrian
trading network. Bronze vessels found in the graves of Kültepe-
karum II and IB provided prototypes for many pottery forms, such
as jars with “basket” handles and strainer funnels with short feet.
In the Kültepe IB period (later 19th century BC) pottery simi-
lar to that from Kanes has been found especially at Alışar Höyük
and also at Alaca Höyük, Boğazköy and even Gordion.
In Alışar II, wrongly described by the excavator Hans Hen-
ning von der Osten as the “Period of the Hittite Empires,” the pot-
tery was wheelmade and predominantly plain and wet-smoothed,
the grape-cluster jugs being of necessity handmade. Much of the
pottery has slightly burnished buff slip or a yellowish to red slip,
more highly burnished. The highest burnish occurs on vessels such
as the “teapots.” Many shallow bowls and small cups also occur,
the latter echoing the painted examples in Alışar III Ware. Relief
decoration representing animals in whole or part occurs especially
on pots with spouts or handles.

MIDDLE KINGDOM. This term is sometimes applied to the period of

decline and internal dissension around the royal house, approxi-
mating to the 15th century BC and spanning those reigns between
the death of Telipinu and the beginning of the New Kingdom
(Empire) with Tudhaliya I/II. In political terms this means little,
 MILLAWANDA ● 201

but it represents the greater part of the time span in which the Mid-
dle Hittite script was in use, extending into the early Empire.
Aluwamna succeeded Telipinu. The throne was then seized by
Tahurwaili, possibly one of the three assassins of Huzziya I. There
followed the reigns of the kings Hantili II, Zidanta II, Huzziya II
and Muwatalli I.

MILLAWANDA (MILAWATA). The identification of this with

Classical Miletos, long the focus of fervent scholarly debate, is of
crucial significance for the interpretation of the historical geogra-
phy of Late Bronze Age western Anatolia. If it is placed much fur-
ther north near the Sea of Marmora, in the area here identified as
Wilusa, then a whole string of geographical locations has to fol-
low. This did seem perfectly arguable, along with locations for a
number of lands further east and closer to the Hittite homeland, be-
fore the discovery of new inscriptions of Tudhaliya IV. All these
clarify points of geography, not least among these being the
Bronze Tablet. Linguistically, there has been some doubt about the
identification of Millawanda with the Greek form Miletos, owing
to the disparity with the Late Bronze Greek (Mycenaean) form of
the name. On the other hand, the Hittites, unfamiliar with this
place-name, may well have given it a form more acceptable to
them, by adding the suffix -wanda, occurring in some 50 names,
while the prefix mil- is common in Hittite contexts. The weight of
probability therefore now favors equating Millawanda and its al-
ternative form Milawata with Miletos, fitting in with the archaeo-
logical evidence.
In the third year of Mursili II, Millawanda became in some
way involved in an anti-Hittite alliance led by Uhhaziti, king of
Arzawa, and by Ahhiyawa. Hittite commanders were dispatched
against Millawanda. Though this may have been little more than a
raid, the destruction of Level II at Miletos, revealed by excava-
tions, could be connected with this Hittite intervention, lacking tex-
tual support. Miletos throve as a port, on the maritime trade, yet
was geographically isolated from the Anatolian hinterland, explain-
ing the evident inability of Mursili II to retain control of Milla-
wanda-Miletos. The pottery of both Troy and Millawanda, how-
ever, shows changes in the phase termed by Mycenaean scholars
Late Helladic IIIB which could reflect the destruction of greater
Arzawa by Mursili II and its reduction to a number of vassal king-
doms.
A generation later Hattusili III marched down the Maeander
202 ● MIRA

valley to Iyalanda-Alinda. From the city of Iyalanda he attacked

the land of that name, then advancing to the boundary of Milla-
wanda, which probably extended across the isthmus of the penin-
sula on which Millawanda stood. There he negotiated the surrender
of the renegade fugitive Piyamaradu. It is quite clear that Milla-
wanda was now ruled by Ahhiyawa.
Although it might be thought that Millawanda was of major
significance to the Hittite kings, it meant much more to the Myce-
naean merchants and settlers from Ahhiyawa. In fact, Millawanda
is mentioned in only three Hittite sources, the Extended Annals of
Mursili II and the Tawagalawa and Milawata letters of Hattusili III
and Tudhaliya IV respectively, in the latter commanding but three
lines. The Hittite kings were more concerned with territories a little
removed from the coast; and it seems that Tudhaliya IV, in ad-
dressing “my son,” was writing to Tarkasnawa, king of Mira, who
was holding the ruler of Wilusa, Walmu.
In the generations following the end of the Hittite Empire and
of the Late Bronze Age world, many settlements in western Ana-
tolia perished; but major communities, including Miletos, survived.
Indeed they prospered, with the whole region, benefiting from the
immigration of Aeolian and Ionian settlers from across the Aegean
Sea.

MIRA. This kingdom is attested over four Hittite royal generations,

from Suppiluliuma I to Tudhaliya IV, being most fully docu-
mented in the reign of Mursili II. Tarkasnawa (formerly read
Tarkondemos) was probably the son of the third attested king of
Mira, Alantalli, and contemporary with the later years of Tudhaliya
IV. He seems to have been a major Hittite ally in the west, and as
such to have helped to thwart the ambitions of Ahhiyawa in the
region. Though his name is not preserved in the “Milawata letter,”
he is the most likely recipient, the sender being almost certainly
Tudhaliya IV.
The reference to Mira in the Karabel inscription of Tarkas-
nawa clinches its general location in central western Anatolia
rather than far inland on the plateau, although it surely did extend
over the Kütahya area, some 250 kilometers from the Aegean
coast. Mira shared a common frontier with the Hittite state through
the area of Afyon, and was originally landlocked. Only with the
collapse of Arzawa on its comprehensive defeat by Mursili II did
territorial rule by the kings of Mira extend westward to the Aegean
Sea, when the Karabel monument was carved. Mira had in effect
 MITANNI ● 203

become the vestigial Arzawa, its capital located at Apasa

(Ephesus). The best natural road uniting this territory from plateau
to coast ran down the Maeander (Menderes) valley.
Four cities in Mira were fortified and garrisoned on the orders
of Mursili II. There may or may not have been a city named Mira,
as the seat of government. Though far inland, the Byzantine name
Meiros, located at Malatça Höyük, is a possible site.

MITANNI. A major power in the Near East from mid–16th to mid–

14th century BC, centered in north Syria east of the Euphrates
River. During that time it posed a recurrent threat to Hittite ambi-
tions: this danger had first appeared with the harassment by Hur-
rian tribes of the Hittite army under Mursili I, during its with-
drawal from the raid on Babylon (1595 BC). These were the
precursors of Mitanni, which at its greatest extent controlled lands
from its vassal Kizzuwadna in the west, thus cutting Hittite access
to north Syria, to Arrapha (Kirkuk) in the east. It was probably just
after Thutmose III’s campaigns extending Egyptian power in Asia
(ca.1458–1438 BC) that Saustatar, then king, reunited Mitanni af-
ter its setbacks against Egypt, defeated Assur and made the king of
Arrapha his vassal. In the west he was suzerain of Alalakh and
Ugarit. The kingdom of Aleppo had already been absorbed.
When a treaty was drawn up between Mitanni and Egypt un-
der Amenhotep II (ca.1425–1398 BC), fixing for decades the fron-
tier in Syria between the two powers and sealed by a diplomatic
marriage, it seemed that Mitanni had entered upon a period of
prosperity and peace. This was to end first with internal conflict
within the royal house, a recurrent drain on Mitannian strength;
and then through enemy attack, by the Hittite army under Suppilu-
liuma I (ca.1340/1339 BC), marching against Tusratta, who had
been put on the Mitannian throne as a minor after the murder of the
previous king. A further blow to Mitanni came with the failure of
Akhenaten, then pharaoh (1352–1335 BC), to continue his gifts of
gold, doubtless reflecting the declining prestige of Mitanni in the
face of Hittite expansion.
Though its memory lingered on, Mitanni was effectively
brought under Assyrian rule by Shalmaneser I (1263–1234 BC),
marking the end of Hurrian political power in the Near East.
The name of the kingdom derives from a personal name,
Maitta, found at Nuzi, changed to a geographical name, Maittani
and later Mitanni. The first reference is in an Egyptian tomb in-
scription at Thebes of Thutmose I (1504–1491 BC). Known to the
204 ● MITTANNAMUWA

Hurrians as Hurri, the term applied by the Hittites, Mitanni was

Naharina to the Egyptians. It was Hanigalbat to the Assyrians, a
term continuing for some centuries, though shifting rather north-
westward.
Much attention has been devoted to a non-Hurrian element in
Mitanni, on linguistic evidence clearly Indo-Aryan. Highly influen-
tial as this group was, they were undoubtedly a small minority
among their Hurrian subjects. They included, however, the royal
house, whose names were all Indo-Aryan: among these Tusratta
may mean “owner of terrible chariots,” while Biridashwa means
“possessing great horses.” Mitra and Indra were among the divine
witnesses to a treaty between Suppiluliuma I and Kurtiwaza of
Mitanni. Theophoric names seem to be Indian rather than Iranian,
many recalling Indo-Aryan proper names of later periods. Vedic
deities have been identified, including Indra, Soma, Vaya (Wind),
the Devas, Svar (Heaven) and Rta (Divine Law).
The backbone of state and society in Mitanni was the chariot-
owning nobility or chivalry termed mariyanna, a word very possi-
bly derived from the Old Indian marya, meaning “young man” or
“warrior.” These exerted a significant influence on Hittite military
thinking, notably in the deployment of chariotry, the training of
horses and the adoption of the composite bow (see ARCHERY).
Mitanni was indeed a formidable force in battle; but it proved un-
able to curb the ambitions of rival contenders for the throne. As
time passed, especially in western cities such as Alalakh, this
knightly class came to abandon the hazards of the battlefield in fa-
vor of the prosperity to be gained from becoming major land-
owners. A more conservative ethos seems to have prevailed in the
east of Mitanni, where ownership and management of chariots re-
mained a prerequisite of membership of this privileged caste, re-
quiring considerable wealth.

MITTANNAMUWA. A high official who was promoted to the rank of

“Great Scribe” under Mursili II. When his successor, Muwatalli
II, decided to move the capital south to Tarhuntassa, he was ap-
pointed administrator of the city of Hattusa, the former capital,
probably under the overriding authority of the king’s brother, the
future Hattusili III. Meanwhile, the son of Mittannamuwa was in
turn appointed Great Scribe. His family, however, may have fallen
out of royal favor, for at some future date, under Urhi-Tesub, this
son is found no longer in office. The family fortunes were restored
when Hattusili negotiated with his nephew, resulting in the ap-
 MOUNT SIPYLUS ● 205

pointment of another son of Mittannamuwa, now an old man, as

Great Scribe. It is evident that Hattusili had close links with this
family.
The Great or Chief Scribe held a highly respected governmen-
tal office, whose title can perhaps be compared with that of secre-
tary of state in our own times. At Emar, on the middle Euphrates,
the holder of this office was termed the “king’s son.”

MOUNT SIPYLUS. See SIPYLUS, MOUNT.

MUKIS. A territory lying north of Aleppo and from time to time un-
der its rule, it was conquered in a rapid campaign by Suppiluliuma
I, after his defeat of Mitanni and capture of its capital Wassu-
kanni. When Mukis proved an unwilling vassal of Hatti, Ugarit
was persuaded to join Suppiluliuma against Nuhasse and Mukis,
whom he called his enemies. He gave much of Mukis to Niqmaddu
II of Ugarit, increasing his realm almost fourfold. Suppiluliuma
then extended the kingdom of Carchemish (under the viceroy
Sarri-Kusuh) to the borders of Mukis, which was thus hemmed in
by Carchemish and Ugarit.

MURSILI I (ca.1620–1590 BC). In spite of the outstanding victories

of this reign, the surviving records are few, the most significant be-
ing the Proclamation of Telipinu. Almost certainly power must
initially have been in the hands of a regent. In contrast with later
reigns, the succession passed off without upheaval, at least in the
central homeland, following the provisions set out by the new
king’s grandfather, Hattusili I, before the assembly at Kussara.
Probably, however, Mursili had to reassert the control exercised by
his grandfather over the peripheral territories, not least Kizzu-
wadna, lying astride the routes leading to Aleppo.
The kingdom of Iamhad, centered on Aleppo, must have been
weakened by the campaigns of Hattusili I, perhaps explaining the
fall of Aleppo to the Hittite army, leading to its destruction and the
disappearance of Iamhad from the historical records. There re-
mained, however, a constant threat from the Hurrians to Hittite
ambitions in the southeast. An alliance with the Kassites, tribes set-
tled in much of Mesopotamia during the 17th century BC, cannot
be proved, but would fit the facts as known, for they were the last-
ing beneficiaries of the sack of Babylon by Mursili I, leading to the
fall of the First Dynasty, whose most illustrious member had been
Hammurabi (1792–1750 BC on the “middle” chronology). The
206 ● MURSILI II

Kassites took over power as the next ruling dynasty in Mesopota-

mia, as they continued to be for four centuries. Indeed, it is hard to
distinguish any tangible, enduring advantage gained by the Hittite
state from a feat of arms which brought immense prestige at the
time to Mursili I, a feat which sent shock waves through the Near
East and which established him as a worthy successor to his grand-
father but also to the great rulers in the past of Mesopotamia and
Syria, from Sargon of Agade onward. Politics was above all cen-
tered on prestige, and this was essentially based on military prow-
ess, the only path to immediate fame.
The raid on Babylon—dated on the middle chronology to 1595
BC—involved a march into territory altogether new to the Hittite
army, 800 kilometers on from Aleppo across to and down the Eu-
phrates. The dangers were underlined by the harassment of the Hit-
tites by the Hurrians on their homeward progress, laden with the
booty which had given extra point to the operation. No solution to
the Hurrian menace was achieved by Mursili I nor by his succes-
sor.
Not more than five years later, Mursili I was assassinated by
his brother-in-law Hantili I, presaging the long decline of Hittite
power in the later years of the Old Kingdom. Fuller surviving re-
cords would accord Mursisli I the place he undoubtedly deserves in
Hittite history.

MURSILI II (1321–1295 BC). By the chances of preservation of texts,

even though his annals are missing for the later years of his reign,
as an individual he is in many ways the best known of all the Hit-
tite kings, save only his youngest son Hattusili III. He is remark-
able not only for his own military achievements, supported by able
commanders, but also for his contributions to Hittite historiogra-
phy. In addition to the annals for his own reign, he ordered the
compilation of the Deeds of his illustrious father, Suppiluliuma I.
He emerges as a vigorous ruler, too often on campaign to carry
through to completion such policies as the resettlement of the de-
populated Kaska borderlands, though he may well have contrib-
uted to building works in Hattusa. He could show mercy to de-
feated adversaries, as to Manapa-Tarhunda, king of the Seha River
Land, even if there was an element of Realpolitik in this! He was
exceptionally pious, his devotion to the gods equaled only perhaps
by Tudhaliya IV. This piety was inspired by the necessity of call-
ing upon the gods to relieve the realm of the scourge of the plague.
He had to discover the causes of the gods’ seemingly implacable
 MURSILI II ● 207

wrath against the land of Hatti. His father’s neglect of a certain fes-
tival, his alleged breaking of a frontier treaty with Egypt and—to
modern eyes far the most serious—his slaying his elder brother to
gain the throne were all cited as provoking the gods. Mursili could
not understand why his offerings were not sufficient compensation,
although he never denied that a father’s guilt descended on his
children.
When he came to the throne, Mursili II was mocked by his
enemies as a mere child, though probably in his early twenties.
This may have happened because he was the fifth and youngest son
of Suppiluliuma I, his eldest brother, Arnuwanda II, having died
of the plague and another brother, Zannanza, having been mur-
dered on entering Egypt to marry Ankhesenamun. Yet it seems
curious that two other brothers, viceroys of Aleppo and Carchem-
ish, were willing to remain as such, allowing their younger brother
to ascend the throne in Hattusa. It is noteworthy that during their
lifetimes Mursili seems to have relied heavily on their support in
maintaining his hold on his father’s territorial gains in Syria.
Mursili was immediately to prove his enemies sorely mistaken
in their estimate of him: his youth probably gave him an energy not
always seen in kings of more mature years. The first major crisis of
his reign was one experienced by most Hittite kings, whose ene-
mies, sometimes seducing some of the Hittite vassals, saw the ac-
cession of a new king as an opportunity to strike out against their
overlord or threatening neighbor. Vassalage anyhow implied a per-
sonal bond, which a royal Hittite successor could not assume
automatically to inherit. The most unrelenting danger to the Hittite
Empire came from the Kaska lands to the north; and the new reign
began with two years’ campaigning against these tribesmen, whom
he never permanently subdued.
Mursili then turned his attention to the west, where he was to
win his most significant successes, removing Arzawa from the
map as a political and military threat and securing his triumph by
the deportation of 65,000 to the Hittite homeland, along with live-
stock and military paraphernalia. He was to have no serious trouble
in the west for the remainder of his reign, bar minor sedition, ena-
bling him to concentrate on dangers in the northeast, the south and
the southeast.
It was to the north and northeast—the Kaska lands, the Upper
Land and Azzi-Hayasa—that Mursili constantly found his atten-
tion drawn, in the early years of his reign leaving Syria to the expe-
rienced hands of Telipinu in Aleppo and Sarri-Kusuh in Carchem-
208 ● MURSILI III

ish. Trouble with a rebellious vassal in Nuhasse was aggravated by

Egyptian military involvement in the reign of Horemheb (1323–
1295 BC), an almost exact if older contemporary of Mursili. Then
in his ninth year Mursili was to suffer the grievous blow of the
deaths of both his brothers, each succeeded by a son as viceroy.
The death of Sarri-Kusuh encouraged Assyria to invade the king-
dom of Carchemish, at least to the Euphrates. This was a serious
enough danger for Mursili himself to march into Syria, where he
successfully restored Hittite control over the viceroyalty of Car-
chemish, though not removing the future threat from that quarter.
It was in the same ninth year of his reign that Mursili II suf-
fered the heaviest personal blow of his life, with the death of Gas-
sulawiya, his first and dearly loved queen, from a mysterious ill-
ness. This he came to blame on his domineering stepmother
Tawananna, a Babylonian princess who imported foreign favorites
and customs to the Hittite court, to the chagrin of her stepsons. She
had assumed as her personal name the title given to the first wife of
the reigning king or, if still alive, to his mother or stepmother,
widow of the previous king. With the name of Gassulawiya ap-
pearing on the royal seal along with that of Mursili as “Great
Queen,” jealousy for her status may well have provided a strong
motive for murder. Mursili certainly thought so, attributing it to
magic. He resisted advice to execute her, instead banishing her
from Hattusa, while giving her adequate provision for daily life.
This was a recurrent problem for the Hittite monarchy.
The king had another affliction, evidently a minor stroke,
which he ascribed to the shock of a thunderstorm, stating that “my
mouth went sideways.” It cannot have been too severe, since he
was able fully to continue his responsibilities. It is a unique medi-
cal record for the time.
Mursili II died leaving the Empire rather stronger than at his
father’s death, especially in the west, although a threat from Egypt
was soon to emerge for his successor.

MURSILI III. See URHI-TESUB.

MUSIC. Naturally scant evidence survives to illuminate the undoubted

musical accomplishments of the different peoples of the ancient
Near East. That the lyre and harp were played by Sumerian per-
formers in the third millennium BC has for decades been well
known from the discoveries by Sir Leonard Woolley in the so-
called Royal Cemetery of Ur. It was not the Sumerians but rather
 MUSIC ● 209

the Hurrians who seem to have introduced musical instruments

and skills to the Hittite court at Hattusa. These were imported
probably directly through Hurrian penetration of the Hittite home-
land in the days of the Empire; an alternative route would have
been from Ugarit, once it had come under Hittite suzerainty in the
reign of Suppiluliuma I. Here a small corpus of musical texts has
been found.
Cultic texts quite often include instructions for choral or in-
strumental accompaniment, some Hurrian religious songs from
Ugarit even giving the most ancient known musical notation.
Though the long poems of Ugarit were recited, not sung, the tune
of a Hurrian love song found at Ugarit on a clay tablet has been
reconstructed.
Textual references make it clear that music played a signifi-
cant role in the royal ritual of the Hittite festivals, though the only
contemporary visual record is provided by relief blocks at Alaca
Höyük depicting musicians playing the lute and bagpipes. A sculp-
tured scene of Iron Age date at Karatepe depicts a dancer accom-
panied by players on the lyre, lute and tambourines: it seems al-
most certain that similar performances were given in the days of
the Hittite Empire.
The instructions for the ritual of the royal festivals appear to
have been fairly standardized, and include the following passage:

The Master of Ceremonies goes outside to the courtyard

and says to the verger, “Music, music!” The verger goes
out to the gate and says to the singers, “Music, music!” The
singers pick up the “Ishtar”-instruments. The verger walk-
ing in front, the singers bring the “Ishtar”-instruments in,
and take up their position.

From this text the prominent role of the singers is plain.

Whether bards played a role in the Hittite Empire comparable with
their place in Iron Age society in many lands is uncertain: their
propensity for satire might have been unwelcome at the Hittite
court! In the Caucasus at least two Bronze Age burials in Georgia
contained musical instruments, and there may well have been a
tradition continuing into early Christian times, when the Armenian
king Pap was murdered at a dinner (AD 374), while he was watch-
ing groups of minstrels performing to an accompaniment of drum-
mers, pipers, lyre players and trumpeters. The deeds of ancient
Armenian kings and heroes were handed down by the chants and
popular songs of certain minstrels, in the absence of written histo-
210 ● MUSKI

ries. Such music indeed tends to flourish in less sophisticated and

bureaucratic societies than the Hittite Empire, wherein the religious
establishment had the upper hand.

MUSKI (MUSKU). Conventional opinion identifies the Muski with

the Phrygians, and suggests their arrival in Anatolia from the Bal-
kans with the body of invaders known as the Sea Peoples. They
are not mentioned by Ramesses III nor in the tablets of Ugarit; but
they irrupt on the historical scene in the late 12th century BC, in
the accession year of Tiglath-Pileser I of Assyria (1114 BC), when
in his annals the story is told:

In the beginning of my reign, 20,000 men of the land of

Muski and their five kings, who for 50 years had held the
lands of Alzi (Alse) and Purukuzzi, which in former years
paid tribute and tax to Assur my lord, and no king had van-
quished them in battle—in their own strength they came
down and seized the land of Kutmuhi. . . .I gathered my
chariots and my troops. . . .Mount Kashiari, a difficult re-
gion, I traversed. With their 20,000 warriors and their five
kings I fought in the land of Kutmuhi and I defeated them.

The Muski may well have been responsible for the destruction
of Carchemish (ca.900 BC).
Mita of Musku, prominent in the annals of Sargon II of
Assyria (722–705 BC), was surely the great Midas, whose capital
was at Gordion. But Muski/Musku must have been a generic tribal
name, used over a wide zone and for centuries in Anatolia. Only
thus can its presence in the annals of Sargon II and rather later in
the inscriptions of Rusa II of Urartu (ca.685–645 BC) be ade-
quately explained.

MUWATALLI I (ca.1400 BC). An interloper on the throne of Hat-

tusa and the last king of the Hittite Old Kingdom, he seized power
from the royal dynasty which otherwise maintained its hold on the
kingship more or less throughout the Old Kingdom and Empire.
He may well have gained power with Hurrian support. After his
assassination, his successor, Tudhaliya I/II, brought the legitimate
dynasty back to power.

MUWATALLI II (1295–1272 BC). In many respects he inherited

from his father, Mursili II, a strong kingdom, more secure than at
the opening of previous reigns. Yet it was not long before a fresh
 MUWATALLI II ● 211

challenge was to emerge and some old problems to resurface.

Within the royal family a source of friction developed around the
queen mother and stepmother of the king, Mursili’s second wife
Tanuhepa, probably of Hurrian background. Though, like the pre-
vious queen mother, she was put on trial, unlike her she was ac-
quitted, a scenario destined to provide a simmering source of disaf-
fection within the royal family.
The fresh challenge came from Egypt, where the new 19th
Dynasty under Seti I (1294–1279 BC) was intent on reviving the
glories of Tuthmose III (1479–1425 BC) in Asia. Seti I scored a
considerable victory over the Hittite forces in Syria, recorded on
the walls of the great temple at Karnak in Thebes: many prisoners
were taken. That this was a genuine success rather than a mere
propagandist boast is most clearly demonstrated by the recovery by
the Egyptian king of the kingdoms of Kadesh and Amurru,
brought under Hittite control by Suppiluliuma I. This in effect
meant that Muwatalli was obliged to accept a division of Syria into
two spheres, as he may have recognized diplomatically by treaty
with Egypt. He could not, however, accept this as a permanence
without endangering Hittite power throughout the rest of Syria.
This was a threat which became all the more imminent with the ac-
cession of Ramesses II (1279–1213 BC). In military terms the
reign of Muwatalli II was principally devoted to preparations for a
confrontation with Egypt, recognized as a power of equal status,
and to facing the consequences of such large-scale mobilization.
Without the difficulties he had to face in lands to the west and
north of Hattusa, Muwatalli could well have marched south
sooner.
In western Anatolia all might have been well but for the emer-
gence of a renegade Hittite of aristocratic birth named Piyamaradu,
destined to be a thorn in the side of the Hittite authorities in the
west for many years, a clever schemer able to win military suc-
cesses and then, faced with Hittite force, to melt into the back-
ground, escaping capture. Hittite power in the west had somewhat
declined since the early years of Mursili II, with the transfer of
Millawanda (Miletus) from Hittite suzerainty to that of Ahhi-
yawa, while the Mycenaean presence was beginning to become
apparent. Piyamaradu arranged the marriage of a daughter of his
to the Ahhiyawan vassal ruler of Millawanda. Piyamaradu became
ever more ambitious, conquering Wilusa and defeating Manapa-
Tarhunda, ruler of the Seha River Land, who had come to its aid.
This was a rebellion not to be tolerated: Muwatalli dispatched
212 ● MUWATALLI II

Gassu, one of his generals, whose success is to be presumed—

given the fragmentary preservation of the record—from the recov-
ery of Hittite control over Wilusa. Piyamaradu, however, eluded
the Hittite army, not for the only time withdrawing to Ahhiyawa.
Some time later, Muwatalli drew up a treaty with Alaksandu, the
legitimate vassal ruler of Wilusa.
Muwatalli II seems to have decided the vital need was to se-
cure his rear before marching against Egypt in Syria, recalling how
his father and grandfather had each been distracted at times from
operations in Syria by unrest in Anatolia, particularly along the
border with Kaska territories. Such was the drain of military man-
power for the campaign which culminated at Kadesh (1274 BC),
with calls on vassals to provide soldiers for the great expedition,
that there may not have been the masse de manoevre essential for
any counter-attack against the northern tribes to be sure of success.
Some steps were called for. The first crucial decision was to re-
move a substantial portion of the Empire from his own to his
brother’s administration, creating in effect a kingdom within a
kingdom for the future Hattusili III, already experienced in war.
This was not achieved without some unhappiness, notably for the
displaced governor of the Upper Land. A major reason for this
unprecedented step may well have been the necessity of resettling
the depopulated northern borderlands, as a buffer against the ever
restless Kaska tribes: the classic method was by deportation.
Even more radical was the decision of Muwatalli, around the
middle of his reign, to move the seat of royal government from
Hattusa to Tarhuntassa. The thinking behind this move was al-
most certainly the relative vulnerability of the old Hittite capital
and the desirability of a more secure location, while the king’s at-
tention was elsewhere. There is no record to suggest that any return
to Hattusa was planned in this reign. How much discontent the
move to Tarhuntassa provoked is unknown: conceivably this was a
factor behind his death (1272 BC), an assassination in obscure cir-
cumstances.
The outcome of the battle of Kadesh undoubtedly indicates a
Hittite success, if not a stunning triumph, the principal prizes being
the regaining of the vassal kingdoms of Amurru and Kadesh, thus
permanently expelling Egypt from serious involvement in Syria
and restricting Ramesses II to more southerly lands in Palestine
and over the Jordan. There may have been some encouragement to
those seeking to undermine Hittite rule in Syria; but the main threat
now came from further east, and was to persist throughout the re-
 NARAMSIN ● 213

maining century of the Hittite Empire. Adad-nirari I (1295–1264

BC) of Assyria had occupied Hanigalbat, the northwesterly rem-
nant of Mitanni, making the bend of the River Euphrates the effec-
tive frontier between Assyria and Hatti. This was a greater threat
than Egypt ever could be. It is therefore not remarkable that Muwa-
talli wished to return north soon after the battle.
While Muwatalli II may be reckoned a strong king, he be-
queathed serious problems, not merely in the matter of his step-
mother but also more fundamentally in the division of the kingdom
through his moving the capital to Tarhuntassa and giving so much
authority to his brother Hattusili. His successor, Urhi-Tesub, in-
herited a fractious climate within and around the royal family,
leading in due course to internecine rivalry between the heirs of
Muwatalli and his brother, a factor contributing to the ultimate
downfall of the Empire.

-N-

NARAMSIN (2291–2254 BC). Grandson of Sargon of Agade, also

intervening in Anatolia. In his reign the Akkadian Empire reached
its zenith, but fell soon after.

NAUMANN, RUDOLF. For many years he was the architect with

the German excavations at Boğazköy. Among his contributions
were plans and reconstructions of the buildings of Büyükkale. He
is the author of Architektur Kleinasiens.

NENASSA. A town with surrounding land on the southern reach of the

Marrassantiya River, for which a local cult was established. It is
twice mentioned with Hupisna and Tuwanuwa. It may have sunk
into obscurity under the Empire, but lay on a major trade route
from Assyria to Burushattum (Acemhöyük) in the period of the
Old Assyrian colonies. It is mentioned in the Proclamation of Te-
lipinu in connection with the deeds of Labarna, in a list of seven
areas to which he dispatched one each of his sons as governor, set-
ting a precedent for later Hittite practice.

NERGAL. Mesopotamian god of plague, warfare and the Under-

world, identified with the Hattian War-God Sulunkatte. Probably
depicted in Yazılıkaya Chamber B as the “dagger god,” supporting
the suggestion that this was a funerary shrine for Tudhaliya IV.
214 ● NERIK

NERIK. A Hattian cult center subject to Kaska control from the

reign of Hantili II. The role of Nerik was transferred to Hakpissa.
It was recaptured with great pride before his seizure of the throne
by Hattusili III, who, along with his dominant Hurrianizing pol-
icy, seems to have encouraged a revival of Hattian cultic traditions
at Nerik. The chief god of Nerik was its Storm-God, identified
with that of Zippalanda, another holy city, and also to some extent
with the Hurrian Sarruma, as son of the Storm-God of Hatti. Oth-
ers whose cults flourished at Nerik were the god of the Under-
world, Sulinkatte (alias Nergal) and the War-God Wurunkatte.
The god Telipinu, less a god of vegetation than one related to the
weather-gods, was among the deities associated with Kastama, a
place closely linked with the holy city Nerik.
No suggested site for Nerik has yielded evidence of Late
Bronze Age occupation. It is certain that Nerik lay not too far from
the lower reaches of the Marrassantiya River: possible locations
are at Havza or at Oymaağaçtepe, northwest of Vezirköprü, or al-
ternatively 70 kilometers west, on a bend of the Marrassantiya op-
posite the village of Kargi.
The purulli (spring festival) procession started out from Hat-
tusa, stopping at Arinna and in due course ending at Nerik, one of
the leading holy cities of the realm, along with Arinna, Samuha
and Zippalanda. Two crown princes in their turn were appointed
priest of the Storm-God of Nerik, after its recovery.

NESA/NESILI. Nesa was the original form of the city name Kanes,
with which the earliest historically attested Hittite presence in Ana-
tolia was associated. The application of the name to the Hittite
language, as Nesili (Nesite), continued much longer.

NEVE, PETER (1929– ). Having arrived aged 25 as a student of

architecture—a classic German training for a Near Eastern ar-
chaeologist—at Boğazköy in 1954, he became an established ex-
pedition member, succeeding Kurt Bittel as the director of excava-
tions at Hattusa (1963–1994) and as expedition director from
1977. While his predecessor had put the excavations on a sound
modern basis, Neve’s most distinctive contribution may be seen as
his great efforts for conservation of the architectural remains, nota-
bly the defenses of Boğazköy: Upper City, and for the protection
of the whole area, now classified as a United Nations Educational
Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage
site.
 NIHRIYA ● 215

Under Neve’s leadership major extensions to the excavations

were achieved, including exposure of many temples in the Upper
City; of Hittite buildings around Boğazköy: Nişantaş and envi-
rons; of the area of Boğazköy: Lower City northwest of Temple
I; of the large fortress wall round Büyükkaya; and of Boğazköy:
Südburg. His most sensational artifactual find was the Bronze
Tablet of Tudhaliya IV recording the treaty with Tarhuntassa,
found on 20 July 1986 under paving just inside the perimeter de-
fenses of the Upper City, near the Sphinx Gate.

NIHRIYA (NAIRI). Extending over the highlands north of Diyarbakir

and eastward to the Van region, this territory had shifting bounda-
ries consistent with the tribal character of the inhabitants, and
sometimes paralleled by the name of Uruatri, the early form of
Urartu. This was a region of more direct concern to Assyria than
to the Hittites, mainly owing to closer geographical proximity.
Shalmaneser I of Assyria (1263–1234 BC) had campaigned into
Uruatri and further west toward the Euphrates River; and Tud-
haliya IV, in a diplomatic overture to mend fences with Assyria on
the accession of Tukulti-Ninurta I (1233–1197 BC), tacitly ac-
knowledged the loss of Hanigalbat, the remnant of Mitanni, to
Assyria in the reign of Shalmaneser I. Thus, in effect, all the con-
quests east of the Euphrates a century earlier by Suppiluliuma I,
save only Isuwa, had been lost: this was one of the serious prob-
lems bequeathed by Hattusili III. Assyria had made the major
economic gain of winning control of the most important trade
routes across the Euphrates into Anatolia.
When Hittite patience was exhausted, Tudhaliya IV advanced
boldly eastward into Nihriya, whence Tukulti-Ninurta I withdrew
to a base at Surra, probably on the north slopes of the Tur Abdin
range. The two armies met somewhere between Nihriya and Surra,
between the Tur Abdin and the upper Tigris River. If the Hittite
king had hoped to repeat the success of Suppiluliuma I in his de-
scent on the Mitannian capital, he was to be sadly disappointed.
The Hittite army had marched very far from its bases, and moreo-
ver the reinforcements on which they had been counting after
crossing the Euphrates did not appear, as indicated by a bitterly re-
proachful letter from Tudhaliya IV, probably to the Hittite vassal
ruler of Isuwa, written after the defeat. No details of the battle have
survived.
Disastrous as this defeat was to the Hittite state, in the imme-
diate aftermath demonstrated by an Assyrian overture to the Hittite
216 ● NORŞUNTEPE

vassal kingdom of Ugarit, things could have been far worse, had
Tukulti-Ninurta I pressed home his advantage across the Euphra-
tes. Though unquantifiable, these were probably factors contribut-
ing to the coup d’état a few years later by the king’s cousin Ku-
runta.

NORŞUNTEPE. One of the most important excavations carried out

under the Keban Dam Rescue Project in the 1970s, before the
flooding of Altınova (“the golden plain”) near Elaziğ by construc-
tion of a dam on the Euphrates River. This excavation was directed
by Dr. Harald Hauptmann, director of the German Archaeological
Institute in Istanbul.
The settled population in this fertile plain grew steadily
through the third millennium BC, with “manor houses” appearing
at Korucutepe, Norşuntepe, Tepecik and elsewhere. By the latest
phase of Early Bronze III, a public building with storerooms in
Norşuntepe VI seems to mark a concentration of resources in this
local center, near the end of the long succession of 33 levels of the
Early Bronze Age with 18 meters’ depth of deposits of the total of
35 meters from top to virgin soil. Norşuntepe VI may mark the be-
ginnings of the trade between Mesopotamia and Anatolia, stand-
ing on what was to become one of the Old Assyrian caravan
routes. Local craftsmanship had earlier roots, demonstrated by the
discovery in Norşuntepe XIX of a copper workshop, with slag,
clay ladles for casting, nozzles for bellows and molds for shaft-
hole axes, giving proof of active metallurgy in the third millen-
nium BC in the region later known as the kingdom of Isuwa.
In the Hittite Old Kingdom Norşuntepe was defended by a
well-built stone wall of casemate construction in the widespread
manner of Anatolian fortifications. Norşuntepe was one of a num-
ber of Anatolian towns in the second millennium BC to display a
degree of planning in the regular layout of streets, often with gravel
surface and drainage channels. During the Empire the strongest ar-
chaeological indication of Hittite rule in Isuwa, from the conquest
by Suppiluliuma I onward, is provided by the typically monoto-
nous central Anatolian plain wares, especially open bowls and plat-
ters. These are clearly intrusive and characteristic of the mass-
produced pottery of the Hittite Empire.

NUHASSE LANDS. These occupied the region between the rivers

Euphrates and Orontes and between Hama and Aleppo, adjoining
the kingdoms of Mukis and Kadesh. Though mentioned in the ar-
 OIL ● 217

chives of Mari and Alalakh VII, Nuhasse was not a political entity
until the campaigns of Suppiluliuma I. In his time there were sev-
eral rulers within the Nuhasse Lands, minor chiefs who oscillated
in their loyalties between Hatti and Mitanni.
In the reign of Mursili II Nuhasse again rebelled. The Hittite
policy of indirect rule with reliance on compliant puppets failed to
secure prolonged tranquillity. Hattusili III decided on the Nuhasse
Lands as the place of exile of the deposed Urhi-Tesub, a serious
mistake as it proved.

-O-

OIL. Fine oil was akin to perfume, and as such much prized, being
used for anointing divine statues in the temples and during festi-
vals, as well as the king himself in the accession ritual. The nobil-
ity certainly used it for their toilet. Fine oil was more than a cos-
metic or cleanser, however, for it clearly brought good fortune:
hence the anointing of the commanding officer before battle, to-
gether with his horses, his chariots and all his weapons. Cedar oil
was especially valued. Fine oil could be stored in horns, or in some
rituals mixed with wine. An Egyptian king, possibly Amenhotep
III, in a letter written in Hittite to the king of Arzawa refers to the
anointing with oil of the head of the woman selected to be his wife.
Oil was extracted from a variety of vegetable sources, notably
olive, sesame, cypress, juniper and nuts. It might be used along
with resin, though that would be prized largely for its fragrance. It
was also used regularly for lamps and torches and for the prepara-
tion of food, especially breads and pastries. Oil could be employed,
with fat or grease, as a waterproofing agent.
That oil had its uses as a medicament, doubtless for aches and
pains and strained muscles, is perhaps implied by the instruction to
trainers, in the Kikkuli treatise, to massage their horses with fine
oil on the fifth day, after daily washing during the preceding days.
There can be little doubt that for the majority of the population
fine oil was a luxury they could ill afford. They were, after all, of
inferior status compared with the horses of the elite chariotry!
Animal fat must have been their standard medium for cooking and
lighting.

OLD ASSYRIAN CARAVAN ROUTES. As with all problems in-

volving historical geography, there is unlikely to be unanimity on
218 ● OMENS

the routes taken by the merchants traveling to and fro between As-
sur and the karum of Kanes or the other Anatolian merchant colo-
nies. It seems that the total distance each way of the caravan route
was about 1,200 kilometers; that the precise route varied according
to external factors or individual choice; and that, after reaching the
Euphrates River from Assur, the commonest route on to Kanes
passed Ursu (west of Birecik) and Hahhum, with an alternative
from Ursu via the more easterly Mama, likely to have lain in the
Elbistan plain.
Sidelights on the caravan route occur in references to the tex-
tile trade en route from Assur to Anatolia. Several tablets mention
textiles from the town of Talhad, near the upper Balikh River, a
tributary of the Euphrates west of the Khabur River: belts and
shawls were among the products of Talhad. Most such tablets are
transport contracts, dealing with shipments from Anatolia to Assur.
References to the datum, or caravan toll, are highly relevant to
the problems of the caravan route taken by the Old Assyrian mer-
chants. Percentages of the datum payable at each town en route
should correspond with the relative situations of these stations on
the road, as indeed they appear to do. Such datum texts are often,
though misleadingly, called itineraries.

OMENS. These, like oracles, were a means of discerning the future

fate of individuals or of great operations, as when the army was
about to march out on campaign. All Hittite omen texts are of
Babylonian origin. Precedents were all-important; and dreams
might be the vehicle for messages from the gods. Celestial omens
were prominent, messages often coming from above by lightning,
thunderstorms or eclipses. Other omens were noted at childbirth,
for the infant’s horoscope: the second and seventh months of the
year were especially auspicious for a birth, the fifth and eighth
months the most ill-omened.

ONOMASTICA. This, the classification and study of personal, geo-

graphical and divine names, can contribute toward the better un-
derstanding of the role of the various ethnic groups in and around
the territories ruled in successive periods by the Hittite kings based
in Hattusa. Inevitably names which are linguistically not Hittite
but Luwian, Palaic, Hattic, Hurrian or otherwise are included, as
occurring in the Hittite records. A seemingly primitive category of
personal name is based purely on sound, with differing number of
syllables, such as: Ta-a, Lala, Aba, Arara, Ananu, Walawala,
 ONOMASTICA ● 219

Kakariya, Kuzizi, Kuwa and Niya. Personal names related to the

geographical origin of the bearer are of several types, some being
formed with the suffix -il, for example Hattusili (“he of the city
Hattus”). This suffix is found in Hittite and also in the
non-Indo-European Hattic. The storm-gods of Nerik and Zip-
palantiya in Hattic texts carry the epithets Nerikil and Zippalan-
tiel. The Sun-Goddess of Arinna bore the epithet Arunitti, the fe-
male toponymic suffix being -itt. Where toponyms form the
nucleus of a personal name, the Hittite suffix is -um(a)na, its pre-
cursor being -uman, found in Old Assyrian texts from Kanes. One
Hittite example is purushandumna. The equivalent Luwian suffix
is -wanni. Recognition of different languages is discernible in the
use of an additional suffix -ili, as in kanisumnili and palaumnili,
“in the language of Kanes and Pala” respectively.
Names of gods and goddesses form the nucleus of many per-
sonal names, not only Hittite but also Hurrian, Hattic and Luwian.
Such are the Luwian Sausga-ziti (“man of Sausga”) and
Hepa-muwa (“life-force of Hepat”). Among many other theo-
phoric names are- Hattusa-Lamma (“patron-god of Hattusa”),
Talmi-Sarruma (“Sarruma is great”) and Urhi-Tesub (“Tesub is
true”). A few personal names contain two divine elements, includ-
ing Arma-Tarhunt (“Moon-God Storm-God”), or the name of an
animal, such as Walwa-ziti (“lion-man”). Occasionally names
linked to a profession, such as “gardener,” occur. Personal names
ending in -ahsu are purely Hittite (Nesite). Hattic remaining a
poorly understood language, its divine names are little known,
some being descriptive. One such is that of the War-God Wu-
runkatte (“king (katte) of the land (wurun)”). Hanwasuit, another
Hattic divine name, signifies “throne dais.” Some cult centers fea-
ture in certain Hattic and Hurrian divine names. Luwian names or
epithets for deities include parts of the body, such as Genuwassa
(“of the knees”): note the parallels with Latin genus and English
“genuflect.” The name of the Luwian Storm-God is a participle,
Tarhunt, “the conquering one.”
Among the more distinctive toponyms are those ending with
the suffix wanda meaning “having,” including Wiyana-wanda
(“having vineyards”), Samlu-wanda (“having apple trees”) and
Sapagur-wanda (“having beards”). Many place-names in Hittite
texts end in -ha, -(i)ya, -ka, -la, -ma, - na and so on.
Proper names can be quite revealing, even in modern times.
One such in Turkish means “flower in the vineyard,” though pro-
fessions occur more commonly. A recently published inscription,
220 ● ORACLES

described as the Habiru Prism of King Tunip-Tesub of Tikunani,

is of real interest in relation to personal names and the ethnic com-
position of the population of the time, contemporary with Hattusili
I. As many as 438 persons belonging to the Habiru class are listed,
up to some 62 percent being Hurrian. Akkadian, Amorite or Kas-
site (Babylonian) names occur rarely, as well as one Elamite. A
large percentage (122 persons) is described simply as “other
non-Semitic.” Not more than 26 Semitic names occur. There are no
certain Indo-Aryan names. The Hurrian names are mostly similar
to those from the royal archives of Mari.
As for the act of naming a human child, this is mentioned in
both mythological and non mythological texts. In the myths the fa-
ther names the child, whose name sometimes foreshadows its des-
tiny. This did not, however, apply to non mythological texts. Fam-
ily tradition and continuity could be reinforced by the giving of the
same name in different generations, when a word for “former” or
for “small” or “young” might be added. The only instance of
names given to animals comes with the pair of divine bulls of Te-
sub, Seri and Hurri (“day” and “night”).

ORACLES. Oracular texts record question and answer, from man and
god respectively. These continue until a positive reply emerges,
even if it means revealing intimate or guilty secrets! Experts in
divination were employed to interpret the signs by which the god
or goddess responded. Answers were a brief “yes” or “no.”
Extispicy—examining the pulsing entrails of sheep just
slaughtered—was expensive, the prerogative of the wealthy. For
the poor there was interpretation of the patterns formed by drops of
oil in water.
Lot- (kin-) oracles required a board with symbols of human
life, interpreted by the “Old Women,” perhaps by a throw of the
dice. Snake-oracles were governed by a water-snake’s movements
through a basin divided into sections filled with water.
Bird oracles were performed by trained augurs, often slaves.
Every detail of species and flight of birds coming within a demar-
cated area, frequently beside a river, was conscientiously recorded.
The augurs had to have extra keen eyes and ears. This augury was
employed before campaigns, with augurs accompanying the army:
it was not unknown for a military venture to be delayed until a fa-
vorable oracle could be obtained.

ORTAKÖY-ÇORUM. Situated nearly 50 kilometers east of Alaca

 OSTEN ● 221

Höyük, the numerous tablets excavated here make it possible to

identify this site as the Hittite Sapinuwa. The excavations are di-
rected by Aygül Suel. Two major structures, Building A and Build-
ing B, have been exposed. The former is 27 meters long with sur-
rounding cobbled area, the walls being of fine masonry. Here some
3,500 tablets and fragments were recovered. Building A has been
dated by dendrochronology to 1365 BC, and recent further sam-
ples confirm a dating in the 14th century BC. Building B includes a
huge depot with 40 large jars (pithoi) in several storerooms. Tab-
lets have been found, though badly burnt: these include oracle
texts and letters comparable with those from Building A.

OSTEN, HANS HENNING ERIMAR von der (1899–1960). An en-

ergetic archaeologist active in Anatolia in the inter war years, one
of his major achievements—using a Ford car over rough tracks and
unmade roads—was to discover some 300 ancient sites in central
Anatolia, his surveys being aimed especially at finding Hittite re-
mains. He published a record of these surveys in his Explorations
in Hittite Asia Minor (1927–1930). It is perhaps ironical that at
Alışar Höyük, where he directed major excavations under the aus-
pices of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago (1927–
1932), in collaboration with Erich Schmidt, there was a hiatus in
occupation of the site during the Late Bronze Age.
Forced by political circumstances to leave his studies of ar-
chaeology in Berlin (1923), von der Osten worked for a time as as-
sistant curator in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
Thereafter he worked for 10 years for the Oriental Institute, Chi-
cago, not only at Alışar Höyük but also at Kerkenes Dağ (1928)
and Gavurkalesi (1930). From 1936 to 1939 he was chairman of
the Archaeological Department in Ankara University, when he
worked at Ahlatlibel (1937), Van (1938) and the Roman baths in
Ankara (1938–1939). It was during these years that he had frequent
social contact with Atatürk, who clearly held his work in high re-
gard.
Whatever the precise truth of the matter, von der Osten was
accused of spying for the Third Reich, spending 10 years from
1940 in a Turkish gaol. Released in 1950, he was not received back
in Chicago, being given instead a post in Uppsala University, Swe-
den. He excavated briefly in Syria and Iran, and was appointed di-
rector of the German Archaeological Institute in Tehran, shortly
before his death (1960).
Historical topography and ancient Near Eastern glyptic art
222 ● OTTEN

were his principal research interests. Von der Osten was by all ac-
counts a likable man and certainly a vigorous pioneer of central
Anatolian field archaeology, whose career was blighted in mid-
stream, a setback from which he never fully recovered.

OTTEN, HEINRICH. German Hittitologist and professor at the Uni-

versity of Marburg. He worked for many seasons as epigraphist
with the German expedition at Boğazköy, and has published nu-
merous Hittite texts and historical studies throughout a long career.

OYMAAĞAÇ HÖYÜK. This settlement mound, known locally as

Höyük Tepe, is located seven kilometers northwest of Vezirköprü:
it is 20 meters high and has an area of approximately 200 by 180
meters. Surface pottery of several periods has been collected, from
Early Bronze II to Late Iron Age, though not Late Bronze Age.
Nevertheless, large basalt blocks from a major defensive wall and a
postern suggest Late Bronze as well as Middle Bronze occupation.
This is a possible location for Nerik.

ÖZGÜÇ, NIMET. Professor in the University of Ankara. In 1962 she

began excavations at Acemhöyük near the Salt Lake and later, as
part of the Euphrates Salvage Project, at Samsat (Samosata). Exca-
vations were resumed at Acemhöyük in 1988; and in 1989 the di-
rection of this major project was passed to Aliye Özten. Her nu-
merous publications, many of them on the glyptic art of Kültepe-
Kanes and Acemhöyük, as well as Karahöyük (Konya) and other
sites, on which she is an internationally acknowledged authority,
have made Nimet Özgüç one of the leading figures in Anatolian
archaeology.

ÖZGÜÇ, TAHSIN (1913–). For many decades a leading light among

Turkish archaeologists, beginning his career in the field in 1940.
He was for some years Rector of the University of Ankara and has
been a strong supporter of the Turkish Historical Foundation, es-
tablished by Atatürk.
His excavation reports tell the story of a lifetime’s fieldwork
as well as his training of many archaeologists. While he is best
known for his excavations at Kültepe (Kanes) since 1948, he has
also excavated several other Bronze Age and Iron Age sites, com-
prising: Dündartepe, under Kiliç Kökten (1940–1941); Kara-
höyük (Elbistan) and Fraktin Höyük (1947); Altıntepe (1959–
1964); Kululu (1967) and Maşat Höyük (1973–1984), also pub-
 PALA ● 223

lishing a report on the excavations at Inandiktepe.

-P-

PALA. This district was located just west of the lower reaches of the
Marrassantiya River. It is significant not for any political or mili-
tary prominence but as the homeland of a population speaking
Palaic, a distinct Indo-European language, which seems to have
superseded a Hattic substratum.
Palaic texts are all too rare in the surviving records. Emil For-
rer recognized Palaic (palaumnili) as one of the seven languages,
in addition to Hittite, in the archives of Hattusa. One such text
comprises a mythological tale followed by a hymn-like composi-
tion. The mythical theme is of gods attending a feast, where they
can neither slake their thirst nor satisfy their hunger. The hymn
mentions Zaparwa, the leading god of Pala, probably a Storm-
God. There are similarities to the Hittite tales of the Vanished God.
All elements can be traced back to Hattic origins. The town of
Lihzina is mentioned.
Pala was of strategic importance for the defense of the north-
ern borderlands of Hatti, and as such merited the appointment of a
senior official as governor of Pala-Tummanna, an office held by
Hutupiyanza, to whose aid Mursili II marched, after access to Pala
had been cut by a Kaska attack. In the Hittite Laws Pala is men-
tioned as one of the foreign destinations of merchants; and there
were severe fines for crimes against such traders.

PALAIC. One of the Indo-European languages derived through

Proto-Anatolian from Indo-Hittite and spoken by a group which
settled in part of northern Anatolia named Pala. It is closer to Hit-
tite than to Luwian. Very few texts survive.

PANTHEON (HITTITE). Although even at the height of the Hittite

Empire there was no single unified hierarchy of gods and god-
desses, the order of deities became more or less fixed from the
time of the treaty made by Suppiluliuma I with Hukkana, ruler of
Hayasa, till the fall of the Empire. At the head stood male and fe-
male sun deities: first, the Sun-God of Heaven, King of the Lands,
shepherd of mankind; and second, the Sun-Goddess of Arinna,
Queen of the Lands. Then comes a long list of weather-gods, des-
224 ● PANTHEON

ignated either by epithets or by cult centers. Local cults were in-

creasingly brought in under the umbrella of the state.
The official cult, ever more complex, is most typically seen in
the “Thousand Gods of Hatti,” manifested in treaty lists, those
agreements sworn with vassal rulers or foreign states. In some ex-
amples the Storm-God has his attendants as further witnesses,
namely, the bulls Seri and Hurri and the mountains Namni and
Hazzi. Some Babylonian divinities are then included, among them
being Ea, god of fresh waters, and Marduk. Then follows the god
Telipinu, followed by Ishtar; then come the Moon-God and the
goddess Ishhara, both special guardians of the treaty oath; and the
War-God (Zababa). Local deities follow, then a group associated
with the Underworld; and then the “primeval gods,” with whom
Sumerian deities—including Anu, Enlil and Ninlil—are closely as-
sociated. The list ends with the mountains, rivers, springs, the
Great Sea, heaven and earth, winds and clouds, all normally name-
less. The prayer of Muwatalli II enumerates the Hittite pantheon
in order of cult centers: Hattusa, Nerik, Zippalanda, Halap
(Aleppo) and Arinna take leading places, as well as Samuha. Hat-
tusa had its own pantheon, including the goddesses Hebat and
Kubaba, Ishtar of Nineveh and especially the Storm/Weather-God.

PANTHEON (YAZILIKAYA). By far the best representation of the

gods and goddesses revered at the Hittite court is to be seen in the
rock reliefs of Yazılıkaya. It may be most accurate to describe this
pantheon as Hittite-Hurrian, the former for its political context
and the latter for its religious inspiration. It represents the refine-
ments of successive generations, in the last stage of Hittite power.
The two processions in the outer rock chamber, male and female,
meet in the middle, the gods advancing from the left and the god-
desses from the right. These are listed from back to head.

Male Procession
Pisaisaphi (tablets); Nergal (Underworld); Seri and Hurri;
Hesui; Pirinkir (?); “Stag God” (Karzi); Astabi, Simegi (“Sun-God
of Heaven”), paired with Aya; Kusuh (Moon-God) paired with
Nikkal; Ninatta and Kulitta (servants of Sausga); Sausga (goddess
of War and Love); Ea (Water-God), paired with Tapkina;
Kumarbi (Grain-God, equivalent to Dagan in the middle Euphra-
tes valley); Tasmisu, brother of Tesub; then comes a gap, in the
sense that six deities in the female procession have no opposite
figures in this male procession; then comes “Calf of Tesub” (=
 PARSUNTA ● 225

Sarruma); at the head of the male procession stands Tesub

(Storm-God), paired with Hebat.

Female Procession
Sausga; unknown; Aya (?), paired with Simegi; Nikkal (=
Ningal), paired with Kusuh; Tapkina, paired with Ea;
Salus-Bitinhi, paired with Kumarbi; Naparbi, paired with Tasmisu;
Allatu; Hutena and Hutelluna (goddesses of Writing and Destiny);
Darru-Dakitu (servants of Hebat); granddaughter of Tesub; Alanzu
(daughter of Tesub and Hebat); Sarruma, son of Tesub and Hebat;
Hebat (Sun-Goddess of Arinna).

PARSUNTA. See BURUSHATTUM (PURUSHANDA).

PITASSA (PEDASSA). This land lay northwest of the Konya Plain

and some distance west of the Salt Lake, embracing much of the
barren Axylon plain and the foothills of Sultan Dağ. The historical
geography is based on the fourth of a series of treaties drawn up
by Hattusili III with Ulmi-Tesub, alias Kurunta. Early in the
reign of Arnuwanda I, during his incursions into Hittite territory,
Madduwatta gained the support of the elders of Pitassa against
their Hittite overlord. Later, Mursili II reckoned it to belong to the
land of Hatti. In his Kadesh inscription Ramesses II listed Pitassa
as one of the lands which had mustered to the Hittite army.

PITHANA. The ruler of Kussara around the mid-19th century BC,

who may with some reason be regarded as the original founder of
Hittite political power in central Anatolia, through the conquest of
the city of Kanes (Nesa). The ethnic origins of Pithana and his son
and successor, Anitta, cannot be determined from their names
alone, though it has tentatively been suggested that they could be
Hattian. The predominant element in the population of Kanes,
however, was certainly Indo-European.
The so-called Anitta Text is the one historical source for the
reign of Pithana and his subjugation of Kanes, surviving in cunei-
form clay copies, the earliest of which is from the Hittite Old
Kingdom. The original was inscribed on a stela in the gateway of
the royal city of Kanes. In spite of a curious sentence, there is noth-
ing to indicate a consciously Indo-European policy by either
Pithana or Anitta in their conquests. The crucial event in the reign
of Pithana is succinctly related thus in the Anitta Text:
226 ● PLAGUE

The king of Kussara came down from the town in great

force and took Nesa in the night by storm. He seized the
king of Nesa, but inflicted no harm on the inhabitants of
Nesa. Instead, he made them his mothers and fathers.

It is difficult to interpret the true significance of this final

phrase, which could indicate a blood relationship or equally well
simply a politic gesture of conciliation, in line with common Hittite
practice in later generations.

PLAGUE. The pestilence which struck the Hittite Empire after the
capture of Egyptian prisoners of war and their removal to Hatti
killed both Suppiluliuma I and his successor, Arnuwanda II. It
continued for some 20 years to ravage the land, provoking Mursili
II to enunciate his Plague Prayers in an effort to appease the gods.
Medicine was then bound up with prayer, propitiation and magic.
In the end, of course, it was simply natural processes whereby the
infection lost its strength which ended the plague. There is no clear
indication of its precise nature, though presumably it was one of
the numerous sicknesses still to be found in the waters of the Nile,
from which native Egyptians had probably acquired immunity.
Recurrent famine had not yet afflicted the Hittite population,
but any shortage of food must have weakened immune defenses.
Sanitation was far from perfect in the cities, though sewerage is
apparent in some areas of Hattusa.

PORADA, EDITH (1912–1994). She was taught by tutors in Vienna

and on the family estate at Hagengut in central Austria. She then
gained her doctorate in Vienna at the age of 23, on the glyptic art
of the Old Akkadian period. The study of ancient Near Eastern
seals was to be the focus of her lifetime of research and publica-
tion. With the German occupation of Austria she left for the United
States (1938), where she studied and published material from the
Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Pierpont
Morgan Library. In due course (1958) she joined the faculty at Co-
lumbia University. She wrote nine books, 130 articles and a similar
number of book reviews.

PORSUK HÖYÜK (ULUKIŞLA). Located 10 kilometers east of the

district town of Ulukişla in the province of Niğde, on the old road
from Ankara to Adana through the Cilician Gates (Gülek Boğazı)
some 50 kilometers distant. This site was thus open to contacts
 POSTERN TUNNELS ● 227

with the Cilician plain (Kizzuwadna, later Que), reflected in the

archaeological record. The mound stands on a conglomerate plat-
form, covers a roughly triangular area (400 meters east-west and
150 meters north-south) and comprises up to 10 meters of deposits.
The site was visited by William Ramsay, the Classical epi-
graphist (1891), surveyed by Emil Forrer (1926) and recorded by
James Mellaart (1951) at the start of his extensive survey of the
southern Anatolian plateau, when, from the surface pottery, he
classed it as a major Early Bronze Age site. Later, a hieroglyphic
inscription on a block was found. Then a French expedition under
Olivier Pelon excavated for seven seasons (1968–1977).
The Late Bronze Age (Level V) settlement was strongly forti-
fied, with a bastion and entrance ramp. The pottery was over-
whelmingly of the plain wares associated with the Hittite homeland
under the Empire. The violent burning marking the destruction of
this level must be dated to the fall of the Empire.
If the dating of the Early Iron Age occupation (Level IV) is
accepted, as beginning in the 11th century BC, there must have
been at least a century when the site was deserted, no rare phe-
nomenon in Anatolia at that time. There are a few other early Iron
Age settlement sites in the area. Porsuk IV, like Porsuk V, was vio-
lently burned. The Middle to Late Iron Age (Porsuk III) is marked
especially by massive fortifications of the eighth century BC, to-
gether with pottery with a slight preponderance of the distinctive
Alışar IV ware, including handled vessels, so widespread in and
beyond central Anatolia, with which the dominant cultural connec-
tions of Porsuk continued to lie. Level III did not end in violent de-
struction.

POSTERN TUNNELS. Designed for counter-attack during a siege,

the best known example runs for 83 meters through the defenses of
Boğazköy: Upper City, being constructed in effect by the corbel-
ing technique and thus virtually indestructible. It was built before
the great defensive rampart above. Another postern was built
through the south wall of Boğazköy: Lower City. Posterns occur
also at Alaca Höyük, Alışar Höyük and Ugarit, and in the Middle
Bronze Age at Korucutepe.

POTTERY. See ALIŞAR III WARE; ALIŞAR IV WARE; BEAD

RIM BOWLS; IRON AGE GRAY WARE; MIDDLE
BRONZE AGE POTTERY; LATE BRONZE AGE POT-
TERY; RELATIVE CHRONOLOGY.
228 ● PRICES

PRICES. These can be illuminating socially as well as economically,

the principal sources of evidence being the tablets of the Old
Assyrian colonies and the later Hittite Laws. Gold and silver were
the basic media of exchange in the merchant colonies of central
Anatolia, but quite often prices could be expressed in copper or
tin, ruling out any rigid theory of “bimetallism.” The finer quality
of silver (sarrupum) was much in demand with the Assyrian mer-
chants, whereas it never occurs in transactions between native Ana-
tolians, who used either standard silver (kapsum) or else silver
probably alloyed with a percentage of copper. Gold too could be of
various qualities or grades, its price normally from seven to nine
shekels of silver to one of gold. When the price fell as low as four
shekels of silver, gold containing copper may have been used. For
textiles of kutanu category the purchase price averaged four to five
shekels of silver, the average sale price being at least 15 shekels.
This represented gross profit, before payment of taxes and caravan
expenses.
In the state-controlled world of the Hittite Empire it is the Hit-
tite Laws which provide detailed records of prices, primarily for
the products of the land but also for industrial products, textiles and
metals. In many cases a price is given as in effect the level of fine
to be levied on a wrongdoer as compensation to be paid to his vic-
tim. Clothing and textiles had different values, the finest set at 30
shekels per garment and blue garments at 20 shekels each, while a
fine shirt was worth three and a large linen cloth five shekels.
Horses varied from 14 shekels to 20 for draft use. A plow ox was
worth 12 shekels. A cow was worth seven and a sheep one shekel,
a lamb being priced at half a shekel. Animal skins ranged from one
shekel for sheepskin with fleece to one-twentieth of a shekel for
the skin of a lamb or a kid.
There is significant evidence of the land values decreed by the
Hittite authorities, with one acre of irrigated land set at three shek-
els, land for dry farming at two shekels per acre and a vineyard,
presumably the poorest land, at only one mina per acre, meaning
that irrigated land was 120 times more valuable. It cost one shekel
to hire a plow ox for one month but a mere half shekel for women
laborers doing harvest work for one month!
The relative weights of the shekel and the mina in the Hittite
Empire differed from those in Babylon, being 1:40 compared with
1:60 for the latter. Assuming the same weight of 8.4 grams for the
shekel, the Hittite mina would have been much lighter than the
Babylonian: this was certainly true of the “mina of Carchemish”
 PROTO-ANATOLIAN ● 229

much later. In spite of these detailed prices, however, the costs of

commodities, livestock and land must in fact have been largely de-
termined by local conditions independent of the central administra-
tion. The prices for commodities ranging from emmer wheat and
oil to wine and cheese are set down in the Laws, but the value of
the measures is yet to be determined.
Textual evidence reveals, in part from the late third millen-
nium BC in Syria at Ebla, that, while one shekel of gold was worth
seven or eight of silver, one shekel of silver was worth eight to ten
of tin, making gold worth some 60 to 80 times the value of tin.

PROTO-ANATOLIAN. See LANGUAGES.

PROTO-INDO-EUROPEANS (PIE). These were the ancestors of

all the branches of the extended family of the Indo-Europeans, who
spread out over a vast zone stretching in the end from Siberia and
India in the east to Spain and Ireland in the west. The Hittites
formed one of these branches. An approximation for the time of
their arrival on the Anatolian plateau can be gauged from the evi-
dence for the diffusion of tribes from the PIE homeland: a date
from ca.3000 BC seems reasonable.
It has to be admitted that there is no such thing as a PIE in-
scription, and that skepticism concerning the whole discipline of
comparative linguistics, on which the reconstruction of the PIE
proto-language depends, remains quite widespread, notably among
archaeologists. Nevertheless, the study of the whole problem of the
PIE language and homeland is no flash in the pan, no invention of
one or two mavericks. Two centuries have passed since Sir Wil-
liam Jones’ labors on Sanskrit, the foundation of Indo-European
scholarship. Archaeologists are well advised, as many do, to avail
themselves of a potentially invaluable research tool.
Reconstructed PIE terms relating to subsistence indicate a
people comprising herders and cultivators, using the plow for
growing cereals and having domesticated sheep, pigs and cattle.
The linguistic evidence demonstrates strong parallels with, and
early borrowings from, two other language groups, the Proto-
Caucasian and Proto-Uralic.
This points to PIE as having been spoken in the open plains
and steppes between the Caucasus and the Urals, rather than fur-
ther west, the Dnieper River forming an apparent linguistic bound-
ary in fourth-millennium BC Europe, with immigrant farmers to
the west and indigenous stockbreeders to the east.
230 ● PUCHSTEIN

Alternative theories for the location of the PIE homeland (Ur-

heimat)—in Trans-Caucasia, around the Konya Plain in Anatolia
or in northern or southeastern Europe—are altogether less credible.
It seems likely that it was in the context of the Yamna (Pit-
Grave) culture of the Pontic-Caspian zone, which endured from
mid–fourth to mid–third millennium BC, that the PIE linguistic
unity began to break down into the beginnings of distinct Indo-
European languages.

PUCHSTEIN, OTTO (1856–1911). German archaeologist, directing

the 1907 season of excavations at Boğazköy. The pioneer special-
ist in Hittite architecture, he excavated the fortifications of the
Upper City. Confronting the view of Hugo Winckler, who was
almost exclusively interested in inscriptions, Puchstein felt obliged
to insist that the expedition should concentrate also on the architec-
ture.

PUDUHEPA. The best known and most remarkable of the Hittite

queens, she is one of the very few persons whose character can be
envisaged at least to some degree from the surviving records. Her
husband, Hattusili III, acceded to the throne at the age of about 50
having deposed his nephew Urhi-Tesub, and reigned 30 years,
thus dying at about 80. She devoted continuing care for his fluctu-
ating health, often in the form of lengthy prayers. Indeed, the pros-
perity of her husband’s kingdom and his own good fortune were
her overriding concerns throughout his reign, and she devoted the
same loyal support to her son Tudhaliya IV.
The piety of Puduhepa and her ingrained attitudes originated
in her early years in her native city of Lawazantiya in the land of
Kummanni, the northeastern area of Kizzuwadna, as priestess
and daughter of Pentipsarri, priest of Ishtar. This deity was,
though female, a warrior. The future husband of Puduhepa, Hat-
tusili III, had as his patroness Ishtar of the city of Samuha, de-
picted carrying weapons as a winged goddess. Puduhepa herself
had her father’s deity, Ishtar of Lawazantiya, as her patron, as was
only to be expected.
Coming from the Hurrian-dominated territory of Kizzu-
wadna, with her husband the new king likewise looking to that re-
gion, Puduhepa seems to have played a decisive role in the impor-
tation of Hurrian elements into the state cult of Hattusa. This
would not have been too difficult, given the Hurrian heredity of the
royal dynasty at least from the 15th century BC. Various deities of
 PUDUHEPA ● 231

Hurrian origin gain marked promotion in the divine hierarchy:

among these are Sausga, goddess of war; Sarruma, previously
venerated only in the southeastern region under Hittite domination,
including Kumanni and the city of Lawazantiya; and the great
mother goddess Hebat, mother of Sarruma. It is recorded that
Puduhepa brought tablets with lists of deities with her to Hattusa,
suggesting a religious program planned in advance.
As a corollary of these cultic changes, it seems that the relig-
ious duties of both king and queen increased in burden and com-
plexity, eventually imposing an economic drain, not to say a dis-
traction from military and political affairs, which was to contribute
to the downfall of the Hittite Empire. To what degree these relig-
ious routines were undertaken in straightforward piety, as an insur-
ance policy or for reasons of state, to satisfy potentially discon-
tented subjects, it is hardly possible even to guess on the available
evidence. Genuine piety surely played a dominant role in the life
and works of Puduhepa, aimed as it was at the well-being of her
family. This great queen was involved, often in the leading role, in
the many great religious festivals, one of which lasted 38 days, in
which she acted as chief priestess. The vows made by Puduhepa to
the goddess Lelwani included, the texts record, reference to her
dreams.
The queen might remain behind in Hattusa to preside over the
ceremonies of the “Great Gathering” while the king was away con-
ducting ceremonies in temples elsewhere. Puduhepa at least was
virtually coequal with the king, maintaining her exalted status after
his death. Her role in affairs of state is nowhere more remarkably
demonstrated than in her correspondence with Egypt, from the time
of the treaty between the two great powers, 16 years after the bat-
tle of Kadesh. Fifteen letters survive, including four written to
Puduhepa by Ramesses II, who evidently held her in great respect.
Her authorship of letters is demonstrated in the customary manner,
by use of her own seal. She was par excellence a royal match-
maker, when political alliances were thus secured. She corre-
sponded with vassals of the Hittite king, such as the ruler of
Amurru. She must also have been concerned for the wider welfare
of the population, as evinced by requesting shipment of corn to the
Hittite lands at a time when there was a recurrent shortage.
Though accidents of preservation have been favorable to the
reputation of Puduhepa, one suspects that no other Hittite queen
equaled her. See also TUDHALIYA IV: RELIGIOUS RE-
FORMS.
232 ● QUEENS

-Q-

QUEENS. The office of queen (Tawananna) carried with it a higher

status and prestige than merely that of the king’s consort; and it
continued to be held by the queen mother after the death of the
king, her husband, for the remainder of her life. Two outstanding
examples are Tawananna and Puduhepa, wives of Suppiluliuma I
and Hattusili III respectively. The former was a Babylonian prin-
cess, the second wife of Suppiluliuma I, who proved a dominating,
even domineering personality during and after her husband’s reign:
she caused much grief to her stepsons, Arnuwanda II and Mursili
II, especially to the latter. He blamed her for the death, in his ninth
year of reign, of his much-loved queen, Gassulawiya. Though the
oracles declared her guilty of a capital crime, her life was spared.
Instead, she was put on trial, stripped of office and banished from
the palace. It seems evident that her status had been such that it
would have been impolitic to have her executed. In her heyday she
had played a major role in affairs of state, having her own royal
seal. By contrast, Puduhepa was a very different personality,
rightly respected over many years, while holding the same high po-
sition in the machinery of state.
The office of Tawananna has by some scholars been consid-
ered anomalous, given the patriarchal character of Hittite society,
with its Indo-European roots. It could indeed be seen as a survival
of non-Indo-European—doubtless specifically Hattian—traditions
involving matriarchy and the supremacy of the mother goddess. In
practical terms, the queen would often remain at the court while the
king was away for long periods on campaigns. With the heir to the
throne commonly a minor, she was the obvious repository of royal
authority in the king’s absence, and normally behaved as such.

-R-

RAMESSES II (1279–1213 BC). Perhaps the best known of all the

pharaohs of Egypt, he does not deserve to be reckoned the greatest.
Two things ensure the abiding memory of this reign, its length of
67 years and the number of his inscriptions all over Egypt. Special-
ists touch upon Ramesses II in connection with the fine tuning of
absolute chronology, lowered by 25 years, or 30 years by some,
compared with the dating favored a generation ago.
In spite of very limited military successes and the setback at
 RELATIVE CHRONOLOGY ● 233

the battle of Kadesh (1274 BC), he maintained the status of Egypt

as a power of the first rank, following the victorious reign of his fa-
ther Seti I. His main architectural monuments are his mortuary
temple at Thebes, the Ramesseum, and the unique rock temple of
Abu Simbel, where the small scale of his queens, even Nefertari,
compared with his own colossal figure symbolizes the return to
strict Egyptian orthodoxy after the heresy of the Amarna period.
Not content with his own building achievements and beset by a
shortage of skilled labor, Ramesses carved his name on numerous
monuments of his royal predecessors.
Ultimately coming to be aware of a common interest with the
Hittite power to the north, then ruled by Hattusili III, a treaty was
ratified by the two sovereigns in the 21st year of Ramesses II (1258
BC), and remained in force until the fall of the Hittite Empire some
80 years later. The common interest was a combination of accep-
tance of the status quo in Syria, following the battle of Kadesh, and
fear of the rising power of Assyria.
Several documents survive which illustrate the personal as-
pects of the diplomacy governing relations between these two
great powers. Puduhepa had been a co-signatory of the treaty with
Ramesses, and was much involved in correspondence with him
concerning the marriage to Ramesses of a daughter of Hattusili III
and Puduhepa, to whom the Egyptian king wrote in the same terms
as he used in correspondence with her husband. Ramesses re-
sponded to an urgent request for an Egyptian doctor to attend the
sick Hattusili, but was less impressed by a request for medical help
to assist the ageing sister of Hattusili to become pregnant past the
normal age. Ramesses II himself must have needed medical atten-
tion as he approached 90 years of age, 24 years after the death of
Hattusili III; and Egypt suffered from the debility of a geriatric
ruler.

RELATIVE CHRONOLOGY. This can in a narrow sense be histori-

cal, where a king-list provides a firm succession of rulers, no exact
dates but cross-references to dynasties in other lands.
Relative chronology can alternatively be constructed from ar-
chaeological data, not giving any precise dates, except where ra-
diocarbon determinations are available. Comparative tables can be
constructed on the evidence of stratigraphic sections of occupation
levels, most commonly in a tell or höyük (settlement mound). For
such, excavations are of course required. Similarities in material
finds, most frequently pottery, from different sites afford insights
234 ● RELIGION

into cultural relations between sites and areas often quite widely
separated by geography. Changes in material culture, however,
seldom proceeded identically.
Pottery is by far the most useful indicator, from its ubiquity
and fragility alike. In a long-lived major building level the surviv-
ing pottery is likely to date to its final years. Much attention has
been devoted to seals, but these have less chronological signifi-
cance, since they are more durable and often handed down as fam-
ily heirlooms from one generation to the next.
The longest continuous sequences of stratified occupation lev-
els have been excavated outside the Hittite homeland, at Mersin
(Yumuktepe) and Beycesultan, each covering several millennia. In
Hatti, Boğazköy has occupation on one hilltop (Büyükkaya) of the
sixth millennium BC, but the area was not continuously settled un-
til the later third millennium BC. Alışar Höyük was occupied for
more than three millennia, until Hellenistic times, but with a hiatus
in the Late Bronze Age. Alaca Höyük too has a lengthy stratigra-
phy. Gordion had quite a long settlement history. Kilise Tepe was
continuously occupied from Early Bronze II into the Iron Age. In
Altınova, east of the Euphrates River, Korucutepe and
Norşuntepe both provide lengthy sequences of occupation levels.
See also ABSOLUTE CHRONOLOGY.

RELIGION. See ANATOLIAN RELIGION; ANCESTOR CULT;

DIVINATION; FESTIVALS; GODS AND GODDESSES;
MAGIC; PANTHEON (HITTITE); PANTHEON
(YAZILIKAYA); TEMPLES; THEOLOGY.

RHYTONS. Zoomorphic drinking vessels, most commonly in form of

a bull, were especially popular in the period of the Old Assyrian
colonies, but continued thereafter. They occur at a number of sites,
including Alaca Höyük, where two identical specimens were
found. Textual references occur in the bibru inscriptions, from
which three types of bull rhyton can be distinguished, one being a
complete bull standing on its four feet. All the rhytons mentioned
in the bibru texts seem to have been in precious metals, gold or sil-
ver, the latter especially valued for its ritual purity. Poorer folk
could have afforded only the pottery rhytons, which imitated those
of the wealthy.

ROYAL BODYGUARD. A small elite unit of spearmen, the mesedi,

numbered only 12, and were responsible for the king’s safety
 ROYAL FUNERARY CUSTOMS ● 235

wherever he might go. They must have numbered more in total,

enough to ensure that 12 could be on duty at all hours, guarding
the palace gates and the king’s person. Their commander, the gal
mesedi, enjoyed immense prestige: it was to this post that Muwa-
talli II appointed his brother Hattusili. They were reinforced and
perhaps monitored by another unit numbering 12, who doubled up
on guard duties: these were the “golden spearmen.” There can be
little doubt that their prime duty was protection against assassina-
tion, so often the curse on the Hittite monarchy. They were also
prominent during festivals.

ROYAL FUNERARY CUSTOMS. The death of the king or queen

was a potential disaster for the realm: consequently it was essential
that the requisite rituals be performed correctly to the last detail.
Any omission or deviation would be an ill omen. These rituals
continued for 14 days from the day of death, when the king or
queen “became a god.”
On the first day an ox is slaughtered and put at the feet of the
deceased, while a libation of wine is poured and the drinking ves-
sel smashed. Food and libations are offered the next day; and in
the evening came the first step toward cremation with the laying
of the body on the pyre, which is then lit. On the third morning the
charred bones were collected and cleansed in oil. With the bones
placed on the seat at the head, the funeral feast began, with three
toasts drunk in honor of the deceased. Feasting continued with sac-
rificial rites during the following days.
On the sixth day the bones were taken to the hekur-house, the
“stone house,” where the royal bones were laid on a couch, with an
oil lamp placed in front of it. Sacrifices of cattle, sheep, horses and
asses continued.
This was to be the focus of veneration by members of the
royal family through perpetuation of their ancestor cult. The
hekur-house was an institution in its own right, served by its own
priests—resembling medieval chantry priests—and generously en-
dowed with land and the labor to work it.
Symbolizing the elysian fields where the sovereign is to abide,
a sod of turf was cut and taken to the hekur-house; and with it
were placed farming implements no longer for use in this life and
therefore deliberately broken.
236 ● SAKÇEGÖZÜ

-S-

SAKÇEGÖZÜ (COBA HÖYÜK). This mound lies in the fertile plain

east of Gaziantep in the Rift Valley, first attracting attention by the
visibility of carved stone orthostats beside a spring at the base of
the mound. The prehistoric site is often termed Coba Höyük, while
Sakçegözü is applied to the Neo-Hittite occupation. John Gar-
stang conducted excavations here (1908 and 1911), followed by
Veronica Seton-Williams and John Waecher (1949). Prehistoric
occupation extends from Late Neolithic times (seventh millennium
BC) until the Uruk period (fourth millennium BC).
A Neo-Hittite enclosure of some 70 by 50 meters tops the
conical mound, with a buttressed perimeter wall, having a single
gateway decorated with reliefs showing a lion hunt. In the east
corner of the enclosure was a bit hilani with relief-decorated por-
tico and a column base with a pair of double human-headed
sphinxes, the entrance flanked by lions. The relatively small reliefs
of Sakçegözü betray a late Neo-Hittite Assyrianizing style, sug-
gesting a date in the mid–eighth century BC. This minor citadel
probably lay within the territory of the kingdom of Zincirli
(Sam’al).

SALLAPA. Probably located near the Classical Pessinus, perhaps at

Sıvrıhısar, in the light of the Hittite record that their army had first
to cross the Sakarya River. It stood at the junction of two main
routes into Arzawa, from Hatti and Syria, where the troops of
Mursili II and his brother Sarri-Kusuh from Carchemish joined
forces for their attack on Arzawa. Sallapa stood on a Hittite route
west from the Ankara region (Gavurkalesi) as far as the Aegean
region (Karabel and Mount Sipylus). It had earlier been the base
for the counter-attack by Arnuwanda I against the forces of the
rebel Madduwatta and the rulers of Pitassa, his allies.

SAMUHA. A major cult center, along with Nerik, Arinna and Zip-
palanda, also functioning as one of the store cities of the Hittite
state, it was located in the upper valley of the Marrassantiya, in
the Upper Land. While its site has not been identified, two possi-
bilities are the citadel of Sivas, the modern provincial center, and
the site of Tekkeköy, four kilometers south of Zara, upstream from
Sivas and not far from the river. At the former, the sec-
ond-millennium BC remains are buried under the Seljuk citadel, of
medieval date. Tekkeköy, a site on a rock ridge, has surface pot-
 SAPINUWA ● 237

tery of Late Bronze and Iron Age wares, and by its area was
clearly a town site.
Samuha was one of many cities regained by Telipinu, but
played its most significant political role under Tudhaliya III,
when it may have proved to be the one remaining center loyal to
the Hittite king, when Hattusa and most of his other territories had
fallen to the combined assault of enemies from west, north and
east. Even Samuha fell for a time, when “the enemy from Azzi
came and sacked all the Upper Land and made Samuha his fron-
tier.”
Samuha may have been the first major city to be recaptured
and brought back to Hittite rule by Tudhaliya III, who may have
established his court there, while Hattusa remained under enemy
rule. It became the base for successive attacks northeastward
against the tribes of Kaska, the menace which had to be con-
fronted first, if only to liberate Hattusa. Tudhaliya III led these
campaigns in person till near the end of his reign, when he lay sick
at Samuha, command being handed over to his son, the future
Suppiluliuma I. It seems that, despite the incursion from Azzi,
Samuha by its location proved relatively secure from attack.
In the final act of his troubled reign, Urhi-Tesub marched
against his uncle’s strongholds in the Upper Land but failed to win
support against Hattusili (III). He reached Samuha, but was
soundly defeated, being shut up in the city “like a pig in a sty,” and
eventually compelled to surrender. Hattusili attributed his success
to the support of the goddess Ishtar of Samuha, to whom both he
and his successor Tudhaliya IV were dedicated in their youth.

SAPINUWA. Located at Ortaköy, 50 kilometers southeast of Çorum.

Turkish excavations in progress.

SARAGA HÖYÜK. On the west bank of the Euphrates River, five

kilometers north of Carchemish. Excavated in 1999 as part of the
Ilisu-Karkamis Dam Project and one of the first victims of the wa-
ter. The settlement mound had an area of 200 by 150 meters. It
was occupied from the later fourth millennium BC (Late Uruk pe-
riod) through the Early, Middle and Late Bronze Age into the Iron
Age.
The excavations were concentrated in the levels of the second
millennium BC, with a monumental building found in the first
Middle Bronze phase. Pottery of these levels followed the wares
typical of the middle Euphrates valley. Pot- and inhumation-graves
238 ● SARGON

occur in a later Middle Bronze level overlying the remains of the

major building. Obviously Saraga must have been little more than
a satellite of Carchemish.

SARGON OF AGADE (2371–2315 BC). Founder of the Akkadian

dynasty, unifying Mesopotamia and establishing the first Empire
(2371–2230 BC). A later text, The King of Battle, records his ven-
tures on to the Anatolian plateau, clearly for purposes of trade,
centered in and around the leading city of central Anatolia, Bu-
rushattum (Acemhöyük).

SARISSA. Located at Kuşaklı, 50 kilometers south-southwest of

Sivas. German excavations in progress.

SARRUMA. This god (in Neo-Hittite times Sarma) is best known

from his representation in Chamber B of the Yazılıkaya shrine as
the protector of the Hittite king Tudhaliya IV, being depicted em-
bracing the king with his arm around his neck. There are two other
depictions of Sarruma at Yazılıkaya. He also appears on the badly
weathered Hanyeri-Gezbel relief, as well as on the seal of
Ini-Tesub, viceroy of Carchemish, from Ugarit. Though some
written references to Sarruma can be dated, those from religious
texts are difficult to attribute to any reign. In Neo-Hittite times the
god Sarma was venerated. It seems significant that the onomastica
reveal no longer Hurrian but rather Luwian roots. His name is re-
corded over a wide zone, from Sultanhan (near Kültepe) in the
north to the Mediterranean coast (at Korykos) in the south; and
from Topada and Porsuk in the west to Malatya in the east.
Sarruma was an ancient Anatolian divinity, not originally
Hurrian but adopted into the Hurrian pantheon by the Hurro-
Mitannian conquerors of Kizzuwadna, comprising lands from
eastern Cilicia northeastward. It was as a consequence of the con-
quest of Kizzuwadna by Suppiluliuma I that the name of Sar-
ruma, and by implication his cult, was spread abroad over a wide
zone, with his name appearing as an onomastic suffix to the names
of kings or princes of Carchemish, Aleppo, Isuwa and Ugarit; and
likewise with certain Hittite princes, contemporaries of Suppiluli-
uma I and Tudhaliya IV, and Hismi-Sarruma, possibly the future
Tudhaliya IV. Sarruma occurs as a suffix also for some names on
seals, one in the royal lists and a number of scribes, one of the
time of the end of the Empire, under Suppiluliuma II.
Sarruma originated as a provincial god, whose cult was cen-
 SAUSGA ● 239

tered in the highlands of the Anti-Taurus in northeastern Kizzu-

wadna, around Comana/Kummanni. He was depicted as a sacred
calf emerging from the mountains, destined in the imperial period
to become the “son” of the Storm-God. It was probably in the
15th century BC that there emerged the divine triad of Tesub, He-
bat and their son Sarruma, imposed by the ruling Hurrian dynasty
on the capital itself, Hattusa, and on their domains to the east and
south. It was, however, only under the so-called Kizzuwadnan
kings, Hattusili III (with Puduhepa) and Tudhaliya IV, that Sar-
ruma was accorded a precise status in the Hittite pantheon. He
was not always shown as an imitation of his parents, Tesub and
Hebat, with their attributes: he could be characterized by a deer or
a hare, by a bow or spear, hinting perhaps at a warlike origin.

SAUSGA. A deity not unique in the Hittite world in being both male
and female, variously associated with war, love and fertility, and
related to the Semitic Ishtar, Sausga is best known from the Hit-
tite texts and from the reliefs of Yazılıkaya. There, she is depicted
among the male deities, wearing a tiara, distinctive hairstyle and
kilt, giving a military appearance, but with her clothing pulled
away to expose her lower torso. Sausga was especially venerated
by Hattusili III, very probably owing to the Hurrian background
of this deity, aligning with Kizzuwadna, the homeland of his
queen, Puduhepa.
This was, however, a relatively late import into the Hittite
royal pantheon, being almost unknown before the Middle Hittite
period. The earliest reference occurs in association with Nineveh,
where the cult of Ishtar took a distinct form from that found else-
where in the Mesopotamian world. A lamb was offered to Sausa,
later identified in a lexical list as “Ishtar of/in Subartu,” that is, of
the North, soon before 2000 BC, during the Third Dynasty of Ur.
It was the Hurrians who enthusiastically adopted the cult of
this deity, renaming her Sausa or Sawuska. Widely though not
prominently venerated, Ishtar/Sawuska was the chief divinity of
Tusratta of Mitanni, who invokes her alongside Re, the Sun-God
of Egypt. The increasing popularity of Sausga from the Middle
Hittite period until the fall of Hatti is but one manifestation of the
Hurrian impact on the court and kingdom.
This deity continues to be mentioned in the Iron Age in the
hieroglyphic Luwian inscriptions, while the cuneiform sources
mentioning Ishtar of Nineveh are exclusively Assyrian.
240 ● SAYCE

SAYCE, Rev. ARCHIBALD HENRY (1845–1930). A scholar in

the Victorian English mold, he has fair claim to be regarded as the
founder of Hittitology, in that he was the first to recognize the his-
torical significance, homeland and distinct identity of the Hittites,
though it was left to others to prove their Indo-European affinities.
In 1880 he gave a lecture in London to the Society for Biblical Ar-
chaeology, asserting that all the enigmatic reliefs and inscriptions
found recently in Asia Minor (Anatolia) and Syria must be attrib-
uted to the Hittites, hitherto dismissed as a people with a minor
role in the Old Testament. He had already (1876) guessed the truth
from his examination of the “Stones of Hamath,” finding the
same hieroglyphic script at Mount Sipylus in western Anatolia
(1879). He later spotted tablets from Tell el-Amarna (Akhetaten)
on sale in Cairo, and reported them (1888). He published The Hit-
tites—the Story of a Forgotten Empire (1888).

SCHAEFFER, CLAUDE-FREDERIC-ARMAND (1898–1982). Af-

ter initial archaeological experience in Alsace, from 1929 he di-
rected the excavations at Ras Shamra on the Syrian coast. In 1930
the newly discovered alphabetic cuneiform texts were deciphered;
then in 1932 the site was identified as Ugarit. Schaeffer soon
grasped the significance of its relations with Cyprus, beginning
excavations at Enkomi, near Famagusta. In 1939 he began the se-
ries of monographs entitled Ugaritica. After service with the Free
French in World War II, he resumed excavations at Ugarit and
Enkomi. Schaeffer also excavated at Malatya (Arslantepe)
(1946–1951), completing excavation of the palace begun by the
late Louis Delaporte.

SCHLIEMANN, HEINRICH (1822–1890). Rightly regarded as one

of the founders of Near Eastern and Aegean archaeology, he was
responsible for the first excavations at Mycenae and Tiryns in
Greece and Troy in Turkey. A successful businessman, he was
driven by an obsessive interest in Homer. With the help of Wil-
helm Dorpfeld he exposed a long sequence of building levels at the
mound of Hissarlik (Troy). Schliemann earned the strong disap-
proval of the Ottoman Turkish authorities for breaking his promise
that all objects of gold and silver should be handed over to the
Turkish government: in the event, the great majority went abroad,
finally to Berlin and in 1945 to the Soviet Union. This has had an
abiding effect on Turkish official attitudes to foreign archaeolo-
gists seeking excavation permits.
 SCHMIDT ● 241

SCHMIDT, ERICH F. Codirector with Hans Henning von der Os-

ten of the excavations at Alışar Höyük (1927–1929), under the
auspices of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. He
made a major contribution to fieldwork in Iran through aerial pho-
tography.

SCRIBES. In the earliest phase of writing, with the keeping of the

first commercial and administrative records, the scribe was the
linchpin of sophisticated government in the Sumerian cities of
southern Mesopotamia. Only later was writing employed for liter-
ary purposes such as epic poetry or legends, and it was some cen-
turies before the first efforts at historiography are manifested. In
early periods in Mesopotamia scribes were trained and employed
in the temples, the royal palace with its bureaucracy being a later
phenomenon.
In all periods and regions of the ancient Near East learning by
rote was the rule for the training of the young scribe, a method in
accord with long-standing traditions and anyhow unavoidable
when mastering such a complex script as Akkadian cuneiform.
First came the copying of simple syllables, Akkadian and likewise
Hittite being syllabic scripts. Lexical texts, among those imported
to Hattusa from Mesopotamia, were then to be learned. Afterward
came literary compositions.
The Hittite scribe or scholar needed the cuneiform script for
his native Indo-European language, nevertheless having to copy
texts in Akkadian. Though in a dead language, Sumerian composi-
tions were highly respected and included in the curriculum, albeit
often poorly understood. It was through the scribes that a whole
cultural tradition was transmitted into the Hittite lands from Meso-
potamia: their education therefore played a crucial role in the as-
similation of much of the customs of the ancient Near East.
References to foreigners from Assyria and Babylonia present
at Hattusa include at least three named scribes, one Babylonian
and two Assyrian, though one of these has a Babylonian-sounding
name (Nabu-nasar). Diplomacy is better represented, no doubt
owing to the higher rank of an ambassador compared with a scribe;
but the latter was every bit as indispensable for the smooth opera-
tion of government.
The corps of scribes at the Hittite court comprised for the
most part natives of the kingdom, principally Hittites, with duties
and responsibilities varying with their rank. At the bottom of the
scale were those who spent their time copying texts, governmental,
242 ● SCULPTURE

commercial or literary, for storage in the official archives. This

tedious work had to be repeated at regular intervals, for the clay
tablets were normally unbaked and by their material not indefi-
nitely durable. Presumably not every scribe was competent in a
language other than Hittite, though many tablets were copied in
Akkadian.
Their mastery of languages contributed to the prestigious
status of senior scribes in the Hittite kingdom; but their critical ad-
vantage lay simply in their literacy, for it seems virtually certain
that the kings were illiterate. When it came to formulating new
documents, notably treaties, the content naturally depended in the
last resort on the will of the king; but the text would surely have
been drafted by a high-ranking scribe, one who was well ac-
quainted with the ways of government, the intricacies of foreign
relations and the foibles of his royal master. These highest-ranking
scribes were in effect government ministers, and they often inher-
ited their post from father to son, helping to consolidate the grip of
the aristocracy as the power behind the throne. Mittannamuwa
was chief scribe in the reign of Muwatalli II, who appointed him
as administrator of Hattusa on the transfer of the royal seat of gov-
ernment to Tarhuntassa.
While we lack personal details of individual scribes, they can
sometimes be identified by postscripts to documents, added after
formal approval by the king and commonly addressed to the re-
cipient. Clearly the scribes at both ends of the line of communica-
tion shared a fellow feeling as professionals. Moreover, tablets can
be attributed to the same scribe through close examination of the
ductus, the degree of pressure applied through the stylus or pen on
the wet clay.
A separate group of scribes specialized in writing not on clay
but on wood, it seems largely for rather temporary records, the
script used being not cuneiform but hieroglyphic, better known on
rock inscriptions such as that of Suppiluliuma II at Boğazköy:
Nişantaş. Not Hittite or Akkadian but Luwian was the language
written in hieroglyphic script. See also DIPLOMACY.

SCULPTURE. Most Hittite sculpture can be categorized as single or

multiple rock reliefs, widely scattered or in series, notably
Yazılıkaya, or as architectural embellishment, rather earlier at
Alaca Höyük and subsequently in the great gates of Boğazköy:
Upper City. Royal patronage is strongly implied by the close
similarity of the work of the seal cutters and even that of the gold-
 SCULPTURE ● 243

smiths, evident as late as the Iron Age in Carchemish.

The question of the ultimate origin of Hittite sculpture centers
on the role of Mesopotamian influence. A rock relief of Naram-
sin of the Akkadian dynasty (23rd century BC) could be the earli-
est link in the long tradition of such carving in the Near East. One
textual reference could suggest the introduction to Hattusa by Hat-
tusili III of Kassite Babylonian sculptors. Yet Mesopotamia, with
with its lack of local stone, would seem an unlikely home for
sculptors to instruct native Anatolian craftsmen. Guardian lions at
gateways, however, were indeed of Mesopotamian derivation, hav-
ing initially been fashioned not in stone but in fired clay. These
were to become a standard feature of much of Neo-Hittite archi-
tecture, as at Hama, but were already well established under the
Hittite Empire.
The art historian Robert Alexander has divided the Yazılıkaya
reliefs into four groups, detecting two master sculptors each with
an assistant. The cessation of work by one—the so-called Fraktin
Master—was for reason unknown; but his older style did not die.
There seems likely to have been a tradition of apprentices, pre-
sumably young, the requisite time for training being made easier
by the inevitably slow pace of the work, pecking and rubbing the
rock face.
Egyptian influence on Hittite sculpture and glyptic art was
not new, for the motif of the sphinx occurs on seals of the time of
the Assyrian trading colonies. When work began at Yazılıkaya,
under Hattusili III, relations between Hatti and Egypt became quite
close after the treaty with Ramesses II (1258 BC). Thus the im-
portation of motifs from the latest of the monumental buildings of
Egypt is not surprising. Such is the motif of the king in the em-
brace of his protector god. The clearest evidence of Egyptian artis-
tic influence, however, is the winged sun disk, consistent with the
adoption of the regal style “My Sun” and with the identification of
the Hittite king with his Sun-God.
Hittite sculptors surely worked to a pattern book, very much
on the same lines as those followed by seal cutters and goldsmiths
alike. Originality was not an artistic trait of the Hittites. The artists
were, after all, working to the orders of an essentially traditionalist
court, except for the foreign elements introduced by Hattusili III
and Puduhepa and followed till the fall of the Empire.
See also: EFLATUN PINAR; FASILLAR; GAVURKA-
LESI; HANYERI-GEZBEL; IMAMKULU; IVRIZ; KARA-
BEL; SIPYLUS, MOUNT; SIRKELI; TAŞCI.
244 ● SEALS

SEALS (GLYPTIC ART). The field of study of what is commonly

termed glyptic has occupied archaeologists and art historians of the
ancient Near East for many decades, the pioneer being Henri
Frankfort (ca.1900–1956). Philologists and historians are also con-
cerned, especially with the contexts of the sealing of goods. Here,
with but brief reference to earlier backgrounds, attention will be
focused on the Old Assyrian colonies in Anatolia and on the Hittite
Old Kingdom and Empire. Not every detail, notably material, can
be given, simply because most of the examples of seals survive
only in the form of impressions, often as bullae.
The two broad categories of seal are the stamp and the cylin-
der, with finger rings also often used as seals in the Old Assyrian
colonies. Stamp seals first appear in Neolithic times, and continued
as the principal form for seals of the native Anatolian tradition.
Cylinder seals originated in southern Mesopotamia in the mid–
fourth millennium BC, and predominated throughout Mesopota-
mian history, being disseminated widely through the Near East in-
cluding Anatolia, normally in Mesopotamian styles. Stamp and
cylinder seals were in use side by side in the Old Assyrian colo-
nies.
The seals of Kültepe-Kanes and the other Assyrian colonies
show much greater variety in their designs than those of the Hittite
state afterward. This reflects the difference between communities
based on private enterprise and the products of a closely structured
state bureaucracy.
At Kanes there were separate workshops for stamp and cylin-
der seals, and there are hints of individual seal carvers, though no
names survive. These were not so exclusively specialist craftsmen
as not to engage in other trades: for example, unfinished cylinder
seals were excavated in a workshop for bronze tools and weapons;
and a stamp seal workshop flourished in a house with tablets.
Some native Anatolian seals were doubtless home made and
cheap, judging by their crudity and idiosyncrasies of style.
Iron oxide in the form of haematite was probably extracted
from the volcanic areas of eastern Anatolia, and was the common-
est material for seal cutters of the Assyrian colonies in central
Anatolia (“Cappadocia”) but also in Mesopotamia and Syria: there
are textual references to its use, as well as to seals of lapis lazuli.
Serpentine, steatite and bone, all softer, were used for cheaper,
sometimes cruder, seals in Kanes, as well as lead, bronze and clay
for stamp seals. Metal cylinder seals first appear in the later second
millennium BC in southeastern Anatolia and north Syria. Wooden
 SEALS ● 245

stamp seals have not survived, but very probably occurred, for use
in stamping textiles. Steatite was used for some of the Hittite seals
excavated at Ugarit.
It is the cylinder seals which display the skills of the cutter in
design, the stamp seals being relatively simple and limited in rep-
ertoire. The Old Assyrian style probably derived from the glyptic
art of the Third Dynasty of Ur in southern Mesopotamia (2113–
2004 BC), specifically from the rule of Ur over Assur. Influences
are discernible from the Syrian-style seals of the third millennium
BC and from seals of the so-called Syro-Cappadocian style. Seals
of the Old Assyrian style were presumably made both at Assur and
in Anatolia. Lapis lazuli seals are textually recorded as being sent
from Assur to Anatolia. Themes in this style include: standing fig-
ures; introduction to a seated deity, a dominant subject in Mesopo-
tamia; supplication before a seated deity, those without inscription
often having one of a rich variety of subsidiary subjects forming
the end or terminal element of the design; processions of deities
with thunderbolts and other symbols or weapons; a god in a char-
iot; the Water-God and scenes with the water hero; the nude god-
dess; combats; scenes in two registers. The basic scene of intro-
duction or supplication forms the center of nearly all designs.
Terminal elements in a design can combine serpents, bulls, lions,
scorpions, crossed animals, and tiny human figures or deities,
making for a rich repertoire in contrast with the stereotyped seals
of contemporary Mesopotamia.
The cylinder seals of the Anatolian style are mostly of high
quality, though some can be classed as crude. The origin of this
style could lie in karum III–IV or in Syria or both. The cylinder
seal must have been imported by the first Assyrian merchants,
along with the cuneiform script, into central Anatolia. By the time
of karum II at Kanes the cylinder seals in the Anatolian style had
developed entirely original designs. Native Anatolian subjects,
among them different forms of Storm-God or Weather-God, espe-
cially animals, are combined with Mesopotamian and other foreign
themes, all fitted into crowded Anatolian designs, often on several
levels though not in rigid registers. Hittite art was later to absorb
elements of iconography and composition from Anatolian glyptic
art of the Old Assyrian period. The classification of the subject
matter of such crowded designs is difficult. They include: intro-
duction, supplication and offering before a seated deity or ruler;
deities and others standing before a seated deity or ruler; deities
enthroned or in procession; scenes of animals with “heroes of the
246 ● SEALS

field” or showing whole animals or parts; animals in single or

double files; and combats. Human beings and animals in the pres-
ence of a bull, along with ritual drinking, are among themes on
cheap seals of bone, steatite and possibly also wood. It is tempting
to see these as particularly popular with poorer folk.
Stamp seals were the dominant Anatolian form, few surviving
at Kanes before karum IB. The motifs of the Kültepe stamp seals
are only very broadly paralleled at Karahöyük (Konya) and at
Boğazköy, such as simple floral designs or spirals within a round
face. No parallels occur at these two sites for the stamp seals with
human or animal faces or the single couchant animals of Kültepe
karum II. Whereas stamps of all types were used on the Old
Assyrian tablets, only geometric stamps were used in the sealing
of bullae from bales and storage jars from the palace. Karahöyük
(Konya) has yielded a far greater variety of stamp seals than has
been excavated at Kanes or at the IB-period colonies at Alışar
Höyük and Hattusa. Motifs at the latter include a stylized leaf or
quatrefoil pattern and star, a variety of creatures (double eagle, ea-
gle-demon, griffin, lion, tortoise, hare, stag and sheep), predators
killing prey (eagle, double eagle, griffin and lion), a figure drink-
ing with a straw from a vessel on a tripod, a cow’s hoof, a foot and
a duck.
In the Hittite Old Kingdom at Hattusa are found several glyp-
tic designs on stamp seals: animal heads and hieroglyphs, among
the early examples of this script; hieroglyphs surrounded by a
decorative band, usually interlaced; figures flanked by decorative
strips, some with a star in the center, and/or by hieroglyphs; and
running spirals. Pictorial designs include a bull, lion, stag and god
seated on a chair, all on square or rectangular stamp seals. Other
themes are a god facing a nude goddess, each standing on a bull,
and a worshiper standing before a seated god (?) with a small stand
between, possibly an altar or offering table.
Seals of the later New Kingdom (Empire) include flat exam-
ples with rather concave face, giving a slightly convex impression;
but biconvex seals with their concave impressions are more com-
mon, designed for the most part solely with hieroglyphs, occasion-
ally with a horned goat or sheep. One design has a double eagle,
ornaments and flowers. Ornamental motifs include flowers and
animals. Hemispherical, discoid and conical seals occur; and a few
stamp seals have a suspension loop, more frequent on seals of the
Iron Age.
The royal stamp seals of Ugarit are centered on a hiero-
 SEA PEOPLES ● 247

glyphic monogram surmounted by the winged sun disk and sur-

rounded by cuneiform script of one, two or occasionally three
lines. These seals begin with that of Suppiluliuma I and his
queen, Tawananna, then those of Mursili II and Hattusili III with
Puduhepa. The stamp seal of Tudhaliya IV shows a change of
design, with the hieroglyphic monogram flanked by figures: on the
right side looking left, the king embraced by Sarruma; on the left
looking right, a goddess. Ini-Tesub, viceroy of Carchemish, has a
god standing with scepter in his right hand and a sphinx standing
on his outstretched arm, and is wearing the typical Hittite shoes
with upturned toes. The cylinder seals of Carchemish also have
standing figures, with cuneiform and/or hieroglyphic inscription.
One cylinder used by “Du-Tesub the king” (of Amurru) was in-
tended to impress on the inventory of his daughter’s dowry for her
marriage to Ammistamru, king of Ugarit. Although displaying an
often rich variety in their designs, seals are not the best evidence
for dating, seeing that they are durable and frequently handed
down as heirlooms from one generation to the next, no doubt as
much for practical business reasons favoring continuity as for any
family piety.

SEA PEOPLES. These were groups of invaders of differing origin

who came to the knowledge of modern scholars through the re-
cords of Ramesses III of Egypt for his eighth year (1177 BC),
these being inscribed and depicted on the walls of his great mortu-
ary temple of Medinet Habu, the last and best preserved of the
royal mortuary temples on the west bank of Thebes in Upper
Egypt. Ramesses III caused an account of dramatic events to be
written in appropriate words:

The foreign countries made a conspiracy in their islands.

All at once the lands were removed and scattered in the
fray. No land could stand before their arms, from Hatti,
Qode, Carchemish, Arzawa and Alasiya on, being cut off
at one time. A camp was set up in one place in Amurru.
They desolated its people, and its land was like that which
has never come into being. They were coming forward to-
ward Egypt, while the flame was prepared before them.
Their confederation was the Peleset, Tjeker, Shekelesh,
Denyen and Weshesh, lands united. They laid their hands
upon the land as far as the circuit of the earth, their hearts
confident and trusting: “Our plans will succeed!”
248 ● SEA PEOPLES

Even allowing for the hyperbole characteristic of Egyptian in-

scriptions, with their intention of proclaiming the prowess of the
Pharaoh, it is apparent that a violent disruption of the Hittite lands
and of Syria had occurred, which has to be associated with the
downfall of Hattusa and the end of the Hittite Empire. Precisely in
which year this came about is still uncertain; but it must have oc-
curred between ca.1180 and 1175 BC. The lowering of Egyptian
absolute chronology has meant that the final end of Hatti has to
be set a few years later than hitherto supposed.
The 19th-century Egyptologist Gaston Maspero first sug-
gested a mass migration of northern barbarians into the Hittite
lands and southward to the borders of Egypt, and the picture of
military and naval confrontation was heightened by the later dis-
covery of an archive of tablets at Ugarit, among them a letter
from the last king of the city, Ammurapi, in reply to a call for help
from the king of Alasiya (Cyprus), a letter which spoke for itself:

My father, behold, the enemy’s ships came (here); my cit-

ies (?) were burned, and they did evil things in my country.
Does not my father know that all my troops and chariots
(?) are in the Land of Hatti and all my ships are in the Land
of Lukka?. . . . Thus the country is abandoned to itself.
May my father know it: the seven ships of the enemy that
came here inflicted much damage upon us.

This tablet was with others in an oven where they had just
been baked: they were never dispatched.
Who were the Sea Peoples? Not all the groups which dis-
rupted Anatolia in the 12th century BC can be included under this
overriding name, notably the Muski. Of those listed in the above-
quoted inscription at Medinet Habu, the majority evidently came
from Palestine (Peleset or Philistines), the Aegean region (Denyen)
and Sicily (Shekelesh). One suggestion is that two other groups
should be largely discounted, not being mentioned in most of the
inscriptions: these are the Sherden or Shardana and the Teresh, the
most westerly of the Sea Peoples, so-called. These must clearly be
associated with Sardinia and with mainland Italy (Tyrenia). The
Sherden first appear in the early 14th century BC in Egypt, in the
reign of Amenhotep III, and were being employed as mercenaries
by Ramesses II. In the Medinet Habu reliefs they appear fighting
on both sides, distinguished by their bronze horned helmets: their
association with Sardinia is based not merely on their name but
also on bronze statuettes with horned helmets, found in the distinc-
 SEEHER ● 249

tive fortified towers of the island, the nuraghi.

It is apparent that a considerable naval force attacked the Nile
Delta, with the aim of sacking the royal palace of Ramesses III,
built on one of the mouths of the Nile, close to the site of the pal-
ace of his predecessor Ramesses II. Their repulse marked the end
of any attempt to occupy Lower Egypt.
The theory of a mass migration had rested largely on the rep-
resentations of women and children advancing in oxcarts: these, it
was assumed, were the families of the invading land and sea
forces. It is, however, far more likely that these were refugees
from southern Palestine, fleeing the destruction and disorder
caused by the intruders. The role of the sea force has perhaps been
exaggerated, although the tablets found at Ugarit hardly support
this suggestion. Probably the whole Mediterranean was subject to
frequent piratical raids, sometimes mirrored on land. The Egyptian
word translated as “islands” might more safely be rendered as
“seacoasts,” only the Shekelesh and Sherden being definitely is-
landers.
Yet, however the earlier view of the Sea Peoples has had to be
modified, their role in the downfall of the Hittite power and in
bringing the Bronze Age to an end in Anatolia and the Levant can
scarcely be doubted. Many cities, notably Ugarit, were never re-
built. Only Egypt survived relatively unscathed, troubled more by
internal weakness and dissension.

SEEHER, JÜRGEN. Director of the Boğazköy excavations since

1994. He gained his doctorate at the Free University of Berlin
(1983), with his thesis on the Neolithic, Chalcolithic and Early
Bronze Age pottery from Demircihöyük, in northwestern Ana-
tolia. He is thus a prehistorian by training. While assistant director
at the German Institute of Archaeology in Istanbul (1989–1993),
he excavated a Bronze Age cemetery at Demircihöyük-Sanket. His
excavations in Boğazköy include work on Büyükkaya and the
reservoirs in the Upper City.

SEHA RIVER LAND. The river was probably the Classical Caicos,
which flows into the Aegean Sea not far north of the mouth of the
Hermos River. This territory formed the northern part of the home-
land of Arzawa, lying north and northeast of modern Izmir and
immediately north of Sardis. It was fertile land, destined to be-
come part of the central region of the kingdom of Lydia in the Iron
Age.
250 ● SERI

The Seha River Land was in the anti-Hittite alliance defeated

by Tudhaliya I/II. In the ensuing period of Hittite weakness,
however, it inevitably gravitated again to Arzawa, as a result of
which it was strongly attacked by Mursili II, following his defeat
of Arzawa and the death of Uhhaziti, its king. Mursili unexpect-
edly showed clemency, when the mother of the ruler of the Seha
River Land, Manapa-Tarhunda, came to plead for mercy. It almost
smacks of chivalry! The land and its ruler—whose name betrays
his Luwian affinities—were reduced to vassalage.
Later, in the reign of Muwatalli II, Piyamaradu defeated an
expedition led against him in Wilusa by Manapa-Tarhunda. Mu-
watalli was compelled to act, sending a Hittite force under the
command of Gassu, mainly to remove Piyamaradu from Wilusa.
He wisely withdrew to the protection of Ahhiyawa. Tudhaliya
IV, obliged to restore Hittite rule in the west after the relative
weakness in his father’s reign, attacked Arzawa Minor under Tar-
hunaradu, and placed a descendant of Muwawalwi, father of
Manapa-Tarhunda, on the throne of the Seha River Land.

SERI AND HURRI. The bulls of the Storm-God, bearing names in

Hurrian signifying “Day” and “Night,” are agreed to be repre-
sented by two large baked clay statuettes 90 centimeters high,
found in the 1963 excavations on Boğazköy: Büyükkale by Kurt
Bittel. Attributed to Büyükkale IVb2, they can be dated to the be-
ginning of the Hittite New Kingdom or Empire. With light-red to
red highly burnished slip and patches of cream on shoulders,
haunches, foreheads and horns, their eyes are white with black in-
laid pupils, giving them a fierce look. They were found together in
a cache; and their tails, hanging down the left and right leg respec-
tively, demonstrate that they were a pair. Each bull has a funnel-
shaped opening at the neck for pouring in liquids and two openings
in the nostrils as outlets. These were thus cult vessels for rituals
involving libations.
Textual evidence shows that these divine bulls acted as inter-
mediaries, interceding for men before the gods, and may have
been associated with the domestic cult. This is suggested by the
occurrence of fragments of similar large baked clay statuettes in
houses in Hattusa.
In one of the scholarly disagreements characteristic of a vig-
orous discipline, Bittel saw Seri and Hurri appearing in the reliefs
of Yazılıkaya, whereas Emmanuel Laroche saw the “bull-calf of
Tesub.” The argument hung largely on the interpretation of one
 SHALMANESER I ● 251

hieroglyph, opinion now coming down on Laroche’s side. Be that

as it may, the function of Seri and Hurri was to draw the chariot of
the Storm-God, a theme indirectly echoed later on the gold bowl
of Hasanlu and the reliefs of Malatya.

SHALMANESER I (1263–1234 BC). He maintained an aggressive

policy toward Hatti, though his claim to have slaughtered Hittite
soldiers like sheep may be questioned. He constituted a threat,
however, at the end of his reign to the new Hittite king, Tudhaliya
IV, when Hatti was beginning to weaken.

SHIELDS. Hittite shields carried by the shield bearers in the chariots

as depicted on the Egyptian reliefs of the battle of Kadesh are of
figure-of-eight shape. They were evidently designed to protect the
whole body of the driver during the charge. The round shield was
brought to the Near East by the Sea Peoples, becoming standard
issue for Neo-Hittite troops.

SIEGE WARFARE. The evidence suggests that siege operations did

not usually rank among the most successful achievements of the
Hittite army. Two sieges occurred under Hattusili I: the high-
flown account of the siege of Ursu reveals weaknesses in the at-
tacking Hittite force, while the city of Hahha on the Euphrates
valiantly repulsed two Hittite attacks before finally succumbing.
The siege of Carchemish by Suppiluliuma I was more of a tri-
umph, the Mitannian stronghold falling to a direct assault on the
eighth day.
Voluntary surrender was obviously the best outcome for the
besieging force. An alternative would be to ravage the surrounding
land belonging to the city under siege. In a direct assault, battering
rams would be deployed against the main gate, where the garrison
might be tempted to come out in a counter-attack, exposing them-
selves dangerously. For a lengthy siege of many months, towers
and ramps of earth were required, to surmount the fortifications,
and tunnels to penetrate beneath their foundations, a laborious op-
eration demanding the skills of seasoned sappers. Starving the in-
habitants was not as easy as it might appear, for it was far from
simple to prevent all movement to and from the besieged city, as
the siege of Ursu demonstrated. The besieging force would proba-
bly have to break off operations if not completed at the onset of the
Anatolian winter.
Posterns were a favored device for the besieged garrison to
252 ● SILVER

mount a sally or counter-attack, most suitably at night.

SILVER. In some ways this was regarded in the ancient Near East as
being as highly prized as gold, although its lower exchange rate
belies this impression. In some excavated sites it is rare or non-
existent, owing to the fact that, unlike gold, it corrodes badly in
adverse soil conditions. As with gold, artifacts of silver are over-
whelmingly recovered from burials, and then only from those not
robbed.
In Anatolia the earliest major find of silver comprises personal
ornaments from graves of the fourth millennium BC from
Korucutepe, in the Keban area of the upper Euphrates valley, sub-
sequently the land of Isuwa. Silver artifacts of the third millen-
nium BC occur at Alaca Höyük and elsewhere in central Anatolia,
at Mahmutlar, Horoztepe, Eskiyapar and Alışar Höyük, as well
as at Troy.
The major evidence for silver comes from contemporary tab-
lets and other inscriptions. It was in use in Mesopotamia from the
mid–third millennium BC as the dominant medium of exchange in
trade, in a society where something approaching a form of cur-
rency was required. Silver was employed in making purchases and
arranging loans and deposits, as well as paying rents. It was,
moreover, included in offerings to the gods and in items of tribute
in peace and war, featuring prominently in the last capacity in the
Late Assyrian royal annals. The most numerous textual references
occur in the tablets from Kültepe-Kanes, when silver was one of
the major exports from Anatolia, and when it appears in complex
partnership and other deals.
Various hints can be found of the value attached to silver over
and beyond the obvious commercial contexts. It was evidently re-
garded as the metal of special purity, mentioned in the context of
Hittite royal funerary customs: a silver vessel was used by the
women responsible for collecting the bones from a royal crema-
tion, early on the second day of the funeral rites. Later, a kinsman
of the dead cuts down a vine with a silver ax. In an early Hurrian
myth preserved in a Hittite version, the young god Silver, living in
the countryside with his mother, is told by her: “O Silver! The city
you enquire about, I will describe to you. Your father is Kumarbi,
the Father of the city Urkesh. He resides in Urkesh. . . .”
This story was originally set in the mountains where silver
was mined, a region with which ethnic affiliation is claimed for the
citizens of Urkesh. The Keban area is nearer the location of Urk-
 SIPYLUS ● 253

esh at Tell Mozan than the silver mines of the Taurus Mountains,
and the population there would have been mainly Hurrian. A more
economic use of silver, in a professional context, is apparent in a
text from Hattusa describing the construction of a house, with the
completion of the timber roof structure. At this point the architect
is obliged to shin up a rope to the roof, three times on to the roof
and down again, the third time cutting a sash hanging
from a roof beam: in this sash are tied an ax and a knife of silver.
After bowing to the owner of the house, the architect goes home,
taking the ax and knife for himself, as his fee.
The principal Anatolian sources of silver were the Bolkardağ
region of the Taurus Mountains, including Madenköy, and the Ke-
ban mine, until 1833 yielding up to five tons of silver annually.
Silver is also found in western Anatolia, in the Çanakkale and Iz-
mir areas, and in the Pontic highlands south of the Black Sea,
where place-names—including Trabzon-Gümüşhane and Amasya-
Gümüşhaciköy—are highly suggestive, gümüş being Turkish for
“silver.”
The extraction of silver was commonly associated with sulfide
ores, particularly lead sulfide (galena), sources of lead thus being a
strong pointer to silver too. Cupellation was the technique used for
extracting silver from lead ores, evidence occurring in the
Bolkardağ mining region. Native silver is rare today, though it
may have been more common in antiquity.

SIPYLUS, MOUNT. A Hittite rock relief with hieroglyphic inscrip-

tions, located near Akpınar in the province of Manisa, northeast of
Izmir. Its stylistic similarities to the reliefs of nearby Karabel and
more distant Gavurkalesi, Yazılıkaya, Fraktin and Sirkeli place
it clearly in the early to mid–13th century BC. A recess contains a
colossal figure in relief, most widely agreed to represent a seated
goddess, probably the “Mother of the Gods,” wearing a crown in
the semblance of a walled city. Alternative interpretations postu-
late either an enthroned, bearded figure or a bearded Mountain-
God, standing and wearing a horned crown. An inscription close to
the goddess has its hieroglyphs carefully rendered in relief,
whereas another inscription is unfinished, its signs incised and
hard to distinguish, as so often depending on the angle of sunlight.

SIRKELI. Rock relief overlooking the Ceyhan River and the Ya-
kapınar-Ceyhan road, 37 kilometers east of Adana and not far
north of the modern east-west highway past Adana. This is one of
254 ● SLAVERY

a number of Hittite reliefs overlooking fresh water, in this example

flowing water rather than a spring: it is generally agreed that this
association with water has a religious significance.
This relief has an inscription identifying the single figure as
the Hittite king Muwatalli II. It is thus the earliest dated Hittite re-
lief, and the only one preceding the reign of Hattusili III. Given
its location, near the line of march from the Hittite homeland to the
battlefield of Kadesh in Syria, a date around the time of the battle
seems plausible. This association with the great confrontation with
Egypt has led to speculation, not unreasonable, on the possible in-
fluence of Egyptian on Hittite art, given the very long tradition of
rock reliefs in Egypt. Hittite sculpture yields other evidence of
Egyptian influence.
The Sirkeli relief exemplifies the predominant category, hav-
ing one or only two or three figures, rather than the long proces-
sions seen at Yazılıkaya. Again it follows the majority of rock re-
liefs in being unframed, in contrast with most at Yazılıkaya.
Though 30 years or more earlier than the Fraktin relief, it seems
to represent the same artistic stage, perhaps a hint of overlapping
among the sculptors employed, who were probably few, at least
for the more experienced.

SLAVERY, SLAVES. An uncertain but undoubtedly large percentage

of the population of the Hittite lands comprised slaves, in fact if
not by legal definition in every case. The great majority were cap-
tives in war, most of whom were sent to form the labor force on
the estates of senior officers of the army, on temple estates or to
rural communities whose manpower was depleted by constant
military service. Other slaves had been reduced to this status
through debt, but stood a chance of regaining their freedom by re-
payment of the debt or by royal amnesty. A few murderers might
be enslaved to the family of their victim, an example of the under-
lying principle of the Hittite Laws—in contrast to the Babylo-
nian—that compensation took priority over retribution. A poor
man had only his labor to give.
While attempts to flee and regain freedom were not rare, Hit-
tite slaves did not suffer as severely as those in many other socie-
ties through history, and certainly not as those on the cotton plan-
tations of the South before the American Civil War, still less the
forced labor under the Third Reich. Indeed, under a benevolent,
paternalist owner they would enjoy economic and personal secu-
rity. Moreover, the legal attitude to a mixed marriage was toler-
 SPEARS ● 255

ant, though allowing a slave to marry a free woman involved eco-

nomic loss to the owner, since the children of such a marriage
would be free, and thus would be lost to him for good. Slaves
might own property, though those enslaved to a temple and thus to
the god or goddess might enjoy fewer privileges.
Nevertheless, whatever benefits might accrue to many slaves
of Hittite masters, they were bound to their owner for life; and he
enjoyed absolute legal control over them, even to the extent of
execution for causing acute anger. The capital penalty could le-
gally be applied to the whole family of the offending slave, though
the economic loss usually restrained an owner from reducing his
labor force. There was the lesser yet brutal punishment of mutila-
tion, originally applicable to free men also, though this was
changed with the revision of the Hittite Laws, leaving it permitted
only for slaves.

SPEARS. A long spear was especially employed in open battle, the

socketed spearhead displacing the earlier form with bent tang and
slots in the blade, in use from the later third millennium BC. The
spear was balanced by a metal spike at the bottom end, for skewer-
ing an enemy or planting in the ground during pauses on the
march. A spearman was put aboard the Hittite chariot, along with
the driver and shield bearer.

STAMP SEALS. See BULLA(E); GLYPTIC ART; SCULPTURE;

SEALS.

STATUES. Gods were usually represented in human form, as indeed

they were conceived; and in the later Empire their statues, set up
on stone bases in their temple sanctuaries, were life-size or larger.
They were fashioned in gold, silver, iron (a valuable metal) or
bronze; or carved out of wood plated with gold, silver or tin, and
sometimes decorated with materials such as lapis lazuli, originat-
ing ultimately from Afghanistan.
Images of dead kings might also be found in temples. One of-
fering for a cure from maladies and for long life was made by
Puduhepa to the goddess Lelwani on behalf of her aging husband,
Hattusili III, in the shape of a life-size silver statue.

STELAE (HUWASI STONES). Deities could be represented by a

cult object rather than a statue as normally understood, in the
form of a totem or stela, mentioned especially in festival texts and
256 ● STONES OF HAMATH

cult inventories. The basic meaning of huwasi was a stone stela,

sometimes relief-carved and set on an altar in the sanctuary of the
temple. There it might be washed, anointed, clothed and given
food and drink. A huwasi could be larger, a rough monolith, set up
in open country and representing a separate deity, or one of a
number marking off a sacred area. It thus seems that this manifests
the indigenous, essentially chthonic cultic tradition of the Ana-
tolian countryside, long pre-dating the Hittite state.

“STONES OF HAMATH.” Johann Ludwig Burckhardt (1784–1817)

describes in his Travels in Syria and the Holy Land (London,
1822) a stone he had seen embedded in the corner of a building in
the bazaar at Hama—“A stone with a number of small figures and
signs which appears to be a kind of hieroglyphic writing, though it
does not resemble that of Egypt.”
In the later 19th century two Americans, J. A. Johnson and Dr.
Jessop, spotted Burckhardt’s stone and three others. But the local
inhabitants objected to their touching them, thinking they had
curative properties. Soon afterward, another hieroglyphic stone
was discovered—at Aleppo.
Then, a year later, William Wright, an Irish missionary in
Damascus, had the opportunity to examine the stones, when Subhi
Pasha, the new governor of Syria, gave his support, protection with
soldiers and finally money for the locals, to permit removal of
these stones to Constantinople. This was not, however, before re-
peated loud demonstrations by angry townsmen.
Meanwhile, discoveries of “Hittite” hieroglyphic stones wid-
ened to Carchemish and further afield to Ivriz, Yazılıkaya and
elsewhere. A. H. Sayce was in the forefront of the quest for hi-
eroglyphic inscriptions, a hunt which had been sparked by the dis-
coveries at Hama.

STORE CITIES. Ten or more storehouses, sited in “store cities,” are

mentioned in the decree of Telipinu, among them being Samuha,
Kussara and Parsuhanda. Fewer than the centers with an agrig,
these were presumably more important. They comprised two cate-
gories: those in provincial towns and those belonging to the same
town but located in Hattusa. Unlike the centers with an agrig, the
store cities must have played a crucial role in the administration of
the Hittite state, with their direct connections with the heart of
government in Hattusa. Theirs was a fiscal and economic func-
tion, not simply linked to religious festivals. Like all the major
 STORM-GOD ● 257

polities of the ancient Near East, this was a storage economy,

state-controlled rather than free enterprise.

STORM-GOD (WEATHER-GOD). The sovereign head of the hier-

archic order determining the shape and destiny of the Hittite realm.
The king held second place in this hierarchy, acknowledging that
he was the slave of the Storm-God, to whom he owed his power.
The ideogram for this god could represent different divinities, de-
riving from language and cultural context: the Hittite Tarhunt(a),
the Luwian Datta, the Hurrian Tesub, the Akkadian Adad and
even the Sumerian Iskur and the Northwest Semitic Ba’al. Under-
standably there were innumerable local manifestations of the
Storm-God; and most cult centers gave him a place in their hier-
archy to be worshiped.

SUGZIYA. A city located in the Euphrates region, probably north of

Ursu and thus further north of Carchemish. It was lost in the
reign of Hantili I (ca.1590–1560 BC), whose queen and sons
were held captive and killed there. This was among territories re-
gained by Telipinu and is one of a number of Hittite store cities
listed in his reign.

SUN-GODDESS. While ostensibly to be regarded as an Indo-

European sky deity, she was in fact of Hattian origin and chthonic
rather than celestial in character. Her high status was especially re-
vered in relation to the cult center of Arinna, only one day’s
journey from Hattusa and thus at the heart of the kingdom. Under
the Empire, the native triad of the Sun-Goddess of Arinna, the
Storm-God of Hatti and the Storm-God of Nerik was identified
with the Hurrian divinities Hebat, Tesub and Sarruma.

SUPPILULIUMA I (1344–1322 BC). His is generally regarded as

the most successful of the Hittite kings’ reigns, although not with-
out unsolved problems at his death. He was long supposed to have
reigned for some 40 years; but this time-span has been shortened
by almost a half, to 22 years. This does not, however, give a true
impression of his life and achievements, for he had campaigned for
many years under the authority of his father, Tudhaliya III, who
may have been middle-aged when he acceded to the throne in Hat-
tusa. Suppiluliuma himself may have been about 40 years old
when he gained the throne: while no Hittite records survive to re-
veal the birth dates of successive kings, his second son, Telipinu,
258 ● SUPPILULIUMA I

was appointed high priest in Kizzuwadna early in his reign

(ca.1342 BC). His eldest son, Arnuwanda, was very probably born
some 20 years earlier, when Suppiluliuma would have been about
20 years of age. His active life in serving and then ruling the state
would thus have spanned at least 40 years.
He appears to have been equally responsible, with his father,
for the counter-attacks against the enemies who had invaded the
Hittite kingdom from all directions, with the loss of Hattusa and
most of the Hittite lands. This concerted military recovery,
mounted from headquarters at Samuha, was directed first north-
ward and then to the west. By his accession Suppiluliuma had se-
cured all the Anatolian territories lost in his father’s early reign.
While no records survive, if they ever existed, to reveal ex-
plicit sidelights on the personalities of successive Hittite kings, as-
pects of which they would presumably not have wished to be ex-
posed, their successors on occasions were more informative. Their
evidence, however, has to be taken with caution, since they were
apt to be seeking explanations for unwelcome events or excuses
for their own setbacks. Thus Mursili II, in his prayers to the gods
to end the plague afflicting his realm, identified possible reasons
for their wrath, among them being the killing of Tudhaliya the
Younger, elder brother of Suppiluliuma and ordained successor to
Tudhaliya III, by Suppiluliuma, who had succeeded in gaining the
support of most of the nobility and army, men who had just previ-
ously given their allegiance to his brother. This seizure of the
throne, interpreted by Mursili as an act of impiety requiring
atonement, displayed the ruthless side of Suppiluliuma, perhaps a
prerequisite for the military and political triumphs of his reign. A
similar attitude to his family was demonstrated by the apparent
banishment of his first queen, Henti, probably the mother of all his
five sons, when he saw the opportunity for a politically advanta-
geous marriage to a Babylonian princess who assumed the name
and style of Tawannana, following the Hittite royal custom. He
was not to know what difficulties she would bring to his son and
successor. Seals and inscriptions link three queens with Suppiluli-
uma during his reign, his mother Daduhepa and Henti and Tawan-
nana successively.
On his gaining the throne, Suppiluliuma saw the principal
threat to Hittite interests as lying in the east, where Hittite rule had
not yet been fully restored. Behind all the rebellious princelings
stood the great kingdom of Mitanni, which he correctly saw as the
enemy to be overcome by direct confrontation in battle. A first at-
 SUPPILULIUMA I ● 259

tack proved abortive, Tusratta of Mitanni claiming a great victory

and dispatching some of the booty to Amenhotep III in Egypt, as
recorded in one of the Amarna letters addressed to this pharaoh.
Since—on the currently proposed absolute chronology—there
was a period of perhaps eight years between the death of Amenho-
tep III (1390–1352 BC) and the accession of Suppiluliuma I, either
the chronology must be changed, with all the attendant side-
effects, or it must be assumed that this action occurred under Sup-
piluliuma’s inspiration but during the reign of his father. This
seems far the more plausible explanation, and might be accounted
for as a result of youthful inexperience.
Suppiluliuma had learned his lesson, not to underestimate Mi-
tanni and also to prepare the ground diplomatically for his next as-
sault. This shrewdness was to characterize all his subsequent en-
terprises in Syria, the most notable example of his choice of
diplomacy being his dealings with the kingdom of Ugarit. Under-
standing its wealth and importance as a center of trade, he suc-
cessfully weaned it away from allegiance to Egypt: it was to re-
main in the Hittite sphere until the fall of the Empire.
First, however, came his outstanding military success, com-
monly termed the Great Syrian War, an amazingly victorious cam-
paign of one year (1340/1339 BC), of which the details survive not
in the sadly damaged Deeds but in the preambles of two of this
king’s treaties, with Sattiwaza of Mitanni and the king of Nu-
hasse. Suppiluliuma must have been aware of the internal tensions
within Mitanni, with Tusratta on the throne but not commanding
universal support, and of the necessity of striking at the heart of his
enemy’s realm. Until this was achieved, there was no expectation
of defeating the Mitannian vassals west of the Euphrates River, his
major objective. After sacking Wassukkanni, Suppiluliuma was
able to subdue a string of minor kingdoms from the Euphrates to
the Mediterranean, over a region extending south to Aba (Damas-
cus), bordering the Egyptian Empire: the most important of these
were Aleppo, Mukis and Nuhasse. Swept up in this triumphal
succession of conquests was the kingdom of Kadesh on the Oron-
tes, earlier under Mitannian overlordship: it had been defeated and
annexed by Tuthmose III of Egypt, and was later, by a treaty with
Thutmose IV (1398–1390 BC), acknowledged by Mitanni to fall
within the Egyptian sphere. Suppiluliuma had no desire for con-
frontation with Egypt, though having been provoked by the ruler
of Kadesh. Egypt accepted this as a fait accompli, if reluctantly;
but in the reign of Tutankhamun (1336–1327 BC) an attempt was
260 ● SUPPILULIUMA I

made to recapture the city. At the end of the Great Syrian War
west of the Euphrates only Carchemish remained under Mitan-
nian control.
Hittite military and diplomatic involvement in Syria contin-
ued, with the eventual winning over of Amurru, under its devious
ruler Aziru, from its allegiance to Egypt under Akhenaten (1352–
1336 BC) to Hittite overlordship, to which he remained loyal until
his death, having understood the weakness of Egypt in Syria.
Meanwhile, Hittite forces were penetrating the land of Amka—the
Biqa’ valley between the Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon ranges—
recognized hitherto as within the Egyptian sphere. At some point
the king’s son Telipinu was moved from his post in Kizzuwadna to
appointment as king, in effect viceroy, in Aleppo, a nominal priest
turned general. When his father returned to Anatolia, for punitive
operations in the Kaska lands, Mitanni saw its chance for a final
attempt to regain its lost territories west of the Euphrates; but Te-
lipinu counter-attacked, establishing a winter camp near Carchem-
ish and subduing the areas surrounding the city, though not the city
itself. He was then summoned to meet Suppiluliuma in the Lower
Land. Perhaps inevitably, Mitanni responded by laying siege to
the Hittite camp near Carchemish.
A Hittite reaction was clearly demanded, and Suppiluliuma
was not one to shrink from the challenge. Carchemish had to be
taken. Thus opened the Second Syrian War, known otherwise as
the Hurrian War, with operations extending over some six years.
After a week’s siege, a fierce battle the next day led to the fall of
Carchemish, destined to remain in Hittite hands until the end of the
Empire and indeed beyond. It was during the siege that Suppiluli-
uma was astonished by a message sent from Ankhesenamun in
Egypt, following the death of her young husband, Tutankhamun,
possibly murdered.
When Zannanza, fourth of the five sons of Suppiluliuma, was
slain at the border of Egypt, war was inevitable, despite the denials
of the next pharaoh, Ay, of complicity in the crime. Militarily suc-
cessful as was this attack on Egyptian territory in Syria, there was
one disastrous consequence: the thousands of prisoners of war
brought with them into the Hittite realm a fatal plague, in due
course killing both Suppiluliuma and his eldest son and successor.
Mitanni fell ever more deeply into internecine strife, continu-
ing with the murder of Tusratta and dethronement of his son Satti-
waza, who sought the support of Suppiluliuma. Concerned at the
threat to Hittite rule in north Syria from the growing power of
 SUPPILULIUMA II ● 261

Assyria under Assur-uballit I (1353–1318 BC), he determined to

act, sending a force eastward from Carchemish under its viceroy,
his son Sarri-Kusuh, together with a Mitannian force under Satti-
waza. The Assyrian threat was warded off by the capture of the
Mitannian capital, Wassukkanni; and for the remaining years of
the reign Hittite rule in north Syria was secure, administered by the
two viceroys, with their headquarters in Aleppo and Carchemish.
Great as the achievements of his reign undoubtedly had been,
Suppiluliuma left ongoing problems for his successors in relations
with Assyria and Egypt; and the widespread revolts after his death
showed the fragility of Hittite control over Arzawa and the other
lands of the west.

SUPPILULIUMA II (1207–ca.1180/1176 BC). The history of the

last years of the Hittite Empire is now much better understood than
it was around 1970. Initially this seemed far from the case, since
refinements in Hittite palaeography led to the redating by general
agreement of important historical texts from Tudhaliya IV and
Arnuwanda III to Tudhaliya I/II and Arnuwanda I, six genera-
tions earlier. Newly discovered texts and reinterpretation of others
longer known have been filling this gap in scholarly knowledge.
David Hawkins attributes the final decline of Hatti largely to
the rise of Tarhuntassa, located by him in Rough Cilicia
(Hilakku), signs of which are discernible in the concessions evident
in the Bronze Tablet of Tudhaliya IV, compared with the treaty
drawn up by Hattusili III. Tarhuntassa was accorded equality of
status with Carchemish, the rulers of each ranking immediately af-
ter the crown prince in Hattusa. The Sea Peoples were stirring.
Matters had gone badly in the east since the battle of Nihriya.
Only in the west do affairs seem to have progressed more in favor
of the Hittites.
Internal factors may well have been more significant in the
downfall of the Hittite Empire, apart from the activities of the Sea
Peoples. Recurrent famine, depletion of manpower for the army
and internal dissensions in and around the royal family, these last
originating as far back as the seizure of the throne by Suppiluli-
uma I or at least to the usurpation by Hattusili III—all these fac-
tors took their toll.
Supppiluliuma II records his western campaign in a hiero-
glyphic inscription of six lines within Chamber 2 beneath the
Southern Citadel (Boğazköy: Südburg), mentioning the conquest
of Wiyawanda, Tamina, Masa, Lukka and Ikuna in a building in-
262 ● SWORDS AND DAGGERS

scription. This is a genre not found earlier in the Empire but quite
common in the first-millennium BC Luwian hieroglyphic inscrip-
tions. This is significant also in derivation from Middle Assyrian
texts, where the genesis of historical annals can be detected. The
conquest of Tarhuntassa is also mentioned. This western campaign
may also have been directed against the homeland of some of the
maritime marauders soon to join the Sea Peoples, and who were al-
ready a major threat to Hatti. The same enemy may well have been
the target of the attack by Suppiluliuma II on Alasiya (Cyprus),
which can be deciphered in the very badly worn rock inscription of
Boğazköy: Nişantaş, 11 lines of text and 8.5 meters long. Initially
this was ascribed to Suppiluliuma I but then to Suppiluliuma II
(strictly, Suppiluliama).
An indication of the tensions surrounding the throne comes
from an oath taken by a scribe, with heavy emphasis on loyalty to
the king and his immediate descendants. Such divisions inevitably
weakened the king in the homeland, and tended to undermine the
loyalty of vassals, including Ugarit.

SWORDS AND DAGGERS. The Hittite sword was not a rapier but
was used for slashing. Its cutting edge was on the outside of the
sickle-shaped blade, and it was fashioned of bronze. This weapon
remained in use until the introduction, possibly from western Ana-
tolia, of the straight sword—superior in design and in being forged
of iron—by the Sea Peoples or in their time. Often only the pom-
mel of stone, bone or metal has been recovered in excavations.
Swords appear on the reliefs of Karabel, Gavurkalesi and
Yazılıkaya and in the Iron Age at Zincirli. Hittite soldiers were
also equipped with a short dagger, frequently to be seen on the re-
liefs, its hilt often crescentic. More elaborate hilts with animal
heads appear on daggers clearly for ceremonial use. Blade and hilt
were originally attached by rivets but later cast in one piece. Inlays
of wood or bone could be attached by rivets and flanged edges.

-T-

TABAL. A confederation of some 12 principalities, initially independ-

ent, extending from the Kayseri region over the Konya Plain (the
Hittite Lower Land) to the Taurus Mountains. In the ninth century
BC these local rulers sent gifts to the Assyrian king, Shalmaneser
III (859–824 BC), who had invaded Que (formerly Kizzuwadna):
 TABARNA ● 263

he referred to “24 kings of Tabal,” probably the political embodi-

ment of the surviving Luwian population after the fall of the Hit-
tite Empire, preserving much of its religious and artistic heritage.
Tabal was united into one kingdom in the eighth century BC
under the dynasty of Birutas, whose most powerful ruler was Wa-
sasarma, named in the annals of Tiglath-Pileser III of Assyria
(745–727 BC) as Uassurme, a list of the local rulers being recorded
(738 BC). One of his vassals was Warpalawas (Urballa) of Tu-
wanuwa (Tyana), whose domain also included Tunna (Porsuk
Höyük) and Hupisna, in the region of Ereğli and Niğde. He is de-
picted on the rock relief of Ivriz. The governmental center of Tabal
was probably at Kululu. The reputation of Tabal is hinted at by its
mention in the Old Testament as Tubal. Its most prominent divinity
was Kubaba, a later version of Hebat, implying that mixed in with
the Luwian majority was a Hurrian element.

TABARNA. Royal title attached to the Hittite kings in Akkadian and

Luwian texts, this was the equivalent of the title Labarna in texts
written in Hittite.

TABLETS. At Kanes some tablets may have been baked in the mer-
chants’ hearths, but most were found by the excavators either
unbaked or fired only by the destruction. There was no uniformity
of size or type of tablet according to contents. Orthography also
varied. All in all, the Old Assyrian merchants seem to have orga-
nized their businesses, including their tablets—archives, corre-
spondence, contracts and so on.—on a “family firm” basis. The
Cappadocian tablets are usually small, about five by four centime-
ters, and rectangular, probably in part owing to practicalities of
transport and storage in private houses with limited space. But le-
gal transcripts, karum statutes and some letters and memoranda
were of necessity written on very large tablets. While the tablets of
karum II were put into clay envelopes which were then sealed, in
karum IB the seal was often impressed directly on the tablet.
The tablets from Hattusa—some 5,000 or more in some
30,000 fragments—are rectangular, with the whole obverse and re-
verse closely written in cuneiform script, each side divided into up
to four vertical columns. The text was also divided into sections.
They were not fired, except in the final conflagration. The contem-
porary tablets from Ugarit were, however, baked in ovens. The
vast number of fragments has kept Hittitologists employed for al-
most a century, the discovery of a join often being greeted as a ma-
264 ● TAPIKKA

jor advance.
Wooden tablets are textually recorded, along with “scribes in
wood,” but of course have not survived. These would have been
written in hieroglyphs and in the Luwian language.

TAPIKKA. Located at Maşat Höyük, 116 kilometers northeast of

Hattusa. Turkish excavations, 1973–1984.

TARHUNDARADU. A powerful king of Arzawa, with whom Amen-

hotep III of Egypt (1390–1352 BC) was in diplomatic contact,
aware of the extreme weakness of Hatti in the time of crisis under
Tudhaliya III.

TARHUNTASSA. This region, created a kingdom by Muwatalli II,

played a crucial role in the last century of the Hittite Empire. It is
of interest also in the context of historical geography, for there is
good evidence, from a recent field reconnaissance (1998), that
Tarhuntassa extended not only over “Rough Cilicia” (the Mediter-
ranean littoral immediately west of Kizzuwadna as far west as the
Ak Su, just east of modern Antalya) but also over lands immedi-
ately north of the Taurus range, from the southern part of the
Konya Plain to Lake Beyşehir and Lake Eğridir, the frontier thence
running south by the Ak Su valley to the Mediterranean. The Ak
Su (white water) can be identified with the Kastaraya River, men-
tioned in the treaty inscribed on the Bronze Tablet found at Hat-
tusa, and with the Kestros River of Classical times.
The restriction of the geographical extent of Tarhuntassa to the
hilly country of Rough Cilicia alone seems justifiable for the reign
of Suppiluliuma II, last of the Hittite kings ruling from Hattusa,
with the challenges to his kingdom presented by the incoming Sea
Peoples. Such a restriction does not, however, fit the data for the
earlier years of Tarhuntassa.
The reasons behind the revolutionary decision of Muwatalli II
to make what he clearly intended to be a permanent removal of the
seat of royal government from Hattusa to the city of Tarhuntassa
(formerly read as Datassa) in the land of that name have been much
discussed. The intended finality of this transfer is indicated by the
removal of the gods from their old seat at Hattusa: it is hardly sur-
prising that such a decision aroused resentment in some quarters.
No doubt priestly interests were affected.
The obvious factor behind this removal of the Hittite govern-
ment to a more southerly Anatolian location was its greater suit-
 TARSUS ● 265

ability as a base for the campaign against Ramesses II of Egypt,

culminating at Kadesh (1274 BC), and likewise for future Hittite
involvement in and perhaps beyond Syria. Hattusa, moreover, was
chronically exposed to depredations by the Kaska tribes from the
north, whose thwarting had been one of the motives for the original
choice long since of Hattusa as his governmental center by Hat-
tusili I.
Muwatalli II had in effect partitioned his realm, assigning the
northern territory, including much of Hatti, to his brother, the fu-
ture Hattusili III. Tarhuntassa thus became the center of govern-
ment for the Empire as a whole. The exact whereabouts of the city
chosen as the new capital is unknown, though obviously it has to
be a site with traces of occupation of the relevant period, presuma-
bly in the form of surface pottery. There is evidence which could
support a location near Karaman, accessible to the route through
the Cilician Gates, the pass leading to the lowlands of Kizzuwadna
and thence into Syria. It must have been a major settlement before
its selection by Muwatalli II.
Administration of Tarhuntassa was later entrusted by Hattusili
III to the second son of Muwatalli II, his nephew Kurunta. This
arrangement appears to have worked harmoniously over many
years, beginning with the usurpation by Hattusili III. It was doubt-
less to assure his continued loyalty to Hattusa that Kurunta was
given part or parts of the Hittite Lower Land, including especially
the Hulaya River Land, clearly demonstrating the wide territorial
expanse of Tarhuntassa at this stage.
Whatever the precise circumstances at the time (1228 BC) of
the likely coup d’état by Kurunta, his subsequent fate is unknown.
It seems very possible that Tarhuntassa was lost to Hittite control
after Tudhaliya IV regained power in Hattusa, although an alter-
native theory would date its loss later, to an incursion by an ad-
vance wave of the Sea Peoples, rebuffed by Suppiluliuma II in his
third campaign, when he recovered Tarhuntassa.
The separate identity of Tarhuntassa, from its establishment as
virtually one of the Hittite viceroyalties by Hattusili III, may be
partly explicable by demographic divergence from Hatti. The
population was predominantly Luwian rather than Hittite. Herein
lay its strength in the generations after the downfall of the Hittite
Empire, when Iron Age kingdoms flourished in this region.

TARSUS (GÖZLÜ KULE). An American expedition directed by

Hetty Goldman and supported by Princeton University, Bryn Mawr
266 ● TARSUS

College and other institutions carried out excavations before World

War II (1934–1939) and on a more limited scale thereafter (1947–
1948). The result has been to reveal a cultural sequence for the
whole Bronze Age unsurpassed in the Cilician plain, Kizzuwadna
in Hittite times. To some degree Tarsus provides evidence of cul-
tural connections between north Syria and central Anatolia, as well
as further west. It also affords a range of pottery contemporary
with the Hittite Old Kingdom and Empire, Late Bronze I and Late
Bronze IIa respectively in the Tarsus chronology.
Previously enjoying long-lasting relations with Syria, from the
beginning of the Early Bronze Age Tarsus became dominated by
Anatolian influence. With the Early Bronze III period newcomers
arrived, evidently from northwestern Anatolia, bringing new types
of pottery and the megaron plan of house, with one rectangular
room having a central hearth and with a deep porch. In the follow-
ing period (transitional Middle Bronze Age) the “red-cross bowl”
typical of Troy V appears at Tarsus in the late third millennium
BC. It seems very probable that these newcomers were Luwians.
With the Middle Bronze Age at Tarsus, from ca.2100 BC, a
distinctive dark-on-light painted pottery arrives from the east. This
has been associated with Hurrian newcomers, who came to domi-
nate the region which became the kingdom of Kizzuwadna and
later a Hittite province.
Then at Tarsus some pottery types of the plain monochrome
ware associated with the time of the Hittite Empire appeared al-
ready in Late Bronze I (Hittite Old Kingdom), to which the seal of
the ruler Isputahsu belongs, when Tarsus may perhaps have been
the capital of the kingdom of Kizzuwadna.
The following period (Late Bronze IIa) coincided with the an-
nexation of Kizzuwadna to direct Hittite rule, marked by the domi-
nance of typical monochrome pottery, with less continuity from the
previous period than is apparent at Boğazköy, where slipped and
highly burnished pottery persisted in some quantities under the
Empire. The Hittite presence is clearest, however, in a large build-
ing covering the whole top of the mound and comparable with the
temples of Hattusa. The south and east edges of the summit were
bounded by a wall three meters thick of cyclopean masonry, its
construction similar to that of the walls around Temple I at
Boğazköy: this acted as a retaining wall for the terrace.
A heavy burnt layer marks the violent destruction of the Hittite
buildings, presumably by the Sea Peoples in approximately 1176
BC or a little earlier. In material culture there was no complete
 TAŞCI ● 267

change, the ensuing period being termed Late Bronze IIb and dated
until ca.1100 BC. There was, however, one significant innovation,
the arrival of Mycenaean pottery of “granary” style (Late Helladic
IIIC). Tarsus had been brought within the Aegean trading zone.

TAŞCI. Located between Fraktin and Imamkulu in a chain of Hittite

rock reliefs, it is dated by the cartouche of Hattusili III. The com-
positions of this monument are sculpturally rather primitive, Taşcı
I having a file of three praying figures and Taşcı II a single figure,
both with hieroglyphs, merely incised with a sharp point. Sited
immediately above the Yenice River, this is difficult to discern: the
location is 36 kilometers southeast of Develi.

TAWANIYA. On textual evidence this was the cult center of the god-
dess Teteshapi, a deity of Hattian origin associated with animals,
music, dancing and festivities. It has not been located, though one
theory, not widely supported, would identify it with Alaca Höyük,
more probably Arinna.

TAXES. Written records from the Old Assyrian trading colonies and
the Hittite state alike attest the character and imposition of taxes in
order to raise revenue. This applied to the small Anatolian princi-
palities which dealt with the Assyrian merchants and later likewise
to the provincial centers obliged to remit payments to Hattusa.
The differences lay in the more far-flung range of the earlier trade
and in the more equal weight of the parties involved compared
with the centralized government of the Hittite Old Kingdom and
Empire. No records of tax evasion through smuggling survive from
Hittite sources, such as taking a caravan of donkeys over the hills
to avoid a customs post, as occurred in the time of the Assyrian
trade.
None of the treaties or “sworn oaths” between the Assyrian
authorities and the local Anatolian rulers has survived. But recur-
rent themes, no doubt prominent in such treaties, were the import
tax on tin and textiles and the “tithe.” If prohibited goods, such as
Anatolian textiles and meteoric iron (amutum), were traded, tax
could be avoided. Textiles were the most profitable goods to
smuggle, more so than tin, whose sources could more easily be
controlled.
Under Hittite rule the major centers of the Old Assyrian period
largely went into decline, with the shrinkage of long-distance trade
and the concentration of Anatolian commerce on Hattusa. Never-
268 ● TEGARAMA

theless, the smaller centers and those not easily accessible from the
capital retained economic independence. The basis of their wealth
was inter city trade and local industry, including metalwork and
textiles. The evidence for their economy rests, however, on the re-
cords kept in Hattusa of the payments in kind, or taxes, which they
were obliged to send to the Hittite treasury in Hattusa. These
payments might be made in currency in the form of silver bars,
weighing up to 18 kilograms. More often they were in the form of
copper artifacts or of raw wool or woven garments. Modest quan-
tities of clothing, industrial products and food were sent, for exam-
ple, from Ankuwa. Most such taxes in kind—whether tribute
(mandattu) or gifts—were in small quantities from small communi-
ties; but in total they must have accounted for much if not most of
the revenue received at Hattusa, over and above receipts from vas-
sals outside the central homeland.
Not only the Palace but also the temples in the major cult cen-
ters received taxes in kind, though the precise bureaucratic ma-
chinery is unknown. Circulation of goods, however, continued in-
dependent of the palatial system controlled from Hattusa. See also
TREASURY INCOME.

TEGARAMA. Probably centered on modern Gürün, on a tributary of

the Euphrates River and on the route from Hattusa to Carchem-
ish, whence it was reached by Hantili I (ca.1590–1560 BC) on his
homeward march. Tegarama was sacked by enemy forces from
Isuwa in the disastrous period early in the reign of Tudhaliya III.
In his final decisive campaign against Mitanni, Suppiluliuma I
halted at Tegarama, where he inspected his infantry and chariotry.
He then sent an army under the command of his son, the future
Arnuwanda II, with his brother Zida, chief of the bodyguards, to
prepare for his own assault on Carchemish.

TELIPINU. The god of fertility and patron god of Mursili II, who
may well have sought his special protection for the recovery of his
land from the devastation caused by the great plague. Telipinu was
son of the Weather-God, and in one text was credited with the
foundation of the Hittite Kingdom.
He was the hero of the Myth of the Missing God, whose dis-
appearance led to catastrophic impoverishment of the land, with
failure of crops and sterility of livestock. After much ritual activity,
the wrath of Telipinu was eventually appeased, and he set about re-
storing general fertility.
 TELIPINU ● 269

The well-being of the population as a whole and of the king

and his family alike was directly dependent on the favor of the god
of fertility, as in a prayer to be read daily by the scribe for Mursili
II before his god Telipinu:

To the king and the queen, the princes and the land of
Hatti, grant life, health, strength, long years and enduring
joy. Grant everlasting fertility to their crops, vines, fruit-
trees, cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, mules and asses, together
with the beasts of the field, and to their people. Let them
flourish! Let the winds of prosperity pass over! Let the land
of Hatti thrive and prosper.

TELIPINU (ca.1525–1500 BC). Having foiled a plot on his life, Te-

lipinu seized the throne from the usurper Huzziya I, successor of
Ammuna. Huzziya and his five brothers were sent into exile; but
Telipinu ordered no further harm to them, wishing to end the
chronic bloodshed among his predecessors.
Telipinu succeeded in regaining extensive territories lost to
Hittite rule in the southeast and in the Lower Land, perhaps as far
as the Mediterranean. Samuha, Marista, Hurma, Sugziya, Pu-
rushanda and the Hulaya River Land occur in a list of store cities
restored to the Hittites at this time. The Marrassantiya basin was
firmly under control again. Telipinu was obliged, however, to ac-
cept the independence of one former Hittite-controlled land, Kiz-
zuwadna, making a treaty of alliance with Isputahsu, ruler of the
then newly established kingdom. Telipinu may have wished to
avert the possibility of Kizzuwadna joining a Hurrian alliance
against Hatti.
Contrary to Telipinu’s order, the deposed king Huzziya and
his five brothers were secretly murdered. The three assassins, con-
victed by the assembly (panku), were spared and banished. He
may have finally been spurred into action to end bloodshed after
his own wife and son were murdered. He summoned the members
of the assembly to hear his Proclamation, providing regulations for
the succession to the throne. The assembly had been summoned
simply to hear his decisions, not to debate them. Inheritance of
royal power was now fixed on direct patrilineal succession. No
formal criteria for determining the male successor to the throne had
been established in or after the reign of Hattusili I. The arbitrary
behavior of a king in choosing his successor or changing his choice
was thus curtailed, though he did not have to choose the eldest eli-
gible candidate.
270 ● TELL EL-AMARNA

The lengthy historical preamble to the Proclamation could

serve as a warning of the effects of ignoring these regulations.
Henceforth no member of the royal family could be immune from
punishment for crimes committed. Enforcement was assigned to
the assembly (panku). Under Telipinu this institution was revived,
evidently comprising not the nobility but court personnel, from
servants and bodyguard to cooks and stable boys, as well as the
Captain of the Thousand. This body was probably convened only
on an ad hoc basis.
Justice must be enforced, but not in secret: it had to be seen to
be done. Only the offender was to be punished: even with a capital
offense his property was not to be seized. The whole aim was to
enforce the regulations with the minimum cause for wider resent-
ment and potential conspiracy. This policy went along with the im-
provements in the bureaucracy which affected the king’s subjects
throughout the realm, not least in the countryside.
Telipinu apparently died without surviving male issue. His
Proclamation was largely disregarded during the century or so fol-
lowing his death in relation to the royal succession, though it was
not forgotten by later kings. His achievements outside the home-
land, however, seem to have remained intact, as with relations with
Kizzuwadna. The 15th century BC was a time of growth of the
power of Mitanni and of Egyptian expansion in Syria, in the so-
called Hittite Middle Kingdom.

TELL EL-AMARNA (AKHETATEN). This remarkable city, built

on a virgin site in Middle Egypt on the orders of Akhenaten (1352–
1336 BC), was the capital of Egypt for the pharaoh who had made
a deliberate and drastic break with orthodox state religion and its
cult of the god Amun-Re. The reasons for this radical step were
probably political and economic more than theological: during suc-
cessive reigns land had continued to be given to the temples, re-
sulting in a progressive decline in royal resources. As long as the
pharaohs of the 18th Dynasty were actively campaigning in Asia,
tribute, plunder and manpower accrued to the royal treasury in
Thebes, making up the deficit from gifts to the gods. With the ac-
cession of Amenhotep III (1390–1352 BC), however, there began a
long period of inactivity in Asia, continuing under Akhenaten. The
so-called “Amarna period” in fact began under Amenhotep III.
Some concern for Egyptian authority in Syria persisted, as be-
came evident through a sensational discovery at Tell el-Amarna
(1887). Thousands of clay tablets were accidentally unearthed,
 TELL FAKHARIYAH ● 271

narrowly escaping destruction, with many soon surfacing in Cairo

on the antiquities market and attracting scholarly attention. These
were instantly recognized as being written in Akkadian, a Semitic
tongue long since deciphered: their contents could therefore be
quickly understood. Here was a wholly unexpected reinforcement
for A. H. Sayce in his advocacy of the importance of the Hittites as
a power in the ancient Near East. Among the numerous
letters from Egyptian vassals in Palestine and Syria, requesting
help or complaining of neglect by their overlord, were a smaller
number of letters from foreign rulers, including one from Suppilu-
liuma I.
The city of Akhetaten, built by the heretic king, did not outlive
his radical changes, being abandoned during the reign of the young
Tutankhamun (1336–1327 BC). It was anyhow hurriedly if ambi-
tiously constructed, eschewing solid masonry in favor of mud
brick, plaster and wood, with colorful mural paintings. It was also a
center of glassmaking, probably introduced rather earlier from
Syria.

TELL FAKHARIYAH. Possibly the site of the capital of Mitanni,

Wassukkanni, situated near the sources of the Khabur, south of
Ras al-Ain and opposite Guzanu (Tell Halaf). An inscription on a
basalt statue, in Assyrian and Aramaic, declares that a ruler of
Guzanu had set this up in honor of the god Adad of Sikan, a place-
name possibly identifiable with Wassukkanni. Dating to the later
ninth century BC, this is the earliest known Aramaic inscription of
any length.
One season of excavations by Calvin McEwan at Tell Fak-
hariyah in 1940 revealed medieval, Roman and Hellenistic occupa-
tion (Levels I–IV), preceded by a palace with bit hilani plan (Level
V). Underlying this building was a rich level (VI) of the 13th cen-
tury BC, yielding ivories in the Levantine tradition, seal impres-
sions and Middle Assyrian cuneiform tablets. The next level (VII)
yielded the highly distinctive painted pottery termed Nuzi ware,
and is attributable to the period of the kingdom of Mitanni. The
earliest level (VIII) yielded Khabur ware, of the period beginning
with the later phase of the Old Assyrian trading colonies.

TELL MOZAN. See URKESH.

TELL TAYANAT. At this site in the Amuq plain the expedition sent
to north Syria, as then delineated, by the Oriental Institute of Chi-
272 ● TELL TAYANAT

cago in the 1930s carried out a limited area of excavation. This was
largely in the hope of finding what they had been unable to dis-
cover at Tell Judeideh, their principal excavation in the plain,
namely, monumental architecture and sculpture of the Neo-
Hittite period.
The excavators were more fortunate at Tell Tayanat, where
two adjacent buildings were uncovered, one a bit hilani and the
other rather questionably termed a megaron, and as such out of
place in north Syria: its description as a megaron ignores the fact
that its focus was not in the large central room immediately inside
the entrance porch but in the small sanctuary beyond. Henri Frank-
fort compared it with the Assyrian temples at Khorsabad, not
much later in date, and with a temple built during the Assyrian oc-
cupation of Guzanu (Tell Halaf), which began not later than 808
BC.
There can be little doubt that these buildings at Tell Tayanat
date to the time of Tiglath-Pileser III (744–727 BC) and thus to the
beginning of the final phase of Neo-Hittite civilization, for two
reasons: first, the three basalt column bases of the porch of the bit
hilani are the same as those of Building F/K, erected by Bar-Rekub
at Zincirli; and second, because of the finding of relief slabs of the
style of Tiglath-Pileser’s reign, though provincial in quality—
reliefs depicting a row of soldiers—reused as pavestones of a gate
in the area. This reuse may well belong to the later rebuilding of
the bit hilani. The suggestion of Calvin McEwan, the excavation
director, that there was only a minor entrance to the ground-floor
rooms of the bit hilani in the original plan seems improbable.
The double-lion column base, one of an original pair in the
porch of the so-called megaron, must be reckoned one of the in-
digenous elements of Neo-Hittite architecture; and with this may
be classed the double-sphinx base at Zincirli. Neo-Hittite sculpture,
whether orthostats or column bases, was essentially part of the
over-all architectural scheme. The inclusion in the design of gate-
ways and porticoes of guardian lions was an idea of ultimately
Mesopotamian origin, transmitted both to the Hittite capital at
Boğazköy-Hattusa and to Late Bronze Age Palestine, exemplified
at Hazor. Its lasting place in Neo-Hittite architecture can reasona-
bly be ascribed to Hittite influence.
One invaluable piece of evidence from Tell Tayanat deserves
mention: a fragment of a colossal statue, showing the top of a col-
umn with its capital, rather similar to the column base.
 TEMPLE 1 ● 273

TEMPLE 1 (BOĞAZKÖY). This, the greatest single structure within

the vast area of Hattusa, covers in all (reckoning the whole com-
plex with its surrounding storerooms) an area of about 14,500
square meters. It is both elusive and informative in the light it casts
on Hittite civilization. There is no dedicatory inscription, so that at-
tribution of the building of this great shrine to any one king is dif-
ficult. Hattusili III (1267–1237 BC) had seemed a very probable
candidate; but recent opinion in the German expedition has favored
a dating to the 14th century BC, along with much of Boğazköy:
Upper City, instead of attributing much of that to Tudhaliya IV.
The area had been occupied almost continuously since ca.1800 BC.
Its foundation terrace may well conceal remains of earlier major
structures, very possibly antedating the sack of the city in the reign
of Tudhaliya III, great-grandfather of Hattusili III.
When Charles Texier, discoverer of Hattusa, came upon
Temple 1 in 1834, the ruins were still considerably exposed to
view. It is therefore easy to understand why it is not better pre-
served. Had it not been built of such massive blocks of limestone,
some being up to five meters long and weighing 20 tons or more, it
would not have survived in its present condition. As it is, the entire
superstructure of timber frame with mud brick filling has disap-
peared: indeed this is true of all Anatolian sites not preserved to a
degree by fire.
Dowel holes occur in large numbers, drilled into the tops of
the blocks and intended for securing the superstructure to the stone
footings. The building methods involved are recorded in some de-
tail in texts. Timber was clearly available on a scale and in sizes
not seen for centuries. Many of the blocks forming the wall foot-
ings are carved in a curve at their base, where floor meets wall, a
distinctive Hittite technique.
Stairways give evidence of several floors in all the store-
houses, those on the north and west sides certainly having three.
The one narrow stairway in the sanctuary led to the flat roof,
which, from relevant texts, was a significant scenario for some
rituals.
Built on an artificial terrace, seen from the north Temple 1
towered above its surroundings, the complex of buildings extend-
ing over some 41 hectares (103 acres). The largest structure within
this complex stood on the east side: this was the temple proper,
surrounded by numerous storerooms of narrow rectangular plan, to
facilitate flooring above in the usual Near Eastern fashion. These
82 ground floor storerooms were found stripped of their contents,
274 ● TEMPLE 1

save only for huge jars, presumably holding the corn, oil, dried
beans, wine and other provisions required for the large staff. The
cult rooms within the temple itself were likewise found empty.
Looting at the time of the fall of the kingdom must indeed have
been thorough.
The division of the main structure of Temple 1, separated from
the surrounding storerooms and covering 65 by 42 meters, into
gate chamber, processional way, entranceway, inner court, stoa and
cult chambers makes its plan obviously comparable with those of
the numerous temples in the Upper City of Hattusa. The way of
the royal processions can be traced by these architectural elements,
with a large monolithic basin in the outer court or processional
way, presumed to have been used either for ritual ablution or for
libations or conceivably for both.
At the far (northeast) end of the temple stood two rooms
clearly the focus of the cult. Reached through a portico, or stoa, of
five stone piers, the more easterly of the two cult chambers con-
tained against its rear wall a stone base: at one time considered to
be a throne base, it is now agreed to have supported a divine
statue. In the light of the arrangement of the reliefs at Yazılıkaya
and earlier at Alaca Höyük, the left-hand shrine was perhaps for
the god, presumed to be the Storm-God, and the right, with the
surviving statue base, probably for the Sun-Goddess of Arinna. In
the absence of inscriptions or reliefs, a considerable element of
speculation is inevitable.
Along the southwest side of the main temple complex
stretched a street, beneath which ran a sewer. On the other side
stood a self-contained complex, its one entrance directly facing the
side entrance to the temple: this “Southern District” covered 5,300
square meters, and probably included offices for scribes, of whose
activities there are clear traces nearby, thus serving as an adminis-
trative center. That there were workshops here is hinted at by one
cuneiform tablet mentioning a “House of Operations,” also very
probably housing priests and the musicians and singers required for
the rituals. Storerooms and cult chambers also may have been sited
here. But the almost complete dearth of finds in this “Southern Dis-
trict” makes complete certainty about its functions impossible.
Again, the looting at the fall of the kingdom was complete.
Temple personnel are indicated for Temple I by a tablet from
the corridor between the gateway and the first court listing 208
persons. Writing instruments came mostly from the rooms of the
“Southern District” next to its central court. The administration of
 TEMPLE PERSONNEL ● 275

Temple I may well have involved control of extensive estates, their

produce and inhabitants, this shrine being essentially a self-
supporting entity within the overriding economic control by the
palace, the seat of royal government.
Some parallels in workmanship and architectural details can
be detected with Kültepe-Kanes and Acemhöyük. Vertical pilas-
ters at regular intervals relieved the monotony of the facades, pos-
sibly decorated also with colored panels, reminiscent of the Bitik
vase with its depiction of a temple façade.
A halentuwa house is commonly mentioned in connection
with major Hittite temples, a term accepted as meaning “palace.”
The “Southern District” hardly fits this description, though a large
building standing on its own 80 meters from the gateway of Tem-
ple 1, and resembling some of the structures on Boğazköy:
Büyükkale, may have been such.
It seems rather rash to draw parallels between Temple 1 at
Boğazköy and New Kingdom temples in Egypt, perhaps especially
with the Ramesseum, the mortuary temple at Thebes of Ramesses
II, where the sanctuary in the center is indeed surrounded by
streets and storehouses, arranged in groups and continuous rows.
That, however, is where the resemblance ends, for the sanctuary
and temple as a whole of the Ramesseum shows scant similarity to
the Hittite Temple 1. If one does admit an architectural inspiration
from Egypt, if certainly no slavish imitation, then Temple 1 will
have to be dated to the early 13th century BC, after the confronta-
tion between Muwatalli II and Ramesses, rather than to Suppilu-
liuma I or Mursili II.

TEMPLE PERSONNEL. A significant text is entitled Instructions

for Temple Officials, who were obliged to be in or around the tem-
ple day and night. One passage reads thus: “You who are temple
officials be very careful with respect to the precinct. At nightfall go
promptly down to town, eat and drink. . . . But everyone promptly
come up to spend the night in the temple. . . .”
The statues and votive offerings in the sanctuary had to be
carefully guarded. The order to spend the night in the temple ap-
plied to all ranks. Workshops were required to maintain the cultic
equipment, as were kitchens and bakeries for the ceremonial meals
for deities which were so important in festivals. Other staff
manned the offices and scribal quarters.
A tablet found inside the gateway of Temple 1 lists 208 per-
sons, of whom the occupation of 144 is recorded, largely priests,
276 ● TEMPLES

singers and female musicians for the acts of worship.

Temple workshops employed artisans such as potters and car-
penters. Also on the labor force of each major temple were the
workers on the land, the principal wealth of each institution.

TEMPLES. The Hittite temple was literally described as the house of

the god, and as such was treated with the utmost circumspection.
Outside the times of festivals it was open only to authorized per-
sonnel, principally the priests. Any foreign trespasser would be
executed: the essence of the offense was to look upon the image of
the god or goddess in the sanctuary, the divine statue which was
the very embodiment of the deity. For using an unclean vessel to
serve the god, the penalties were drinking urine or eating excre-
ment. It was a capital offense to fail to follow the procedures for
ritual cleansing. Another capital offense was misappropriation of
offerings of food and drink to the god or goddess. In order to guard
against this, gifts legally given to an individual from the palace
might be sold only after official certification of ownership.
The quality of offerings to the temples was strictly regulated.
Many such would have come from the extensive estates owned and
administered by the principal state temples, which played a major
role in the economy of the Hittite state, mainly agricultural but also
industrial, with their workshops. The assiduous attention of succes-
sive kings to the major temples of their realm inevitably involved
them in secular as well as cultic administration. Temple personnel
were housed in residential quarters close to the temples.
Boğazköy: Upper City included by far the largest group of
Hittite temples. These were principally the work of Tudhaliya IV,
some being new buildings but many reconstructions of temples de-
stroyed or damaged in the fighting at the time of the usurpation of
the throne by his cousin Kurunta (1228–1227 BC). Not all the
temples were rebuilt, notably Temple 30 near the Lion Gate, one of
the two largest in the Upper City: over its remains were put houses
and workshops. This gives a hint that the greatest period of these
temples may have been in the reign of Hattusili III, generally
credited with the construction of the sanctuary of the Storm-God
(Temple 1) in Boğazköy: Lower City. The architectural achieve-
ments of his son were nevertheless remarkable. If Hattusili III did
initiate the design of the Upper City, it was laid out to a more or
less symmetrical plan continued by Tudhaliya IV and even under
the last Hittite king, Suppiluliuma II.
Some 25 temples were grouped together in the Upper City of
 TEMPLES ● 277

Hattusa, the majority in a central district, while four larger temples

were sited not far within the defensive perimeter: to the west stood
Temple 30 and further east Temples 3, 2 and 5, between the Sphinx
Gate and the King’s Gate. The symmetrical layout is demonstrated
by the equal distance of 130 meters of Temple 30 from the Lion
Gate and Temple 5 from the King’s Gate. All these temples shared
a common plan, square or rectangular, with a portal giving access
to an inner court with pillared portico: this in turn gave admittance
through an anteroom to the adyton or inner sanctuary, housing the
statue of the god. To prevent direct view from the entry portal, the
adyton was always off center. A cellar or basement room was often
constructed beneath the floor of the sanctuary.
Temple 30—similar in design to Temples 2, 3 and especially
4—extended 45 meters east-west and over 30 meters north-south.
The adyton was placed in the southeast corner, as in Temple 4
combined with an anteroom and colonnade, opening on to a large
court. The inventory of Temple 30 was typical, including small
pottery cups and jars as foundation deposits, in the Mesopotamian
tradition, and three miniature oracle tablets. This was the last tem-
ple to be excavated by the German expedition under Peter Neve,
with one other to the north, just south of Büyükkale. Temple 5, by
far the largest in the Upper City, may well have been built as a pri-
vate shrine for the royal family and for the ancestors of Tudhaliya
IV, with three small chapels and an annex resembling a palace, the
whole precinct covering almost 3,000 square meters. West of
Temple 5 stood two isolated and virtually identical shrines, Tem-
ples 2 and 3, both burnt twice and rebuilt immediately after the
first fire.
Both Temple 2 and Temple 3 had been decorated with many
reliefs in fragments, scattered or clustered near the main entrance.
Most are of greenish gabbro resembling granite, and belong to li-
ons, probably guarding the gateway. Sphinxes also occur, with ro-
sette-decorated pieces paralleled by the necks of the sphinxes at
Alaca Höyük. These sculptures all derive from orthostats or bases
of pillars. Other forms of decoration almost certainly adorned these
temples, but have not survived.
Archives were deposited on the cellar floors of all these tem-
ples in the Upper City of Hattusa, almost certainly moved from
shelves whose contents had been disordered in the disruption
caused by Kurunta. In addition to tablets dealing with rituals, do-
nations and inquiries of an oracle, there were stamp seals, seal im-
pressions and clay bullae, many of these in two collections, most
278 ● TESUB

being of Suppiluliuma II. Some bullae bear obverse and reverse

impressions of a seal in the form of an Iron Cross, with the names
of Great Kings and Great Queens going back as far as Tudhaliya I
and his wife, Nikkalmati, hinting at an original storage in Büyük-
kale. The largest collections of tablets were found in Temples 15
and 16, including some from a mythological text in Hurrian-
Hittite bilingual form, in part concerned with a festival of the
Storm-God of the city of Ebla in Syria. Some Akkadian fragments
of the Epic of Gilgamesh may indicate a center for the training of
scribes, in line with the evidence for Hittite bureaucracy.
In the final years of Hattusa only the larger and more impor-
tant temples continued to function, houses being built on the sites
of many others.

TESUB. His status attained its apogee in the late Empire, under the
influence of Puduhepa and through the reigns of her husband and
her son Tudhaliya IV, when the king—on becoming a god at
death—came to be identified with Tesub.
This god can be equated with Ba’al (Cannanite/Phoenician),
Adad (Assyrian), Marduk (Babylonian) and Zeus (Greek). Tesub
was a genuine Sky- and Weather-God, syncretized with the Storm-
God who had held sway from earlier times in the Hittite realm. His
role in this respect is depicted by his clasping a bunch of thunder-
bolts, best known with the head of the male procession in Chamber
A of Yazılıkaya.
The ancestry of Tesub was Hurrian, demonstrated by his
leading role in the epic cycles entitled Kingship in Heaven and The
Song of Ullikummi. He became in due course the second-ranking
member of the pantheon of Urartu, after Haldi. The reception of
Tesub into the official Hittite pantheon in the 13th century BC is
the clearest indication of the Hurrian background of the royal fam-
ily in Hattusa during the Empire. This had been first signaled by
the marriage of Tudhaliya I/II to Nikkalmati, of Hurrian family,
at the dawn of the Hittite New Kingdom (Empire).

TETESHAPI. A Hattian deity whose rituals are recorded from the

Middle Kingdom onward, thus dating back to a time when Hattian
influences on Hittite religion were still very strong. The leader in
these rituals being a priestess, with the title “Sister of the City,” it
is likely that Teteshapi was a goddess. Forty tablets from Hattusa
refer to her rituals, reflected in the Alaca Höyük reliefs. She was a
Mistress of Animals (Greek: Potnia Theron). Animals not seen in
 TEXIER ● 279

the reliefs but mentioned in the texts are panther, wolf, mountain
goat, lamb and piglet.
Dance, music, games and acrobatics were central to the festi-
val in honor of Teteshapi. At Alaca Höyük the acrobats may well
have performed in the courtyard in front of the reliefs. The Hittite
texts illuminate the physical setting of these rituals, with references
to buildings with courtyard, window and gate; an inn; a storage
pit; and, significantly, a ladder, ladder men and daggers or swords.
Tawaniya is recorded as the cult center of Teteshapi, though
its location at Alaca Höyük is highly debatable. This cult here
seems closely connected with that of the Storm-God with his Hat-
tic name Tarhu or Taru, depicted as a bull standing on an altar.
Among the many deities involved in the festival of Teteshapi were
the Sun-Goddess of Arinna, Mezulla, the Storm-God of Zip-
palanda, Telepinu and the Hattic War-God Wurunkatte.

TEXIER, CHARLES. See BOĞAZKÖY: EARLY TRAVELERS;

BOĞAZKÖY: EXCAVATIONS.

TEXTILES. Outside Egypt finds of organic material are relatively

rare in excavated sites of the ancient Near East, since constant con-
ditions, wholly dry or wet without seasonal changes, are required
for preservation. Two other categories of evidence remain, pictorial
and written. The former is limited in range in the reliefs of
Yazılıkaya and elsewhere of the Hittite Empire and later examples,
notably Ivriz. For fuller evidence one must turn to written records,
of which by far the most informative are those of the Old Assyrian
trade from Kültepe-Kanes.
There had clearly been a textile industry and trade on some
scale in Anatolia before the arrival of Assyrian merchants. But tex-
tiles were being produced in an altogether more organized manner
in Assyria, and when Assyrian traders arrived at Kanes they left
their principal wives at home in charge of the family firm. The tab-
lets reveal insights into the working of such firms, with instances
of intermarital badinage on the completion of orders sent from
Kanes, with queries about sizes and qualities of textile pieces.
While tin and textiles constituted the staples of the Old Assyrian
trade with Anatolia, analyses indicate a balance of three-to-one in
favor of textiles compared with tin. They were far more important
for the economy of Assyria, seeing that this was the major indus-
try, with wool, the raw material, coming from there or from other
parts of Mesopotamia. Women and children, perhaps especially
280 ● TEXTILES

girls, played a vital role as the production force. When orders could
not be met in full or on time, textiles might be imported from
neighboring Babylonia, where the textile industry was of even
greater antiquity. Sheep-rearing must have employed a significant
proportion of the population of Assyria.
Some tablets reveal a strong preference for mixed loads of tex-
tiles and tin. Some letters even stipulate that precious metals, silver
or gold, arriving in Assur from Anatolia should be spent half on tin
and half on textiles.
While the textiles came mainly from Assyria itself or from
Babylonia, some were bought en route in north Syria, while local
Anatolian textiles were traded within Anatolia, a trade in which
Assyrians also played a prominent role. There is some evidence,
however, that the Assyrian authorities pursued a protectionist pol-
icy, trying to hamper or prevent the circulation of Anatolian prod-
ucts among Assyrians, presumably because they might undercut
Assyrian textiles.
Type, size, amount of wool and finishing were all points of
importance in the correspondence between Kanes and Assur: re-
grettably, no records from Assur have been excavated. Puzur-
Assur, a merchant based in Kanes, wrote to a woman named
Waqartum, with detailed instructions on combing, shearing and so
on: more of the fine quality textiles are requested; but the Abarnian
textile which she had sent was less popular. Plainly, there was a
discriminating clientele being served by the Assyrian merchants,
with an element of competition playing into the hands of the cus-
tomers. The large number of textiles must indicate a home indus-
try, employing at least a number of female relations, especially
daughters, as well as slave girls. While most textile production was
channeled through the family firms, it appears that there may have
been some transactions on the side, as it were, for the particular
benefit of the merchant heading the firm. Wool was occasionally
sent to Lamassi, the wife of the merchant Pusu-ken, in Assur from
Anatolia, because of high prices in the City (Assur).
The Anatolian textiles were of inferior quality, by far the
commonest brand being pirikannu. These, along with saptinnu
textiles, were not welcome in Assur, and Pusu-ken was specifically
forbidden to buy them, being reminded that the orders of the City
were binding. Heavy fines were imposed on those breaking this
regulation.
After the disappearance of the Assyrian merchants from Kanes
and the other karum sites, no comparable records of the textile in-
 THEOGONY ● 281

dustry and trade survive from the Hittite Old or New Kingdom.
The palace archives of Hattusa, however, record imports of tex-
tiles, perhaps parts of royal exchanges of gifts, from Babylon and
Egypt, as well as linen textiles from Syria (Amurru) and Cyprus
(Alasiya). Contributions from the provinces of different qualities
of wool and clothing are registered, along with gowns, linen fabrics
and dresses in various styles.
The thriving city and port of Ugarit, for nearly two centuries
a Hittite protectorate, was no mere entrepot but a major center of
industry, albeit directed mainly to exports. The purple dye obtained
from innumerable murex shells, the source of the renowned Tyrian
purple of the Phoenicians in the first millennium BC, was already
being produced in the workshops of Ugarit: linen and wool were
dyed, for making into garments of different designs or for export in
bales. The export markets are recorded in the economic texts of
Ugarit, and must have included the court at Hattusa. The textile in-
dustry, spinning and weaving, was among some hundred crafts
listed in the tablets from this prosperous and cosmopolitan city.

THEOGONY. This term, signifying the birth and genealogy of gods,

is particularly relevant in relation to Hurrian and Greek divinities
alike, though less so to Hittite. The very concept of generations of
gods can be traced back to Babylonia: ties with the West Semitic
world and Ugarit are less clear. Among the chief protagonists,
Alalu, Anu and Ea all have Babylonian names.
The Hurrian theogony begins with Alalu, who was deposed af-
ter a reign of nine years by Anu, the Sky-God; then he himself was
deposed after nine years by his son Kumarbi, finally overthrown
by Tesub. The change of regime was not usually effected in a non-
violent manner: Kumarbi bit off the genitals of his father Anu, after
pulling him down from heaven, whither he was fleeing. Yet Anu
was to have his revenge, bringing about the downfall of Kumarbi
in his turn.
Each ethnic group in the ancient Near East had its own pecu-
liar cultic traditions, often associated with local divinities of the
natural environment, as was true of central Anatolia, where the
concepts of theogony and the traditions of Mesopotamian theology
had yet to take root.
Parallels can be readily detected between the Hurrian theog-
ony, Hesiod’s Theogony and Phoenician mythology as related by
Philo Byblius. Hesiod has the sequence of Ouranos (“Sky”), Kro-
nos and Zeus. Castration is featured not only in the Hittite text
282 ● THEOLOGY

(Anu and Kumarbi) but also in Hesiod, in the fight between Ou-
ranos and Kronos. Hesiod omits the generation of Alalu, but this is
included by Philo Byblius; in the outline of Phoenician mythology
he ascribes to a certain Sankhuniaton, giving the following se-
quence: the Phoenician Elioun (Greek, Hypsistos), “The Highest,”
is identifiable with Alalu; the Greek Ouranos, “Sky,” Phoenician
name not given, is identifiable with Anu; and the Phoenician El
(Greek, Kronos) is the equivalent of Kumarbi. Elsewhere Ba’al-
Hadad, as the chief of the gods, is the equivalent both of Tesub and
of Zeus. Ea, the wise god of the Mesopotamian pantheon, is the
one who in the last resort appoints and deposes celestial rulers.
Phoenician mythology was the direct descendant of Canaanite tra-
ditions of the second millennium BC, which themselves had tenu-
ous links with Hittite religion, essentially through Ugarit. See also
PANTHEON (HITTITE); PANTHEON (YAZILIKAYA).

THEOLOGY. The Hittite kings advanced beyond the primitive con-

cept of the god as god of the community, punishing the whole
community for the sin of the individual. This is especially apparent
in the prayers of Mursili II, at the time when plague was sweeping
the land. This he readily attributes to the sins of his father, Suppi-
luliuma I, while acknowledging that these wrongdoings had been
handed down to himself and thus to the next generation, though in-
nocent in the straightforward sense of the word. Nevertheless, an
awareness of individual responsibility as against collective guilt is
apparent in the Hittite Laws. The god was lord of justice, just as
the king administered justice, sparing the innocent and remitting
the weight of punishment on those pleading guilty.
These theological advances developed in the context of the
centralized state cult of the royal court at Hattusa, as against the
older local cults, which remained relatively unsophisticated.

TIKUNANI. A minor kingdom of upper Mesopotamia, located east of

the Euphrates River and perhaps northwest of the Khabur triangle.
Its ruler Tunip-Tesub was a vassal of Hattusili I, who wrote a let-
ter to him abbreviating his name as Tuniya, the full name presuma-
bly over taxing the scribe in Hattusa.

TILIURA. A town on the border of the Kaska lands, abandoned to the

Kaska tribesmen in the reign of Hantili II, when they also overran
Nerik. It was partially resettled by Mursili II, but completely so
only under Muwatalli II. When he moved the seat of government
 TILMEN HÖYÜK ● 283

to Tarhuntassa, the Kaska and other northerners rose in revolt. He

then appointed his brother, the future Hattusili III, as effective
viceroy of the whole northern marches. He in his turn drew up a
treaty with the town of Tiliura, resettling the remnants of its origi-
nal population there and—he recorded some years later—
criticizing his father’s half-measures. Kaska folk were banned from
settling in or even entering Tiliura, whose importance is implied by
this treaty.
Tiliura was the principal town of the Kummesmaha district,
beside the river of that name, probably identifiable with the mod-
ern Devres, a tributary flowing east-northeast into the Marrassan-
tiya (Kızıl Irmak). A location at Salman Höyük, near Ilgaz, is plau-
sible: here a surface survey found pottery of the Middle and Late
Bronze Age.

TILMEN HÖYÜK. Settlement mound located in the province of

Gaziantep and district of Islahiye, near the Turco-Syrian frontier:
found by Bahadir Alkim, who excavated this site from 1959. This
was a fortified city with palaces of the Middle and Late Bronze
Age, the earlier belonging to the more important building period.

TIMBER AND TIMBER CONSTRUCTION. Charred beams at

many Anatolian sites—including Kültepe-Kanes, Acemhöyük
and Beycesultan—give indubitable proof of the abundance of
large timber for architectural construction. Deforestation was not to
have serious effects in the pre-Christian era, though by Hellenistic
times the demand for timber for shipbuilding was increasing. The
areas surrounding major smelting sites also became steadily de-
nuded of wood.
A foundation ritual text from Hattusa, albeit incomplete,
seems to describe the erection of pillars and the haulage of long
timbers used as beams, joists and roof battens. The term translated
as “beam” is related to more elaborate sacrifices than the terms for
“joist” and “roof batten.” Moreover, the lumberjacks or carpenters
bringing beams to the building site, for use as roof supports, re-
ceived more generous payments in kind than those bringing the
lighter timbers. Probably this reflected the differences in distance
from source to building site, as well perhaps as difficulties of ter-
rain. It hardly seems plausible, however, to suggest that timber was
brought to Hattusa all the way from the forests bordering the Black
Sea, one of the academic ideas marked by an absence of common
sense. Those transporting the heavy beams received payment of
284 ● TIN

one bull, three sheep, loaves of bread, three pitchers of wine and
other drinks, a ration indeed indicating transportation over some
distance, requiring a considerable time. The lighter timbers proba-
bly were available more locally, for the craftsmen bringing the
joists and battens had to be content with some loaves.
The dowel holes in the masonry of Temple 1 (Boğazköy) and
the charred timbers from other sites provide evidence of the meth-
ods of timber-frame construction, the junction with the footings
and the use of mud brick above. The burnt palace of Beycesultan
V yielded traces of the upper story, its construction and decoration,
though this cannot be described as Hittite.
To this day, around Bolu and in the Black Sea region, houses
can be found which can be termed log cabins. Naturally such have
not survived from the second millennium BC, making archaeologi-
cal surveys in that zone of Anatolia liable to be frustrating, since it
will be apparent that prehistoric settlements are going undetected.
The texts show that such houses were prevalent in the enemy lands
north of Hatti, the homeland of the Kaska people. In the archives
of Hattusa and in Sumerian occurs a very rare term, E.GIS.UR.RA,
evidently signifying a “log cabin.” See also BUILDING
METHODS.

TIN. This metal is found, for practical purposes, mostly in cassiterite

ore, its name probably to be associated with a people originating in
the highlands of western Iran, the Kassites, even though they must
have acted, in the period of their rule in Mesopotamia from the
16th till the 11th century BC, simply as intermediaries in the long-
distance tin trade. It is possible that they played a significant role
through the centuries of Hittite dominance in central Anatolia and
beyond, in bringing the much valued metal from the major sources
to the east. The lack of evidence for Anatolian tin mining after the
third millennium BC (Early Bronze Age) is a stumbling block,
though the general picture of the production and trading of tin in
Anatolia has radically changed over the past decade.
Sources of tin occur elsewhere in the Near East, though none
so significant as those in Afghanistan and Kazakhstan to the east
and in Bohemia and Cornwall far to the west. Tin occurs in many
places in Anatolia, along with other metals; but none of these
sources is rich enough to be economically viable in modern condi-
tions. Until the 1980s no serious consideration was given to the
possibility of Anatolian tin and its exploitation in the Bronze Age,
for it was taken for granted that tin was imported by the Assyrian
 TIN ● 285

merchants who came to Kanes (Nesa) from ca.2050 BC. The tab-
lets found there indicated beyond doubt that tin was imported from
lands to the east, being one of the staples of this Old Assyrian trad-
ing network. The puzzling fact seems to be the extinction of an in-
digenous Anatolian mining industry, albeit on a limited scale, at
the end of the third millennium BC, apparently succumbing to the
arrival of foreign tin which could undercut the local product. Easier
extraction of the ore and more sophisticated marketing seem the
likeliest explanations. The evidence differs for the two trading sys-
tems, for the Anatolian tin mining is known from archaeological
discoveries and analyses alone, whereas most evidence for the
Assyrian trade derives from the tablets from their principal colony,
Kanes. Unfortunately there is less evidence for the extraction and
uses of tin after the end of the Assyrian trade around 1750 BC,
though tin ingots have been recovered from Late Bronze Age
shipwrecks in the Mediterranean, at Gelidonya and Ulu Burun.
Fifty kilometers east-southeast of Niğde and four kilometers
from the small town of Camardi there has been found an Early
Bronze Age tin mine at Kestel, two kilometers south of which was
located a miners’ village of the same period at Göltepe. Only sub-
economic amounts of material remain unmined today, but some
200 tons of metallic tin were produced over one millennium during
the Early Bronze Age at Kestel; and one ton of metallurgical de-
bris, including fragments of crucibles with tin accretions, was re-
covered from excavations at Göltepe and at the entrance to the Ke-
stel mine. Mining activity reached its zenith here around the mid–
third millennium BC, with one batch of radiocarbon determinations
giving calibrated dates of 2870–2200 BC, while another batch has
given results of 3240–3100 BC.
Another source of Anatolian tin, not far from Kestel, was the
Bolkardağ mining district, situated 15 kilometers southwest of
Çiftehan and 100 kilometers north of Mersin. This district has
proved to be perhaps the richest in a wide range of metallic ores of
anywhere in Anatolia. Over 800 mines have been located, most of
which yield significant percentages of tin, alongside other metals.
The tin ore is commonly stannite rather than the cassiterite at Ke-
stel, and would normally be less likely to be relevant to prehistoric
mining activity, occurring as it does in veins in granite. Thus it is
hard to extract. Nodules of stannite have, however, been recovered
from streambeds. The dearth of dating evidence makes it impossi-
ble to evaluate with any accuracy the scale of Bronze Age work-
ings, where mining has continued to modern times. Yet the prox-
286 ● TIN

imity of the Bolkardağ district to the major natural trade route up

from the Cilician plain (Kizzuwadna) through the Cilician Gates
must have reinforced demand for its tin as well as its other metals.
In the Old Assyrian caravans tin was the item in more transac-
tions than any other commodity: the value of one donkey-load of
tin was equal to some four to six donkey-loads of textiles, depend-
ent on their quality. Tin was often the medium for small payments
made to the caravan leaders for expenses en route, the Akkadian
word for “tin” being annaku, formerly erroneously believed to
mean “lead.” Profits on the tin trade would have averaged from 75
to 100 percent gross. It seems very likely that part of the tin im-
ported from the city of Ashur was used by the Anatolian importers
for alloying with copper from Ergani Maden, in spite of its dis-
tance from Kanes. It would have been used for production of tin-
bronze. A major clue to an eastern source for the tin imported by
the Old Assyrian merchants into Anatolia is provided by a letter
ordering large amounts from the city of Shemshara in the time of
Samsi-Adad I of Assyria, contemporary with Kültepe-Karum IB
(later 19th century BC). The precise source remains uncertain.
A century after the end of the Old Assyrian trade Hattusili I
came to power, seeking to expand Hittite rule to the southeast.
Production of bronze seems to have ceased in central Anatolia with
the end of the Assyrian caravans; but for any army it was an essen-
tial commodity for weapons, and the resurgent Hittite power
would have required a considerable supply of tin to meet this need.
It is very possible that one of the motives for the campaigns of Hat-
tusili I was to secure the import of tin from the southeast, as for-
merly managed by Assyrian merchants, from depredations en
route. If a western source of tin was available to Hattusili I, it
would probably have been in Bohemia, a possible motive behind
his campaign against his major western neighbor, Arzawa. The
implication is that the Early Bronze Age tin mines of the Niğde re-
gion in Anatolia had become virtually worked out, although lead
isotope analyses of Black Sea Anatolian ore samples, essentially of
copper, suggest that most metal artifacts were made from ores not
far from the site of discovery. It is, however, admitted that this is
not a completely certain conclusion.
Circulation of tin, along with copper, in central Anatolia is at-
tested in inventories from palace archives of the 13th century BC.
The dispatch of tin from centers of secondary rank makes it im-
probable that this trade was state-regulated. See also OLD
ASSYRIAN CARAVAN ROUTES.
 TOPADA ● 287

TOPADA. One of the many hieroglyphic inscriptions in the kingdom

of Tabal, it was written for the “Great King” Wasusarma himself,
and records in the first person a border war against a hostile neigh-
boring ruler.

TRADE. The Hittites, living in a largely landlocked realm, were not by

nature active in external trade, which they left principally to for-
eign intermediaries. These were based in ports along the east Medi-
terranean coast, perhaps most notably Ugarit and Ura. Nor were
the Hittites noted for their seamanship, relying rather on the fleets
of Ugarit and other maritime cities. Overland trade was also con-
ducted with Syria-Palestine, Mitanni, Assyria and Babylon, as
well as with Egypt, when not seaborne. The small number of mate-
rial finds demonstrating such commercial relations, however, sug-
gests that they were intermittent. No records survive to indicate
trade organized on the systematic basis of the Old Assyrian trade.
Gold, silver, copper and lead were important natural Ana-
tolian economic resources, from mining operations within and be-
yond the Hittite frontiers, of greatest utility as media of exchange
or currency, especially silver. Among examples of their use was in
fixing the financial penalties imposed on governmental authorities
for death, injury or loss suffered by merchants passing through
their jurisdiction in pursuit of their business. The lands of Ugarit
and Amurru were particularly dangerous for traders, being in-
fested with bandits, among them Habiru. Ini-Tesub, viceroy of
Carchemish, was obliged at times to compensate Ugarit for mer-
cantile losses, while himself receiving compensation from the same
source, on a mutual basis dependent on responsibility for the
crimes. Ini-Tesub thus had an interest in improving legal regula-
tions designed to protect merchants and their trade.
Merchants themselves were not always blameless, as when
some from the port of Ura harassed merchants of Ugarit who failed
to pay their debts, even demanding they hand over their own
houses. These merchants from Ura had meanwhile been investing
in real estate in Ugarit, provoking local resentment. Niqmaddu III
was moved to write to his overlord, Hattusili III, requesting his
action to remedy matters: a compromise solution retained the trad-
ing rights of these merchants from Ura, on whom Hatti depended
for essential grain imports. But they were forbidden to invest in
property or to sequester debtors’ houses in Ugarit.
The fine for killing and robbing a merchant was exceptionally
heavy, up to 100 minas (4,000 shekels) of silver, but much lower if
288 ● TREASURY INCOME

it was solely for killing the merchant! The real crime was removal
of his goods. Weights and measures in the Hittite lands were
modeled on those in force in Mesopotamia, though with significant
difference in relative weights. A merchant’s death in a quarrel or
by accident incurred fines of 240 and 80 shekels respectively.
Ingots, commonly in oxhide form, were the international cur-
rency of maritime trade plying between the Levant and the Aegean
lands; and one such has been found at Hattusa. The Hittite state
treasury income probably benefited only marginally from the
seaborne Mediterranean commerce, except through the caravans
transporting crude metals to the centers of metallurgy in Anatolia.
The Hittite court and high society, however, had a strong liking for
semi precious stones such as lapis lazuli from Afghanistan and
amethyst, jasper and turquoise from the deserts near the Nile, as
well as for fine woolen and linen textiles. All these imports arrived
via the major emporia of the Near East.
Horses were from time to time imported from Babylonia, Mi-
tanni and Egypt, but a nearer source of supply lay in the Arzawa
lands of western Anatolia, on Homeric evidence a major horse-
breeding region in the time of the Trojan War. Human imports
ranged from Nubian slaves to doctors and scribes, though medical
men might come for a royal consultation, then returning home.
It is hard to avoid the impression that, in spite of all the indica-
tions of commercial contacts, Hittite state and society remained
remarkably little influenced by outside elements, save only in re-
ligion. See also OLD ASSYRIAN CARAVAN ROUTES.

TREASURY INCOME. As with all great powers in the ancient Near

East, the income accruing to the royal treasury at Hattusa was not
entirely regular and dependable. Such was war booty, largely of
livestock and metals but also in the shape of prisoners of war: their
arrival after a victorious campaign was an indirect but very real
boost to the resources of the state, as much-needed manpower for a
variety of purposes. Native farmers were sometimes obliged to
give their labor for their overlord or for the king.
More regular sources of revenue included taxes in kind from
agricultural land, on a range of produce, especially grain, stored in
a wide scatter of government granaries. At times when the Hittite
state was militarily strong, the tribute from vassals, from food to
precious metals, was significant. Industrial activities, notably in
textiles, mining and the production from centers of metallurgy,
yielded further income.
 TREATIES ● 289

Much of this income diminished drastically in times of mili-

tary setbacks, unrest among vassals or famine and drought.

TREATIES. These could be international or else drawn up with a

neighboring ruler or, most frequently, with a vassal. The most
celebrated international treaty was that between Hattusili III and
Ramesses II, drawn up in the 21st year of the latter’s long reign,
the common interest between the two great powers of the day be-
ing avoidance of a drain of manpower through tension along their
common frontier in Syria. Egypt was anxious to secure its hold on
its remaining territories in southern Syria, while Hatti looked to the
threat in the east from Assyria.
Gift exchange was another means designed to promote and re-
inforce foreign policy, a relatively painless method of enhancing
diplomatic prestige.
The outstanding example of a treaty with a neighboring land,
at least nominally a vassal, was that drawn up by Tudhaliya IV
with his cousin Kurunta (Ulmi-Tesub), the ruler of Tarhuntassa.
This was inscribed on a bronze tablet unique among known arti-
facts from the Hittite Empire, excavated beneath a pavement just
inside the Sphinx Gate in Boğazköy: Upper City during the 1986
excavations. Its perfect preservation, with 350 lines of Hittite cu-
neiform, makes this all the more remarkable a discovery.
Treaties with vassals must have occupied much of the time of
royal officials at Hattusa, the scribes, for they had to be redrawn
with every new ruler, following death or deposition. The scribes
clearly exerted direct influence on the precise wording of treaties,
of which drafts as well as final versions survive. The text of inter-
national and vassal agreements with lands to the east and south-
east was drawn up in Akkadian, the international language of di-
plomacy, but for the lands to the west, including Ahhiyawa, in
Hittite, the scribes there evidently being unfamiliar with Akkadian.
Many treaties were stored in the archives of Temple 1
(Boğazköy), appropriate for the sanctity attached to agreements
made in the presence of the gods. Set formulae occur for land
boundaries and the mutual obligations of vassal and overlord.
Many gods and goddesses, both of Hatti and of the vassal king-
dom, are recorded as witnesses, the treaty ending with standard
blessings and curses, for observance or breaking of the treaty.
A sidelight on clay tablets is provided by the indications that
emendations to the text were made, of necessity when the clay was
still soft. These changes came at the dictate of the king himself,
290 ● TROY

who might add to the text, modify it or delete certain lines, as he

saw fit. If wrapped in a damp cloth, the tablet could remain soft for
a rather longer time. The presence of the king in Hattusa would,
however, normally be required. Legally qualified officials may be
named as signatories to many treaty clauses.
Finally, the treaty had to be inscribed in permanent form, see-
ing that it was a quasi-religious document. Gold, silver or bronze
was used for several copies, the number often noted in the explana-
tory note, or colophon, attached to the treaty. Major treaties tend to
include a lengthy preamble, sometimes providing the only surviv-
ing historical record for certain events of a reign or filling gaps in
fragmentary texts.

TROY. This site is of course most famous for its Homeric associa-
tions as recounted in the Iliad, not written down until the eighth
century BC. Its Turkish name is Hissarlik (“little castle/citadel”). It
is now agreed that this is indeed the site of Troy, and that it can be
identified with Wilusa of the Hittite records. It was thus involved
in the Hittite world and in the complex rivalries in and around Ar-
zawa. Both archaeologically and historically it can be considered
primarily an Anatolian rather than an Aegean settlement at least
until the 13th century BC. Nevertheless it lies on a fault-line, as it
were, between Europe and Asia, the focus of academic attention
not always wholly dispassionate, centered on questions related to
Homer, on the one hand, and to Anatolian historical geography,
on the other.
Originally located by Franz Kauffer (1793), Troy has seen ex-
cavations for over a century, first by Heinrich Schliemann (1870–
1890), with further work after his death by his assistant Wilhelm
Dorpfeld (1893–1894); then by Carl Blegen for the University of
Cincinnati (1932–1938); and most recently in ongoing seasons un-
der Manfred Korfmann since 1988, for the University of Tübingen
and for Cincinnati. Much of this expedition’s work has been con-
centrated outside the Citadel, in the Lower City—work that has at-
tracted interest and controversy in almost equal measures. Regret-
table acrimony has been stirred up, ostensibly by the bold
reconstructions of the site publicized by Korfmann, but in all prob-
ability as much by academic jealousy, led by a university colleague
in Tübingen, not an archaeologist! Opinion among archaeologists,
however, has come down strongly on Korfmann’s side, especially
after a symposium held to thrash out these disagreements (Febru-
ary 2002).
 TROY ● 291

The major disappointment in Troy VI (Late Bronze Age) is

that the whole central area of the Citadel was destroyed in the
Classical period, when the site was leveled for construction of a
temple of Athena. Only those buildings on the perimeter, immedi-
ately inside the fortifications, have survived. Consequently any
remains of a palace and associated structures have vanished: nei-
ther tablets nor seal impressions nor murals nor sculptures have
been recovered. This has added fuel to the argument that Troy was
an insignificant settlement, a case falsely advanced by comparing
the comparative areas of a number of major Middle-Late Bronze
Age citadels, when the plans cited are not on the same scale! In
precise comparative terms, the Citadel of Troy VI is not much
smaller in area than Boğazköy: Büyükkale, though none would
claim that it was the center of a major state. The contemporary
Beycesultan II, with its buildings of megaron plan, is of very
modest extent.
Korfmann suggests—on plausible but not yet fully docu-
mented evidence—that the Lower City of Troy, stretching south
from the Citadel for some 400 meters and with buildings covering
an area of ca.270,000 square meters, would have had a population
of 5,000–10,000, the Late Bronze Age occupation level lying be-
neath Hellenistic and Roman levels. Only limited areas of the
Lower City, however, have yet been excavated. In late Troy VI the
Lower City was defended by a palisade and ditch, with the addition
of a second ditch further south in Troy VIIA. A city wall seems
likely to have formed part of the defenses, together with a gateway.
The raison d’etre of Troy—whose story spans the whole third
and second millennia BC and beyond—was trade. The presence of
amber from northern Europe and lapis lazuli from Afghanistan at-
tests long-distance trade in the Early Bronze Age, with other evi-
dence. Maritime trade became much more significant in the Mid-
dle-Late Bronze Age, with the advent of the sailing ship. So strong
were the winds and currents through the Bosphorus and Hellespont
that many ships sought a haven where they could shelter, to await
favorable conditions for entering the Black Sea. Troy was the an-
swer to their need. As for the Hittites, they were involved in the
long-established trade, preceding the Old Assyrian colonies in
Anatolia, which ran from the Mediterranean (Kizzuwadna) north-
ward through central Anatolia and on to the Black Sea outlets,
whence ships could reach Troy and beyond. The evidence is lack-
ing to do more than speculate that this trade may have been a factor
in establishing the Hittite power base. Textiles were certainly sig-
292 ● TUDHALIYA I/II

nificant items of trade from the third millennium BC. The econ-
omy of Troy was sustained, for purposes of basic subsistence, by a
plentiful supply of fish. Modern surveys have established the pre-
historic coastline, now well out from its Bronze Age line, with
consequent silting of the harbor on which Troy had so heavily de-
pended.

TUDHALIYA I/II (ca.1400–1380 BC). The reign began with a deci-

sive victory over the supporters of the previous king, Muwatalli I,
after his assassination. The name “Tudhaliya I/II” is a compromise
to allow for the possibility of another Tudhaliya before Tudhaliya
III, the father of Suppiluliuma I, and to preserve the conventional
numbering of Tudhaliya III and IV.
This was not the only Hittite king to be confronted with dan-
gers to his realm from three sectors, the west, north and southeast,
embodied in Arzawa, Kaska and Mitanni respectively. Though
fighting on three fronts in immediate succession might seem poten-
tially fatal, the Hittite army had one advantage, that it was fighting
on internal lines. In spite of the long years of internal discord and
decline before his accession, Tudhaliya I/II must have had at his
command a disciplined and effective military force, enabling him
to inflict a crushing defeat by a daring night attack on an alliance
of 22 rulers in the west, under the leadership of Assuwa, whatever
its precise role in this coalition. The most permanent outcome of
this campaign in western Anatolia was the inauguration of the de-
liberate policy of deportation of prisoners of war, teams of horses
with their chariots and livestock to Hattusa—on this occasion
10,000 foot soldiers and 600 teams of horses for chariots, a signifi-
cant addition to the Hittite army.
Meanwhile, in response to an invasion by Kaska tribesmen
from the north, Tudhaliya I/II marched successfully against them,
following up with a campaign deeper into their territory. These
troubles, however, continued into the next two reigns, and are ex-
tensively recorded in the archive from Maşat Höyük.
Across the Euphrates River, in the area now forming the Turk-
ish province of Elaziğ, lay the kingdom of Isuwa, until its perma-
nent annexation by Suppiluliuma I a thorn in the flesh of the Hit-
tite state. At this time it looked to the Hurrian lands, the realm
otherwise known as Mitanni, for support against the claims of
Hatti. Twice during the reign of Tudhaliya I/II it rebelled and twice
it was brought to heel, though on the second occasion only after it
had been plundered by the Hurrian troops and after an interval of
 TUDHALIYA III ● 293

time in which the Hittite king was engaged elsewhere. He was un-
able to effect a permanent Hittite presence in Isuwa.
The first step needed to restore Hittite power in the southeast
was to secure Hittite control of Kizzuwadna. That done, Tudhaliya
fixed his eyes on Aleppo, as indicated by a treaty over a century
later by Muwatalli II, a reissue of one by his father Mursili II,
with Talmi-Sarruma, vassal ruler of that city. Treaties are particu-
larly invaluable sources through their inclusion of a historical pre-
amble, biased as it usually was, and this is no exception: it refers
back to Hattusili I and Mursili I and then to Tudhaliya I/II, “with
whom the king of Aleppo made peace.” Though briefly allied with
Hatti, Aleppo then accepted Mitannian suzerainty, an error which
provoked a violent response from Tudhaliya. His claim to have
razed the city could well be accurate; but his claim also to have de-
stroyed Hanigalbat (Mitanni) must be a gross exaggeration, given
the continuing activity of Mitanni east of the Euphrates. Alalakh
Level IV with the palace of Niqmepa was, however, destroyed.
The Hittite state was once more involved as a leading player
on the central stage of Near Eastern power politics, in north Syria
where so many interests confronted one another. The Hittite New
Kingdom and a new era had begun, however temporary the con-
quests by Tudhaliya I/II proved to be.

TUDHALIYA III (1360–1344 BC). Son of Arnuwanda I and Asmu-

nikal and father of Suppiluliuma I, this king deserves better rec-
ognition for his achievements than the surviving records make pos-
sible. Faced with unparalleled attacks on his kingdom from every
side, with the sack of his capital city, Hattusa, he nevertheless
fought back, and succeeded in laying the foundations for the work
of his more famous son and successor. His military triumphs place
him on a level with his illustrious Old Kingdom predecessors, Hat-
tusili I and Mursili I.
The ancient enemy in the north, the Kaska, came in force
through the Hittite homeland to the south bend of the Marrassan-
tiya River, doubtless sacking Hattusa en route. Perhaps as a result
of a concentration on the northern front of opposing Hittite forces,
other enemies—Arzawa from the southwest, Isuwa from the
southeast, Azzi-Hayasa from the northeast—were able to join in
the attack without immediate opposition. If Tudhaliya III rallied his
followers, scattered from Hattusa, at a temporary headquarters
elsewhere, it might have been at Samuha on the upper Marrassan-
tiya, after expulsion of the invading men of Azzi-Hayasa.
294 ● TUDHALIYA IV

It is from The Deeds of Suppiluliuma, compiled by his son

Mursili II, that evidence can be garnered of the recovery of the
Hittite realm from the invaders. The forces of Kaska and Azzi-
Hayasa were the first to be confronted by Tudhaliya III, in offen-
sives mounted from his base at Samuha.
Old age and sickness finally obliged him to hand over conduct
of military operations to the capable hands of his second son, the
future Suppiluliuma I.

TUDHALIYA IV (1237–1209 BC). His father Hattusili III seems to

have chosen him as tuhkanti (crown prince), displacing his older
brother Nerikkaili, perhaps a long planned decision. It was proba-
bly no coincidence that Tudhaliya’s early career followed very
closely that of his father in the borderlands of Kaska in the north.
The young Tudhaliya seems to have been an energetic soldier, se-
curing a victory in the north over Hatenzuwa, which his father
himself had been unable to achieve. But how much credit was
really owed to Tudhaliya, perhaps only 12 years old at the time, is
uncertain. He may well, however, have been appointed co-regent in
his father’s final years. His mother, Puduhepa, seems to have ar-
ranged his marriage with a “daughter of Babylon,” of acceptable
status for the heir of the Great King. Ramesses II questioned this
status of Babylon.
After his accession Tudhaliya IV found himself between two
very powerful women, his mother with the power of the Tawa-
nanna (queen mother) and his Babylonian queen, with the women
of court dividing into factions of their respective supporters. Pudu-
hepa seems eventually to have triumphed, remaining a power in the
land until her death, possibly after her sons, though this is uncer-
tain.
Troubles faced Tudhaliya IV on all sides: in the west, where
the influence of Ahhiyawa was rising; in the east, where Assyria
posed an ongoing threat; and nearer home in the Lower Land
where the people of Lalanda, described as “notorious troublemak-
ers,” rose in rebellion. His treaty with his vassal, Sausgamuwa of
Amurru, reveals a perception of Egypt as still a potential threat to
Hittite hegemony in Syria—an unnecessary fear, as it proved. But
Tudhaliya made it plain that the treaty bound him to allegiance to
himself as Hittite king and to his descendants, and to none other.
Tudhaliya reinstated his brother Nerikkaili as tuhkanti, doubt-
less to ensure his loyalty. He even before his accession considered
compensation in the form of land for the sons of Urhi-Tesub. Ad-
 TUDHALIYA IV ● 295

ditional lands and reductions of taxes were conferred on his cousin

Kurunta.
The Yalburt inscription is one source for the activities of
Tudhaliya IV in the west, where his father had been far from suc-
cessful. Now there was repeated trouble with the Seha River
Land, fomented by the king of Ahhiyawa through his port of Mil-
lawanda/Milawata. In due course the ruler of Millawanda, joined
by marriage to the Hittite royal house, became a kind of regional
governor-general or suzerain in the west, to whom the king of Wi-
lusa became answerable, as well as to Tudhaliya IV. Ahhiyawa be-
came significantly restricted in its activities on the Anatolian main-
land.
Tudhaliya IV relied upon Ini-Tesub, third viceroy of Car-
chemish and his cousin, to secure his interests in Syria. With the
death of Shalmaneser I (ca.1233 BC) there was reason to hope for
an improvement in Assyro-Hittite relations. This did occur for a
while, until the ambitions of Tukulti-Ninurta I (1233–1197 BC)
made conflict almost inevitable. Here Tudhaliya IV blundered, re-
lying uncritically on the support of a vassal, the ruler of Isuwa,
who failed to send troops to reinforce the Hittite army, then far
from its home bases, in the hills where the disastrous battle of Ni-
hriya was to be fought. The outcome put an end to Hittite ambi-
tions east of the Euphrates, though Isuwa was left in Hittite hands.
After the brief usurpation of the throne in Hattusa by his cousin
Kurunta, Tarhuntassa may have been lost to the Hittite Empire.
Tudhaliya was obliged to acknowledge its promotion to equal rank
with Carchemish.
Other problems faced this king, not least recurrent famine.
Merneptah (1213–1204 BC), son of Ramesses II, referred in his
Karnak inscription to a shipment of grain he had sent to “keep alive
the land of Hatti.” Undernourishment would not have improved
the effectiveness of men recruited to the Hittite army.
Resources were undoubtedly expended to excess on building
programs especially in Hattusa, and on religious endowments and
festivals—wealth which could be ill spared.

TUDHALIYA IV: RELIGIOUS REFORMS. While to modern eyes

it may seem that Tudhaliya IV, faced with dangers on more than
one front, diverted essential resources from the battlefront, there
were major political factors underlying his far-reaching program of
religious reforms. One such was the evident requirement for con-
cessions to Hurrian cultic traditions, urged on by his mother,
296 ● TUDHALIYA IV

Puduhepa, and doubtless conceived as a favor to the population of

the eastern territories under Hittite rule. Hurrians were not, how-
ever, the only intrusive element in the priesthoods, for Luwians
were becoming increasingly influential, in large part through the
dominance of their language. The Hittite upper class had to ap-
pease the non-Hittite majority in the Empire.
Most of the tablets from the royal library at Hattusa describ-
ing festivals are collations, bringing up to date much older texts,
some originating in the Hittite Old Kingdom, though surviving
only in fragments. The titles and colophons of these festival texts
have the author of each collation always given as “My Sun Tud-
haliya.” Royal intervention was commonly designed to ordain new
sacrifices or to augment the reserves in the temple storerooms. The
cult inventories are listed in geographical order, as the royal in-
spectors had to proceed.
The reforms of Tudhaliya IV were intended to preserve as
much as possible of earlier cultic practices, while imposing a uni-
formity in order to reinforce royal control and to discourage exces-
sive local divergences from the norm. Because the real presence of
a god or goddess existed only in or by his or her statue, damaged,
vanished or destroyed statues had to be restored or replaced. An-
thropomorphic statues were now essential for all divinities, and
could not be fashioned from wood, as being too impermanent. Iron
was the fashionable metal for the statues, with gold and silver
brocade and appliqué ornaments. But other materials were em-
ployed, from gold and ivory in the richest shrines to wood with
metal ornaments in the poorest. Such ornaments could be various
jewels or lunates, solar disks or animals. Stelae on a hill or near a
spring had henceforth to be set up in temples for their better protec-
tion. A governmental staff was dedicated to maintenance of relig-
ious statues, a new concept, with the necessary disbursement com-
ing from the palace.
Side by side with preservation of local deities and cults of
mountains and springs, the king sought to achieve uniformity of
beliefs, to reflect the imperial unity of the state. The multiplicity of
divinities had to be reduced to a limited number of categories: gods
of the storm, of war and of vegetable life, goddesses of fertility.
Several idols might be brought in under the same roof. Assimila-
tion was a necessary product of these reforms: Hurrian gods and
goddesses to their Anatolian equivalents and the Hattian
Storm-God to certain attributes of the Syrian Tesub.
In all likelihood the religious reforms were motivated initially
 TUKULTI-NINURTA I ● 297

by the need to restore the temples of Hattusa after their destruction

at the time of the usurpation of the throne by Kurunta. There is a
textual record of rebuilding of temples, with the king consulting an
oracle. Other texts highlight aspects of these reforms: one records
a statue of iron with eyes of gold standing on an iron lion, for
which measures of grain and wine were to be provided; another,
destroyed or vanished statues to be restored or replaced; another,
the rebuilding of a town with its temple, to be provided with a sil-
ver statue of its tutelary goddess; another, the opening of the stor-
age jars installed by My Sun at harvest time or in a thunderstorm;
another, the king’s ordaining a stele of silver surmounted by a solar
disk. For one temple 36 bushels of barley were provided by the
king.
It is obvious that all these donations to the numerous temples
and cult shrines must have drained much of the royal treasury.

TUKULTI-NINURTA I (1233–1197 BC). Assyrian victor over the

army of Tudhaliya IV at the battle of Nihriya (Nairi) early in his
reign, ca.1232 BC. Although claiming in one text to have captured
28,800 Hittite soldiers from across the Euphrates, after this battle,
this is virtually certain to be an exaggeration. In fact he did not
pursue the defeated Hittite forces across the Euphrates, nor did he
enter the vulnerable territory of Isuwa. But wide territories east of
the river were permanently lost to Hittite control, including the
copper mines of Ergani Maden. The reason for this restraint on
the Hittite front was Assyrian concern to subdue Babylon. Like
Sennacherib over five centuries later, embroilment in Babylonia
was to lead to the Assyrian king’s assassination.

TUWANUWA. This town, the Classical Tyana, is firmly located at

Ambartepe, a settlement site with seven meters’ depth of occupa-
tion levels now covered by the village of Kemerhisar, south of Bor,
in the province of Niğde. Inscriptions found here include two bi-
lingual texts in Luwian hieroglyphs and Old Phrygian. Another
“black stone” is inscribed in Phrygian, but is very difficult to deci-
pher. Evidently three different scribes were working in a Luwian
context. These inscriptions can be dated to the time of the historical
Mita (Midas), in the late eighth century BC.
In the Hittite records Tuwanuwa is first mentioned by Telip-
inu, in his account of the conquests of Labarna. It is later named,
in the time of Tudhaliya III, as the limit of invasion by forces
from Arzawa, via the Lower Land, making Tuwanuwa their fron-
298 ● UDA

tier. The Deeds of Suppiluliuma I include reference to his recap-

ture of the town and his gathering an army to attack Arzawa.
Tuwanuwa was later one of the cities of Tabal—in the area of
Tyanitis in Classical times—along with the cities of Tunna (Por-
suk Höyük) and Hupisna.

-U-

UDA. A land near Tuwanuwa in the eastern section of the Lower

Land. The invading troops of Arzawa, in the reign of Tudhaliya
III, reached this far. Telipinu, viceroy of Aleppo, was summoned
by Suppiluliuma I from his expedition against Carchemish to
Uda, where the king was involved in religious festivals.

UGARIT. This, the major Late Bronze Age city on the Mediterranean
coast of Syria, was soon identified by cuneiform tablets found in
the French excavations carried out since 1929 at the site of Ras
Shamra, three kilometers inland, and at the associated port of
Minet-el-Beidha (ancient Mahadu). The excavations, following the
accidental exposure of a stone-built tomb, were directed by Claude
F. A. Schaeffer (1929–1939 and after World War II until 1970)
and were resumed from 1978. The excavations are currently di-
rected by Marguerite Yon and Yves Cabilt (University of Lyon)
concurrently with reassessment of aspects of the earlier seasons’
results.
Ugarit can lay claim to the first rank among all Bronze Age
cities in the ancient Near East, though the Early and Middle Bronze
Age levels are relatively little known. The heyday of Ugarit was in
the Late Bronze Age, with the thousands of tablets dating entirely
from the 15th to the 13th and very early 12th century BC. The
great majority of these tablets indeed date from the last two genera-
tions of the city, up to its sudden and violent destruction by the Sea
Peoples. Ugarit had a mixed population, its written records being
even more diverse, including Sumerian, Akkadian, Hurrian and
Hittite texts, as well as syllabic and alphabetic Ugaritic.
Lying just north of Canaan, yet greatly influenced by its cul-
tural traditions, literary and religious, Ugarit thrived as an entrepot
for east-west trade, possessing a powerful fleet deployed in the
Mediterranean in trade with the Mycenaean cities. It also lay on a
north-south route for overland trade between Anatolia and Syria.
With the expansion of Egyptian power in the New Kingdom, from
 UGARIT ● 299

ca.1550 BC, Ugarit came under Egyptian suzerainty by the mid–

15th century BC, at a time of Hittite weakness.
Thus it remained into the reign of the heretic pharaoh Akhen-
aten and the early years of Suppiluliuma I (1344–1322 BC). With
the accession of a new king, Niqmaddu II, to the throne of Ugarit,
however, Suppiluliuma scored a major and lasting diplomatic and
political triumph, persuading the king of Ugarit to agree to his pro-
posal that he switch his allegiance from Egypt to Hatti. This was
agreed, against the backcloth of the rebellion of two vassals of
Hatti, Mukis and Nuhasse, the former lying north of Ugarit and
the latter inland, between the kingdom of Ugarit and the Euphrates.
In this agreement was the promise, which Suppiluliuma kept, that
Ugarit would be permitted to retain territory gained from neighbor-
ing enemies. Thus it came about that the extent of the kingdom of
Ugarit increased three- or four fold under Hittite suzerainty.
This relationship was mutually beneficial, Ugarit securing pro-
tection from unreliable neighbors and the Hittite Empire gaining
access to military manpower, enlisted on the Hittite side at
Kadesh, and to the fleet, which served as transportation for much-
needed grain in times of famine or scarcity to the port of Ura in
Kizzuwadna. In times of danger, notably in the final years, the
fleet of Ugarit gave a maritime arm to the Hittite land forces in
Anatolia, deploying at least 150 ships, while mustering 1,000
chariots. Unlike Aleppo and Carchemish, however, Ugarit was
not the seat of a viceroyalty. It retained a degree of independence
under its own kings, coming increasingly to exercise this as the
power of Hatti began to wane toward the final debacle, in which
Ugarit too was to be overwhelmed (ca.1180/1176 BC).
Ugarit was more than a support for the defense of the Hittite
dominions. The richest vassal of Hatti, its tribute was of major
economic importance. This derived from the varied and flourishing
industrial activities in and around the city, which was never wholly
dependent on foreign trade. These activities are documented in the
tablets and by the artifacts found in the excavations. Goldsmiths
and bronzesmiths prospered, as did the producers of linen and
woolen textiles, exports playing a significant role in each case: one
example is a bronze sword inscribed with the name of the pharaoh
Merneptah (1213–1204 BC), son and successor of Ramesses II,
obviously intended for dispatch to Egypt, a transaction possibly
canceled by the pharaoh’s death. The wealth of Ugarit depended
also on the produce of the hinterland, from corn and flax, oil and
wine, to timber from the mountainsides, this last essential not only
300 ● ULLIKUMMI

for public works in the city but also for the large fleet.
Archaeological links with the Hittite homeland are discernible
in the postern tunnel in the short surviving stretch of the city for-
tifications, near the royal palace, and even more clearly in the seal
impressions. The postern at Ugarit is of more finely dressed ma-
sonry than that in the perimeter defenses of the Upper City of
Hattusa, dating most probably to the reign of Suppiluliuma I
(1344–1322 BC). The stonemason’s craft had a long history in
Syria, being passed on in due course to the Phoenicians. The finest
Hittite masonry, in and beyond Hattusa, can be dated after the ex-
pansion of Hittite military and political power into Syria. Seal im-
pressions exemplify Hittite royal glyptic art, in the form of con-
vex-headed stamp seals with the royal monogram in cuneiform or
hieroglyphs surrounded normally by two lines of script, cuneiform
and hieroglyphic, thus providing bilingual data of some use in the
decipherment of the hieroglyphs.
The clearest evidence of the external relations of Ugarit, how-
ever, is to be seen in the magnificently built stone tombs of Minet-
el-Beidha and Ugarit itself, excavated in the early seasons and
found to contain numerous pottery vessels, including many Myce-
naean, highlighting the importance of the maritime Aegean trade
and also of the merchant community from the Mycenaean cities
settled, along with other foreigners, in Ugarit. It is not impossible
that such contacts were ultimately to speed the onslaught on
Ugarit by the Sea Peoples, an event vividly attested by tablets
found abandoned in the oven wherein they had been baked. Such
contemporary record of violent attack and impending destruction is
extremely rare. This great city was indeed cut off in its prime,
never to rise again.

ULLIKUMMI. A stone giant or monster, appearing in part of the

Kumarbi cycle of myths. Very probably this is to be identified on
the gold bowl of Hasanlu. Ullikummi originated as god of the
mountain Ulligamma, in the center of the zone of Hurrian settle-
ment north and east of Mesopotamia. His name came to be reinter-
preted as “destroyer of Kumme,” the holy city of the god Tesub.

ULMI-TESUB. See KURUNTA.

UNDERWORLD. The chthonic element was significant in every re-

ligious tradition in the ancient world, from the first literate com-
munities in Mesopotamia to classical Greece and pagan Rome. Hit-
 UPPER LAND ● 301

tite ritual texts reveal that it was the gods of the Underworld who,
unlike the other deities in the Hittite lands, had a strong desire for
blood from the sacrifices offered to them: thus it would be ensured
that the blood would not so much be exposed to the sky as allowed
to soak into the ground.
In the standardized pantheon which emerged in the early 14th
century BC, a group of deities associated with the Underworld
ranked low down the line, after the local deities. It was almost as
though there was a superstitious fear about recognizing such sinis-
ter beings. In the older Hattian pantheon, Sulinkatte was the
equivalent of Nergal, while Lelwani—a god, though later a god-
dess—was likewise associated with the Underworld; and Siwat,
“The Lucky Day”—a euphemism for “Day of Death”—occurs es-
pecially often in the mortuary rituals.
The clearest, most familiar manifestation of the Underworld in
Hittite religion, or more accurately in the Hurrian cult, occurs in
Chamber B of the Yazılıkaya sanctuary outside the city of Hat-
tusa, with the remarkable and indeed unique Sword-God, a god in
human form emerging from the hilt of a dagger, its blade too short-
ened to be termed a sword. This has long been recognized as iden-
tifiable with Nergal, the god of the Underworld, one of the Meso-
potamian deities imported by the Hurrians into Anatolia. From a
magical ritual going far to explain the Sword-God of Chamber B at
Yazılıkaya come the words: “He makes them as swords and fixes
them in the ground.” In another text “the bronze swords of Nergal”
and “the twelve gods of the crossroads” are mentioned together:
hence the twelve running gods, not soldiers as once supposed, fac-
ing the Sword-God and likewise appearing in the larger Chamber
A at Yazılıkaya at the rear of the procession. Skeletons of birds
were found in crevices in the rock just outside Chamber B and in
the small Room C: these typically occur in rituals associated with
the Underworld.
Magic features in the context of Underworld rituals and the
chthonic powers, as in the employment of the substitute for preser-
vation of the king’s life or for due completion of the royal funer-
ary customs. Effigies or “infernal substitutes” are prominent in
these rituals. See also BURIAL CUSTOMS.

UPPER LAND. Centered in the upper Marrassantiya valley, in the

northern sector of the modern province of Sivas, this was strategi-
cally vital to the defense of the Hittite homeland against enemies
from the northwest and northeast, Kaska and Azzi-Hayasa respec-
302 ● URA

tively. It was probably the one bastion remaining to Tudhaliya III

when all the rest of his kingdom had been overrun, with Samuha
as his headquarters. This city lay east of the line of advance of the
Kaska tribesmen against Hattusa. Even during the reign of so
strong a king as Mursili II a Kaskan tribal leader overran and
briefly annexed the Upper Land, defiantly rejecting the call to sur-
render: he met his defeat soon afterward.
The importance of the Upper Land is implied by the prestige
attached to the governorship. When the official in that post, Arma-
Tarhunda, was displaced by Muwatalli II to make way for his
brother, the future Hattusili III, he protested vehemently. His son
was eventually appointed to this post.

URA. A port on the coast of Kizzuwadna, located at Silifke or alterna-

tively at Gilindere. This was especially important for the Hittite
state in the closing years of the Empire, when it was used for the
import of grain to alleviate serious famine in the Hittite lands. The
grain was shipped through Ugarit, originating from Mukis, Ca-
naan and Egypt. It was then transported overland by donkey cara-
vans.

URARTU. This kingdom, centered on the land known to its own rul-
ers as Van, flourished from the mid–ninth century BC, coming to
an abrupt end not many years after the fall of Nineveh and the
Assyrian Empire (612 BC). Its language is agreed to be related to
Hurrian, though with a common ancestor rather than in direct de-
scent. While it has been suggested that the cyclopean masonry
characteristic of its numerous fortresses may have been derived
from the comparable masonry found in the Hittite lands, notably in
the gateways of Boğazköy: Upper City, this seems highly im-
probable. There are no hints of cultural connections in other re-
spects with Late Bronze Age central Anatolia; no Urartian for-
tresses can be dated before the ninth century BC; and in any case
building methods are the least likely aspect of any cultural tradi-
tion to be transferred over long distances, if only because of the
necessity of obtaining stone and timber from nearby. It has to be
admitted, however, that craftsmen could move long distances, as
happened when workmen were imported from all over the Persian
Empire for the construction of Persepolis.
Urartu became directly involved in Anatolia west of the upper
Euphrates River with campaigns in the land of Malatya and later
organization of a doomed anti-Assyrian alliance, defeated in battle
 URHI-TESUB ● 303

by Tiglath-Pileser III (743 BC). Under Rusa II (ca.685–645 BC)

Urartu enjoyed a revival. Unfortunately inscriptions from this reign
are relatively meager, at least in historical content, though there are
references to Musku and to Hatti, meaning north Syria around
Carchemish, indicating some campaigning in the west.
The Euphrates, in the reaches between Malatya on the west
side and Elaziğ on the east, formed a boundary in terms of material
culture, most easily recognizable from the pottery, which to the
west includes some Alışar IV ware, virtually absent on the east
side. On the other hand, provincial wares related to standard Urar-
tian pottery from the central regions of the kingdom are found east
of the Euphrates.
The second god in the ranks of the state pantheon of Urartu
was none other than Tesub/Teseba, the Hurrian Storm/Weather-
God, represented in sculpture and in glyptic art standing on his
animal, a bull.

URHI-TESUB (1272–1267 BC). Whether or not there was any sig-

nificance to the fact that this king is known by his Hurrian birth
name rather than his adopted Hittite throne name of Mursili III is
uncertain. But this son of the second rank, born to a concubine,
never commanded universal support upon his accession.
By the rules for succession laid down by Telipinu, Urhi-Tesub
had a perfectly legitimate claim. Initially his uncle Hattusili III,
seasoned in government and campaigning, probably worked
closely with Urhi-Tesub. He may indeed have been a decisive in-
fluence in the return of the court from Tarhuntassa to Hattusa.
However much of the accuracy of subsequent accounts of the
acts of Urhi-Tesub may be questioned, he does appear to have gone
against his father’s wishes in a number of matters, including rein-
statement of rebellious vassals to their thrones in the Seha River
Land and Amurru. These changes of policy could be explicable
by influences on Urhi-Tesub while a young prince susceptible to
palace gossip and intrigues within the royal harem: such indeed
may explain other inconsistencies in royal policy over the genera-
tions. The reinstatement of the queen Tanuhepa after her dismissal
from office by Muwatalli II would also have been controversial.
In the east there was an ominous development, with the reduc-
tion to vassalage and later annexation of Hanigalbat, after succes-
sive rebellions against Assyrian overlordship in the reign of Adad-
nirari I (1295–1264 BC). Urhi-Tesub was obliged to accept the de
facto loss of the Hittite territory.
304 ● URIAH

Indignantly Urhi-Tesub rejected the claim to “brotherhood”

with him of Adad-nirari I:

With respect to brotherhood. . . . about which you speak—

what does brotherhood mean? . . . . And for what reason
should I write to you about brotherhood?. . . . [A]s my fa-
ther and my grandfather did not write to the king of Assur
about brotherhood, even so must you not write about broth-
erhood and Great Kingship to me.

Urhi-Tesub’s lack of political sophistication in dealing with

Assyria may have contributed to his downfall. Urhi-Tesub progres-
sively reduced the areas under his uncle’s administration in the
north, leaving him only with his center in Hakpissa and the great
shrine of Nerik, which he had regained early in Urhi-Tesub’s
reign. When Urhi-Tesub took these from Hattusili, the gloves were
off. Urhi-Tesub marched into the Upper Lands, but failed to
gather enough support, while many of the nobility gathered to Hat-
tusili. Urhi-Tesub was then exiled to the Nuhasse lands but even-
tually surfaced under Ramesses II’s protection in Egypt, an ongo-
ing irritant to Hattusili III and a threat to his claim to legitimacy
especially in the eyes of foreign rulers.

URIAH. Perhaps the best known Hittite until the excavations began in
1906 at Boğazköy (Hattusa), revealing the royal archives of the
imperial period. One of King David’s royal guard, the king, who
had seduced Uriah’s wife, Bath-Sheba, deliberately sent him into
the forefront of the fighting, correctly expecting him to die in bat-
tle. Thus was David enabled to take Bath-Sheba as his wife, who
bore him a son, Solomon. By so doing he incurred the wrath of
Yahveh, conveyed by the words of Nathan the prophet, later, with
Zadok the priest, to anoint Solomon king. Living in the 10th cen-
tury BC, Uriah can be termed a Neo-Hittite, one of many then in
Syria and the former land of Canaan.

URKESH (TELL MOZAN). Though situated near Tell Brak, in the

upper Khabur basin of northeast Syria, its long history as a center
of Hurrian culture makes Tell Mozan of direct relevance to the
development of Hittite civilization from the Middle Kingdom on-
ward. Its identification with ancient Urkesh is made certain by a
stratified series of inscribed seal impressions. This is the only Hur-
rian city for which a dynasty of kings can be reconstructed for the
late third millennium BC, even if other Hurrian cities were ruled by
 URSU ● 305

independent kings. Urkesh seems to have enjoyed a preeminent

status.
The early rank of Urkesh is stressed by its being the seat of the
god Kumarbi, whom his son the young god Silver is enjoined in
an early Hurrian myth to respect:

Kumarbi. . . . resides in Urkesh, where he rightfully re-

solves the lawsuits of all the lands. Your brother is Tesup:
he is king in heaven and in the land. Your sister is Sauska,
and she is queen in Nineveh You must not fear any of
them. Only one deity you must fear, Kumarbi, who stirs up
the enemy land and the wild animals.

Archaeologically, it is regrettable that the city was apparently

never destroyed in antiquity, for it is in destruction levels that the
richest haul of finds commonly occurs. Yet there are important
building remains, including an inner city wall, a temple and a pal-
ace, dated to ca.2700, 2450 and 2200 BC respectively. Tupkish, the
king attested by the seal inscriptions, has a Hurrian name, though
his wife had an Akkadian name. He bore the title “king of Urkesh
and Nawan,” the latter signifying not the nearby city of Tell Brak
but the highland hinterland to the north. Anatolian raw materials,
especially metals, timber and stone, were brought south by major
trade routes all converging on Urkesh, accounting for its great
prosperity.

URSU (WARSUWA). A city lying west of the Euphrates River and

north of Carchemish, it stood on a trade route whose control was
doubtless deemed essential by Hattusili I, who determined to
make an example of it in retaliation for the resistance of its over-
lord Aleppo to Hittite ambitions in Syria.
The so-called Siege of Ursu Text is less of a historical than a
literary work, and as such not to be taken at face value. Unfortu-
nately, it is only half preserved, written in Akkadian, though with
clues indicating a Hittite scribe. It is nevertheless evident that this
siege was conducted inefficiently. Among the many set speeches
making up this composition are indications of the king’s extreme
frustration and anger with his commanders, while he was away in
Kizzuwadna.
306 ● VICEROYALTIES

-V-

VICEROYALTIES. As a means of ensuring firm Hittite control of

north Syria, Suppiluliuma I established two “kingdoms,” in fact
vicregal administrations, with his second son, Telipinu, at Aleppo
and his third son, Piyassili, at Carchemish, once that city had
fallen after a siege of eight days and a fierce battle at the end. It is
interesting to note that Piyassili adopted a Hurrian throne name,
Sarri-Kusuh, the reverse of the practice of the kings of the Empire
period themselves, who, though of Hurrian descent, adopted a Hit-
tite name on accession to the throne at Hattusa. Was this perhaps a
conciliatory gesture to the population of the former territories of
Mitanni?
Aleppo and Carchemish continued as viceregal capitals until
the fall of Hatti, the latter acting as a bastion of Hittite cultural tra-
ditions in the new Neo-Hittite world. Seal impressions of Ini-
Tesub, a later viceroy of Carchemish, have been found at Ugarit.
Carchemish was the administrative and military center holding the
north Syrian front along the Euphrates against the ever-present
threat of incursions from Assyria.
Arrangements of a more temporary character might be classed
as viceroyalties. Such was the cession of the territory of Tarhun-
tassa north of the Taurus range to Kurunta and likewise the grant-
ing by Muwatalli II to his brother, the future Hattusili III, of
semi-independent powers over the lands of the north, in the face of
the recurrent threat from the Kaska lands.

VINEYARDS. See WINE.

-W-

WAHSUSANA. A minor kingdom in the Old Assyrian period, proba-

bly centered south of the Marrassantiya River and southeast of
Burushattum, perhaps in the area of Niğde. An alternative loca-
tion might be further west, in the Konya Plain. At least by the pe-
riod of Kültepe-karum IB a karum had been established in
Wahsusana, though strictly subordinate to the authority of the ka-
rum of Kanes.

WARFARE. See ARCHERY; ARMOR; ARMY; CHARIOTS;

HELMETS; HORSES; KADESH (BATTLE OF); KIKKULI;
 WASSUKKANNI ● 307

SHIELDS; SIEGE WARFARE; SPEARS; SWORDS;

WEAPONS AND MILITARY EQUIPMENT.

WASSUKKANNI. The royal seat and administrative capital of the

kings of Mitanni, yet to be identified on the ground with certainty,
one choice of location being Tell Fakhariyah. In the reign of Tus-
ratta, Wassukkanni was captured and plundered by the Hittites un-
der Suppiluliuma I.
Tell Fakhariyah, near the sources of the Khabur, is located in
an area accessible for trade and ease of communication with the
territories under Mitannian rule, though perhaps not naturally de-
fensible. An alternative location would lie in the hill country
around Mardin or probably rather to the west; but such a highland
location would be less accessible. Modern science suggests a loca-
tion other than Tell Fakhariyah, for neutron activation analysis of
the clays used for the tablets inscribed with the letters of Tusratta,
surely originating in Wassukkanni, shows marked differences from
the clay of the Middle Assyrian tablets excavated at the site.

WATER SUPPLY. While cisterns provided water for a small garrison

in time of siege, they were never large enough to meet the needs of
hundreds, let alone thousands. For provision on that scale one
must turn to Hattusa and more specifically to Boğazköy: Upper
City, where ponds were first detected from aerial photographs. A
southern group of two larger and three smaller pools was sited
west-southwest of the central temple district and about 100 meters
inside the Upper City perimeter defenses; an eastern pair of ponds
lay just southeast of the Southern Citadel (Boğazköy: Südburg).
The lower of these two ponds measured about 60 by 90 meters,
with a dam 16 meters wide at its base separating the two: water-
proofing was attained with remarkable efficiency by a clay flooring
and by a narrow, clay-filled trench along the embankments.
The engineering of water supply to the city below was
achieved by siting the southern ponds at the highest point of the
Upper City and by drawing water from a number of springs within
and even beyond the perimeter. Baked clay water pipes were laid
from the springs, including some in the high ground south of the
Upper City. One pipeline was taken through the city defenses be-
low the King’s Gate. The maintenance of these pipelines was as-
sisted by provision of a hole, plugged each with a stone, for each
segment. This is surely yet another indication that the Upper City
took a long time to construct.
308 ● WEAPONS

WEAPONS AND MILITARY EQUIPMENT. These were adapted

and developed over the generations in line with improvements in
design and manufacture, while being deployed with the objectives
of maximum mobility and fire power. Hittite requirements tended
toward weight and fire power, while Egyptian forces demanded
above all maneuverability and speed from their chariotry. It was
this arm which proved decisive in many engagements.
Metalwork was produced by craftsmen independent of politi-
cal boundaries and thus only to a limited degree controlled by the
Hittite kings. Spears and daggers, axes and swords demonstrate
particular technical improvements, with the eventual introduction
of iron, evident in specimens recovered by excavations. Much of
the evidence, however, comes in the form of depictions in reliefs,
both Hittite and Egyptian, especially relevant to the study of pro-
tective equipment, comprising body armor, helmets and shields.
Improvements in siege techniques, with the use of the “Hur-
rian ram,” as recorded at the siege of Ursu in the reign of Hat-
tusili I, and with the composite bow, demonstrated a readiness to
learn in the Hittite army. Thereafter, however, there were few de-
velopments in weaponry until the closing years of the Empire.

WEATHER-GOD. See STORM-GOD.

WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. The determination of prices was

normally in terms of weights in silver, like all measures most pre-
cisely recorded in Mesopotamia. A mina of about 500 grams was
used in Mesopotamia, comprising 60 shekels, whereas among the
Hittites it comprised only 40 shekels, with the Hebrew ratio at 50
shekels. The probability is that the shekel was the basic, universal
unit of weight, the Hittite mina therefore being much lighter than
the Mesopotamian. The value of copper was infinitely lower than
that of silver, standing at one shekel of silver for four minas of
copper. With copper imported from Alasiya (Cyprus), its value
relative to silver was even lower (1:240).
Linear measurements were based on the cubit or forearm,
about 50 centimeters. Areas were measured by multiples of cubits,
called “garden plots.” The Hittite builders no doubt used cubit rods
of wood, stone or metal, such as those found in Mesopotamia,
where they occur from ca.2200 BC. Cubits might be divided into
palms of four or five fingers and sometimes into fingers and
smaller units. Shekels and barleycorns were used for fractions of
area, weight and capacity. The Mesopotamian measure of capacity
 WHEELED VEHICLES ● 309

(Akkadian qu) was approximately one liter.

WHEELED VEHICLES. Heavy wagons and carts, four- and two-

wheeled respectively and to be distinguished from chariots, were
economically essential in Anatolia in Hittite times. It is recorded
that village communities were obliged to supply manufactured
items to the administrative center, or palace: among these were
parts of wagons. It is a fair presumption that these were required in
part at least for supply purposes on campaign. Agriculture, how-
ever, was also relevant. Such wagons and carts were inefficient in
terms of their weight-to-load ratio, and consequently slow-moving;
but they could negotiate fairly rough ground, like the comparable
solid-wheeled carts widely in use in Anatolia until a very few years
ago. Wooden axles had continued in use for millennia, though
many of the modern carts, drawn by oxen or water buffalo, had
steel axles. Likewise long-lasting, from pre-Hittite to modern
times, has been the standard design of the solid wheel, the tripartite
disk, with the nave or hub carved from the solid wood and project-
ing only slightly. Two painted pottery models of oxen—of the
15th or 16th century BC, from Boğazköy: Büyükkale IV—
illustrate the method of controlling the bovids, drawing carts and
wagons with nose ropes.
Egyptian temple reliefs of the New Kingdom provide the best-
known pictures of solid-wheeled vehicles, in scenes of the attack
on Kadesh in Syria by Seti I, father of Ramesses II, and of the
famous battle there in which the latter was vaingloriously depicted
in the thick of the fray: the Hittite army was shown with solid-
wheeled vehicles, evidently used as troop carriers, bringing the in-
fantry to the battlefield. A third Egyptian king, Ramesses III, de-
picted the Sea Peoples on the façade of his mortuary temple of
Medinet Habu, early in the 12th century BC: women and children
are being conveyed overland in solid-wheeled ox-drawn carts.
Wheeled vehicles were in the first instance introduced from
outside into Anatolia, where the evidence for their presence before
the second millennium BC is very limited. Seal impressions from
Kültepe-Karum II include designs of vehicles of the primitive
cross-bar type as well as spoked-wheel vehicles, implying that the
skills of the wheelwright were being developed from the end of the
Early Bronze Age in central Anatolia at least, leading to fully de-
veloped Hittite chariotry from ca.1650 BC, under Hattusili I and
his successors. Copper/bronze models said to come from south-
eastern Anatolia date to the third millennium BC. The earliest trace
310 ● WHEELED VEHICLES

of the wheel in Anatolia appears to be a clay wheel model from

Malatya (Arslantepe), while three seal impressions among thou-
sands dumped in one room at the same site depict a sledge drawn
by a bovid.
The evidence for the origins of wheeled carts and wagons is
fourfold, comprising actual remains, wheel ruts, models and repre-
sentations. All these are significant, though model wheels may in
some cases be better classed as spindle whorls, and are thus the
least conclusive. The strong case for a Near Eastern, more specifi-
cally Mesopotamian, origin rests on the representation of a wagon
as one of the earliest Sumerian pictograms, dating around 3400
BC. This argument, however, rests in part on an absolute chronol-
ogy which has remained much as before for Mesopotamia but with
higher dating for relevant evidence from the steppes and from
Europe, moving these data back from the third to the mid-fourth
millennium BC. Two sites merit special mention: at Flintbek, near
Kiel in north Germany, have been found wheel ruts; and at Brono-
cice, in the upper Vistula basin of Poland, occurs pottery with rep-
resentations of wagons, albeit in rather stylized form. Of fairly
similar date are various steppe sites with remains of wheeled vehi-
cles, roughly contemporary with the Eanna IVA tablets from
Uruk-Warka. Although a claim of a mid–fifth millennium BC con-
text for clay wheel models, up to 12 centimeters in diameter, found
in Romania seems to have been ignored, it may deserve mention.
An origin for wheeled vehicles, carts and wagons, in the early
fourth millennium BC in the zone stretching across the steppes into
eastern and northern Europe seems more likely than one in Meso-
potamia, a land cut about by waterways, where the easiest mode of
transport was indeed by water. Only a discovery of remains of a
wheeled vehicle in earlier, secure context in Mesopotamia or else-
where in the Near East would undermine the above conclusion.
An additional line of inquiry is based on Proto-Indo-
European roots, which include no fewer than six related to
wheeled vehicles, this linguistic evidence indicating their origin no
later than the early fourth millennium BC. If this claim is given due
weight, a Mesopotamian origin for wheeled vehicles would appear
to be ruled out. Three terms (hurgi, keklos and rot-eh) refer to
“wheel,” while h-ih-s represents “thill” (the draft pole to which the
yoke is attached); the term for “axle” is none other than aks-, while
that for “convey in a vehicle” is wegheti. This basic vocabulary ex-
tends from India to Scotland, thus antedating the dispersal from the
Proto-Indo-European homeland. The root Anatolian term for
 WILUSA ● 311

“wheel” is hurgi.

WILUSA. This land lay in the extreme northwest of Anatolia, includ-

ing the Troad, and features quite prominently in the affairs of the
region during the 13th century BC, though never a state of the first
rank. Linguistic evidence indicates that Wilusa lay outside the Lu-
wian-speaking zone: it therefore seems reasonable to see this as a
hint that it was not strictly part of the Arzawa lands. This could be
one factor behind the loyalty to Hatti of Wilusa as a vassal state,
whose geographical location made it especially valuable to the Hit-
tites. After his campaign, led by the general Gassu, Muwatalli II
restored Hittite control over Wilusa, establishing Alaksandu as
ruler and drawing up a treaty with him, in which the past loyalty
of Wilusa to Hattusa is stressed. Troubles in Wilusa later came to
a head in the time of Tudhaliya IV, when Walmu was the vassal
ruler: he was deposed, fleeing to Millawanda, where a new, pro-
Hittite ruler had come to power, possibly allied by marriage to the
Hittite royal house. Significantly, Walmu was apparently answer-
able both to Tudhaliya in Hattusa and to Milawat, an arrangement
which would not have been tolerated by earlier Hittite kings, who
demanded exclusive fealty to themselves and who did not differen-
tiate between their vassals in terms of status.
The location of Wilusa, commanding the sea route through to
the Black Sea, provided it with a source of wealth but also the dan-
ger of attack by envious, rapacious neighbors. In the 13th century
BC these were above all the Mycenaeans, almost certainly identifi-
able with Ahhiyawa. As long as this power flourished, Wilusa was
in constant danger of attack. Its links across the Dardanelles with
Europe were archaeologically clearest in the 12th century BC, after
the heyday of Mycenaean power in the maritime region of western
Anatolia and the downfall of the Hittite Empire.
If Hissarlik—the site of Heinrich Schliemann’s and later ex-
cavations—is indeed to be identified with Homeric Troy, then it
must surely be with Troy VIH, imposing in its architectural re-
mains in contrast with those of the following levels, and destroyed
most probably around 1250 BC. The last two names in the list of
states comprising the alliance defeated by Tudhaliya I/II (ca.1400
BC)—Wilusiya and Taruisa—have been identified with the Greek
names (W)ilios or Ilion and Troia (Troy). The implication is that
the name of Wilusa, clearly in the first instance that of a land or
minor state, came to be given to the city we know as Troy. Myce-
naean-Greek elements in western Anatolia seem implied by the
312 ● WINCKLER

very name of Alaksandu, vassal ruler of Wilusa. On the identifica-

tion of Wilusa as Ilios and thus Troy a divergent theory distin-
guishes Truisa from Wilusa, with the former lying not far east of
the latter.
One of the sources of the wealth of Troy was the plentiful
supply of fish, an attraction to covetous neighbors. The sea came
further inland than today, and ships would have plied to and fro be-
tween the port and Mycenaean harbors, as well as in the more haz-
ardous maritime trade with the Black Sea.
Wilusa lay at the junction of two continents and the meeting
place at various times of different populations, among them the an-
cestors of both Lydians and Etruscans. In the 13th century BC its
situation gave it a pivotal role for Hittite policy in the west, not
least for curbing the designs of Ahhiyawa.

WINCKLER, HUGO (1863–1913). He was the leading figure in the

earliest seasons’ excavations at Boğazköy (Hattusa) by the Ger-
man expedition: it was to him that the Turkish authorities granted
the excavation permit, after the personal intervention of Kaiser
Wilhelm II. Ludwig Curtius became his assistant. As he phrased
it, Winckler was “full of resentment against anyone who was more
successful than himself and intolerant of scientific opponents.
Every aspect of civilization arose from Babylon (he urged). . . .”
His chronic health problem certainly made him irascible.
In 1906, after provisioning in Ankara, Winckler and his asso-
ciates set off very late in the season, on 14 October. The ride took
five days. On 19 October excavations began. Winckler was a bril-
liant philologist, who had already cracked the code of the inscrip-
tions of Mitanni, but as a field excavator he was more akin to Bel-
zoni a century earlier in Egypt than to Heinrich Schliemann. Like
many after him, all that concerned him was the written records,
here on clay tablets. He worked all day at translating the tablets
brought to him in his tent as they were unearthed. The texts in Ak-
kadian presented no problems, though Hittite was yet to be deci-
phered.
A more thoroughly prepared expedition was to be planned for
1907. By then Winckler had become convinced that he was inves-
tigating the Hittite capital, but he needed funds. Curtius wrote that
“Winckler himself did not take the slightest part in the actual exca-
vating. . . .MakridI saw no reason to give us any information
about the place or the manner in which these tablets had been dis-
covered.” Curtius observed “looting” of tablet fragments from
 WINE ● 313

Temple 1 by Hassan the foreman. Curtius realized that these tab-

lets had fallen in rows from the shelves of an archive, and were not
mere rubble fill.
Winckler dug once more at Boğazköy (1911–1912), already
fatally ill. In his will he mentioned years of work on deciphering
cuneiform Hittite, but no notes could be found. He might be de-
scribed as a brilliant but flawed genius.

WINE AND VINEYARDS. Grape pips have been excavated in Geor-

gia and in the land which later became Isuwa, indicating that viti-
culture was being practiced as early as the fourth millennium BC,
at least in the highlands of Trans-Caucasia and the lands east of the
upper Euphrates. It is tempting to envisage many of the huge stor-
age jars (pithoi) found in palaces and temples in the Hittite lands
as containing wine. It seems likely that by the time of the Empire
wine was in abundant supply, for wine and emmer wheat were
priced the same for a given volume, twice the price of barley but
the same as one cheese.
The vine is native to Anatolia, hardy enough to survive the bit-
ter winter cold, in contrast with the more tender Mediterranean
olive: it cannot, however, endure damp summers, explaining its ab-
sence from the Black Sea littoral. Wine and fruits were a major
source of farmers’ wealth, and there were harsh penalties for burn-
ing a vineyard or orchard.
Quantity was not the sole consideration: fine vintages were
highly esteemed. This is dramatically illustrated by the death pen-
alty inflicted by Hattusili I on his cupbearer, a senior palace offi-
cial, for passing off inferior wine, no doubt to his own benefit, as
the finest vintage which the king had ordered for the queen
mother.
Royal funerals and festivals required a supply of fine wine. A
bull-headed tankard of gold or silver was downed by the king
when he “drank the god” at the climax of major festivals. Beer and
wine were poured out to quench the flames of the royal funeral
pyre; and those collecting the charred bones were given food and
drink, presumably including wine. Homer mentions quenching the
pyre with wine at the funeral of the Greek hero Patroclus, with a
similar ritual at that of the Trojan warrior Hector (Iliad XXIII.233
and XXIV.782-end).

WOMEN IN STATE AND SOCIETY. The status and activities of

women varied considerably in space and time through the lands of
314 ● WOMEN

the ancient Near East. In many ways their position was regulated
by law or social custom, although individual circumstances and
personality played their roles, not least in the Hittite state. Inevita-
bly much more is known about women of wealth or in positions of
influence or even power than about the vast majority, for the most
part living on the land. This is hardly remarkable: exactly the same
applies to men.
Mesopotamian influence gives the first clear light, in the form
of the senior wives of the Old Assyrian merchants, who remained
at home in Assur, while their husbands went to Kanes or beyond,
to operate the Old Assyrian trade in Anatolia. These merchants
picked up local wives to give them company during absences of
some years from their homeland. It does not require much imagina-
tion to suppose that such liaisons did not go unnoticed in Assur;
but it seems they were not allowed to interfere with the functioning
of the family firm. The tablets from Kanes indicate the business
abilities and down-to-earth efficiency of those women left in
Assyria, effectively in charge of production and shipments at that
end
of the line. It is with the production of textiles that the clearest evi-
dence of the role of Assyrian women and their workforce, includ-
ing young girls and slaves, is available. These responsible women
would have learned the textile business, manufacturing and trading,
from childhood. Although in the records they appear compliant
with their husbands’ requirements in terms of fabrics, sizes and
quantities per order, some tablets hint at lively arguments, even if
they were difficult to conduct effectively over such a long distance
as the route from Assur to Kanes. In comparison, consignments of
tin or copper were relatively straightforward.
There was no Anatolian equivalent of that privileged order of
Mesopotamian women from rich families of the Old Babylonian
period, contemporary with the Assyrian trade to Kanes, who led
sheltered, comfortable but celibate lives, the naditu, of whom much
is known from the archives of the city of Sippar.
The whole question of matrilinear versus patrilinear succes-
sion is bound up with the problems surrounding Indo-European
origins and immigration into Anatolia, of course including the Hit-
tites. In spite of the undoubted Hattian elements in early Hittite
society, there is no proof of matrilinear succession in the Hittite
Old Kingdom nor indeed in the New Kingdom, or Empire. This
latter is more surprising in the light of the certain Hurrian impact
on the state religion, on the royal blood line and on literature and
 WOMEN ● 315

probably also on music, inadequate as the evidence may be. In

some parts of Anatolia traces of matriarchy survived, according to
Herodotus as late as the fifth century BC in Lycia, formerly the
Lukka lands; and the goddess of fertility, the crops and the earth,
Demeter, survived as Diana of the Ephesians in the New Testament
(Acts 19), where the economic threat to those employed in serving
the cult aroused strong opposition to Saint Paul. Kubaba (Kybele)
is another non-Indo-European Anatolian goddess. Such survivals in
cultic context had little practical relevance to the status and well-
being or otherwise of women in ancient Anatolia, in and beyond
the Hittite lands.
If the Hittite royal family had been a model for the status of all
their female subjects, their lot would have been quite a happy one,
for the queens enjoyed high status, in particular after the death of
the queen mother, who retained the title of Tawananna after the
death of her husband, the reigning king, when he “became a god.”
At first this title was apparently not restricted to the king’s wife, as
is evident in the reign of Hattusili I. Only later did it become stan-
dardized, after Telipinu, in his Proclamation, had laid down the
rules governing the royal succession, which was to descend
through the male line, even through the son of a second-rank wife
rather than the first, senior wife who held the queenship, failing a
male heir by her. Succession through the female line to a son-in-
law was to be permitted only if no male heir at all was available.
Women within the Hittite royal family could be at the center
of bitter antagonisms, as happened with the sister of Hattusili I,
when he removed the status of royal heir from his nephew; and
with the stepmother of Mursili II, when, jealous of the political
status of the king’s consort and queen, she brought about her death.
By contrast, Puduhepa proved a consistently loyal, forceful and
pious support to her husband, Hattusili III, in sickness and in
health.
The family and the institution of marriage were inevitably at
the heart of Hittite society, the latter naturally with an emphasis on
economic considerations. While the husband, following Indo-
European traditions, was head of the family, he did not have unfet-
tered powers. The most glaring exception was in a case of adultery
by the wife after consummation of the marriage, when the penalty
was death. The fate of a wife committing adultery before consum-
mation of the marriage was at the discretion of the husband. Be-
trothal might take place, at a very early age, when the boy’s father
would hand over a gift to the girl’s family. If, however, the girl
316 ● WOOLLEY

later decided she did not wish to proceed to marry her betrothed,
she could so decide without her father’s consent, the one stipula-
tion being the return of the betrothal gift. At marriage the bride’s
father had to provide her with a dowry and the bridegroom with a
symbolic gift. One Hittite marriage custom, paralleled in Assyria,
was that the bride, while normally going to live under the same
roof with her husband, might alternatively remain in her father’s
house. In that event, if she were to die, her dowry would, it seems,
pass to her children; but if living with her husband, it would go to
him. This implies two degrees of marriage.
The objective of marriage was to perpetuate the family line.
Failure by either party to consummate the marriage was regarded
as breach of contract, with severe financial penalties. In line with
the levirate marriage custom of the Bible, it was the duty of the
brother-in-law to marry his brother’s widow, especially in the ab-
sence of an heir. Widows had few rights when it came to remar-
riage, the only invariable prohibitions being on intercourse with fa-
thers or sons.
Inevitably much less is known of the status and indeed the
lives of the majority of the population, those engaged in agriculture
and stockbreeding, including women. Their labor was vital to the
economy, yet the rate of hire for a woman worker at the harvest
was precisely half that for a plow ox.
While certainty is impossible, the evidence tends to imply a
slightly happier lot for Hittite women compared with those living
in Mesopotamia. This is consistent with a more humane legal
ethos. See also HITTITE LAWS.

WOOLLEY, (Sir) CHARLES LEONARD (1880–1960). The well-

known field archaeologist, who did much to bring the ancient Near
East outside Egypt to the wider public. Although best known for
his 12 seasons’ excavations at Ur in southern Iraq (1923–1934), he
had earlier directed the British Museum excavations at the site of
Carchemish (1911–1914, 1920), identified in 1876 by George
Smith on his last journey. Taking over the directorship from D. G.
Hogarth and then R. Campbell Thompson, he was assisted by T.
E. Lawrence (“Lawrence of Arabia” as he was to become). The
excavations had hurriedly to be abandoned before the outbreak of
World War I and again after a brief resumption of work on the site,
in each instance resulting in the loss of most of the site records, in-
evitably affecting the publications.
His final excavations (1937–1939, 1946–1949) were carried
 WRIGHT ● 317

out in the Plain of Antioch (Amuq) at Alalakh (Tell Atchana), a

site chosen by himself with his foreman from Ur, Hamoudi, with
that unerring eye for ground for which he had become known. This
was taken in good part by the Oriental Institute of Chicago expedi-
tion to the Amuq, which had been seeking just such a site. Woolley
also excavated in Egypt at Tell el-Amarna (1921–1922), near Ur
at Ubaid (1922) and on the Mediterranean coast of Syria at Al-
Mina (1936–1937). At Ur he had developed conservation of deli-
cate artifacts, including harps and lyres, by the use of paraffin wax.

WRIGHT, WILLIAM. He published a short article on the Hittites

(1878) and then a book entitled The Empire of the Hittites, with
Decipherment of the Hittite Inscriptions by Professor A. H .Sayce
(1884). The Hittites were erroneously centered by him in north
Syria, with the belief that they then somehow spread northward
into Anatolia, the precise opposite of the truth.

WURUSEMU. A Hattian goddess, equated with the Sun-Goddess of

Arinna and associated with the Underworld. She was married to
the father of the gods of Nerik and Zippalanda. She was also
styled “Sun-Goddess of the Earth,” the Hattic root wur- signifying
“earth.”

-Y-

YALBURT. Northeast of Ilgin and about 60 kilometers northwest of

Konya lies this Hittite spring-basin of Tudhaliya IV. His hiero-
glyphic inscription, carved on the sides of the rectangular stone ba-
sin and extending across 18 blocks, narrates a campaign he waged
against the Lukka lands. In addition to the name Luk(k)a, three
towns—Awarna, Wiyanawanda and Talawa—are mentioned.
Awarna is the Lycian Arnna and Classical Xanthos, and the other
two are identifiable with the Lycian Oenoanda and Tlos. These lie
west of the limit of Hittite territory at the accession of Tudhaliya
IV. This is one of two major historical inscriptions brought to pub-
lic attention in 1988, greatly expanding knowledge of the hiero-
glyphic script of the Empire.

YARAŞLI. This site stands in a naturally defensible position on an

eastern spur of the Karaca Dağ (1,724 meters), north of the Salt
Lake and about 100 kilometers south of Ankara. The site was first
318 ● YAZILIKAYA

discovered by W. M. Calder and rediscovered by Michael Ballance

and Alan Hall during an epigraphic survey (1957).
The circuit of the solid rubble perimeter wall is about 1,400
meters and the area enclosed about 500 by 200 meters or more. A
gate stands in the middle of the south side; and a high glacis is im-
pressively preserved on the east side. At the south corner is a prob-
able postern. A citadel adjoins the northwest sector of the lower
town.
James Mellaart, reporting on his visit to Yaraşlı, strongly ad-
vocated (in 1983) its identification with Sallapa, where the army
of Mursili II was joined by that of Sarri-Kusuh from Carchemish,
en route for campaigning in Arzawa. Yaraşlı would have been a
significant protection for the western frontier of Hatti. Yet Mellaart
admitted that the historical geography, as so widely in Anatolia,
was obscure, and that alternative identifications were possible.

YAZILIKAYA. Situated two kilometers northeast of the city of Hat-

tusa, and approached by a likely processional road of Hittite date,
this can justly be described as the most famous of all known Hittite
monuments. When Charles Texier visited the site in 1834—the
first traveler to do so in modern times—he believed that the reliefs
depicted a fight involving the Amazons, the heroic women of Clas-
sical mythology, with which he was familiar, in common with all
educated men and women of his time. Subsequent visitors recorded
the reliefs of this open-air shrine with varying success. See
Boğazköy: Early Travelers..
There is some written evidence related to the Yazılıkaya
shrine. In one cuneiform tablet Hattusili III for the second time
requested a sculptor from the Kassite king of Babylon, for a maker
of images for his new “family house,” while in another clay tablet
Suppiluliuma II mentions that he had fashioned a portrait of his
father, Tudhaliya IV, on or in a rock structure. More probably,
however, this refers to Boğazköy: Südburg. Babylonian influence
on Hittite sculpture may seem surprising, given the lack of stone
in the plains of Mesopotamia; but skilled artists and craftsmen had
been active there over many centuries, by contrast with the rela-
tively parvenu Hittite civilization. A theory that Egyptian influence
was conveyed through the Tell el-Amarna (Akhetaten) boundary
stones and reliefs, and that it is reflected not only at Yazılıkaya but
also in other Hittite rock reliefs, including Sirkeli, Hemite, Hany-
eri-Gezbel and Karabel, seems rather far-fetched, though perhaps
not completely to be ruled out. The tradition of boundary markers
 YAZILIKAYA ● 319

was after all equally typical and at a rather earlier date of Kassite
Babylon, with its elaborately decorated kudurru.
Chamber A is the larger of the two areas of this rock shrine,
originally approached through an entrance structure of which only
the lower stone courses survive. Exposed for centuries, the reliefs
here are badly worn and damaged, though the subject matter can be
distinguished. The smaller area, Chamber B, is a cleft in the rock
not more than 2.7 meters wide: here the reliefs are better preserved,
because not exposed until excavated in the mid–19th century.
The obvious feature of the composition of the figures depicted
in Chamber A, an unusual arrangement for the ancient Near East,
is that there are two processions meeting in the center, rather than
just one long row of figures approaching a deity seated on a throne.
The Male Procession is headed by Tesub, the Hurrian
Storm/Weather-God; the Female Procession by Hebat/Hepat,
the Hurrian Mother Goddess metamorphosed, probably through the
agency of Puduhepa, queen of Hattusili III, into the Sun-
Goddess of Arinna. A detailed description of the pantheon is
given elsewhere. Suffice it here to mention some of the participants
in these two processions of divinities. From front to rear of the
Male Procession stand the Grain-God Kumarbi, the goddess of
War and Love Sausga, the bulls Seri and Hurri and the Under-
world-God Nergal. In the Female Procession, immediately behind
Hebat, stands Sarruma, son of Tesub and Hebat, followed in due
course by goddesses of writing and destiny. One might compare
these last with the god of tablets, who brings up the rear of the
Male Procession. Other deities are for the most part related to one
another as a divine family network.
In Chamber B the main elements comprise: the remarkable
Sword-God, its figure emerging from the hilt of a very short sword
or dagger; a row of running figures resembling soldiers but un-
doubtedly divine; and the pair of the king, Tudhaliya IV, held in
protective embrace by his guardian god, Sarruma. This theme of
divine protection of the sovereign is probably of Egyptian inspira-
tion, occurring as it does in Hittite art for the first time in the reign
of Muwatalli II, possibly immediately following the battle of
Kadesh. Significantly, all the main figures in Chamber B face
north, toward the end wall of this chamber, where stands an empty
statue base with a cartouche (royal monogram) of Tudhaliya IV.
Moreover, there is a clear association with the Underworld and
thus with royal funerary customs. Thus Chamber B, whatever the
precise interpretation of Chamber A which may emerge from on-
320 ● YAZILIKAYA

going discussion, is virtually certain to be the funerary shrine for

Tudhaliya IV designed by his son Suppiluliuma II, perhaps with
advice from the then aged Puduhepa. This is infinitely more plau-
sible than any suggestion that Chamber B was designed by Tud-
haliya IV for his father Hattusili III, even if Chamber A dates back
to that reign. The reason is simple: no Hittite king “became a god”
or was portrayed in public during his lifetime.
Certainly the skills of the Hittite stonemasons were directly
relevant to the art of the sculptors of Yazılıkaya and other monu-
ments. Stylistic analysis of Yazılıkaya indicates the work of two
leading sculptors and their assistants, which have been given the
sobriquets of Fraktin Master and Yazılıkaya Master. The former,
working during the minority of Tudhaliya IV and almost certainly
under the instructions of the queen mother Puduhepa, demonstrates
a rather more conservative style, while adapting to changes in style
at Yazılıkaya. The most striking feature of the work of the
Yazılıkaya Master appears to be the influence of the seal cutters,
demonstrating the essential homogeneity of Hittite art, irrespective
of material or scale. This homogeneity recurs in the Gold Tomb at
Carchemish, of Neo-Hittite date.
The hieroglyphs of Yazılıkaya are significant for more than
one reason. The differing yet recognizable character of the differ-
ent signs makes it virtually certain that those carving them were il-
literate, which is hardly surprising, seeing that literacy was largely
restricted to the priesthoods. The pictorial character of the hiero-
glyphs meant that they formed part of the artistic design, over and
beyond their meaning, affecting their size and arrangement. If the
deities portrayed had all been completely familiar to those who
would be entering the shrine, there would have been less reason for
these hieroglyphic inscriptions. But, through the determination of
Puduhepa supported by her husband Hattusili III, foreign elements
had been introduced to the official cult of the Hittite court, whether
or not they were instantly welcomed. These were the Hurrian im-
portations from Kizzuwadna. Their very unfamiliarity to the peo-
ple of Hattusa made written labels essential. The most striking ex-
ample is the juxtaposition of the calf of Sarruma alongside his
father, the Storm-God Tesub; to ensure understanding, this innova-
tion was inscribed in detail. It clearly had a political significance.
Debate on the meaning and purpose of the Yazılıkaya shrine
has continued since the 19th century, beginning with Charles Tex-
ier’s theory of a meeting between the Amazons and Paphlagonians.
Later in the 19th century other theories were aired, that the reliefs
 YAZILIKAYA ● 321

represented the feast of the Saka (Scyths), from the northern

steppes; or alternatively the conclusion of the treaty between
Medes and Lydians in the time of Astyages (sixth century BC); or
that Sandon and Mylitta, alias Ba’al and Astarte, were the two
leading divinities, with their entourage.
The modern era of research into and understanding of the Hit-
tites may be said to begin with the new and highly penetrating in-
sight of Archibald H. Sayce, when he asserted that the reliefs of
north Syria, especially Hama(th) and Carchemish, could be
linked with those of Yazılıkaya, indicating an extensive North Syr-
ian–Asia Minor (Anatolian) cultural zone. Sayce announced his
claim in a lecture to the Society of Biblical Archaeology in London
(1876), repeated years later in his Reminiscences (London, 1923),
pp. 161ff. Later on, R. P. de Cara proposed the theory (Rome,
1891) that the Yazılıkaya reliefs were contemporary with the 19th
Dynasty of Egypt; and that one relief in Chamber B depicts the seal
in the treaty between Ramesses II and Khetasar (i.e., Hattusili III).
Discoveries since the German expedition began work at
Boğazköy-Hattusa have naturally led to a spate of interpretations
of the Yazılıkaya shrine, both of the reliefs and of the temple
structure at the entrance. These may perhaps be summed up as the
alternative suggestions that the shrine was associated with the New
Year or spring festival or else with funerary rites for Tudhaliya IV
and possibly also for his predecessors. The former theory has now
been abandoned, the suggestion that Yazılıkaya was the akitu
house, dedicated to the festivities and rituals associated with the
New Year. The evidence refuting this interpretation of Yazılıkaya
lies in the ritual texts, which reveal that the Hittite equivalent of the
Mesopotamian akitu festivities lay in the twice-yearly procession
to the inscribed stela, or huwasi stone. The building housing such
a sacred stela was termed a huwasi.
By far the likeliest interpretation of Yazılıkaya explains it as
the one and only hesti-house, evidently of a funerary character. It is
surely significant that Mursili II records his celebration of the
greatest festival of the Hittite religious calendar—the purulli festi-
val held each spring—in the hesti-house in honor of Lelwani, god-
dess of the Underworld and death. The hesti rituals probably ante-
date the Hurrian innovations introduced by Puduhepa in the early
13th century BC. The hesti-house is described in the ritual text as
having a gate house and inner room and as being reached by the
king in a light chariot along a “great road.” This shrine was origi-
nally dedicated to Hattian deities of the Underworld, including
322 ● YEŞEMEK

Lelwani: other Hattian deities were later also involved, including

the Sun-Goddess and Telipinu. In the unruly years before Suppi-
luliuma I—so Hattusili III records—the hesti-house was far
enough away from the center of Hattusa to escape damage. This
accords with the location of Yazılıkaya. The funerary function of
this great shrine is beyond doubt as far as Chamber B is concerned,
clearly a chapel in honor of the deified Tudhaliya IV, and identifi-
able as the “permanent peak” recorded in a text of Suppiluliuma II
explicitly as a shrine in honor of his royal father. The suggestion
that the plinth and its statue at the north end of Chamber B were
added by Suppiluliuma II to a preexisting relief-decorated chapel
designed and executed for Tudhaliya IV seems less plausible.
Four phases have been distinguished in the lifetime of the
Yazılıkaya shrine, with possibly a greater unity of function for the
whole before the death of Tudhaliya IV. Conceivably Yazılıkaya
was a double temple dedicated to Tesub and Hebat. It is perhaps
harder to accept the suggestion that purification rites would have
been performed here, if avoidance of contamination would have
dictated a more remote site.

YEŞEMEK. This large quarry and stone-carving workshop lies 22

kilometers southeast of Islahiye, in Gaziantep province. Literally
hundreds of statues, gate lions, sphinxes and relief blocks, in vary-
ing stages of completion and awaiting transportation, date mostly
to the Neo-Hittite period but in part to the Empire period.

-Z-

ZALPA (ZALPUWA). Situated probably at or near the estuary of the

Marrassantiya River, the modern Kızıl Irmak, on the Black Sea
coast. The evidence for its location rests partly on the legend asso-
ciated with it, which may perhaps refer to events in the prehistoric
past of the city of Kanes.
According to this legend, the queen of Kanes gave birth to 30
sons, whom she put into a box which she floated on the river,
whereby it was carried downstream to the sea at Zalpa. There the
gods found the box, and raised the boys to manhood. Meanwhile,
the queen of Kanes had given birth to 30 daughters, deciding to
bring them up herself. The sons, now men, set out to find their
mother. Once they arrived at Kanes, she failed to recognize them,
and she gave them her 30 daughters. Only the youngest son warned
 ZIDANTA I ● 323

against incest: though the text is broken here, he seems not to have
been heeded.
Kanes does seem at one time indeed to have been ruled by a
queen (rubatum), though captured by Anitta from a king. Other
old Hittite texts indicate a location for Zalpa by the sea. Whether
the legend of the queen and her offspring conceals memories of
early migrations into central Anatolia from the north seems less
plausible than might once have been the case, seeing that the early
Indo-Europeans evidently arrived in Anatolia much earlier than the
later third millennium BC, as formerly suggested.
The kingdom or principality of Zalpa was evidently prominent
in the early years of Hittite power, though fading out thereafter. It
was clearly significant in the period of the Old Assyrian merchant
colonies. The so-called Anitta Inscription records that the kingdom
of Nesa (i.e. Kanes) was ravaged and subdued by Uhna, king of
Zalpa, perhaps in alliance with the king of Hatti. This conquest
may be reflected in the destruction of Kültepe-Kanes-Karum II,
dramatically mirrored in the archaeological record. One tentative
theory is that Nesa may have cut off the trade routes to the more
northerly Anatolian kingdoms. By the end of his reign Anitta had
subjugated all lands from Zalpa in the north to Ullanma in the
south. Then, however, he was faced by an alliance of Hatti and
Zalpa. The latter was defeated, its ruler being brought back to Nesa
as a prisoner of war; Hattusa was put under siege.
Later on, Hattusili I records marching against Zalpa, destroy-
ing it and seizing its gods. This was not, however, to be the end of
the story, for Zalpa was able to profit from the inevitable rivalries
within the Hittite royal family: Hakkarpili, one of the sons of Hat-
tusili I, in spite of having been appointed a local governor in ac-
cordance with common Hittite practice, was involved in a rebellion
against his father. Though the outcome is not documented, this was
presumably suppressed.

ZIDANTA I (ca.1560 BC–? ). First having to dispose of the legiti-

mate heir of Hantili I and his sons in order to seize the throne for
himself, this king had a brief reign, from which it seems no records
survive. He paid the price for his crimes, being murdered by his
own son, Ammuna. Thus a pattern of bloodshed became estab-
lished around the kingship.

ZINCIRLI (SAM’AL). A German expedition before World War I

excavated this outstanding Neo-Hittite citadel near the Amanus
324 ● ZIPPALANDA

range, the best preserved of all excavated Neo-Hittite cities. Its

public buildings were mostly the work of two of its kings, Kilamu
and Barrakib, contemporaries of Shalmaneser III and Tiglath-
Pileser III of Assyria respectively, thus dating to the ninth–eighth
centuries BC.
The citadel was defended by an approximately oval wall with
semi-circular towers, with an inner wall along the south sector and
two fortified gateways, the outer one decorated with carved stone
orthostats. On the highest part of the citadel a large bit hilani was
later replaced by a building constructed by a ruler of Zincirli and
the kingdom of Sam’al, of which it was the center. Subsequently
this was probably used by the Assyrian governor, whose troops
were quartered in the adjacent barracks in the upper story, with
their horses below and chariots parked perhaps just outside.
The palace of Kilamu, at the northwest corner of the citadel,
was enlarged a century later by Barrakib, to comprise two bit hilani
side by side, facing a large court entered originally by a portal with
guardian lions. Barrakib built a more grandiose access to the south,
with a vast court enclosed by colonnades and with his principal
palace, on the bit hilani plan, at the northwest corner. Inscriptions
clarify the dating of these buildings.
The Neo-Hittite cities, with the expansion of Assyrian power
in the ninth and again in the eighth century BC, tended to experi-
ence conflicts between pro- and anti-Assyrian parties, the former
ultimately prevailing. This occurred at Zincirli, where Barrakib set
up a stela in Aramaic, commemorating his forebear Panammu I
and Bar-Sur, perhaps his son, who was slain, along with most of
his family, in a revolt of the anti-Assyrian party led by one named
Azriyau (ca.739 BC). He in turn was defeated and slain in the fol-
lowing year by Tiglath-Pileser III. Barrakib had recognized the fu-
tility of trying to resist the advancing power of Assyria under an
exceptionally capable ruler.
After the greatest days of Zincirli were over, Esarhaddon of
Assyria set up a victory stela to commemorate his conquest of
Egypt (670 BC).

ZIPPALANDA. This is one of the many towns well known from the
written records of Hittite times, not pinpointed on the ground until
recently, when it has been identified with a settlement mound near
Kerkenes Dağ in the province of Yozgat. It was an administrative
center in the Hittite Old Kingdom, evidently of Hattic origin, and
the seat of a royal prince together with “the son of Ankuwa.” This
 ZIPPALANDA ● 325

strengthened the case for locating Zippalanda not far north of

Ankuwa (Alışar Höyük) and for identifying Mount Daha—with
which it is closely associated—with nearby Kerkenes Dağ. Alaca
Höyük is too far from Kerkenes Dağ to be a plausible location.
Zippalanda was principally a religious center, though military
personnel are recorded, as well as craftsmen and men engaged in
hunting and stock breeding. It seems that it was one of the old Hat-
tic holy cities enjoying special privileges in the Old Kingdom,
along with Arinna and Nerik, joined by Hattusa and Tarhun-
tassa in the closing generations of the Hittite Empire.
The major buildings recorded in the tablets from Hattusa con-
cerning Zippalanda are the temple of the Storm-God and the hal-
entu (residence or palace), apparently in the upper and lower towns
respectively, though this location, the opposite from that at Hat-
tusa, must be treated with caution. The whole territory of Zip-
palanda includes a number of cult stations or shrines, inside and
outside the city and mostly toward Mount Daha. Around the whole
territory, it seems, there ran a perimeter wall less defensive than re-
ligious in function, in this respect resembling the walls of Alaca
Höyük, and perhaps reinforcing the identification of that site with
the most famous of the holy cities, Arinna.
The Hittite king was involved in performing the ceremonies
connected with the festivals of the official cult at Zippalanda—the
purulli-festival, the great spring and autumn imperial festivals, the
month festival and perhaps also the Ki-Lam (hunting) festival. Lo-
cal festivals and daily cults are only indirectly mentioned.
 APPENDIX ● 327

Appendix: Hittite Collections

In contrast with the abundance of material from Mesopotamia (Iraq and

northeast Syria) and Egypt, as well as from the southern Levant, Hittite
material is much less widely dispersed. Many of the finds from Meso-
potamia and Egypt in European and American museums and other col-
lections derive from early excavations, plunder or purchases in the an-
tiquities market, in Cairo, Baghdad or elsewhere.
The relative rarity of Hittite material in museums outside the Near
East is explicable by its originating almost entirely from one country,
Turkey, and predominantly from one site, Boğazköy (Hattusa). The
major exception is the material, tablets and seals with their impressions,
from Ras Shamra (Ugarit) in Syria. In view of the date (1906) of the
first season of the German expedition at Boğazköy, the paucity of finds
discovered in the 19th century, the epic age of discovery in Egypt and
Mesopotamia, is understandable.
Hittite tablets are less numerous than the 30,000 or so fragments
from Boğazköy might suggest: five or six pieces on average make up a
whole tablet; and Hittitologists are still investigating possible joins.
The great majority of Hittite tablets are now housed in the Museum
of Anatolian Civilizations in Ankara and in the Istanbul Museum, in the
former capital of the Ottoman Empire. In the latter are to be found finds
from the early, pre–World War I German excavations at Boğazköy. The
numerous tablets allowed by the Turkish authorities to be taken to Ber-
lin for study have since been returned to Turkey.
Owing to chance discoveries and plundering in central Anatolia
(Cappadocia), tablets and painted pottery of the period of the Old
Assyrian merchant colonies found their way abroad, largely ending up
in Paris in the collections of the Louvre, the British Museum acquiring
a modest number.
Hittite tablets and other items are thus relatively rare outside Tur-
key, where they can be studied on receipt of an official research permit.
Elsewhere, the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago possesses
some tablets, and has long been the principal center of Hittitology in
North America. Cuneiform tablets are to be found also at such places
as Yale University and the New York Public Library; but for the most
328 ● APPENDIX

part they are classed as “Babylonian,” from Mesopotamia, where the

scribal schools were more numerous than in the Hittite Empire.
Those readers seeking information on Hittite tablets and other ma-
terial would be well advised to consult the Oriental Institute of the Uni-
versity of Chicago, the University Museum of Philadelphia, the British
Museum in London, the Louvre in Paris or the Berlin Museum.
 BIBLIOGRAPHY ● 329

Bibliography

Contents

Abbreviations 330
General Works 330
General Works on Hittite Civilization 331
Collections of Texts in Translation 332
Copies of Texts/Tablets 333
Tablet Archives 333
Indo-European Background and Horse Domestication 333
Old Assyrian Trade and Colonies 334
Government, Law and Kingship 335
Political History, Chronology etc. 336
External Relations, Diplomacy and Gift Exchange 338
Historiography 340
Economy: Trade and Food Production 340
Natural Environment 341
Warfare 342
Religion, Magic and Divination 343
Funerary Customs 345
Art and Architecture 345
Metals and Metalwork 347
Pottery 348
Excavation Reports 349
Aspects of Various Sites 354
Boğazköy Excavation Reports 355
Boğazköy: Shorter Reports and General Works 356
Early Research 356
Festschrifts 358
Daily Life, etc. 359
Literature and Mythology 359
Language and Writing 360
Personal Names (Onomastica) 360
Hurrians 361
Early Trans-Caucasian Culture 361
The Fall of Hatti and the Sea Peoples 362
Neo-Hittite Civilization 363
330 ● BIBLIOGRAPHY

Abbreviations

AA Anadolu Arastirmalari (Jahrbuch für Orientforschung)

AJA American Journal of Archaeology
AS Anatolian Studies
BASOR Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research
BIAA British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara
JAOS Journal of the American Oriental Society
JCS Journal of Cuneiform Studies
JESHO Journal of Economic and Social History of the Orient
JIES Journal of Indo-European Studies
JNES Journal of Near Eastern Studies
Kbo Keilschrifttexte aus Boghazkoi
KUB Keilschrifturkunden aus Boghazkoi
MDOG Mitteilungen der deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft
RA Revue d’Assyriologie et d’Archeologie Orientale
RHA Revue Hittite et Asianique
SMEA Studi Micenei ed Egeo-Anatolici
StBoT Studien zu den Bogazkoy-Texten
VBoT Verstreute Boghazkoi-Texte
WVDOG Wissenschaftliche Veröffentlichungen der deutschen
Orient-Gesellschaft
ZA Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und Vorderasiatische
Archäologie

General Works

Akurgal, Ekrem. Ancient Civilizations and Ruins of Turkey. Istanbul:

Mobil Oil Turk, 1969.
Bienkowski, Piotr, and Alan Millard (eds.). Dictionary of the Ancient
Near East. London: British Museum Press, 2000.
Burney, Charles. From Village to Empire—An Introduction to Near
Eastern Archaeology. Oxford: Phaidon, 1977.
Burney, Charles, and David Marshall Lang. The Peoples of the Hills:
Ancient Ararat and Caucasus. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson,
1971.
Cambridge Ancient History, Vols. 1, 2, 3/1, 3/2, 4, 6 (rev. ed).
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1972-1994.
Hallo, William, and William Simpson. The Ancient Near East. New
York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanavich, 1971.
Kuhrt, Amelie. The Ancient Near East. Vol.1: ca.3000-ca.1200 BC;
Vol .2: ca.1200-330 BC. London: Routledge, 1995.
 BIBLIOGRAPHY ● 331

Lloyd, Seton. Ancient Turkey—A Traveller’s History of Anatolia.

London: British Museum Publications, 1989.
Matthews, Roger (ed.). Ancient Anatolia—Fifty Years’ Work by the
British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara. London: BIAA, 1998.
McDonagh, Bernard. Blue Guide—Turkey. London: A. and C. Black,
3rd ed., 2001.
Mellaart, James. The Archaeology of Ancient Turkey. Oxford: Bodley
Head, 1978.
Meyers, E. M. (ed.). The Oxford Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the
Near East. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.
Özdoğan, Mehmet, and Nezih Başgelen (eds.). Neolithic in Turkey—
The Cradle of Civilization: New Discoveries. Ancient Anatolian
Civilizations Series 3. Istanbul: Arkeoloji ve Sanat Yayinları,
1999. [Background to the Bronze Age.]
Sasson, J. M. (ed.). Civilizations of the Ancient Near East (4 volumes).
New York: Scribners, 1995.
Turkish Republic Ministry of Culture: General Directorate of Mon-
uments and Museums. Woman in Anatolia—9,000 Years of the
Anatolian Woman. Istanbul Topkapı Sarayı Museum: Catalogue
for exhibition, 29 November 1993 to 28 February 1994. Istanbul,
1993.
Yakar, Jak. Ethnoarchaeology in Anatolia: Rural Socio-Economy in
the Bronze and Iron Ages. Tel Aviv: Sonia and Marcia Nadler
Institute of Tel Aviv, 2000.

General Works on Hittite Civilization

Alp, Sedat, and A. Suel (eds.). Acts of the Third International

Congress of Hittitology, Çorum, September 16-22, 1996. Ankara,
1998.
Bryce, Trevor R. The Kingdom of the Hittites. Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1998.
———. Life and Society in the Hittite World. Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 2002.
Cornelius, F. Geschichte der Hethiter: Mit besonderer Berück-
sichtigung der geographischen Verhältnisse und der
Rechtsgeschichte. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft,
1979.
Giorgadze, G. G. “The Hittite kingdom.” In Diakonoff, I. M., and
Philip L. Kohl (eds.). Early Antiquity. Chicago: University of
Chicago Press, 1991: 266-285.
332 ● BIBLIOGRAPHY

Gorny, Ronald L. “Environment, archaeology and history in Hittite

Anatolia.” Biblical Archaeologist 52 (1989): 78-96.
Gurney, Oliver R. The Hittites. Harmondsworth, England: Penguin
Books, rev. ed., 1990.
Hawkins, David. “Les hittites et leur empire.” Dossiers d’Archéologie
1996-1997, Part I: 30-35.
Hoffner, H. A. “The Hittites and Hurrians.” In D. J. Wiseman (ed.),
Peoples of Old Testament Times. Society of Old Testament Study.
Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1973: 197-228.
———. “Hittites.” In A. J. Hoesth, G. L. Mattingly and E. M.
Yamauchi (eds.), Peoples of the Old Testament World. Grand Rapids,
Mich., 1994: 127-155.
Klengel, Horst. Geschichte des Hethitischen Reiches. Handbuch der
Orientalistik 1, 034. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1999.
Klock-Fontanille, I. Les Hittites. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France,
1998.
McMahon, Gregory. “The History of the Hittites.” Biblical Archae-
ologist 52 (1989): 62-77.
Macqueen, James G. The Hittites and Their Contemporaries in Asia
Minor. London: Thames and Hudson, rev. ed., 1986.
Wilhelm, Gernot (ed.). Akten des IV. Internationalen Kongresses für
Hethitologie, Wurzburg, October 4-8, 1999. StBoT 45. Wiesbaden:
Harrassowitz, 2001. Review by Alice Mouton [in French],
Bibliotheca Orientalis 59 (2000): 581-586.
Yener, K. A., and H. A. Hoffner (eds.). Recent Developments in Hittite
Archaeology and History: Papers in Memory of Hans Gustav
Güterbock. Indiana: Eisenbrauns, 2002.

Collections of Texts in Translation

Bryce, Trevor R. The Major Historical Texts of Early Hittite History.

Brisbane, 1982. Brisbane: University of Queensland, 1983.
Hawkins, J. David , and Halet Çambel. Corpus of Hieroglyphic Luwian
Inscriptions—Volume I: Inscriptions of the Iron Age. Untersuch-
ungen zu indogermanischen Sprach und Kultur-wissenschaft
[Studies in Indo-European Language and Culture: New Series, 8].
Berlin: W. de Gruyter, 1999-2000.
Houwink ten Cate, P. H. J. The Records of the Early Hittite Empire.
Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1970.
Jakob-Rost, Liane. Keilschrifttexte aus Boghazkoy im Vorderas-
iatischen Museum. Vorderasiatische Schriftdenkmäler der Staat-
 BIBLIOGRAPHY ● 333

lichen Museen zu Berlin, neue Folge, Heft 12. Mainz: Philipp von
Zabern, 1997. Review by H. A. Hoffner, JNES 59 (2000): 124-126.
Laroche, Emmanuel. Catalogue des Textes Hittites [CTH]. Paris, 1971.
———. Supplement to Catalogue. RHA 30 (1972): 94-133.

Copies of Texts/Tablets

Keilsschrifttexte aus Boghazkoi [KBo]. Leipzig and Berlin. (“Cuneiform

texts from Boğazköy.”)
Keilschrifturkunden aus Boghazkoi [KUB]. Berlin. (“Cuneiform docu-
ments from Boğazköy.”)
Verstreute Boghazkoi-Texte [VBoT]. (“Scattered Boğazköy texts.”)

Tablet Archives

For a brief assessment, see Bryce, Trevor R. The Kingdom of the

Hittites. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998: 416-427.

Indo-European Background and Horse Domestication

A. The wider background

Diakonov, I. M. “On the original home of the speakers of Indo-

European.” JIES 13 (1975): 92-174.
Drews, Robert, (ed.) Greater Anatolia and the Indo–Hittite Language
Family. Papers presented to a colloquium hosted by the University
of Richmond, Virginia, March 18-19, 2000. JIES Monograph
Series no. 38. Washington, D.C.: Institute for the Study of Man,
2001.
Gamkrelidze, Thomas V., and Vjaceslav V. Ivanov. Indo-European
and the Indo-Europeans. Translated J. Nicols. Trends in
Linguistics, Studies and Monographs 80. Berlin: Mouton de
Gruyter, 1995.
Mallory, J. P. In Search of the Indo-Europeans—Language, Arch-
aeology and Myth. London: Thames and Hudson, 1989.
Puhvel, Jaan. “Anatolian: autochthon or interloper?” JIES 22 (1994):
251-263.
Renfrew, Colin. The Archaeology of Language: The Puzzle of Indo-
European Origins. London: Jonathan Cape, 1987.
Sturtevant, E. H. “The Indo-Hittite hypothesis.” Language 38 (1962):
205-210.
334 ● BIBLIOGRAPHY

B. Anatolia

Gamkrelidze, Thomas V. “Proto-Indo-Europeans in Anatolia.” JIES 18

(1990): 341-350.
Mellaart, James. “Anatolia and the Indo-Europeans.” JIES 9 (1981):
135-149.
Singer, Itamar. “Hittites and Hattians in Anatolia at the beginning of the
second millennium BC.” JIES 9 (1981): 119-134.
Steiner, G. “The role of the Hittites in ancient Anatolia.” JIES 9 (1981):
150-173.
———. “The immigration of the first Indo-Europeans into Anatolia
reconsidered.” JIES 18 (1990): 185-214.
Yakar, Jak. “Anatolia and the ‘Great Movement’ of Indo-Europeans,
ca.2300 BCE.” Tel Aviv 3 (1976): 151-160.
———. “The Indo-Europeans and their impact on Anatolian cultural
development.” JIES 9 (1981): 94-112.

C. Horses

Anthony, David W., and Dorcas R. Brown. “Eneolithic horse

exploitation in the Eurasian steppes—diet, ritual and riding.”
Antiquity 74, no. 238 (2000): 75-86.
Hansel, Bernhard ,and Stephan Zimmer (eds.). Die Indogermanen und
das Pferd. Budapest: Archaeolingua Hauptreite vol.4 (Festschrift
Bernfried Schlerath), 1994.
Vila, C., J. A.Leonard et al. “Mitochondrial DNA analyses of domes-
ticated horses.” Science 291, no. 5503 (2001): 474-477.

Old Assyrian Trade and Colonies

Balkan, Kemal. Letter of King Anum-Hirbi of Mama to King Warshama

of Kanesh. Ankara: Turkish Historical Foundation, 1957.
Dercksen, J. G. The Old Assyrian Copper Trade in Anatolia. Leiden:
E. J. Brill, 1996.
Garelli, Paul. Les Assyriens en Cappadoce. Bulletin de l’Institut
Français d’Archéologie d’Istanbul, 19. Paris: Maisonneuve, 1963.
Larsen, M. T. Old Assyrian Caravan Procedures. Istanbul:
Netherlands Institute, 1967.
———. “The Old Assyrian colonies in Anatolia.” Review article on
Orlin 1970. JAOS 94 (1974): 468 -475.
———. The Old Assyrian City-State and its Colonies. Copenhagen,
1976.
 BIBLIOGRAPHY ● 335

Michel, C. Correspondance des Marchands de Kanis au Début du IIe

Millènaire avant J.-C. Paris: Les Editions du Cerf, 2001.
Orlin, Louis L. Assyrian Colonies in Cappadocia. The Hague: Mouton,
1970.
Özgüç, Tahsin. “The art and architecture of ancient Kanish.” Anatolia/
Anadolu 8 (1966): 27-48.
Soldt, W. H. van (ed.). Veenhof Anniversary Volume: Studies
Presented to Klaas R. Veenhof on the Occasion of His Sixty-Fifth
Birthday. Leiden: Netherlands Near Eastern Institute, 2001.
Veenhof, K. R. Aspects of Old Assyrian Trade and its Terminology.
Leiden: E. J .Brill, 1972.
———. “Prices and trade: the Old Assyrian evidence.” Altoriental-
ische Forschungen 15 (1988): 243-263.

Government, Law and Kingship

A. Administration

Beckman, G. “The Hittite assembly.” JAOS 102 (1982): 435-442.

———. “Hittite administration in Syria in the light of the texts from
Hattusa, Ugarit and Emar.” In M. W. Chavalas, and J. L. Hayes
(eds.), New Horizons in the Study of Ancient Syria. Bibliotheca
Mesopotamica 25 (1992): 41-49.
———. “Hittite provincial administration in Anatolia and Syria: the
view from Maşat and Emar.” In Atti del II Congresso Inter-
nazionale di Hittitologia. Studia Mediterranea 9. Pavia (1995): 19-
35.
Easton, Donald F. “Hittite land donations and Tabarna seals.” JCS 33
(1981): 3-43.
Gurney, O. R. “The Hittite Empire.” In M. T. Larsen (ed.), Power and
Propaganda—A Symposium on Ancient Empires. Mesopotamia:
Copenhagen Studies in Assyriology, vol. 7. Copenhagen:
Academic Press, 1979: 151-165.
Imparati, Fiorella. “Aspects de l’organisation de l’état Hittite dans les
documents juridiques et administratifs.” JESHO 25 (1982): 225-
267.
Singer, Itamar. “The agrig in the Hittite texts.” AS 34 (1984): 97-127.

B. Laws

Güterbock, Hans G. “Authority and law in the Hittite kingdom.” JAOS

Supplement 17 (1954).
336 ● BIBLIOGRAPHY

Hoffner, Harry. The Hittite Laws—A Critical Edition. Studies in Near

Eastern Archaeology and Civilization, 23. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1997.
Justins, Carol. Review of Hoffner 1997. JIES 30 (2002): 179-188.
Neufeld, E. The Hittite Laws. London: Luzac, 1951.

C. Kingship

Beckman, G. “Royal ideology and state administration in Hittite

Anatolia.” In J. M.Sasson (ed.), Civilizations of the Ancient Near
East (1995): 529-543.
Gonnet, H. “La titulaire royale Hittite au IIe millénnaire avant J-C.”
Hethitica 3 (1979): 3-108.
Gurney, O. R. “Hittite kingship.” In S. H. Hooke (ed.), Myth, Ritual
and Kingship. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1958: 105-121.
Puhvel, Jaan. “Hittite regal titles: Hattic or Indo-European?” JIES 17
(1989): 351-361.
Starke, F. “Halmasuit im Anitta-Texte und die hethitische Ideologie
vom Königtum.” ZA 69 (1979): 45-120.

D. Royal family

Bin-Nun, S. R. “The Anatolian background of the Tawananna’s

position in the Hittite kingdom.” RHA 30 (1972): 54-80.
———. The Tawananna in the Hittite Kingdom. Heidelberg, 1975.
Singer, Itamar. “The title ‘Great Princess’ in the Hittite Empire.”
Ugarit-Forschungen 23 (1991): 327-338.

Political History, Chronology etc.

A. General

Beal, Richard H. “Studies in Hittite history.” JCS 35 (1983): 115-126.

Bryce, Trevor R. “The boundaries of Hatti and Hittite border policy.”
Tel Aviv 13-14 (1986-1987): 85-102.
McMahon, G. “Hittite history.” Biblical Archaeologist 52 (1989): 62-
77.

B. Old Kingdom

Bryce, Trevor R. “Hattusili I and the problems of the royal success-

ion.” AS 31 (1981): 9-17.
Collins, Billie Jean. “Hattusili I, the lion king.” JCS 50 (1998): 15-20.
 BIBLIOGRAPHY ● 337

Imparati, F, and C. Saporetti. “L’autobiografia di Hattusili I.” Studi

Classici e Orientali 14 (1965): 44-85.

C. New Kingdom (Empire)

Archi, A. “The propaganda of Hattusili III.” SMEA 14 (1971): 185-215.

Darga, M. “Puduhepa, an Anatolian queen of the 13th century BC.” In
Mélanges Mansel. Ankara: Turkish Historical Foundation Press,
1974: 939-961.
Güterbock, H. G. “The Deeds of Suppiluliuma as told by his son,
Mursili II.” JCS 10 (1956): 41-68, 75-98, 107-130.
Houwink ten Cate, P. H. J. “The early and late phases of Urhi-Tesub’s
career.” In Festschrift Güterbock 1 (1974): 123-150.
Imparati, F., “Apology of Hattusili III or designation of his successor?”
In Festschrift Houwink ten Cate (1995): 143-155.

D. Western Anatolia

Bryce, Trevor R. “Some geographical and political aspects of Mursili’s

Arzawan campaign.” AS 24 (1974): 103-116.
——— .“A reinterpretation of the Milawata letter in the light of the
new join piece.” AS 35 (1985): 13-23.
Singer, Itamar. “Western Anatolia in the thirteenth century BC
according to the Hittite sources.” AS 33 (1983): 205-217.
Yakar, Jak. “Hittite involvement in western Anatolia.” AS 26 (1976):
117-128.

E. Kizzuwadna and Syria

Beal, Richard H. “The history of Kizzuwatna and the date of the

Sunassura treaty.” Orientalia 55 (1986): 424-455.
Singer, Itamar. “A concise history of Amurru.” Appendix III to Izre’el,
S. Amurru Akkadian: A Linguistic Study, vol.2: 135-195. Atlanta,
Ga., 1991.
———. “The ‘Land of Amurru’ and the ‘Lands of Amurru’ in the
Sausgamuwa treaty.” Iraq 53 (1991): 69-74.

F. Chronology

Astour, Michael C. Hittite History and Absolute Chronology of the

Bronze Age. Studies in Mediterranean Archaeology and Literature.
Partille, Sweden: Astroms, 1989.
338 ● BIBLIOGRAPHY

Astrom, P. (ed.). High, Middle or Low? Acts of an International

Colloquium on Absolute Chronology Held at the University of
Gothenburg, 20-22 August 1987. Gothenburg, 1987.
Bietak, M. (ed.). High, Middle or Low? Acts of the Second Inter-
national Colloquium on Absolute Chronology: The Bronze Age in
the Eastern Mediterranean. Vienna, 1992.
Bryce, Trevor R. “Some observations on the chronology of
Suppiluliuma’s reign.” AS 39 (1989): 19-30.
Otten, Heinrich. Die hethitischen historischen Quellen und die alt-
orientalische Chronologie. Mainz, 1968.

External Relations, Diplomacy and Gift Exchange

A. General

Imparati, F. “La politique extérieure des Hittites: tendances et

problèmes.” Hethitica 8 (1987): 187ff.
Liverani, M. Prestige and Interest: International Relations in the Near
East ca. 1600-1100 BC. Pavia, 1990.
Zaccagnini, C. “Aspects of ceremonial exchange in the Near East
during the second millennium BC.” In M. Rowlands, M. T. Larsen
and K. Kristiansen (eds.). Centre and Periphery in the Ancient
World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (1987): 57-65.

B. Diplomacy

Beckman, G. Hittite Diplomatic Texts. Atlanta, Ga.: Society of

Biblical Literature, 1996.
Briend, J., R. Lebrun and E. Puech. Traités et Serments dans le Proche-
Orient Ancien. Paris, 1992.
Kestermont, G. Diplomatique et Droit Interne en Asie Occidentale
(1600-1200 BC). Louvain, 1974.

C. Relations with Syria, Assyria and Mesopotamia

Beckman, Gary. “Mesopotamians and Mesopotamian learning at

Hattusa.” JCS 35 (1983): 97-114.
Harrak, Amir. Assyria and Hanigalbat. Hildesheim: Olms Publishers,
1987.
Nadav, Na’aman. “The historical introduction of the Aleppo treaty
reconsidered.” JCS 32 (1980): 34-42.
 BIBLIOGRAPHY ● 339

D. Relations with Egypt

Izre’el, S. The Amarna Scholarly Tablets. Cuneiform Monographs, 9.

Groningen: Styx Publications, 1997.
Kitchen, K. A. Suppiluliuma and the Amarna Pharaohs: A Study in
Relative Chronology. Liverpool Monographs in Archaeology and
Oriental Studies, 5. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 1982.
Rowton, M. B. “The background of the treaty between Ramesses II and
Hattusili III.” JCS 13 (1959): 1-11.
Spalinger, A. “Egyptian-Hittite relations at the close of the Amarna
period and some notes on Hittite military strategy in north Syria.”
Bulletin of the Egyptological Seminar 1 (1979): 55-89.
———.“Considerations of the Hittite treaty between Egypt and Hatti.”
Studien zur altägyptischen Kultur 9 (1981): 299-358.

E. Tarhuntassa

Van den Hout, T. “A chronology of the Tarhuntassa treaties.” JCS 41

(1989): 100-114.
Houwink ten Cate, P. H. J. “The Bronze Tablet of Tudhaliyas IV and its
geographical and historical relations.” ZA 82 (1992): 233-270.
Otten, Heinrich. Die Bronzetafel aus Boğazköy: ein Staatsvertrag
Tudhaliyas IV. Wiesbaden: StBoT, Beiheft 1, 1988.
Singer, I., “Great Kings of Tarhuntassa.” SMEA 38 (1999): 63-71.

F. The northern frontier region

Alp, Sedat. “Die hethitische Tontafelentdeckungen auf dem Maşat-

Hüyük.” Belleten 44 (1980): 25-59.
———. Hethitische Briefe aus Maşat-Höyük. Ankara, 1991.
Schuler, E. von. Die Kaskaer. Berlin, 1965.

G. Relations with the west

Cline, E. “Hittite objects in the Bronze Age Aegean.” AS 41 (1991):

133-143.
Güterbock, H. G., M. J. Mellink and E. T. Vermeule. “The Hittites and
the Aegean world.” AJA 87 (1983): 133-143.
Heinhold-Krahmer, S. Arzawa: Untersuchungen zu seiner Geschichte
nach den hethitischen Quellen. Heidelberg, 1977.
340 ● BIBLIOGRAPHY

Jewell, E. R. The Archaeology and History of Western Anatolia During

the Second Millennium BC. Ann Arbor, Mich.: Ph.D. dissertation,
University of Michigan, 1974.
Kosak, S. “The Hittites and the Greeks.” Linguistica 20 (1980): 35-47.
———. “Western neighbours of the Hittites.” Eretz Israel 15 (1981):
12-16.

Historiography

Beckman, G. “The Siege of Ursu text and Old Hittite historiography.”

JCS 47 (1995): 23-34.
Cancik, Hubert. Mythische und Historische Wahrheit: Interpretationen
zu texten der hethitischen, biblischen und griechischen Historio-
graphie. Stuttgart: Katholisches Bibelwerk, 1970.
Cancik, C. Grundzüge der hethitischen und alttestamentlichen
Geschichtsschreibung. Wiesbaden, 1976.
Dentan, R. C. (ed.). The Idea of History in the Ancient Near East. New
Haven, Conn.: 1955. Reprinted 1983.
Hoffner, H. A. “Propaganda and political justification in Hittite
historiography.” In H. Goedicke and J. J. M. Roberts (eds.).
Essays in the History, Literature and Religion of the Ancient Near
East. Baltimore and London, 1975: 49-62.
———. “Histories and historians of the ancient Near East: the
Hittites.” Orientalia 49 (1980): 283-332.
Wyatt, Nicolas. “Some observations on the idea of history among the
West Semitic peoples.” Ugarit-Forschungen 11 (1979): 825-832.

Economy: Trade and Food Production

A. Trade

Archi, Alfonso. “Anatolia in the second millennium BC.” In Circul-

ation of Goods in Non-Palatial Context in the Ancient Near East.
Ed. by the same. Rome: Edizione dell’ Ateneo, 1984: 195-206.
Heltzer, M. “Metal trade of Ugarit and the problem of transportation of
commercial goods.” Iraq 39 (1977): 203-211.
Leemans, W. F. Foreign Trade in the Old Babylonian Period. Leiden:
E. J. Brill, 1960.
Polanyi, Karl, C .M. Arensberg and H. W. Pearson (eds.). Trade and
Market in the Early Empires – Economies in History and Theory.
Glencoe, Ill.: Free Press, 1957.
 BIBLIOGRAPHY ● 341

Polanyi, Karl. The Livelihood of Man. Edited by H. W. Pearson. New

York: Academic Press, 1977.
Postgate, J. N. “Learning the lessons of the future: trade in prehistory
viewed from history.” Bibliotheca Orientalis 60 (2003): 5-25.
Sabloff, J. A. and C. C. Lamberg-Karlovsky (eds.). Ancient Civilization
and Trade. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1975.

B. Food production

Beckman, G. “Herding and herdsmen in Hittite culture.” In E. Neu and

C .Ruster (eds.). Festschrift Heinrich Otten II. Wiesbaden, 1988:
33-44.
Hoffner, H. A. Alimenta Hethaeorum: Food Production in Hittite Asia
Minor. New Haven, Conn: 1974.
——— .“Oil in Hittite texts”. Biblical Archaeologist 58 (1995): 108.
Hongo, H. “Patterns of animal husbandry at Kaman-Kalehöyük,
Turkey: continuity and change during the second and first
millennia BC.” In H. I. H. Prince Takahito Mikasa (ed.). Essays
on Ancient Anatolia in the Second Millennium BC. Wiesbaden:
Harrassowitz. Bulletin of the Middle Eastern Culture Center in
Japan, vol.10: 239-278.

Natural Environment

Brice, W. C. South-West Asia. Systematic Regional Geography series.

Edited by J. F. Unstead, vol. 8. London: University of London
Press, 1966.
———. (ed.). The Environmental History of the Near and Middle East
Since the Last Ice Age. London: Academic Press, 1978.
Butzer, Karl. “Environmental change, climate history and human
modification.” In J. M. Sasson (ed.). Civilizations of the Ancient
Near East. New York: Scribners, 1995.
Dalfes, H. Nuzhet, George Kukla and Harvey Weiss. Third Millennium
BC Climate Change and Old World Collapse. NATO ASI Series.
Series 1: Global Environmental Change, vol. 49. Berlin: Springer,
1997.
Matthews, Roger. “Zebu: harbingers of doom in Bronze Age western
Asia?” Antiquity 76 (2002): 438-446.
Neumann, J., and S. Parpola. “Climatic change and the eleventh-tenth
century eclipse of Assyria and Babylonia.” JNES 46 (1987): 161-
182.
342 ● BIBLIOGRAPHY

Warfare

A. General

Goetze, A. “Warfare in Asia Minor.” Iraq 25 (1963): 124-130.

Miller, R., E. McEwan and C. Bergman “Experimental approaches to
ancient Near Eastern archery.” World Archaeology 18 (1986): 178-
195.
Yadin, Yigael. The Art of Warfare in Biblical Lands in the Light of
Archaeological Discoveries. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson,
1963.

B. Hittite warfare

Beal, R. H. The Organization of the Hittite Military. Heidelberg: TdH

20, 1992.
Houwink ten Cate, P. H. J. “The history of warfare according to Hittite
sources: the annals of Hattusilis I,” Parts I and II. Anatolica 10
(1983): 91-109; Anatolica 11 (1984): 47-83.
Korosec, V. “The warfare of the Hittites from the legal point of view.”
Iraq 25 (1963): 159-166.

C. Chariotry

Anthony, D. W. “Horse, wagon and chariot: Indo-European languages

and archaeology.” Antiquity 69 (1995): 554-565.
——— et al. “Birth of the chariot.” Archaeology 48 (1995): 36-41.
Bakker, Jan Alber, et al. “The earliest evidence of wheeled vehicles in
Europe and the Near East.” Antiquity 73 (1999): 778-790.
Littauer, M. A. and J. H. Crouwel. Wheeled Vehicles and Ridden
Animals in the Ancient Near East. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1979.
———. “The origin of the true chariot.” Antiquity 70 (1996): 934-
939.
Moorey, P. R. S. “The emergence of the light, horse-drawn chariot in
the Near East, ca. 2000-1500 BC.” World Archaeology 18 (1986):
196-210.

D. Battle of Kadesh

Fecht, G. “Ramses II und die Schlacht bei Qadesh.” Göttinger Mis-

zellen 80 (1984): 23-53.
Goedicke, Hans (ed.). Perspectives on the Battle of Kadesh. Baltimore,
 BIBLIOGRAPHY ● 343

Md.: Halgo, 1985.

Murnane, W. J. The Road to Kadesh. Chicago, 1985; rev. 2nd ed.,
1990.

Religion, Magic and Divination

A. General

Beckman, G. “The religion of the Hittites.” Biblical Archaeologist 52

(1989): 98-108.
Gurney, O. R. Some Aspects of Hittite Religion. Oxford: Schweich
Lectures, 1977.
Haas, V. Geschichte der hethitischen Religion. Leiden: E. J. Brill,
1994.
Popko, M. Religions of Asia Minor. Translated from Polish by Iwona
Zych. Warsaw: Academic Publications Dialog, 1995.

B. Various aspects

Haas, V. “Death and afterlife in Hittite thought.” In J. M. Sasson (ed.).

Civilizations of the Ancient Near East. New York: Scribners,
1995: 2021-2030.
Laroche, E. “La réforme religieuse de Tudhaliya IV et sa signification
politique.” In F. Dunand and P. Levêque (eds.). Les Syncrétismes
dans les Religions de l’Antiquité—Colloque de Besançon 22-23
Octobre 1973. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1975: 87-94.
Macqueen, J. G. “Hattian mythology and Hittite monarchy.” AS 9
(1959): 171-188.
Singer, Itamar. Hittite Prayers. Writings from the Ancient World
Society of Biblical Literature, 11 (2002).
Tsevat, Mattiahu. “Two Old Testament Stories and their Hittite
Analogies.” JAOS 103 (1983): 321-326.

C. Gods and goddesses

Danmanville, Jenny. “Iconographie d’Istar-Sausga en Anatolie

ancienne.” RA 56 (1962): 9-30, 113-131, 175-190.
Deighton, Hilary J. The “Weather-God” in Hittite Anatolia. Oxford:
British Archaeological Reports International Series 143 (1982).
Houwink ten Cate, P. H. J. “The Hittite Storm-God: his role and his
rule according to Hittite cuneiform sources.” In D.Meijer (ed.).,
Natural Phenomena—Their Meaning and Depiction in the Ancient
344 ● BIBLIOGRAPHY

Near East. Amsterdam, 1992: 83-148.

Laroche, E. “Le panthéon de Yazılıkaya.” JCS 6 (1952): 115-123.
———. “Le dieu anatolien Sarruma.” Syria 40 (1963): 277-302.
———. “Les dieux de Yazılıkaya.” RHA 28 (1969): 61-109.
McMahon, G. The Hittite State Cult of the Tutelary Deities. Chicago:
Oriental Institute of Chicago Assyriological Studies 25 (1991).

D. Cults of hearth and ancestors

Archi, A. “Il colto di focolare presso gli Ititi.” SMEA 16 (1975): 77-87.
Gonnet, Hatice. “Le culte des ancêtres en Anatolie Hittite au IIe mill.
avant notre ère.” Anatolica 21 (1995): 189-195.
Takaoğlu, Turan. “Hearth structures in the religious pattern of Early
Bronze Age northeast Anatolia.” AS 50 (2000): 11-16.
Van der Toorn, Karel. “Gods and ancestors in Emar and Nuzi.” ZA 84
(1994): 38-59.
Volpe, A della. “From the hearth to the creation of boundaries.” JIES
18 (1990): 157-184.

E. Magic and medicine

Beckman, G. “From cradle to grave: women’s role in Hittite medicine

and magic.” Journal of Ancient Civilizations 8 (1993): 25-39.
Published by Institute for History of Ancient Civilizations, N. E.
Normal University, Changchun, Jilin Province, People’s Republic
of China.
Frantz-Szabo, G. “Hittite witchcraft, magic and divination.” In. J. M.
Sasson (ed.). Civilizations of the Ancient Near East. New York:
Scribners; 1995: 2007-2019.
Unal, A. “The role of magic in the ancient Anatolian religions
according to the cuneiform texts from Boğazköy-Khattusha.” In H.
I. H. Prince Takahito Mikasa (ed.), Essays on Anatolian Studies in
the Second Millennium BC. Wiesbaden, 1988: 52-75.

F. Divination

Archi, A. “Il sistema KIN. . .” Oriens Antiquus 13 (1974): 113-144.

Oppenheim, A. Leo. The Interpretation of Dreams in the Ancient Near
East. American Philosophical Society Transactions NS, vol.46,
part 3 (1956).
Soysal, Oğuz. “Analysis of a Hittite oracular document.” ZA 90 (2000):
85-122.
 BIBLIOGRAPHY ● 345

G. Festivals

Archi, A. “Fêtes de printemps et d’automne et réintegration rituelle

d’images de culte dans l’Anatolie Hittite.” Ugarit-Forschungen 5
(1973): 7-27.
Carter, C. “Athletic contests in Hittite religious festivals.” JNES 47
(1988): 85-87.
Güterbock, H. G. “An outline of the Hittite AN.TAH.SUM festival.”
JNES 19 (1960): 80-89.
Singer, Itamar. The Hittite KI.LAM. Festival. Wiesbaden, 1983-1984.

Funerary Customs

Bittel, Kurt. Report on Osmankayasi: see BOĞAZKÖY: EXCAVATION

REPORTS (WVDOG 71 [1958]).
Christmann-Franck, L. “Le rituel des funerailles royales Hittites.” RHA
29 (1971): 61-111.
Emre, Kutlu. Yanarlar—A Hittite Cemetery near Afyon. Ankara:
Turkish Historical Foundation, 1978.
Mellink, Machteld, J. A Hittite Cemetery at Gordion. Philadelphia,
1956.
Orthmann, Winfried. Das Graberfeld bei Ilica. Wiesbaden, 1967.
Otten, Heinrich. Hethitische Totenrituale. Berlin, 1958.

Art and Architecture

A. General

Akurgal, Ekrem. The Art of the Hittites. London, 1962. Translation of

Die Kunst der Hethiter. Munich: Hirmer, 1961.
Alexander, Robert L. “Sausga and the Hittite ivory from Megiddo.”
JNES 50 (1991): 161-182.
Bittel, Kurt. “Hittite art.” In Encyclopedia of World Art, vol. 7,
columns 559-575. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1963.
———. Die Hethiter. Die Kunst Anatoliens vom Ende des 3 bis zum
Anfang des 1 Jahrtausends vor Christus. Munich: C. H . Beck, 1976.
Canby, J. V. “Hittite art.” Biblical Archaeologist 52 (1989): 109-129.
Güterbock, H. G. “Narration in Anatolian, Syrian and Assyrian art.”
AJA 61 (1957): 62-71.
Vieyra, Maurice. Hittite Art, 2300-750 BC. London: Alec Tiranti, 1965.
346 ● BIBLIOGRAPHY

B. Sculpture

Alexander, Robert L. The Sculptures and Sculptors of Yazılıkaya.

Cranbury, N.J.: Associated University Presses, 1986.
———. “A Great Queen on the sphinx piers at Alaca Höyük.” AS 39
(1989): 151-158.
Canby, J. V. “The sculptors of the Hittite capital.” Oriens Antiquus 15
(1976): 33-42.
Güterbock, H. G. “Yazılıkaya: a propos a new interpretation.” JNES
34 (1975): 273-277.
Mellink, M. J. “Hittite friezes and gate sculptures,” in Festschrift
Güterbock 1 (1974): 201-214.
Sipahi, T. “Eine althethitische Reliefvase vom Huseyindede Tepesi.”
Istanbuler Mitteilungen 50 (2000): 63-85.
Unal, A. “The textual illustration of the ‘jester scene’ on the sculptures
of Alaca Höyük.” AS 44 (1994): 207-218.

C. Eflatun Pınar

Alexander, Robert L. “The Mountain-God at Eflatun Pınar.” Anatolica 2

(1968): 77-86.
Bittel, Kurt. “Beitrag zu Eflatun-Pınar.” Bibliotheca Orientalis 10
(1953): 2-5.
Borker-Klahn, J., and Chr. Borker. “Eflatun Pınar, zu Rekonstruktion,
Deutung und Datierung.” Jahrbuch der Deutschen Archäolog-
ischen Instituts 90 (1976): 1-41.
Laroche, E. “Eflatun Pınar.” Anadolu (Anatolia) 3 (1958): 43-47.
Mellaart, James. “The Late Bronze Age monuments of Eflatun Pınar
and Fasillar near Beyşehir.” AS 12 (1962): 111-117.

D. Rock reliefs

Archi, A. “Felsrelief von Hemite.” SMEA 14 (1971): 71-74.

Borker-Klahn, J. “Imamkulu gelesen und datiert?” ZA 67 (1977): 64-
72.
Bossert, H. T. “Das hethitische Felsrelief bei Hanyeri (Gezbel).”
Orientalia 23 (1954): 129-147.
Kohlmeyer, Kay. “Felsbilder der hethitischen Grossreichzeit.” Acta
Praehistorica et Archaeologica 15 (1983): 7-154.
Wafler, M. “Zum Felsrelief von Imamkulu.” MDOG zu Berlin 107
(1975): 17-26.
 BIBLIOGRAPHY ● 347

E. Architecture

Frankfort, Henri. The Art and Architecture of the Ancient Orient.

Harmondsworth , England: Penguin Books, 4th ed., 1970.
Naumann, Rudolf. Architektur Kleinasiens von ihren Anfangen bis zum
Ende der hethitischen Zeit. Tübingen: Ernst Wasmuth, 2nd edition,
1971.
Unal, A. “ ‘You should build for eternity’: new light on the Hittite
architects and their work.” JCS 40 (1988): 97-106.

F. Glyptic (seals)

Özgüç, Nimet. The Anatolian Group of Cylinder Seal Impressions from

Kültepe. Ankara: Turkish Historical Foundation Reports, Series 5,
no. 22 (1965).
———. Seals and Seal Impressions of Level IB from Karum Kanis.
Ankara: Turkish Historical Foundation Reports, Series 5, no. 25
(1968).
Teissier, Beatrice. Sealing and Seals from Kültepe Karum Level II.
Leiden: Netherlands Historical-Archaeological Institute in Istanbul,
1994.

Metals and Metalwork

Cernyh, E. N., et al. “The Circumpontic metallurgical province as a

system.” East and West 41 (1991): 11-45.
Emre, Kutlu, and Aykut Cinaroğlu. “A group of metal Hittite vessels
from Kinik-Kastmonu.” In Mellink, M. J., E. Porada and T. Özgüç
(eds.). Aspects of Art and Iconography (Festschrift Nimet Özgüç):
675-713.
Emre, Kutlu. “New lead figurines and moulds from Kültepe and
Kizilhamza.” In Aspects of Art and Iconography: 169-177.
de Jesus, Prentiss S. The Development of Prehistoric Mining and
Metallurgy in Anatolia. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports
International Series 74 (i and ii), 1980.
Kaptan, Ergun. “Tin and ancient tin mining in Turkey.” Anatolica 21
(1995): 197-203.
Lordkipanidze, Otar. “The Golden Fleece: myth, euhemeristic explan-
ation and archaeology.” Oxford Journal of Archaeology 20 (2001):
1-38.
Maxwell-Hyslop, K. R. “The metals AMUTU and ASIU in the
Kültepe texts.” AS 22 (1972): 159-162.
348 ● BIBLIOGRAPHY

Muhly, J. D. Copper and Tin. New Haven, Transactions of the

Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences, 43 (1973): 155-535.
———.“Iron in Anatolia and the nature of the Hittite iron industry.” AS
35 (1985): 67-84.
———.“Metalle B. Archäologisch.” [in English], in Erich Ebeling,
Bruno Meissner et al. (eds.), Reallexicon der Assyriologie, Band 8.
Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1993—1997: 119-136.
Ramage, Andrew, and Paul Craddock. King Croesus’ Gold—
Excavations at Sardis and the History of Gold Refining.
Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2000.
Sayre, E. V., et al. “Stable lead isotope studies of Black Sea Anatolian
ore sources. . .” Archaeometry 43 (2001): 77-115.
Wertime, T. A.,and J. D. Muhly (eds.). The Coming of the Age of Iron.
New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1980.
Yalçin, Ünsal. “Early iron metallurgy in Anatolia.” AS 49 (1999): 177-
187. Proceedings of 4th Anatolian Iron Ages Colloquium 1997.
Yener, K.Aslihan. “The production, exchange and utilization of silver
and lead metals in ancient Anatolia: a source identification
project.” Anatolica 10 (1983): 1-16.
———. The Domestication of Metals—The Rise of Complex Metal
Industries in Anatolia (4500-2000 BC). Culture and History of the
Ancient Near East, series. Edited B. Halpern et al. Leiden: E. J.
Brill, 2000.
Yener, K. Aslihan and Hadi Özbal. “Tin in the Turkish Taurus
mountains: the Bolkardağ mining district.” Antiquity 61 (1987):
220-226.

Pottery

A. Various sites and regions

Emre, Kutlu. “The pottery of the Assyrian colony period according to

the building levels of the Kanis Karum.” Anadolu (Anatolia) 7
(1963): 87-99.
Knappett, Carl. “Characterizing ceramic change at Kilise Tepe.” BIAA
Anatolian Archaeology 3 (1997): 10.
Makkay, Jan. “Pottery links between late Neolithic cultures of the
North-West Pontic and Anatolia, and the origins of the Hittites.”
Anatolica 19 (1993): 117-128.
Mellaart, James. “Iron Age pottery from southern Anatolia.” Belleten
19 (1955): 115-136.
———. “Bronze Age pottery from the Konya Plain and
 BIBLIOGRAPHY ● 349

neighbourhood.” Belleten 22 (1958): 311-345.

Russell, H. F. Pre-Classical Pottery of Eastern Anatolia. Oxford:
British Archaeological Reports International Series, 85, 1980.

B. Boğazköy

Boehmer, R.M. Die Reliefkeramik von Boğazköy–Grabungskampagnen

1906-12, 1931-39, 1952-78. Berlin: Mann, 1983.
Fischer, F. Die Hethitische Keramik von Boğazköy. WVDOG 75.
Berlin: Mann, 1963.
Müller-Karpe, A. Hethitische Töpferei: ein Beitrag zur Kenntnis spat-
grossreichzeitlicher Keramik und Topfereibetriebe unter Zugrund-
elugung der Grabungsergebnisse 1979-82 in Bogazkoy. Marburg:
Hitzeroth, 1982.
Orthmann, Winfried. Frühe Keramik von Boğazköy. WVDOG 74.
Berlin: Mann, 1963.
Parzinger, H., and R. Sanz. Die Oberstadt von Hattusa. Hethitische
Keramik aus dem zentralen Tempelviertel. Funde aus den
Grabungen 1982-1987. Bogazkoy-Hattusa 15. Berlin: Gebruder
Mann, 1992.

C. Gordion

Henrickson, R. C. “Continuity and discontinuity in the ceramic

tradition at Gordion during the Iron Age.” In D.H.French and
A. Çilingiroğlu, (eds.). Anatolian Iron Ages 3 (1994): 95-129.
———. “Hittite potters and pottery: the view from Late Bronze Age
Gordion.” Biblical Archaeologist 58 (1995): 82-90.
Henrickson, R. C., and M. J. Blackman. “Large scale production of
pottery at Gordion: a comparison of Late Bronze and Early
Phrygian industries.” Paléorient 22 (1996): 67-87.

Excavation Reports

Alaca Höyük

Arik, R. O. Les Fouilles d’Alaca Hüyük Rapport Préliminaire sur les

Travaux en 1935. Ankara: Turkish Historical Foundation, 1937.
Kosay, H.Z. Ausgrabungen von Alaca Hüyük. Ankara: Turkish
Historical Foundation, 1944.
———.Les Fouilles d’Alaca Hüyük. Rapport Préliminaire sur les Tra-
vaux en 1937-39. Ankara: Turkish Historical Foundation, 1951.
350 ● BIBLIOGRAPHY

Koşay, H.Z., and M. Akok. Ausgrabungen von Alaca Hüyük 1940-

1948. Ankara: Historical Foundation, 1966.
———. Alacahöyük Excavations 1963-1967. Ankara: Turkish
Historical Foundation, 1973.

Alişar Höyük

Schmidt, E. F. Anatolia Through the Ages: Discoveries at the Alishar

Mound, 1927-29. Chicago: Oriental Institute, 1931.
———. Alishar Hüyük: Seasons 1928-29 (Parts I-II). Chicago:
Oriental Institute, 1932-1933.
Von der Osten, H. H. Discoveries in Anatolia, 1930-31. Chicago:
Oriental Institute Communications 14, 1933.
———. The Alishar Hüyük: Seasons 1930-32 (Parts I-III). Chicago:
Oriental Institute, 1937.

Beycesultan

Lloyd, Seton, and James Mellaart. Beycesultan, Vol. I. London: BIAA

Occasional Publications 6, 1962.
———. Beycesultan, Vol .II. London: BIAA Occasional Publications
8, 1965.
Lloyd, Seton. Beycesultan,Vol. III.(Part I). London: BIAA Occasional
Publications 11, 1972.
Mellaart, J. and A.Murray. Beycesultan, Vol.III (Part II). London:
BIAA Occasional Publications 12, 1995.

Carchemish

Hogarth, D. G. Carchemish I: Introductory. London: British Museum,

1914.
Woolley, C. L. Carchemish Part II: The Town Defences. London:
British Museum, 1921.
———. Carchemish Part III: The Excavations of the Inner Town.
London: British Museum, 1952.

Eskiyapar

Özgüç, Tahsin, and Raci Temizer. “The Eskiyapar treasure.” In Aspects

of Art and Iconography in Anatolia and Its Neighbours (Festschrift
Nimet Özgüç). Ankara: Turkish Historical Foundation, 1993: 613-
628.
 BIBLIOGRAPHY ● 351

Hama

Fugmann, E. Hama 2:1. L’Architecture des Périodes Pré-

Hellenistiques. Copenhagen: Carlsberg Foundation, 1958.
Riis, P. J. Hama 2:3. Les Cimetières à Crémation. Copenhagen:
Carlsberg Foundation, 1948.

Horoztepe

Özgüç, Tahsin, and Mahmut Akok. Horoztepe—An Early Bronze Age

Settlement and Cemetery. Ankara: Turkish Historical Foundation,
1958.

Ikiztepe

Alkim, U. B., O. Bilgi and H. Alkim. Ikiztepe I: The First and Second
Season (1974-1975). Ankara, 1988.

Inandiktepe

Özgüç, Tahsin. Inandiktepe—An Important Cult Center in the Old

Hittite Period. Ankara: Turkish Historical Foundation, 1988.

KaraHüyük (Elbistan)

Özgüç, Tahsin, and Nimet Özgüç. KaraHüyük Hafriyati Raporu, 1947.

Ankara: Turkish Historical Foundation, 1949.

Kilise Tepe

Postgate, J. N. “Between the plateau and the sea: Kilise Tepe 1994-
1997.” In Roger Matthews (ed.), Ancient Anatolia. London: BIAA
(1998): 127-141.

Korucutepe

Van Loon, Maurits N. (ed.). Korucutepe I-III. Amsterdam: North

Holland Publishing, 1975-1980.
352 ● BIBLIOGRAPHY

Kültepe

Özgüç, T., and N. Özgüç. Ausgrabungen in Kültepe 1948/1949.

Ankara: Turkish Historical Foundation, 1950-1953.
Özgüç, Tahsin. Kültepe-Kanis: New Researches at the Center of the
Assyrian Trade Colonies. Ankara: Turkish Historical Foundation,
1959.
———. Kültepe-Kanis II: New Researches at the Trading Center of the
Ancient Near East. Ankara: Turkish Historical Foundation, 1986.

Malatya (Arslantepe)

Delaporte, L. Malatya, Arslantepe. Paris, 1940.

Frangipane, Marcella, and J. D.Hawkins. “Melid.” In Erich Ebeling and
Bruno Meisner (eds.), Reallexicon der Assyriologie 8. Berlin,
1993-1997: 35-52.

Maşat Höyük

Özgüç, Tahsin. Excavations at Maşat Höyük and Investigations in Its

Vicinity. Ankara: Turkish Historical Foundation, 1978.
———. Maşat Höyük II—A Hittite Center Northeast of Boğazköy.
Ankara: Turkish Historical Foundation, 1982.

Mersin

Garstang, John. Prehistoric Mersin. Oxford: Oxford University Press,

1953.

Norşuntepe

Hauptmann, Harald. Reports [in German] on the excavations:

Istanbuler Mitteilungen 19-20 (1969): 21-78; and in Keban 3
(1972), Keban 5 (1976) and Keban 6 (1979).
———. “Die Grabungen auf dem Norşuntepe 1974.” Keban 7 (1982):
41-94.

Porsuk Höyük

Crespin, A.-S. ”The Porsuk area at the beginning of the Iron Age.” AS
49 (1999): 61-71.
Pelon, Olivier. “Occupation Hittite et début de l’age du fer à Porsuk.”
 BIBLIOGRAPHY ● 353

In Le Guen-Pollet, B., and O. Pelon (eds.), La Cappadoce

Meridionale Jusqu’à la Fin de l’Époque Romaine. État des
Recherches: 15-18. Paris, 1991.

Sakçegözü

Du Plat Taylor, Joan, M. V.Seton-Williams and J. Waechter. “The

excavations at Sakçegözü.” Iraq XII (1950): 53-138.
Garstang, John. Interim reports: Liverpool Annals of Archaeology and
Anthropology 1 (108), 5 (1912) and 24 (1937).

Tarsus

French, E. “A reassessment of the Mycenaean pottery at Tarsus.” AS

25 (1975): 53-75.
Goldman, Hetty. Excavations at Gozlu Kule—Tarsus 2. Princeton,
N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1956.

Tell Halaf

Oppenheim, Max Freiherr. Tell Halaf: A New Culture in Oldest

Mesopotamia. London: Putnam, 1933.
Dornemann, R. H. “Halaf, Tell.” In Meyers, E. M. (ed.), The Oxford
Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Near East 2 : 460-462.

Ugarit (Ras Shamra)

Curtis, Adrian. Ugarit—Ras Shamra. Cities of the Biblical World.

Cambridge: Lutterworth Press, 1985.
Schaeffer, C. F. A., et al. Ugaritica III. Mission de Ras Shamra. Paris:
Imprimerie Nationale, 1956. [For Hittite royal seals and seal
impressions.].

Zincirli

Von Luschan, F., C. Humann, R. Koldewey and N. Andrae. Five

reports in Könligichen Museen zu Berlin: Mitteilungen aus den
Orientalischen Sammlungen, Heft 11-15. [Excavation results,
inscriptions, architecture and small finds.]
354 ● BIBLIOGRAPHY

Aspects of Various Sites

A. Troy

Beekes, Robert. “The prehistory of the Lydians, the origins of the

Etruscans, Troy and Aeneas.” Bibliotheca Orientalis 59 (2002):
205-241.
Bryce, T. R. “Review of Mellink 1986.” Bibliotheca Orientalis 45
(1988): 668-680.
Easton, Donald F., J. D. Hawkins, A. G. Sherratt and E. S. Sherratt.
“Troy in recent perspective.” AS 52 (2002): 75-110.
Easton, D. F. “Has the Trojan War been found?” Review of Michael
Wood . Antiquity 59 (1985): 188-196.
Mellink, Machteld J. (ed.). Troy and the Trojan War. Bryn Mawr Pa.:
Bryn Mawr College, 1986.
Wood, Michael. In Search of the Trojan War. London: British
Broadcasting Corporation, 1985.

B. Beycesultan

Mellaart, James. “The second millennium chronology of Beycesultan.”

AS 20 (1970): 55-67.
———.“Western Anatolia, Beycesultan and the Hittites.” In Festschrift
Mélanges Mansel. Ankara, 1974: 493-526

C. Emar

Adamthwaite, M. R. Late Hittite Emar. Ancient Near Eastern Studies

Supplement 8. Louvain: Peeters, 2001.
Margueron, J.-C. “Maquettes architecturales de Meskene-Emar.” Syria
53 (1976): 193-232.
———. “Emar, capital of Astata in the fourteenth century BCE.”
Biblical Archaeologist 58 (1995): 126-138.

D. Ugarit

Heltzer, Michael. The Rural Community in Ancient Ugarit.

Wiesbaden: Dr. Ludwig Reichert, 1976.
———. The Internal Organization of the Kingdom of Ugarit.
Wiesbaden: Dr. Ludwig Reichert, 1982.
Pardee, Dennis. “Ugaritic studies at the end of the twentieth century.”
BASOR 320 (2000): 49-86.
 BIBLIOGRAPHY ● 355

Saade, G. Ougarit—Metropole Cananeénne. Beirut, 1979.

Watson, Wilfred G. E., and Nicholas Wyatt. Handbook of Ugaritic
Studies. Handbuch der Orientalistik, Abteilung 1, Band 39.
Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1999.

E. Other sites

Emre, Kutlu. “The Hittite dam of Karakuyu.” Bulletin of the Middle

East Culture Center in Japan 7 (1993): 1-42.
Özgüç, Tahsin. “The Bitik vase.” Anadolu (Anatolia) 2 (1957): 57-78.

Boğazköy Excavation Reports in Order of Publication

The earlier reports appeared in Wissenschaftliche Veröffentlichungen

der deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft [WVDOG], the later in the series
Ergebnisse der Ausgrabungen, edited by Kurt Bittel.

Puchstein, Otto. Boghaskoi, Die Bauwerke. Leipzig, 1912.

Bittel, Kurt, and H. G. Güterbock. Boğazköy: Neue Untersuchungen in
der Hethitischen Haupstadt. Berlin, 1935.
Bittel, Kurt. Boğazköy I—Die Kleinfunde der Grabungen 1906-12. I.
Funde Hethitischer Zeit. Leipzig: J. C. Hinrichs, 1937.
Bittel, Kurt and Rudolf Naumann. Boğazköy II—Neue Untersuchungen
hethitischer Architektur. Berlin, 1938.
———.Boğazköy-Hattusa I: Architektur, Topographie, Landeskunde
und Siedlungsgeschichte. WVDOG 63. Stuttgart: W. Kohlhammer,
1952.
———. Boğazköy III—Funde aus den Grabungen 1952-55. Berlin,
1957.
Bittel, Kurt, et al. Die Hethitischen Grabfunden von Osmankayasi
WVDOG 71. Berlin: Mann, 1958.
Bittel, Kurt, Rudolf Naumann and Heinz Otto. Yazılıkaya. WVDOG 61.
Osnabruck, 1967.
Beran, Thomas. Die Hethitische Glyptik von Boğazköy. WVDOG 76.
Berlin: Mann, 1967.
Schirmer, Wulf. Die Bebauung am Unteren Büyükkale Nordwesthang
in Boğazköy. WVDOG 81. Berlin: Mann, 1969.
Boehmer, Rainer Michael. Die Kleinfunde von Boğazköy. WVDOG
87. Berlin: Mann, 1972.
Seidl, Ursula. Gefassmarken von Boğazköy. WVDOG 88. Berlin:
Mann, 1972.
Bittel, Kurt, et al. Das Hethitische Felsheiligtum Yazılıkaya. Berlin:
356 ● BIBLIOGRAPHY

Mann, 1975.
Boehmer, R .M. Die Kleinfunde aus der Unterstadt von Boğazköy.
Berlin: Mann, 1979.
Von den Driesch, Angela, and Joachim Boessneck. Reste von Haus—
und Jagdtieren aus der Unterstadt von Boğazköy—Hattusa
Grabungen 1958-1977. Berlin: Mann, 1981
Neve, Peter. Büyükkale—Die Bauwerke. Grabungen 1954-1966.
Berlin: Mann, 1982.
Boehmer, R. M. and H. G. Güterbock. Glyptik aus dem Stadtgebiet
von Boğazköy. Berlin: Mann, 1987.
Hawkins, J. D. The Hieroglyphic Inscription of the Sacred Pool
Complex at Hattusa (SUDBURG). StBoT Beiheft 3. Wiesbaden:
Harrassowitz, 1995.
Neve, P. J. Die Oberstadt von Hattusa. Die Bauwerke I. Das zentrale
Tempelviertel. Boğazköy-Hattusa 16. Berlin: Gebruder Mann,
1999.

Boğazköy: Shorter Reports and General Works

Bittel, Kurt. Hattusha, the Capital of the Hittites. New York: Oxford
University Press, 1970.
———. “The Great Temple of Hattusha-Boğazköy.” AJA 80 (1976):
66-73.
———. Hattuscha, Haupstadt der Hethiter: Geschichte und Kultur
einer altorientalischen Grossmacht. Cologne: Dumont, 1983.
Hawkins, John David. “The new inscription from the Südburg of
Boğazköy-Hattusa.” Archäologischer Anzeiger (1990): 305-314.
Neve, Peter. “Boğazköy-Hattusha: new results of the excavations in the
Upper City.” Anatolica 16 (1989-1990): 7-19.
———. Hattusa Stadt der Götter und Tempel. Mainz am Rhein, 1993.
———. Lecture on excavations in the Upper City, in Proceedings of
the British Academy 80 (1993): 105-132.
Seeher, Jürgen. Hattusha Guide—A Day in the Hittite Capital. Istanbul:
Ege Yayinları, 1999; rev. ed., 2002.

Early Research

A. General

Campbell, J. The Hittites, Their Inscriptions and Their History, I-II.

London, 1891.
Ceram, C. W. [Kurt W. Marek]. Narrow Pass, Black Mountain.
 BIBLIOGRAPHY ● 357

Translated from the German by R. and C. Winston. London: Victor

Gollancz with Sidgwick and Jackson, 1956.
Garstang, John. The Hittite Empire. A survey of the History, Geography
and Monuments of Hittite Asia Minor and Syria. London:
Constable, 1929.
Lloyd, Seton. Foundations in the Dust. Revised and enlarged edition.
London: Thames and Hudson, 1980.

B. Travelers

Chantre, Ernest. Recherches Archéologiques dans l’Asie Occidentale.

Mission en Cappadoce, 1893-1894. Paris, 1898.
Hamilton, W. T. Researches in Asia Minor, Pontus and Armenia, with
some Account of their Antiquities and Geology. London, 1842.
Humann, K., and O. Puchstein. Reise in Kleinasien und Nord-Syrien.
Berlin, 1890.
Von der Osten, Hans Henning. Explorations in Central Anatolia,
Season of 1926. Chicago: Oriental Institute Publications 5, 1929.
———. Explorations in Hittite Asia Minor, 1927-29. Chicago: Oriental
Institute Communications 6 and 8, 1929-1930.
———. Discoveries in Anatolia, 1930-31. Chicago: Oriental Institute
Communication 14, 1933.
Perrot, Georges, Edmond Guillaume and Jules Delbet. Exploration
Archéologique de la Galatie et de la Bithynie, d’une partie de la
Mysie, de la Phrygie, de Cappadoce et de Pont, exécutée en 1861.
Paris, 1872.
Texier, Charles. Description de l’Asie Mineure, faite par ordre du
Gouvernement français de 1833-37, et publieé par le Ministère de
l’Instruction Publique. Beaux-Arts, Monuments Historiques, Plans
et Topographie des Cités Antiques. Gravures de Lemaitre. 3
volumes. Paris, 1839-1849.
Thompson, R. C. “A journey by some unmapped routes in the western
Hittite country between Angora and Ereğli.” Proceedings of the
Society for Biblical Archaeology 32 (1910)-33 (1911).

C. Languages

Hrozny, Bedrich. “Die Lösung des hethitischen Problems.” MDOG 56

(1915): 17-50.
———. Die Sprache der Hethiter. Leipzig, 1917.
Knudtzon, Jorgen Alexander. Die Zwei Arzawa Briefe: Die Altesten
358 ● BIBLIOGRAPHY

Urkunden in Indogermmanische Sprache. Leipzig, 1902.

Sayce, Archibald H. “On the Hamathite inscriptions.” Transactions of
the Society for Biblical Archaeology 5 (1877).
Wright, William. “The decipherment of the Hittite inscriptions.” British
Weekly (March 1887).

Festschrifts

Festschrift Alp. Otten, H., E. Akurgal, H. Ertem and A. Suel (eds.).

Hittite and Other Anatolian and Near Eastern Studies in Honor of
Sedat Alp. Ankara: Turkish Historical Foundation, 1992.
Festschrift Bittel. Boehmer, R. M., and H. Hauptmann (eds.). Beiträge
zur Altertumskunde Kleinasiens–Festschrift für Kurt Bittel
[Contributions on the Study of the Antiquity of Asia Minor].
Mainz: Philipp von Zabern, 1983.
Festschrift Boehmer. Finkbeiner, U., R. Dittmann and H. Hauptmann
(eds.). Beitrage zur Kulturgeschichte Vorderasiens. Festschrift für
Rainer Michael Boehmer [Contributions on the Cultural History of
the Near East]. Mainz am Rhein, 1995.
Festschrift Güterbock 1. Bittel, Kurt, P. H. J. Houwink ten Cate and E.
Reiner (eds.). Anatolian Studies Presented to Hans Gustav
Güterbock on the Occasion of His Sixty-Fifth Birthday. Istanbul:
Netherlands Historical-Archaeological Institute in the Near East,
1974.
Festschrift Güterbock 2. Hoffner, H. A. and G. M. Beckman (eds.).
Kannissuwar: A Tribute to Hans G .Güterbock on His Seventy-
Fifth Birthday. Chicago, 1986.
Festschrift Houwink ten Cate. Van den Hout, T., and J. de Roos (eds.).
Studio Historiae Ardens—Ancient Near Eastern Studies Presented
to Philo H. J .Houwink ten Cate on the Occasion of His 65th
Birthday. Istanbul: Netherlands Historical-Archaeological Institute
in the Near East, 1995.
Festschrift Laroche. Florilegium Anatolicum (Mélanges Offerts á
Emmanuel Laroche). Paris: Boccard, 1979.
Festschrift Mansel. Mélanges Mansel I-II. [Studies presented to Arif
Mufit Mansel.] Ankara: Turkish Historical Foundation, 1974.
Festschrift Meriggi. Carruba, O. (ed.). Studia Mediterranea Piero
Meriggi Dicata. 2 volumes. Pavia, 1979.
Festschrift Neve. Istanbuler Mitteilungen 43 (1993).
Festschrift Otten 1. Neu, E., and C. Ruster (eds.). Festschrift Heinrich
Otten. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1973.
Festschrift Otten 2. Neu, E., and C. Ruster (eds.). Documentum Asiae
 BIBLIOGRAPHY ● 359

Minoris Antiquae. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1988.

Festschrift Nimet Özgüç. Mellink, M. J., E. Porada and T. Özgüç
(eds.). Aspects of Art and Iconography—Anatolia and Its
Neighbours. Studies in Honor of Nimet Özgüç. Ankara: Turkish
Historical Foundation, 1993.
Festschrift Tahsin Özgüç. Emre, Kutlu, Machteld Mellink, Barthel
Hrouda and Nimet Özgüç (eds.). Anatolia and the Ancient Near
East—Studies in Honor of Tahsin Özgüç. Ankara: Turkish
Historical Foundation, 1989.
Festschrift Popko. Taracha, P. (ed.). Silva Anatolica—Anatolian
Studies presented to Maciej Popko on the Occasion of His 65th
Birthday. Warsaw, 2002.

Daily Life, etc.

Canby, J. V. “Falconry (hawking) in Hittite lands.” JNES 61 (2002):

161-201.
Hoffner, Harry. “The Arzana house.” In Festschrift Güterbock 1
(1974): 113-121.
Imparati, F. “Private life among the Hittites.” In J. M. Sasson (ed.).
Civilizations of the Ancient Near East. New York: Scribners, 1995:
571-586.
Klengel, H. “The economy of the Hittite household (E).” Oikumene 5
(1986): 23-31.

Literature and Mythology

Archi, A. “Hittite and Hurrian literatures: an overview.” In J. M. Sasson

(ed.). Civilizations of the Ancient Near East. New York: Scribners,
1995: 2367-2377.
Beckman, G. “Mythologie A.II. Bei den Hethitern.” [In English] in
Erich Ebeling and Bruno Meissner (eds.), Reallexicon der
Assyriologie 8. Berlin, 1993-1997: 564-572.
Güterbock, H. G. “Hittite version of the Hurrian Kumarbi myths:
oriental forerunners of Hesiod.” AJA 52 (1948): 123-134.
———. “The Song of Ullikummi: revised text of the Hittite version of
a Hurrian myth.” JCS 5 (1951): 135-61; JCS 6 (1952): 8-42.
———. “Hittite mythology.” In S.N. Kramer (ed.). Mythologies of the
Ancient World. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1961: 141-179.
Hoffner, H. A. Hittite Myths. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1998, 2nd ed.
Unal, A. “The power of narrative in Hittite literature.” Biblical
Archaeologist 52 (1989): 130-143.
360 ● BIBLIOGRAPHY

Languages and Writing

Adrados, F. R. “The archaic structure of Hittite: the crux of the

problem.” JIES 10 (1982): 1-35.
Beckman, G. “The Hittite language and its decipherment.” Bulletin of
the Canadian Society for Mesopotamian Studies 31 (1996): 23-30.
Goetze, Albrecht. “The linguistic continuity of Anatolia as shown by its
proper names.” JCS 8 (1954): 74-81.
Hawkins, J. D. “Writing in Anatolia: imported and indigenous
systems.” World Archaeology 17 (1985): 363-376.
Justins, Carol F. “The impact of non-Indo-European languages on
Anatolia.” In Edgar C. Polomé and Werner Winter (eds.).
Reconstructing Languages and Cultures (1992): 443-467.
Kammenhuber, A. “The linguistic situation of the second millennium
BC in ancient Anatolia.” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society
(1975): 116-120.
Kimball, S. E. Hittite Historical Phonology. Innsbruck: Institut für
Sprachwissenschaft, 1999.
Polomé, Edgar C., and Werner Winter (eds.). Reconstructing
Languages and Cultures. Trends in Linguistics–Studies and
Monographs 58. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 1992.
Thieme, P. “The ‘Aryan’ gods of the Mitanni treaties.” JAOS 80
(1960): 301-317.

Personal Names (Onomastica)

Donbaz, Veysel. “Old Assyrian influence on the Hittite onomasticon

and toponyms.” AA 14 (1996): 229-241.
Hoffner, H. A. “Name, Namengebung. C. Bei den Hethitern.” [In
English] In Erich Ebeling and Bruno Meisner (eds.), Reallexicon
der Assyriologie 9. Berlin, 2001: 116-121.
Khossian, Aram V. “The outline of Anatolian onomastics.” SMEA 24
(1984): 225-227. [Memorial volume for Piero Meriggi (1899-
1982)].
Laroche, E. Les Noms des Hittites. Paris, 1966.
Popko, M. Reviews of van Gessel. Onomasticon of the Hittite
Pantheon. Bibliotheca Orientalis 55 (1998): 855-858; and 59
(2002): 117-118.
Salvini, Mirjo. The Habiru Prism of King Tunip-Tessup of Tikunani.
Rome: Istituto per gli Studi Micenei ed Egeo-Anatolici, 1996.
Van Gessel, Ben H. L. Onomasticon of the Hittite Pantheon. Parts 1-2
 BIBLIOGRAPHY ● 361

(1998); part 3 (2001). Leiden: E. J. Brill.

Wilhelm, Gernot. “Name, Namengebung. D. Bei den Hurritern.” In
Erich Ebeling and Bruno Meissner (eds.), Reallexicon der
Assyriologie 9. Berlin, 2001: 121-127

Hurrians

Buccellati, G., and M. Kelly Buccellati. “Urkesh, the first Hurrian

capital.” Biblical Archaeologist 60 (1997): 77-96.
———. “The royal storehouse of Urkesh: the glyptic evidence from the
southwestern wing.” Archiv für Orientforschung 42-43 (1995-
1996): 1-32.
Burney, Charles. “Hurrians and Indo-Europeans in their historical and
archaeological context.” In Special Volume in Commemoration of
the 70th Birthday of Professor Hideo Fujii. Kokushikan, Japan:
Institute for Cultural Studies of Ancient Iraq (1997): 175-193.
Güterbock, H. G. “The Hurrian element in the Hittite Empire.” Journal
of World History 2 (1954): 383-394.
Mascheroni, Lorenza M. “Scribi hurriti a Boğazköy: una verifica
prosopografica.” SMEA 24 (1984): 151-173.
Wilhelm, Gernot, and Diana Stein. The Hurrians. Translated from
German by Jennifer Barnes. Warminster, England: Aris and
Phillips, 1989.

Early Trans-Caucasian Culture

Burney, Charles. “Hurrians and Proto-Indo-Europeans: the ethnic

context of the Early Trans-Caucasian culture.” In Festschrift
Tahsin Özgüç (1989): 45-51.
———. “The highland sheep are sweeter . . .” In Cultural Interaction
in the Ancient Near East. Papers read at a symposium held at the
University of Melbourne, Department of Classics and
Archaeology, 29-30 September 1994. Abr-Nahrain Supplement
Series Volume 5: 1-15.
Diamant, S., and J. Rutter. “Horned objects in Anatolia and the Near
East and possible connections with the Minoan horns of
consecration.” AS 19 (1969): 147-177.
Edens, C. “Transcaucasia at the end of the Early Bronze Age.” BASOR
299/300 (1995): 53-64.
362 ● BIBLIOGRAPHY

The Fall of Hatti and the Sea Peoples

A. Decline and fall of Hatti

Drews, Richard. The End of the Bronze Age: Changes in Warfare and
the Catastrophe ca. 1200 BC. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University
Press, 1993.
Hawkins, J. David. “The inscriptions of the Kızıldağ and the Karadağ
in the light of the Yalburt inscription.” In Festschrift Alp (1992):
259-275.
———. “Anatolia: the end of the Hittite Empire and after.” In Eva
Braun-Holzinger and Hartmut Matthaus (eds.), Kulturelle und
Sprachliche Kontakte. Colloquium im Johannes Gutenberg-
Universitat 11-12 Dezember 1998. Mainz: Bibliopolis, 2002.
Singer, Itamar. “The battle of Nihriya and the end of the Hittite
Empire.” ZA 75 (1985): 100-123.
———. “New evidence on the end of the Hittite Empire.” In E. D.
Oren (ed.). The Sea Peoples and Their World. Philadelphia, 2000:
21-33.
Ward, A.W., and M. S. Joukowsky. The Crisis Years—The 12th
Century BC. Dubuque, Iowa. 1989.
Woodhuizen, Fred C. “The late Hittite Empire in the light of recently
discovered hieroglyphic texts.” JIES 22 (1994): 53-81.

B. Sea Peoples

Astour, M. C. “New evidence on the last days of Ugarit.” AJA 69

(1965): 253-258.
Cifola, B. “Ramesses III and the Sea Peoples: a structural analysis of
the Medinet Habu inscriptions.” Orientalia 57 (1988): 275-306.
Drews, Richard. “Oxcarts, ships and migration theories.” JNES 59
(2000): 161-190.
Mellink, Machteld J. (ed.). Dark Ages and Nomads. Istanbul:
Netherlands Institute, 1964.
Oren, Eliezer D. (ed.). The Sea Peoples and Their World: A
Reassessment. Philadelphia: University Museum, University of
Pennsylvania, 2000.
Sandars, Nancy K. The Sea Peoples: Warriors of the Ancient
Mediterranean, 1250-1150 BC. Rev. ed. London: Thames and
Hudson, 1985.
 BIBLIOGRAPHY ● 363

Neo-Hittite Civilization

A. General

Akurgal, Ekrem. The Birth of Greek Art. London, 1968.

Bunnens, Guy (ed.). Essays on Syria in the Iron Age. Ancient Near
Eastern Studies [formerly Abr-Nahrain] Supplement Louvain:
Peeters Press, 2000
Çilingiroğlu, Altan, David French and Roger Matthews (eds.).
Anatolian Iron Ages 1-4. London: BIAA. Proceedings of
colloquia held under the chairmanship of Professor Çilingiroğlu at
Izmir (1984, 1987), Van (1990) and Mersin (1997), with many
contributions on Urartu, Phrygia and related topics. The 1997
colloquium is published as AS 49 (1999). Forthcoming: papers
from Van 2001 colloquium.
Hawkins, J. D. “The Neo-Hittite states in Syria and Anatolia.” In
Cambridge Ancient History III, 1: 372-441.
Yakar, Jak. “Anatolian civilization following the disintegration of the
Hittite Empire: an archaeological appraisal.” Tel Aviv 20 (1993): 3-
28.

B. Carchemish

Hawkins, J. D. “Building inscriptons of Carchemish: the Long Wall of

Sculpture and Great Staircase.” AS 22 (1972): 87-114.
———. “Karkamis.” In Erich Ebeling and Bruno Meissner (eds.),
Reallexicon der Assyriologie 5. Berlin, 1980: 426-446.
———. “Kuzi-Tesub and the ‘Great Kings’ of Carchemish.” AS 38
(1988): 99-108.
———. “Karkamish and Karatepe: Neo-Hittite city-states in north
Syria.” In J. M. Sasson (ed.). Ancient Civilizations of the Near
East. New York: Scribners, 1995: 1295-1307.
———. “‘Great Kings’ and ‘Country-Lords’ at Malatya and
Karkamish.” In Festschrift Houwink ten Cate (1995): 73-85.

C. Tabal

Hawkins, J. D. “Problems of hieroglyphic Luwian inscriptions.” AS 29

(1979): 153-167.
———. “The Kululu lead strips: economic documents in hieroglyphic
Luwian.” AS 37 (1987): 135-162.
Özgüç, Tahsin. Kültepe and Its Vicinity in the Iron Age. Ankara:
364 ● BIBLIOGRAPHY

Turkish Historical Foundation, 1971.

D. Karatepe

Barnett, Richard D. “Karatepe, the key to the Hittite hieroglyphs.” AS

3 (1953): 53-95.
Çambel, H. and A. Özyar. Karatepe-Aslantaş Azatiwataya.. Die
Bildwerke. Mainz am Rhein: Philipp von Zabern, 2003.
Hawkins, J. D. “On the problems of Karatepe: the hieroglyphic text.”
AS 28 (1978): 103-119.
Winter, Irene J. “On the problems of Karatepe: the reliefs and their
context.” AS 29 (1979): 115-151.
 About the Author

Charles Burney, after graduating in history and archaeology from

King’s College, Cambridge, gained wide firsthand experience of Near
Eastern archaeology on excavations in Egypt, Cyprus, Jordan, Turkey,
Iraq and Iran. After carrying out extensive archaeological surveys in
northern and eastern Turkey, he was appointed to a junior post in the
University of Manchester, thereafter as senior lecturer in Near Eastern
Archaeology. He has directed excavations in northwestern Iran as well
as at a site in the territory of the Iron Age kingdom of Urartu (Ararat) in
eastern Turkey, where one of his former students is currently directing
excavation of a major Urartian fortress beside Lake Van.
From 1954 he carried out his archaeological reconnaissances by
bicycle over nontarmac roads for three years and later by Land-Rover.
The acquisition of a reasonable command of spoken Turkish was
essential, not least in the villages.
In Manchester, his philosophy as a teacher was to provide his B.A.
students with a broad view in both time and space, from Turkey, the
Caucasus and Iran to Egypt, the Levant and Iraq and from the Neolithic
period until ca.500 BC. This approach is no longer very fashionable in
a time of increasing specialization.
Married in 1960, with twins now in their thirties, he lives in the
United Kingdom, in Buxton (Derbyshire) and in a cottage beside the
sea in the Isle of Skye, with his wife, Brigit, and Labrador dog, Fergus.