From: trh@jack.sns.com (Al Trh)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.turkish
Subject: Hittites
Date: 28 Dec 1992 16:41:12 -0600
Organization: CS Dept, University of Texas at Austin
Reply-To: Turkish Cultural Program List <TRKNWS-L%USCVM.BitNet@pucc.PRINCETON.EDU>
NNTP-Posting-Host: cs.utexas.edu

                                History

                    THE GOLDEN AGE OF THE HITTITES
                           Turkish Airlines
                           Skylife Magazine


          The ancient Hittite civilization which once covered
     large areas of central and southern Turkey has a special
     place in the consciousness of the modern republic. Ataturk,
     founding father of the Turkish nation, urged artists and
     writers to look to the Hittites, as well as other early
     Anatolian civilizations, for inspiration. Today, a striking
     Hittite sun figure is the symbol of the Turkish Ministry of
     Tourism, and a huge reproduction of a bronze stag,
     popularized in Hittite arC, stands in the center of one of
     Ankara's busiest traffic inter-sections. Some archeologists
     have built their academic careers on uncovering Turkey's
     Hittite past; and each year the country's scattered Hittite
     sites continue to produce a regular crop of new finds.
         The Hittites were an Indo-European people who occupied a
     large area of Anatolia during the second millennium BC.
     Around I 650 BC they established their capital at Hattusas,
     now Bogazky, in central Turkey, gradually emerging as a
     great power in the Middle East,~ particularly after the
     capture of Babylon in I 595 BC. Little, however, was known
     about Hittite history until excavations began in Bogazky in
     I 906. These produced notable artworks, many of which are
     now on display in Ankara's Museum of Anatolian
     Civilizations. More important, though, for the
     reconstruction of Hittite history was the discovery of state
     archives inscribed in cuneiform --writing in wedge - shaped
     characters ---on thousands of clay tablets,ks Other early
     records are still being uncovered, cleaned and deciphered,
     shedding new light on the ancient Hittite kingdom.
       Sever-al years ago a German Hittitologist, Peter Neve, who
     has been excavating at Bogazky since the mid I 950s,
     unearthed important finds which relate to the Emperor
     Suppiluliumas the First who pursued an energetic
     expansionist policy in the region. One of the two tablets
     uncovered contains a Song epitaph; the other a relief of the
     emperor probably carved after the king's since he is
     portrayed as a deity. The reign of Suppiluliumas the First
     was a golden era for the Hittite empire. Bogazky was
     fortified and Hittite armies embarked on successful military
     campaigns, annexing northern Syria and capturing lands west
     of the Euphrates. Even Egypt nearly came under Hittite
     control with the planned marriage of Tutankhamun's widow to
     one of Suppiluliumas' sons. Unfortunately for the emperor,
     his son was murdered on the way to Egypt ending the proposed
     alliance. Suppilhliumas too, met an unglorious end. He died
     in 1346 BC of plague brought back from the campaign in Syria
     by some of his soldiers.
         Some sixty or so years after Suppiluliumas' death a
     Hittite- Egyptian wedding finally took place. This is
     recorded in the one of the most important Hittite finds yet
     discovered -- the Kadesh Treaty, probably the world's fist
     recorded peace agreement -- uncovered by Peter Neve and his
     colleagues The accord was signed by King Rameses and
     Hattusilis the Third and incorporates a marriage contract
     between Hattusilis's daughter and the Egyptian king.
         Today, summer digs occur on many Hittite sites but
     Bogazkoy continues to be the focus of attention. The site,
     located near Corum, dominates a low hill with extensive
     views over the barren steppeland of north central Anatolia.
     In Hittite times Hattusas citizens would have enjoyed a
     markedly different landscape.  The Hittite homeland was a
     rich source of timber and much of today's undulating
     hillsides were thickly forested.
         While the ancient forests now have to be imagined,
     archaeologists are giving visitors a helping hand at
     mentally reconstructing the Hittite city by uncovering the
     city's foundations. Outlines of the once huge temples are
     slowly being revealed although the work is complicated by
     the remains of later constructions. During the last phase of
     the Hitt!te Empire, towards the end of the thirteenth
     century BC, most of the temples were replaced by ordinary
     houses and workshops~
         The essential structure of the capital is nevertheless
     clear. More than two dozen sanctuaries, a dominated citadel
     - the site of the royal palace - and several ancillary forts
     are all enclosed within a massive wall over five kilometers
     long. The city wall is punctured by nine gateways; of which
     the 'Lion Gate' and 'King's Gate' are the most impressive
     today. The curious 'Sphinx Gate' was reserved for
     pedestrians who entered the city through a remarkable well
     preserved tunnel, 83 meters long. Large figures, either ~
     human or animal, were carved on principal portals to keep
     evil influences at bay; rather like the blue glass beads
     which, some believe, protect against the Evil Eye.
         By far the largest temple, once fronted by a granite
     colonnade, lies in the lower city. Almost square, each side
     measured 275 metres, and within were shrines containing
     life-sized sculptures of Hittite gods adorned with semi-
     precious metals. The Hittites worshipped deities related to
     the power of nature. Of principal importance, the leading
     lady in the Hittite pantheon,was the 'Mother Goddess, a
     well-endowed mother figure often portrayed in a seated
     position. Other gods included Arinna, the 'Sun-Goddess, and
     Hatti, the 'Weather-God' who were worshipped through ritual
     washings, libations and sacrifces.
         While archaelogists continue to uncover new Hittite
     artifacts, the Turkish government has had considerable
     success in recovering Hittite antiquities from abroad.
     Several years ago 10,400 tablets, originally sent to Germany
     for cleaning in 1 9 1 7, were eventually returned. The
     tablets form part of the earliest lots to be found by German
     archaelogists at Bogazkoy between 1906 and 1912. They were
     subsequently sent to Germany with the permission of the
     Ottoman state for cleaning. when restoration was completed
     in 1924 some were returned. Others, however, caught up in
     the political turmoil of the time, remained in Germany
     ending up in the former East Berlin Museum after the Second
     World War. In 1980 Turkey asked for the tablets to be
     returned, initially to no avail. But with the support of
     UNESCO these unique archives were fnally returned to
     Anatolian soil.
         The upper half of another Hittite tablet, taken out of
     Turkey earlier this century, was also purchased at a London
     auction by the Turkish Ministry of Culture soon after the
     return of the Berlin consignment. The tablet, a letter from
     Naptera, wife of Rameses the Second, to the Hittite Queen
     Rudhapa, indicates the close relationship that existed
     between the Hittites and the ancient Egyptians. It is now
     reunited with its lower half, unearthed in 1956, in the
     Ankara Museum.
Xref: sparky soc.culture.turkish:13668 talk.politics.mideast:24329