From: trh@jack.sns.com (Al Trh)
Newsgroups: rec.travel
Subject: Hittites
Date: 28 Dec 92 21:56:31 GMT
Organization: Systems'n'Software


                                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.  
 
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