Hattusa (also Ḫattuša or Hattusas ;
Hittite:
URU
Uru or URU may refer to:
Language
* Uru dialect of Central Kilimanjaro, a Bantu language of Tanzania
* Uru language, the extinct language of the Uros, an Amerindian people
* Uru of Ch'imu, an extinct language of the Uros, an Amerindian people
...
''Ḫa-at-tu-ša'',
Turkish: Hattuşaş ,
Hattic: Hattush) was the capital of the
Hittite Empire
The Hittites () were an Anatolian people who played an important role in establishing first a kingdom in Kussara (before 1750 BC), then the Kanesh or Nesha kingdom (c. 1750–1650 BC), and next an empire centered on Hattusa in north-centra ...
in the late
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...
. Its ruins lie near modern
Boğazkale
Boğazkale ("Gorge Fortress") is a district of Çorum Province in the Black Sea region of Turkey, located from the city of Çorum. Formerly known as Boğazköy ("Gorge Village"), Boghaz Keui or Boghazköy, this small town (basically one street of ...
,
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
, within the great loop of the
Kızılırmak River
The Kızılırmak (, Turkish for "Red River"), once known as the Halys River ( grc, Ἅλυς) and Alis River ( hy, Ալիս), is the longest river flowing entirely within Turkey. It is a source of hydroelectric power and is not used for naviga ...
(Hittite: ''Marashantiya''; Greek: ''
Halys'').
Hattusa was added to the
UNESCO World Heritage Site
A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...
list in 1986.
Surroundings
The landscape surrounding the city included rich agricultural fields and hill lands for
pasture
Pasture (from the Latin ''pastus'', past participle of ''pascere'', "to feed") is land used for grazing. Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, cattle, sheep, or swine ...
as well as woods. Smaller woods are still found outside the city, but in ancient times, they were far more widespread. This meant the inhabitants had an excellent supply of
timber
Lumber is wood that has been processed into dimensional lumber, including beams and planks or boards, a stage in the process of wood production. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, wi ...
when building their houses and other structures. The fields provided the people with a subsistence crop of
wheat
Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeologi ...
,
barley
Barley (''Hordeum vulgare''), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains, particularly in Eurasia as early as 10,000 years ago. Globally 70% of barley pr ...
and
lentils
The lentil (''Lens culinaris'' or ''Lens esculenta'') is an edible legume. It is an annual plant known for its lens-shaped seeds. It is about tall, and the seeds grow in pods, usually with two seeds in each. As a food crop, the largest produ ...
.
Flax
Flax, also known as common flax or linseed, is a flowering plant, ''Linum usitatissimum'', in the family Linaceae. It is cultivated as a food and fiber crop in regions of the world with temperate climates. Textiles made from flax are known in ...
was also harvested, but their primary source for clothing was
sheep
Sheep or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are domesticated, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus ''Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to domesticated s ...
wool
Wool is the textile fibre obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have properties similar to animal wool.
As ...
. They also hunted
deer
Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the red deer, and the fallow deer; and the Capreolinae, including the reindeer ...
in the forest, but this was probably only a luxury reserved for the nobility. Domestic animals provided meat.
There were several other settlements in the vicinity, such as the rock shrine at
Yazılıkaya
:'' Yazılıkaya, Eskişehir, also called Midas City, is a village with Phrygian ruins.''
Yazılıkaya ( tr, Inscribed rock) was a sanctuary of Hattusa, the capital city of the Hittite Empire, today in the Çorum Province, Turkey. Rock reliefs ar ...
and the town at
Alacahöyük. Since the rivers in the area are unsuitable for major
ships
A ship is a large watercraft that travels the world's oceans and other sufficiently deep waterways, carrying cargo or passengers, or in support of specialized missions, such as defense, research, and fishing. Ships are generally distinguished ...
, all transport to and from Hattusa had to go by land.
Early history
Before 2000 BC, the apparently indigenous
Hattian people
The Hattians () were an ancient Bronze Age people that inhabited the land of ''Hatti'', in central Anatolia (modern Turkey). They spoke a distinctive Hattian language, which was neither Semitic nor Indo-European. Hattians are attested by arche ...
established a settlement on sites that had been occupied even earlier and referred to the site as Hattush. The Hattians built their initial settlement on the high ridge of Büyükkale. The earliest traces of settlement on the site are from the sixth millennium BC. In the 19th and 18th centuries BC, merchants from
Assur
Aššur (; Sumerian: AN.ŠAR2KI, Assyrian cuneiform: ''Aš-šurKI'', "City of God Aššur"; syr, ܐܫܘܪ ''Āšūr''; Old Persian ''Aθur'', fa, آشور: ''Āšūr''; he, אַשּׁוּר, ', ar, اشور), also known as Ashur and Qal'a ...
in
Assyria
Assyria (Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , romanized: ''māt Aššur''; syc, ܐܬܘܪ, ʾāthor) was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization which existed as a city-state at times controlling regional territories in the indigenous lands of the A ...
established a trading post there, setting up in their own separate quarter of the city. The center of their trade network was located in
Kanesh (Neša) (modern Kültepe). Business dealings required record-keeping: the trade network from Assur introduced writing to Hattusa, in the form of
cuneiform
Cuneiform is a logo-syllabic script that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Middle East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. It is named for the characteristic wedge-sha ...
.
A carbonized layer apparent in excavations attests to the burning and ruin of the city of Hattusa around 1700 BC. The responsible party appears to have been King
Anitta Anitta may refer to:
* Anitta (king), Hittite king
*Anitta (singer)
Larissa de Macedo Machado (born March 30, 1993), known professionally as Anitta, is a Brazilian singer, songwriter and television host. She is regarded as one of biggest Brazi ...
from
Kussara
Kussara (''Kuššar'') was a Middle Bronze Age kingdom in Anatolia. The kingdom, though apparently important at one time, is mostly remembered today as the origin of the dynasty that would form the Old Hittite Kingdom.
Location
Kussara is occasion ...
, who took credit for the act and erected an inscribed curse for good measure:
The Hittite imperial city
![Hattusa_reconstructed_wall](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/41/Hattusa_reconstructed_wall.JPG)
Only a generation later, a Hittite-speaking king chose the site as his residence and capital. The
Hittite language
Hittite (natively / "the language of Neša", or ''nešumnili'' / "the language of the people of Neša"), also known as Nesite (''Nešite'' / Neshite, Nessite), is an extinct Indo-European language that was spoken by the Hittites, a people ...
had been gaining speakers at the expense of
Hattic for some time. The Hattic ''Hattush'' now became the Hittite ''Hattusa'', and the king took the name of
Hattusili, the "one from Hattusa". Hattusili marked the beginning of a non-Hattic-speaking "Hittite" state and of a royal line of Hittite Great Kings, 27 of whom are now known by name.
After the
Kaskians
The Kaska (also Kaška, later Tabalian Kasku and Gasga,) were a loosely affiliated Bronze Age non-Indo-European tribal people, who spoke the unclassified Kaskian language and lived in mountainous East Pontic Anatolia, known from Hittite sources ...
arrived to the kingdom's north, they twice attacked the city to the point where the kings had to move the royal seat to another city. Under
Tudhaliya I Tudhaliya is the name of several Hittite kings:
*Tudhaliya (also Tudhaliya I) is a hypothetic pre-Empire king of the Hittites. He would have reigned in the late 17th century BC (short chronology). Forlanini (1993) conjectures that this king corres ...
, the Hittites moved north to
Sapinuwa
Sapinuwa (sometimes Shapinuwa; Hittite: ''Šapinuwa'') was a Bronze Age Hittite city at the location of modern Ortaköy in the province Çorum in Turkey. It was one of the major Hittite religious and administrative centres, a military base and ...
, returning later. Under
Muwatalli II
:''See also Muwatalli I''
Muwatalli II (also Muwatallis, or Muwatallish) was a king of the New Kingdom of the Hittite empire c. 1295–1282 (middle chronology) and 1295–1272 BC in the short chronology.
Biography
He was the eldest son of Mursil ...
, they moved south to
Tarhuntassa but assigned
Hattusili III Ḫattušili (''Ḫattušiliš'' in the inflected nominative case) was the regnal name of three Hittite kings:
* Ḫattušili I (Labarna II)
*Ḫattušili II
*Ḫattušili III
It was also the name of two Neo-Hittite kings:
* Ḫattušili I (Labarn ...
as governor over Hattusa.
Mursili III
Mursili III, also known as Urhi-Teshub, was a king of the Hittites who assumed the throne of the Hittite empire (New Kingdom) at Tarhuntassa upon his father's death. He was a cousin of Tudhaliya IV and Queen Maathorneferure. He ruled ca. 1282–1 ...
returned the seat to Hattusa, where the kings remained until the end of the Hittite kingdom in the 12th century BC.
At its peak, the city covered 1.8 km² and comprised an inner and outer portion, both surrounded by a massive and still visible course of walls erected during the reign of
Suppiluliuma I (circa 1344–1322 BC (
short chronology
The chronology of the ancient Near East is a framework of dates for various events, rulers and dynasties. Historical inscriptions and texts customarily record events in terms of a succession of officials or rulers: "in the year X of king Y". Com ...
)). The inner city covered an area of some 0.8 km² and was occupied by a citadel with large administrative buildings and temples. The royal residence, or
acropolis
An acropolis was the settlement of an upper part of an ancient Greek city, especially a citadel, and frequently a hill with precipitous sides, mainly chosen for purposes of defense. The term is typically used to refer to the Acropolis of Athens, ...
, was built on a high ridge now known as Büyükkale (Great Fortress). The city displayed over 6 km of walls, with inner and outer skins around 3 m of thick and 2 m of space between them, adding 8 m of the total thickness.
![Hattusa,_capital_of_the_Hittite_Empire_04](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b6/Hattusa%2C_capital_of_the_Hittite_Empire_04.jpg)
To the south lay an outer city of about 1 km
2, with elaborate gateways decorated with reliefs showing warriors, lions, and sphinxes. Four temples were located here, each set around a porticoed courtyard, together with secular buildings and residential structures. Outside the walls are cemeteries, most of which contain cremation burials. Modern estimates put the population of the city between 40,000 and 50,000 at the peak; in the early period, the inner city housed a third of that number. The dwelling houses that were built with timber and mud bricks have vanished from the site, leaving only the stone-built walls of temples and palaces.
The city was destroyed, together with the Hittite state itself, around 1200 BC, as part of the
Bronze Age collapse
The Late Bronze Age collapse was a time of widespread societal collapse during the 12th century BC, between c. 1200 and 1150. The collapse affected a large area of the Eastern Mediterranean (North Africa and Southeast Europe) and the Near Ea ...
. Excavations suggest that Hattusa was gradually abandoned over a period of several decades as the Hittite empire disintegrated. The site was subsequently abandoned until 800 BC, when a modest
Phrygia
In classical antiquity, Phrygia ( ; grc, Φρυγία, ''Phrygía'' ) was a kingdom in the west central part of Anatolia, in what is now Asian Turkey, centered on the Sangarios River. After its conquest, it became a region of the great empires ...
n settlement appeared in the area.
Discovery
![Museum_Boğazkale_13](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/04/Museum_Bo%C4%9Fazkale_13.jpg)
In 1833, the French archaeologist
Charles Texier
Félix Marie Charles Texier (22 August 1802, Versailles – 1 July 1871, Paris) was a French historian, architect and archaeologist. Texier published a number of significant works involving personal travels throughout Asia Minor and the Middle Eas ...
(1802–1871) was sent on an exploratory mission to Turkey, where in 1834 he discovered ruins of the ancient Hittite capital of Hattusa.
Ernest Chantre
Ernest Chantre (13 January 1843, in Lyon – 24 November 1924, in Écully) was a prominent French archaeologist and anthropologist.
From 1878 to 1910 he was an instructor of geology and anthropology classes at the Muséum de Lyon, and concurre ...
opened some trial trenches at the village then called Boğazköy, in 1893–94. Since 1906, the
German Oriental Society has been excavating at Hattusa (with breaks during the two World Wars and the Depression, 1913–31 and 1940–51). Archaeological work is still carried out by the
German Archaeological Institute
The German Archaeological Institute (german: Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, ''DAI'') is a research institute in the field of archaeology (and other related fields). The DAI is a "federal agency" under the Federal Foreign Office of Germany ...
(Deutsches Archäologisches Institut).
Hugo Winckler
Hugo Winckler (4 July 1863 – 19 April 1913) was a German archaeologist and historian who uncovered the capital of the Hittite Empire (Hattusa) at Boğazkale, Turkey.
A student of the languages of the ancient Middle East, he wrote extens ...
and
Theodore Makridi Bey conducted the first excavations in 1906, 1907, and 1911–13, which were resumed in 1931 under
Kurt Bittel, followed by
Peter Neve
Peter may refer to:
People
* List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name
* Peter (given name)
** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church
* Peter (surname), a s ...
(site director 1963, general director 1978–94).
Cuneiform royal archives
One of the most important discoveries at the site has been the cuneiform royal archives of clay tablets, known as the
Bogazköy Archive
The Bogazkoy archives are a collection of texts found on the site of the capital of the Hittite state, the city of Hattusas (now Bogazkoy in Turkey). They are the oldest extant documents of the state, and they are believed to have been created i ...
, consisting of official correspondence and contracts, as well as legal codes, procedures for cult ceremony, oracular prophecies and literature of the ancient Near East.
One particularly important tablet, currently on display at the
Istanbul Archaeology Museum
The Istanbul Archaeology Museums ( tr, ) are a group of three archaeological museums located in the Eminönü quarter of Istanbul, Turkey, near Gülhane Park and Topkapı Palace.
The Istanbul Archaeology Museums consists of three museums:
#Arch ...
, details the terms of a peace settlement reached years after the
Battle of Kadesh
The Battle of Kadesh or Battle of Qadesh took place between the forces of the New Kingdom of Egypt under Ramesses II and the Hittite Empire under Muwatalli II at the city of Kadesh on the Orontes River, just upstream of Lake Homs near the mod ...
between the Hittites and the Egyptians under
Ramesses II
Ramesses II ( egy, wikt:rꜥ-ms-sw, rꜥ-ms-sw ''Rīʿa-məsī-sū'', , meaning "Ra is the one who bore him"; ), commonly known as Ramesses the Great, was the third pharaoh of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt. Along with Thutmose III he is oft ...
, in 1259 or 1258 BC. A copy is on display in the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
as an example of the earliest known international peace treaties.
Although the 30,000 or so clay tablets recovered from Hattusa form the main corpus of Hittite literature, archives have since appeared at other centers in Anatolia, such as
Tabigga (Maşat Höyük) and Sapinuwa (Ortaköy). They are now divided between the archaeological museums of
Ankara
Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, maki ...
and
Istanbul
Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...
.
Sphinxes
A pair of
sphinx
A sphinx ( , grc, σφίγξ , Boeotian: , plural sphinxes or sphinges) is a mythical creature with the head of a human, the body of a lion, and the wings of a falcon.
In Greek tradition, the sphinx has the head of a woman, the haunches of ...
es found at the southern gate in Hattusa were taken for restoration to
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
in 1917. The better-preserved was returned to Turkey in 1924 and placed on display in the
Istanbul Archaeology Museum
The Istanbul Archaeology Museums ( tr, ) are a group of three archaeological museums located in the Eminönü quarter of Istanbul, Turkey, near Gülhane Park and Topkapı Palace.
The Istanbul Archaeology Museums consists of three museums:
#Arch ...
, but the other remained in Germany where it was on display at the
Pergamon Museum
The Pergamon Museum (; ) is a listed building on the Museum Island in the historic centre of Berlin. It was built from 1910 to 1930 by order of German Emperor Wilhelm II according to plans by Alfred Messel and Ludwig Hoffmann in Stripped Class ...
from 1934, despite numerous requests for its return.
In 2011, threats by Turkish Ministry of Culture to impose restrictions on German archaeologists working in Turkey finally persuaded Germany to return the sphinx, and it was moved to the Boğazköy Museum outside the Hattusa ruins, along with the Istanbul sphinx
– reuniting the pair near their original location.
See also
*
Ancient settlements in Turkey
Below is the list of ancient settlements in Turkey. There are innumerable ruins of ancient settlements spread all over the country. While some ruins date back to Neolithic times, most of them were settlements of Hittite Empire, Hittites, Phrygians ...
*
Cities of the Ancient Near East
The earliest cities in history were in the ancient Near East, an area covering roughly that of the modern Middle East: its history began in the 4th millennium BC and ended, depending on the interpretation of the term, either with the conquest by ...
*
Hittites
The Hittites () were an Anatolian people who played an important role in establishing first a kingdom in Kussara (before 1750 BC), then the Kanesh or Nesha kingdom (c. 1750–1650 BC), and next an empire centered on Hattusa in north-centra ...
*
Biblical Hittites
The Hittites, also spelled Hethites, were a group of people mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. Under the names (''bny-ḥt'' "children of Heth", who was the son of Canaan) and (''ḥty'' "native of Heth") they are described several times as living ...
*
List of megalithic sites
*
Short chronology timeline
The chronology of the ancient Near East is a framework of dates for various events, rulers and dynasties. Historical inscriptions and texts customarily record events in terms of a succession of officials or rulers: "in the year X of king Y". Com ...
*
Yazılıkaya
:'' Yazılıkaya, Eskişehir, also called Midas City, is a village with Phrygian ruins.''
Yazılıkaya ( tr, Inscribed rock) was a sanctuary of Hattusa, the capital city of the Hittite Empire, today in the Çorum Province, Turkey. Rock reliefs ar ...
Notes
Bibliography
*
* W. Dörfler et al.: ''Untersuchungen zur Kulturgeschichte und Agrarökonomie im Einzugsbereich hethitischer Städte''. (MDOG Berlin 132), 2000, 367-381. ISSN 0342-118X
Further reading
*Bryce, Trevor. ''Life and Society in the Hittite World''. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.
*--. ''Letters of the Great Kings of the Ancient Near East: The Royal Correspondence of the Late Bronze Age''. London: Routledge, 2003.
*--. ''The Kingdom of the Hittites''. Rev. ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005.
*Collins, Billie Jean. ''The Hittites and Their World''. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2007.
*Neve, Peter. “The Great Temple in Boğazköy-H ̮attuša.” In ''Across the Anatolian Plateau: Readings in the Archaeology of Ancient Turkey''. Edited by David C. Hopkins, 77–97. Boston: American Schools of Oriental Research, 2002.
*Kuhrt, Amelie. “The Hittites.” In ''The Ancient Near East, c. 3000–330 BC.'' 2 vols. By Amelie Kuhrt, 225–282. London: Routledge, 1994.
*Singer, Itamar. “A City of Many Temples: H ̮attuša, Capital of the Hittites.” In ''Sacred Space: Shrine, City, Land: Proceedings of the International Conference in Memory of Joshua Prawer, Held in Jerusalem, 8–13 June 1992''. Edited by Benjamin Z. Kedar and R. J. Z. Werblowsky, 32–44. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 1998.
*Yazıcı, Çağlan. ''The Hittite Capital Hattusa, Alacahöyük and Shapinuwa: A Journey to the Hittite World In Hattusa, Alacahöyük, Shapinuwa, Eskiapar, Hüseyindede, Pazarlı and the Museums of Boğazköy, Alacahöyük and Çorum''. 1st edition. Istanbul: Uranus Photography Agency and Publishing Co., 2013.
External links
Excavations at Hattusha: a project of the German Institute of ArchaeologyPictures of the old Hittite capital with links to other sitesUNESCO World Heritage page for HattusaPhotos from Hattusa
{{Authority control
Populated places established in the 3rd millennium BC
Populated places disestablished in the 2nd millennium BC
1834 archaeological discoveries
Anatolia
Archaeological sites in the Black Sea Region
Archaeological sites of prehistoric Anatolia
Buildings and structures in Çorum Province
Former populated places in Turkey
Geography of Çorum Province
Hattian cities
History of Çorum Province
Hittite cities
Hittite sites in Turkey
World Heritage Sites in Turkey
Late Bronze Age collapse
Old Assyrian Empire