The Hanyeri relief (or ''Gezbeli relief'') is a Hittite rock relief near Hanyeri on the road from

Tufanbeyli Tufanbeyli is small city and a district in Adana Province of Turkey, 196 km north-east of the city of Adana, on an uneven, sloping plateau high in the Tahtalı range of the Toros mountains. It has been bounded economically to Kayseri, 178 km ...

to Develi in Tufanbeyli district in Adana Province, about 80 km southeast of

Kayseri Kayseri (; el, Καισάρεια) is a large Industrialisation, industrialised List of cities in Turkey, city in Central Anatolia, Turkey, and the capital of Kayseri Province, Kayseri province. The Kayseri Metropolitan Municipality area is comp ...

, in Turkey. In Hittite times, the route over the 1960 m high Gezbeli Pass through the Taurus Mountains, which connected the Hittite heartland on the Kızılırmak River with

Cilicia Cilicia (); el, Κιλικία, ''Kilikía''; Middle Persian: ''klkyʾy'' (''Klikiyā''); Parthian: ''kylkyʾ'' (''Kilikiyā''); tr, Kilikya). is a geographical region in southern Anatolia in Turkey, extending inland from the northeastern coas ...

, passed by here.Horst Ehringhaus: ''Götter, Herrscher, Inschriften.'' 2005, S. 80. At the other end of the pass, to the northwest, is the İmamkullu relief. Rock reliefs are a prominent aspect of Hittite art.

Description

The Hanyeri relief was discovered in 1939 by Ali Rıza Yalgın, then director of the Adana Archaeology Museum and dates to the 13th century BC. It is about four metres above floor level and is about 2 m x 3.5 m. A bull is depicted on the left hand side, standing on the shoulders of two mountain goddesses. Hieroglyphs name the bull as the god Sarruma. A border warrior stands in the centre, facing left, with a bow hung over his shoulder and a spear in his right hand. He wears a short tunic and pointy shoes. He is identified by an inscription as the "son of a king" and his name probably reads "Ku(wa)lanamuwa." The same name appears on the Manisa relief and the İmamkullu relief, but it is not clear whether all three refer to the same person. This inscription is located left of the prince's head and is in Luwian hieroglyphs. Another inscription appears behind the prince's back (unusually) and is probably not related to the figural relief. J.D. Hawkins reads it as the name "Tarḫuntabijammi"; it may have been added later. Hawkins connects this name with a prince "Tarḫuntabija," who is named in the

Hemite relief The Hemite relief is a Hittite rock relief at Gökçedam (formerly ''Hemite'') in the central district of Osmaniye Province in Turkey, about 20 km northwest of the provincial capital of Osmaniye. Rock reliefs are a prominent aspect of Hittit ...

. As of 2013, the monument was in poor condition and no longer recognisable.

References

Bibliography

* Kay Kohlmeyer. "Felsbilder der hethitischen Großreichszeit." ''Acta Praehistorica et Archaeologica'' 15 (1983) pp. 86–90. * Eberhard P. Rossner. ''Felsdenkmäler in der Türkei. Band 1: Die hethitischen Felsreliefs in der Türkei. Ein archäologischer Führer.'' 2nd expanded edition. Rossner, München 1988, . *

Horst Ehringhaus Horst may refer to: Science * Horst (geology), a raised fault block bounded by normal faults or graben People * Horst (given name) * Horst (surname) * ter Horst, Dutch surname * van der Horst, Dutch surname Places Settlements Germany * Horst, ...

. ''Götter, Herrscher, Inschriften. Die Felsreliefs der hethitischen Großreichszeit in der Türkei.'' Zabern, Mainz 2005, , pp. 75–80.

External links

Description on www.hittitemonuments.com
{{coord, 38.2134, N, 36.0149, E, source:wikidata, display=title Hittite art Hittite sites in Turkey Archaeological sites in the Mediterranean Region, Turkey Luwian inscriptions Rock reliefs in Turkey Tourist attractions in Adana Province