|
some places the eastern valley
narrows to a deep gorge. It seems
surprising that such a remote city
could have been the capital of an
empire, but besides tradition there
were the factors of plentiful water
and good natural defenses that kept
the Hittite kings there.
The first settlement at the site
dates from the Early Bronze Age, but
no documents exist that could
identify the people who built them.
They lived on the top and northwest
foot of the high hill which
dominates the east side of the city,
called Büyükkale ("Great Fortress").
This hill later became the Hittite
Acropolis.
The first writing from the site are
clay tablets with Old Assyrian
cuneiform. These demonstrate the
presence of Assyrian merchants at
the city, then called Hattus, around
1800 BCE. The largest Assyrian
trading center in Anatolia was at
Kanesh, which flourished from 1950
BCE to 1850 BCE (end of First
Intermediate Period and beginning of
Twelfth Dynasty), was destroyed, and
then became active again around 1820
BCE and lasted another two
generations (late 12th Dynasty).
Assyrian trading at Hattusas is
contemporary only with the later
period.
The early settlers of Hattus spoke a
language with the same name. It
belongs to no other known family and
scholars call it Hattic to
distinguish it from Hittite. Hittite
is an Indo-European language and
probably arrived with Indo-European
conquerors, although details of this
"conquest" are lacking. Indo-European
names appear at Kanesh before 1850
BCE, and it is possible that the
native Hattic people made up the
ruling class or even the entire
population during this period, but
this cannot be proven. The merchants
lived in the lower part of the city,
which extended up to the great hill,
whereupon the king's palace was
probably located. The entire city
was destroyed, probably by a King
Anittas of Kussara sometime after
1800 BCE. A Hittite text supposed to
have been written by him describes
his conquests in Anatolia, noting he
destroyed Hattusas, killed its King
Piyusti, and cursed the city's site.
The Indo-Europeans added an a
to the city's name and declined it
according to their own language,
giving it the nominative form
Hattusas. The first mention of the
name in that form is in a tablet
from Mari, on the middle Euphrates,
from the time of Hammurabi
(1792-1750 BCE, end of the Twelfth
Dynasty). This may be a reference to
the city before its destruction.
In spite of the curse laid by his
predecessor, another king from
Kussara made Hattusas his capital in
the middle of the 17th century BCE (Thirteenth
Dynasty). Although his name was
Labarnas, he was known as Hattusilis
I, "The One from Hattusas". He is
the first ruler mentioned in the
Hittite language and one of the
founders of the Hittite kingdom. A
successor, Hantilis, supposedly
fortified the city, building a wall
surrounding the northern terraces
and following the eastern valley up
to the great hill, which by then was
probably the acropolis. On the west
it followed a side valley down to
the terraces.
Afterwards Hattusas
remained the Hittite capital almost
without interruption. It was
destroyed around 1380 BCE (during
the reign of
Amenhotep III),
but soon rebuilt and refortified by
Suppiluliumas.
His conquests of Anatolia and Syria
made him king of a true empire. One
of his successors, Muwatallis (ruled
approximately during the reign of
Horemheb)
moved the capital to the south "upon
command of the gods", but his
successor returned to Hattusas,
which remained the capital until the
fall of the empire.
In the Hittite New Kingdom, or
Empire Period (ca.1400-c.1190 BCE;
from Amenhotep III to the end of the
Nineteenth Dynasty), the city
expanded to the south. A wall was
built from the great hill down along
the western valley, which
significantly strengthened the
fortification system, especially at
the highest section. Here, a deep
moat and high earth rampart
protected the city against the hills
to the south, while the defenders
were aided with a corbelled tunnel (Yerkapu,
or "Ground Gate"), a paved glacis (defensive
slope), and flights of stairs. The
decorated gates were also built at
this time, including the King's Gate
in the southeast and the Lion Gate
in the southwest.
Although temples were supposed to
have existed in the Old Kingdom, the
only ruins remaining date from the
New. Four belong to the upper city
section added at this time. In the
lower city is the Great Temple with
its many subsidiary buildings. The
acropolis on the hill was rebuilt in
monumental style as well.
|
Sokullu
Pasha Hotel
