Hattusa – Capital of the Hittite Empire, Çorum – 2011

Hattusa, one of Anatolia’s most important ancient settlements, became the capital of the Hittite Kingdom in the seventeenth century BCE and later the centre of a powerful empire. Situated in rugged terrain near present-day Boğazkale in Çorum Province, the city is among the most remarkable centres of the Late Bronze Age, with its monumental gates, formidable fortifications, temples and royal buildings. Hattusa was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1986.

The history of Hattusa reaches back long before the Hittites. Hattush, a settlement associated with the Hattians in the third millennium BCE, later became part of the trading network of Assyrian merchants. In the eighteenth century BCE, the city was destroyed by Anitta, king of Kushshara. Roughly a century later, it regained importance under Hattusili I and became the capital of the Hittite state. The Hittites eventually established an empire that exercised power across much of Anatolia and northern Syria. Following the Battle of Kadesh between the Hittites and Egypt, the peace treaty concluded by Hittite king Hattusili III and Pharaoh Ramesses II became one of the ancient world’s most significant diplomatic documents.

Hattusa’s extensive urban area, broadly divided into the Lower City and Upper City, reveals sophisticated planning. Its long defensive walls, towers and monumental gateways demonstrate the importance of protecting the capital. The sculpted lions flanking the Lion Gate, the warrior-deity relief at the King’s Gate and the Sphinx Gate are striking examples of Hittite stonework. Stone-lined passages beneath the ramparts preserve further evidence of Hittite engineering.

Temples occupied a central place in the religious life of Hattusa. The Great Temple in the Lower City was one of the principal sanctuaries of the Hittites, surrounded by storerooms, courtyards and service buildings. Large storage jars uncovered in excavations reveal an organised system for keeping food and other supplies.

Among the Great Temple ruins, I photographed an unusual, carefully worked block of dark green stone in 2011. Standing apart from the pale stones around it, this object is popularly known as the Green Stone or Wishing Stone. It has been described as a form of serpentinite or nephrite, but its precise geological identification, provenance, original position and purpose remain uncertain. Stories that it was sent as a gift from Egypt have not been substantiated by archaeological evidence.

The nearby open-air sanctuary of Yazılıkaya is especially important for understanding Hittite religious beliefs. In its two main chambers, natural rock walls carry carved processions of gods and goddesses. In the larger chamber, opposing groups of deities embody the Hittites’ complex pantheon, in which Hurrian traditions played a prominent role. The storm god Teshub and goddess Hebat appear among the central figures. Photographing these reliefs at close range in 2011, I tried to record the details of figures that have survived on the rock faces for more than three thousand years.

Another reason for Hattusa’s importance to world history is its extraordinary archive of cuneiform tablets. Thousands of clay documents illuminate government, diplomacy, law, religious ceremonies and aspects of everyday life. They allow us to study the Hittites not only through their buildings but also through their own written records. The Hittite cuneiform tablet archives from Boğazköy were included in UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register in 2001.

With the collapse of the Hittite Empire around the beginning of the twelfth century BCE, Hattusa ceased to be an imperial capital, although the area continued to be occupied in later periods. Its ruins attracted renewed scholarly attention in the nineteenth century. Research by Charles Texier was followed by archaeological investigations, and the systematic excavations begun in 1906 played a decisive role in bringing Hittite history to light.

When I explored Hattusa in 2011, I photographed not only its monumental remains but also the broad, uneven landscape in which they stand. The rock reliefs of Yazılıkaya, the massive foundations of the Great Temple, the Green Stone, the Lion Gate, the King’s Gate and the passages beneath the ramparts reveal different aspects of a city that once governed a great empire. Walking among its ruined walls and stone foundations, it was difficult not to reflect on the Hittites’ achievements in architecture, engineering, administration and religious life.