III
A religious processional dance of great interest is that represented on the well-known Hittite rock-inscription at Boghazkeui, in Cappadocia. The central portion of this inscription represents a company of gods and goddesses; towards them, from either side, the procession moves; the figures on the left hand which form the procession are almost exclusively men, while those on the right are all women. The men all wear the cone-shaped Hittite cap and tip-tilted shoes, and they are performing a running-step dance, the right feet being partly raised and touching the ground only with their toes. The inscription belongs approximately to B.C. 1200[61]. That it represents a religious processional dance is clear both because of the presence of gods and goddesses, and also from the fact that in front of or over the heads of a number of the figures there are hieroglyphic signs which denote the names of divinities.
A small inscription on a haematite cylinder, from Cyprus, also represents a Hittite sacred processional dance. As in the previous inscription, the procession, which is preceded and followed by a priest, moves towards the god. Ohnefalsch-Richter thinks that the scene represents a moment at which the dancers are resting[62].