Other researches have contributed towards broadening this basis of investigation. At Sakje-Geuzi recent excavations[133] have established the fact previously in doubt, that the settlements of Hittite peoples had begun there at any rate many centuries, possibly several thousand years, previous to the age marked by the oncoming and ultimately overwhelming tide of Assyrian influence early in the first millennium B.C. The relation of the later phase of local arts to Assyrian chronology is given by the results of excavations made on the great mound at Sinjerli, distant about a day’s journey in the same valley towards the south.[134] Here certain palace buildings and sculptures, some of which betray Assyrian feeling, may be dated, by help of inscribed monuments that were unearthed, to the eighth century B.C., when this principality became tributary to Tiglath Pileser III. The reign of Esarhaddon, the conqueror of Egypt, brought even this nominal independence to an end about 680 B.C.
PLATE XXXII
NIGDEH: PORTAL OR THE ‘WHITE MIDRESSEH’
Built by Ala-ed-din the Great, circa 1223 A.D. An early example of Seljûk art. (See [p. 73].)
To these revelations by the spade there should be added various contributions of the pen, which, together with the old materials, make possible the study of Hittite remains upon an historical rather than a purely archæological basis. We might indeed make some general inferences from the results of these researches, but it will be wise to keep ever in view the geographical conditions, and never to assume collateral development among the various branches of the Hittite peoples whose lands were physically so disunited. Evidence affecting one state in the north of Syria may be applied with some surety to its neighbours; but it may not be applicable beyond the Taurus. No published accounts enable us to test the antiquity of Hittite settlements upon the tableland of Asia Minor, and it is doubtful if even the necessary soundings have been made. For the middle period, however, the difficulty is less, where history shows that the influence of the Hatti administered from Boghaz-Keui must have predominated in the north of Syria, and contemporaneity of development may therefore be inferred. But when we come to the inferior limit of date the same difficulty (the possibility of independent development) is reopened, for, in the absence of positive material evidence to the contrary, the Assyrian arms seem never to have passed the Halys even while Assyrian influences were dominant in Syria. On the other hand, as we have seen in the previous chapters, we have to take into account the possible influence of the new civilisations, like that of the Phrygians, which had meanwhile been developing upon the tableland. One thing at any rate seems clear, that no Hittite monuments of Asia Minor can well be later than the period of Phrygian domination in the eighth century B.C.,[135] so that in the end a general parallel is suggested with the closing dates afforded from Assyrian history.
Having now considered in general terms the method and the new chronological basis of our inquiry, we come first to an account of those isolated monuments which illustrate to us the diversity of Hittite art and the wide range of its influence. The most striking of these are perhaps those carved on the living rock, which may take the form of single figures, some gigantic, others less than life-size, or groups representing deities and their ministers, accompanied in each case by Hittite hieroglyphs, or long inscriptions without any sculptures to give a suggestion of their meaning.[136] Of the moveable monuments only one is found clearly in situ,[137] and this from its position and nature may be thought, like some of the rock-inscriptions, to have been a boundary stone. There are others, however, of such weight[138] or peculiar character[139] that they may be judged to have been set up not far from the sites where they have been found. The provenance of monuments found on or in the vicinity of ancient sites is also reliable as evidence.[140] Sculptures are rarely executed in the round, except for architectural purposes,[141] though in one or two instances there have been found fragments of statues.[142] Reliefs however, are plentiful, mostly representing mythological creatures or persons; while a distinct class, which represents a ceremonial feast or communion, seems to include some specimens of funerary character.[143] Among inscribed monuments the most interesting are those stelæ which show a human figure, accompanied, it would seem, by a formal biography of good works.[144]
PLATE XXXIII
NIGDEH: TOMB OF SELJÛK PERIOD