PLATE LIV
KARA-BEL: THE HITTITE GOD OF ARMS
With these monuments of the west we classify also one definitely Hittite inscription from near Iconium, and two instructive monuments reflecting Hittite influence, found near the Lake Beyshehr. The inscription was found near Ilgîn, at a place called Kölit-oghlu Yaila,[404] about three miles from the latter and eight miles eastward from the former, and about three hundred yards off the road from Ilgîn to Kadyn Khan. Actually the spot is about fifty miles north-westward from Iconium. Here there are traces of an ancient site in a slight eminence upon the plain, and the ruins of a wall running in a curve for a long distance. It is possible, Professor Ramsay thinks, that these indications may mark the site of pre-Hellenic Tyriaion,[405] which was one of the three chief cities of the Phrygio-Lycaonian frontier lands. In Roman times, however, Tyriaion was placed without doubt at Ilgîn. It is more probable that the mound indicates a site of antiquity that fell for some reason into neglect as Tyriaion came into prominence. Out of the top of this there was dug up a block of limestone, about two feet eight inches high and six feet long. It is not quite complete; but upon it there may be made out with some certainty three rows of Hittite hieroglyphs in relief, the inscription commencing with the right-hand side at the top. The position of the monument is of special importance, for it seems clearly to have been found near to its original position, and is the sole witness of Hittite handiwork in this part of the tableland. And though it stands alone, it does not seem to be of that class, the isolation of which may be accounted for and is in itself instructive, like the sculptures of Sipylus and Kara-Bel. It seems, on the other hand, to be the product of settled conditions, and its presence implies a whole field and period of Hittite influence which would otherwise have remained in obscurity.
There are two monuments south-west of Konia which, though not inscribed nor demonstrably of Hittite handiwork, reflect clearly Hittite influence and feeling in art. One of them is ‘Plato’s Spring’ at Eflatoun-Bunar,[406] nine miles northwards from Beyshehr. This consists of two walls of an unexplained structure, of which about two-thirds has been destroyed. The façade, which is decorated with sculptures, is about twelve feet in height and twenty feet in length. It is washed by a stream which has been partly dammed by stones taken from the building. The stones are large, almost gigantic, and dressed with care: they are decorated with human figures in relief, which vary in size with the stones, though forming a symmetrical group, and each posed with hands raised, in full view; several of them wear the conical Hittite hat. Two pairs of wings, enclosing disks, are carved upon a single stone which spans all but the corner-stones, while a great slab which covers the whole retains the decoration of a single pair of wings and part of a central disc. In the side view some of the stones are dressed with a panel; other stones are lying about, and Professor Ramsay has detected one on which a lion seemed to have been carved.
There is another remarkable but equally problematical monument at Fassiler,[407] near the route from Beyshehr to Iconium. It is a gigantic stela, about eight yards in height, and nearly a yard thick. At the bottom its width is nearly three yards, narrowing at the top to nearly two yards. The subject represented upon it is carved in very high relief. It shows two lions side by side separated only by a figure, clad in a long robe, with hands folded before the breast. Upon the shoulders[408] there is posed a greater figure, wearing the short tunic and conical hat of peculiar form. The right hand is raised, while the left arm is bent, and some indistinct object is grasped by the hand. Meagre as is our information about this monument, we do not hesitate to see in it a reflection of an idea which we see carried out in the Hittite sanctuary of Boghaz-Keui. The theme seems to us to represent the statue of the god borne upon the shoulders of his priest; and the lions, as emblems or guardians of the god, suggest a derived form of the son-god or Attis, which we discuss in a later chapter.[409] The character of the lions flanking the monument, with their heads projecting boldly in front, is also in keeping with Hittite tradition;[410] and the position of the sculpture between the lions has its counterpart in a monument, equally of post-Hittite times, which has been brought to light at Sinjerli.[411] Finally the whole appearance of the monument suggests a columnar figure upon a lion-base,[412] of which this is a clumsy and ill-carved substitute. A wonderful gulf separates the drawing and execution of this monument from the sculptures of Boghaz-Keui.
Section E.—Monuments in the South-East of the Tableland.
KARA DAGH, EMIR-GHAZI, TYANA (BOR, NIGDEH, ANDAVAL), BULGHAR-MADÊN, IVRÎZ.
We turn in fine to the south-eastern corner of the tableland, now a desert tract fringed by the northern slopes and outlying ridges of the Taurus mountains. Our comparatively intimate knowledge of the monuments and historical geography of this region is due almost entirely to the consistent researches of Professor Sir Wm. Ramsay and his school.
We come firstly to the Kara Dagh (Black Mountain), an outlying ridge of Taurus,[413] which rises three or four thousand feet above the plain, to a height of seven thousand feet above the sea. At the foot of the mountain, on the north, the little village of Maden-Shehr marks the classical site of Barata, better known, perhaps, as Bin Bir Kilisse, ‘the thousand and one churches.’ Professor Ramsay tells[414] of the great changes that time has wrought in this locality. Here there ‘must have been in ancient time the summer sanatorium of the Lycaonian plain. The soil is very fertile, and being volcanic, is specially suitable for vines. Many kinds of fruit trees also were cultivated. Water is not plentiful, but there are several springs of remarkably good water. The needs of agriculture and viticulture were met by a wonderfully elaborate system of storing the rain and the melted snows of winter.’ But now ‘the site of this ancient city is the most inhospitable in the whole of Lycaonia. There is no water except filthy half-poisonous puddles stored in the ancient cisterns. The vines have almost entirely disappeared, the orchards remain only in a few trees run wild. There is hardly any cultivation. The water runs rapidly off the steep slopes of the mountain, and is of no benefit to agriculture except in the lowest parts of the little sheltered valley where the city was built.’