The land of the Hittites

by John Garstang

TYANA: THE RUINED AQUEDUCTS OF ROMAN PERIOD (See pp. [42], [70].)

At the eastern limits of the great plains we reach Kilisse Hissar, the site of the old-time Tyana.[437] It is shut in on three sides by ridges and low outlying hills, but is open to the plain, and accessible from Eregli and from Bulghar-Madên. It can hardly be doubted that this was the chief city for the region we are considering, even in Hittite times, to judge from its importance in the minds of classical writers and from the extensive nature of its mounds and ruins. Strabo[438] describes it as ‘built upon the mound of Semiramis’ which was ‘fortified with good walls.’ Here, curiously enough, no Hittite monument has been brought to light, probably because haphazard excavation in the mound is hardly possible, owing to the fact that it is almost covered by the modern houses. None the less, a Phrygian inscription of Midas[439] attests the antiquity of the site; and three separate Hittite inscriptions seen in the neighbouring places of Bor, Nigdeh, and Andaval may be reasonably believed, as is supposed, to have come from the same source.

The most instructive and interesting of these monuments is that from Bor, which is a monumental stela, recovered in two main portions at different times at an interval of twelve years or more.[440] Even now the stone is not complete; as may be seen from our illustration the fitted edges do not quite correspond, so that a small portion is missing from the height, while the left-hand edge is entirely broken away. The upper part measures thirty inches by sixteen, with a thickness of eight inches. The lower part is five inches taller, so that the whole must have been six feet or more in height. Fortunately, on the fragments that have survived, there is to be seen nearly the whole figure and face of a man, clearly the priest-king, as well as an indication of the nature and arrangement of the inscription. The figure is carved in high relief, with a projection amounting in places to three inches, while the hieroglyphs are incised upon the background. The figure occupied a height equivalent to eleven bands of the hieroglyphs, of which fourteen are indicated. We have no means of judging how wide the stone was originally, as the bottom is fractured and the top has plainly been re-dressed since it was broken, to correspond with the narrower width. We are inclined to think that the larger and more important portion of the stone is still lacking. For the attitude of the figure is that of adoration or of a suppliant. The man is depicted with his back near the edge of the stone, and his hands raised before his chin, exactly as on the rock monument of Ivrîz.[441] Now on the stelæ in which one figure alone appears, like those of Carchemish and Marash,[442] the personage, be he priest or king, occupies the central position on the stone, and almost its whole height. He stands in those cases with one arm outstretched grasping his staff, while the other arm is close to his side; on the one he faces to the left, on the other to the right, but the pose is the same. In this case the details are all changed. To judge by certain faint indications on the stone, and by comparison with the monument of Ivrîz described below, it may be inferred that the hands are clasped in front of the face; it is at any rate clear in the photograph that one hand at least is raised before the mouth. He does not occupy the centre of the stone but the side of it, as may be judged from the short lines of inscription beginning just opposite the face. He does not fill the whole monument in accordance with the idea of ‘exclusive majesty’ so common and so dominant in Oriental art; on the other hand there are three lines of inscription above his head, and at least one below. We are inclined from these considerations to regard these fragments as forming part of a much larger whole, on which the theme was one of adoration, not much unlike that carved on the rocks at Ivrîz.[443] The resemblance may well be extended, for on comparing the two priestly or kingly figures many striking features will be found in common. The most apparent difference is the arrangement of the cloak, which on the Bor stone is fastened below the throat, while on the Ivrîz sculpture it is shown to hang more loosely, so that the front edge of the fringed border trails on the ground. Otherwise the details correspond closely; in each case the cloak is embroidered in three bands, and bordered with a fringe. Even the patterns are similar, the svastika appearing on the stone before us in the middle band between two bands decorated with diamond pattern (or ‘continuous squares’). The skirt below is even more sumptuously embroidered; in each case the svastika fills the lowest band, and from this hangs a fringe. On the Bor fragment other elaborate devices are introduced, including the double or quadruple Ionic curve, and the rosette; an embroidered waistbelt, collar, and shoes complete the treatment. Other features, less exceptional, conform to the old conventions: the turning-up points to the shoes, the bunched curl of hair behind the neck, the skull-cap, and the straightness of the nose. The beard is full and curly.

PLATE LVI

BOR: HITTITE INSCRIPTION AND RELIEF

The subject is the King-Priest in adoration of a deity whose figure is missing. Cf. [Pl. LVII.]

The inscription commences with two groups of hieroglyphs which may be read Ay-mi-ny-a-s of the land of Tyana.[444] An earlier reading[445] by the same decipherer suggested Ai-m-gal-a-s, corresponding to the royal name Αινγαλος occurring in Greek inscriptions of Cilicia. However that may be, and whatever may be the precise values to be assigned to these hieroglyphs, the initial group which contains the royal name[446] will be found to recur on the two famous monuments of Bulghar-Madên and Ivrîz. On the latter, the name appears in one place written exactly in this instance, and in another place, as at Bulghar-Madên, with a slight and evidently grammatical variation. This fact throws a welcome light upon the local history of the period.

Of the other monuments of the locality, the fragment from Andaval—now hidden in the Greek church of that place—seems from the description given of it to have been part of a similar monument, or at any rate of a stone decorated with human figure and inscription.[447] The stone is broken and rounded, measuring about thirteen inches across. It shows only the top and back of the head of the figure, with two lines of incised hieroglyphs above and the beginnings of two lines behind. The hair on the head is shown by small curls, while behind the neck it falls in the characteristic bunch. The eye is seen as usual in full upon the profile of the figure, which is turned to the observer’s right.