The land of the Hittites

by John Garstang

EYUK: MUSICIANS WITH BAGPIPE AND GUITAR

On the same block there is depicted one of three musicians, all of whom face in the reverse direction, towards the left. They are presumably taking part in another scene, not connected at any rate with the groups of worshippers. The one in question is a trumpeter, his instrument being a plain straight trumpet with expanding end.[613] His dress is the short tunic, skull-cap, and tip-tilted shoe. He wears an earring, and the pigtail is thick and conspicuous, ending in a curl well below the shoulder. The other musicians are found on the next block (e). The middle one is clad like the former, but his instrument is different. It is an inflated skin, into which he is clearly blowing, but no pipe is represented: we must suspect a drone effect, the invariable accompaniment of Oriental music.[614] The third instrument is again different, being a fine specimen of guitar, twanged, it would seem, by the fingers. It is attached by a cord to the waistbelt of the operator, and is decorated by loose ribbons which flutter from the end.

On the last block (f) an ox is represented in outline facing the original direction. Two round objects accompany the scene, the one hollowed in the centre, the other a plain disk. Upon the back of the animal there is a load, the top of which projects. It is impossible to say what the motive of this sculpture was, but being prepared for a non-religious interpretation by the scenes which precede it, it may be explained as a beast of burden, bringing a load towards the building of the palace. Possibly the round objects represent the wheels of a wagon which could not be introduced owing to lack of space upon the wall, which here comes to an end.

The series of sculptures on the right hand, which corresponds with those we have just described, opens with the representation of a religious rite. In this case it is a female deity, enthroned, that is the object of adoration; but we miss any distinctive features among those who worship. The goddess is presumably to be recognised here, again, as the prototype of Kybele, the same who is similarly enshrined on Mount Sipylus,[615] and described by Pausanias as the Mother-goddess. We have been able to identify her in the representations of Iasily Kaya,[616] and on the rocks at Fraktin;[617] and on the other side of Taurus she is found in Hittite mythology at Carchemish. She was plainly a deity acceptable to all branches of the Hittite peoples, indeed under other names and guises her worship was almost general throughout the ancient east. In this case (l) we find her seated, facing right, upon a low-backed chair. Her dress is a long robe reaching to the ankles, and beneath it, upon a low stone, her feet may be seen, the left advanced, clad in shoes, the toes of which turn up and back in a completed curve—a unique instance. She wears a threefold collar, and her hair falls in a long pigtail reaching to the seat of the chair between its back and her body. The nose is angular and in line with the receding forehead, but the head-dress is broken away. With her right hand she holds something to her mouth, and with her left she holds aloft a drinking-cup in the form of a goblet, the stem of which is partly hidden by the hand, and not drawn straight. The chair on which she sits has four legs, the feet of which turn forward: the seat is slightly curved, and the frame is supported by a spindle.

The worshippers (m) are three in number, and seem to be all similar to one another; unfortunately their faces are obliterated. They stand with one foot forward, which is probably the right, as they are turned to the left towards the goddess. They seem to be clad in the toga-like garment, as worn by the priest and his attendants in the corresponding scene on the opposite side. The front edge of this garment, however, is bordered in some way and so prominently displayed that it has misled many observers. The right arms of these figures are advanced with hands uplifted.[618] The left elbow is by the side and bent, and the hand, opposite the middle of the chest, clasps a straight staff about its middle, with the upper end resting upon the shoulder in a natural position. The top end does not curve (as suggested by M. Guillaume’s drawing), and if there was any embellishment it was in the addition near the middle of the crescental object seen better on a sculpture (a²) in the left hand of the approach, which is described below. The feature is not clear in this case, however. This block is followed by a third (n) still in situ, on which there may be faintly made out the representations of three other figures similar to those which precede. The next block (o) is out of place, and somewhat lower than those of this façade: none the less it is sufficiently near in position and in size for it to be probable that it followed next in the series. Upon it there is depicted with magnificent realism a bull,[619] with lowered head, as in the act of charging or preparing to toss. Another stone (p), though at hand, is separated from its neighbours, and standing now on end, does duty as the jamb of a doorway into the public wash-house of the village. This is carved with equally vigorous realism, the subject being a lion holding down a ram with his forefeet; the hind legs, too, are outstretched as though he had not recovered from his spring. The tail is down and curls outwards. The lion faces left, and the ram is transverse to the latter’s profile. This block must have served as corner-stone, from the analogy of similar monuments at Sakje-Geuzi[620] and elsewhere, in which the body of the lion is carved in relief, with the head and forepart in the round. Upon his back there is to be seen a squared surface for the reception of the upper corner-stone. In this case the ram also is in high relief, with head in the round, as the length of its body corresponds with the thickness of the stone.[621] The treatment of detail on the flank and quarters of the ram obeys a definite Hittite convention, which is further illustrated by the two loose stones recently discovered. These were found[622] below and in front of the lower frontage-wall on the left (x, y). Each is carved in an upper and lower register. On the one, in the upper part, a man is represented kneeling, taking aim with bow and arrow against a wild boar which is charging him. His dress is the short tunic and skull-cap; the bow is only medium length, but the arrow is long and barbed. The animal is depicted with considerable realism, especially the snout and bristles: the tail ends in a treble point. In the register below, a stag, facing left, is nibbling at some herbage; the artist has been short of space in height, and has squeezed his subject so that the animal seems to crouch. It is followed in series by another huntsman figure, who was represented in the same attitude as the one above, but the stone at this place is very much worn, and only the arrow point and outline can be distinguished. The second stone is in sequence to the left; in the upper row only a tree can be plainly made out towards the left, but the remainder may be believed to have been a continuation of the scene of chase. In the lower register the herbage (remarkably like gentian) appears to be continued on the right, and facing it is another standing stag. Two smaller but similar animals face the other way, and in the distance (shown high in the scene and small in size) there may be seen another, running left but with head turned back.

In the treatment of these animals the same peculiar conventions are observed, particularly in the delineation of the shoulder muscles, that we have noticed on the small animal under the lion’s paws (p) described above: the three sculptures are not, however, necessarily contemporary.[623] As stated previously, it seems probable that the newly found reliefs (x, y) belong to the earlier building period,[624] by reason of the circumstances of their discovery and the scenes depicted upon them. Moreover, the lion block (p) is a corner-stone, and fits no visible position in the palace entrance that we have been considering; so that there is indication of still a third building period, which was presumably the latest.[625]

Two sculptured blocks have been displaced from the walls that line the approach leading to the sphinx-gate (EB, GA), but they have been recognised from their dimensions among those lying loose about the entrance.[626] There are only two blocks on either side, whereof the corner-stones remain in situ, with their ends to the line of frontage (a¹ and l in the plan); so that the loose stones fall into place between the corner-stone and the sphinx on each side (h, k in the plan). On the left hand the faces of both stones are sculptured (a², h). The nearer one is the corner-stone, on the end of which there appears, as we have seen, the image of the bull upon a pedestal. On the short side, however, the subject is quite different; and we see two pairs of male figures, the members of each pair facing towards one another. On the left each member grasps a staff: the one figure is taller than the other, so that his hand is found above the other, the staff resting on the ground and rising vertically between them. Each figure is clad in a short tunic, but little else can be made out except the earring and prominent receding nose of the taller. As in the case of the bull last described (g), the carving does not seem to have been executed in anything but outline, though that is fairly deep, and the background has been cut away. The smaller figure, which is to the left, has partly disappeared with the broken corner of the stone, and the upper part has also been considerably damaged.[627] The group on the right of the same stone is not quite the same. The taller figure faces left in this case also, but he is clad in the long toga-like garment, with skull-cap, earring, and tip-tilted shoes, and he alone touches the staff which he holds aloft with both hands, the right above the left. Projecting from the middle of the staff, and at the very place where the left hand grasps it, there is a crescental object, with interior peak, resembling in the drawing a certain kind of axe-head found in Egypt, which was affixed at three points to the staff. It is difficult to form any opinion as to what this really is intended to represent; an axe-head would hardly be fixed to the middle of a staff, even though only for ceremonial purposes; while, on the other hand, by the old conventions of perspective, the curving outer edge may really represent some solid object that was round in the plane perpendicular to the surface of the stone, as seen for example in the trumpet depicted on the outer façade (d). The smaller figure in this case is very indistinct, and is represented as standing some distance beyond the greater, though facing it (his feet being shown, that is, on a higher level than the rest).

The next block (h) shows six figures.[628] These sculptures are in a poor state, but some details may be gleaned. The men are in procession or in line, all turned towards the right, facing, that is, the sphinx and the entrance to the palace. They seem to be clad in short tunics, and they wear tip-tilted shoes. Their head-dress is possibly helmet-like, as worn by the mason on the ladder described above. The knot of their girdle-rope is seen in some cases. The left hands seem all to be held up in symmetry, with their right hands near the middle of the waist, and their right elbows bent.

The counterpart to this group on the opposite side (k) is of special interest, but was not published by M. Perrot. As pointed out by Professor Ramsay,[629] who first rolled this block over and so found the sculpture, there is on the right hand of the picture the clear outline of a seated goddess, resembling in most respects the goddess adored in the front group (l), which we have described and identified with Kybele. In this case the stone is broken, and only the knees and hands are seen, with part of the stool, but the analogy is sufficient. Any object that may have been held in her hand is no longer visible, and a row of points has been drilled at some time across the stone as though to sever that end from the block. The next feature of interest is the reappearance of the chief priest and priestess, whom we suppose to have been the local king and queen, and whose figures we have seen previously, on the left front (b), conducting the rites at the shrine of the Bull. Only in this case an oblation scene is represented, such as we have noticed at Malatia and at Fraktin.[630] In the restored scene the priest pours out the liquid offering with his left hand into a vase held by the goddess; while the priestess poises some large object like a pomegranate aloft. Unfortunately in this case again the head-dress of the queen cannot be made out. She is followed by two weathered figures, who resemble the attendants in the previous instance, wearing the same toga-like garment with prominent front edge.

The inner face of the corner-stone (l) on this side is not sculptured at all; but on the side of the great sphinxes (A, B) that flank the entrance, there have been considerable reliefs, among which that which remains on the right hand (q) is of special interest. Here we find a repetition of the double eagle which we last met with in the sculptures of Iasily Kaya.[631] In this case the talons of the bird are fixed on two hares, the faces of which turn outwards. There was apparently only one figure represented upon his back; whether this was male or female it is difficult to say. The form of the skirt trailing behind would well agree with those of Iasily Kaya; but there are no vertical pleats. On the other hand, a scrutiny of the photograph suggests that there may be detected traces of the loose end of a toga and of the curved end of a reversed lituus, features which suggest a male figure clad like the priest-king now familiar in these sculptures. One detail is quite clear, namely the turned-up toe of the shoe, and this may be seen upon the corresponding side of the opposite sphinx, together with traces of an eagle’s head. The inner ends of these monoliths (removed, that is, from the front of the sphinxes) are too broken to detect any sculptures upon them, but in the corresponding places on the inner sphinxes (s, t) there may be found deep down the feet of a man wearing the tip-tilted shoe, and turned towards the gateway. There seems to be an analogy to the warrior figures recently found adorning a gateway at Boghaz-Keui.[632]