The land of the Hittites

by John Garstang

The third phase is assigned to about the eighth century B.C. The city was now fully established. On its walls rose eight hundred towers. The south gate of the citadel was finally built and adorned with sculptures like the older gateway of the city, but in more elaborate fashion. The corner-stones of the palaces were architectural lions, and their porticos were supported by columns placed upon the backs of sphinxes. Of these palaces there were three in chief, and they conformed to a standard type, which is distinguished by wing-towers on either side of the portico, and was approached by steps leading beyond to a hall around which were several chambers.[641] Thereafter, from about 750 B.C., a date which the documentary evidence supplies, houses sprang up between the palaces. There was a departure from the former strict type of the Hilâni, to admit of greater accommodation, and the purely Hittite character of the buildings was greatly modified. The city seems to have been burned about 680 B.C., corresponding with the date of Esarhaddon’s stela.

In the absence of more precise historical data, our interest is centred upon the several series of sculptures which adorned the gateways and palaces. Those which the excavators believe to be the oldest were found at the southern gateway of the city. The stones themselves are weathered, but the subjects upon them have been carefully studied and reproduced. They are carved in relief upon blocks of dolerite. The drawing is for the most part crude, but they illustrate to us the standard conventions in such Hittite works with some interesting variations. Being numerous, we shall confine ourselves to a brief description of the subjects, noting here and there details which help us in our comparative study.[642] Firstly, there is an eagle-headed winged creature with human body and limbs, clad in a short Hittite tunic, holding up both hands, and standing with his left foot advanced in the direction towards which he faces. Though no shoes are visible, the toes upon the sculpture are upturned in conformity with the Hittite pattern. A lock of hair descending by the side of the eagle’s head ends in an outward curl, which is a mark of the earlier Hittite style. A tassel also hangs from the middle of the girdle. On another block the same representation appears with little modification. A third stone shows, in crude fashion, a horse-rider; he holds up with his left hand a mask, the features upon which resemble his own, being of the usual Hittite character, with straight nose and large eye seen in profile. He rides with his heels drawn up as though clutching the horse’s side, for he has no stirrups. He is clad in a short tunic and short-sleeved vest, and upon his head there is the conical hat, though not so high as those now familiar in the sculptures of Boghaz-Keui, while the curling lock or pigtail is prominent behind his neck. By his left side there is suspended a long knife or dagger, and he holds with his right hand a diminutive looped object which may be intended for his bow. The drawing of the horse is even more crude. The head might be taken for that of a zebra, but in the treatment of the shoulder muscles and the haunches there is a certain obedience to the Hittite conventions. There is another stone on which a horse-rider is portrayed in a style which is very similar, but the details are almost obliterated.

We then come to two monstrous mythological creatures, carved upon a single stone, the one above the other, to be imagined therefore as side by side. The lower one has the body of a lion on which the shoulder muscles are suggested, while the face is that of a human being, and the curling pigtail is clear behind the neck. The head-dress is a modification of the conical hat, with a sort of knob upon the top, and the brim is upturned in front and behind. One wing only is shown, being that upon the further side. The tail is upright, and ends in the head of a bird.[643] The upper monster is the same in all respects except the head, which is purely a product of the artist’s imagination, though from the hooked bill it may be supposed to be intended for that of a bird. Both creatures are walking with the left forefoot advanced and in the air. Curiously, it is the right hind leg of the lower animal that is advanced, while the corresponding leg of the upper animal is behind. This monument is perhaps the crudest of the series.

Upon the sixth block of stone there appear two male figures facing one another: each is clad in a long robe, the hem of which is visible; each advances the further leg towards that of the other; each grasps in his nearer hand a short staff, and with his further hand approaches a cup-like object to his lips. They are distinguished only in that the right-hand figure has a tassel[644] descending from his girdle. They seem to wear skull-caps, and the curling pigtail is seen on the left-hand figure, while the corresponding portion of the stone on the other side is broken away. The next sculpture is somewhat broader, and shows a hunting scene in which a bowman is seen in the act of discharging his arrow. He is clad in a very short fringed tunic; the toes are upturned, and a pigtail curls away from his neck. A knife hangs, point forward, from the girdle on the further side, but the detail is obscure. Behind him, poised in the air head downwards, is an animal resembling a hare, which he may be supposed to have shot. His aim is probably directed, however, against a stag seen in the sculpture which precedes. This again is a drawing so crude as to be almost quaint. The animal stands with his head turned back towards his pursuer. An arrow has pierced his neck, and the barbs are visible beyond, while an ill-drawn dog is joining in the chase. In front of this again two other animals, represented upon a single stone, are obviously intended to suggest further quarry for the sport. The one is a stag, drawn in this case in full profile (including his antlers); while in the lower register there is seen a lion which, though it can be identified, lacks in the drawing any character that invites comment.

A more interesting, though in part less ancient, series of sculptures decorated the main door of the citadel. This was placed at the southern bend of the wall, and, as it appears in its final form, resembled closely in general plan the gateways of the palace at Eyuk and of the citadel of Boghaz-Keui, which we have previously described.[645] The approach to this entrance is protected, as in those other cases, with wing-towers on either hand.[646] The width at this point of the entrance is about twelve yards, and the depth of these extra-mural towers before reaching the first doorway is six yards. The first doorway is met with almost in alignment with the contour of the wall. Its broad pilasters project eleven feet, leaving the space between them rather more; this was filled, as the excavators found reason to believe, by a double door. The space beyond—lying, that is to say, between the two doorways—forms a separate chamber the same width as the entrance and with a depth of sixteen feet, bounded on the inner or northern end by the pilasters which supported the second doorway. These are almost in alignment with the main inner walls of the entrance-towers, which thus have a total depth of fifty-five feet; their breadth is about ten yards. The main wall of the enclosure, to which they return on either side, has a thickness estimated at about fifteen feet.

The whole of the face of this entrance, both along the façade of the towers and around the bases of the pilasters, was decorated with sculptured slabs. The carving in all cases is in relief; the subjects represented are various, including deities, mythological emblems, and scenes of the chase, the treatment of which in all cases corresponds to the established Hittite motives and presents in other details traces of Hittite handiwork. The date of this gateway is at least as early as, indeed probably earlier than, the stela which Esarhaddon set up in the space between the two doors in B.C. 681. Indeed, the origin of the gateway was traced by the excavators to the second great building period, though its final structure and some of its decorations belong to the later phase. We may assume that its latest sculptures were the work of the eighth century B.C.

SINJERLI: SKETCH PLAN OF THE GATEWAY, SHOWING BY NUMERALS THE POSITION OF THE SCULPTURES DESCRIBED IN THE TEXT.

The sculptures in this case are so numerous that we find it convenient to attach numbers to them for reference. We begin with the outer approach to the gateway from the southern end, and describe the sculptures on each face of the wall east and west, before proceeding to the next return.[647] At the approach of the doorway and facing south the series of sculptures begins on the left hand (to the west) with