Hattusa Hittite Capital www.paleolithic-neolithic.com Introduction Three Main Periods With this article we want to give you a better It all started with the so-called Old Kingdom understanding and insight into an important about 1750 BC and this first period lasted for ancient kingdom which became one of the 250 years. Nine kings were recorded during most powerful empires in the Near East next this time span. The Middle Kingdom survived to Assyria and Egypt. Its dominant rule lasted only for 70 years and six kings are found on for over 600 years and brought about 30 kings the list for that period. to the Hittite throne. The New Kingdom again went on for 250 years Despite certain periods of enormous internal until 1200 BC and this last period was also struggles between two branches of the royal called the Hittite Empire. Twelve kings ruled family and assassinations of kings the Hittites during these important times of expansion. influenced strongly the whole region including Hittites were the forerunners of the Iron Age in Assyria, Mitanni and Egypt. They traded with the Near East and were really the first to pro- all these powerful kingdoms and empires, but duce iron as early as 3,400 years ago. also ended up in military conflicts with them. Finally, the growing power of Assyria took Old Kingdom over the declining Hittite empire. King Anitta from Kushara is seen as the first Hittite ruler, but as he had destroyed Hattusa, Hittites are often mixed up with Hattians who before it became capital, later kings did not lived in Anatolia around 4,500 years ago before want to see his name in the family tree of rul- Hittites moved into the area from the north. ers. So Labarna I. became the first document- Their language was of Indo-European origin ed king. And Hattusili I. was the first to reside different to the Hattian language and script. in Hattusa. The main purpose of this article is to introduce During this period the Hittites were success- you to the impressive Hittite capital Hattusa. ful in conquering Aleppo and even Babylon. For this we want to give you a short run down But during the Old Kingdom a longer period of of Hittite history. internal power struggles between the different branches of the royal family led to five assas- This will help you to understand the basics of sinations of rulers. historic background, social and state struc- ture, religious beliefs, military power and re- Middle Kingdom gional expansion which is in many ways mir- King Telepinu ended the 70 year long royal rored in the erection of their well planned power struggle with the Proclamation or Edict capital with many temples. of Telepinu. It recorded in details the past hap- 2 penings with assassinations, as well as set During this important period the empire ex- out new rules of royal succession. He also panded dramatically. Towards the end King established the Panko a general assembly Hattusili III. led the famous battle of Qadesh which acted as high court and set up a de- against Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses II. which tailed legal code. the latter lost and ended with the already men- tioned first peace treaty in world history. The power struggle was fought between the north branch of the royal family residing at Nevertheless, Ramses reported at home to Zalpuwa and later at Hattusa and the south have won the battle with great success and branch at Kussara and Kanesh also called documented how he crushed the enemy with Nesa. The Old Kingdom was an absolute large relief depictions of his heroic actions at monarchy, but the Middle and New Kingdom the famous Karnak Temple in Luxor. were the first constitutional monarchies in history. In another military action King Musili I. con- quered and plundered Babylon, but was not New Kingdom interested to integrate it into the Hittite Empire This was the most successful period of Hit- or to govern it at all. He was only interested in tite rule. During this period, they destroyed its treasures which he brought home. There- the kingdom of Mittani and won the famous after the empire declined and segregated into battle of Qadesh against Egyptians. This led small city states. to the first peace treaty in history in 1259 BC. A copy of this cuneiform clay tablet is State Organization exhibited at the United Nations in New York a The Hittite state became a rather complex photo of which is part of this article. structure with feudal principles over time. The various subdued vassal kings were ruled by Interesting is a report that Hittites even the main king called taberna. The main king fought a maritime battle off Cyprus and that was also high priest, leading judge and top one king died of pest imported to Hattusa military leader. All vassal kings had to give by prisoners. Hattusa was attacked several oath to subject to the main king. This oath had times and burnt down once but rebuilt. But to be renewed with any new main king coming when it was again burnt down in 1200 BC the onto the throne. capital was abandoned forever. But next to the main king also important vice Hittite History kings existed for the main cities of Qadesh and The peak period started in 1400 BC under Jamchad Halab today’s Aleppo and later also King Tudhaliya I. and lasted for 200 years. for Mira. 3 Royal Family History of Hattusa These vice kings were members of the royal Hattusa was discovered already in 1834 by family of the main king and had more indepen- French officials. The old Hittite capital flour- dence than vassal kings. It is interesting that ished during the time of Assyrian merchant col- the main queen called tawananna had a high onies. Unfortunately, 1750 BC it was destroyed level of independence and could sign her own by King Anitta from Kushara and thereafter re- contracts. Naturally she was also the highest stored by King Hattusili I. He made Hattusa his priestess and did not lose this position when capital about 1600 BC and it became the most her husband died. important Hittite city for next 350 years. Senate and Constitution But militant tribes from the Kaska region de- Next to the main king existed the already men- stroyed Hattusa again and under King Suppi- tioned senate called panko. It was involved in all luliuma I. it was rebuild once more. In 1237 BC laws and treaties. The senate could hold kings the capital was expanded under King Tudhaliya responsible and even could judge over them. IV. with two sections including a royal acropolis and the lower city. In 1460 BC King Telipinu implemented a game changing constitution which formalized the Geographical Situation tasks and responsibilities of the king, the sen- Hattusa lies about 150 kilometers east of An- ate and implemented royal succession rules. kara near the modern village of Bogazköy. To- And the senate was the guardian of this new day only the foundations are left. But part of constitution. Now the king for the first time in the massive city wall was reconstructed. At the history had the role as primus inter pares. time it was a huge city with a maximum exten- Early Hittite Law As mentioned above King Telepinu in- troduced a high court and excavators found two cuneiform clay tablets with over 186 legal articles regulating trans- gressions and penalties. The judge- ments included death penalty, torture and financial compensation. But not all people were equally judged because men, women and slaves were sen- tenced differently strong in this order. 4 sion of 180 hectares measuring two kilome- and lower city area and a citadel expanding ters across. Unfortunately, it was not built on over two square kilometers. Imagine over 30 flat terrain and was situated on a slope with temples existed for the various gods alone. a level difference of 280 meters. And 25 of them were clustered together alone in the upper city. They were either square or Excavations rectangular in shape. The temple for main First excavations of Hattusa started in 1905 storm god Tarhunt was the biggest with by German archaeologists and still are go- 20,000 square meters erected on the acropo- ing on today. There was really little left of lis. All temples were also schools with teach- the glorious large capital of the Hittites. Not ing scholars and with archive rooms where even remains were left of the massive sur- many bilingual texts written in Hittite and Hur- rounding city wall. They found only founda- ritic script were kept. The kings resided in a tions and this is what visitors see today. A fortified castle not an open palace. 65 meter long section of the city wall was re- constructed to give an impression of its pre- Massive City Wall vious dimension. But excavators were lucky A nine kilometer long city wall system pro- and found part of the royal archives with tected the various districts. The immense wall over 33,000 cuneiform clay tablets. structure had a thickness of eight meters and a height of thirteen meters. It was erected us- City Details ing a case mate type double wall with cross Hattusa consisted of three zones the upper walls at short distance in between. Towers re- 5 inforced the wall at intervals of twen- ty meters. The major city gates were flanked by impressive sculptures of kings, warriors, lions or sphinxes. Upper and Lower City The upper city area was a pure cultural district with about 1,000 god statues.