Hattusa Research Articles

Hurrian and Luwian Elements in the Kizzuwatna Religious Texts

AbstractKizzuwatna, roughly the area around the present-day Turkish city of Adana in the plains of Cilicia in Southeastern Turkey, is known to be the origin of several magical ritual texts that were found in the archives of the Hittite Capital, Ḫattuša, in Central Anatolia. These texts are characterized by varying amounts of Luwian and Hurrian elements and rites in them. This article, however, aims to foreground festival texts with connections to Kizzuwatna and adjacent regions, namely the “Festival for Teššub and Ḫebat of Lawazantiya (CTH 699)” and the “Cults for Teššub and Ḫebat of Aleppo (CTH 698)”. Both festivals reveal very little Luwian, but they do exhibit obvious Hurrian influences. This article offers first thoughts toward an interpretation of the lack of Luwian in these texts, along with other texts with an alleged origin in Southeastern Anatolia or Northern Syria.

See Ḫattuša and Die: A New Reconstruction of the Journeys of the Babylonian Physician Rabâ-ša-Marduk

See Ḫattuša and Die: A New Reconstruction of the Journeys of the Babylonian Physician Rabâ-ša-Marduk

The agroecology of an early state: new results from Hattusha

The discovery of a large underground silo complex with spectacular intact grain stores at the Late Bronze Age Hittite capital of Hattusha in Turkey provides a unique snapshot of the mobilisation of crop production by the Hittite state. A combination of primary archaeobotanical analysis, crop stable isotope determinations and functional weed ecology reveals new insights into Hittite cultivation strategies, featuring a range of relatively low-input, extensive production regimes for hulled wheats and hulled barley. Taxation of extensively produced grain in the sixteenth century BC reveals how an ancient state sought to sustain itself, providing wider implications for the politics and ecology of territorially expansive states in Western Asia and beyond.

A Hittite Scribal Tradition Predating the Tablet Collections of Ḫattuša?

Abstract This article discusses the origins of a group of four Hittite OS tablets, which share some unique and peculiar features with respect to their shape, spelling conventions and palaeography. It argues that these four tablets are the oldest documents of the Hittite corpus, and that they were not created in Ḫattuša, but have been imported from elsewhere. Originally, they belonged to an older writing tradition, predating the establishment of Ḫattuša as the Hittite capital. This implies that the royal tablet collections in Ḫattuša do not reflect the very first beginnings of Hittite cuneiform, but only the start of a royal administration there. The typical Hittite ductus was already created in the 18th century BCE – in Kuššara, Nēša or elsewhere in Anatolia.

Sacked and Cursed? New data on the transition from the city-state to the Hittite capital Hattuša

When: Karum Period: First centuries of the 2nd millennium B.C. when Assyrian and Anatolian merchants took part in large-scale commercial exchanges between Aššur and central Anatolia. Most of the epigraphic finds come from the 19th century BC, and the 18th century is less known. We don’t know how the commercial exchanges came to an end. Until the establishment of the administration at the Hittite capital Hattuša/Boğazköy (1650), there is a hiatus in the epigraphical records for more than a century. Who: Anitta, son of Pithana, an ambitious ruler who created one of the first Kingdom in Central Anatolian (modern Turkey) in the mid 18th century.Where: Boğazköy (modern name, in Central Anatolia) was a city called Ḫattuš and was an exchange place in the Anatolian Network of the Karum period. The site was selected as the capital of the Hittites around 1650 by Ḫattušili I, the first well attested Hittite King.

The dualistic nature of a Red Lustrous Wheelmade bowl from Boğazköy with a depiction of a victorious armed warrior

AbstractA bowl with an incised heroic combat scene was found at the Hittite capital of Boğazköy and dates to the end of the 15th/beginning of the 14th century BC. This article reconsiders this previously published bowl, its production history and the message it conveys. The warrior is usually identified as Mycenaean, and in previous studies the bowl has been considered only for its incised decoration without evaluation of the bowl itself, its context and associated finds. This article argues that the bowl had a physical journey from Rough Cilicia to Hattusa and a non-physical journey from being a simple everyday object to a unique artwork through the secondary carving of an image, which reflects dualistic aspects.

Visualizing the Provenance of Sumerian Literary Texts

1) DatingOld Babylonian (ca. 1800–1500 B.C.)2) Place namesAbu Salabikh, Babylon, Ḫattuša, Isin, Kiš, Lagas, Larsa, Mari, Me-Turan, Nippur, black market, Sippar, Susa, Tutub, Uruk, Ur3) Text corporaThe Decad: a group of ten literary texts presumably taught at the beginning of the advanced phase of the Old Babylonian scribal curriculum.Sumerian disputation literature: a corpus of 24 Sumerian literary texts classified as debate poems, dialogues, edubba’a-texts, and diatribes.4) Further termsCollective tablet: cuneiform tablet with two or more literary texts; providing evidence for the sequence of these texts in the scribal curriculum.Literary catalogue: cuneiform tablet listing incipits (‚titles’) of Sumerian literary texts; used to reconstruct the Old Babylonian scribal curriculum.

Parallel Hurrian and Hittite šumma izbu Omens from Hattuša and Corresponding Akkadian Omens

AbstractThis article discusses the remains of the

Literarische sumerische Texte aus den hethitischen Archiven aus paläographischer Sicht – Teil II

This article discusses some aspects of the literary texts in or with parts written in the Sumerian language from the Hittite archives - focusing questions of textual traditions and the role these texts play in the context of the scribal training in the Hittite capital. A second aim is to demonstrate that palaeography and the study of the orthography of these texts are valuable methods in helping us to understand more about this interesting material. What can we learn from these examples is that obviously there are a lot of different aspects vis-a-vis the interests of Hittite scholars in foreign textual materials.

First results on determination of cosmogenic 36Cl in limestone from the Yenicekale Complex in the Hittite capital of Hattusha (Turkey)

We have measured 36Cl in three rock surfaces of the Yenicekale building complex in Hattusha (Boğazköy, Turkey). Hattusha was the capital of Hittite Empire which lasted from about 1650/1600 to 1200 BC. At Yenicekale, Hittite masons flattened the summit of an outcropping limestone knoll to form an artificial platform as the foundation for a building. Next they built a circuit wall along the lateral precipices of the flattened bedrock platform. We took one sample from the limestone bedrock platform and two samples from limestone building blocks of the circuit wall for cosmogenic 36Cl analysis. Calculated exposure ages are 20 ± 1 ka for the sample from the bedrock platform and 24 ± 1 ka and 52 ± 2 ka for the circuit wall blocks. These exposure ages are significantly older than the age expected based on the estimated time of construction between 3.2 ka and 3.7 ka. We conclude that the sampled surfaces contain significant inherited cosmogenic 36Cl. We cannot directly determine exposure ages for the building complex based on these three samples. On the other hand we may use the measured concentrations to determine how much of the rock was removed from the platform during flattening. To this end we modeled the variation of 36Cl production with depth at Yenicekale using the results from the bedrock sample. We conclude that the Hittite masons removed only around 3 m from top of the limestone block. This means that the volume of rock removed from the bedrock platform is significantly less than the volume in the circuit wall atop the platform. They did not gain enough rock from this flattening to make the building. In agreement with this, the first results of our detailed microfacies analysis indicate that many of the building blocks are not of the same facies as the underlying limestone and must have been quarried elsewhere. Although we were not able to exposure date the Yenicekale complex due to the presence of inherited 36Cl, our data suggest that Hittite masons excavated (most of) the building stones not at Yenicekale, but in quarries outside of Hattusha and then transported them to the construction site. These quarries have not yet been identified.

Syro Anatolica Scripta Minora VI

In Rene Lebrun's contribution, the lector finds some remarks relating to the Egyptian intendant Urkhiya, the toponyms Pergame and the Aleian plain, the Anatolian gods Kakasbos and Trikasbos, and a philological observation on the new anthroponym Pumuwaza inscribed on a recently discovered Hittite seal. The contribution of Jan Tavernier focuses on three small fragments of the Atrahasis Epos, found in the Hittite capital. They are commented upon and some general remarks on the Hattusa versions of this Mesopotamian literary composition are presented.

Forty Years in the Capital of the Hittites: Peter Neve Retires from His Position as Director of the Ḫattuša-Boğazköy Excavations

In a century of excavations at the Hittite capital, Boğazköy, no one has played a more active role than Peter Neve. His retirement in 1994 coincides with his fortieth year at the site, including three decades as director. These years produced a long list of stupendous discoveries and won Neve an ever widening circle of friends.

A Mycenaean sword from Boğazköy–Hattusa found in 1991

This paper deals with a bronze sword found during repair work on a road close to the Hittite capital of Hattusas in central Anatolia. It carries an Akkadian inscription stating that it was taken as booty by the Hittite king Tuthaliyas II during his campaign in the Assuwa country of western Asia Minor, c.1430 BC. The content of the inscription may be evidence of Ahhiyawan-Mycenaean Greek warfare in western Asia Minor in the Late Bronze Age, and/or of a historical background for the Trojan war.

A Revolt against Hattuša

Previous articleNext article No AccessA Revolt against HattušaMogens Trolle LarsenMogens Trolle Larsen Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Journal of Cuneiform Studies Volume 24, Number 41972 A journal of ASOR Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.2307/1359626 Views: 1Total views on this site PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

Was King Abba-AN of Yamḫad a Vizier for the King of Ḫattuša?

Was King Abba-AN of Yamḫad a Vizier for the King of Ḫattuša?

Abraham and the Merchants of Ura

ROFESSOR Jean Nougayrol has published an important corpus of Akkadian tablets from the south archives of Ugarit, under the title Le Palais royal d'Ugarit, IV, Textes accadiens des archives sud (Archives internationales) (Paris: Imprimerie nationale, 1956) (abbreviated PR U, IV). Most of these documents were sent to Ugarit from other places including Hattusa, the Hittite capital. On pp. 103-5 of PRU, IV there is a tablet (17.130) from Hattusili III (reigned ca. 1282-1250 B.C.) to Niqmepac,l King of Ugarit, regulating the status and activities of Hattusili's merchants who were