Hattusha Boğazköy: Explore the Capital of the Hittite Empire

Founded around 1650 BC, Hattusha was the capital of the Hittite Empire and became the focus of the arts and architecture of that time as the capital of one of the four great powers of the Bronze Age: Hittite, Egyptian, Babylonian and Assyrian.

The discovery of cuneiform tablets during the first excavations including the famous peace treaty of Kadesh between the Hittite king Hattušili III and the Egyptian pharaoh Ramases II, made it possible not only to identify the significance of the city, but also to decipher Hittite

The Hittite capital Boğazköy-Hattusha was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1986. In addition, the cuneiform tablets found in the archives of the Hittite state, Boğazköy, were added to the UNESCO Memory of the World list in 2001.

Apart from the Kadesh Treaty, there are also other uniques objects in Turkish Museums unearthed in Boğazköy.

This seal impression, or bulla, belongs to Hattushili III and his wife Puduhepa, who undersigned the first international peace treaty with Egypt following the Battle of Kadesh in 1269 BC.

This  cast bronze sword was found by mere chance during road construction work outside the city walls of Hattusha. On one side is a cuneiform inscription in Akkadian language.

"When the Great King Tuthaliya shattered the land of Assuwa, he offered these swords to his Master, the Storm-God as a token of his devotion.” It is thought that this  sentence was inscribed after its acquisition as part of booty.

In this depiction, three gods are on a platform side by side, under the winged Hittite sun disk. The storm god is in the middle and his sons, storm gods of the cities of Nerik and Zippalanda, are at his sides.

This vase was found in Hattusha, in the house of a senior military commander. It is adorned with a bull’s head, which symbolizes the storm god. It must have been used during rituals and religious ceremonies.

The treaty between Tuthaliya IV and Tarhuntaşşa King Kurunta is an important document that sheds light on the historical geography of Anatolia in the 2nd millennium BCE. It is crucial in terms of being the only example of bronze tablet among the tablets unearthed so far.

On the vase is a standing bearded male figure. He has his arms spread wide. The figure is wearing a horned head-dress. He is naked and his genitals are visible.

The tablet depicts feasts for different gods that were held in various places under the direction of the King of the Hittites. Karahna feasts consisted of 7 separate celebrations, each lasting 3 days.