Chapter VI: Appendix: B.—index to Hittite Monuments, with a Bibliography, 395-401 (3)

Though the monuments and legends together help us to reconstruct the base and framework of Phrygian history, there are very few authenticated data with which to fill in the details. There is no long list of royal names, for the rulers are supposed to have been named Midas and Gordius alternately; and a few other names preserved in Greek tradition are merely legendary. It is not until the age of Sargon[100] at the close of the eighth century B.C., that a few facts come to light among the Assyrian archives. Then it would appear that the Phrygian sphere of influence had penetrated far into south-eastern Cappadocia and was expanding, until challenged by the Assyrian forces in a series of campaigns beginning in 718 B.C. But Midas the Phrygian was not easily restrained, and in the next year prevailed on Pisiris of Carchemish to revolt against the Assyrian supremacy, while several minor states of Cappadocia, forming part of the region called Tabal, followed this example, prompted, doubtless, from the same source of inspiration. The rebels were promptly punished, and one of these expeditions sent against them penetrated, it would seem, to Tyana, at this time an important centre for the Phrygians[101] in the conduct of their wars. In 709, however, following a further expedition sent against Midas from Cilicia, the Phrygians capitulated, sending ambassadors and tribute. The reason for this sudden change of front is also made apparent. About the middle of the eighth century B.C. there had appeared the first wave of an overwhelming movement of peoples from Southern Europe,[102] including seemingly both Cimmerians and Scythians, coming by way of the Caucasus, spreading terror and devastation as it passed. The Vannic power of Urartu in Southern Armenia about 720 B.C. received the first onslaught, and then the frontiers of Sargon, who had to call up all the resources of his armies to protect his kingdom. Recoiling, the tide set westward through Asia Minor, meeting about 710 another similar stream[103] that had crossed the Bosphorus; and the united barbarians for half a century established a reign of terror in the north of Asia Minor. The details of the story are wanting, so far as it directly affects the Phrygians during this fateful period. About 675 however, the royal Midas (presumably the grandson of _Mita_ who had begged Assyria through his ambassadors for help), defeated on every hand, in despair committed suicide. The Cimmerians overran his country, and the kingdom of Phrygia henceforth ceased to be. We do not follow the movements of these hordes further; for they have left no trace or handiwork upon the Hittite lands which they had overrun, although it was not until the close of the seventh century that they disappeared. Their inroads, however, and the violent deflections which they gave to the course of history, are probably responsible for the final disappearance of all trace and memory of the Hittite power in Greek history.

The Lydian state in the west, that fought the final struggle for civilisation against these restless and untiring foes, next claims our notice from the way in which certain of its institutions and ancient customs reflect the influence of the Hittite civilisation, from which, indeed, they may have been inherited.[104] Unlike the rulers and customs of Phrygia, the leading elements of the Lydian society had been matured on the soil from dim antiquity. Tradition speaks of a dynasty of Heraclidae who ruled from the twelfth century for five hundred years,[105] and whose ancestor, Agron,[106] was descended from Hercules himself. Even before that date there is memory of a royal family of Atyadae, whose rule, if there be anything in this memory, must have passed back to the days of direct Hittite domination that saw the carving of the warrior-gods of Kara-Bel and maybe the Mother-goddess of Sipylus.

However that may be, we see the Lydians already an organised state, even while the Phrygian power was still at its height, before the Cimmerian storm had burst. As with the Hittites in past time, their constitution was partly that of confederate or vassal states governed by hereditary chiefs owning allegiance to the ruling power at Sardis, and partly feudal,[107] the chieftains owing their military service and their tribal forces to the king, while the common people appear as serfs. In this society the king was both head of the priesthood and chief commander of the vassal chiefs in war.[108] The emblem of sovereignty was a double axe, which the Greeks said was derived from Hercules himself.[109] From among the mass of legend which characterise the earliest efforts of Greek history, it might be possible to trace many suggestions of the influence of the Hittite civilisation; but the lack of local monuments (a fact due doubtless to physical conditions), to reveal to us the dominant features of Lydian art, restrains us from this aspect of inquiry. One point at any rate is established, that not merely was the district of Lydia at one time embraced within the Hittite empire,[110] but that it became imbued then with many features of social organisation which it carried down from the old world to the new. Our main inquiry being based on the monuments of the Hittite lands, we cannot dwell upon the stories of the Lydian kings, of their desperate struggles with the Cimmerians following the downfall of Phrygia, nor of their warfare with the Medes, with whom, after the fall of Nineveh in 607 B.C., they ultimately divided Asia Minor, with the Halys as the boundary between them. The names of two kings are worthy of mention as historical landmarks; the one is Gyges, first of the Mermnad dynasty in the middle of the seventh century B.C., contemporary of Assurbanipal, the Assyrian, and of Psamtek, Pharaoh of Egypt, with both of whom he held relations of diplomatic character. The other is Crœsus, the last and greatest of them all, who, having established his power eastward to the Halys, turned his attention to those rich Greek cities which had sprung up in the West.

VIEW NEAR SARDIS, THE ANCIENT CAPITAL OF LYDIA

The valley of the Pactolus, a tributary of the Hermus, which rising on Mt. Tmolus flowed past the temple of Kybele at Sardis.]

These colonies, founded in selected spots along the coast several centuries before, had indeed in many cases already passed their zenith. Cities like Smyrna, Ephesus, and Colophon were in the pride of their prosperity before the fall of Phrygia and the rise of Lydia. How old they were in their origin is not determinable, but they had received, and retained in historic times, the impress of the Hittite civilisation, so much so that Mr. Hogarth, writing of Ionia, concludes that ‘this coast was long dominated by an inland, continental power, that of the Cappadocian Hatti, who imposed their own distinct civilisation, and admitted the Ægean culture only as a faint influence ascending along the trade routes.’[111] ‘The Goddess of the Phrygian mountains became at Smyrna the Sipylene Mother, and at Ephesus Artemis of the Many Breasts was worshipped with rites more Oriental than Greek.’ Recently also Sir Cecil Smith, in discussing certain ivory statuettes found by Mr. Hogarth in the foundations of the temple of Artemis, has pointed out further analogies with the old cult of the goddess, as revealed by the sculptures of Boghaz-Keui.[112] However that may be, the fact that the Hittite armies of the fourteenth or thirteenth century B.C. had penetrated to the coast at Smyrna and Ephesus, is made clear by the sculptures of Sipylus and of Kara-Bel, to which we have alluded.[113] Now these fair cities of Ionia fell one by one to Crœsus, who seemed likely to establish an empire even over the islands, when suddenly Cyrus the Persian appeared from the East, reuniting all the sundered parts of the old empires of Assyria and of Babylon as he passed. Crœsus marched immediately out to resist his oncoming, and as a preliminary step crossed the Halys and ‘ravaged the lands of the “Syrians,” and took the city of the Pterians and enslaved the inhabitants. He also took all the adjacent places and expelled the population, who had given him no cause for blame.’[114] Possibly we may see in these acts, which appeared wanton to the historian, an effort on the part of Crœsus to delay or prevent the passing of the Persian army, which would naturally follow the old royal road in preference to the undeveloped route across the desert. However that may be, the effort was vain: about 546 B.C. the Lydian capital and its king fell into the hands of Cyrus.

The old Hittite realms were now reunited under Persian rule, and continued to share in the common history of the Empire of the Great King for more than two hundred years. For the purpose of administration Asia Minor was divided into provinces, governed by Satraps, of which the old kingdom of Lydia formed one, and the regions of Konia, Angora, Pteria, and Sivas were included in another, the largest of all, which reached from Lydia to Armenia, and included the whole plateau from the Taurus northwards to the sea. The tract of Cilicia with part of the province of Aleppo formed another, while the former Hittite states in the north of Syria were similarly grouped together. But the hold of the Great King ruling in Susa over his distant provinces was weak, and the spirit of Persian civilisation did not penetrate, or could not, into these historic lands. No monument remains to tell us of this phase, during which the old local institutions were maintained and even developed unrestrained. The Greek cities of the coast retained their Greek characters under Greek governors; while the tribes of the interior restored the rule of their local princes or priest-dynasts amid a condition of security and freedom which they had not known for many generations. All that the central power demanded was tribute and tranquillity. Local feuds between the Satraps might smoulder, and the symptoms of rebellion here and there remain almost unheeded, so long as these conditions were fulfilled. Under these circumstances the western people gradually recovered the spirit of independence, while from across the sea the Greek states even aspired to empire. The march of the Ten Thousand in 402, under Cyrus the younger, made famous by Xenophon in his _Anabasis_, showed how lax was the organisation and how weak the control of the central government. It also opened up incidentally the southern route by the Mæander, Ilgîn, and Iconium to the Cilician gates, in preference to the longer royal road by way of Boghaz-Keui, by which hitherto the posts from Susa had travelled west to Sardis.

In B.C. 334 Alexander the Great crossed the Hellespont, and within a year, by his energy and ability to use the new army-machine which he had inherited, had conquered western Asia Minor as far as the Halys, and passed on leaving it his own. This date marks an issue more changeful to Asia Minor than the conquest of Cyrus. For though no monuments throw light on the story of the next two centuries, the system of government was now initiated which in due time was to result in the Hellenising of the interior. Cities were founded with Greek names, and the Greek speech gradually made its way, through Greek-speaking princes and governors, as the official language. The change worked very slowly, but it was profound in the issue, as we shall see. At first the states maintained their old customs and native dialects without appreciable difference, except in the vigour of the new government, but in the course of two or three centuries Greek language and Greek culture, even to some extent Greek thought and religious ideas, had permeated widely among the upper-class natives of the interior.

The struggles of Alexander’s successors, who had inherited from him the empire, are matters of common history. The Seleucids reunited, though in futile manner, the formerly Hittite regions in the north of Syria and Cilicia, and for a time gained some ascendency in Asia Minor, until defeated in 191 B.C. and driven back beyond the Taurus, where for another century they retained a sphere of influence. But of greater interest to us is the survival of local power in Cappadocia, under the dynasty of Ariarthes, which had come to the fore in the last century of Persian domination. This state, at first with incessant warfare, and then by means of tribute to the Seleucids, maintained in effect a form of local independence which survived even down to the Roman occupation and beyond. Another state that retained its freedom and local princes throughout this time was Bithynia, on the tract opposite Constantinople, but this is a region outside the boundaries of our story.

CILICIA: ROMAN AQUEDUCTS OVER THE EASTERN PLAIN (_See p. 70._)]

The Romans dallied long in following up the defeat of the Seleucids at Magnesia, when the way lay open to the annexation of Asia Minor, for which its people, torn by their internal wars, would have been even grateful. But it was not until late in the second century b.c. that the west was united as a Roman province. Even then the east remained under the direct government of the local princes, to whom the Roman Senate entrusted their frontier. At the beginning of the first century B.C. the disaffection of Mithridates, king of Pontus, a state bordering the Black Sea, and his efforts to win for himself a kingdom in Cappadocia and Bithynia, was one of the last fitful traces of the old native power, and called up more serious efforts on the part of Rome. The Cilician pirates, who from their base under the southern slopes of Taurus had become a leading naval power, were also suppressed, and during the century that followed the whole country as far as the Euphrates was gradually brought under direct control, and the provincial system was established. The province of _Cilicia_ had been founded in B.C. 103, and after various successive modifications, during which the western district, Cilicia Trachæa, continued to be ruled by the priest-dynasts of Olba, the whole was united with Lycaonia under a consular legate about 137 A.D. _Bithynia-Pontus_, the scene of the late rebellions, came into the power of Rome by the will of its last king in B.C. 74, and the double province was put under the administration of a prætorian proconsul in B.C. 27. _Galatia_ was constituted in B.C. 25, and _Pontus_ was added to it in 63 A.D. Finally, the occupation of _Cappadocia_, dating from A.D. 17, completed the division of the administrative districts; for the sixth province _Asia_, in the west, had been the earliest founded, as we have noted, in B.C. 133.

KYRRHUS: ROMAN TOMB AND RUINED BRIDGE (_See p. 71._)]

The system of Roman organisation at first modified and finally broke up the old tribal communities. For some time, many old-world institutions were maintained, notably the priest-dynasts of Comana, Olba, and Venasa; but gradually the native communal temple-district organisation of society gave way, to be replaced by the Greek political system, the seeds of which had been planted two or three centuries before, and had now taken root. In this system the city became the administrative centre, and the villages around were its branches. Greek became more and more the language of the people.[115] The formal records of military works, the milestones and imperial monuments, are inscribed in Latin, but the inscriptions in the old graveyards are carved in Greek letters. We cannot dwell upon the history of these times, of the reorganisation under Diocletian, at the close of the third century, marking the commencement of the Byzantine period, nor of the spread of Christianity, with the great social changes that involved. We reproduce, however, some illustrations of Roman works, such as are met with in plenty throughout the length and breadth of Hittite lands, from Malatia to Iconium and beyond, from Tarsus to the Black Sea coast. The great aqueducts like those of Tyana,[116] and those which stretch for miles across the Cilician plain,[117] are an indication of the vast scheme of development that was instituted under the new well-ordered system of government. Great cities both in Syria and in Asia Minor were the product of these times. Many of these were the foundations of places that still remain centres of administration; while some have lost their importance, and are falling gradually to ruin in silence and desolation. The remains of Kyrrhus upon the Afrîn,[118] a site now marked only by the small village of Huru-Pegamber some distance away, are among the wonderful memorials of antiquity. The imposts are falling from their pilasters, and the keystones to its arches are working loose, but it retains its silent streets of impressive stone buildings, its arches and colonnades, its amphitheatre, as though its people had quitted hardly a generation ago. Numerous Greek inscriptions may still be found amongst the ruins,[119] and just southward of the Acropolis several sarcophagi of marble, with Greek names upon them, indicate the position of the old-time burying place. In the extreme south of the site, with its sanctity still maintained in a modern Mohammedan shrine and well adjoining, there stands perfect a tomb-structure[120] in the Roman style of the second century A.D. We give a photograph of this, which is one of the best-preserved examples of its kind. Our other photographs[121] taken at Ephesus and at Ba’albec,[122] at the two ends of the Hittite lands, will sufficiently illustrate the art and civilisation of their time and place.

The very prosperity of the country during the Roman occupation was one cause of its danger, presenting it as an alluring prize to the forces gradually arising along its frontiers. The extreme centralisation of the Byzantine system weakened, if it did not altogether exterminate, the power of local resistance and administration. So long as the central government remained powerful all was well, but the danger of the system was manifested by the ease with which the Arab forces in 668 passed through the land from end to end, pausing only before the walls of Constantinople. The hold of the Saracen power, however, was not firm, and the Roman system was possessed of great latent vitality which in the end was equal to the emergency, so that in a series of campaigns extending from 920 to 965, the Saracens were driven back from point to point, until first Tarsus[123] was recovered and then Antioch, which had for more than three hundred years been in their possession.

BAALBEK: SCULPTURE AND TEMPLE RUINS OF ROMAN PERIOD]

The Seljûk Turks, who next appeared on the scene, were a more formidable and resistless enemy. Having at one time been the servants of the Arab sultans, they had now become the masters, and in 1067 they entered Asia Minor, conquering Cilicia and Cappadocia. Four years later the Emperor Romanus Diogenes himself was their prisoner, and by 1081 the whole centre and east of the tableland was recognised as their realm. Adopting a policy of depopulation and devastation, in which the whole of Phrygia was laid waste, the Turks rapidly set up an almost impassable frontier between themselves and the Byzantine power which still held sway in the West. Notwithstanding spasmodic efforts of the old rulers to regain their dominion, the country gradually relapsed into Orientalism, and with the rise of the Osmanli Turks from 1289 the Empire of the West rapidly disintegrated. Under the Seljûk rule, a new aspect of decorative art and architecture appeared in Asia Minor, a phase much neglected yet most worthy, as Professor Ramsay has pointed out, of special study. Under certain of their lines a brilliant series of monuments arose, among which the Hans[124] or roadside rest-houses are specially noteworthy, contributing also as they did to public security and pacification. In addition to these, other public works like their bridges and fortifications, as well as their mosques and colleges with cloisters and sculptures, are all evidence of one of the brightest phases of Moslem art. Some of the beautiful monuments which are shown in our illustrations, like the sculptured portal of the old school (or _Midresseh_) at Nigdeh, and the ‘tomb of Havanda,’ at the same place,[125] with its delicate tracery and design, belong to the best phases of this memorable period.

With the enthronement of the Seljûks the old world faded rapidly from view. No conquest in all the history of the Hittite lands had been so thorough and so enduring. Previously we had seen old institutions surviving under a new system that grew up around them; but now a new language and new forms of government, with new administrative districts, were imposed by the conquerors; while the devastation of the earlier stages of the conquest, followed by the repeated incursions of nomad peoples, profoundly modified the racial stock of the population. With them the modern Turkey-in-Asia was born.

III

MONUMENTS OF THE HITTITES

PRELIMINARY: CHRONOLOGY—CLASSIFICATION—DISPOSITION

With this outline of the chief historical phases of Asia Minor before us, we pass from the remains of mediæval and classical antiquity to a consideration of those more ancient monuments which bear witness to Hittite handiwork. Notwithstanding the progress of historical research, these remain the surest basis for the study of our subject, giving us an insight into the Hittite civilisation, which is rendered more valuable and more intelligible by the light thrown upon Hittite chronology by recent excavation. Their nature and intrinsic details are material evidence of Hittite arts, which, in the lack of internal literary documents, no other sources can satisfactorily supply; while their disposition defines for us the Hittite lands in a manner more reliable and more substantial than theories based on vague and difficult references in oriental history. A reasonable consideration of the environment of these monuments, also, may help us to appreciate something of that which is most difficult to realise but all-important, namely the circumstances of the life of those whose hands produced them.[126]

EPHESUS: REMAINS OF THE ‘LIBRARY OF CELSUS,’ RECENTLY UNCOVERED (_See p. 71._)]

Obedient to a now accepted principle of psychology, we follow in the development of our inquiry the sequence of evidences by which this subject has been established during the past generation. Postponing for the present any detailed account of the walled towns and groups of sculptures which have been the scene of recent investigation, we shall consider firstly those monuments which are found isolated and scattered throughout the regions indicated in the opening chapter. If, in so doing, we can yet be guided by the light of modern discoveries, we may hope to avoid some of the difficulties which beset the path of these pioneers whose work introduced to us this new material. Our method of study, like theirs, must be comparative; but we shall be content to confine ourselves almost entirely to the monuments identified as Hittite by the presence of the peculiar hieroglyphic signs or inscriptions carved upon them. It was indeed upon this line of evidence that Professor A. H. Sayce was enabled, thirty years ago, to establish the relationship of the unexplained inscriptions of Hamath with the sculptures of Kara-Bel in the far west of Asia Minor, and thence to make his brilliant inference of a forgotten empire.[127]

We use the test of Hittite hieroglyphs, not only because it has become in this way fundamental to our subject, but because it is no longer open to doubt whether these peculiar signs are of Hittite origin or not. Formerly there may have been room for reasonable criticism so long as this conclusion was based only on the fact that these symbols were found chiefly on unexplained monuments from Hamath and neighbouring places in Northern Syria associated in history with the Hittites. But now the increasing accumulation of this kind of circumstantial evidence has been crowned by the discovery that the chief site of such monuments in Asia Minor, namely Boghaz-Keui, was for two centuries the capital of the Hittites, whose name (Hatti) appears freely on the literary documents that have been unearthed[128] there in recent excavations. Being secured then against fundamental error, a comparison of the Hittite monuments identified on this basis readily reveals peculiarities of art which may be regarded as typical, so that we might reasonably include in our category other monuments of like kind which lack only the ultimate criterion which we have set before us. We do not wish, however, nor do we need, in the scope of this volume, to press the argument by analogy, being warned against the pitfalls of such a method by several general considerations, and especially by the noticeable survival of Hittite influence in the local sculptures, like those of Phrygia[129] and western Lycaonia.[130]

Though we continue to employ the old materials, however, we see them now in a clearer light. Just as the time has passed by when the word ‘Hittite’ must be written in inverted commas, or qualified with the adjective ‘so-called,’ so now we are not content any longer to regard the older monuments of the interior together in general as pre-Hellenic, much less pre-historic, without distinction as to period or locality. The references to the Hittites in Babylonian, Egyptian, and Assyrian history alone, it is true, would not be sufficient to establish an historical basis for this phase of our inquiry, though giving us a range of dates that covers broadly the whole of the second millennium down to the eighth century B.C.,[131] but these allusions are now supplemented, and in great measure made intelligible, by the evidence of the Hittite archives recently discovered at Boghaz-Keui, which establish chronological relationships of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries B.C.,[132] together with a series of contemporary Hittite works. This date now becomes the basis for all inquiry, bringing into line several points previously problematical and much disputed, just as the intrinsic evidence of these archives throws a new flood of light over the disposition and constitution of the Hittites at the very period when they figure most prominently in the pages of Egyptian history.

ANGORA: REMAINS OF THE TEMPLE OF ROME AND AUGUSTUS]

Other researches have contributed towards broadening this basis of investigation. At Sakje-Geuzi recent excavations[133] have established the fact previously in doubt, that the settlements of Hittite peoples had begun there at any rate many centuries, possibly several thousand years, previous to the age marked by the oncoming and ultimately overwhelming tide of Assyrian influence early in the first millennium B.C. The relation of the later phase of local arts to Assyrian chronology is given by the results of excavations made on the great mound at Sinjerli, distant about a day’s journey in the same valley towards the south.[134] Here certain palace buildings and sculptures, some of which betray Assyrian feeling, may be dated, by help of inscribed monuments that were unearthed, to the eighth century B.C., when this principality became tributary to Tiglath Pileser III. The reign of Esarhaddon, the conqueror of Egypt, brought even this nominal independence to an end about 680 B.C.

NIGDEH: PORTAL OR THE ‘WHITE MIDRESSEH’

Built by Ala-ed-din the Great, _circa_ 1223 A.D. An early example of Seljûk art. (_See p. 73._)]

To these revelations by the spade there should be added various contributions of the pen, which, together with the old materials, make possible the study of Hittite remains upon an historical rather than a purely archæological basis. We might indeed make some general inferences from the results of these researches, but it will be wise to keep ever in view the geographical conditions, and never to assume collateral development among the various branches of the Hittite peoples whose lands were physically so disunited. Evidence affecting one state in the north of Syria may be applied with some surety to its neighbours; but it may not be applicable beyond the Taurus. No published accounts enable us to test the antiquity of Hittite settlements upon the tableland of Asia Minor, and it is doubtful if even the necessary soundings have been made. For the middle period, however, the difficulty is less, where history shows that the influence of the Hatti administered from Boghaz-Keui must have predominated in the north of Syria, and contemporaneity of development may therefore be inferred. But when we come to the inferior limit of date the same difficulty (the possibility of independent development) is reopened, for, in the absence of positive material evidence to the contrary, the Assyrian arms seem never to have passed the Halys even while Assyrian influences were dominant in Syria. On the other hand, as we have seen in the previous chapters, we have to take into account the possible influence of the new civilisations, like that of the Phrygians, which had meanwhile been developing upon the tableland. One thing at any rate seems clear, that no Hittite monuments of Asia Minor can well be later than the period of Phrygian domination in the eighth century B.C.,[135] so that in the end a general parallel is suggested with the closing dates afforded from Assyrian history.

Having now considered in general terms the method and the new chronological basis of our inquiry, we come first to an account of those isolated monuments which illustrate to us the diversity of Hittite art and the wide range of its influence. The most striking of these are perhaps those carved on the living rock, which may take the form of single figures, some gigantic, others less than life-size, or groups representing deities and their ministers, accompanied in each case by Hittite hieroglyphs, or long inscriptions without any sculptures to give a suggestion of their meaning.[136] Of the moveable monuments only one is found clearly _in situ_,[137] and this from its position and nature may be thought, like some of the rock-inscriptions, to have been a boundary stone. There are others, however, of such weight[138] or peculiar character[139] that they may be judged to have been set up not far from the sites where they have been found. The _provenance_ of monuments found on or in the vicinity of ancient sites is also reliable as evidence.[140] Sculptures are rarely executed in the round, except for architectural purposes,[141] though in one or two instances there have been found fragments of statues.[142] Reliefs however, are plentiful, mostly representing mythological creatures or persons; while a distinct class, which represents a ceremonial feast or communion, seems to include some specimens of funerary character.[143] Among inscribed monuments the most interesting are those stelæ which show a human figure, accompanied, it would seem, by a formal biography of good works.[144]

NIGDEH: TOMB OF SELJÛK PERIOD

Traditionally the tomb of Havanda, wife of Ala-ed-din, but dated 1344 A.D. Note the design, tracery, and stalactite ornamentation. (_See p. 73._)]

Unfortunately a considerable proportion of the inscribed blocks of stone that have been found are imperfect, so that little can be hoped from the inscriptions themselves. There are also a few small objects so portable, and reported from regions so exceptional, that they cannot be used as topographical evidence. Lastly, there are naturally a number of monuments simulating Hittite work which we hesitate to include without further evidence. It will be useful at this stage to give a classified list of the places where the chief Hittite monuments have been found.[145] Towns and palaces are included though not discussed in this chapter; further, classifications which are based on inference, or doubtful in any way, are denoted by square brackets, while an asterisk signifies that the Hittite origin of the monument to which it refers is problematical and unconfirmed. Other special features are pointed out in the footnotes.

WALLED TOWNS.—Boghaz-Keui, Eyuk, Sakje-Geuzi, Sinjerli. [Ilgîn (Kolitoghlu Yaila), Jerablus (Carchemish), Marash.]

PALACES.—Boghaz-Keui, Eyuk, Sakje-Geuzi, Sinjerli.[146] [Malatia, Marash.[147]]

FORTRESSES.—Boghaz-Keui (Sary Kaleh, Yenije Kaleh), Giaour Kalesi, Karaburna, Kizil Dagh.

ROCK CARVINGS.—_Sculptures with Inscriptions_—Boghaz-Keui (Iasily Kaya), Fraktin, Ivrîz, Kara-Bel (Mount Tmolus), Kizil Dagh, Mount Sipylus, Tashji. _Sculpture only_—Giaour-Kalesi.[148] _Inscriptions only_—Asarjik, Boghaz-Keui (Nishan Tash), Bulghar-Madên, Gurun, Kara Dagh (Mahalich).

STONES IN SITU.—_Inscribed Sculpture_—Kuru-Bel. _Inscription only_—Bogche.

MOVEABLE STONES.—_Sculptures in the round_—Boghaz-Keui,[149] Derendeh[150] (and at Arslan Tash),[150] Eyuk,[150] Eski-Yapân,[150] Kurts-oghlu,[151] Kuru-Bel,[152] Marash,[151] Yamoola.[149] _Reliefs; mural_—Aintab, Boghaz-Keui, Doghanlu, Malatia, Marash. [Angora (Kalaba, Yalanjak, Amaksiz Keui).] _Reliefs representing a Ceremonial Feast_—Kara-burshlu, Malatia, Marash, Sakje-Geuzi, Sinjerli,[153] Yarre. _Inscriptions accompanying human figure_—Andaval, Bor, Jerablus[154] (Carchemish), Kellekli, Marash,[153] Samsat, Tell-Ahmar. _Inscriptions only_—Aleppo, Alexandretta,[155] Albistan (Kirchuk Yapalak), Bey-Keui, Ekrek,[154] Emir-Ghazi,[151] Hamath, Ilgîn (Kolitoghlu Yaila), Izgîn,[156] Jerablus, Karaburna, Nigdeh,[151] Restan, Suasa.

EXCEPTIONAL DISTRICTS.—Babylon, Erzerum (Kaza Passinler),[157] Kedabeg,[154] Toprah Kaleh.

PROBLEMATICAL MONUMENTS.—Eflatoun-Bunar, Fassiler, Gerger.

The first thing that strikes us in considering this list is that these monuments are all of stone. We might possibly be able to include, with suitable caution, some number of small objects of bronze or pottery, mostly in animal form, and also a number of peculiar ceramic types, including painted vases and neolithic pottery decorated in a primitive manner by incisions. But, except in the latter instances,[158] these do not advance the main subject of our inquiry; for while their identification with the Hittites is chiefly a matter of general inference, their _provenance_ is nearly always doubtful. The same thing might be said unhappily of the definitely Hittite seals and kindred objects, of which several excellent specimens are on record,[159] whether made of silver,[160] stone,[161] or ivory.[162] While all of these are worthy of closest study from the point of view of Hittite art and _motif_, yet nearly all have been found in the hands of peasants who were loath to tell the exact site of their discovery, or of town-dealers who did not know.

EPHESUS: MEDIEVAL FORTRESS WITH SELJÛK REMAINS AT AYASOLÛK

KONIA: ZAZADÎN HAN, OF SELJÛK WORK AND STYLE (_See p. 73._)]

Hence to define our Hittite land by the disposition of the monuments, we fall back largely on the works in stone, the original position of which is known or can be inferred. Doubtless at one time the surface of the ground was covered with other indications, with ruins of villages and houses where now the grass grows over indistinguishable mounds; and doubtless also many exposed monuments must hitherto have escaped scientific record. Hence our argument from the disposition of the monuments should be guarded; it is positive, indeed, so far as we have evidence, but the negative case should not be urged. The durability of stone has perpetuated these monuments to us, but it is not thereby demonstrated that the Hittites had any exclusive preference for this material. And being of stone, they are most plentiful in stony regions, and rarely found upon grassy plains. We cannot expect, for instance, upon the broad pastures of Iconium anything analogous to the sculptures which are found in rocky Taurus, where the opportunity was all-tempting which in the former case was lacking. It has been well said that ‘if the plateau presented throughout the same character, there would be no need to seek on its surface monuments of the past. Hunters and woodmen build no cities, and arts are unknown to them.’[163] Consequently, in finding a concentration of Hittite sites upon the hilly regions of the map, this fact should not be allowed to weigh disproportionately, although there is independent evidence tending to the conclusion that several branches of the Hittite peoples, particularly those of Asia Minor, were of mountain origin.[164]

With these considerations in mind, a study of the disposition of these Hittite sites upon the map[165] can teach us much, notwithstanding our self-imposed restrictions. Our southerly frontier reaches to Hamath on the Orontes. Eastward our boundary is the Euphrates, flowing past Malatia, Samsat, and Jerablus. Westward the monuments follow the inner edge of Taurus as far as the Kara Dagh, with not a single site under the southern slope of these mountains. In the north we have no clear boundary. Eyuk and Boghaz-Keui are found in the middle of the circuit of the Halys, with no places nearer than those which lie in the valley of that river. Across the river a single line of monuments, including Giaour-Kalesi, Yarre, Doghanlu, and Bey-Keui, seems to lead on towards the Lydian coast, to where Sipylus and Kara-Bel are found between Sardis and Smyrna.

ROWANDUZ KALEH: MEDIEVAL FORTRESS ON A STEEP CONICAL HILL OVERLOOKING THE AFRÎN

Supposed to have been built under Genoese architects during the 14th century A.D. (_See p. 9._)]

A brief consideration of the classified list of monuments above will reveal the fact that for description no grouping of these places is so convenient as that formed naturally by geographical divisions. The first main group (A) will include all the monuments of the north of Syria, in which we may recognise three separate districts. The most southerly is the Orontes valley, with which we can include Aleppo, though the latter historically would seem to have been the centre of an independent state.[166] The monuments from Hamath consist of a series of stones inscribed in relief, partly belonging to the same inscription; while at Aleppo there is one small stone of similar character. The places Restan and Homs indicated upon the map are positions of importance further up the Orontes, though unidentified by local remains.[167] The site of Kadesh, the historical frontier fortress of the Hittites in their warfare with Egypt, is similarly now unrecognisable, but a consensus of opinion among students of the Egyptian records places it not far southward of the present lake of Homs.[168]

Eastward we have the monuments on the Euphrates, including numerous inscriptions, a stela, and fragments of sculpture, from the irregular mounds which mark the site of ancient Carchemish at Jerablus. Several carved and inscribed monuments are recently reported from Kellekli and Tell-Ahmar,[169] which are in the same vicinity, while further up the river there are found an inscribed and sculptured block from Samsat, and a doubtful carving on the rocks near Gerger Kalesi. The remaining monuments of the north of Syria lie towards the west, mostly in the valley of the Kara Su. The mounds of Sinjerli and Sakje-Geuzi are included, wherein excavations have disclosed the ruins of sculptured palaces and other monuments that will be described with more detail in a later chapter. A relief with inscription comes from Kara-burshlu in the same vicinity; while a sculptured and inscribed corner-stone of peculiar character has been found at Aintab, a little to the east. To the south of this town is Killiz, a place not marked by any peculiar remains, but the centre where numbers of bronze figures,[170] seals, and other small objects of Hittite character, are commonly found in the bazaars. Lower down on the Afrîn, and hence geographically contiguous, is Kurts-oghlu, whence comes a portion of a small statue carved in the round, upon which still remain two lines of incised inscription. We include Marash also in this group, though it is on higher ground at the ascent of the Taurus mountains. Here there must have been a city of importance, suggested alike in the strategic position and in the number and character of the monuments found upon the site. Among these are two sculptured lions (one inscribed with hieroglyphs in relief), slabs carved with reliefs depicting interesting scenes, and the lower part of an inscribed statue, as well as several blocks and fragments also inscribed.

Passing northwards the monuments found in the mountain regions of Taurus and Anti-Taurus constitute our second main group (B). This embraces the district marked by the four sites in the valley of the Tochma Su, with which there may be included two others in the head-waters of the Pyramus. At Malatia there have been found several architectural blocks sculptured in relief with religious representations and hunting scenes, most of them bearing also groups of Hittite hieroglyphs upon them. There can be no doubt that, situated like Marash in a position of great strategic importance,[171] at one time on the Mitannian and later on the Assyrian frontier, this place is equally one of the more noteworthy Hittite sites. From Derendeh come an inscribed fragment of a statue and a small basaltic lion; and from a spot called appropriately Arslan Tash, one hour distant to the south, two other lions, which are presumably architectural. At Palanga an inscribed cylindrical columnar figure has been found; while Gurun, further up the valley, is the site of two inscriptions, one on the living rock and the other on an isolated block. On the southern side of the watershed an inscribed stone has been found in a cemetery at Kirchuk Yapalak, two hours distant from Albistan; while the column or obelisk from Izgîn, inscribed on four sides with hieroglyphs in relief, is an object almost as remarkable as the round column from Palanga.

This group includes, as a second district, five sites in the Anti-Taurus. The most easterly is Kuru-Bel, a pass near old-time Comana: here is one of the most striking Hittite works, resembling a great altar with lions crouching upon the top on either hand. Three places are on the main stream of the Zamanti Su: from an Armenian cemetery at Ekrek there has come a stone inscribed in incised hieroglyphs, which has been re-dressed with Christian emblems; at Tashji are two figures and an inscription incised upon the rock; while Fraktin is famous as the site of rock-sculptures that make important additions to Hittite religious symbolism. Lastly, at Asarjik, on the northern slope of Mount Argæus, overlooking Cæsarea, an inscription is incised upon a broken rock, accompanied by interesting markings like graffiti.

In our third main group (C) we include those few monuments found in or near the valley of the Halys, north-westward of Cæsarea. These are a great sculptured eagle on a lion-base, an object not demonstrably of Hittite workmanship, on the river-bank near Yamoola; a perfect inscription covering four sides of a round-topped stone, standing on a pedestal, overlooking the river valley on the south bank near Bogche; thirdly, an inscription in three lines on a stone found at Karaburna, which is on the opposite bank considerably lower down; and lastly, two incised inscriptions found recently at Suasa, which lies back considerably from the river, almost opposite the place last named.

With the same group we class the district inside the circuit of the Halys, the monuments of which are almost confined to the famous ruins of Boghaz-Keui, with the neighbouring sculptured sanctuary of Iasily Kaya, and the walled mound and palace of Eyuk, both of which are described in later chapters. There are, however, one or two features which may be appropriately singled out for comparison in this chapter, notably the inscription in relief on the rock called Nishan Tash, on the high ground of the citadel at Boghaz-Keui, and a couple of building blocks sculptured like those of Sinjerli, Malatia, and Eyuk, recently found at the foot of the acropolis. If we may mention also two objects of doubtful _provenance_, these introduce a place called Eski-Yapân, on the road from Sungurlu to Chorum, where an architectural lion is built into a modern wall,[172] and Denek-Madên, near to Cheshme-Keupru, where an interesting round ivory object engraved with Hittite characters and signs has been rescued.[173]

CÆSAREA: TURKISH CEMETERY, NOW DISUSED (_See p. 23._)]

We are inclined to group together all the monuments westward of the Halys (D), including with them the two famous sculptures near the Lydian coast. We thus bring together for comparison the rock carvings of Giaour-Kalesi and of Kara-Bel, which are analogous, and the dethroned Niobe seated on Mount Sipylus. In the Phrygian country there are on record an inscribed stone at Bey-Keui, and a sculpture with uncertain hieroglyphs at Doghanlu Daresi. A relief found at Yarre, representing a ceremonial feast, conforms with a definite class of Hittite sculptures found elsewhere on the several sites mentioned in the list above. The same may be said, though with less confidence, of carved slabs found in the vicinity of Angora, representing lions, but we exclude the sculptured lion to be seen near the bridge at Cheshme Keupru. The remarkable thing about the disposition of these monuments, excluding the reliefs at Angora, is that they seem to mark out the line of a single road, namely the Royal Road from Boghaz-Keui to Sardis and the west.[174] The only reasonable doubt seems to be as to the route from Giaour-Kalesi to Boghaz-Keui, about which there is no evidence. Some students of the local topography think it must have gone by way of Angora, in spite of the tradition (which in the absence of evidence becomes of interest) that Angora was a comparatively late Phrygian foundation.[175] Others urge[176] that it was improbable that the road ‘swerved southwards to Giaour-Kalesi,’ an opinion seemingly forgetful of the road’s objective.[177]

The district westward of Iconium, in which are found the Lycaonian-Hittite monuments of Eflatoun-Bunar and Fassiler, stands by itself. But as there is only one clearly Hittite object from this region, namely a stone inscribed with hieroglyphs in relief, from near Kolitoghlu Yaila, near Ilgîn, we include this with the main western group.

We now come to the fifth and last group (E) of these arbitrary divisions, which includes nine sites and several of the most important monuments.[178] It embraces the whole of the south-western range of Taurus from the Kara Dagh to Bulghar Dagh, as well as the districts at its foot, of which in classical times Eregli (Cybistra) Arissama (Ardistama) and Kilisse Hissar (Tyana) were the more important centres. The monuments recently discovered on the Kara Dagh might indeed have been regarded as a group apart; but as this district shares in the geographical economy of the others, and is a spur of the main Taurus range, we prefer to class them with the rest. They are found in two places, firstly, near Mahalich, on the summit of the Kara Dagh, where there are two inscriptions in relief and a passage in the rock; and secondly, on the outlying knoll called Kizil Dagh, on which are the remains of a ‘high place,’ including a rock-throne and an incised seated figure with three inscriptions; while on the very summit there are the ruins of a fortress, and an inscription in relief upon the rock. The monument of Ivrîz, above Eregli, is well known; it is a gigantic and imposing sculpture of the god of fertility (by whatever name he may be known) with the local priest-king in adoration; three short inscriptions accompany the scene. The traces of a second sculpture of similar character are to be found not far above.[179] At Bulghar-Madên, on the other side of a lofty ridge, an incised inscription of five lines is graved upon the living rock. These two monuments seem to have been connected in some way with Tyana, in the vicinity of which several inscribed stelæ and sculptures have been found. That from Bor, discovered in two portions which were rescued at different times, is the best of these; and an interesting fragment remains at Eski Andaval, where jealousies and suspicions prevent it from being seen. Nigdeh contributes an incised altar of round shape. From Tyana itself nothing is reported, but the antiquity of the site is unquestioned, and its known monuments reach back to the time of a Phrygian Midas.[180] In this district, particularly at Bor, numerous small objects of great interest have been secured, and there is little reason to doubt but that they were found originally not far away.[181] Further west, in the desert tract of the eastern extremity of the great salt plains, there are the ruins of Ardistama; and in the vicinity, near Emir Ghazi, there have been found in late years an inscription in relief, and three others on round altars. These are included in the same group on account of their geographical proximity.

Now that we have completed this preliminary survey of the disposition of such Hittite monuments as by their character or the circumstances of their discovery may be accepted by us as evidence in our inquiry, we realise more clearly the reason for the distinction we made in an earlier chapter between the eastern and western portions of Asia Minor. In the West we can speak of only nine monuments, of which four are not of Hittite origin. Six of these seem to lie along the line of a single road; and of the others, only one is inscribed with Hittite characters, and even that is moveable and not found in its original position. If only by contrast with this paucity, the comparative frequency of monuments towards the East, and their definite character, naturally inclines us to assign some tentative boundaries to the Hittite country. In the North this is not difficult; the Halys River remained in the time of Crœsus a division between peoples of different race,[182] and Sir William Ramsay has pointed out[183] differences in important racial customs between the peoples of the two banks in ancient times.

But to the south there is no such boundary; even the great plains, which form so prominent a landmark in the map, seem to be more barren now than in the days when Ardistama flourished.[184] This change is illustrated by the western extension of the monuments along the foot of the Taurus and in the desert. We must not forget, also, that whole tracts are eliminated from our purview from absence of stone; nor should we allow ourselves to be prepossessed with the idea of divisions on the tableland, which is, after all, continuous and coterminous. If it is true that nearly all the evidences of Hittite occupation in the west resolve themselves into monuments erected along a single road, it is also true that if we exclude from our view the group of remarkable monuments at Boghaz-Keui and Eyuk, there remains little sign that the country within the circuit of the Halys was indeed at any time Hittite territory, much less that it enclosed their northern capital. In face of such considerations the great sculptures and fortress of Giaour-Kalesi, the carvings of Doghanlu, the inscription and tumulus of Bey-Keui, and most striking of all, the sculptures of the west on Mount Sipylus and in the pass of Kara-Bel, as well as those monuments in Phrygia and Western Lycaonia which at least reflect the influence of Hittite art, become imbued with a relative importance not to be overlooked in our inquiry. The land of the Hittites is for us as broad as the extent of their works: it is for another phase of our subject to inquire whether there is evidence to tell us how and when their territory was acquired, and for how long it remained in their power.

SECTION A.—MONUMENTS OF THE NORTH OF SYRIA.

HAMATH, RESTAN, ALEPPO; KURTS-OGHLU (ALEXANDRETTA), SINJERLI, KARA-BURSHLU, SAKJE-GEUZI; AINTAB (KILLIZ), MARASH; JERABLUS, KELLEKLI, TELL-AHMAR, SAMSAT, RUM KALI (GERGER).

The town of Hamath has grown up where the main road from the north enters the Orontes valley. This river, in characteristic fashion, flows for the most part deep below the level of the surrounding plains; and Hamath is found at a spot where the banks widen out, so that the town is in a hollow, almost surrounded by escarpments formed of the steep banks and the broken edges of the plain. Though picturesque, the position in general can have had little strategic importance, even in antiquity, being overlooked and exposed. Hence it probably came into being in Hittite times as an important halting-place upon the main road through Syria, and as a natural centre for the surrounding agricultural districts. The original Hittite stronghold would seem to have been more strongly placed; this probably covered the broad-topped mound[185] which marks, in the manner so familiar in old Syrian towns, the beginnings of the site. Doubtless this would be surrounded at a certain stage with a wall, as was the fashion of those days; and later, on the analogy of Sinjerli, the population overspread the limits of the enclosure, and so settled in times of quiet on the tempting ground at the foot of the acropolis. In this development, and in the nature of its situation, Hamath shares largely the general features of many Syrian sites. Being (even now) somewhat out of the way of European travellers, it is curious that numerous inscriptions should have been noticed here, while a famous historical site like Kadesh remains unidentified, and a strong natural position like Restan was until recently without record of Hittite occupation.[186]

HAMATH: INSCRIPTION IN THREE LINES OF HITTITE HIEROGLYPHS CARVED IN RELIEF, ONE OF THE SO-CALLED ‘HAMATHIC’ INSCRIPTIONS (_See p. 95._)

The photograph is taken from a paper impression.]

Whatever may be the explanation, as early as 1812 a black basaltic block built into the corner of one of the houses in a bazaar attracted the eye of a famous traveller[187] by reason of the strange-looking hieroglyphic signs upon it. Sixty years later other stones came to light;[188] some were built into the modern walls, others lay loose. All were regarded with veneration by the inhabitants,[189] and it was with great difficulty that they were removed, in 1872, to a place of safety by the Turkish Governor through the energetic initiation of Dr. Wright, supported by the British Consul.