Art
211
Hittites
Yazilikaya
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Art
211 |
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"Hattian storm-god, my lord, and ye gods, my lords! It is only too true that man is sinful. My father sinned and transgressed against the word of the Hattian storm-god, my lord. But I have not sinned in any respect. It is only too true, however, that the father's guilt falls upon the son. So my father's sin has fallen upon me. Now, I have confessed before the Hattian storm god, my lord, and before the other gods, my lords: it is true, we have done it. And because I have confessed my father's sin, let the soul of the Hattian storm-god, my lord, and of the other gods, my lords, be again pacified! Suffer not the few to die who are still left to offer sacrificial loaves and libations!" -- Prayer of King MURSILIS II on the occasion of plague.
The sanctuary of Yazilikaya lies outside the ancient city of Hattusas, near where a spring issued from the rocks and flowed through a small alcove. It was considered a site sacred to the Hittites, especially its royalty.
On the site today are ruins of several temples dating from the 15th-13th centuries bce. Still visible and impressive are carvings of deities in the two natural chambers of the roofless sanctuary. The figures in the larger chamber give the impression of two processions, one of male and one of female deities, advancing on either side towards the rear wall, where the principal god and goddess, emphasized both by their positions and by their greater size, meet one another at the focal point of the chamber. The west wall is adorned with reliefs of gods, while those on the east wall are devoted to goddesses.
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| Tudhilaya IV From Chamber B at Yazilikaya See more |
Amongst the finely carved, though much weathered, relief carvings are found the moon god Kusuh, the weather and storm god Teshuba, the earth goddess Hepat, and Sharumma, the son of Teshuba and Hepat. Versions of Teshuba, the weather god, are found throughout the ancient Middle East, under a variety of names (the Babylonian Marduk, the Assyrian Adad, and the Canaanite Baal) All told, the reliefs in the grand chamber consist of 64 figures and represent 63 deities of the Hittite pantheon.
The smaller chamber (Chamber B) contains a deity called by archaeologists the "sword god" thought to represent the Hittite god of the underworld. Remnants of cremations in this area suggest that this part of the sanctuary may have been used for burials of the Hittite royalty. Benches hewn out of the rock beneath some of the reliefs seem to have served for the depositing of offerings. There are also basins and drains for libations carved into the rock. Presumably each chamber was used for different ceremonies, but the exact nature of these rituals is unknown to us.
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| Chamber B |
TUDHALIYA IV (1250-1220) rebuilt Hattusas, giving it the form that it has today. He is depicted in the reliefs at the religious sanctuary of Yazilikaya, and may, in fact, be buried in the smaller room there (Chamber B).
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