Hattusa
The Hittite capital in central Turkey, abandoned and burned around 1200 BCE during the Bronze Age collapse.
- Location
- Near Boğazkale, Çorum Province, central Anatolia
- Modern country
- Turkey
- Period
- Hittite capital c. 1650–1200 BCE
- Finds
- Archives of some 20,000–30,000 clay tablets; Lion Gate; Yazılıkaya sanctuary
- End
- Abandoned and burned around 1200 BCE
- Status
- UNESCO World Heritage Site (1986)
What is Hattusa known for?
Hattusa, near the modern village of Boğazkale in central Turkey, was the capital of the Hittite empire from about 1650 to 1200 BCE. Its walls, gates decorated with lions and sphinxes, temples and the nearby rock sanctuary of Yazılıkaya are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Excavations since 1906 have recovered tens of thousands of clay tablets from its archives. These include treaties, letters, laws and myths, and they allowed scholars to decipher Hittite, the oldest written Indo-European language. One treaty, with Ramesses II after the battle of Kadesh, survives in both Egyptian and Hittite versions.
Around 1200 BCE the city was abandoned and parts were burned, and the Hittite state disappeared. Excavators think the court may have left before the destruction. Its fall is one of the main events of the Bronze Age collapse, and Ramesses III's inscription at Medinet Habu lists Hatti among the lands overrun.
Its abandonment and burning is a key event of the Bronze Age collapse.
Mentioned on these pages
- Rabbit holeBronze Age collapse
Sources
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