Hattuşa
- Page II
Alacahöyük Sphinx Gate
Hattuşa was hailed in ancient sources as the "City
of a Thousand Gods". A multitude of gods required a multitude of temples in
their honour. Therefore, it is no surprise that much of the remains at the vast
area of Hattusha are places of worship. Apart from the main site near the
village of Boğazkale, there are the sanctuary at Yazılıkaya and,
at about 36 km of Boğazkale, the findings of Alacahöyük.
Yazılıkaya is a natural sanctuary and consists of two
rooms in the rock and a Hittite temple in front of it.
A "höyük" (tell [Arabic] or tepi [Persian]) is an artificial
mound or hill created by human habitation. The hill at Alacahöyük was first
described by W.C. Hamilton in 1835. The first systematic excavations at the
mound were started in 1935. Alacahöyük was an important centre as far back as
the Chalcolithic Age, that is, from the 4th millennium on. The Hittite era, too,
witnessed glorious times in Alacahöyük. The remains, the most impressive of
which are the sphinxes guarding the gate, belong to the Hittite Empire period
(1450-1180 B. C.). Many of the finds of Alacahöyük can be seen in the Museum
of Anatolian Civilizations in Ankara.
Our basis for visiting the archeological sites was at Sungurlu,
where we stayed at the Hitit Motel, Anakara-Samsun Yolu (Ankara-Samsun highway,
1 km outside the town centre). Breakfast is served at the cafe in the garden of
the hotel. The owner of the cafe speaks French (used to live in Charleroi,
Belgium) and provided us a car for the visit of Hattusha, Yazılıkaya,
and Alacahöyük. Doing it this way, it took us about 5 hours to see all
of the sights. Sungurlu is kind of a boring little town where nothing much can
be done apart from arranging a visit to the archeological sites. Therefore, we
decided to head on to Ankara at the same day.
Click on the thumbnails to get a greater picture
