3000 year-old Sculpture of Hittite King Suppiluliuma Discovered in ...

3,000 year-old Sculpture of Hittite King Suppiluliuma
Discovered in Hatay, Turkey
Turkish Culture and Tourism Office UK
Image 1 Image 2
For immediate release
LONDON (6 th August 2012) --- A colossal two-tonne 3,000 year-old sculpture of Hittite King
Suppiluliuma is one of the latest cultural treasures to be unearthed by an international team
in Tell Tayinat, an ancient site in Hatay, southeastern Turkey. Alongside the statue
archaeologists found another carving, a semicircular column base bearing the images of a
sphinx and a winged bull. Tayinat, a large low-lying mound, is located 35 kilometres east of
Antakya (ancient Antioch).
Announcing the finds, which form part of a monumental gate complex from the upper
citadel of Kunulua, capital of the Neo-Hittite Kingdom of Patina (ca. 1000-738 BC), Turkish
Minister of Culture and Tourism Ertugrul Gunay, said that the Turkish Ministry of Culture and
Tourism aims for these key pieces, which shed light on life in ancient Anatolia, to be
exhibited at the Hatay Archaeological Museum within a year following careful restoration by
a professional team.

Commenting on the newly discovered Tayinat sculptures, Timothy Harrison, professor of
near eastern archaeology at the University of Toronto and director of the Tayinat
Archaeological Project, which has been ongoing since 2004, said that there was a ‘very wellpreserved
Hieroglyphic Luwian inscription on the back’ identifying him as Hittite King
Suppiluliuma. He went on to say ‘[the pieces] provide a vivid glimpse into the innovative
character and sophistication of the Iron Age cultures that emerged in the eastern
Mediterranean following the collapse of the great imperial powers of the Bronze Age at the
end of the second millennium BC.’
The sculpture of King Suppiluliuma, a regal figure who ruled over the Neo-Hittite kingdom of
Patina in the 9th century B.C., is preserved from the waist up and measures almost 1.5
meters tall, suggesting a total body length of 3.5 to four metres.
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Notes to Editors:
Images: Please credit Jennifer Jackson
Image 1: Front view of the Suppiluliuma Statue
Image 2: Bull and Sphinx Carved Column Base
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TAP is an international project, involving researchers from a dozen countries, and more than 20
universities and research institutes. It operates in close collaboration with the Ministry of Culture and
Tourism of Turkey, and provides research opportunities and training for both graduate and
undergraduate students.
For further information please contact:
Ceyda Sara Pekenc/Hulya Soylu/Ela Ayhan
Redmint Communications | T: +44 (0)20 3397 3936
| E: turkeytourism@redmintcomms.co.uk