Anatolian Civilizations and Historical Sites - TEDA

ANATOLIAN CIVILIZATIONS:10x19 antik kentler 8/1/11 10:50 AM Sayfa
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On the slope between Büyükkale and the Great Temple were the slope
houses. A slope house has been reconstructed here. Between the King’s
Gate and Büyükkale, the Hittites built two pools known as the Eastern
Pool for the water demand of the Upper City. Rooms number 1 and 2 have
been uncovered in the west of the pool. Assumedly, the room number 2
had a cultic function. Inside the room, an embossment of Shuppiluliuma
II (1200-1190 BC), the last king of the Hittites, solar god depictions and
hieroglyph scripts on the walls have been found.
The Great Temple, which was the largest religious structure in the city,
is located in the north of the Lower City. This temple – temple number 1
– was used around the 14th-13th centuries BC. This place was made up of
a cultic structure in the middle, magazines on four sides, and a building
complex of multiple rooms in the south west. All of them were set on a
large terrace made from debris stones. The actual temple was also located
on this temple. The temple has four gates; one main, three ancillary.
Ancillary gates were used by people linked with the temple, while the
south eastern gate of entry was used only by the king and the queen. On
festivals and cultic ceremonies, the king and the queen, who also had
monk and nun characteristics, would enter through the main gate
together with their company. There were magazines surrounding the
actual temple. These were warehouse buildings built to meet all of the
demands of the temple. There were also bureau sections to determine
the goods going in to and out of the temple. Furthermore, thousands of
cuneiform tablets were found during the excavations in 1907, which
shows that there were also archive buildings.
The foundations of these multi-storey magazine buildings were made from
debris stone, its bases from cut stone and upper floors from adobe. Two
rows of jars, which are in situ today, reveal that liquid substances were
stored here. These are 900-3000 liter jars, with stamps or marks on their
shoulders. The markings on them are assumed to have showed the
substance inside the jar. Nothing has been obtained related to these
storage areas today. These rich temple warehouses are thought to have
been plundered when the Hittites fell around 1190 BC.
The temple at the center of the magazines measures 64.5 m. long, 42.5 m.
wide and was made from large calcareous blocks. It expands on an area
of 14.500 m2 , together with all the warehouses surrounding it. The
calcareous block at its southern edge, measuring 36 tons and 5.75 m. long,