Follow My Journey

Follow My Journey
Istanbul-Bursa-Kusadasi-Ephesus-Pamukale-Konya-Cappadocia-Sivas-Amasya-Ankara

Friday, March 3, 2017

Central Anatolia Tour (Day II)

This morning we drove to the ancient center of the Hitite culture at Hattusas. Hattusas is near modern day town of Bogazkale. The ancient Hitites once commanded a vast Middle Eastern Empire around 2,000 BCE from Babylon in the East, Syria to the south and to the borders of Egypt in the west. Hattusas was their capital city. They worshipped over a thousand gods, most importantly was Teshub, the storm god and Hepatu, the sun goddess. They wrote in cunneiform style and these tablets reveal a society that was well ordered with more than 200 laws. They went into decline around 1250 BCE, being taken over by the Phrygians.

First we explored the Hitite religious sanctuary called the Yazilikaya, or Inscribed Rock. In these galleries of stone we saw reliefs of numerous goddesses and gods. We next explored the Main Temple Complex, dating from the 14th century BCE. We walked through the processional street and saw the main temple surrounded by storerooms which contained food stuffs, money, and cuneiform tablets, amongst other valuables. We also saw the green cubic rock, supposedly one of only two in the world and a present from Ramses II after signing the Kadesh peace treaty. Next, we drove up to the defensive walls and gates of the city. The most impressive was the Lion Gate, with two stone lions on either side of the gateway to protect the city from evil spirits. These walls, built alomost 4,000 years ago, illustrate the Hitites engineering ingenuity. They had a great ability to build along with the terrain plus and ability to transform the landscape. It must have been an impressive view to any approaching army! Next, we drove down to the Sphinx Gate and walked through the 70m long tunnel used as a route for Hitite soldiers defending the walls from attacking invaders. We then carefully climbed down from the rampart via the monumental stairway and enjoyed the view over Bogazkale.




On the bus again to Ankara, the capital of the Turkish Republic! It was our last and longest bus journey of these past two weeks, but finally we arrived to the Gordion Hotel in Ankara in time for dinner and a little gift shopping along the main street. Ankara is the capital and center of secularism in modern Turkey. It's Turkey's second largest city after Istanbul. It's history goes back to the time when Ankara (then called Angora) was once part of the Phrygian empire. It prospered at the intersection of the north-south/east-west trade routes. Later it was taken over by Alexander the Great, claimed by the Selecuids, and finally occupied by the Galatians (Gauls) who invaded Anatolia around 250 BCE. Julius Ceaser annexed it to Rome in 25 BCE and named it Ankyra. It was controlled next by the Byzantines and Seljuk Turks briefly before the Ottomans possessed it. Angora was known at this time for its gsoft haired goats but little more until 1923 when Ataturk chose Ankora as the capital of the new republic.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hi Maria, I have been following your Turkish journey. You write very well and have certainly opened up the possibility of Turkey as a preferred travel destination for me!

I hope you are going well.

Best wishes,

Kevin Comber (from the Korean study tour)