Yazilikaya: The Rock Sanctuary of the Hittite Gods

Yazilikaya is an open-air rock sanctuary just outside Hattusa, the capital of the Hittite empire in central Anatolia. Its natural limestone chambers are carved with processions of gods and goddesses and with portraits of King Tudhaliya IV, mostly made in the 13th century BC. It is the finest surviving monument of Hittite religion and a key source for understanding how the Hittites pictured their gods.

The site

Yazilikaya lies about 2 kilometres north-east of the city walls of Hattusa, near the modern town of Boğazkale. Weathering has split a limestone outcrop into open-air galleries. The two main spaces are known as Chamber A, a large open area, and Chamber B, a narrow side passage.

In front of the rocks the Hittites built a gate building and temple structures that controlled access to the chambers. Only their foundations survive. The European traveller Charles Texier visited the site in 1834 and published the first drawings of the reliefs.

Systematic study followed in the 20th century as part of the German excavations at Hattusa. The archaeologist Kurt Bittel and his colleagues excavated the buildings in front of the rocks, recorded every relief and published a major study of the sanctuary in 1975. Their work established the sequence of building phases and confirmed that the reliefs belong mainly to the last decades of the Hittite empire.

Over more than three thousand years the reliefs have suffered from weathering, frost and plant growth on the soft limestone. Some figures are now hard to read, and the faces of several deities have almost disappeared.

Chamber A: the procession of the gods

On the walls of Chamber A, two long lines of deities walk toward the back wall. Male gods, most wearing tall pointed hats, advance along the left side; goddesses in long skirts and high headdresses approach along the right. Altogether more than 60 figures are carved. Many are labelled with their names in Luwian hieroglyphs, the picture-based script used for Hittite monuments.

The two lines meet in the central scene. The storm god Teshub, chief god of the pantheon, stands on the bowed shoulders of two mountain gods. Facing him is the goddess Hebat, standing on a panther or lioness, followed by their son Sharruma. The names show that this pantheon is largely Hurrian, reflecting the strong Hurrian influence on the Hittite royal court in the 13th century BC.

On the opposite wall is a large relief of King Tudhaliya IV, standing on two mountains and wearing the long robe and round cap of a priest. Hittite kings were also high priests of the gods, and the image presents him in that role.

Chamber B: the king and the underworld

The narrow Chamber B, entered through a cleft in the rock, has a more mysterious atmosphere. On one wall twelve identical gods carrying curved swords march in step; they are often linked with the gods of the underworld. Nearby is a strange figure known as the Sword God: a huge blade driven into the ground, its hilt formed of lions and topped by a god’s head. Many scholars identify it with Nergal, a god of the underworld.

Opposite, the god Sharruma is shown with his arm around a smaller Tudhaliya IV, protecting and guiding him. A cartouche with the king’s name appears nearby. Because of these images, many historians believe Chamber B served as a memorial chapel for Tudhaliya IV, perhaps created after his death by his son Suppiluliuma II.

Purpose and interpretation

The exact function of the sanctuary is debated. One common view is that it was used for a major festival, possibly a spring or New Year celebration, in which the king led rituals before the assembled gods. Another sees the whole complex as connected with the royal cult of dead kings.

A more recent proposal suggests that the figures in Chamber A could have been used as a lunar and solar calendar, but this idea has not won wide acceptance.

The reliefs were carved during the last century of the empire, which grew out of the conquests of Suppiluliuma I. Within a few decades of Tudhaliya IV’s reign, Hattusa was abandoned during the Late Bronze Age collapse, and Yazilikaya fell silent.

Timeline

• 16th-14th centuries BC: The rock outcrop may already be used as a place of worship.
• c. 1267-1237 BC: Reign of Hattusili III, when building work may have started.
• c. 1237-1209 BC: Reign of Tudhaliya IV, when most of the reliefs are carved.
• c. 1185 BC: Hattusa is abandoned as the Hittite empire collapses.
• 1834: Charles Texier visits and records the reliefs.
• 1986: Yazilikaya is inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List as part of Hattusa.

Why it matters

Yazilikaya is one of the few places where an ancient Near Eastern pantheon can still be seen in its original setting, carved into living rock. It shows how the Hittite kings presented themselves as servants and companions of the gods, and it preserves a portrait of religious life at the very end of the Bronze Age.