series of parallel ridges of increasing height and grandeur[71] directly
for Bulghar-Madên. The silver mines, to which the place owes its name
and probably its being, seem to have been considerably worked in
ancient times. The village is found deep in a valley under the Bulghar
Dagh, a chief range of Taurus, nearly nine thousand feet in height.
The stream rises far up the ridge, from the opposite side of which a
branch of the Kodja Su flows down towards Ivrîz and Eregli. Its course
is eastward, and as it dashes down its rocky bed it is already, when
passing Bulghar-Madên, nearly three thousand feet below the snow-splashed
crags along the base of which it flows. From there the valley, though
narrow and steep-sided, assumes the verdant and enchanting beauty that
ever dwells by mountain-streams, lending character to a large portion
of the Hittites’ country. But to the traveller following in summer-time
the track that winds down the left bank of the river, this beauty and
enchantment is intensified here by the vast setting of the picture, by
its fulness and variety of detail and rich contrasts of colours, combined
with the movement and variegated costumes of the people that mingle in
the scene. The banks are fruit-gardens, and wildflowers of varied sorts
carpet the ground with splendour. Vines and mulberries are in profusion;
and ripe cherries may be plucked even from the saddle, their bright
clusters mottling everywhere the dark green foliage. Below, the swirling
waters, seen at intervals, contribute also their harmonious changes,
being white and gleaming where played on by the bright sunlight, and
again clear green in the deeper pools and shaded places. From among
the trees, the bright colours prevailing in Turkish costumes, reds and
blues, yellow and white, add to the effect; for the whole population of
the scattered hamlets, men and women, boys and girls, are in the gardens
or beneath the trees. At one place may be seen an aged couple bending
side by side at their work upon their tiny plot of land. Below, under a
spreading tree, against the stem of which he leans, a bare-legged boy is
piping his reed flutes, as Marsyas did, while boys and girls stand near
in groups talking and at play. Beyond, out of sight of these, upon a
sand-and-pebble beach two little boys, quite naked, are dancing merrily
by themselves to the distant music. In the background rises the immense
wall of mountain: its lower slopes are thickly wooded with larch and
pines, giving way in the middle heights to scrub oak, which continues
to struggle upward until the bleak rock appears. Overhead a curious
phenomenon tempers the heat of noon-day in this happy valley, especially
on windless days when its beneficence is most appreciated. Towards
mid-day a mist, arising probably from the melting of the snows upon the
ridge, spreads over the valley like a canopy, and so it remains until
as the afternoon wears on the vapour re-condenses, and the bright sun
reappears to cheer the evening. Except for this peculiarity the valley
resembles in general many of those innumerable sheltered rifts among
the Taurus and Anti-Taurus Mountains, wherein the rigour of winter is
recompensed by the bounteous summer, and the scattered population pursues
its life, isolated from and almost independent of the moving world.
[Illustration: PLATE XX
APPROACHING THE CILICIAN GATES FROM THE NORTH (_See p. 46._)]
Where this mountain-stream unites with the Chakia Su a bridge carries
the track across to the other bank to join equally the main road to the
South. This is the historic route leading through the Cilician Gates, the
only pass available for traffic through the unbroken rock wall of Taurus.
Peoples have passed through it that have formed nations; the armies of
conquerors have traversed it in the struggle of continents; religions
from the East have made it their channel of approach towards the
unthinking West; Paul of Tarsus travelled through it bringing the Cross
of Peace; and through it the Crusaders took back in due time the Cross
of War. Makers of history—Persian, Greek, and Macedonian; Christian,
Jew, and Moslem, all have passed this way. The nicely engineered road,
however, with its bridges and embankments, its rock-cuttings and eased
gradients, is a work of modern times. At the opening of our story we
must look back to the beginnings of the pass in a rough track alongside
the rushing stream. Even in early Hittite times, if we pay regard to
the disposition of their monuments, it seems probable that the longer
but more open route that follows the Tochma Su, and the shorter but
rocky track that descends by Kuru-Bel, continued to be the chief lines
of communication between the two main branches of their empire.[72]
Previous, however, to Persian times the road through the Cilician Gates
must have been sufficiently arranged to enable a wheeled cart or chariot
to pass that way.[73]
The route may be divided into main sections, the first reaching as far
as Bozanti Han. In this portion, which may be regarded as the northern
approach to the Cilician Gates, the scenery gradually attains all the
beauties of a deep mountain-pass. The steep slopes of the valley are clad
with the dense growth of pines, mixed freely with oak and cypress, and
other trees of varying foliage. In places the bare rock protrudes and
towers aloft precipitously, with sharp peaks reaching to the snow-line.
Ever and again a more open glade, or the widening of the wooded valley
where the river is joined by other waters, adds pleasing variety to the
journey, and brings into greater prominence the boldness and beauty of
the views. At one place, visible by a short détour, there burst out of
the rock the clear dark waters called appropriately Kara Su, changing the
colour of the entire river. Several ‘Hans’[74] are passed and bridges
crossed before nearing Bozanti; and hereabouts the river, with which
the road has descended thus far, enters a rocky and precipitous defile
through which it rushes to the plain. Avoiding this, the route crosses a
low divide, and descends upon an arm of another river, the Cydnus, which
leads down eventually to Tarsus and the sea. For a short way in this
second section of the route the country is more open, but the enchantment
of it is maintained in the wooded highland landscapes, with views of the
dark green slopes of rugged Taurus and the snowy crest and crevices of
Bulghar Dagh. Two well-placed ornamental forts[75] are passed, and the
winding road, when seemingly faced by an impenetrable ridge of mountain,
enters suddenly a deep rocky gorge. The spot is marked by an inscription
of Marcus Aurelius on a rock in the river’s bed. This is the veritable
Gate of Cilicia. A double door would close it and defy an army.
[Illustration: PLATE XXI
ENTRANCE OF THE CILICIAN GATES]
In keeping with its momentous history, the scenery as the descent
continues at once assumes a wild and impressive grandeur, unparalleled
in beauty, passing description, to which all that has passed before
served but as introduction. Now the keynote is changed, and Nature’s full
orchestra breaks forth into a theme of violent and majestic discords,
ever changing yet sustained, leaving for ever the impression of its grand
harmonies. Here the crags tower up a thousand feet on either side. A
myriad trees, their varied tones intensified by the glowing sunlight,
clothe with soft colours the heights that hem in the horizon save where
it is broken by fantastic peaks. Now the valley is torn by great rifts
of red and grey rock, and warning precipices of prodigious character
overhang the pathway. Below, on a verdant bed bedecked with flowers and
creepers, peaceful glades and vistas disclose the chequered waters of the
stream. Another turn, and a broad sweep of virgin forest lines the slopes
in an unbroken curve; and ever and again Nature’s panorama changes,
attracting the eye to some fresh beauty or surprise.
Though seemingly inaccessible, yet up in the wooded heights here and
there a small village may be found, its houses nestling among fruit-trees
and luxurious wildflowers. The people are very poor, for on these broken
hilltops arable spots are scarce and difficult to work. They are also
reticent and unsophisticated, and it is impossible to obtain from them
any consistent reason as to their choice of dwelling-place while so many
miles of corn-land in the interior await man’s labour. And since the
bracing mountain air amid the pines, and the unique views all round,
which extend beyond Tarsus to the sea, are to them considerations of
last importance, we are left to conjecture in this case also that their
ancestors found refuge here from the political storms of an unknown date.
We are inclined to believe that this was the reason, and that the date
was remote, because of the survival amongst them in striking purity of
a type of the old Hittite races which, though peculiar, is familiar on
the Egyptian monuments. It may indeed have been that of the Cilicians
in general: it is strongly mongoloid in appearance except for the nose,
which is strong and straight, but fine. The chin is beardless, but there
is a thin dark cynical moustache; the cheek-bones are high and the eyes
oblique. In the Egyptian sculptures a pigtail usually completes the
striking features of the portrait, but this seems not to have survived
the Moslem tonsure.
Once through the pass the whole character of the country changes as
by a magician’s wand and another land unfolds itself. The bracing dry
uplands are left behind with their peculiar fascination and unrealised
possibilities, and in their place there appear the palm-trees and
fruit-gardens of a southern clime, with physical peculiarities, economy,
and population entirely different. The western plain of Cilicia is
entirely alluvial soil, and is well called the fruit-garden of Western
Asia. Towards the east there are some hilly places, but to the north-east
the plain stretches out again, following an inland bay of the mountains.
These plains seem to be wholly the gift of the numerous rivers which
water them. These, descending from the mountainous region above, wherein
the nature of the stone is various and to a large extent volcanic, bring
down with them the rich alluvium which is deposited in their sluggish
course below. Their names have been already mentioned. Some further
streams to the west have a swifter course from the mountains which in
that direction gradually approach the sea. Mersina, the modern port,
marks almost the western extremity of the plain.
[Illustration: PLATE XXII
GOING SOUTH THROUGH THE CILICIAN GATES
TARSUS: THE GARDENS AND THE TOWN]
The green tract of Cilicia is so shut in to the north by the Taurus
ranges, and to the east by the Amanus mountains, and so exposed to the
sea, that it seems as if Nature had designed this unique corner of Asia
Minor for a history of its own. Its remarkable fertility, however, and
the important passes which lead down to it in several directions, make it
impossible that it could have been overlooked by any power in possession
of its frontiers. For this reason, and in this instance, the absence of
any clearly Hittite remains[76] must be attributed to accident and to the
nature of the country. But it is indeed remarkable that in none of the
defiles that connect it with the several portions of the Hittite land has
a single Hittite monument been discovered. When we consider how suitable
many spots would seem to be for Hittite monuments, whether in the
Cilician Gates, or in the valley of the Pyramus, or in the pass leading
by Bogche over the Amanus mountains eastward, or on the wave-washed rocks
which must be crossed by the coast route to Alexandretta, this absence
of any Hittite trace becomes the more conspicuous and significant. It
establishes the probability towards which we have been already drawn,
that the main channel of communication between the lands of the Hittites
in the north of Syria and in Asia Minor was by way of the mountain
passes of the Taurus and Anti-Taurus where their monuments are found in
comparative plenty.
[Illustration: PLATE XXIII
TARSUS: THE CONCRETE WALLS OF DUNUK TASH
TARSUS: SACRED STONE IN A COFFIN, IN THE COURT OF AN ARAB SHRINE]
II
SOME PAGES OF HISTORY
In this chapter we take a passing glance at the history of the Hittite
lands after the Hittite power had passed, down to the establishment of
the Seljûk Turks in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries A.D. It is not a
connected story, for with the disappearance of the Hittites the political
horizon changed: thereafter the balance of power in the Near East was
several times distributed anew. We must therefore be content to sketch
an outline of the general course of eventful history in which the lands
subsequently shared, and to note in what manner, but not to what extent,
the local records and monuments are evidence of the parts they severally
played.
We are compelled to make these limitations, for no land on earth can
claim a history so momentous as the drama that was worked out in Asia
Minor during the centuries that followed the Hittite domination. Here was
the scene of a long struggle for supremacy both among its own peoples and
between the adjoining portions of the two continents which it connects;
a thousand _Iliads_ would do scant justice to the deeds of arms alone.
And the struggle of the continents was not merely for the possession of
a land itself rich in minerals and for the most part highly fertile, but
for a passage-way for great migrations, civilisations, and religions.
To this story we have nothing to contribute, no new evidence to bring
forward, no new opinions to maintain; the history of Asia Minor has been
written by pens more able and more competent to deal with it.[77] In
introducing these few pages our object is to subserve our main inquiry:
to enable us to distinguish between the works of the various phases of
history that we meet with in our wanderings, and especially to appreciate
by contrast the peculiarities of the Hittite monuments which we shall
next consider.
Though we defer writing the story of the Hittites until we have seen
what their own works can tell us, we find ourselves obliged to trace
its outline[78] in order to decide at what point that story ends. The
Hittites first appear in history about 2000 B.C., when it would appear
that they were already powerful enough to overturn the first dynasty of
Babylon and sack that city, and that they had settlements in southern
Syria on the frontiers of Egypt. Certain Hittite tablets from Central
Asia Minor are said to belong to the same age. Nothing is known, however,
of the constitution of the Hittites in these early times; but it may
be inferred that they subsequently retired from the south or were
there submerged. It is not until the fifteenth century B.C. that the
name of the Hittites definitely reappears, when successive expeditions
of the Pharaohs encountered them in the north of Syria. Then in the
fourteenth century their capital is found at Boghaz-Keui, in the ruins
of which their archives of this period have been recently unearthed.
These, supplemented by the Tell-el-Amarna letters, tell how the King
of the ‘Hatti’—the local and at that time dominant element—became
Great King of the Hittite confederated peoples and vassal states,
whose chief towns included most of the sites identified with Hittite
remains, like Hamath, Aleppo, Carchemish, Marash, Malatia, and many
city-states as yet unidentified. This was the period of their greatest
empire, and it is probable that the regions of Cilicia, Lycaonia,
Phrygia, and even Lydia at this time acknowledged the suzerainty of the
all-powerful soldier-king. For five or six generations of the Hatti
rulers the position of the Hittites as a dominant power in Western Asia
was recognised by the Pharaohs and the Kings of Babylon, both in their
letters and treaties and by the exchange of ambassadors. During the great
migrations of the twelfth century B.C., however, it would seem that
the Hatti dynasty was overthrown and the Hittite empire dismembered.
This may be inferred from the cessation of their own archives and
from the appearance of the Muski, identified in later times with the
Phrygians,[79] upon the north-west frontier of Assyria,[80] having thus
fought their way across the heart of Asia Minor. These were repulsed,[81]
but this incursion was contemporaneous with a shifting of the chief
Hittite power to Carchemish, while Hamath on the Orontes and other
southern centres come into increased prominence.
In trying to work out the story of the decline and fall of the Hittite
power, we are faced with the same difficulty that enshrouded the whole
problem of the Hittites until recent discoveries shed the light of
internal documentary evidence upon the period of their empire—namely,
that for the most part only the events connected with certain of their
frontier lands came at all within the horizon of the Assyrian and the
Greek historians, and these are seen by us with relative disproportion.
To take a single illustration, we fail to find in the Egyptian and
Assyrian records any suggestion as to the position of the Hittite capital
of the fourteenth century at Boghaz-Keui; and for more than seven hundred
years we are without any direct evidence as to its fortunes, until a
chance reference by Herodotus in describing the affairs of Lydia tells us
of its final overthrow.
In the tenth century, however, during the temporary decline of Assyria
and the withdrawal of the Phrygians, the Hittite states may be inferred
to have largely recovered their power and independence. But though there
were frequent alliances between neighbouring states, there does not
seem to have been any over-lord, as of old, powerful enough to unite
them all under his leadership and to maintain a consistent policy.
Malatia and Marash appear as the chief cities of kingdoms in Taurus,
while in the Anti-Taurus the kingdom of Tabal (or Tubal) probably
included the districts of Komana, Ekrek, Mazaca, and Fraktin. On the
plateau the kingdom of the Khilakku, which we may call Greater Cilicia
(embracing the region from Tyana to the Kara Dagh, and from Karaburna to
Bulghar-Madên), replaced the original state of Hatti within the Halys as
chief representative of Hittite power and tradition. But it was not for
long: if the Muski had retreated it was only to gather strength; while in
the east a new rival, of force and character similar to the Hittites, had
appeared in the region of Lake Van, pressing down to the Euphrates and
even into Syria, where also the steady infiltration of Aramæan peoples
was already challenging the dominance of the old Hittite stock.
From the middle of the ninth century also the struggles of the weakening
Hittite tribes against the reviving power of Assyria were renewed; and
this time they were doomed. Their lands of Syria and in the Taurus were
thereafter the objective of many punitive expeditions on the part of
successive Assyrian kings, who claim always to have conquered and exacted
tribute. For over a century, however, though many times defeated and
severely punished, these states as often found opportunity for casting
off the yoke. But Sargon, late in the eighth century, adopted with
stern determination the policy which his predecessors had initiated, of
transporting large numbers of the rebellious population and replacing
them by Assyrian colonists. One by one the greater Hittite centres on
his frontiers were absorbed, and when the Assyrian forces passed into
Asia Minor to challenge the supremacy of the Phrygian Midas, about 718
B.C., it is clear that these two powers had divided the Hittite territory
between them. The appearance, too, in the north, of the Cimmerians, in
wellnigh irresistible strength, had changed the political horizon.[82]
From one point of view, however, it would be natural to point to the
destruction of Pteria by Crœsus, in the middle of the sixth century B.C.,
as the last event of Hittite history, and so begin our post-Hittite
story from that time. The conquest by Cyrus and the reunification of all
the Hittite lands under Persian rule a few years later, in 546, would
provide a suitable starting-point; yet, in fact, from the age of Sargon,
a century and a half before, there can be traced no real semblance of
surviving Hittite power nor any of the old Hittite individuality in
the local arts. Their very name then almost disappeared from Oriental
history, and was retained but as a memory; while in Asia Minor the
power of the Phrygian kings was then at its zenith, and in the presence
of Phrygian inscriptions at Eyuk,[83] near the old Hittite capital,
and at Tyana,[84] which seems to have replaced Pteria in importance in
the revival of the tenth century, there is indication that the Hittite
day was already ended. But though the Hittite power was broken and
disintegrated, their civilisation faded only gradually from view. Long
after the sun had set upon its pride it lingered on, felt rather than
seen, in the twilight that obscures our vision of the tableland in the
early part of the first millennium B.C., surviving long enough here
and there, as we shall see, in the form of institutions and religious
customs, to have left a trace in the pages of Greek history. Thereafter
we have several clear phases to review, interrupted by others of
considerable disturbance and obscurity. Following the overthrow of
Assyria on the one hand, and the decline of Phrygia on the other, two new
powers appeared in the sixth century in the Medes and the Lydians, who
similarly divided Asia Minor, with the Halys as their mutual boundary.
By 546, however, Cyrus had annexed the whole country to the Persian
Empire, in the continuous history of which it shared until the advent, in
B.C. 324, of Alexander, who once more established the supremacy of the
West. With his death the tribal struggles of antiquity reappear in new
guise, and history is occupied chiefly with the varying fortunes of the
kingdoms of Pergamum, of Pontus, and of the Seleucids, until in the first
century B.C. Roman organisation gathered together the loose threads of
independence and retied the knot in a manner that remained firm, in fine,
for several hundred years. The next great landmark is not till 668 A.D.,
when, forty-six years after the flight of Mohammed, the Saracen army laid
siege to Constantinople. In 1067 the Seljûks appeared from the east,
followed two centuries later by the Osmanli-Turks, though these were not
finally re-established in power, after the Mongol invasions, until 1413
A.D.
[Illustration: PLATE XXIV
MONUMENTS OF PHRYGIA
BEY-KEUI: THE ROYAL ROAD TRACED BY RUTS IN THE SURFACE ROCK (_See pp. 24,
38._)
DIMERLI: A FALLEN LION (_See p. 60._)]
Of the monarchies that arose as the Hittite power declined, and in their
turn passed away, that of the Phrygians first attracts our attention
by its proximity in time and place. When the Muski first appeared in
the twelfth century B.C. upon the north-west frontier of Assyria,[85]
they gave warning of a tide of Aryan immigration setting in from the
north-west. This first wave, after beating vainly against the ramparts
of the Assyrian Empire, seems to have retreated; but it left its traces
behind in a group of people, whether colonists or prisoners settled on
the soil in the Assyrian manner, who by the same name reappear some
centuries later[86] as a small state on the east of the Euphrates
opposite Malatia. We know nothing of the early history of this movement,
but, so far as can be seen, the rolling of this wave across Asia Minor
was coeval with the submergence of the Hatti seated at Boghaz-Keui as
the dominant power among the Hittite states. Nor is it clear to what
cause we must attribute the retiring of this vanguard. Probably, as in
Syria with the Hittites,[87] and in Asia Minor with the Cimmerians, the
migratory movement was intermittent; and historically we may see in the
repulse by the Assyrians on the one hand, and in the development of
the rival state of Lydia and the Greek colonies on the other, coupled
with a certain recuperative vitality latent in the Hittite states of
the centre, various active causes tending to the consolidation of the
Phrygians at the focus of least resistance, in the fertile tracts to
which they gave their name. However that may be, at the dawn of Greek
history we find them already a fading power, but one which had left an
indelible impression in Greek tradition and romance, obscuring entirely
the old-time Hatti power of which no memory remained.
Though the settlement of the Phrygians is just beyond historical
vision, the leading features of the movement can be inferred from
Greek literature, and a certain amount of detail gathered from the
monuments which they have left behind.[88] The chief migration of the
Phrygians—the ninth wave of our simile—may be judged, from certain facts
which Professor Ramsay has pointed out, to have taken place about the
beginning of the ninth century B.C. They came in irresistible bands of
mail-clad warriors from Macedonia and Thrace, crossing into Asia Minor
by the Hellespont, and eventually establishing their monarchy and state
on the sources of the Sangarius.[89] Being all men and conquerors, their
coming introduced new ideas of the dominance of the male element in
religion and in society.[90] The pre-existing central ideal of the people
of Asia Minor had been based on the importance of motherhood, reflected
in religion by the worship of the Mother-goddess, and in society by
a matriarchal system and absence of true marriage. Now the Phrygians
introduced a new Father-god and a god of thunder, and a reminiscence of
the struggle between the old and new ideals may be traced in the pages of
Homer; but ultimately they were amalgamated in various ways in different
parts of the country.[91]
Profound as were the changes in religious and social ideals which the
Phrygians introduced, these influences could hardly stir the popular
imagination so deeply or so rapidly as their deeds of arms. Defended from
all harm by their impenetrable armour, they carried all before them, so
that they appeared in Greek tradition as a race of heroes, whose kings
were the associates of the gods, whose language was before all,[92] and
the speech of the goddess herself.[93] ‘Their country was the land of
great fortified cities.’[94] In this popular acclaim we suspect that the
Phrygians received credit for works and to some extent for the prestige
of the Hatti whose realm they had inherited.[95] Their kingdom without
doubt held chief sway over the north-west and centre of Asia Minor during
the ninth and eighth centuries B.C. In the west, indeed, it was only
at the end of that period challenged by the independence and growing
strength of Lydia; and on the other hand it must have embraced, as we
have shown, the regions both of Pteria[96] and of Tyana, where it touched
the Assyrian frontier in the age of Sargon; but on the whole we fail
to find any wide range of Phrygian works, of walled cities or of vast
monuments, that could entitle the Phrygians to the whole credit of these
memories.
None the less, some Phrygian monuments, like the ‘tomb of Midas’ near
Doghanlu, are striking, peculiar, and impressive. So, too, are others
further south, of which we reproduce some illustrations,[97] because
of the added interest of the influence of Hittite art and technique
which can be traced in them. The ‘lion tomb,’ near Dimerli, illustrates
a motive dominant in their decorative reliefs, reflected in the later
sepulchres of Ayazîn. Here are seen two lions, guarding as it were the
entrance to the tomb, arranged facing one another on either side of the
door. In the tomb of Dimerli the lions are rampant, and a column or
altar is seen between them. The symbolism of this design may be purely
Phrygian, but the decorative conception of the twin guardian lions is
too freely found in Hittite art[98] for us to doubt that it had been
borrowed from the older population. So, too, in the method of carving
the reliefs, as well as in detail of treatment, as, for instance, in the
outline of the shoulder muscles of the fallen lion,[99] there is abundant
indication to us now of an influence not visible to the historians of
antiquity.
[Illustration: PLATE XXV
MONUMENTS OF PHRYGIA
DIMERLI: THE LION TOMB
AYAZÎN: TOMB WITH LIONS
TYANA: PHRYGIAN INSCRIPTION OF MIDAS (_See p. 56._)]
Though the monuments and legends together help us to reconstruct the
base and framework of Phrygian history, there are very few authenticated
data with which to fill in the details. There is no long list of royal
names, for the rulers are supposed to have been named Midas and Gordius
alternately; and a few other names preserved in Greek tradition are
merely legendary. It is not until the age of Sargon[100] at the close
of the eighth century B.C., that a few facts come to light among the
Assyrian archives. Then it would appear that the Phrygian sphere of
influence had penetrated far into south-eastern Cappadocia and was
expanding, until challenged by the Assyrian forces in a series of
campaigns beginning in 718 B.C. But Midas the Phrygian was not easily
restrained, and in the next year prevailed on Pisiris of Carchemish
to revolt against the Assyrian supremacy, while several minor states
of Cappadocia, forming part of the region called Tabal, followed this
example, prompted, doubtless, from the same source of inspiration. The
rebels were promptly punished, and one of these expeditions sent against
them penetrated, it would seem, to Tyana, at this time an important
centre for the Phrygians[101] in the conduct of their wars. In 709,
however, following a further expedition sent against Midas from Cilicia,
the Phrygians capitulated, sending ambassadors and tribute. The reason
for this sudden change of front is also made apparent. About the middle
of the eighth century B.C. there had appeared the first wave of an
overwhelming movement of peoples from Southern Europe,[102] including
seemingly both Cimmerians and Scythians, coming by way of the Caucasus,
spreading terror and devastation as it passed. The Vannic power of
Urartu in Southern Armenia about 720 B.C. received the first onslaught,
and then the frontiers of Sargon, who had to call up all the resources
of his armies to protect his kingdom. Recoiling, the tide set westward
through Asia Minor, meeting about 710 another similar stream[103] that
had crossed the Bosphorus; and the united barbarians for half a century
established a reign of terror in the north of Asia Minor. The details of
the story are wanting, so far as it directly affects the Phrygians during
this fateful period. About 675 however, the royal Midas (presumably
the grandson of _Mita_ who had begged Assyria through his ambassadors
for help), defeated on every hand, in despair committed suicide. The
Cimmerians overran his country, and the kingdom of Phrygia henceforth
ceased to be. We do not follow the movements of these hordes further;
for they have left no trace or handiwork upon the Hittite lands which
they had overrun, although it was not until the close of the seventh
century that they disappeared. Their inroads, however, and the violent
deflections which they gave to the course of history, are probably
responsible for the final disappearance of all trace and memory of the
Hittite power in Greek history.
The Lydian state in the west, that fought the final struggle for
civilisation against these restless and untiring foes, next claims our
notice from the way in which certain of its institutions and ancient
customs reflect the influence of the Hittite civilisation, from which,
indeed, they may have been inherited.[104] Unlike the rulers and
customs of Phrygia, the leading elements of the Lydian society had been
matured on the soil from dim antiquity. Tradition speaks of a dynasty
of Heraclidae who ruled from the twelfth century for five hundred
years,[105] and whose ancestor, Agron,[106] was descended from Hercules
himself. Even before that date there is memory of a royal family of
Atyadae, whose rule, if there be anything in this memory, must have
passed back to the days of direct Hittite domination that saw the carving
of the warrior-gods of Kara-Bel and maybe the Mother-goddess of Sipylus.
However that may be, we see the Lydians already an organised state, even
while the Phrygian power was still at its height, before the Cimmerian
storm had burst. As with the Hittites in past time, their constitution
was partly that of confederate or vassal states governed by hereditary
chiefs owning allegiance to the ruling power at Sardis, and partly
feudal,[107] the chieftains owing their military service and their tribal
forces to the king, while the common people appear as serfs. In this
society the king was both head of the priesthood and chief commander of
the vassal chiefs in war.[108] The emblem of sovereignty was a double
axe, which the Greeks said was derived from Hercules himself.[109] From
among the mass of legend which characterise the earliest efforts of Greek
history, it might be possible to trace many suggestions of the influence
of the Hittite civilisation; but the lack of local monuments (a fact due
doubtless to physical conditions), to reveal to us the dominant features
of Lydian art, restrains us from this aspect of inquiry. One point at
any rate is established, that not merely was the district of Lydia at
one time embraced within the Hittite empire,[110] but that it became
imbued then with many features of social organisation which it carried
down from the old world to the new. Our main inquiry being based on the
monuments of the Hittite lands, we cannot dwell upon the stories of the
Lydian kings, of their desperate struggles with the Cimmerians following
the downfall of Phrygia, nor of their warfare with the Medes, with whom,
after the fall of Nineveh in 607 B.C., they ultimately divided Asia
Minor, with the Halys as the boundary between them. The names of two
kings are worthy of mention as historical landmarks; the one is Gyges,
first of the Mermnad dynasty in the middle of the seventh century B.C.,
contemporary of Assurbanipal, the Assyrian, and of Psamtek, Pharaoh of
Egypt, with both of whom he held relations of diplomatic character.
The other is Crœsus, the last and greatest of them all, who, having
established his power eastward to the Halys, turned his attention to
those rich Greek cities which had sprung up in the West.
[Illustration: PLATE XXVI
VIEW NEAR SARDIS, THE ANCIENT CAPITAL OF LYDIA
The valley of the Pactolus, a tributary of the Hermus, which rising on
Mt. Tmolus flowed past the temple of Kybele at Sardis.]
These colonies, founded in selected spots along the coast several
centuries before, had indeed in many cases already passed their zenith.
Cities like Smyrna, Ephesus, and Colophon were in the pride of their
prosperity before the fall of Phrygia and the rise of Lydia. How old
they were in their origin is not determinable, but they had received,
and retained in historic times, the impress of the Hittite civilisation,
so much so that Mr. Hogarth, writing of Ionia, concludes that ‘this
coast was long dominated by an inland, continental power, that of the
Cappadocian Hatti, who imposed their own distinct civilisation, and
admitted the Ægean culture only as a faint influence ascending along
the trade routes.’[111] ‘The Goddess of the Phrygian mountains became
at Smyrna the Sipylene Mother, and at Ephesus Artemis of the Many
Breasts was worshipped with rites more Oriental than Greek.’ Recently
also Sir Cecil Smith, in discussing certain ivory statuettes found by
Mr. Hogarth in the foundations of the temple of Artemis, has pointed
out further analogies with the old cult of the goddess, as revealed by
the sculptures of Boghaz-Keui.[112] However that may be, the fact that
the Hittite armies of the fourteenth or thirteenth century B.C. had
penetrated to the coast at Smyrna and Ephesus, is made clear by the
sculptures of Sipylus and of Kara-Bel, to which we have alluded.[113]
Now these fair cities of Ionia fell one by one to Crœsus, who seemed
likely to establish an empire even over the islands, when suddenly Cyrus
the Persian appeared from the East, reuniting all the sundered parts of
the old empires of Assyria and of Babylon as he passed. Crœsus marched
immediately out to resist his oncoming, and as a preliminary step crossed
the Halys and ‘ravaged the lands of the “Syrians,” and took the city of
the Pterians and enslaved the inhabitants. He also took all the adjacent
places and expelled the population, who had given him no cause for
blame.’[114] Possibly we may see in these acts, which appeared wanton to
the historian, an effort on the part of Crœsus to delay or prevent the
passing of the Persian army, which would naturally follow the old royal
road in preference to the undeveloped route across the desert. However
that may be, the effort was vain: about 546 B.C. the Lydian capital and
its king fell into the hands of Cyrus.
The old Hittite realms were now reunited under Persian rule, and
continued to share in the common history of the Empire of the Great King
for more than two hundred years. For the purpose of administration Asia
Minor was divided into provinces, governed by Satraps, of which the old
kingdom of Lydia formed one, and the regions of Konia, Angora, Pteria,
and Sivas were included in another, the largest of all, which reached
from Lydia to Armenia, and included the whole plateau from the Taurus
northwards to the sea. The tract of Cilicia with part of the province
of Aleppo formed another, while the former Hittite states in the north
of Syria were similarly grouped together. But the hold of the Great King
ruling in Susa over his distant provinces was weak, and the spirit of
Persian civilisation did not penetrate, or could not, into these historic
lands. No monument remains to tell us of this phase, during which the
old local institutions were maintained and even developed unrestrained.
The Greek cities of the coast retained their Greek characters under
Greek governors; while the tribes of the interior restored the rule of
their local princes or priest-dynasts amid a condition of security and
freedom which they had not known for many generations. All that the
central power demanded was tribute and tranquillity. Local feuds between
the Satraps might smoulder, and the symptoms of rebellion here and there
remain almost unheeded, so long as these conditions were fulfilled.
Under these circumstances the western people gradually recovered the
spirit of independence, while from across the sea the Greek states even
aspired to empire. The march of the Ten Thousand in 402, under Cyrus the
younger, made famous by Xenophon in his _Anabasis_, showed how lax was
the organisation and how weak the control of the central government. It
also opened up incidentally the southern route by the Mæander, Ilgîn, and
Iconium to the Cilician gates, in preference to the longer royal road by
way of Boghaz-Keui, by which hitherto the posts from Susa had travelled
west to Sardis.
In B.C. 334 Alexander the Great crossed the Hellespont, and within a
year, by his energy and ability to use the new army-machine which he had
inherited, had conquered western Asia Minor as far as the Halys, and
passed on leaving it his own. This date marks an issue more changeful
to Asia Minor than the conquest of Cyrus. For though no monuments throw
light on the story of the next two centuries, the system of government
was now initiated which in due time was to result in the Hellenising of
the interior. Cities were founded with Greek names, and the Greek speech
gradually made its way, through Greek-speaking princes and governors, as
the official language. The change worked very slowly, but it was profound
in the issue, as we shall see. At first the states maintained their old
customs and native dialects without appreciable difference, except in the
vigour of the new government, but in the course of two or three centuries
Greek language and Greek culture, even to some extent Greek thought and
religious ideas, had permeated widely among the upper-class natives of
the interior.
The struggles of Alexander’s successors, who had inherited from him the
empire, are matters of common history. The Seleucids reunited, though
in futile manner, the formerly Hittite regions in the north of Syria
and Cilicia, and for a time gained some ascendency in Asia Minor, until
defeated in 191 B.C. and driven back beyond the Taurus, where for another
century they retained a sphere of influence. But of greater interest to
us is the survival of local power in Cappadocia, under the dynasty of
Ariarthes, which had come to the fore in the last century of Persian
domination. This state, at first with incessant warfare, and then by
means of tribute to the Seleucids, maintained in effect a form of local
independence which survived even down to the Roman occupation and beyond.
Another state that retained its freedom and local princes throughout this
time was Bithynia, on the tract opposite Constantinople, but this is a
region outside the boundaries of our story.
[Illustration: PLATE XXVII
CILICIA: ROMAN AQUEDUCTS OVER THE EASTERN PLAIN (_See p. 70._)]
The Romans dallied long in following up the defeat of the Seleucids at
Magnesia, when the way lay open to the annexation of Asia Minor, for
which its people, torn by their internal wars, would have been even
grateful. But it was not until late in the second century b.c. that the
west was united as a Roman province. Even then the east remained under
the direct government of the local princes, to whom the Roman Senate
entrusted their frontier. At the beginning of the first century B.C.
the disaffection of Mithridates, king of Pontus, a state bordering the
Black Sea, and his efforts to win for himself a kingdom in Cappadocia and
Bithynia, was one of the last fitful traces of the old native power, and
called up more serious efforts on the part of Rome. The Cilician pirates,
who from their base under the southern slopes of Taurus had become a
leading naval power, were also suppressed, and during the century that
followed the whole country as far as the Euphrates was gradually brought
under direct control, and the provincial system was established. The
province of _Cilicia_ had been founded in B.C. 103, and after various
successive modifications, during which the western district, Cilicia
Trachæa, continued to be ruled by the priest-dynasts of Olba, the
whole was united with Lycaonia under a consular legate about 137 A.D.
_Bithynia-Pontus_, the scene of the late rebellions, came into the power
of Rome by the will of its last king in B.C. 74, and the double province
was put under the administration of a prætorian proconsul in B.C. 27.
_Galatia_ was constituted in B.C. 25, and _Pontus_ was added to it in
63 A.D. Finally, the occupation of _Cappadocia_, dating from A.D. 17,
completed the division of the administrative districts; for the sixth
province _Asia_, in the west, had been the earliest founded, as we have
noted, in B.C. 133.
[Illustration: PLATE XXVIII
KYRRHUS: ROMAN TOMB AND RUINED BRIDGE (_See p. 71._)]
The system of Roman organisation at first modified and finally broke up
the old tribal communities. For some time, many old-world institutions
were maintained, notably the priest-dynasts of Comana, Olba, and
Venasa; but gradually the native communal temple-district organisation
of society gave way, to be replaced by the Greek political system, the
seeds of which had been planted two or three centuries before, and
had now taken root. In this system the city became the administrative
centre, and the villages around were its branches. Greek became more and
more the language of the people.[115] The formal records of military
works, the milestones and imperial monuments, are inscribed in Latin,
but the inscriptions in the old graveyards are carved in Greek letters.
We cannot dwell upon the history of these times, of the reorganisation
under Diocletian, at the close of the third century, marking the
commencement of the Byzantine period, nor of the spread of Christianity,
with the great social changes that involved. We reproduce, however, some
illustrations of Roman works, such as are met with in plenty throughout
the length and breadth of Hittite lands, from Malatia to Iconium and
beyond, from Tarsus to the Black Sea coast. The great aqueducts like
those of Tyana,[116] and those which stretch for miles across the
Cilician plain,[117] are an indication of the vast scheme of development
that was instituted under the new well-ordered system of government.
Great cities both in Syria and in Asia Minor were the product of these
times. Many of these were the foundations of places that still remain
centres of administration; while some have lost their importance, and
are falling gradually to ruin in silence and desolation. The remains of
Kyrrhus upon the Afrîn,[118] a site now marked only by the small village
of Huru-Pegamber some distance away, are among the wonderful memorials
of antiquity. The imposts are falling from their pilasters, and the
keystones to its arches are working loose, but it retains its silent
streets of impressive stone buildings, its arches and colonnades, its
amphitheatre, as though its people had quitted hardly a generation ago.
Numerous Greek inscriptions may still be found amongst the ruins,[119]
and just southward of the Acropolis several sarcophagi of marble, with
Greek names upon them, indicate the position of the old-time burying
place. In the extreme south of the site, with its sanctity still
maintained in a modern Mohammedan shrine and well adjoining, there stands
perfect a tomb-structure[120] in the Roman style of the second century
A.D. We give a photograph of this, which is one of the best-preserved
examples of its kind. Our other photographs[121] taken at Ephesus and at
Ba’albec,[122] at the two ends of the Hittite lands, will sufficiently
illustrate the art and civilisation of their time and place.
The very prosperity of the country during the Roman occupation was one
cause of its danger, presenting it as an alluring prize to the forces
gradually arising along its frontiers. The extreme centralisation of the
Byzantine system weakened, if it did not altogether exterminate, the
power of local resistance and administration. So long as the central
government remained powerful all was well, but the danger of the system
was manifested by the ease with which the Arab forces in 668 passed
through the land from end to end, pausing only before the walls of
Constantinople. The hold of the Saracen power, however, was not firm, and
the Roman system was possessed of great latent vitality which in the end
was equal to the emergency, so that in a series of campaigns extending
from 920 to 965, the Saracens were driven back from point to point, until
first Tarsus[123] was recovered and then Antioch, which had for more than
three hundred years been in their possession.
[Illustration: PLATE XXIX
BAALBEK: SCULPTURE AND TEMPLE RUINS OF ROMAN PERIOD]
The Seljûk Turks, who next appeared on the scene, were a more formidable
and resistless enemy. Having at one time been the servants of the Arab
sultans, they had now become the masters, and in 1067 they entered
Asia Minor, conquering Cilicia and Cappadocia. Four years later the
Emperor Romanus Diogenes himself was their prisoner, and by 1081
the whole centre and east of the tableland was recognised as their
realm. Adopting a policy of depopulation and devastation, in which the
whole of Phrygia was laid waste, the Turks rapidly set up an almost
impassable frontier between themselves and the Byzantine power which
still held sway in the West. Notwithstanding spasmodic efforts of the
old rulers to regain their dominion, the country gradually relapsed
into Orientalism, and with the rise of the Osmanli Turks from 1289 the
Empire of the West rapidly disintegrated. Under the Seljûk rule, a new
aspect of decorative art and architecture appeared in Asia Minor, a
phase much neglected yet most worthy, as Professor Ramsay has pointed
out, of special study. Under certain of their lines a brilliant series
of monuments arose, among which the Hans[124] or roadside rest-houses
are specially noteworthy, contributing also as they did to public
security and pacification. In addition to these, other public works
like their bridges and fortifications, as well as their mosques and
colleges with cloisters and sculptures, are all evidence of one of the
brightest phases of Moslem art. Some of the beautiful monuments which
are shown in our illustrations, like the sculptured portal of the old
school (or _Midresseh_) at Nigdeh, and the ‘tomb of Havanda,’ at the same
place,[125] with its delicate tracery and design, belong to the best
phases of this memorable period.
With the enthronement of the Seljûks the old world faded rapidly from
view. No conquest in all the history of the Hittite lands had been
so thorough and so enduring. Previously we had seen old institutions
surviving under a new system that grew up around them; but now a new
language and new forms of government, with new administrative districts,
were imposed by the conquerors; while the devastation of the earlier
stages of the conquest, followed by the repeated incursions of nomad
peoples, profoundly modified the racial stock of the population. With
them the modern Turkey-in-Asia was born.
III
MONUMENTS OF THE HITTITES
PRELIMINARY: CHRONOLOGY—CLASSIFICATION—DISPOSITION
With this outline of the chief historical phases of Asia Minor before
us, we pass from the remains of mediæval and classical antiquity to
a consideration of those more ancient monuments which bear witness
to Hittite handiwork. Notwithstanding the progress of historical
research, these remain the surest basis for the study of our subject,
giving us an insight into the Hittite civilisation, which is rendered
more valuable and more intelligible by the light thrown upon Hittite
chronology by recent excavation. Their nature and intrinsic details
are material evidence of Hittite arts, which, in the lack of internal
literary documents, no other sources can satisfactorily supply; while
their disposition defines for us the Hittite lands in a manner more
reliable and more substantial than theories based on vague and difficult
references in oriental history. A reasonable consideration of the
environment of these monuments, also, may help us to appreciate something
of that which is most difficult to realise but all-important, namely the
circumstances of the life of those whose hands produced them.[126]
[Illustration: PLATE XXX
EPHESUS: REMAINS OF THE ‘LIBRARY OF CELSUS,’ RECENTLY UNCOVERED (_See p.
71._)]
Obedient to a now accepted principle of psychology, we follow in the
development of our inquiry the sequence of evidences by which this
subject has been established during the past generation. Postponing
for the present any detailed account of the walled towns and groups of
sculptures which have been the scene of recent investigation, we shall
consider firstly those monuments which are found isolated and scattered
throughout the regions indicated in the opening chapter. If, in so doing,
we can yet be guided by the light of modern discoveries, we may hope to
avoid some of the difficulties which beset the path of these pioneers
whose work introduced to us this new material. Our method of study, like
theirs, must be comparative; but we shall be content to confine ourselves
almost entirely to the monuments identified as Hittite by the presence of
the peculiar hieroglyphic signs or inscriptions carved upon them. It was
indeed upon this line of evidence that Professor A. H. Sayce was enabled,
thirty years ago, to establish the relationship of the unexplained
inscriptions of Hamath with the sculptures of Kara-Bel in the far west
of Asia Minor, and thence to make his brilliant inference of a forgotten
empire.[127]
We use the test of Hittite hieroglyphs, not only because it has become
in this way fundamental to our subject, but because it is no longer open
to doubt whether these peculiar signs are of Hittite origin or not.
Formerly there may have been room for reasonable criticism so long as
this conclusion was based only on the fact that these symbols were found
chiefly on unexplained monuments from Hamath and neighbouring places in
Northern Syria associated in history with the Hittites. But now the
increasing accumulation of this kind of circumstantial evidence has been
crowned by the discovery that the chief site of such monuments in Asia
Minor, namely Boghaz-Keui, was for two centuries the capital of the
Hittites, whose name (Hatti) appears freely on the literary documents
that have been unearthed[128] there in recent excavations. Being secured
then against fundamental error, a comparison of the Hittite monuments
identified on this basis readily reveals peculiarities of art which
may be regarded as typical, so that we might reasonably include in our
category other monuments of like kind which lack only the ultimate
criterion which we have set before us. We do not wish, however, nor do
we need, in the scope of this volume, to press the argument by analogy,
being warned against the pitfalls of such a method by several general
considerations, and especially by the noticeable survival of Hittite
influence in the local sculptures, like those of Phrygia[129] and western
Lycaonia.[130]
Though we continue to employ the old materials, however, we see them
now in a clearer light. Just as the time has passed by when the word
‘Hittite’ must be written in inverted commas, or qualified with the
adjective ‘so-called,’ so now we are not content any longer to regard
the older monuments of the interior together in general as pre-Hellenic,
much less pre-historic, without distinction as to period or locality.
The references to the Hittites in Babylonian, Egyptian, and Assyrian
history alone, it is true, would not be sufficient to establish an
historical basis for this phase of our inquiry, though giving us a
range of dates that covers broadly the whole of the second millennium
down to the eighth century B.C.,[131] but these allusions are now
supplemented, and in great measure made intelligible, by the evidence of
the Hittite archives recently discovered at Boghaz-Keui, which establish
chronological relationships of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries
B.C.,[132] together with a series of contemporary Hittite works. This
date now becomes the basis for all inquiry, bringing into line several
points previously problematical and much disputed, just as the intrinsic
evidence of these archives throws a new flood of light over the
disposition and constitution of the Hittites at the very period when they
figure most prominently in the pages of Egyptian history.
[Illustration: PLATE XXXI
ANGORA: REMAINS OF THE TEMPLE OF ROME AND AUGUSTUS]
Other researches have contributed towards broadening this basis of
investigation. At Sakje-Geuzi recent excavations[133] have established
the fact previously in doubt, that the settlements of Hittite peoples had
begun there at any rate many centuries, possibly several thousand years,
previous to the age marked by the oncoming and ultimately overwhelming
tide of Assyrian influence early in the first millennium B.C. The
relation of the later phase of local arts to Assyrian chronology is
given by the results of excavations made on the great mound at Sinjerli,
distant about a day’s journey in the same valley towards the south.[134]
Here certain palace buildings and sculptures, some of which betray
Assyrian feeling, may be dated, by help of inscribed monuments that were
unearthed, to the eighth century B.C., when this principality became
tributary to Tiglath Pileser III. The reign of Esarhaddon, the conqueror
of Egypt, brought even this nominal independence to an end about 680 B.C.
[Illustration: PLATE XXXII
NIGDEH: PORTAL OR THE ‘WHITE MIDRESSEH’
Built by Ala-ed-din the Great, _circa_ 1223 A.D. An early example of
Seljûk art. (_See p. 73._)]
To these revelations by the spade there should be added various
contributions of the pen, which, together with the old materials, make
possible the study of Hittite remains upon an historical rather than a
purely archæological basis. We might indeed make some general inferences
from the results of these researches, but it will be wise to keep ever
in view the geographical conditions, and never to assume collateral
development among the various branches of the Hittite peoples whose lands
were physically so disunited. Evidence affecting one state in the north
of Syria may be applied with some surety to its neighbours; but it may
not be applicable beyond the Taurus. No published accounts enable us to
test the antiquity of Hittite settlements upon the tableland of Asia
Minor, and it is doubtful if even the necessary soundings have been made.
For the middle period, however, the difficulty is less, where history
shows that the influence of the Hatti administered from Boghaz-Keui
must have predominated in the north of Syria, and contemporaneity of
development may therefore be inferred. But when we come to the inferior
limit of date the same difficulty (the possibility of independent
development) is reopened, for, in the absence of positive material
evidence to the contrary, the Assyrian arms seem never to have passed the
Halys even while Assyrian influences were dominant in Syria. On the other
hand, as we have seen in the previous chapters, we have to take into
account the possible influence of the new civilisations, like that of the
Phrygians, which had meanwhile been developing upon the tableland. One
thing at any rate seems clear, that no Hittite monuments of Asia Minor
can well be later than the period of Phrygian domination in the eighth
century B.C.,[135] so that in the end a general parallel is suggested
with the closing dates afforded from Assyrian history.
Having now considered in general terms the method and the new
chronological basis of our inquiry, we come first to an account of those
isolated monuments which illustrate to us the diversity of Hittite art
and the wide range of its influence. The most striking of these are
perhaps those carved on the living rock, which may take the form of
single figures, some gigantic, others less than life-size, or groups
representing deities and their ministers, accompanied in each case by
Hittite hieroglyphs, or long inscriptions without any sculptures to
give a suggestion of their meaning.[136] Of the moveable monuments
only one is found clearly _in situ_,[137] and this from its position
and nature may be thought, like some of the rock-inscriptions, to have
been a boundary stone. There are others, however, of such weight[138]
or peculiar character[139] that they may be judged to have been set up
not far from the sites where they have been found. The _provenance_ of
monuments found on or in the vicinity of ancient sites is also reliable
as evidence.[140] Sculptures are rarely executed in the round, except for
architectural purposes,[141] though in one or two instances there have
been found fragments of statues.[142] Reliefs however, are plentiful,
mostly representing mythological creatures or persons; while a distinct
class, which represents a ceremonial feast or communion, seems to include
some specimens of funerary character.[143] Among inscribed monuments the
most interesting are those stelæ which show a human figure, accompanied,
it would seem, by a formal biography of good works.[144]
[Illustration: PLATE XXXIII
NIGDEH: TOMB OF SELJÛK PERIOD
Traditionally the tomb of Havanda, wife of Ala-ed-din, but dated 1344
A.D. Note the design, tracery, and stalactite ornamentation. (_See p.
73._)]
Unfortunately a considerable proportion of the inscribed blocks of stone
that have been found are imperfect, so that little can be hoped from the
inscriptions themselves. There are also a few small objects so portable,
and reported from regions so exceptional, that they cannot be used as
topographical evidence. Lastly, there are naturally a number of monuments
simulating Hittite work which we hesitate to include without further
evidence. It will be useful at this stage to give a classified list of
the places where the chief Hittite monuments have been found.[145] Towns
and palaces are included though not discussed in this chapter; further,
classifications which are based on inference, or doubtful in any way,
are denoted by square brackets, while an asterisk signifies that the
Hittite origin of the monument to which it refers is problematical and
unconfirmed. Other special features are pointed out in the footnotes.
WALLED TOWNS.—Boghaz-Keui, Eyuk, Sakje-Geuzi, Sinjerli. [Ilgîn
(Kolitoghlu Yaila), Jerablus (Carchemish), Marash.]
PALACES.—Boghaz-Keui, Eyuk, Sakje-Geuzi, Sinjerli.[146] [Malatia,
Marash.[147]]
FORTRESSES.—Boghaz-Keui (Sary Kaleh, Yenije Kaleh), Giaour Kalesi,
Karaburna, Kizil Dagh.
ROCK CARVINGS.—_Sculptures with Inscriptions_—Boghaz-Keui (Iasily Kaya),
Fraktin, Ivrîz, Kara-Bel (Mount Tmolus), Kizil Dagh, Mount Sipylus,
Tashji. _Sculpture only_—Giaour-Kalesi.[148] _Inscriptions only_—Asarjik,
Boghaz-Keui (Nishan Tash), Bulghar-Madên, Gurun, Kara Dagh (Mahalich).
STONES IN SITU.—_Inscribed Sculpture_—Kuru-Bel. _Inscription only_—Bogche.
MOVEABLE STONES.—_Sculptures in the round_—Boghaz-Keui,[149]
Derendeh[150] (and at Arslan Tash),[150] Eyuk,[150] Eski-Yapân,[150]
Kurts-oghlu,[151] Kuru-Bel,[152] Marash,[151] Yamoola.[149] _Reliefs;
mural_—Aintab, Boghaz-Keui, Doghanlu, Malatia, Marash. [Angora
(Kalaba, Yalanjak, Amaksiz Keui).] _Reliefs representing a Ceremonial
Feast_—Kara-burshlu, Malatia, Marash, Sakje-Geuzi, Sinjerli,[153] Yarre.
_Inscriptions accompanying human figure_—Andaval, Bor, Jerablus[154]
(Carchemish), Kellekli, Marash,[153] Samsat, Tell-Ahmar. _Inscriptions
only_—Aleppo, Alexandretta,[155] Albistan (Kirchuk Yapalak), Bey-Keui,
Ekrek,[154] Emir-Ghazi,[151] Hamath, Ilgîn (Kolitoghlu Yaila),
Izgîn,[156] Jerablus, Karaburna, Nigdeh,[151] Restan, Suasa.
EXCEPTIONAL DISTRICTS.—Babylon, Erzerum (Kaza Passinler),[157]
Kedabeg,[154] Toprah Kaleh.
PROBLEMATICAL MONUMENTS.—Eflatoun-Bunar, Fassiler, Gerger.
The first thing that strikes us in considering this list is that these
monuments are all of stone. We might possibly be able to include, with
suitable caution, some number of small objects of bronze or pottery,
mostly in animal form, and also a number of peculiar ceramic types,
including painted vases and neolithic pottery decorated in a primitive
manner by incisions. But, except in the latter instances,[158] these
do not advance the main subject of our inquiry; for while their
identification with the Hittites is chiefly a matter of general
inference, their _provenance_ is nearly always doubtful. The same thing
might be said unhappily of the definitely Hittite seals and kindred
objects, of which several excellent specimens are on record,[159] whether
made of silver,[160] stone,[161] or ivory.[162] While all of these
are worthy of closest study from the point of view of Hittite art and
_motif_, yet nearly all have been found in the hands of peasants who were
loath to tell the exact site of their discovery, or of town-dealers who
did not know.
[Illustration: PLATE XXXIV
EPHESUS: MEDIEVAL FORTRESS WITH SELJÛK REMAINS AT AYASOLÛK
KONIA: ZAZADÎN HAN, OF SELJÛK WORK AND STYLE (_See p. 73._)]
Hence to define our Hittite land by the disposition of the monuments,
we fall back largely on the works in stone, the original position of
which is known or can be inferred. Doubtless at one time the surface of
the ground was covered with other indications, with ruins of villages
and houses where now the grass grows over indistinguishable mounds;
and doubtless also many exposed monuments must hitherto have escaped
scientific record. Hence our argument from the disposition of the
monuments should be guarded; it is positive, indeed, so far as we have
evidence, but the negative case should not be urged. The durability
of stone has perpetuated these monuments to us, but it is not thereby
demonstrated that the Hittites had any exclusive preference for this
material. And being of stone, they are most plentiful in stony regions,
and rarely found upon grassy plains. We cannot expect, for instance,
upon the broad pastures of Iconium anything analogous to the sculptures
which are found in rocky Taurus, where the opportunity was all-tempting
which in the former case was lacking. It has been well said that ‘if the
plateau presented throughout the same character, there would be no need
to seek on its surface monuments of the past. Hunters and woodmen build
no cities, and arts are unknown to them.’[163] Consequently, in finding
a concentration of Hittite sites upon the hilly regions of the map, this
fact should not be allowed to weigh disproportionately, although there is
independent evidence tending to the conclusion that several branches of
the Hittite peoples, particularly those of Asia Minor, were of mountain
origin.[164]
With these considerations in mind, a study of the disposition of these
Hittite sites upon the map[165] can teach us much, notwithstanding our
self-imposed restrictions. Our southerly frontier reaches to Hamath
on the Orontes. Eastward our boundary is the Euphrates, flowing past
Malatia, Samsat, and Jerablus. Westward the monuments follow the inner
edge of Taurus as far as the Kara Dagh, with not a single site under
the southern slope of these mountains. In the north we have no clear
boundary. Eyuk and Boghaz-Keui are found in the middle of the circuit
of the Halys, with no places nearer than those which lie in the valley
of that river. Across the river a single line of monuments, including
Giaour-Kalesi, Yarre, Doghanlu, and Bey-Keui, seems to lead on towards
the Lydian coast, to where Sipylus and Kara-Bel are found between Sardis
and Smyrna.
[Illustration: PLATE XXXV
ROWANDUZ KALEH: MEDIEVAL FORTRESS ON A STEEP CONICAL HILL OVERLOOKING THE
AFRÎN
Supposed to have been built under Genoese architects during the 14th
century A.D. (_See p. 9._)]
A brief consideration of the classified list of monuments above will
reveal the fact that for description no grouping of these places is so
convenient as that formed naturally by geographical divisions. The first
main group (A) will include all the monuments of the north of Syria,
in which we may recognise three separate districts. The most southerly
is the Orontes valley, with which we can include Aleppo, though the
latter historically would seem to have been the centre of an independent
state.[166] The monuments from Hamath consist of a series of stones
inscribed in relief, partly belonging to the same inscription; while at
Aleppo there is one small stone of similar character. The places Restan
and Homs indicated upon the map are positions of importance further up
the Orontes, though unidentified by local remains.[167] The site of
Kadesh, the historical frontier fortress of the Hittites in their warfare
with Egypt, is similarly now unrecognisable, but a consensus of opinion
among students of the Egyptian records places it not far southward of the
present lake of Homs.[168]
Eastward we have the monuments on the Euphrates, including numerous
inscriptions, a stela, and fragments of sculpture, from the irregular
mounds which mark the site of ancient Carchemish at Jerablus. Several
carved and inscribed monuments are recently reported from Kellekli and
Tell-Ahmar,[169] which are in the same vicinity, while further up the
river there are found an inscribed and sculptured block from Samsat,
and a doubtful carving on the rocks near Gerger Kalesi. The remaining
monuments of the north of Syria lie towards the west, mostly in the
valley of the Kara Su. The mounds of Sinjerli and Sakje-Geuzi are
included, wherein excavations have disclosed the ruins of sculptured
palaces and other monuments that will be described with more detail in a
later chapter. A relief with inscription comes from Kara-burshlu in the
same vicinity; while a sculptured and inscribed corner-stone of peculiar
character has been found at Aintab, a little to the east. To the south
of this town is Killiz, a place not marked by any peculiar remains, but
the centre where numbers of bronze figures,[170] seals, and other small
objects of Hittite character, are commonly found in the bazaars. Lower
down on the Afrîn, and hence geographically contiguous, is Kurts-oghlu,
whence comes a portion of a small statue carved in the round, upon which
still remain two lines of incised inscription. We include Marash also in
this group, though it is on higher ground at the ascent of the Taurus
mountains. Here there must have been a city of importance, suggested
alike in the strategic position and in the number and character of the
monuments found upon the site. Among these are two sculptured lions
(one inscribed with hieroglyphs in relief), slabs carved with reliefs
depicting interesting scenes, and the lower part of an inscribed statue,
as well as several blocks and fragments also inscribed.
Passing northwards the monuments found in the mountain regions of Taurus
and Anti-Taurus constitute our second main group (B). This embraces the
district marked by the four sites in the valley of the Tochma Su, with
which there may be included two others in the head-waters of the Pyramus.
At Malatia there have been found several architectural blocks sculptured
in relief with religious representations and hunting scenes, most of
them bearing also groups of Hittite hieroglyphs upon them. There can be
no doubt that, situated like Marash in a position of great strategic
importance,[171] at one time on the Mitannian and later on the Assyrian
frontier, this place is equally one of the more noteworthy Hittite sites.
From Derendeh come an inscribed fragment of a statue and a small basaltic
lion; and from a spot called appropriately Arslan Tash, one hour distant
to the south, two other lions, which are presumably architectural. At
Palanga an inscribed cylindrical columnar figure has been found; while
Gurun, further up the valley, is the site of two inscriptions, one on the
living rock and the other on an isolated block. On the southern side of
the watershed an inscribed stone has been found in a cemetery at Kirchuk
Yapalak, two hours distant from Albistan; while the column or obelisk
from Izgîn, inscribed on four sides with hieroglyphs in relief, is an
object almost as remarkable as the round column from Palanga.
This group includes, as a second district, five sites in the Anti-Taurus.
The most easterly is Kuru-Bel, a pass near old-time Comana: here is
one of the most striking Hittite works, resembling a great altar with
lions crouching upon the top on either hand. Three places are on the
main stream of the Zamanti Su: from an Armenian cemetery at Ekrek there
has come a stone inscribed in incised hieroglyphs, which has been
re-dressed with Christian emblems; at Tashji are two figures and an
inscription incised upon the rock; while Fraktin is famous as the site
of rock-sculptures that make important additions to Hittite religious
symbolism. Lastly, at Asarjik, on the northern slope of Mount Argæus,
overlooking Cæsarea, an inscription is incised upon a broken rock,
accompanied by interesting markings like graffiti.
In our third main group (C) we include those few monuments found in
or near the valley of the Halys, north-westward of Cæsarea. These are
a great sculptured eagle on a lion-base, an object not demonstrably
of Hittite workmanship, on the river-bank near Yamoola; a perfect
inscription covering four sides of a round-topped stone, standing on a
pedestal, overlooking the river valley on the south bank near Bogche;
thirdly, an inscription in three lines on a stone found at Karaburna,
which is on the opposite bank considerably lower down; and lastly,
two incised inscriptions found recently at Suasa, which lies back
considerably from the river, almost opposite the place last named.
With the same group we class the district inside the circuit of the
Halys, the monuments of which are almost confined to the famous ruins of
Boghaz-Keui, with the neighbouring sculptured sanctuary of Iasily Kaya,
and the walled mound and palace of Eyuk, both of which are described
in later chapters. There are, however, one or two features which may
be appropriately singled out for comparison in this chapter, notably
the inscription in relief on the rock called Nishan Tash, on the high
ground of the citadel at Boghaz-Keui, and a couple of building blocks
sculptured like those of Sinjerli, Malatia, and Eyuk, recently found at
the foot of the acropolis. If we may mention also two objects of doubtful
_provenance_, these introduce a place called Eski-Yapân, on the road from
Sungurlu to Chorum, where an architectural lion is built into a modern
wall,[172] and Denek-Madên, near to Cheshme-Keupru, where an interesting
round ivory object engraved with Hittite characters and signs has been
rescued.[173]
[Illustration: PLATE XXXVI
CÆSAREA: TURKISH CEMETERY, NOW DISUSED (_See p. 23._)]
We are inclined to group together all the monuments westward of the Halys
(D), including with them the two famous sculptures near the Lydian coast.
We thus bring together for comparison the rock carvings of Giaour-Kalesi
and of Kara-Bel, which are analogous, and the dethroned Niobe seated on
Mount Sipylus. In the Phrygian country there are on record an inscribed
stone at Bey-Keui, and a sculpture with uncertain hieroglyphs at Doghanlu
Daresi. A relief found at Yarre, representing a ceremonial feast,
conforms with a definite class of Hittite sculptures found elsewhere on
the several sites mentioned in the list above. The same may be said,
though with less confidence, of carved slabs found in the vicinity of
Angora, representing lions, but we exclude the sculptured lion to be
seen near the bridge at Cheshme Keupru. The remarkable thing about the
disposition of these monuments, excluding the reliefs at Angora, is
that they seem to mark out the line of a single road, namely the Royal
Road from Boghaz-Keui to Sardis and the west.[174] The only reasonable
doubt seems to be as to the route from Giaour-Kalesi to Boghaz-Keui,
about which there is no evidence. Some students of the local topography
think it must have gone by way of Angora, in spite of the tradition
(which in the absence of evidence becomes of interest) that Angora was a
comparatively late Phrygian foundation.[175] Others urge[176] that it
was improbable that the road ‘swerved southwards to Giaour-Kalesi,’ an
opinion seemingly forgetful of the road’s objective.[177]
The district westward of Iconium, in which are found the
Lycaonian-Hittite monuments of Eflatoun-Bunar and Fassiler, stands by
itself. But as there is only one clearly Hittite object from this region,
namely a stone inscribed with hieroglyphs in relief, from near Kolitoghlu
Yaila, near Ilgîn, we include this with the main western group.
We now come to the fifth and last group (E) of these arbitrary
divisions, which includes nine sites and several of the most important
monuments.[178] It embraces the whole of the south-western range of
Taurus from the Kara Dagh to Bulghar Dagh, as well as the districts
at its foot, of which in classical times Eregli (Cybistra) Arissama
(Ardistama) and Kilisse Hissar (Tyana) were the more important centres.
The monuments recently discovered on the Kara Dagh might indeed have
been regarded as a group apart; but as this district shares in the
geographical economy of the others, and is a spur of the main Taurus
range, we prefer to class them with the rest. They are found in two
places, firstly, near Mahalich, on the summit of the Kara Dagh, where
there are two inscriptions in relief and a passage in the rock; and
secondly, on the outlying knoll called Kizil Dagh, on which are the
remains of a ‘high place,’ including a rock-throne and an incised seated
figure with three inscriptions; while on the very summit there are
the ruins of a fortress, and an inscription in relief upon the rock.
The monument of Ivrîz, above Eregli, is well known; it is a gigantic
and imposing sculpture of the god of fertility (by whatever name he
may be known) with the local priest-king in adoration; three short
inscriptions accompany the scene. The traces of a second sculpture of
similar character are to be found not far above.[179] At Bulghar-Madên,
on the other side of a lofty ridge, an incised inscription of five
lines is graved upon the living rock. These two monuments seem to have
been connected in some way with Tyana, in the vicinity of which several
inscribed stelæ and sculptures have been found. That from Bor, discovered
in two portions which were rescued at different times, is the best
of these; and an interesting fragment remains at Eski Andaval, where
jealousies and suspicions prevent it from being seen. Nigdeh contributes
an incised altar of round shape. From Tyana itself nothing is reported,
but the antiquity of the site is unquestioned, and its known monuments
reach back to the time of a Phrygian Midas.[180] In this district,
particularly at Bor, numerous small objects of great interest have been
secured, and there is little reason to doubt but that they were found
originally not far away.[181] Further west, in the desert tract of the
eastern extremity of the great salt plains, there are the ruins of
Ardistama; and in the vicinity, near Emir Ghazi, there have been found in
late years an inscription in relief, and three others on round altars.
These are included in the same group on account of their geographical
proximity.
Now that we have completed this preliminary survey of the disposition
of such Hittite monuments as by their character or the circumstances
of their discovery may be accepted by us as evidence in our inquiry,
we realise more clearly the reason for the distinction we made in an
earlier chapter between the eastern and western portions of Asia Minor.
In the West we can speak of only nine monuments, of which four are not
of Hittite origin. Six of these seem to lie along the line of a single
road; and of the others, only one is inscribed with Hittite characters,
and even that is moveable and not found in its original position. If only
by contrast with this paucity, the comparative frequency of monuments
towards the East, and their definite character, naturally inclines us to
assign some tentative boundaries to the Hittite country. In the North
this is not difficult; the Halys River remained in the time of Crœsus a
division between peoples of different race,[182] and Sir William Ramsay
has pointed out[183] differences in important racial customs between the
peoples of the two banks in ancient times.
But to the south there is no such boundary; even the great plains, which
form so prominent a landmark in the map, seem to be more barren now than
in the days when Ardistama flourished.[184] This change is illustrated by
the western extension of the monuments along the foot of the Taurus and
in the desert. We must not forget, also, that whole tracts are eliminated
from our purview from absence of stone; nor should we allow ourselves
to be prepossessed with the idea of divisions on the tableland, which
is, after all, continuous and coterminous. If it is true that nearly
all the evidences of Hittite occupation in the west resolve themselves
into monuments erected along a single road, it is also true that if we
exclude from our view the group of remarkable monuments at Boghaz-Keui
and Eyuk, there remains little sign that the country within the circuit
of the Halys was indeed at any time Hittite territory, much less that
it enclosed their northern capital. In face of such considerations the
great sculptures and fortress of Giaour-Kalesi, the carvings of Doghanlu,
the inscription and tumulus of Bey-Keui, and most striking of all, the
sculptures of the west on Mount Sipylus and in the pass of Kara-Bel, as
well as those monuments in Phrygia and Western Lycaonia which at least
reflect the influence of Hittite art, become imbued with a relative
importance not to be overlooked in our inquiry. The land of the Hittites
is for us as broad as the extent of their works: it is for another phase
of our subject to inquire whether there is evidence to tell us how and
when their territory was acquired, and for how long it remained in their
power.
SECTION A.—MONUMENTS OF THE NORTH OF SYRIA.
HAMATH, RESTAN, ALEPPO; KURTS-OGHLU (ALEXANDRETTA), SINJERLI,
KARA-BURSHLU, SAKJE-GEUZI; AINTAB (KILLIZ), MARASH; JERABLUS, KELLEKLI,
TELL-AHMAR, SAMSAT, RUM KALI (GERGER).
The town of Hamath has grown up where the main road from the north
enters the Orontes valley. This river, in characteristic fashion, flows
for the most part deep below the level of the surrounding plains;
and Hamath is found at a spot where the banks widen out, so that the
town is in a hollow, almost surrounded by escarpments formed of the
steep banks and the broken edges of the plain. Though picturesque, the
position in general can have had little strategic importance, even in
antiquity, being overlooked and exposed. Hence it probably came into
being in Hittite times as an important halting-place upon the main road
through Syria, and as a natural centre for the surrounding agricultural
districts. The original Hittite stronghold would seem to have been more
strongly placed; this probably covered the broad-topped mound[185] which
marks, in the manner so familiar in old Syrian towns, the beginnings of
the site. Doubtless this would be surrounded at a certain stage with a
wall, as was the fashion of those days; and later, on the analogy of
Sinjerli, the population overspread the limits of the enclosure, and
so settled in times of quiet on the tempting ground at the foot of the
acropolis. In this development, and in the nature of its situation,
Hamath shares largely the general features of many Syrian sites. Being
(even now) somewhat out of the way of European travellers, it is curious
that numerous inscriptions should have been noticed here, while a famous
historical site like Kadesh remains unidentified, and a strong natural
position like Restan was until recently without record of Hittite
occupation.[186]
[Illustration: PLATE XXXVII
HAMATH: INSCRIPTION IN THREE LINES OF HITTITE HIEROGLYPHS CARVED IN
RELIEF, ONE OF THE SO-CALLED ‘HAMATHIC’ INSCRIPTIONS (_See p. 95._)
The photograph is taken from a paper impression.]
Whatever may be the explanation, as early as 1812 a black basaltic block
built into the corner of one of the houses in a bazaar attracted the eye
of a famous traveller[187] by reason of the strange-looking hieroglyphic
signs upon it. Sixty years later other stones came to light;[188] some
were built into the modern walls, others lay loose. All were regarded
with veneration by the inhabitants,[189] and it was with great difficulty
that they were removed, in 1872, to a place of safety by the Turkish
Governor through the energetic initiation of Dr. Wright, supported by the
British Consul.