About Hattuşa
At Boğazkale, Hattusa was the Hittite imperial capital, spread across rocky valleys. The Lion Gate, King's Gate, Yerkapı, Great Temple and Yazılıkaya show government, defence and religious ceremony organised within a single landscape.
History
Settlement around Hattusa extends into the Chalcolithic. Hattush was destroyed by Anitta of Kussara in the eighteenth century BCE and became the capital under Hattusili I about a century later. In the second millennium BCE it developed into an imperial centre with extensive walls, temples, archives and palaces. Its cuneiform tablets include a copy of the Treaty of Kadesh. The capital was abandoned in the early twelfth century BCE, followed by smaller settlements. Hattusa entered the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1986.
Highlights and principal structures
- Great Temple
- Büyükkale palace complex
- Lion Gate
- King's Gate
- Yerkapı rampart and tunnel
- Yazılıkaya rock sanctuary
- Hittite walls
Historical period
Bronze Age–Iron Age