world. Its fortification walls were more than 9 km in length. The
outer wall, which surrounded the city, was 6.6 km long and
punctuated by outward-protruding towers or bastions at roughly
30 m intervals. The base of the walls was made of roughly hewn
stone blocks which in parts may have risen 3–4 m above ground
level. Above this, mudbrick walls extended the height of the
fortifications to perhaps 8 m, with the towers rising several metres
higher. Rounded triangular crenellations topped off the walls and
towers, helping shield the city’s defenders from enemy missiles
fired from below, as well as adding to the impressiveness of the
whole fortification complex. Particularly given the rugged terrain
on which the city was built, its fortifications alone which stretched
far into the distance as they came into the visitor’s view were a
massive architectural and engineering achievement, an explicit
statement of the kingdom’s might and grandeur as much as it was
of the capital’s defence capabilities.
THESPHINXGATE
Even today you can climb Yerkapı’s staircases, which will lead you
to one of the city’s main gates–the so-called Sphinx Gate. Once,
four sphinxes embellished the gateway, two facing towards the
city, two facing the outer world. Unlike Egyptian sphinxes, which
provided their artistic inspiration, Hittite sphinxes are female.
(Remains of a number of other monumental sphinxes have been
found both in Hattusa and at other Hittite sites, notably Alaca
Höyük.) Unfortunately only one sphinx, an exterior one, is still in
its original position, and it’s badly worn. The two inner sphinxes
have survived, in a much better condition, one housed in the Near
Eastern Museum in Istanbul, the other until recently in the Near
Eastern Museum in Berlin before arrangements were made for its
return to Turkey. Human-headed and with the bodies of winged
lions, these hybrid creatures represent divinities. We know this
from the horns, symbols of divinity, appearing on the helmets of
the‘inner sphinxes’, which are carved almost completely in the
round, their lions’ bodies ending in a cat’s tail. They smile
benevolently upon the city below.
CITY OF TEMPLES AND BUREAUCRATS:THE ROYAL CAPITAL 205