Yenicekale (‘Newish Castle’) and Nişantaş(‘Marked Rock’) are of
particular significance. Their locations indicated on the city-plan,
they were once incorporated into building complexes. Thus
Sarikale has some preserved masonry and the remains of a cistern,
and at Yenicekale, you can still see a well preserved 7 m high wall;
the building complex within it was erected on the outcrop’s levelled
summit. To the south of Yenicekale, near Hattusa’s highest point,
five ponds were dug, to serve as reservoirs for the city’s water
supply.
Notable among the remains at Nişantaşare fragments of two
sphinxes, like those of the Sphinx Gate at Yerkapı, which were
carved into an entrance gate. The gate was reached by a ramp
which gave access to a substantial building complex on top of the
outcrop. A long hieroglyphic inscription was carved on the side of
the outcrop (hence the Turkish name‘Marked Rock’) during the
reign of the last king Suppiluliuma II. The inscription, now badly
weathered and almost illegible, probably listed the main
achievements of Suppiluliuma’s reign. It’s generally believed that
these rock complexes were the locations of religious institutions,
perhaps what Hittite texts refer to as‘rock-crest’structures, which
were associated with the cults of dead kings.
To all these features which serve to emphasise the special sacred
character of the royal capital, we can add two more ponds or
artificial lakes, with paved embankments and watertight bottoms
of plastered clay. The so-called‘Pond 1’, with a surface area of
60 £90 sq. m, was separated by a dam from the slightly smaller
‘Pond 2’. Fed by a number of springs, and thus providing part of
the city’s water supply, the ponds also had a sacred significance.
This is indicated by two domed chambers, one located at the
western corner of Pond 1, and one at the northern corner. The two
chambers, providing us, incidentally, with the oldest known domed
stone structures in the Near East, were discovered in 1988, just
south of the royal acropolis.
‘Chamber 2’is of particular interest because of its well preserved
reliefs and inscription. The reliefs depict a deity, the Sun-God, and
the last Hittite king Suppiluliuma II, the inscription is a record of
Suppiluliuma’s military exploits in southern and southwestern
214 WARRIORS OF ANATOLIA