time in the late thirteenth century. Persons granted entry to the
complex via a southern gate (visiting dignitaries and diplomats,
palace personnel etc.) passed through a series of courtyards,
connected by gateways and surrounded by colonnades and groups
of rooms, which led to various parts of the palace, including the
great Audience Hall. In this Hall, the king held court, with envoys
from foreign kings, rulers of his vassal states and his own high-
ranking bureaucrats and military leaders. It was probably located on
a second storey, above a large central court. Many of the buildings
around a‘lower court’to the southeast probably provided residences
for the most important palace officials, guest accommodation for
VIPs and quarters for the king’s special bodyguard, the‘Men of the
Golden Spears’. A large proportion of the king’sextendedfamily–
and by the thirteenth century there were a lot of them when you take
into account all the collateral branches of the family–may also have
resided within the palace area.
WHO ELSE LIVED INHATTUSA?
Capacious though the palace was, there must have been many lesser
luminaries who were connected with the palace but lived beyond its
walls. But where? So far, few residential areas in the city have come
to light. The most significant of these is in the Lower City, close to
the Temple of the Storm God, and thus within easy commuting
distance of the palace. It seems to have been an elite residential
area, with multi-roomed houses, some with their own plumbing
systems, and ovens and open fireplaces. Architectural fashions
changed over time. Earlier courtyard houses featuring an open-air
inner court were later replaced by vestibule houses with living areas
completely roofed in. As with the temples, the houses were made of
mudbrick built on timber frames and mud-coveredflat roofs.
We can imagine that this area was inhabited primarily by
bureaucrats, priests, core security and defence forces (square
structures that may have been military barracks have come to light
in the Upper City, near the Sarikale outcrop), and the most highly
skilled specialist craftsmen and artisans, whose services were of
crucial importance for the material maintenance of Hittite society.
216 WARRIORS OF ANATOLIA