Hattusa
Capital of the Hittite Empire for five centuries, Hattusa was the city where the world’s first written international peace treaty was negotiated, where an extraordinary cuneiform archive recorded the laws, myths, and diplomacy of a Bronze Age superpower — and where 8km of double city walls with monumental lion and sphinx gates still stand as the most dramatic fortification system of the ancient Near East.
At a glance
Hattusa (modern Boğazkale / Boğazköy, Çorum Province) sits in the rocky highland plateau of central Anatolia, 150km east of Ankara. At its height in the 13th century BC, it was one of the three great capitals of the Bronze Age world — alongside Thebes and Babylon — and the seat of an empire that stretched from the Aegean coast of Anatolia across northern Syria to the Euphrates. UNESCO inscribed Hattusa as a World Heritage Site in 1986. The German Archaeological Institute has been excavating here continuously since 1906, making it one of the longest-running archaeological projects in the Near East.
Key facts
- Capital of: Hittite Empire (Old Kingdom c. 1700 BC; peak c. 1450–1200 BC)
- Area: Nearly 2 square kilometres of ruins across ridges and valleys
- Fortifications: 8km of double walls with 65–70 towers and monumental gates
- Archive: Thousands of cuneiform clay tablets including the Treaty of Kadesh (c. 1259 BC)
- UNESCO WHS: Inscribed 1986
- Ongoing excavation: German Archaeological Institute (DAI), since 1906
- Coordinates: 40.0186° N, 34.6155° E — near Boğazkale, Çorum Province, Turkey
History: empire on the plateau
The Hittites were the third great power of the late Bronze Age — the only civilisation capable of meeting Egypt in open battle and fighting it to a strategic draw. Their empire, at its height under Suppiluliuma I and Mursili II in the 14th century BC, controlled an arc from the Aegean coast across Anatolia and northern Syria. Their language — now known as Hittite — is the oldest recorded Indo-European language, preserved in thousands of cuneiform clay tablets that cover royal law, religious ritual, diplomatic correspondence, and literary myth (including a Hittite version of the Gilgamesh epic).
The city was originally settled in the Early Bronze Age. The Hittite king Hattusili I established it as his capital around 1700 BC, though the site had been destroyed by a previous king named Anitta, who placed a curse on it (whoever rebuilds this city shall be struck by the storm god). That curse was apparently overlooked. The Old Kingdom capital grew steadily; the New Kingdom expansion under Tudhaliya I and his successors transformed it into a city of 2 square kilometres, enclosed by the most ambitious defensive circuit in Bronze Age Anatolia.
The defining event in Hittite history was the Battle of Kadesh (c. 1274 BC) — fought against Pharaoh Ramesses II of Egypt in what is now Syria — the largest chariot battle in ancient history, involving perhaps 5,000 chariots on each side. The battle ended without a clear victor. Fifteen years later, the two powers concluded the Treaty of Kadesh (c. 1259 BC) — the oldest surviving written international peace treaty — inscribed in both Akkadian cuneiform (on the Hittite clay tablet found at Hattusa) and in Egyptian hieroglyphs (on the wall of the Ramesseum at Karnak). A replica of the treaty hangs at the United Nations headquarters in New York. The original clay tablet is displayed in the Istanbul Archaeological Museum.
Around 1200 BC, Hattusa was destroyed — apparently burned — as part of the broader Bronze Age Collapse that ended the Mycenaean, Hittite, and Ugaritic civilisations within a generation. The causes remain debated: invasion by the Sea Peoples, internal rebellion, climate-induced famine, or systemic collapse of the interconnected Bronze Age trading network. The city was never rebuilt as a major centre.
What you see: gates, walls, and temples
The site divides into two main areas: the Lower City (older, flatter, containing the Great Temple) and the Upper City (later, on the ridge, containing the main fortifications and smaller temples).
The Lion Gate (Aslankapı): The southwestern gateway of the Upper City, flanked by two large lion sculptures carved in the round from limestone, their mouths open in a warning roar. The lions face outward, guarding the entrance — a convention shared with contemporary Mycenaean architecture (cf. the Lion Gate at Mycenae). The originals are partially in place; some sections are in the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations, Ankara.
The Sphinx Gate (Yerkapı): The southern gate, approached via a monumental earth ramp and flanked by sphinx sculptures (now largely in museums in Istanbul and Berlin). Uniquely, a corbelled tunnel (potern) runs through the earth rampart beneath the gate — the longest surviving Bronze Age tunnel in the Near East, about 70 metres long, which allowed defenders to emerge behind attacking forces.
The Warrior/King’s Gate (Kral Kapı): The eastern gate, decorated with a relief of a warrior god or deified king striding in full battle gear — helmet, short kilt, raised axe. A cast is in place; the original is in Ankara.
The Great Temple (Temple I): The largest Hittite temple known, occupying a substantial portion of the Lower City, dedicated to the storm god Teshub and the sun goddess Arinna. Its magazines contained hundreds of storage vessels and the archive rooms held large numbers of clay tablets.
Yazılıkaya: One kilometre from the main site, a natural rock sanctuary where the Hittites carved a gallery of gods and goddesses in relief — the most complete surviving Hittite pantheon, carved in the open air into limestone outcrops. The inner chamber contains a famous relief of the god Nergal as a sword with a hilt formed by four lions’ heads.
Practical information
- Location: Boğazkale (formerly Boğazköy), Çorum Province, central Turkey — 150km east of Ankara
- Opening hours: Daily 08:00–19:00 (summer) / 08:00–17:00 (winter); Yazılıkaya same hours
- Admission: Combined ticket for Hattusa + Yazılıkaya available at the site entrance
- Museum: The Boğazkale Museum in the village holds original finds; major pieces in the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations, Ankara
- Best season: May–June and September–October; July–August is hot but manageable
- Walking distance: The full circuit of the upper and lower cities is 5–7km; allow 3–4 hours minimum
Getting there
From Ankara (150km): take the E88/D785 highway east toward Sungurlu, then south to Boğazkale. By bus: coaches from Ankara Şehirlerarası Terminal to Sungurlu (2.5 hours), then a dolmuş or taxi to Boğazkale (30km). No direct bus from Ankara to Boğazkale. Çorum city (90km from the site) is the nearest large transport hub with train connections. Most visitors come on a day trip from Ankara by rental car or with a tour operator.
Nearby
- Yazılıkaya (1km) — open-air Hittite rock sanctuary with carved divine procession reliefs; included in the WHS
- Alacahöyük (25km N) — Hittite-period Sphinx Gate and royal tombs of the pre-Hittite Hatti culture, with on-site museum
- Museum of Anatolian Civilizations, Ankara (150km W) — the finest collection of Hittite and Anatolian Bronze Age artefacts in the world; the Lion Gate lions and Yazılıkaya relief casts are displayed here
Sources
- Bryce, T. (2005). The Kingdom of the Hittites (new edition). Oxford University Press.
- Neve, P. (1992). Hattusa — Stadt der Götter und Tempel. Zabern Verlag, Mainz.
- Singer, I. (2002). Hittite Prayers. Scholars Press (Writings from the Ancient World).
- UNESCO World Heritage Centre — Hattusa: the Hittite Capital. whc.unesco.org/en/list/377
- Wikipedia contributors. Hattusa. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hattusa
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