The Greeks made use of their myths to read and understand the world around them. They mixed their mythological tradition making use of their moral concepts and developed some supreme beings to praise.
The life span of the gods organized the foundations for the comprehension of how to live a virtuous life. These myths were passed down through their society’s storytellers like Homer, who wrote the epic poems the “Iliad” and the “Odyssey.” These works of art are the source of much of our knowledge of the Greek gods , and the beliefs surrounding them.
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The twelve Olympian gods ( they are named after their dwelling place, Mount Olympus) were the best known gods. They ruled after the overthrow of the Titans.
The relationship between ancient Greeks and their gods was based on a fairly easy concept: if men worshipped and made sacrifices towards the gods, then your gods would look favourably upon them in exchange.
The Olympians:
Aphrodite : Goddess of love and beauty . Her son was Eros , the god of love. She is also considered to have kept a watchful eye over sailors.
Apollo : Beautiful god of the light, medicine and music. Apollo represents order, harmony, and civilization
Ares : God of war. He had an affair with Aphrodite, and was father to many kids.
Artemis : Goddess moon, forest, childbirth and the hunt. Although she was associated with childbirth and kids, Artemis was a virgin.
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Athena : Daughter of Zeus and goddess of knowledge and war and also the patron goddess of Athens. Like Artemis , she was a virgin goddess too.
Hades : God of the Underworld.
Hephaestus : God of fire and the forge. Mated to Aphrodite.
Hera : Queen from the Gods, wife of Zeus a, protector of marriage.
Hermes : The messenger of the gods, god of business. He was a very smart child, inventing the lyre using a tortoise’s shell as he was just a baby baby.
Hestia : Goddess of home, symbolized by the hearth which holds the ever-burning flame.
Poseidon : God of the sea and earthquakes. As god of the seas Poseidon held great power, and could calm the waves or create terrible storms. He’d an unreliable temper, and used his powers to generate fear and punishment on people as revenge.
Zeus : King from the Gods, god of the sky, symbolized by the thunderbolt. Because the ruler of the Olympian gods, Zeus held enormous power and almost absolute authority. His role was primarily to watch over the activities of the other gods, and make sure they weren’t exceeding their powers.
The Titans, also called the elder gods, ruled the planet earth before the Olympians overthrew them.
The ruler of the Titans was Cronus who was de-throned by his son Zeus .
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Prometheus : He stole the sacred fire from Zeus and also the gods.
Atlas : Zeus punished him to forever bear the heavens upon his shoulders.
December 24 2011 | Hattusa | No Comments »
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Gordion (Turkey Yassihöyük) was the capital of the Kingdom of Phrygia during the eighth century BC. Gordion is located in Sakarya River near its confluence with the Tembris, 70 miles southwest of Ankara, Turkey. The site includes 16 feet high state, called the Citadel Mound, 7 acres of the tower and wall of the complex called Kuçukhöyük, and a smaller tower called Kustepe, as well as small commercial areas, 72 acres of the solution.
At the beginning of the service of Gordian in the Middle Bronze Age (1500-1600 BC). Archaeological evidence dates Phrygian occupation between 950 and 350 BC, the heyday of the solution during the 6th century. Gordion was the Achaemenid Royal Road, and was conquered by Cyrus the Great during his conquest of most of Anatolia, between 547-546 BC.
Gordion is said to be the place where it is said that Alexander the Great cutting the Gordian knot. Disputes continued sporadically through the Middle Ages.
The site was excavated in 1900 by Gustav and Alfred Korte, Gordion other affiliated researchers include Rodney S. Young, K. DeVries, and GK Sams, University of Pennsylvania. Mary M. Voigt of the College of William and Mary worked at Gordion in the late 1980s. Other studies have included work in nearby ethnoarchaeological Yassihüyük and a regional study.
March 08 2011 | Turkey Ancient Cities and World Ancient Cities | No Comments »
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The first “settling in” around Bogazköy took place in the sixth millennium BC in the Chalcolithic period, when small villages scattered appeared especially on mountain slopes and rock towers.
Late third millennium BC, towards the end of Early Bronze Age Hattian solution developed to mark the beginning of the continuous occupation of the site. Hattians, a native Anatolian Hattush called their country.
During the Middle Bronze Age occupation Hattian grew up in a city of such importance that Karum was established here in 19 and 18 a. C. – A trading post of the Assyrian merchants who came from Assyria. With their caravans of donkeys carrying goods to and from Mesopotamia, and along his route were also treated products of the land of Anatolia, thus stimulating a certain “globalization.” These are the Assyrian traders submitted in writing to Anatolia.
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The excavated ruins show that the city Hattush was burned in a major conflict around 1700 BC. King was responsible for Anitta Kussar who also cast a spell on the site. But already in the second half of the 17th century BC temptation to settle here again had apparently been overwhelming, a Hittite king had indeed chosen the place as his residence and capital. The Hattush Hattian was now Hattusha Hittite, and the king took the name Hattusili, or “one Hattusa.” This is the beginning of the history of the Hittite capital and the Hittite Royals – until now, 27 kings known by their names.
Ancient Hittite city covers an area of approximately 1 square kilometer, was protected by a massive fortress wall. It is a ridge of high Büyükkale was the residence of the King, and the city lay on the slope below the north-west, reaching the valley. Over time, great efforts have been used to develop the Upper Town. This is south of Old Town was included in the urban area through the construction of a new 3.3 km long wall of protection, some monumental gates, which increases the size of 182 acres in the city. Inside the wall was built many large structures, including many temples – the house “A thousand gods of Hatti Land”.
December 28 2010 | Hattusa and World Ancient Cities | No Comments »
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Since 2005, the Hittite capital in central Anatolia Hattusa has just added attraction. In autumn, the reconstruction of a section of 65 meters along the wall of mud bricks have reached the end. Three sections of curtain wall seven to eight meters high and two defense towers reach a height of 12 to 13 meters give the impression of how the fortified town was truly impressive, and how a program may have been to visitors of the time. This project represents the first major reconstruction of adobe raw, in fact, worldwide there are few projects of similar size.
A section of the so-called Abschnittsmauer in the lower city were selected for reconstruction. The area inside wall to protect the Great Temple and housing immediately surrounding the rest of the lower town to the northwest. [Ill Plan] to about 200 m west extends Hidden Wall outer fortifications, built in the 16th century BC. According to our current understanding, was in use during the Hittite Empire Abschnittsmauer Great (14th-13 cents. BC). The two most critical factors to determine which part of the fortifications were rebuilt accessibility and visibility. Site visitors generally follows a route that guides them in a circle inside the city. Line the outer wall beyond the road, often out of sight high natural ridges with steep drops on the outside.
The wall with the same ease of access to both real construction and later for the visitors, Abschnittsmauer in the Lower City. At this point, too, is the gateway to this Hattusa, so that the circular route for visitors to begin and end in the rebuilt wall.
General / The concept of reconstruction
The project, begun in 2003 with the sponsorship of the JTI firm, has two principal objects: (1) to rebuild a monumental structure in mudbrick, and (2) to benefit from this reconstruction as a controlled and documented experiment.
1) The idea of restoring an entire Hittite structure here in the capital of Hattusa is by no means a new idea; it has long been a dream. Not simply to complete and stabilize the foundations exposed by excavation as had become the practice at the site, but to raise the walls and rebuild the roof. A complete reconstruction there before one’s eyes would allow the visitor to grasp at one glance much of what we know about Hittite building techniques and to realize that Hittite architecture was essentially a mudbrick architecture, yes, that once mudbrick had been effectively employed for monumental structures. Thus an important task of archaeological research would be fulfilled: the handing down of what we have learned.
The decision of which type of structure to restore fell out in favor of the defense system. For it is only of the fortifications that we have pictorial images in the form of clay models from Hittite times [Ill. Clay model]. An attempted restoration of a house or a palace or a temple would be beset with question marks, for we have hardly any information on the appearance of the facades; we know only what we have excavated to socle-height. Neither would such large structures with flat roofs be aesthetically impressive from the exterior. Were the interiors opened to the public, we would be responsible for providing furnishings-furniture, wall decoration, flooring, and cultic objects, of which we know too little; once again our attempt would be highly speculative. A stretch of fortification wall, on the other hand, everyone finds to a great extent self-explanatory. Each and every visitor need not be invited inside, a great advantage when one considers the probable wear and tear from the increasing throngs of tourists.
2) The second objective of the construction is a contribution to experimental archaeology. The construction procedure, the work force, and the time allotted to each step in the process as well as to the amount of material involved have been documented, and later the observation of the reconstructed structure will be as well: the type and frequency of upkeep and repairs necessary. Both of the above are integral components of the project. Because-insofar as possible-we have employed the same materials available 3500 years ago, we now have a fair idea of how the work progressed in Hittite times. The bricks were prepared from a hand-mixed mass of loam, straw, and water. Quite intentionally, any additional stabilizer was avoided to provide a more accurate observation of the original material’s resistance to erosion by wind and precipitation.
The enormity of the task faced by the Hittite master builders becomes obvious when one considers that our reconstruction represents only one percent of the ancient 6.6-km-long outer fortifications. (The sum of all elements in the city walls of Hattusa totals more than nine kilometers.) For the transport of heavy materials we benefited from the use of machines; some 2,700 tons of loam, 100 tons of straw, and 1,500 tons of water were needed for the mudbrick mixture alone. Around 1, 750 tons of earth then had to be moved to provide access ramps for construction, and a great number of logs brought in for the construction of the upper rooms in the towers. Today we have bulldozers, trucks and tank-trucks; the Hittites had only oxcarts and manpower. Thus the frequent mention in the cuneiform tablets of thousands of prisoners of war brought to the city as laborers is hardly puzzling, most particularly when you consider that in Central Anatolia mudbrick production is only possible in the summer months. Only from mid-June to mid-September, when the weather is hot and dry, is it possible to build mudbrick constructions-just at the time when military campaigns are carried out and the local labor force is kept busy in the fields!
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Production mudbricks
Even raw brick is a very stable construction materials exposed to rain and frost, they disintegrate over time if not protected. This explains why so few Hittite superstructure survived, and fortunately there are many firewalls Hattusa accidental, some have argued a good height. From these “fired” the walls, we know that the average brick size about 45 x 45 x 10 cm. Such a brick would weigh about 34 kg.
The first step in the production of bricks was preparing a mixture of manure, straw and water in large pits. The straw was added as temper to avoid the formation of cracks in the soil dries. He worked as a “booster” that conspire against the force and tension that can create cracks during the drying process. The dough is mixed by hand with shovels and trampled under foot. The next day, mix again and then allowed to stand for two or three days, which increased the possible resistance of the bricks. simple wooden frames used to form the bricks. They were full of pasta, the top surface is flat, and went executives. With a sustained effort, not an image is formed less than 120 bricks per day. A total of 64,000 bricks were produced in the project.
The bricks were placed in fields to dry. On sunny days, they were ready to be delivered in five days, and in the eighth or ninth day, stood on the edge of one side to the airflow. Tenth or eleventh day of the bricks were quite stable, if the heart is still quite wet be embedded in the wall. The remaining moisture dries very slowly, with a positive result in the deposition of lime mud, more gradual, increasing the resistance of the wall. In addition, the residual moisture has provided some plasticity in the brick that can be adapted to form reached a height during each regular session of importance to the soundness and stability of the building.
Masonry
Like all other buildings were Hittite city walls built of mud bricks on stone base, and like the Hittite city walls were also built blockhouses Abschnittsmauer, two parallel walls connected to the side walls at fairly regular intervals. The towers were built on different bases (see map). In the reconstruction, a new base of dry stone masonry raised on the old foundations. The base was built in step reflects the slope. Originally a network of wood was placed in or on the decision to provide a basis for the superstructure of mud brick. Such a technique has been used in other sites to absorb the impact of colonization and consequently disturbance in the base and to offset the horizontal stresses avoiding a possible collapse. As no trace of such networks have been found on tree Boğazköy, but we do not feel that their use was justified in the reconstruction.
The fear, however, compromise our efforts to rebuild through the possible failure of investment on our part, here, we have taken the liberty to stabilize the stone plinth with cement mortar on the outskirts of the invisible “is not the Hittites” peacemaking.
According to the dimensions of the base below, the curtain walls were made over a width of three or four bricks, the wall thickness then decreases as they rise. Pharmacists in the bunker walls were really too small to have been used as bedrooms, and filled with earth. The walls of the lower floors of the towers were built vertically, without reducing the width, while above room’s walls were built access two bricks thick, with a good 90 cm in diameter. The mud bricks were placed in a mortar of mud mixed in similar proportions. Water is poured into the bricks before applying mortar so that the dry surface of the bricks do not absorb water from mortar and prevent permanent adhesion.
The upper floors has two doors that open onto the ramparts, and a vertical rectangular box style, after the clay model to illustrate this has been installed, only the outer and inner walls, but also narrower than the side walls that overlooking the ramparts.
Like the pink walls, the structure becomes increasingly difficult. Because there is evidence of the use of a crane-like device to Hittite times during the reconstruction, we used no machines to lift materials, but were built earthen ramps against the back wall, and the level of access that triggered slope when necessary, until we reached the crown. After completion of the wall, the ramps were dismantled and the soil removed.
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The pieces of wood / roof
Large larch beams were used in the construction of the tower rooms. Lower edge of a wooden structure consisting of anchoring the internal network and rough, and this serves to prevent distortion and to bind the central tower firmly in the vertical position, the superior construction serves the same purpose, and to support the roof . The roofs are built in a traditional way of Anatolia, which can be taken to reflect the roofs of the Hittites as well. Through the roof beams are placed closely spaced poplar logs. When this layer of straw or branches followed by a thin layer of mud, which is packed by trampling and stamping, as it dries. The top layer consists of 10 to 20 cm thick layer of çorak, impermeable serpentinite that occur widely around Hattusa and have found time and again in different levels of the Hittites of the yard.
The roof area was divided into inclines slightly downward and management of the falling rain gutters with water jets. The latter, formed by the branches, halved and cored, brick parapet penetrated to spit water into the city side of the wall.
This type of roof required constant maintenance, as we see today in the villages of southeastern Anatolia. After heavy rains, the roof surfaces are compressed by a rolling process and its possible renewal, the snow must be removed quickly so that the trapped moisture and fusion can not penetrate the roof.
In addition, wood (oak, ash and spruce) were used for the construction of a staircase in the north tower and the wooden steps on the walls and doors, window frames and shutters. In the tower rooms, over three meters high are also ladders leading to the wooden door in the attic.
Mud plaster on the armor of the adobe structure
mud brick buildings are not limited to hot and dry, even in Germany there is still multi-story mud brick houses and clay packed and stucco, some of which have stood for centuries. The secret to their survival is not only their solid construction, but a very good application plaster that are carefully maintained and repaired or renewed if necessary. This “skin” protects the building material by pouring rain and tissue insulation against the effects of freezing. Indeed, the mud walls do absorb some moisture below a certain temperature, but they can “breathe” as easily through the minute pores in the plaster, so there is no danger of breakage by the contraction and expansion.
There was a lot of experimentation and a variety of methods to increase the resistance of the mud plaster proposed (eg Minke 2001, 75ff), they range from the addition of lime to it, ox blood, dung cow manure and water, and gelatin from bone. Because we can only use the Hittites all these additives, we simply used the same mixture used for bricks and mortar. In the preparation of plaster, but the material remained in the pits for at least ten days. This settlement process called Mauk-coagulation provides greater in clay minerals, which is more weather-resistant fabric.
Application of plaster is wet surface of tiles were made entirely by hand, the application of a spatula or a wooden pallet, is not convincing enough to be binding. plaster is quite thin, so it must be applied with caution. The cracks appear as it dries is covered with another layer of plaster, and finally ignored the rest of the thin cracks with a fine paste. The resulting patch does not cause a smooth surface, so thin that it increases rather than the structure of the wall below. Self-plaster wall is committed to, not a separate layer of thickness, which can flake off the wall or in the spring.
The observations so far have shown that the plaster has been hit especially mechanical beat drops of rain, especially when the moisture leaves the process of erosion that ultimately leads to a progressive loss of plaster surfaces, especially those which are horizontal (surface the parapet and battlements).
Completion
The main part of the building completed in October 2005. In 2006, some changes were made in different parts of the building, and at the same time, the surrounding landscape and creating a path for visitors were made, with which the phase Most of the project is completed and the second phase began: the observation of the structure and documentation of repairs and attention it requires. Responding to the question of what is necessary to structure large rough blocks to survive in the harsh climate of Central Anatolia, the way the plaster, roofing and masonry responds to heat of sun, rain, Snow and ice cold is an essential aspect of the project. In the years of observation of this structure will give us a better understanding of this type of architecture.
Not only the planning and construction of such a structure to the Hittite period, but the problems with maintenance thereafter remain that goodwill has been copied.
December 28 2010 | Hattusa and Turkey Ancient Cities | No Comments »
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Location
Some 150 km east of Ankara near the village of Boğazkale (earlier Boğazköy) in the Province of Çorum, at the northern reaches of the ancient landscape of Cappadocia. A city approximately two by one kilometers in area, situated on the slopes of a high rocky massif (950-1250 m above NN level).
Objectives
Investigation of the Hittite culture, its predecessors and its successors. As the capital, from ca. 1650/1600 to 1200 BC Hattusa was the residence of the Great Hittite Kings and the administrative seat as well as the principal cult center. Therefore it is here that we find the highest achievements in the architecture, arts, and crafts of the period. The texts of the incredibly rich cuneiform archives here, moreover, hold the keys to our understanding of religion and cults, politics, and historical geography as well as many other aspects of life in the ancient Near East. Economic aspects and the topography at the site have stood in the foreground of the research in recent years. The project is an excavation of the German Archaeological Institute overseen by the DAI in Istanbul.
History of Research
Discovery of the site in 1874 by Ch. Texier; first excavations 1893-94; in 1906-1912 the first overall plan and discovery of a large collection of cuneiform tablets; continuous excavation since 1931 under the auspices of the DAI, including the exposure of the entire palace complex and part of the Lower City. In the Upper City 30 temples and other administrative structures have been identified. It was the study of the cuneiform tables of Hattusa (by now some 30,000 fragments) that led to the discipline of Hittitology.
Previous Activities
From 1977 to 1993 widespread excavation in the area of the central and eastern Upper City;1993 to 1998 program of excavation investigating the settlements on the high ridge of Büyükkaya in the northeast of the city: Forschungsbericht Büyükkaya. 1999-2000 investigation of a Hittite granary from the 16th century BC in the Lower City: Forschungsbericht Silokomplex.
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Current Work
A new long-term excavation project was launched in 2001 to investigate the settlement history of the western part of the Upper City Forschungsbericht Westliche Oberstadt.
In 2005 the reconstruction of a 65 m long stretch of the Hittite mud brick city wall was completed.
Study and publication of various previous excavations.
Since 2007, in collaboration with the Institut für Vorderasiatische Altertumskunde der Universität Münster, a survey of the city area is under way. For the first time, the artificially carved areas visible on the rocks are documented.
As part of the Bogazköy-Project, the chalcolithic settlement of Camlıbel-Tarlası, situated ca. 2 km west of the Hittite town, is investigated since 2007 by U.-D. Schoop (University of Edinburgh).
Results
The earliest evidence of settlement at the site harks back to the Chalcolithic period (sixth millennium BC). At the end of the third millennium BC the site represented an Early Bronze Age kingdom, to which in the 19th and 18th centuries BC was appended an Assyrian trade colony. In the late 17th century BC Hattusa became the capital and residence of the Great Hittite Kings, and the following centuries witnessed both the enlargement of the fortified city from 79 to 180 hectares within monumental walls-extended or newly built-and the construction of palace complexes; a temple district was established in the Upper City. The city was deserted around 1200 BC, parallel to the collapse of the Great Hittite Empire.
December 28 2010 | Hattusa and Turkey Ancient Cities | No Comments »
