Hittite Country Sept 17

Ancient Hittite civilization - Bronze age ruins.

We walked through an actual ruins of a Hittite city dated to the 16th century BC. That puts them back in the bronze age. There were relief carvings on the rock walls, still distinct enough to understand some were for their gods and some were for their kinds. There is a remain outer wall that runs for 6 km. It is also said that a road goes from the outside of the wall and all the way south to Egypt as they were on friendly terms for a long time. One of the gates for the outer wall remains and it has granite lions guarding the entry.

This is where so many of the artifacts were brought from to fill the archaeological museum in Ankara.

We walked across wide rock roadways that were laid so long ago. Some of the massive rocks had shifted, probably due to earthquakes and erosion but it was still very visible and usable.

Hittites seem to be the earliest trainers of horses

You can understand why these people were such a concern to the Biblical Israelites. Even this old ruin that spread across the hillside suggests power and riches and great skill. Their military and economical power much have been vast. They controlled a lot of the area of Turkey from this hilltop position.

Turkey had many man-made mounds dotting mountain tops. They are ancient burial places for important people from about 8000 BC. Some have been robbed, some excavated (and thus the information) and about half are still untouched on the mountains.

That was a day of lots of walking. We were glad to get to our hotel where we would stay for 2 nights. There was not much relaxing time but the hotel was grand (if a little old in style).