Page 153 - The Art & Architecture of the Ancient Orient_Neat

PART TWO: THE PERIPHERAL
REGIONS
even °f “ils"[tl,c left 1“1<i ™ great deal of
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mciy drawn, connected spirals winch might suggest a coat of mail but probably repre­
sent hair, for they recur in the lions from Malatya, as we shall see (Plate i33a). The loin­
cloth shows horizontal bands of herring-bone and running spiral patterns, and ends i
m a
fringe which passes diagonally across the front. Its lower edge is somewhat mis-drawn.
Tins awkwardness, like that shown in the legs of lions and sphinxes, is characteristic of a
school of art in an early experimental stage. Hittitc art never progressed further.
The figure has sometimes been considered a king - hence the designation Royal Gate -
but the Hittitc rulers arc never depicted in the panoply of war, not even in the rock sculp­
tures wliicli presumably proclaimed their ovcrlordship over outlying parts of the penin­
sula. They always appear in the long robe and skull-cap shown in plate i3ob, where the
king appears in the protective arm of a god. In the relief from the Royal Gate the fig ure
wears a crested helmet with cheek-pieces, which is characterized as a divine attribute by
the bull s horns indicated in relief. They occur also on the crowns of the sphinxes of
Yerkapu. The battle-axe might be viewed as a weapon of war, but it is a common attri­
bute of the weather-gods prominent in the Hittitc pantheon. Yet this axe, like the rest
of the equipment of the god - the wide metallic belt and the sword with an inverted
crescent-shaped pommel and a curved tip to the scabbard - are characteristic Hittite ob­
jects of which examples have been found in excavations. They also recur in the bronze
statuettes (Plate 129a and c) which render gods, and which are closely related, not only
in these details, but also in their facial type and modelling, to the Boghazkeuy sculptures.
The matter is of some importance, since great numbers of west Asiatic bronzes are
known, but few can be assigned to a given period. That of plate 129c was found at
Boghazkeuy.27
According to our present knowledge, the scope of the plastic arts in the Hittite capital
was severely limited. There were no free-standing statues except in the temples. There
were no narrative reliefs. Sculpture seems to have had a religious function.
An important set of reliefs has been found in an open-air sanctuary at Yasilikaya, about
and a half miles to the north-east of the Hittite capital (Plates i3o, b and c; and
one
131; Figures 5I-3)*28 We do not know whether this group of rocks was a sacred spot
before imperial days, but in the thirteenth century (and probably earlier, in the four­
teenth) reliefs were cut on some of the inner faces, and buildings were added to isolate
the two galleries and supply a fitting approach (Figure 51)- It is uncertain whether some
parts of the reliefs and buildings are older than the rest * but the main scene is certainly

^OniTapproaches from the north-west (bottom of Figure 51). where a propylaeum
M opened at the end of a wall which is now broken away but winch at one time joined
the rocks Within this gate-house, stairs led to a higher level, where an open space ( ),
** t 7ocks on the left, corresponds with the forecourt of a temple. Another
?hrdof steps led into the temple’s inner court (3). Here stood the separate rectangular
bidlding also observed at Boghazkeuy in Temples! and V (Figure 47). A square pedestal

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