Page 155 - The Art & Architecture of the Ancient Orient_Neat

PART TWO: THE PERIPHERAL
REGIONS
tlicir leader, is also supported, but beneath liis feet the moun­
tains come to life, and reveal the numina which inhabit them;
they wear the pointed hats of the gods, and with bent head
carry their master on their shoulders (Plate 130c). The god­
dess who faces the god stands on a panther walking on moun­
tains. She is the Hepat, sun-goddess of Arinna, who was re­
garded as the protectress of the state. Her son by Teshub
follows her, also supported by a panther. Then come two
goddesses over a 1 double-headed eagle. Tliis last combination
shows that we interpret the design too literally when we speak
of the Hittite (or Assyrian) gods as if they rode animals. The
designs simply aim at identifying the gods by combining them
in an unequivocal maimer with their attributes. The moun-
Figurc 52. Demon, tains arc visible here, as in Mesopotamia, as the specific setting
at Yasilikaya of divine manifestations.
The plan of figure 51 shows how walls constructed in both
galleries rectified the irregularities of the rocks and guided the worshipper from the main
gallery (5) to the smaller one (7). The plan is, however, deceptive in that the building
in the upper right-hand corner does not, as already mentioned, belong to the same period
as the others, nor is it likely, as we noted above, that the small gallery was accessible
from the outside, for fallen rocks close this exit and entry had to be made by the narrow
climbing passage, thirty feet long, from the main gallery. Its entrance (6) was guarded
by two winged lion-demons (Figure 52), and the type of approach would seem to suggest
that this smaller gallery was the most sacred part of the shrine. But its
reliefs are less elaborate than those of the main gallery, and consist, not
of connected representations, but of independent panels which neither
in form nor in content suggest a coherent design. One shows twelve
identical gods, with tall hats and scimitars; a similar group brings up the
rear of the procession of male deities in the main galley. Opposite this
small procession is placed a huge relief, ten feet high, which stands all by
itself (Plate 13 ia; Figure 53). A sword or dagger, shown as if its point
had been stuck into the rock,31 has a hilt consisting of two lions - this re­
sembles an Early Dynastic dagger from Mesopotamia32 - but above it
one sees two foreparts of lions (this is common in Early Dynastic mace-
heads in Mesopotamia) and the pommel of the sword consists of the
head of the divinity, the numen of this sacred weapon. We are, un­
fortunately, in the dark about the significance of this impressive design.
A little farther on appears the panel reproduced in plate 130B after
a cast. A king, Tudhaliyas IV, who reigned about 1250 b.c. is here
shown held protectively by the same deity who appears immediately
behind the chief goddess in the central scene of the main gallery; the Figure 53-
n,me is given in the so-called aedicula or cartouche appearing Sword god,
ScS^pingofkingandgodrecu^nson.ea.^royJs.d, at Yasilikaya

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