Browsing by Subject "Neo-Hittite"

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2

Open Access
Hittite rock reliefs in Southeastern Anatolia as a religious manifestation of the late bronze and iron ages
(2016-09) Köpürlüoğlu, Hande.
The LBA rock reliefs are the works of the last three or four generations of the Hittite Empire. The first appearance of the Hittite rock relief is dated to the reign of Muwatalli II who not only sets up an image on a living rock but also shows his own image on his seals with his tutelary deity, the Storm-god. The ex-urban settings of the LBA rock reliefs and the sacred nature of the religion make the work on this subject harder because it also requires philosophical and theological evaluations. The purpose of this thesis is to evaluate the reasons for executing rock reliefs, understanding the depicted scenes, revealing the subject of the depicted figures, and to interpret the purposes of the rock reliefs in LBA and IA. Furthermore, the meaning behind the visualized religious statements will be investigated. Whether there was a cultural continuity in the IA in the context of iconography, functions, and meanings will be proposed. Various iconographies depicted on the living rock and used on the royal seals reveal that the politico-religious discourse of the Hittite kingship gained a new ideological perspective. The IA rock monuments indicate a Hittite cultural inheritance along with the Assyrian influence. However, IA states also produced a number of inscribed colossal statues and stelae, and rock reliefs. In general, the Hittites were executing rock monuments which carry religious elements as a way of promulgating their political propaganda, and attributing the authority of the king to the mighty god/s.
Open Access
Karkamıs in the first millennium BC : sculpture and propaganda
(2004) Günaydın, Kadriye
This thesis examines how the monumental art of Karkamiš, which consists of architectural reliefs and free-standing colossal statues, was used by its rulers for their propaganda advantages. The basic geo-politic and ethnic factors related to Karkamiš and other “Syro-Hittite” city-states of the Iron Age are investigated in order to obtain insights about the meanings assigned to the monumental sculpture of Karkamiš. Architectural remains of the city and their sculptural decoration are studied and reviewed to provide a basis for subsequent discussions and statements. Monumental portal-lions, inscribed door-jambs and other reliefs placed on principal gate-ways, bearers of symbolic and functional meaning, demonstrate the essential role of these monumental gates for the city and its rulers to announce their ideologies. A close analysis of local monumental inscriptions provides us the link between the content of texts inscribed on large stone blocks and the themes represented on orthostat reliefs. Royal titles inscribed on monuments as well as a group of reliefs and statues associated with ancestral cult were used deliberately by the dynasties and rulers of the 1st millennium B.C. Karkamiš to show their own and their state’s connection to the past heritage, a key element in the search of identity. This case study on the Iron Age city of Karkamiš reveals the importance of socio-political factors in forming the basic characteristics of monumental art and in creating its special meanings and functions.