#The Hittites

[theoi-crow]

One of the things I've learned as a researcher:

If you want to learn more about a place/topic but you've hit a wall exhausting what the primary sources from said place had to say about it, look up what the neighbors had to say about it!

(for example if you're doing research on a specific historical topic from ancient Greece and you've hit a wall looking up the POV coming from the ancient Greeks, look up what the Hittites or Egyptians had to say about it!)

I'm currently reading about the city of Troy from the point of view of the Hittites and I'M LOSING MY DAMN MIND!!!

So far what I've learned:

If Wilusa is the city of Troy then we have an exact location: The Hittites potentially called it Wilusa (LINK) and there's a map with the exact location of where Wilusa was. If Troy and Wilusa are the same city, then we potentially know the exact location of where Troy used to be. (Obviously like anything else regarding history, this information can be debated but it's still worth noting!)

An approximate date for the The Trojan war: There's a treaty document between the ruler of Wilusa and the king of the Hittites that dates the city to 1280 BCE (LINK) so we know the Trojan war happened sometime after that because the city was fine before 1280 BCE so Homer's Iliad and Odyssey is set sometime after that.

Why Apollo was on the Trojan side and helped Hector defend its walls: because Apollo built them!!! (LINK)

I'm still doing more research about it but I just wanted to pop in and give an example of what could be learned from researching the neighbors of said places in case you hit a wall but still want to learn more!

[glossc1]

ganymede playing an aulos🪈with a phorbeia

more ganymede 🍎

[memories-of-ancients]

Silver rhyton in the form of a stag, Hittite, circa 1700 BC

from The Metropolitan Museum of Art

[chimeride]

Illuyanka, the 248th Known One.

[artifacts-archive]

Seal of Tarkasnawa, King of Mira

Hittite, Anatolia, late 13th century BCE (Hittite Empire)

Luwian hieroglyphs surround a figure in royal dress. The inscription, repeated in cuneiform around the rim, gives the seal owner's name: Tarkasnawa, king of Mira. The name of the ruler was previously transliterated into English as Tarkondemos and Tarkummuwa. Other inscriptions naming Tarkasnawa of Mira are known, including seals found at Hattusa (the capital of the Hittite Empire) and the Karabel rock relief carving near Izmir, Turkey. Located in west-central Anatolia, Mira was a vassal state of the Hittite Empire. This seal, originally published in the 1860s, was purchased in Izmir by its first known modern owner, A. Jovanoff. Its famous bilingual inscription provided the first clues for deciphering Luwian hieroglyphs, which were previously called Hittite hieroglyphs.

[ancientstuff]

Nice that for once it isn't an economic document. Not so nice that it's about a catastrophe.

[dreamcrow]

whoaaa, the hades x toa crossover dlc is looking fresh :0 i can't believe it took me THIS LONG to figure out how to fully upgrade their keepsake—but it turns out unlocking the aspect of arthur was, in fact, worth it!!

[thatshowthingstarted]

“Horse Rock,” Beyşehir, Konya Province, Anatolia, Turkey,

The Tomb of Lukuyanus from 2000 years ago, is dedicated to a beloved jockey who was likely buried in the “grave room”, a small chamber next to the horse relief with a columned entrance.

The grave room is devoid of remains now so we don’t know much about Lukuyanus other than what’s on the inscription: “Lukuyanus The Warrior, Died Before Getting Married. He is Our Hero.”

Since he died before marriage, he was likely a young man when he met his end, but he lived long enough and had enough success on the track to earn him dedicated fans who built him such a handsome and on-topic final resting place.

Fan-funded funerary monuments for sports heroes have proved rich sources of historical information before.

The monument is near the site of an ancient hippodrome in mountains that were sacred to the Hittites. The Romans may even have built a hippodrome on this spot to bless and be blessed by the Hittites’ holy hills.

[tsalmu]

Figures (Gods?) Standing on Bulls and Lions Late Hittite Tell Halaf, Syria c. 900 BCE

Housed in the Syria-Aleppo Museum

Source: https://www.hittitemonuments.com/

[eli-artsblog]

Prince dynamite

[archaeologs]

Capital of the Hittite Empire between 1420 and 1200 BC. Hattusa now lies in ruins beside Boğazkale, Turkey. Learn more / Daha fazlası https://www.archaeologs.com/w/hattusas/

[scriptorsapiens]

Classicstober Day 14: Helen (𐀁𐀩𐀛/𒄭𒇷𒉌)

Helen of Troy… Helen Queen of Sparta… Helen Princess of Sparta… Helen the daughter of Leda and Zeus… the face that launched a thousand ships wore many masks over the course of her life but one thing that remains the same is how compelling she remains as a character. Many thanks to @symeona for helping me with her look!

Helen is a character intrinsically associated with her appearance, but early sources do not describe her at all outside of demonstrations of her status. For this piece, I have borrowed from two sources. The first is symeona, who's excellent translations on Ancient Greek color theory informed my take on Achilles. The second was that wretched and accursed fnckboy Ovid, who described Helen's mother Leda as having 'snowy white' skin and black hair. Since Zeus appeared to Leda in the form of a swan, and considering how pale Leda was, I decided to make her somewhat swan-like in appearance, with big black eyes and naturally ruddy lips to seal the deal.

First, let's talk about Helen the Spartan (rendered here in Linear B as 'Eleni of Laconia'). Despite mainly being known for her role in the Trojan War, Helen lived the majority of her life in Sparta and her husband Menelaus claimed the throne of Sparta through her. Laconia and Sparta are some of the oldest sites of Mycenaean culture, so Helen got to be depicted as Mycenaean as all getout. The high-piled hair, the diadem, the open tunic, and the bracelet are all very common in depictions of Mycenaean and Minoan women. She also has very elaborate florets to mark her status. The red fabric and large gemstones mark her wealth too i completely forgot to draw in the necklace she wore in the sketch version.

I mentioned before in my picture of Cassandra and Hector that I am basing the Trojan looks heavily on ancient Hittite clothing, and this is no exception. I know the movie Troy sucks for lots of reasons, but I did like that they made the Trojan theme color this very rich blue so I decided to add that here; dark, rich colors in general are very expensive to produce, so even if it's not red the saturation makes the cloth very expensive and a mark of royalty. I based her clothing and jewelry off a Hittite statue, but I decided to omit the tall hats that Hittite women appear to wear under their veils; I kind of wanted that to represent status, so only Andromache and Hecuba would wear the tall hats if I depict them.

I was not trying to make a commentary with it, but it does strike me how conservative the veiled, tunic wearing Hittite woman looks compared to the open-bodiced Mycenaean woman. That could easily be read into, but I'm just going to leave it as depiction and not try to ascribe any symbolism to it.

The decorative circle around Helen represents several things. Horses feature prominently in her life. The Trojan Horse is the most well known, but the wedding oath that Tyndareus made Helen's suitors swear to was sealed with the sacrifice of a horse too. Anemones are a sacred flower to Aphrodite (long story) and the white lilies seem like a fun way to evoke the 'pure woman' image.

Also in the circle are depictions of Eris' golden Apple of Discord. For the life of me, I could not find any translation related to fairness or beauty in any Mycenaean dictionaries so I had to cheat: "𐀴 𐀏𐀪𐀯𐀳𐀂/ti ka-ri-se-te-i" is just a phonetic transliteration of ΤΗΙ ΚΑΛΛΙΣΤΗΙ (tē(i) kallistē(i)), translated as 'for the fairest.'

[glossc1]

ganymede and hebe doodles

more ganymede 🍎

[memories-of-ancients]

Imperial signet ring, Hittite, circa 1400-1300 BC

from The Louvre

[wd-andrew]

I am convinced that the bronze age collapse caused by the Nälkä as sea peoples was because the Hittites got the copper for their bronze weaponry from Ea-nāṣir Klavigar Orok and Karcist Halyna Ieva artwork by Niram: https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/niram-art

[artifacts-archive]

Orthostat Relief: Lion-Hunt Scene

Syria, Hittite, 10th−9th century BCE