Images

Clay tablets with cuneiform letters found at Kültepe in central Turkey (ancient Kanesh), 1900 BCE – 1700 BCE. They were all written by merchants who, from around 1900 BCE, had come to Kanesh from the city of Ashur in Assyria and established...

Hittite orthostat relief from Alacahöyük depicting a king and a queen in front of the altar. The King carries the kingdom sceptre (lituus) in his right hand and extends his left hand forward for worship. 14th century BCE. Museum of Anatolian...

Hittite orthostate relief depicting a conjurer and acrobats. The performer on the left swallows a sword, the smaller acrobat goes up the stairs without holding on. 14th century BCE. Museum of Anatolian Civilizations, Ankara (Turkey).

Workshops at Sapinuwa, an important Hittite military and religious centre (today Ortakoy in central Turkey).

A street lying in a north-south direction with workshops on one side at Sapinuwa, an important Hittite military and religious centre (today Ortakoy in central Turkey).

The ruins of Sapinuwa, an important Hittite military and religious centre (today Ortakoy in central Turkey), are spread out over 9 km2 and include many building foundations. A monumental structure with Cyclopean-walls, the so-called “Building...

Sapinuwa was an important Hittite military and religious centre (today Ortakoy in central Turkey). The city was established in a long valley between Alacahöyük and Hattusa, along the east-west trade route leading to Middle Anatolia.

The ruins of Warsama’s palace, King of Kanesh, at Kültepe in central Turkey, the capital of the ancient Kingdom of Kanesh and centre of a complex network of Assyrian trade colonies in the 2nd millennium BCE. The palace is one of the oldest...

The ruins of Karum (known today at Kültepe in central Turkey), the capital trading centre of the Assyrian merchants in Anatolia in the first quarter of the 2nd millennium BCE. This period was called the “Assyrian Trading Colonies Period“.

Kültepe, formerly known as Kanesh and Karum, was part of the network of trading settlements established in central Anatolia by Assyrian merchants from Ashur (northern Mesopotamia) in the early 2nd millennium BCE. This period was called the...