Image Details

Hershel Shanks

Hittite parade. Arms linked and legs reared backed like some ancient precursor to the Radio City Music Hall Rockettes, a dozen Hittite gods (shown here, compare with photo and drawing of Sarrumma relief) march in lockstep on a mountainside relief at Yazilikaya in north-central Anatolia, present-day Turkey. The peak-capped and sickle-bearing figures are though to be associated with an underworld cult. The site served as an outdoor temple near the Hittite capital of Hattusas and was built by King Tudhaliya IV (c. 1240–1205 B.C.E.).