REPORTING – The fall of the capital of the Hittite empire, Hattusa, continues to arouse fantasies, almost two centuries after the discovery of the site by a French scientist.
We did not expect to climb a pyramid in the middle of Anatolia. Or, at least, to feel the impression of it. The image imposed itself towards the middle of the flight of steps of the Yerkapi, in the bewilderment of the effort consented to by an overwhelming heat. The smooth blocky surfacing invited comparison – though it lacked the dull chirp of the jungle or the hum of Cairo. Point of pyramid, nevertheless, but the southern point of the highest fortifications of Hattusa.
At the top, at 1280 meters, a prodigious silence welcomes under a pure firmament. There is hardly a better place to take in the gray and sparse islets which, below, signal the remains of the ancient Hittite capital. Another silence hovers over the ancient streets of the vanished metropolis. A formidable enclosure once protected this city stretched along a steep valley, in the middle of the vast steppe plateaus of the heart of Anatolia. The Yerkapi is witness to this. The impregnable citadel has…
This article is for subscribers only. You have 92% left to discover.