Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

PTERIA (mod. Boghaz Keui)

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V22, Page 605 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

PTERIA (mod. Boghaz Keui) , the See also:ancient See also:capital of the " See also:White Syrians " of See also:Cappadocia, which See also:Croesus of See also:Lydia is stated by See also:Herodotus to have taken, enslaved and ruined, after he had declared See also:war on the rising See also:power of See also:Persia and crossed the Halys (after the See also:middle of the 6th See also:century B.C.). Thereafter he fought a See also:drawn See also:battle near the See also:city, and retired again across the See also:river to his ultimate defeat and See also:doom. Pteria is mentioned by no other ancient authority, but it is of See also:great See also:interest if, as seems highly probable, (1) its " White Syrian " inhabitants were what we See also:call " See also:Hittites " (q.v.), or at least, participants in the " Hittite See also:civilization "; (2) its remains are to be seen in the immense prehistoric city and remarkable See also:rock-sculptures near Boghaz Keui in Cappadocia, about roo m. See also:east of See also:Angora and beyond the Kizil Irmak (Halys). This is the See also:chief " Hittite " site in See also:Asia See also:Minor, far See also:superior in extent to either See also:Euyuk or Giaur Kalesi, which seem to have been its dependencies, and a centre from which roads, marked by the occurrence of " Hittite " monuments, radiate towards See also:Syria and the See also:Aegean. See also:Sir W. M. See also:Ramsay has shown with great See also:probability that it was the importance of Pteria and its See also:bridge over the Halys which diverted the See also:Persian " royal road " far to the See also:north of its natural See also:line. This road, in fact, followed an earlier See also:main track whose ultimate See also:objective had been different. The remains of Boghaz Keui are indubitably pre-Persian and pre-See also:Greek. They consist of a large fortified city on a steep slope enclosed by two deep ravines, and falling to northward over 800 ft. from See also:summit to See also:base. The See also:acropolis was strengthened with a circle of See also:stone redoubts, between which led very narrow gateways, and with See also:internal redoubts as well.

Just inside what seems to have been its See also:

principal entrance is a rock See also:face inscribed with nine lines of " Hittite " characters, greatly perished (Nishan Tash), and a similar inscription, equally illegible, can be detected on a neighbouring rock. Below the acropolis on the north-east is a residential See also:quarter, containing large ruins of what seems to have been a See also:palace or See also:temple built See also:round a central See also:court. The whole site is surrounded by a strong See also:wall, 14 ft. thick, with towers about See also:loo ft. apart. The See also:monument, however, which earliest rendered Boghaz Keui famous is the sculptured rock grotto, 1 m. to the east, called Yasili Kaya. Here two hypaethral galleries are adorned with reliefs in panels, the larger See also:gallery showing two processions, which, starting on both walls from the entrance, meet at the See also:head of the grotto. On the See also:left wall are 45 figures, headed by a gigantic male figure, erect on the See also:bent necks of two men. On the right wall he is opposed by a See also:female of almost equal stature See also:standing on a See also:leopard or lioness, and followed by a See also:young male with battle-See also:axe, erect on a similar beast. Behind these are some 20 figures of mitred priests, &c. There can be no doubt that the female is the great Nature goddess of western Asia, attended by her spontaneously-generated son, with whose help she creates the See also:world (see GREAT See also:MOTHER OF THE GODS). Priests or minor divinities follow them. The other procession, according to the See also:analogy of other monuments, should be composed of mortals bearing sacra and headed by their See also:king, who makes offering or dedicates his city to, or engages in some mystic See also:union with, the goddess. The figure following him seems to be that of his high See also:priest.

" Hittite " symbols are carved above many of the figures. Besides the processions there are five See also:

independent reliefs in the small gallery and its approach, one repeating the figure of the high priest. In 1906, as the result of the See also:discovery of See also:cuneiform tablets at Boghaz Keui by E. Chantre in 189o, a concession for the excavation of the site was obtained by the See also:Berlin See also:Oriental Society, and H. Winckler was sent to make a preliminary examination. He found a number of tablets in two See also:languages, Babylonian and See also:local, the latter being that of the Arzawa letters found at Tell el-Amarna. Among them was a cuneiform copy of the treaty made by See also:Rameses II. in his loth See also:year with the king of the Kheta, and inscribed on a wall at See also:Karnak. In 1907 Winckler returned with O. Puchstein and others and made See also:regular excavations, laying See also:bare much of the fortifications and two temples, and finding inscribed monuments and many more tablets. From those written in Babylonian Winckler has established the fact that Boghaz Keui was the capital of a powerful Hatti See also:dynasty from the middle of the 16th century B.c. to at least 1200 B.C. He claims further that its ancient name was Hatti. At the height of its power it ruled all Asia Minor down to the Aegean and See also:northern Syria to the headwaters of the See also:Orontes, and was also overlord of the Mitanni and the Amurri (Amarru) in See also:Mesopotamia.

It had continual relation on terms of equality with See also:

Egypt and Babylonia. The four See also:kings of the Kheta, alluded to by name In See also:Egyptian texts, have been identified with kings of Boghaz Keui. The decline of Hatti power began with the expansion of See also:Assyria after Itoo B.C. and Cappadocia seems to have been inferior to See also:Phrygia after the rise of the Midaean dynasty in the 9th and 8th centuries. It should be added that the See also:identification of Boghaz Keui with the Pteria of Heroditus has not yet been confirmed, and the latter name has been claimed for a See also:primitive site at Ak-alan near See also:Samsun by Th. Makridi See also:Bey, as the result of his excavations for the See also:Constantinople Museum in 1907 (see HITTITES).

End of Article: PTERIA (mod. Boghaz Keui)

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
PTE RA 		[next]
PTERIDOPHYTA (Gr. 1ripts, fern, and d,vrde plant)

Site © 2006 - Net Industries