Pictures images photos of Hittite religious rock carvings of Yazılıkaya Hittite rock sanctuary, chamber A, 13th century BC, Hattusa, Bogazale, Turkey. Photos by photographer Paul E Williams. Yazilikaya (i.e. rock with writing) is the largest known Hittite rock sanctuary. The main part of this sacred site is formed by the roofless, court-like chamber A and a much smaller chamber B. Both were separated from the outside by a large building complex that contains the same features as a normal Hittite temple: one enters through a representative gate (1) and passes through a court which is flanked by a columned hall into the holy areas A and B. The major difference is, that chamber A and B were never covered with a roof. One assumes that chamber A at Yazilikaya played an important role during the New Year festivals in March, whereas chamber B probably had function in the ancestors cult of the kings of the 13th cent. BC. Accessible via a narrow passage the chamber B was probably a memorial chapel to Tudhaliya IV dedicated by his son Supiliums II at the end of the 13th century BC. Buried until the end of the last century the reliefs on the walls are much better preserved than those in the main chamber. The row of twelve gods with sickle shaped swords on their shoulders is similar to the last row of male deities in Chamber A.

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