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Hattusa, also Hattuşa, Ḫattuša, Hattusas, or Hattusha, was the capital of the Hittite Empire in the late Bronze Age during two distinct periods.

Its ruins lie near modern Boğazkale, Turkey (originally Boğazköy), within the great loop of the Kızılırmak River (Hittite: Marashantiya; Greek: Halys). French archeologist Charles Texier brought attention to the ruins after his visit in 1834. Over the following century, sporadic exploration occurred, involving different archaeologists. The German Oriental Society and the German Archaeological Institute began systematic excavations in the early 20th century, which continue to this day. Hattusa was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Site list in 1986.

The earliest traces of settlement on the site are from the 6th millennium BC during the Chalcolithic period. Toward the end of the 3rd millennium BC the Hattian people established a settlement on locations that had been occupied even earlier and referred to the site as Hattush. A carbonized layer apparent in excavations attests to the burning and ruin of the city of Hattusa around 1700 BC. Around 1650 BC, the Hittite king Labarna moved the capital from Neša to Hattusa and took the name of Hattusili, the "one/man from Hattusa". After the Kaskians arrived to the kingdom's north, they twice attacked the city and under king Tudhaliya I, the Hittites moved the capital north to Sapinuwa. Under Muwatalli II, they moved south to Tarhuntassa but the king assigned his younger brother, the future Hattusili III as governor over Hattusa. In the mid-13th century BC Hittite ruler Mursili III returned the seat to Hattusa, where the capital remained until the end of the Hittite kingdom in the 12th century BC (KBo 21.15 i 11–12). The city was destroyed, together with the Hittite state itself, around 1200 BC, as part of the Late Bronze Age collapse. Excavations suggest that Hattusa was gradually abandoned over a period of several decades as the Hittite empire disintegrated. Signs of final destruction by fire have been noted, but this destruction probably occurred after the city had already been abandoned by the Hittite royal family, elites, and state apparatus. Agricultural communities with a material culture distinct from the Hittites settled in the remains of Hattusa as early as the 12th Century BC.

Perrot was the first to suggest, in 1886, that Boğazköy was the Hittite capital of Hattusa. In 1905 Hugo Winckler conducted some soundings at Boğazköy on behalf of the German Oriental Society (DOG), finding 35 more cuneiform tablet fragments at the site of the royal fortress, Büyükkale.

Although the 30,000 or so clay tablets recovered from Hattusa form the main corpus of Hittite literature, archives have since appeared at other centers in Anatolia, such as Tabigga (Maşat Höyük) and Sapinuwa (Ortaköy).

The better-preserved was returned to Turkey in 1924 and placed on display in the Istanbul Archaeology Museum, but the other remained in Germany where it was on display at the Pergamon Museum from 1934 until it was moved to the Boğazköy Museum outside the Hattusa ruins, along with the Istanbul sphinx reuniting the pair near their original location.

Bryce, Trevor, "Letters of the Great Kings of the Ancient Near East: The Royal Correspondence of the Late Bronze Age", London: Routledge, 2003 ISBN 9780415258579 Gordin, Shai, "The Tablet and its Scribe: Between Archival and Scribal Spaces in Late Empire Period Ḫattusa", Altorientalische Forschungen, vol. Plerallini, Sibilla, "Observations on the Lower City of Hattusa: a comparison between the epigraphic sources and the archaeological documentation", Altorientalische Forschungen, vol. Neve, Peter. “The Great Temple in Boğazköy-H ̮attuša.” In Across the Anatolian Plateau: Readings in the Archaeology of Ancient Turkey. Singer, Itamar, "A City of Many Temples: H ̮attuša, Capital of the Hittites", In Sacred Space: Shrine, City, Land: Proceedings of the International Conference in Memory of Joshua Prawer, Held in Jerusalem, 8–13 June 1992.

Quick Facts

• The German Oriental Society and the German Archaeological Institute began systematic excavations in the early 20th century, which continue to this day.
• Hattusa was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Site list in 1986.
• Around 1650 BC, the Hittite king Labarna moved the capital from Neša to Hattusa and took the name of Hattusili, the "one/man from Hattusa".
• Its ruins lie near modern Boğazkale, Turkey (originally Boğazköy), within the great loop of the Kızılırmak River (Hittite: Marashantiya; Greek: Halys).
• In the mid-13th century BC Hittite ruler Mursili III returned the seat to Hattusa, where the capital remained until the end of the Hittite kingdom in the 12th century BC (KBo 21.15 i 11–12).

Source material: Wikipedia - "Hattusa". Adapted and summarized for DiscoverScroll. Original contributors are credited through the linked Wikipedia article. Read original on Wikipedia. CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes were made from the original.