680 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1908. 



the German Oriental Society (Deutsche Orient-Gesellschaft) granted 

 the means, while the German Archeological Institute undertook the 

 solution of the archeological problems connected with the task. Thus 

 the work could be taken up, with increased funds, in the summer of 

 1907. The excavations were carried on as enterprises of the Ottoman 

 Museum, under the direction of Th. Makridy Be3% to whose singular 

 ability in dealing with the people much of the success is due. 



The excavations were naturally begun at the point where the tablet 

 fragments had been found, on the slope of Boyuk-Kale (pi. 1). This 

 is a mountain which had been fortified as a citadel and formed the 

 northeast corner of the city w^all. The work was carried on from 

 the base upward. The higher the digging ascended the larger was 

 the size of the tablets found, till in places large tablets were ranged 

 in layers. There is no question that we have here to do with the 

 remains of royal archives, though they represent only a small rem- 

 nant of the original contents. 



About midway of the declivity was found the document which es- 

 tablished the fact that the site represented the capital of the Chatti 

 empire. The contents of this docmnent were not new ; they were in 

 Babylonian language and writing, and formed parts of the treaty of 

 Ramses II with the Cheta King Chetasar, as he has been usually 

 called, or Hattusil, as now proven by the cuneiform script. The text 

 had long been known, being inscribed on the walls of the temple of 

 Karnak. 



It was thus ascertained beyond doubt that the tablets belonged to 

 the royal archives and that consequently the site represented the 

 capital. But the question still remained, what was the name of this 

 most important center of the earliest history of Asia Minor, whither 

 once went the embassies from the courts of Thebes, Babylon, Asshur, 

 and whence were started undertakings so decisive for the destinies 

 of the countries of Western Asia? The customary designation of 

 countries in the new documents is " the country of the city N. N.'" 

 The oriental conception underlying this expression is that a " coun- 

 try " is a district which has for its center and seat of the ruler, a 

 city (machazu) in whose sanctuary the god has his earthly habita- 

 tion, with the king as his representative and plenipotentiary. A 

 natural consequence of this view is that country and city bear the 

 same name. This observation led to the surmise that the name of the 

 capital was the same as that of the land, Chatti. Subsequently this 

 was confirmed by documents which told only of the city of Chatti 

 and its principal divinity, Teshub, who was already known as one 

 of the most important gods of these and other " Hittite " i)(H)plcs. 



The documents found on the slope of Boyuk-Kale were of tlie three 

 Chatti kings who were known from the Ramses treaty, though those 

 of Ilattusil, the last of them, seem to predominate. 



