AN ANCIENT CAPITAL 



117 



THE LION GATE 



of grand proportions, but it is only since 

 the archeologists left here, in 1907, that 

 the workmen discovered, almost by acci- 

 dent, on the inner side post, a remarkable 

 bas-relief. 



This is a figure, about ten feet high, 

 of an Amazon, apparently, and bears lit- 

 tle resemblance to the figures found in 

 other distinctively Hittite places. It is 

 carved in high relief and finished with 

 great care, even to the finger and toe 

 nails and the delicate metal work of the 

 breast-plate. Having been so recently 

 uncovered, the fineness of its workman- 

 ship is excellently preserved, and we can 

 trace all the details of the curious head- 

 dress, lappets of which fall over each 

 ear and down the back, while the flowing 

 hair shows clearly beneath the long back 

 lappet. This Amazon has a strong, mas- 

 terful face, and the treatment of the eye, 

 as well as other details of the carving, 

 seem to belong to some later period than 

 the rest of the city. She wears what 

 seems like chain armor over breast and 

 shoulders, and a short skirt ornamented 



v\iLh rows of lines and circles. She car- 

 ries a double-headed axe in her right 

 hand and has a short sword girded to 

 her side. The strongly accented muscles 

 of her legs look like Assyrian work, and 

 her feet are bare instead of being encased 

 in pointed Hittite shoes. 



SECRET PASSAGES AND TUNNELS 



We leave this gate and walk over fields 

 and hillocks to where the wall or fortifi- 

 cation forms a high bank, rising eighty 

 feet or more from the fields each side. 

 Here there are two interesting mementos 

 of the Hittites — a tunnel through the 

 fortifications and steps up the bank. 

 There are two flights of these steps, 

 made of limestone, about six feet broad, 

 low and easy, varied by occasional i)lat- 

 forms. The tunnel is about one hundred 

 and eighty feet long and perhaps ten 

 feet high in the middle. It is formed of 

 unhewn stones of uniform size, and the 

 ceiling is a true pointed arch with key- 

 stone. There are a number of such tun- 

 nels as this to be found in Boghaz Keouy. 



