AN ANCIENT CAPITAL 



119 



TiiE PICTURED ROCKS AT BOGITAZ KEOUY 



Of some only the postern appears, and 

 some are filled with debris and can be 

 penetrated but a short distance. 



It seems to have been a Hittite habit 

 to build such underground passages, and 

 this habit was continued by their relatives 

 •or imitators, the Phrygians. Professor 

 Ramsay tells us of several secret passages 

 connecting dififerent parts of Hittite and 

 Phrygian fortifications, or an acropolis 

 and some more or less distant hill. This 

 tunnel ends on the outside in a post and 

 lintel gate, with grooves for a door and 

 holes for the closing-bar. On the citadel 

 there was one specimen of the ancient 

 Babylonian door-socket, well worn, but 

 worn into a block of limestone squared 

 and cut as perfectly on all sides as if for 

 a modern building. 



Once more following the wall, we 

 come to the famous Southern gate, which 

 admitted to the city the commerce and 

 travel from Cilicia, and which is still 

 guarded by the lion posts, always pic- 

 tured in everv description of Boghaz 

 Keouy. Fine, upstanding lions they are, 

 too, with wide-open jaws and curly hair. 



From between the lions one looks out- 

 ward and downward to a marvelous 

 stretch of hill and dale, while on the 

 inside we look across the mile and a 



quarter of the city limits, sloping down 

 from this point 870 feet to its northern 

 end. Here and there on the slope rise 

 the great rock fortresses, each bearing on 

 its summit more or less of Hittite 

 masonry. Beyond the northern side of 

 the city stretches a wide and fertile plain 

 which must have furnished the greater 

 part of the sustenance of the capital. 



the; palaces 



We also see from this gateway, or on 

 the road to it. a number of palaces whose 

 foundations have been uncovered in the 

 course of the excavations. The largest 

 of these lies on the lower part of the 

 slope and is about 208 feet long by 138 

 feet wide. It consists of a great central 

 hall and many chambers on each side. 

 On the south side and on the southeast 

 corner there seem to have been splendid 

 entrances with double gates, small courts 

 between, and pillars at each corner. The 

 stones which form these courts, and 

 especially the thresholds, are most beau- 

 tifully worked with a curved and beveled 

 edge. The stone used is largely the lime- 

 stone of the region, but part of the pave- 

 ment of the great hall and many other 

 parts of the building were of imported 

 trachvte. 



