Explore Ancient Anatolia

Typical Lycian tomb at UNESCO World Heritage Site of Xanthos-Letoon, in Turkey. Photo scanned, 35 mm. color film and Canon FTb SLR camera. Xanthos was the name of a city in ancient Lycia, and of the river on which the city is situated. The Hittite and Luwian name of the city is given as Arinna like Lycian origin. Xanthos was a center of culture and commerce for the Lycians.

The oldest testimony of chariot warfare in the Ancient Near East is the Old Hittite Anitta text (18th century BC), mentioning 40 teams of horses at the siege of Salatiwara.

Ancient Anatolian Urartu necklace with stone beads of 2500-2900 years ago, at the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations at Ankara.

Ancient Hittite god facing right, bearded and with long, curled pig tail, wearing pointed, horned helmet, short sleeved, belted, bordered tunic and boots with upturned toes, curved sword with crescent pommel in belt, holding in right handraised behind him a boomerang(?), in left hand before him a 3-pronged object.