Thursday, May 22, 2014
Hello!
We were up this morning about 6 a.m. after a very quiet and
peaceful night. We both had lots of odd
dreams though – R is blaming the mushrooms, and I’m blaming the curry! All good – just odd! We headed down for breakfast at 7, and it was
pretty much standard fare, except that there was REAL orange juice, which made
for a refreshing change. Done and ready
to head out by 8 a.m.
The traffic in town wasn’t quite as chaotic as it was
yesterday, when we got in around noon, and we were able to follow a fairly
direct course out of town and to the motorway.
(I have had enough of taking the D400 through huge mega-cities like
Adana! Stoplight by stoplight…) Our goal?
The castle of Asativataya Open Air Museum of Karatepe-Aslantas, and
their museum, about 95 km northeast of Adana.
We made great time on the motorway, and got off at
Ceyhan.
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Beautiful countryside! |
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Love the mountains in the distance! |
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On site with water surrounding everything! |
It was lovely, warm and breezy,
and it was fun driving with the windows open; lots of fresh air!
It took us about 2 hours to wend our way to
the park.
Fortunately, it was fairly
well signed, and we were actually able to find it on our first try!
The surrounding countryside is indeed
spectacular.
We saw field upon field of
sunflowers – which we had last seen in France!
But the beauty of the land is just amazing; hills, mountains, plains -- Turkey
is a stunning country!
Pulled up to the parking lot, and then walked up the hill ¼ mile
to the entrance gate. 10 TL for both of
us, and into the museum first. The
museum contained artifacts from the original Neolithic buildings on site as
well as remains from the Hittite and Neo-Hittite areas.
The area had first been discovered in 1946 by a German
archeologist, who then spent years supervising the dig.
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Scene of feasting at a banquet |
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Me and lion! |
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Storm god! |
The castle of Asativataya was built towards
the end of the Neo-Hittite period (700 BC) by King Asativatas.
(Once the Hittite Empire had been vanquished
and dispersed, circa 1200 BC, small communities of Hittites moved out into
different areas but kept with their same religious views and started their own
colonies; they were designated Neo-Hittites.)
In this particular case, the frontier castle was built for defense
against the hostile nations in the north.
It was also strategically important because it stood on the road of the
caravans going from Central Anatolia to Phoenicia, and controlled the passages
of the Taurus Mountains.
In other words,
an ideal spot!
However, it was destroyed
probably in 680 BC, by the Assyrian King Asurhaddon, and the city subsequently
abandoned.
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Everyday life |
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Goats and lily |
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Ship at sea! |
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Soldiers fighting |
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Chariot in battle |
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Lion body with human head and wings |
Much of the area was subsequently flooded via a dam project
in the 1950’s, but fortunately, the castle was not affected. What is really
interesting about the site is that the orthostats, lion gateway statues and
other large sculptures are actually still on site, just as they were
found!
Apparently, in the late 1940’s
and 50’s, the local population as well as the archeologists, fought for leaving
Asativataya as it was, and protecting the pieces that the authorities said
couldn’t be protected!
And they have
done a wonderful job!
Everything that needs
to be protected is under roofing that is well done and allows for visitors to
see things without blocking the view (as is
not
the case at Gobekli Tepe).
The guidebook
says that they have only guided tours, but one look at us, and I don’t think
any of the gentlemen wanted to give it a try in English!
So, we were permitted to wander around at our
own pace.
Fortunately, the Hittite
Civilization book I got at the Istanbul Archeological Museum has come in really
handy to provide us with information – and in the case of Karatepe Aslantas, it
literally devotes 12 pages to the pieces on display!
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Me and lion/human/winged creature |
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Mythical creature with double wings |
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Man hunting bear |
And they were truly superb!!!
(I know I’m going to include WAY too many
photos, but I really do love this stuff, so you’ll all have to just bear with
me!)
There were lions of several
descriptions – including some winged, and also some with human heads with lion
bodies!
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More bear hunting |
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I do like lions... |
There was a huge stature of the
Storm God, as well as some wonderful scenes of hunting, fighting, as well as
feasting with musicians and dancers!
There were also bilingual text slabs written in Phoenician and Hieroglyphic
Luwian, the longest known texts in these languages, constituting the key for
the final decipherment of the Luwian Hieroglyphs!
And – I’d like to add, we had the entire
place to OURSELVES!
Whee, didn’t we just
enjoy ourselves!
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Me and woodcarver; great spoons! |
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More lovely countryside! |
On our way out, we did run into another couple of
visitors. And, in the parking lot, there
is a man who carves wood and sells things – worry beads, spoons, spatulas, as
well as water and soft drinks. I couldn’t
resist some of the kitchen things – surprise! – and while we were relaxing, up
pull FOUR mini-vans full of school children and adults. So much for our peaceful surroundings, but we
were glad to see that the community is still educating people about their ancient
history, and the need to protect it. All
in all, it was an incredible experience!
(Also, added to the fact that we were actually able to FIND it!!) [The maps in Turkey are a little short on accuracy,
especially when it comes to archaeological sites. – R]
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A cute little friend in the road! |
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Stunning sunflowers by the acre! |
We took a fairly leisurely course back to the hotel, and got
in around 3 p.m. I think we were fairly successful
in navigating back in through the traffic…although the car will probably sit in
the garage tomorrow, as we’re going to do some walking, sightseeing and I’m
even going to try my hand at the bazaar…and we all know how that goes!
Not sure where we’ll have dinner tonight, as our guidebooks
don’t have many recommendations for some reason, but we will certainly be sure
to take pictures to share!
Much love,
m
xxx
I would never equate pine trees and Turkey. Very surprising to me.
ReplyDeletesg
RRZ sez: "Looks just like California!" What's not to love!! Great photos!
ReplyDeleteXXX, KBHZ