Since the discovery of the TÜRKMEN-KARAHÖYÜK 1 inscription in 2019, Iron Age Anatolian scholarship has been energised by the appearance of a hitherto unknown kingdom in the Konya Plain ruled by ‘Great King Hartapu’. While the historical context of Hartapu’s inscriptions have undergone dramatic reassessment in light of the new text as well as the archaeology of the associated site Türkmen-Karahöyük, little attention has been paid to the conditions that would have contributed to the rise of this kingdom in the first place. Although archaeological data remains scarce for south-cen- tral Anatolia during the early first millennium BCE, this article proposes several factors that likely played a role in the emergence of the kingdom: cultural and economic interaction with the Neo-Assyrian Empire, similar relations with Phrygia, emulative competition with its Tabalian peer polities and a propitious ecological setting at a time of significant environmental transformations. Interspersed with these arguments are reflections and anecdotes about Hartapu, and especially the way we represent Hartapu visually, that evoke how the effort we have spent on understanding political dynamics in Hartapu’s kingdom has been disproportionately imbalanced toward Hartapu himself, with insufficient consideration having been given to longer term, structural forces. Such reflections lead us to reconsider the potentially disproportionately impactful effect of Hartapu’s monuments in antiquity, and the extent to which Hartapu’s kingdom in fact consisted of his own self-imaging.

Several anthropological and historical studies based on comparative research show that there is no universal concept of ‘cleanliness’ or ‘hygiene’ common to all cultures in all historical periods. Ideas about what is considered clean, the means used to keep persons, objects and places clean, and the frequency or appropriate timing of cleaning actions differ between cultures, and even within a given culture. The latter implies that, sometimes, these differences depend on social position, mainly because this position allows or prevents certain cleansing practices. In addition, the concept of ‘cleanliness’ may sometimes be intertwined with the idea of ‘purity’, and thus be related to religious beliefs and practices. The present article examines the concept of ‘hygiene’ for the case of the Hittites, and aims to do so from an historical perspective by reflecting on modern vocabulary related to hygiene, investigating Hittite terminology related to cleanliness and analysing textual sources. Archaeological evidence will be examined alongside the textual sources to establish correlations regarding locations and objects used for hygienic practices. The objectives are to investigate who practiced cleanliness and when in Hittite culture, how and where these practices occurred, and what objects were used, as well as how the Hittites understood hygiene and whether perceptions and practices varied by social group.

The Anatolian hieroglyphs SARMA and its variants were employed during the Late Bronze and Iron Ages to invoke the god Sarruma and as theophoric elements pointing to the same god in personal names. In this paper, these SARMA signs are analysed in order to understand the chronological development of the signs, to challenge the use of ligatures, phonetic indicators and phonetic complements with the sign, to determine the precise semantic value of the sign and whether a phonetic value can be confidently identified or dismissed, and finally to investigate how scribes creatively engaged with the sign in various usages and how readers interacted with the sign and its component elements. It will be argued that an increasingly complex phonetic conceptualisation of the sign grew alongside its semantic value, and that Iron Age scribes creatively juxtaposed signs and other graphic elements to evoke memories of the Hittite past and divine legitimation.

During archaeological excavations at Khovle Gora, in Georgia, in the early 1960s, a remarkable artefact was discovered in the form of a footwear-shaped vessel. The vessel strongly resembles an authentic leather boot, not only due to its colour, which results from a reducing firing process, and its smooth, polished surface, but also because of its decorative elements that imitate stitching. While this particular object, unearthed at level V of Khovle Gora, is a unique find both in Shida Kartli and in the wider context of Georgia, it belongs to a widespread tradition of footwear-shaped ceramic vessels, whose presence has been documented in settlements and burial contexts across Anatolia, the South Caucasus, Northern and Northwest Iran, and Mesopotamia since at least the Late Chalcolithic period. From a cultural perspective, the pottery found alongside the footwear-shaped vessel at Khovle Gora shows typical features of East Georgian pottery of the ninth-to-seventh centuries BC, implying a chronological placement within this time period. This article examines the morphology of the vessel, which incorporates typical elements of ancient, traditionally inherited elements of South Caucasian footwear, while also highlighting its differences from contemporaneous Urartian footwear-shaped vessels.

From the late ninth to the mid-seventh century BCE, the Urartian kings expanded their polity from the Euphrates to Lake Urmia. In this context, the question of Urartian legitimacy and how it was achieved is a key issue. Previous research has suggested that rulers primarily used visual representations to appeal to different segments of society, but this article explores how royal legitimacy was also pursued through religious rituals and festivals, starting from the so-called co-regency of Išpuini and Minua (ca 820–810 BCE). By focussing on these rituals, which possibly reached a broader audience than visual representations, this study seeks to understand the roles of performance and religion in the early formation of the Urartian state.

This study delves into the comprehensive examination of an anta capital discovered during the 2008 excavations at the ancient site of Alabanda in Caria, now housed in the Aydın Archaeological Museum. Employing a typological and stylistic analysis, the research attributes the capital to the latter part of the fifth century BC, emphasising its intricate architectural ornamentation and sculptural details that reflect significant artistic and cultural developments of the period. The capital features elaborate ornament bands and mythological reliefs, including depictions of Bellerophon-Pegasus and Chimera, and a griffin attacking a horse, which are analysed for their iconographic and symbolic significance within the broader Anatolian and Mediterranean contexts. The study also explores the potential original architectural setting of the capital, suggesting its use in a monumental tomb, a hypothesis supported by its dimensions and decorative complexity. Furthermore, the article discusses the role of such imagery in asserting local identities and engaging with wider Hellenic cultural and political themes, particularly considering the complex interactions between local Carian traditions and the dominant Greek culture of the period. The findings not only contribute to our understanding of Carian art and architecture but also highlight the region’s active participation in the cultural dialogues of the Classical world.

This study examines the maritime networks of Patara during the fourth and third centuries BC, employing numismatic and amphora evidence as proxies indicative of the city’s significant role in ancient maritime routes. The two types of evidence offer perspectives on two different types of connectivity. The numismatic analysis focuses on the presence in Patara of low-value civic bronze coins minted by non-Lycian cities, thereby offering a window onto human mobility at the scale of the individual traveller, not necessarily the traders. In contrast, an examination of transport amphorae imported to Patara helps to reveal the extent of Patara’s commercial connections. These findings enhance our comprehension of Patara’s crucial role in ancient maritime networks, illuminating the interdependence of Mediterranean societies during this period. They demonstrate the complexity of these networks, suggesting that different kinds of networks operated simultaneously. This research contributes to the discourse on ancient maritime mobilities, considering the overlaps and interactions between different forms and scales of connectivity.

In the major port city of Patara on the southern coast of Roman Asia Minor, excavations unearthed a pharos (lighthouse) with an inscription that referred to an antipharos (a structure ‘opposite’ the lighthouse). It is unknown where the antipharos stood in Patara’s harbour, and scholars’ brief speculations about its location all assume that the antipharos was a second lighthouse. Yet a number of factors combine to suggest that there was only one pharos at Patara, including cautious Roman nocturnal sailing practices, the norm of single lighthouses in the ancient world, evidence of the pharos’ high visibility, and the only other instance of the word antipharos referring to something other than an operating lighthouse. Instead, the antipharos was probably either an unlit tower or a beacon instead of a lighthouse. I establish six possible locations for such an antipharos, and consider their likelihood based on how they might have ameliorated dangers to sailors entering the harbour. While there is not enough evidence to be completely confident, a rock islet that was in the middle of ancient Patara’s harbour emerges as the most probable location for the antipharos. The choice to build both a pharos and an antipharos, and where to place them, can illuminate the decision processes behind Roman harbour construction and the currently little-understood meaning of the word antipharos in antiquity.

This study is concerned with the evaluation of a recently discovered Aramaic inscription and other archaeological remains found at Rabat Fortress (in Tunceli, Türkiye). The Hellenistic period Aramaic funerary text was composed in memory of a local lord from Sophene’s local political elite, with connections to the Orontid dynasty. This is the first known local Aramaic inscription from Sophene. The Aramaic inscription introduced in this study provides significant new information about the Hellenistic-period context for rock-cut stepped tunnels and single-roomed rock-cut tombs known across eastern Anatolia. The Rabat Fortress site provides corroborating evidence for the dating of the stepped tunnels that exhibit the same rock-cutting techniques in the same region to the Hellenistic and later periods in the rocky landscape. The inscription is rendered in a unique Sophene adaptation of the Middle Aramaic script extant on a corner block inside the Fortress. Its funerary context in rocky landscape and the inscription’s script and content indicate that the local elite at Rabat Fortress used Aramaic, and the notion of Orontid lineage to connect with the kingdom of Sophene’s central authority, which positioned itself between Hellenistic and Iranian traditions.

The practice of settling former soldiers in ‘colonies’ is well attested in Anatolia. The area of and around Pisidia received several such colonies during the Hellenistic and Roman periods, a phenomenon which must have had a significant demographic impact on the region. Building on previous research that has investigated the colonies of this region of the Hellenistic and early Roman periods, this paper collects the evidence for further settlements being planted on the various peripheries of Pisidia: first, in the territory of Apollonia, in the northern borderlands between Pisidia and Phrygia; second, on the Cillanaean Plain on the eastern fringes of Pisidia; and finally in Milyas, the territory on the southern boundaries between Pisidia and Lycia. It argues that significant groups of Lycian and Thracian ex-servicemen were settled in these areas, and suggests that this happened in a relatively short period of time between 36 BC and 25 BC, during the short reign of a local king, Amyntas. Sandwiched between the period of the Hellenistic poleis that preceded it, and the time of direct Roman rule that came after, the reign of Amyntas nonetheless left a lasting legacy on the landscape in the form of these new settlements.

The First Hill of Byzantium, the Greek city’s Acropolis, was later the site of the Topkapı Sarayı. Within the 55ha enclosure of the Ottoman palace are the remains of the First and Second regions of the Byzantine city including the church of Hagia Eirene and the excavated traces of other churches and buildings, but commonest are the remains of at least 33 Byzantine cisterns. Based on previous documentation and more recent observations we aim to explore their topographical setting and establish how the hydraulic infrastructure evolved over more than a millennium. In particular we address the question of changing sources of water, from the external aqueducts to rainwater harvesting. Initially we present the setting and distribution of cisterns over three distinct areas: the east flanks of the First Hill down to the Sea Walls but excluding the Mangana, the level hill including the four courts of the Saray and the west slopes including Gülhane Park. The evidence then turns to a consideration of the Byzantine written sources and Ottoman accounts of the Acropolis and the Saray. Finally, there is an attempt to interpret the subsurface as a source for the urban topography of the Byzantine district, and to set the remains in the wider context of evolving water usage and technology transfer from the Byzantine to Ottoman city. Details of the individual cisterns and their location are to be found in the online Appendix together with illustrations.*