Hattusha was the capital of the Hittite Empire in the late Bronze Age. Its ruins lie near modern Bogazkale, Turkey, within the great loop of the Kizilirmak River.
Before 2000 BC, the apparently indigenous Hattian people established a settlement on sites that had been occupied even earlier and referred to the site as Hattush. The Hattian built their initial settlement on the high ridge of Buvukkale. The earliest traces of settlement on the site are from the sixth millennium BC. In the 19th and 18th centuries BC, merchants from Assur in Assyria established a trading post there, setting up in their own separate quarter of the city. The center of their trade network was located in Kanesh. Business dealings required record keeping: the trade network from Assur introduced writing to Hattusa, in the form of Cuneiform.
The Archaeological site of Hattusha, is notable for its urban organization, the types of construction that have been preserved, the rich ornamentation of the Lion's Gate and the Royal Gate, and ensemble of rock art at Yazilikaya. The city enjoyed considerable influence in Anatolia and northern Syria in the 2nd millennium BC.
The best preserved ruin of a Hittite Temple from the 13th century BC, known as Great Temple, is located in the Lower City. Other temples of similar date and shape albeit generally smaller, are situated in the Upper City, which mostly considered of a temple city for the gods and goddesses of the Hittite and Hurrian pantheon. The remains of a densely inhabited city district were unearthed in the Lower City, where their foundations and arrangement can still be seen in the area north from Great Temple.
