Karatepe is a neo - Hittite fortress located in the district of Kadirli in Osmaniye Province. The place was shown to archaelogists Helmut Bossert and Halet Çambel in 1946. The 8th century BC stronghold was the seat of a local ruler, Azatiwata, who named the site after himself - Azatiwataya. Karatepe is famous for its bilingual inscription in Hieroglyphic Luwian and Phoenician that was crucial in decipherment of the former script. The text, being mostly the list of glorious deeds of the above mentioned ruler, was inscribed on the gates of the fortress as well as on the statue of the Storm God within its premises. Unfortunately, boasting Azatiwata (or his successor) failed to push back the Assyrians who looted and burnt the fortress either around 720 or 680 BC.
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| Karatepe - neo-Hittite lion * |
