Now You See Him Now You Don`t: Anthropomorphic

Müge Durusu-Tanrıöver
Final Paper Outline and Bibliography
Now You See Him Now You Don’t:
Anthropomorphic Representations of the Hittite King
Paper Outline
I.
Introduction
I introduce the research question that my paper explores, the dataset and the
methodology that I am using, and signpost the conclusions that I will reach.
II.
Looking for the Body of the Hittite King in Visual Representations
This section surveys the archaeological dataset that I am using.
2.1 Representations on Stone Monuments
Here, I survey six landscape monuments that have anthropomorphic representations of
the Hittite king: the relief of Tudhaliya IV on the city wall of Alaca Höyük, the
monuments at Sirkeli, Yalburt, Fraktin, Südburg and Yazılıkaya.
2.2 Ceremonial Metal Vessels
I explore the only metal vessel that has an anthropomorphic representation of the Hittite
king: the silver vessel in the form of a fist.
2.3 Seals and Seals Impressions
While the evidence from the seals and their impressions is too large to cover in this paper
in its entirety, I synthesize the overall trends regarding the imagery of the king by looking
at the seals of kings Muwatalli II, Mursili III, Hattusili III and Tudhaliya IV.
III.
Images and Words: Placing the Figural Representations of the Hittite King in
Context
This section surveys the textual materials that I am using.
3.1 Textual Evidence on the Body of the King
I analyze the text of the AN.TAH.SUM festival as an example of how the body of the
king is described or referred to in textual materials.
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3.2 Royal Funerary Ritual
I survey the text of the royal funerary ritual to suggest that the body of the king was
cremated very early on in the process, demonstrating that the body of the king was not
displayed in the same way as other contemporary and later cultures.
3.3 Words as Images: The Name and Title of the King as Extensions of the Royal
Body
Exploring the names of the Hittite kings as they were written in Hieroglyphic Luwian, I
argue that these names also acted as visual depictions of the king, in a nonanthropomorphic way.
IV.
Discussion
In this section, I synthesize the various strands of data that I previously analyze in the
paper to argue that the Hittite king assumed anthropomorphic form only when he was in
contact with deities, or when he was considered divine himself.
V.
Conclusions
I conclude by suggesting that the Hittite case constitutes an exception within the larger
contemporary eastern Mediterranean in terms of the rarity of the figural representations
of the king.
VI.
Figures
VII.
Bibliography
Preliminary Bibliography
Bahrani, Zainab. 1995. "Assault and Abduction: The Fate of the Royal Image in the
Ancient Near East " Art History 18 (3):363-382.
Bonatz, Dominik. 2007. "The Divine Image of the King: Religious Representation of
Political Power in the Hittite Empire." In Representations of Political Power : Case
Histories from Times of Change and Dissolving Order in the Ancient near East, edited by
Marlies Heinz and Marian H. Feldman, 111-136. Winona Lake, IN, USA:
Eisenbrauns.
Glatz, Claudia. 2014. "Places in the Political Landscape of Late Bronze Age Anatolia." In
Of Rocks and Water: Towards an Archaeology of Place, edited by Ömür Harmanşah, 128133. Joukowsky Institute Publications 5. Oxford: Oxbow.
Glatz, Claudia, and Aimée M. Plourde. 2011. "Landscape Monuments and Political
Competition in Late Bronze Age Anatolia: An Investigation of Costly Signaling
Theory." Bulletin of American Schools of Oriental Research 361:33-66.
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Harmanşah, Ömür. 2014. "Figures Carved on the Living Rock: Hittite Rock Monuments."
In Hittites: An Anatolian Empire, edited by Meltem Doğan-Alparslan and Metin
Alparslan, 566-579. İstanbul: Yapı Kredi Yayınları.
Özgüç, Tahsin. 1993. "Studies on Hittite Relief Vases, Seals, Figurines and Rock-Carvings."
In Aspects of Art and Iconography: Anatolia and Its Neighbours. Studies in Honor of Nimet
Özgüç, edited by Machteld J. Mellink, Edith Porada and Tahsin Özgüç, 433-499.
Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu Basımevi.
Özyar, Aslı. 2006. "A Prospectus of Hittite Art Based on the State of Our Knowledge at the
Beginning of the 3rd Millennium AD." In Structuring and Dating in Hittite Archaeology:
Requirements - Problems - New Approaches, edited by Dirk Paul Mielke, Ulf-Dietrich
Schoop and Jürgen Seeher, 125-148. İstanbul: Ege Yayınları.
Taracha, Piotr. 2011. "The Iconographic Program of the Sculptures of Alacahoyuk."
Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions 11 (2):132-147.
van den Hout, Theo. 1994. "Death as a Privilege: The Hittite Royal Funerary Ritual." In
Hidden Futures: Death and Immortality in Ancient Egypt, Anatolia, the Classical, Biblical
and Arabic-Islamic World, edited by Jan Maarten Bremer, Theo van den Hout and
Rudolph Peters, 37-75. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.
van den Hout, Theo. 1995a. "An Image of the Dead? Some Remarks on the Second Day of
the Hittite Royal Funerary Ritual." In Atti del II Congresso Internazionale di Hittitologia,
edited by Onofrio Carruba, Mauro Giorgieri and Clelia Mora. Pavia: Gianni
Iuculano Editore.
van den Hout, Theo. 2001. "Tombs and Memorials: The (Divine) Stone-House and Hegur
Reconsidered." In Recent Developments in Hittite Archaeology and History: Papers in
Memory of Hans G. Güterbock, edited by K. Aslıhan Yener and Harry A. Hoffner, 7391. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns.
van den Hout, Theo. 2007. "Seals and Sealing Practices in Hatti-Land: Remarks A Propos
the Seal Impressiosn from the "Westbau" in Hattusa." Journal of the American Oriental
Society 127 (3):339-348.
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