Hattusa (Boğazkale, formerly Boğazköy), the capital of the Hittites, was used as a Phrygian settlement in the Iron Age. The most important monument found in Boğazkale regarding the Phrygian period is a mother goddess Matar statue. It was found in 1957 during the excavations at the southeast gate of the citadel at Büyükkale in Boğazkale. The statue, which was found lying under the wall debris, must have been standing in a niche on the city wall. There are two smaller human figures on both sides of the goddess, one playing a double flute and the other playing a lyre. The statue is 1.26 m in height. The niche in which it originally stood is estimated to be approximately 6 x 5 m in size and had a pitched roof. The statue is currently on display in the Anatolian Civilizations Museum in Ankara.
About 40 m north of the niche location, there is an idol relief made on a stone block at the ground level of the wall.
References:
Berndt-Ersöz, S. 2006. Phrygian Rock–Cut Shrines. Structure, Function and Cult Practice, Leiden.
Naumann, F. 1983. Die Ikonographie der Kybele in der phrygischen und der griechischen Kunst (IstMitt-BH, 28). Tübingen.
Neve, P. 1993. ‘Die Ausgrabungen in Bogazkoy-Hattusa 1992’, Archäologischer Anzeiger 1993, 621-652.
Image source:
P. Neve, 1993
Bora Bilgin, 2024