Site details

Sword of Hattusa

PK	C6696
TITLE	Sword of Hattusa
WGS84	40.004281° N, 34.605639° E
Accuracy	50 m.

LAT/LON	40.004281, 34.605639
LON/LAT	34.605639, 40.004281

DMS

40° 0' 15.4116" N

34° 36' 20.3004" E

W3W	thorny, escape, geraniums
UTM	36 T, 637051, 4429467
EGSA87	1405981, 4482194

Elevation m	1153
Elevation feet	3782.8
Region	Anatolia

GENERAL SITE TYPE Artifacts

TYPE

1.    Sword.   Cline [2014], 36    'It is a Mycenaean sword (or a very good imitation of one).'
2.    Sword.   Cline [1996], 137    ' ... the inscribed bronze sword found at Hattusas (modern Bogazkoy) in 1991 is a Mycenaean Type B sword.'

PERIOD (High Chronology)

1. Late Helladic II: (1635 BC - 1410 BC)
    a.    Cline [2014]: 36, 'The sword is of a type used primarily on mainland Greece during the fifteenth century B.C.'
    b.    Cline [1996]: 138, 'Hansen suggested that the sword is an Aegean Type B sword, dating to the LH II period.', ' ... the identification appears to be essentially correct.'

NOTES

1. Cline [1996] 137 gives the find spot as ' ... on roads in the Eski Örenyeri Mevkii area, located some 750 m south-west of the monumental Lion Gate.' I have placed the marker, somewhat notionally, 750 m south west of that gate (F5351) on a visible rough country road and set the error radius to 50 m.

2. This is the find spot of a much remarked-upon Mycenaean sword. From its inscription we learn that it was part of the spoils taken by the Hittite King Tudhaliya I/II when putting down the Assuwa rebellion in about 1430. The significance of this sword, the rebellion, the connection of the Mycenaeans and the Hittites generally, along with a bibliography, is presented in Cline [1996].

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Cline [1996]: Cline, E.H.. ‘Aššuwa and the Achaeans: The 'Mycenaean' Sword at Hattušas and Its Possible Implications’, The Annual of the British School at Athens (91) 137-151. 1996., 'Introduction', pg. 137. Online here.

2. Cline [2014]: Cline, Eric H.. 1177 B.C.; The Year Civilization Collapsed. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, USA. 2014, 'The Assuwa Rebellion and the Ahhiyawa Question', pg. 35.