Orientation of Hittite Monuments

The possible astronomical or topographical orientations of the Hittite

monuments of the Bronze Age have remained unexplored until recently. This would

provide an important insight into how the temporality was imprinted by this culture in

the sacred spaces and the landscape. González-García and Belmonte?s (2011) analysis

of a statistically significant sample of Hittite temples -and a few monumental gates-

has demonstrated that ancient Hittite monuments were not randomly orientated as

previously suspected. On the contrary, there were well-defined patterns of orientation

that could be interpreted within the context of Hittite culture and religion.