Pendant: Hittite Divinity
Unknown · Hittite Empire period, fourteenth to thirteenth century BC
A god in solid gold less than four centimetres tall, cast as a pendant to be worn around the neck. He stands in the pose of walking, wears a tall conical tiara with horns, the mark of divinity in Hittite art, and a short kilt, and he clasps a weapon against his chest. Look at the loop for suspension and at the compact, sturdy modelling; the tiny figure has the same proportions and dress as the gods carved on the rock sanctuaries of Anatolia. The pendant is complete.
The piece was acquired on a mission in nineteen twenty-five and is recorded as coming from Yozgat in central Anatolia, close to Hattusa, the capital of the Hittite empire. The museum dates it to the imperial period, the fourteenth and thirteenth centuries BC, when the Hittite kings ruled from central Turkey to northern Syria and dealt with Egypt as equals. Gold amulets of gods were worn for protection and appear in Hittite texts and reliefs. Displayed among the antiquities of inland Syria, the pendant recalls that the Hittites were the northern power in this region's history, whose art and gods reached down to Carchemish and Aleppo.
Did You Know? The horned conical tiara on this pendant is the badge of divinity in Hittite art, the same crown worn by the gods on the rock reliefs of Anatolia.
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