religious precinct centered by a squarish temple defined at the corners with towers. On entering the courtyard, one’s attention would focus on a bronze cauldron on a tripod and ceremonial spears and shields fixed to the walls of the temple. At the center of the temple, the cella, stood a bronze statue of the deity, often painted in lapis lazuli blue. Worship was also conducted in open-air shrines within the fortresses. The palatial quarter contained an audience hall with rows of wooden columns set on stone foundations, as well as polychrome wall paintings. That water was an important consideration for the Urartians is shown by the emphasis they placed on irrigation systems and cisterns. Like the Phrygians, Uratians were master bronzesmiths, and their creations were well known in antiquity and in demand as far away as Etruria.

The last chapter of the Iron Age began with the rise of Lydia and its capital at Sardis as a dominant power in western Anatolia. Meanwhile, the Medes, Indo-European-speakers from the Iranian plateau, pursued expansionist policies in the eastern districts and established a massive bastion at ancient Kerkenes Dag (ancient Pteria); it was destroyed by Croesus of Sardis, who, in turn, was defeated by Cyrus, the king of Persia. The Achaemenid Empire that followed lasted from the 540s to the 330s b.c., when Alexander the Great and his invading armies effectively brought an end to the Anatolian Iron Age.

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Temple of Apollo in Yeniköy, on the shores of the Bosporus

(CFCL)

Antonio Sagona

References

American Journal of Archaeology. 1955– . This publication includes a yearly overview of investigations in Turkey, entitled “Archaeology in Anatolia” (formerly “Archaeology in Asia Minor”).

Biblical Archaeologist. 1989. “Reflections of a Late Bronze Empire: The Hittites.” Entire vol. 52, nos. 2 and 3.

Çilingiroglu, A., and R. Matthews. 1999. “Anatolian Iron Ages 4: The Proceedings of the Fourth Anatolian Iron Ages Colloquium Held at Mersin, May 19–23, 1997.” Anatolian Studies, entire vol. 49.

Hodder, I., ed. 2000. Towards a Reflexive Method in Archaeology: The Example at Çatalhöyük. Cambridge, UK: McDonald Institute.

Joukowsky, M. S. 1996. Early Turkey: Anatolian Archaeology