Hittite Timeline

7000 BCE – 1453 CE · 10 sites

All sites in this period

Hattusha

1650 BCE – 1178 BCE

Capital of the Hittite Empire, one of the great powers of the Late Bronze Age. Features massive fortifications, monumental gates with lion and sphinx sculptures, and the Great Temple.

Bronze Age

The iconic turquoise dome of the Mevlana Museum in Konya

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Konya (Iconium)

3000 BCE – 1400 CE

The magnificent capital of the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum, home of Rumi and the Whirling Dervishes, with roots stretching back to the Bronze Age and connections to both St. Paul's journeys and classical mythology.

Bronze AgeClassicalRoman

The ancient Roman gate known as Cleopatra's Gate in modern Tarsus

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Country Record

Oldest City in Türkiye

Tarsus

7000 BCE – 1453 CE

One of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world — birthplace of St. Paul, where Cleopatra first met Mark Antony, and a major center of Stoic philosophy rivaling Athens and Alexandria.

NeolithicBronze AgeClassical

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Sivas (Sebasteia)

2000 BCE – 1400 CE

A city spanning from the Hittite period to the heights of Seljuk architecture, home to some of Anatolia's most spectacular medieval madrasas and caravanserais, where intricate stone carving reached unparalleled artistic sophistication.

Bronze AgeIron AgeMedieval

Rock relief carvings in Chamber A at Yazılıkaya

Country Record

Oldest Sanctuary in Türkiye

Yazilikaya

1400 BCE – 1180 BCE

The most important Hittite open-air rock sanctuary, featuring elaborate relief carvings of the entire Hittite pantheon in a dramatic natural setting just outside the capital Hattusha.

Bronze Age

Kültepe

3000 BCE – 1500 BCE

Ancient Kanesh — the site of the oldest known Assyrian trading colony (kārum) and the source of the earliest written records found in Anatolia, predating the Hittite Empire.

Bronze Age

The monumental Arslantepe mound rising above the Malatya plain

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Country Record

Longest Continuously Occupied Site in Türkiye

Arslantepe

5000 BCE – 100 CE

A UNESCO World Heritage Site in Malatya preserving the earliest known swords in history and evidence of one of the world's first state formations, spanning from the 6th millennium BCE to the Roman period.

NeolithicBronze Age

Country Record

Earliest Known Site in Türkiye

Alacahöyük

4000 BCE – 700 BCE

One of the most important pre-Hittite and Hittite sites in Anatolia. The royal tombs yielded spectacular gold and bronze artifacts from the Early Bronze Age Hattian civilization.

Bronze AgeIron Age

Lion gate sculpture at Karatepe-Aslantas open-air museum

Continent Record

Oldest Fortress in Asia

Karatepe-Aslantas

800 BCE – 600 BCE

A Neo-Hittite fortress guarding the Cilician Gates whose bilingual inscription in Phoenician and Hieroglyphic Luwian provided the key to deciphering the Luwian script — the Rosetta Stone of Anatolian archaeology.

Iron Age

Beycesultan

3000 BCE – 1200 BCE

A major Bronze Age palace complex in western Anatolia that may preserve one of the earliest examples of a Megaroid hall — the architectural ancestor of the Greek megaron — and evidence of a powerful pre-Hittite Anatolian kingdom.

Bronze Age