The Postern Wall
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One of the posterns during excavation
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Entrance to one of the posterns (= tunnels) in the Postern Wall
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This is the oldest fortification of Hattusha, built during the 16th century BC or even earlier. This wall protected the Old City of the Hittites-the Lower City-on the south and southwest. Following the natural line of the valley, the fortifications led all the way up to the Royal Citadel of Büyükkale. What you first notice from the street is the earthen wall on which the fortress stood. Like nearly all Hittite walls, this too was built as a casemate wall, that is to say it consisted of sturdy inner and outer walls divided at regular intervals by crosswalls. The interior "rooms" were then packed full of earth. The total width, then, was nearly eight meters, and along its length towers were built at intervals of 12 to 20 meters. |
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Eight tunnels, or posterns led underneath the wall to openings outside. They are between 70 and 180 m distant from one another. You can see the entrances today, although the passages are filled with debris. The tunnels were of corbeled masonry like the passageway in the Upper City at Yerkapi, which you can walk through during your visit. The function of these posterns remains open to interpretation. Their earlier identification as sally ports, through which one could run out and attack the besieging enemy from the rear, gave rise to the name postern, from the Latin posterula ( = back- or side door). There must, however, be more behind this phenomenon, for certainly the Hittites would have better camouflaged sally ports.
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