The Southern Citadel / Temple 31

One of the few standing monuments in Hattusha that do not stem from Hittite times is the "Phrygian" Southern Citadel, built shortly after 700 BC. It was part of a fairly large Iron Age settlement that spread far into certain areas of the Lower City as well as occupying the eastern reaches of the Upper City. There was also a large Iron Age citadel built upon the site of the Hittite Royal Citadel at Büyükkale, i.e. the plateau situated about 100 m to the north of the Southern Citadel.

The Iron Age fortification walls were built on a massive socle of quarrystone; here at the Southern Citadel these foundations were some four meters across. Upon this there must have been a mudbrick superstructure similar to that of the Hittites, with a mudbrick and timber construction corporating towers and battlements. A single gate flanked by towers led into the complex from the northwest. Inside were residences, workshops and storehouses. These structures, too, were built with walls of mudbrick and most probably had flat roofs like those of the Hittite buildings.
In the northern half of the Southern Citadel the remains of a large Hittite structure known as Temple 31 have been excavated. On the plan the large interior courtyard characteristic of the temple layout is immediately apparent. This temple may have been contingent to the cult practices involved with Chambers 1 and 2 and the ponds.