The “Haus am Hang" at Ḫattuša A Late Hittite State Scriptorium and Its Tablet Collections

During the first excavations in Lower City of Ḫattuša, conducted by H. Winckler and Th. Makridi in 1907, Makridi discovered a palace built east of the main Temple. The building was later named Haus am Hang (House on the Slope, HaH) because it leaned on the terraces leading up to the royal palace on Büyükkale. Several fragments of clay tablets in cuneiform script were discovered within and around the building during this period and in the following archaeological investigations until the 1960s. These text fragments exemplified the various text typologies produced by Hittite scribes. Giulia Torri's research focuses on this collection of texts in search of the original criteria for its organization inside the building and provides a new approach in outlining the cultural environment in which the Hittite texts were produced: As a first step, the range of information about the discovery and the find-spots of the fragments is analyzed and contextualised (Part I). In the second part the texts, classified according to their content as administrative texts, chancellery texts, and texts of the scribal tradition, are collected, studied, and compared with their duplicate versions from other locations, with the aim of showing how the Hittite scribes composed and preserved them in this area of the Lower City (Part II) Cover Title Pages Contents Tables Illustrations Abbreviations Preface Introduction and History of Research Part I: The Context 1. The Excavation Area L/18 and the Find-spots of the Texts 1.1 The L/18 Area's Topography 1.2 The 1907, 1911, and 1912 Excavations 1.3 1936–1937: The First Excavations of Kurt Bittel in L/18 1.4 Excavations in 1960–1962 1.5 The Small Finds: An Analysis 1.6 From Constantinople to Berlin: Texts of the First Excavations 2. Dating the Texts of the Haus am Hang 2.1 The Old Hittite Corpus 2.2 The Middle Hittite Corpus 2.3 Late Historiographical Texts 3. Colophons and Scribes 3.1 Colophons with Scribal Signatures 3.1.1 Kuruntapiya 3.1.2 Ḫillu 3.1.3 Piḫami 3.1.4 Ḫalwaziti’s Activity in the Lower City 3.1.5 Anuwanza, the Scribe and Supervisor of the Haus am Hang and the Lower City 3.1.6 Piḫawalwi and Palluwaraziti 3.1.7 Walwaziti and His Association with the Haus am Hang 3.1.8 Other Scarcely Attested Scribes 3.2 Colophons without Scribal Signatures 3.3 General Remarks about the Colophons of the Haus am Hang 4. A Catalogue of Epigraphic Finds According to Their Find-spots 4.1 Seals and Sealings 4.2 The Text Fragments Part II: The Texts 5. The Haus am Hang as Scriptorium 6. The Layout of the Tablets 6.1 Number of Columns 6.1.1 Single-column Tablets 6.1.1.1 Prayers 6.1.1.2 Epic Texts 6.1.1.3 Rituals 6.1.1.4 Cult Inventory Texts 6.1.2 Three-column Tablets 6.2 Other External Features of the Tablets 6.2.1 Paragraph Dividers 6.2.2 Vertical Lines at the Tablet Edges 6.3 The Sammeltafel in the Haus am Hang 7. A Center of Economic and Religious Administration? 7.1 Inventory Texts (CTH 240–250) 7.2 Cult Management 7.2.1 Cult Inventory Texts (CTH 501–530) 7.2.2 Oracle Inquiries (CTH 557–582) 7.2.3 Vows (CTH 583–590) 7.2.4 Festival Texts 7.2.4.1 CTH 591: The Festival of the Month 7.2.4.2 The an.taḪ.šum Festival in the Haus am Hang 7.2.4.3 The nuntarriyašḫa- Festival (CTH 626): Outline Tablets from the Haus am Hang 7.2.4.4 The KI.LAM festival (CTH 627) 7.2.4.5 The (ḫ)išuwa- Festival (CTH 628) 7.2.4.6 CTH 633: A Festival Performed by a Prince (EZEN 4 ḫaššumaš) 7.2.4.7 CTH 645: Festivals Concerning the Cult of Lelwani 7.2.4.8 CTH 652: The Festival for the Storm-god of the Meadow 7.2.4.9 CTH 682: The Festival for the LAMMA Deities 7.2.4.10 Final Remarks 8. Chancellery Texts 8.1 The Old Historiographical Texts 8.1.1 CTH 3: Fragments on Zalpa and Northern Anatolia 8.1.2 CTH 8: The Palace Chronicle 8.1.3 CTH 14: Fragments on the Syrian Wars 8.1.4 CTH 16: Hurrian Wars 8.1.5 CTH 19 and CTH 20: King Telipinu 8.2 Historical Texts from the Empire Period 8.2.1 The Deeds of Šuppiluliuma I 8.2.2 The Texts on Muršili II and Other Historiographical Fragments 8.3 Political Treaties 8.4 Prayers 8.5 Letters 8.6 Normative Texts 9. Texts of the Scribal Tradition 9.1 Hittite “School Texts” of Mesopotamian Origin 9.1.1 CTH 299: Sa Vocabulary 9.1.2 CTH 301: The erim-ḫuš Series 9.1.3 CTH 309: Fragments of Lexical Lists 9.1.4 CTH 314: The Trilingual Hymn for Iškur 9.1.5 CTH 316: Wisdom Literature 9.1.6 Omen Literature 9.1.6.1 CTH 532.II (Hittite): “If the Moon Dies.” Omens on the Disappearance of the Moon 9.1.6.2 CTH 533: Signs of the Moon Horn 9.1.6.3 CTH 539: The šumma izbu Omen Series 9.1.7 CTH 310: The Epic of Sargon 9.2 Texts in Hattian, Luwian and Hurrian 9.2.1 Hattian Tradition 9.2.1.1 CTH 726: A Ritual for the Construction of a Palace 9.2.1.2 CTH 728–731: Hattian-Hittite Incantations and Fragments 9.2.1.3 CTH 732: The Ritual of Ḫutuši 9.2.1.4 CTH 734: Fragments of Rituals and Incantations 9.2.1.5 CTH 736: Incantations of zintuḫi- Women in the Temple of the Sun-deity 9.2.2 Luwian Texts 9.2.3 Hurrian Texts 9.3 Mythology 9.3.1 Anatolian Mythology 9.3.1.1 CTH 321: The Battle of the Storm-god Against the Serpent 9.3.1.2 Myths of the Disappearing Deity 9.3.1.3 CTH 328: Disappearance of the God of the Scribe Pirwa 9.3.1.4 Disappearance of the Storm-god of Kuliwišna 9.3.1.5 Fragments 9.3.2 Hurrian Mythology 9.3.2.1 CTH 343.1: The Kingship of LAMMA 9.3.2.2 CTH 348: The Ḫedammu myth 9.3.2.3 Other Myth Fragments 9.4 Magic Rituals from the Haus am Hang 10. Conclusion Bibliography Indices General Index Hittite Personal Names Index of Cited Texts During the first excavations in Lower City of Ḫattuša, conducted by H. Winckler and Th. Makridi in 1907, Makridi discovered a palace built east of the main Temple. The building was later named Haus am Hang (House on the Slope, HaH) because it leaned on the terraces leading up to the royal palace on Büyükkale. Several fragments of clay tablets in cuneiform script were discovered within and around the building during this period and in the following archaeological investigations until the 1960s. These text fragments exemplified the various text typologies produced by Hittite scribes. Giulia Torri's research focuses on this collection of texts in search of the original criteria for its organization inside the building and provides a new approach in outlining the cultural environment in which the Hittite texts were produced: As a first step, the range of information about the discovery and the find-spots of the fragments is analyzed and contextualised (Part I). In the second part the texts, classified according to their content as administrative texts, chancellery texts, and texts of the scribal tradition, are collected, studied, and compared with their duplicate versions from other locations, with the aim of showing how the Hittite scribes composed and preserved them in this area of the Lower City (Part II)