Tudhaliya IV Treaty

On 20 July 1986, a bronze tablet was found by archaeologists restoring the inside of the Hittite wall at Yerkapi. It was in a pit some 30 cm beneath the plaster street level, filled with clay in which the plate was horizontally embedded. 35.l0 x 23.5 cm, 8-10 mm thick, weighing 5 kg. In the corners on the small side are two circular holes 1.8 cm in diameter, through which formerly ran a bronze chain 31 cm long consisting of 13 pieces. Each side of the plate was divided into two columns, each having about 10 lines, except for column IV, which is less closely written with characters about 3 mm. high. The tablet decleares, “This (treaty) was made into seven tablets and sealed with the seals of the sun-goddess Arinna and the storm-god of Hatti. One tablet was placed before the sun-goddess of Arinna, one before the storm-god of Hatti, one before the goddess Lelwani, one before the goddess Hebat of Kizzuwatna, one before the storm-god of Lightning, and one in the king’s house before the god Zithariya. And Karunta, king of Tarhuntassa keeps one in his house.”   The cuneiform text, comprising a treaty between Tudhaliya IV of Hatti (ca. 1260-1240 BC) and his cousin, Kurunta of Tarhuntassa, was published in German in 1988 and in English in 1995. It gives the genealogy of Tudkhalia, historical precedents, and religious dimensions of the treaty. The plaque resides in the Museum of Anatolian Civilisations in Ankara, Turkey.