Karatepe-Aslantaş – Kadirli, Osmaniye
Karatepe-Aslantaş is a fortified Neo-Hittite citadel (8th c. BC) overlooking the Ceyhan valley. Its gates bear orthostat reliefs of hunting, banqueting, and processions, and the famous Phoenician–Hieroglyphic Luwian bilingual inscriptions (Azatiwada) crucial to deciphering Luwian. Built with basalt orthostats and mudbrick walls on stone socles, it guarded routes between Cilicia and inland Anatolia. Now an open-air museum within a national park.
Sources
- UNESCO Tentative List – https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/1404/
- Vikipedi – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karatepe_Aslantaş_Open-Air_Museum
- T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı – Karatepe-Aslantaş tanıtımı