Hittite open-air cult places and their relation to the community

Abstract

There are only two sites in ancient Ḫatti that can be confidently identified as open- air cult places and that are, directly or indirectly, related to festivals (EZEN[4]):2 Yazılıkaya and the Šuppitaššu complex.3 Eflatun Pınar might also be included in this group on the basis of its characteristics, iconography, pottery finds and indi- rect textual evidence. The three of them are located close to a settlement and are linked to it by means of a road, but who was allowed access to these cult places? Was it possible to enter them on a specific occasion, such as during a festival? If that is the case, was the community allowed to participate in the festival? This article organizes the available archaeological, iconographical and textual data to explore to what extent these questions can be answered at the present state of the research.