Hattusas - Small chamber
The most recent research suggests that the small chamber served both as a funerary temple and, after his death, as a shrine to King Tuthaliya IV. Guarded by a pair of winged demons with lions' heads, the 18m/59ft-long side chamber, varying in width between 2.5 and 4m/8 and 13ft, is entered via a slightly raised passageway leading through a cleft in the rock.
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The impression conveyed is of entering a narrow gallery, its smooth walls carved with four separate and thematically unconnected reliefs. Immediately inside, near a curve in the east wall, is a repeat of the Tuthaliya IV cartouche from the main chamber. This is followed by the so-called "sword god", a relief of a great sword with a human head for the pommel and four lions for the hilt (possibly based on Nergal, the Mesopotamian god of the underworld).
On the wall opposite are "the Twelve Gods", a simple frieze of stereotyped male divinities similar to those of the processional relief in the large chamber. Finally, on the east wall, is seen the most striking of the four reliefs, showing the god Sharrumma embracing King Tuthaliya. The accompanying inscriptions pay homage to the king as a heroic figure, deified as a mountain god and evidently enjoying divine protection. Some 2m/6.5ft from the north wall is a limestone pedestal on which stood a statue of Tuthaliya, erected after the king's death by his son Shuppiluliuma II. Remains of the statue, found in the village of Yekbaz, indicate it was over 3m/10ft tall. The niches in the walls are thought to have been for cremation urns.
On the wall opposite are "the Twelve Gods", a simple frieze of stereotyped male divinities similar to those of the processional relief in the large chamber. Finally, on the east wall, is seen the most striking of the four reliefs, showing the god Sharrumma embracing King Tuthaliya. The accompanying inscriptions pay homage to the king as a heroic figure, deified as a mountain god and evidently enjoying divine protection. Some 2m/6.5ft from the north wall is a limestone pedestal on which stood a statue of Tuthaliya, erected after the king's death by his son Shuppiluliuma II. Remains of the statue, found in the village of Yekbaz, indicate it was over 3m/10ft tall. The niches in the walls are thought to have been for cremation urns.
