North gate lion from Karatepe

Statue from the Late Hittite fortress of Karatepe (also known as Aslantaş) in the province of Osmaniye. The site was first discovered by Helmut Bossert and Halet Çambel in 1946. The fortress was founded in the 8th century BC by Azatiwata, ruler of the plain of Adana. Two monumental T shaped gate-houses, flanked by high towers, gave access to the citadel. An entrance passage between two towers led up to a double-leafed wooden gate, which swung on basalt pivot-stones, from there to two lateral chambers and further on into the citadel. These are the reliefs from inner walls of the gate-houses that were also adorned with sculptures of lions and sphinxes, inscriptions and reliefs, depicting cultural, mythological and daily-life scenes carved on blocks of basalt. A bilingual text in Phoenician and hieroglyphic Luwian was inscribed on slabs of each gate and a third time in Phoenician on the statue, constituting the key for the final decipherment of the Hieroglyphs, (known in Anatolia since the 2nd millenium BC), resembling the famous Rosetta Stone.60x60 mm, fil