The Green Stone of Hattusa

The Green Stone of Hattusa is one of the most intriguing and enigmatic objects from the Hittite capital, largely because of how little we can say about it with certainty. This unusual polished block of green rock stands apart from the city’s monumental architecture, inscribed tablets, and sculptural reliefs. Yet, despite more than a century of archaeological study, its original purpose remains unresolved.

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Hattusa, located near the modern village of Boğazköy in the Turkish province of Çorum, was one of the most powerful cities of the Late Bronze Age, serving as the capital of the Hittite Empire from roughly 1650 BCE until around 1200 BCE. The city’s ruins include massive fortifications, temples, palaces, and archives of cuneiform tablets that document the empire’s political, religious, and economic life.

Within this ancient city, a feature known as the Great Temple (often called Temple 1 by archaeologists) was the centre of religious ritual, likely dedicated to the Storm-god Tarḫunna and the Sun-goddess Arinna, two of the Hittites’ principal deities. Excavations have revealed the temple’s foundations, storerooms, and ritual installations.

The Green Stone was found within a small chamber off the street leading from the temple’s gateway. The stone is a roughly cubic block, with sides measuring about 69 cm and an estimated weight of about 1,000 kilograms. The hard, green-hued stone is probably a form of nephrite or serpentinite, which is a dark green mineral form of jade commonly found in this region of Turkey.

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Unlike the surrounding architectural stones made primarily of limestone, and the many inscribed objects found across the site, the Green Stone bears no inscriptions, iconography, or textual labels. This absence of writing is what makes the Green Stone mysterious.

Scholars have proposed several hypotheses, none of which can be confirmed due to the lack of corroborating textual evidence. Some archaeologists suggest that its placement in a temple and its polished form indicate a ritual or cultic purpose, possibly serving as an altar or a sacred object toward which offerings were made. Another theory is that the stone may have originally served as a base or pedestal for a lost statue of a deity. The stone might also have functioned as a symbolic throne or seat used in religious rites or royal ceremonies within the temple precincts.

In local folklore, the Green Stone is often called a “wish stone” with powers to bestow fertility and wealth to anyone who touches it. However, such stories and legends are only a modern popular imagination.

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