Have you ever been in a situation where you are between a fight with two other of your friends? If you know how that feels, you can compare with the Hittites pretty easily.
Unfortunately for the Hittites, they didn't have the best location for their settlement. The Hittites found themselves in an unstable political position when they were on the boundary between two empires that weren't exactly best friends. The result? The Hittites tunneled down for safety. The place was not only inhabited by the Hittites. At the early days of Christianity, Christians fled from Rome as a result of persecution. They excavated dwellings and monasteries.
Although the underground cities are great, people definitely don't spend all their time down there. However, when under attack, people would flee to their basements. The underground city was made for defense. Traps were set up everywhere, and the tunnels made by the Christians were narrow, so invaders could be easily taken.
The jagged stony landscape and carved underground dwellings that go harmoniously with the setting is beautiful in so many ways, as in the landscape itself and the history. However, what is the most intriguing, and well.. I can still describe as beautiful, is the way of survival these Hittites have chosen.
If you were the Hittites, how would you escape that situation? Would you prefer to live on land or underground?
Honestly, I don't care where I live as long as it's suitable and safe. In their case, I think underground would be safer, except for you wouldn't get enough fresh air, but since the Hittites didn't spend all their time underground, then I guess.... I would choose to live underground. :P I loved the way how they put traps and made the passageways thinner in case they were under attack. I found some stuff about the underground cities and how they looked like. It seems like the underground cities were really dim and they had many passageways and turns. It reminds me of a maze, so cool! I also found that in 1963, a man was digging and found the city. It's located in central Anatolia, Turkey. Right? Do you know if the underground city is still there today?
ReplyDeleteI believe that it is still here today, since they found it, and it is quite...massive. Anyways, yeah, I agree that it was pretty cool that they put those traps and narrow passages. It seems like a labyrinth that only the settlers know how to get through.
DeleteIf I were the Hittites I would prefer to live underground for most of my time. I think living underground would be the safest place. My reason for that is that I think the underground cities would have the best defense system. We would be able to use the narrow tunnels to easily stop an invasion. If you were in this situation what would you do Marie?
ReplyDeleteIf I was in this situation, I honestly wouldn't think: "Let's build an underground city that shall defend us from invaders with traps and narrow passage ways." I would try to move the settlement away from the border zone to somewhere that seems more safe, and a good defensive area, like on top of a hill so you can see invaders and stop them easily, like by using a bow.
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