The Hattusa Green Stone is a roughly cubic block of nephrite standing in the remains of the Great Temple at Hattusa, capital of the Hittites in the late Bronze Age. Now on the hill above Boğazkale, in the Turkish Province of Corum, Hattusa is a World Heritage Site.
The original purpose of the stone is unknown, but it is a tourist attraction, as it has a magical reputation for granting wishes.
The remains of at least thirty-one temples survive at Hattusa, which itself covers some four hundred acres (162 hectares). One of these, called by archaeologists "the Great Temple" and "Temple 1", stands on a raised platform and measures 215 by 140 feet (65 by 42 metres).[1][2] This is believed to have been for the worship of the Sun-goddess and the Storm-god Tarḫunna, due to their importance to the Hittites and the stone bases of statues which survive. The Green Stone was found in a small room of the temple at the southern end of the street leading from the gateway. It remains there, open to the weather.[2][3] By comparison with the door sills, the stone now sits below ground level, suggesting that this was not its original position.[4]
A block of nephrite, a dark green mineral which is common in the region, and dressed into the form of a cube, the Green Stone is supposed to have had some religious use or purpose, but what it may have been is unknown.[1] The suggestion has been made that it may have been merely the base of a statue.[5] However, the stone is the only one of its kind found at Hattusa.[6]
Professor Andreas Schachner, director of archaeology at the site, commented in 2019 that he believed the stone had been used by the Hittites and all the civilizations which came after them, but why it was brought to the temple and what it was used for there remained to be discovered.[6][7]
The local inhabitants call the stone a "wish stone".[6] Its magical reputation and the mystery of its origins draw many tourists from Turkey and other countries to visit it every day.[8]
