On a large, flat-faced rock block on the southern slopes of Kızıldağ, the Hittite king Hartapus is carved seated on his throne, facing right and looking out over Hotamış Gölü. He wears a long robe and holds a libation vessel in his right hand and a staff in his left; the figure is incised into the rock.
The mountain, between Süleymanhacı Köyü in Karaman's central district and the Adakale villages of Çumra, holds more than this relief. On Kızıldağ there are also the ruins of an oval fortress, Hittite sacred places and hieroglyphic inscriptions, and further inscriptions and carved footprint motifs around the relief.
When to go
- Climate
- Across Karaman as a whole, monthly mean temperatures run from 0.7 °C in January to 23.5 °C in July; the mean stays between 15 and 25 °C in May, June, July, August and September; rainfall is heaviest in December (47 mm) and lightest in August (6 mm). Long-term means for 1951-2025 from the Turkish State Meteorological Service (MGM).
