During the Bronze Age the Hittites built a mighty empire that ruled Anatolia, when their kings conquered and formed alliances to secure tin trade routes.
Described as the 'ancestor' of Mediterranean mosaics, an assembly of over 3,000 stones was discovered in the remains of a 15th century BC Hittite temple, 700 years before the oldest known mosaics of ancient Greece. The 3,500-year-old paving stones, in natural shades of beige, red and black, are arranged in triangles and curves, shedding light into the daily lives of the Bronze Age Hittites.