The Sun Disc
The symbol of Ankara University is the Sun Disc. This symbol is commonly regarded as belonging to the Hittite civilization and usually connotes Ankara and Anatolia.
After its discovery, it was first used as its symbol by the Faculty of Humanities, and later was adopted as the symbol of Ankara University after its establishment. Prof. Dr. Aykut Çınaroğlu, a retired member of the Department of Protohistory & Pre-Asia within the Faculty of Humanities explains that the Sun Disc was unearthed during the excavations that were started in 1935 under the direction of Atatürk, and in fact the symbol belongs to the Hattis from the pre-Hittite period: “The Sun Disc is made of bronze, and was commonly used over 4250 years ago in religious as well as in other ceremonies. Just as it was used by the Ottoman Janissary Band, it was used to produce a sound when it was rattled, and this would affect the crowd by making them attentive. The circle which forms the perimeter of the disc represents either the earth or the sun. At the bottom, there are two horn-like protrusions which in fact are not representative of horns, although there is no clear agreement as to what they represent. The protrusions at the top, on the other hand represent fecundity, and the procreation of nature. The birds, also symbolize fecundity and the freedom of nature. The fact that this was a sun disc was understood after the discovery of a similar artifact shaped like the sun and beaming light, and all similar artifacts were called sun discs thereafter.”
Prof. Dr. Çınaroğlu stresses the point that the disc is definitely not a Hittite artifact. He explains that the disc belongs to the earliest of Anatolian civilizations whose name is known, the Hattis, and it is wrongly interpreted as being Hittite. According to Prof. Çınaroğlu, the sun disc was made and used approximately 300 years before the arrival of the Hittites in Anatolia. The Hattis were the most ancient of people speaking an Asiatic language in Anatolia, a group which also has influenced the Turkish language. Prof. Çınaroğlu says that the sun disc was discovered inside a tomb of a Hatti chieftain in Alacahöyük and is to be found nowhere else but Alacahöyük, and also that the Hatti kings were buried in funeral ceremonies typically with 4-5 such symbols of similar design.