Tourists visit the Celsius Library in the ancient city of Ephesus near Izmir in the western Aegean region, Turkey. [Photo by Sertac Kayar/Reuters]

It was during these great battles that the Hittites developed the lightest and fastest chariots in the world. Egyptians borrowed this military vehicle from the Hittites, according to scientists.

The city of Hattusha was discovered in the late 1830s and excavated in early 1900s, along with tens of thousands of clay cuneiform tablets which documented much of the life of the Hittite Empire.

In 1917, two sphinxes were removed from the southern gate of the city and taken to Germany for restoration. One well-preserved sphinx was returned to Istanbul in 1927 and put on display in the Istanbul Archeology Museum.

The other sphinx, however, was not returned until 2011.

Both sphinxes are now on display at the museum outside the Hattusha ruins, waiting for many more visitors to discover the illustrious city.