Hittites

I

Introduction

Hittites (Hebrew Hittim), ancient people of Asia Minor and the Middle East, inhabiting the land of Hatti on the central plateau of what is now Anatolia, Turkey, and some areas of northern Syria. The Hittites, whose origin is unknown, spoke an Indo-European language. They invaded the region, which became known as Hatti, about 1900 bc and imposed their language, culture, and rule on the earlier inhabitants, a people speaking a non-Indo-European agglutinative language. The first town settled by the Hittites was Nesa, near present-day Kayseri, Turkey. Shortly after 1800 BC they conquered the town of Hattusas, near the site of present-day Boğazkale. Nothing more is known of Hittite history until, in the 17th century bc, the so-called Old Hittite Kingdom was founded by the Hittite leader Labarna (reigned about 1680-1650 bc), or Tabarna, and Hattusas became its capital. Labarna conquered nearly all of central Anatolia and extended his rule to the sea. His successors extended Hittite conquests into northern Syria. Mursili I (reigned about 1620-1590 bc), the second ruler after Labarna, conquered what is now Ḩalab (Aleppo), Syria, and raided Babylon about 1595 BC. Mursili’s assassination was followed by a period of internal strife and external weakness that ended during the reign of King Telipinu (reigned about 1525-1500 bc). To ensure the stability of the kingdom, he issued strict rules governing the royal succession. The law code may also have been compiled during his reign. Of Telipinu’s successors only the names are known.

II

The New Hittite Kingdom

About 1450 BC the so-called New Hittite Kingdom was founded. One of its most important members, the royal prince Suppiluliuma (reigned about 1380-1346 bc), usurped the throne during a period of foreign invasions. After liberating his country and defeating his main enemy, the kingdom of Mitanni in northern Mesopotamia, he led his armies farther into Syria. There his conquests were made easier by a weakening of Egyptian power during the reign of the pharaoh Amenhotep IV, or Akhenaton. Thus the Hittite Kingdom under Suppiluliuma became a great empire rivaling the power of Egypt, Babylonia, and Assyria. After the death of Suppiluliuma, the Hittites were largely able to maintain their empire, although only by constant warfare. During the 15th and 14th centuries bc their holdings extended westward to the Aegean Sea, eastward into Armenia, southeastward into upper Mesopotamia, and southward into Syria as far as present-day Lebanon.

During the last half of the 14th century bc, the Hittites continued to come into frequent conflict with Egypt. The two great powers struggled for control of Syria until a battle was fought in Kadesh, Syria, between the Hittite king Muwatalli (reigned about 1315-1296 bc) and the Egyptian pharaoh Ramses II. Although Ramses claimed a great victory, the Hittites continued to maintain their hold on Syria. The Hittite king Hattusili III (reigned about 1289-1265 bc) concluded a treaty of peace and alliance with Ramses years later and subsequently gave him his daughter in marriage. Thereafter, relations between the Hittites and Egyptians remained friendly until the Hittite Empire fell shortly after 1200 bc to invaders called the Sea Peoples in Egyptian records.

III

Hittite City-States

The downfall of the empire was followed by confusion and conflict. Subsequently a number of Hittite city-states, the most famous of which was Carchemish, emerged in southeastern Anatolia and northern Syria. These states were peopled by an intermingled ethnic group, called Syro-Hittites, consisting primarily of the Hittites, of peoples from the former Hittite Empire, and the previous inhabitants of the two areas. The Syro-Hittite rulers used the Luwian language, in which hieroglyphics were employed for writing. Some of these city-states were conquered in the 10th century bc by the Aramaeans. Even after it was conquered, all of Syria was still called Hatti by the Assyrians. Both the city-states that were conquered by the Aramaeans and those that remained independent finally were made provinces of the Assyrian Empire under Sargon II about 715 bc.

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IV

Early Records and Translations

The primary sources of information about the Hittites came from Egyptian records, notably those of the 19th Dynasty, and from certain passages in the Bible. The earliest of these passages, calling the Hittites “Sons of Heth,” possibly refers to the period of the Hittite Kingdom. Later passages allude to the Syro-Hittites.

In 1906 the royal archives of the Hittites themselves were discovered in excavations at Boğazkale. These discoveries cast doubt on many items of information gathered from Egyptian sources. For example, certain military engagements were mentioned as victories for the Hittites, whereas the Egyptian records identify the engagements as Hittite defeats. The importance of the discovery is that the archives made it possible to decipher the Hittite language, thus revealing information about previously unknown aspects of the culture, such as political organization, legislation, religion, and literature.

Most of the texts found in the archives were written in the Hittite language, but treaties and state letters were written in Akkadian, the international language of the period. Other texts were written in the Hurrian language of southeastern Anatolia and northern Mesopotamia, a language unrelated to any known linguistic group. The Hittites used the cuneiform system of writing taken from the Babylonians, but they also employed a system of hieroglyphs to inscribe a language closely related to Hittite, possibly a Luwian dialect. Although the hieroglyphs were used during the period of the empire, most inscriptions belong to the period after its downfall. The literature of the Hittites was highly developed, particularly in the form of historical records and stories.

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