HITTITE HISTORY. The Hittites were a people of Indo-European origin who entered Asia Minor probably before or around 2000 BC. C. and in the later period it became one of the major powers of the ANE.
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A. The name “Hittite”
B. Geography
C. Form of government
D. Excavations and discoveries
E. Hittite history
F. Economy
G. Languages
H. Religion
I. Literature
J.Culture
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A. The name “Hittite”
The name is derived from the indigenous ḫatti, while the modern designation is based on the Hebrew ḥēt/ḥittı̄. In ancient Assyrian texts, ḫatti is used as a geographical term for (central) Anatolia and is therefore not a demonym. At that time (19th to 18th centuries BC), Ḫattuš was the name of the later Hittite capital, where there was an Assyrian trading post. (In the Hittite language, the city’s name becomes a stem a, giving the well-known Ḫattuša.) During the New Kingdom or Empire (from about 1425 to 1180 BC), in addition to the expressions “the land” or “the people of Ḫattuša, -The name Ḫattuša was only used as a demonym. Since the end of the second millennium, Assyrian texts use the term ḫatť (Hittite) generally in a pejorative sense, in a way that corresponds to the term ḥēt / ḥittı̄ in the last books of the OT.
Numerous passages in the Old Testament refer to the Hittites as part of the original population of Canaan or even as having constituted it. It is likely that the references to the Hittites in the books of the Pentateuch reflect the Canaanite and Hebrew traditions regarding the political reality of the Hittite state during the stage of the old Hittite kingdom or the early phase of the Empire period. References in later books (1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, 1 Chronicles) generally refer to the symbiosis of the Neo-Hittite and Aramean states in regions further north, as well as individuals from the north. From a Hittological point of view, Palestine does not belong to those countries that once belonged to the Hittite sphere of influence. However, this does not exclude that, in isolated cases, individuals or even groups have crossed the border that separated the Hittites from the Egyptian sphere of influence. See also HITTITE IN THE OT.
B. Geography
The geography of Hittite Asia Minor is still a highly controversial area of Hittology. In the SE was Kizzuwatna, comprising sections of the later Roman provinces of Cilicia and Cappadocia. In the NW, later known as Paphlagonia, was Palā. In W and SW Asia Minor was Luwiya (from ca. 1400 BCE ONwards called Arzawa).
C. Form of government
It has been postulated that an Indo-European trait can be discerned in the character of the Hittite kingship, which was originally less absolutist and despotic than elsewhere in the ANE, and in the position of authority held by the pangus, or council of able people. (?) Men. There was a clear relationship between the Hittite queen and the sun goddess of Arinna, the main female figure in her pantheon, while in a religious text which, as far as its content is concerned, comes from the time of the old Hittite, the Hittite king -The governor- of the storm god, the most important male figure in his pantheon. According to Hittite terminology, the Hittite kings “became gods” when they died. It would seem that in the XIII century a. C. the Hittite king and queen were assimilated, to an extraordinary degree, to the gods, whom they seem to have represented on earth and with whom they may have identified after death.
The Hittites formed what was essentially a federally organized state that during the New Kingdom or Empire was second only to Egypt in the BCE. At first the kingdom manifested certain feudal features, but gradually became a state ruled by officials.
D. Excavations and discoveries
The existence of the Hittite kingdom during the 2d millennium BC and the subsequent continuity of Hittite traditions in the so-called Neo-Hittite states in the region near modern Kayseri, SE Anatolia, and N Syria in the period from 1180 to 700 BC are shaped been gradually rebuilt as a result of numerous archaeological excavations. In 1834, the first surface exploration resulted in the discovery by Frenchman C. Texier of the extensive ruins of Boghazköy/Boǧazkale about 150 km E of Ankara, and the nearby Yazɩlɩkaya rock sanctuary. In 1905, the German Assyriologist H. Winckler visited the site for the first time, and regular excavation work began in 1906 and continued in 1907, 1911 and 1912. After a long hiatus as a result of the First World War and its aftermath, excavation work was resumed in 1905. 1931 by the German prehistorian K. Bittel. The same thing happened in 1952 after World War II, but work was eventually resumed and is still going on.
Since the beginning of the excavations in Boghazköy, large quantities of clay tablets have been found near the great Temple I in the lower city, in Büyükkale, the citadel, the Palace of the Hittite “Great Kings” and the so-called “House on the Slope”. .” The presence of Akkadian and Sumerian texts among the tablet collections was very quickly discerned. Soon, too, a tentative reconstruction of the succession of Hittite kings during the New Kingdom period (ca. 1425-1180 BC) was formulated, and only later did it become clear that the texts are predominantly administrative and religious in character. For some periods of Hittite history, the texts reveal a surprisingly clear picture of how the upper stratum of the Hittite population lived and worked. Written on clay tablets in an adapted version of the cuneiform writing system used in Mesopotamia, the texts comprise a variety of genres: royal inscriptions, religious documents, diplomatic correspondence, and treaties.
Hittite hieroglyphic writing had previously been rediscovered. This writing system, typologically affiliated (like a syllabary) with cuneiform writing, but bearing a closer resemblance to pictography in its sign forms, was especially used (from the late 18th and 17th centuries?) for documents officers. Numerous seals and seal impressions along with longer or shorter texts inscribed on (natural) stone have been preserved, mostly dating from the late 14th and 13th centuries BC. Statements on clay tablets reveal that this type of writing was also used for lower administrative purposes within the palace, temple, and army, and in these contexts it was inscribed on wax-covered wooden tablets. Hieroglyphic writing and wax as writing material were probably used by broader layers of the population, and continued to be used in the period of the Neo-Hittite states, from about 1180 to 700 BC Stone, lead, and probably wood continued to to use as writing material. The first example was discovered at Hama(th) in Syria in 1812 by the Swiss explorer JL Burckhardt, it was published in 1822, and rediscovered along with other examples in 1870.
Turkish archaeologists have already closely participated in the first excavations in the Hittite capital. A second major site in the central region within the bend of the Halys River, Alaca Höyük (1907, 1935, and 1937-39), was excavated solely by Turkish scholars. German archaeologists sponsored by American institutions excavated Alişar (=Ankuwa?) in 1927-1932. Both sites have proven to be especially important for earlier periods of Hittite history. However, the main developments in the field of Hittite archeology since World War II are undoubtedly the Turkish excavations at Inandɩk, led by R. Temizer and K. Balkan (1966-1968). There they discovered an important ancient Hittite temple, a relief vase of exceptional importance, and a donation deed (published by Balkan in 1973). Since 1973, the Turks have been conducting excavations at Maşat led by T. Özgüç and S. Alp. A large palace dating from the beginning of the Empire period was excavated in Maşat and an important local archive of 125 letters on 94 clay tablets, 16 lists and 1 oracle text was found. These two excavations filled important gaps in the archaeological documentation of Ḫattuša, while the Maşat letters, when finally published, will prove to be of great historical, linguistic and palaeographic importance. The period in question, the last decades before the accession of Suppiluliumas I (ca. 1350-1325 BC), is rather poorly documented in the collections of texts from the Hittite capital.
During the early stage of hieroglyphic writing study and again since 1974, English scholars in particular have been intensely occupied with this Anatolian writing method. Between 1872 and 1884 and based on the found points of the hieroglyphic writing, W. Wright and A Sayce managed to draw an approximate map of the extension of the Hittite Empire or New Kingdom. The places found are scattered over a wide area, from the Sipylos inscription near Smyrna (= Izmir) on the west coast, through Boghazköy in the heart of Turkey, and to Carchemish (= Çerablus) on the Turkish-Syrian border near of the Euphrates. (after Boghazköy, the largest tell in the whole country; English excavations in 1878, 1881, 1911-14 and 1920). BC ) and the OT.
The discovery of the so-called Arzawa letters in the Amarna Archive (1887) led to the conjecture that, in view of the two writing systems, cuneiform and hieroglyphics, in use there, Boghazköy must have been the capital of the Kingdom of Arzawa. . Arzawa is now known to be located on the southwestern coast of Turkey. Only after the work of H. Winckler and the other German and Turkish researchers in Boghazköy and after the decipherment (or rather analysis) of the Hittite cuneiform script by the Czech scholar B. Hrozný (1915-17; the cuneiform already had been deciphered, so that the script could be read) if it was conclusively established that the site represented Ḫattuša, the Hittite capital, and that a new branch of the Indo-European language family had been discovered. In 1926, Swiss scholar EO Forrer made available the most important historical text material for both the old Hittite kingdom (17th-15th centuries BC) and the Empire period (ca. 1425-1180 BC). In about 1952 paleographic research began to advance with the work of the American scholar HG Güterbock and the German epigrapher H. Otten. They were distinguished as such specific forms of signs widely used during the Old Hittite period and the first half of the Empire period, making…