The Hittites
Eric Cruciani
Period 1
The Hittites, who spoke an Indo-European, dominated much of Anatolia and neighboring regions between about 1650 and 1200 B.C.This empire reached its height during the mid-14th century BC under Suppiluliuma I, when it encompassed an area that included most of Asia Minor as well as parts of the northern Levant and Upper Mesopotamia. Sometime around 1650 B.C., under Hattushili I, the city of Hattusha was established as the Hittite capital. Situated on a plateau, Hattusha was heavily fortified over time with elaborate defensive walls and gateways. After c. 1180 BC, the empire came to an end during the Bronze Age collapse, splintering into several independent "Neo-Hittite" city-states, some of which survived until the 8th century BC.
The Hittite language was a member of the Iranian or Anatolian branch of the Indo-European language family. They referred to their native land as Hatti. The conventional name "Hittites" is due to their initial identification with the Biblical Hittites in 19th century archaeology.
Despite the use of Hatti for their core territory, the Hittites should be distinguished from the Hattians, an earlier people who inhabited the same region and spoke a language possibly in the Northwest Caucasian languages group known as Hattic
The Hittite military made successful use of chariots. Although belonging to the Bronze Age, they were the experts when it came to iron working, developing the manufacture of iron artifacts from as early as the 18th century BC, when the "man of Burushanda"'s gift of an iron throne and iron sceptre to the Kaneshite disintegrated into several independent "Neo-Hittite" city-states, some of which survived until as late as the 8th century BC. The history of the Hittite civilization is known mostly from cuneiform texts found in the area of their kingdom, and from diplomatic and commercial correspondence found in various archives in Egypt and the Middle East.
Period 1
The Hittites, who spoke an Indo-European, dominated much of Anatolia and neighboring regions between about 1650 and 1200 B.C.This empire reached its height during the mid-14th century BC under Suppiluliuma I, when it encompassed an area that included most of Asia Minor as well as parts of the northern Levant and Upper Mesopotamia. Sometime around 1650 B.C., under Hattushili I, the city of Hattusha was established as the Hittite capital. Situated on a plateau, Hattusha was heavily fortified over time with elaborate defensive walls and gateways. After c. 1180 BC, the empire came to an end during the Bronze Age collapse, splintering into several independent "Neo-Hittite" city-states, some of which survived until the 8th century BC.
The Hittite language was a member of the Iranian or Anatolian branch of the Indo-European language family. They referred to their native land as Hatti. The conventional name "Hittites" is due to their initial identification with the Biblical Hittites in 19th century archaeology.
Despite the use of Hatti for their core territory, the Hittites should be distinguished from the Hattians, an earlier people who inhabited the same region and spoke a language possibly in the Northwest Caucasian languages group known as Hattic
The Hittite military made successful use of chariots. Although belonging to the Bronze Age, they were the experts when it came to iron working, developing the manufacture of iron artifacts from as early as the 18th century BC, when the "man of Burushanda"'s gift of an iron throne and iron sceptre to the Kaneshite disintegrated into several independent "Neo-Hittite" city-states, some of which survived until as late as the 8th century BC. The history of the Hittite civilization is known mostly from cuneiform texts found in the area of their kingdom, and from diplomatic and commercial correspondence found in various archives in Egypt and the Middle East.