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As early as 1900 BC, the Hittites controlled a large kingdom in Anatolia (modern-day Turkey). They ruled from the city of Hattusas, near modern-day Boghazkoy. Between 1800 and 1680 BC, the Hittite kingdom expanded its lands greatly. By 1595 BC, it was strong enough to sack Babylon, thus ending the dynasty of Hammurabi. The Hittites retired to their lands, leaving Babylon in the hands of the neighboring Kassites. 20
The Hittites imposed their political and social organization on their dominions in the Anatolian interior and northern Syria, where the indigenous peasantry supported the Hittite warrior caste with rents, services, and taxes. In time the Hittites won reputations as merchants and statesmen who schooled the ancient Middle East in both commerce and diplomacy. The Hittite Empire achieved the zenith of its political power and cultural accomplishment in the fourteenth and thirteenth centuries B.C., but the state collapsed after 1200 B.C. when the Phrygians, clients of the Hittites, rebelled and burned Hattusas. 16
Historically, Hittite is the name given to a kingdom in central Asia Minor, which in 2nd millenium B.C. was most famous for its reign over Asia Minor and Mesopotamia (which is today, all of central, eastern and southern Turkey and northern Syria). People from various ethnic and linguistic backgrounds lived in this kingdom, but the language most spoken was an Indo-European one called nasili. As times changed, so did the name of this language, today referred to as Hittite (Gurney, 1990). 43
Why did the Hittites collapse? Historians are not entirely sure, since this period is not fully documented by the Hittites themselves. Most believe that as the empire grew, it outreached its resources and lost its grip on its outlying conquests. As it did, internal civil wars and clashes between members of the royal family led to an increasingly divided state. By 1160 B.C., the empire was in ruins. The Hittites themselves were dispersed throughout the region, and their culture and history was lost as time went on. They would be all but forgotten until the late 1800s, when archaeologists in Turkey discovered various artifacts and ruins that told the Hittite story and led to a rediscovery of their civilization. 38
While ostensibly not a book about the Hittites per se, if you read Troy and Homer: Towards a Solution of an Old Mystery by Latacz you will find a lot of relevant information about the Hittite empire, since some presume that Ilium was a semi-vassal state of the Hittite king. Lots of current scholarship about Troy references the Hittites, actually. 41
The DVD is presented in 1.33:1 full-screen with a stereo mix and looks and sounds acceptable. Sadly, there are no extras. A timeline of Hittite history or a gallery of Hittite artifacts would have been welcome. 38
Hittite sculpture in the round is extremely rare. It is uncertain whether this is the cult figure of a god or a royal worshipper-figure like the nearby standing figure of Gudea, but it is probably the latter. Related images appear on the large Hittite vase in the adjacent case. 18
All students need to write a book report (6 pp.). The book should not be a general overview of Hittite history and culture but rather a detail study or collection of detail studies. 15
The former has a chapter on Hittite religion. The latter goes into some detail on correspondences between Hittite and other eastern texts and Greek texts like the Iliad. 41
Hittite is the oldest attested Indo-European language and therefore of paramount importance for comparative Indo-European linguistics. This book fills this gap by, for the first time, providing an etymological dictionary of the entire Hittite lexicon of Indo-European origin in which all words are treated in a coherent way. Furthermore, it provides a thorough description of the synchronic phonological system of Hittite as well as a comprehensive study of the Hittite historical morphology and phonology. The result is a monumental handbook that will form an indispensable tool for Indo-Europeanists and Hittitologists alike. 23
The Hittites were the very first people to gain perfection in the craft of iron smelting, and they were the only ones able to do so for a number of centuries. Iron was cheap to produce and the Hittites armed themselves with superior weapons and defeated their enemies (Lehmann, 1975). 43
The last of their great cities, Carchemesh was captured by the Assyrians in 717 BC. Their people contined living in small discrete holdings in Central and southeastern Anatolia and their language and culture remained as late as the 5th century AD (Lehmann, 1975). 43
Catal Huyuk dates from around 7000 bce. It is described as one of the most sophisticated settlements formed after a radical transformation from a hunter gatherer to a settled agrarian way of life. It is the first location in which cattle were domesticated and the site of the world’s earliest murals. Although the community consisted of 3000 to 8000 people there is no known central system of management here. The site is known for its unique art which gives an insight into the beliefs of the people of the time. There are many parallels between Catal Huyuk and the peoples who settled on Crete in the Neolithic period and founded the astonishing Goddess culture there that flourished in the Bronze Age. 40
Soon a lot of scholars began to complete disregard the Scripture as an authentic account of events and started considering it unhistorical. They began to consider biblical history the same as ancient Greek and Roman myths. The Bible came to be viewed by skeptics as a collection of myths, rather than anything with authenticity and verifiability. Hence, in the same vein, even though the Bible refers to the great Hittite Empire more than 40 times, scholars did not believe in the existence of such a kingdom as no archaeological evidence had ever been found in its proof (Archeologists are digging up bible stories). 43
- atheism.about.com
- www.thefreelibrary.com
- www.lib.umt.edu
- www.questia.com
- www.termpapergenie.com
- www.dvdverdict.com
- ro.librarything.com
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- iwa.univie.ac.at
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- www.brill.nl
