Who the Hittites were
The Hittites were an Anatolian people who built a kingdom in the central plateau of what is now Turkey during the second millennium BCE. They are not a lost or mysterious people: they appear in Egyptian, Babylonian and Assyrian sources and in the Hebrew Bible, and modern research since the early twentieth century has recovered their language and history in considerable detail. The word “Hittite” is a modern convention drawn from the biblical term, while the Hittites called their land Hatti and their own language Nesili, the “language of Nesa.”
Their speech belonged to the Indo-European family, in the Anatolian branch. The Hittite elite seem to have arrived in Anatolia and mixed with an older local population, the Hattians, from whom they adopted many religious names and customs. How and when the Hittite speakers entered Anatolia is debated. Hittite names already appear in the records of the Kanesh merchant colonies of Assyrian traders in the nineteenth century BCE or so, which shows that Anatolia was well connected to Mesopotamia before a Hittite kingdom existed.
Three phases of the kingdom
Historians generally divide Hittite history into an Old Kingdom, a Middle Kingdom and a New Kingdom or Empire, though the boundaries are partly conventional and the dates are approximate.
- Old Kingdom (about 1650 to 1500 BCE). Hattusili I and his successor Mursili I extended Hittite power from central Anatolia into Syria. Mursili I raided Babylon around 1595 BCE according to the commonly used chronology. After his death the kingdom suffered a period of dynastic murder and weakness. The later king Telipinu issued an edict aiming to regulate succession.
- Middle Kingdom (about 1500 to 1400 BCE). A less documented period of limited power, with pressure from neighbours such as the Kaska peoples of the north and the state of Mitanni.
- New Kingdom or Empire (about 1400 to 1200 BCE). Under rulers such as Suppiluliuma I, Mursili II, Muwatalli II, Hattusili III and Tudhaliya IV, the Hittites controlled much of Anatolia and northern Syria, with vassal states ruled by relatives or loyal kings.
Kings, queens and the state
The Hittite king was the chief priest, supreme judge and war leader, ruling in the name of the Storm God. At the same time, the early texts show that nobles and an assembly called the panku had a voice, and kings were bound by tradition. The queen, called the tawananna, held a prominent position of her own, and some queens, such as Puduhepa, wife of Hattusili III, took an active public role in diplomacy and religion.
Outside the centre, the empire relied on vassal treaties. A typical treaty begins with a history of relations between the Hittite king and the vassal, lists obligations and ends with divine witnesses and curses. This pattern has been compared by scholars with later Near Eastern treaty forms, and it shows a state that preferred negotiated obedience when possible.
A thousand gods
Hittite texts speak of “the thousand gods of Hatti.” The phrase reflects the fact that the Hittites incorporated the deities of the Hattians, the Hurrians, the Luwians and others into their official cult, partly as a way of keeping conquered peoples within the system. Prominent among them were the Storm God of Hatti (Tarhunna or Teshub in Hurrian form) and the Sun Goddess of Arinna, who is often regarded as the leading figure of the state religion.
Rituals were detailed and frequent, with offerings and festivals timed throughout the year, and the king travelled between cult centres to perform them. Parallels with the Sumerian pantheon and Mesopotamian ritual are visible, and some Mesopotamian myths and omen texts were translated or adapted in Hittite scribal schools. Texts also record oracle inquiries, in which priests asked the gods questions and interpreted signs, an approach comparable to the Babylonian omens known from further east.
The treaty with Egypt
The Hittites were one of the “great powers” of the Late Bronze Age, alongside Egypt, Babylonia, Mitanni and Assyria. Rivalry with Egypt for Syria led to a large battle at Kadesh around 1274 BCE under Muwatalli II and Ramesses II, and later to a treaty, concluded in about 1259 BCE between Hattusili III and Ramesses II. Versions survive in both Hittite clay and Egyptian stone, and it is often cited as one of the earliest well-documented peace treaties. It provided for non-aggression and mutual help, and was reinforced by a royal marriage.
The collapse around 1200 BCE
Around 1200 BCE the Hittite state came to an end. The capital Hattusa was abandoned, and the political structure of central Anatolia broke up. The cause is not settled. The suggestions made by scholars include a combination of famine, internal rivalry, pressure from the Kaska, disruption of trade, and the movements of peoples that affected much of the eastern Mediterranean at the end of the Bronze Age, sometimes grouped under the label of the Sea Peoples. Most researchers prefer a combination of factors.
Afterlife of the Hittite world
Hittite culture did not vanish overnight. In northern Syria and southeastern Anatolia a number of small states, usually called Neo-Hittite or Syro-Hittite, continued to use Luwian language and hieroglyphic script into the first millennium BCE. Their cities, such as Carchemish, were eventually absorbed by Assyria. Meanwhile in central Anatolia, Phrygian culture later became dominant. The Hittites left a legacy of archives that remain a main source for the Late Bronze Age Near East.