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A history of the Hittites including their cities, kings, art and contributions to civilization Rise and Fall of the Hittite Empire
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The Hittites A history of the Hittites including their cities, kings, art and contributions to civilization The Hittite
empire to c. 1180 BC Principal archaeological
sites of Anatolia and northern Syria to c. 1340 BC. It is possible that the
branch of the Hittite royal family that gained control in the 15th century BC
may have originated in Kizzuwadna. Although the dynastic names remained Hittite,
Hurrian names began to appear in the royal family. The profound penetration of
Hittite civilization by Hurrian ideas, which became pronounced in later times,
was initiated during this period. Texts previously assigned to the
late-13th-century kings Tudhaliyas (Tudkhaliash) IV and Arnuwandas III have been
shown to belong to the reigns of their predecessors Tudhaliyas II (or I) and
Arnuwandas I in the late 15th and early 14th centuries BC. Tudhaliyas II
conquered Arzawa and Assuwa (later Asia) in the west and in the southeast
captured and destroyed Aleppo, defeated Mitanni, and entered into an alliance
with Kizzuwadna, which he later incorporated into his kingdom. In the north,
however, access to the Black Sea was blocked by invasions of the Kaska (Kashku)
tribes, and this threat was to continue into the reigns of his
successors.Tudhaliyas II was succeeded by his son Arnuwandas I, who was under
attack from all directions: even Hattusas, the capital, was burned down. Arzawa
became independent; letters to its king have been found in the archives at Tell
el-Amarna in Egypt. Arnuwandas' son Tudhaliyas III seems to have spent most of
his reign campaigning to regain the lost territories. The Hittite king
Suppiluliumas I (Shuppiluliumash, Subbiluliuma) dominated the history of the
Middle East during the 14th century BC, although the dates of his reign are in
question. He was originally thought to have ascended the throne about 1380 and
to have reigned for roughly four decades, but some scholars now argue for a much
shorter reign, from about 1343 to either 1322 or 1318. The son of Tudhaliyas
III, in whose company he had gained military experience before ascending the
throne, Suppiluliumas spent the first few years of his reign consolidating the
Hittite homeland and improving the defenses of Hattusas; it may have been at
this time that the greatly extended circuit of city walls was built, enclosing
an area of more than 300 acres (120 hectares). He then applied himself to the
task of settling accounts with Mitanni, the principal enemy of his immediate
predecessors. After an abortive attempt to approach Syria by the conventional
route through the Taurus passes and Kizzuwadna, Suppiluliumas attempted a more
carefully prepared attack from the rear by way of Malatya and the Euphrates
valley. He met little resistance and was able to enter and sack the Mitannian
capital, Wassukkani (possibly located near the head of the Khabur River near
modern Diyarbakr). West of the Euphrates, most of the North Syrian cities
hastened to offer their submission. The king of Kadesh put up some resistance
but was defeated, and the Hittite armies penetrated southward, almost to
Damascus. The Egyptian allies of the Mitannian kingdom seem to have been
indifferent to its wholesale subjugation; under the apostate pharaoh Akhenaton (Amenhotep
IV; ruled c. 1353-36 BC) Egypt had temporarily lost interest in imperial
defense. Treaties made after this brilliant expedition show, for instance, that
Nuhassi (central Syria) and Amurru (including most of what is now Lebanon) and
such cities as Aleppo and Alalakh then became part of the Hittite dominions. It
is not easy to understand why Carchemish, which controlled the Euphrates
crossings, was allowed to retain its independence and Wassukkani, somewhere to
the east on the headwaters of the Khabur River, to remain untenanted. Suppiluliumas then returned
to his capital, leaving his son Telipinus, known as Telipinus the Priest, to
arrange the defense of the Syrian provinces. His task may have been complicated
by a new situation that had arisen in the remnants of the Mitannian state. The
Mitannian king, Tushratta, was assassinated, and his successor, King Artatama,
unwilling to place any further reliance on Egypt, turned to Assyria for an
alliance against the Hittites. Meanwhile, Suppiluliumas returned to complete his
conquest of Syria, capturing Carchemish after an eight-day siege. Telipinus now
became king of Aleppo and his brother, Piyasilis (Shar-Kushukh), king of
Carchemish. It remained only for Suppiluliumas to obtain control over the old
Mitannian capital at Wassukkani, which he did, installing a son of the murdered
Tushratta as vassal ruler of a buffer state between himself and the Assyrians. During this last campaign an incident occurred that illustrates the elevated status then accorded the Hittite king as a result of his conquests. While Suppiluliumas was encamped before Carchemish, a messenger arrived from the queen of Egypt with a proposal that he should send one of his sons to become her husband. Suppiluliumas agreed to her request and sent her one of his sons, but he was murdered when he reached Egypt. The identity of this queen is uncertain. She may have been Ankhesenamen (Ankhesenpaaten), the widow of Tutankhamen who was compelled to marry the ambitious courtier-priest Ay, thus legitimizing his usurpation of the throne. Alternatively, she may have been Meritaton, daughter of Akhenaton and widow of his successor Smenkhkare. Shortly afterward Suppiluliumas himself died of a pestilence. His eldest son and successor, Arnuwandas II, also died, and the throne descended to the young and inexperienced Mursilis II. The first Hittite misfortune
after the accession of Mursilis II was the loss of the small vassal kingdom
based on Wassukkani, the last remnant of the once-powerful Mitannian state. It
was invaded and occupied by the Assyrians under Ashur-uballit I (c. 1354-18 BC),
who thus was able to establish a frontier with Syria on the Euphrates.
Carchemish and Aleppo, however, remained loyal to the Hittites, enabling
Mursilis to face a new threat from his possessions in southwestern Anatolia.
Arzawa, with its satellites Mira, Kuwaliya, Hapalla, and the "Land of the River
Seha," rose in revolt. A detailed account survives of the two-year campaign in
which young Mursilis suppressed this insurrection, killing the Arzawan king and
installing Hittite governors as rulers of the several kingdoms. Meanwhile, a
threat from the north proved more difficult. The Kaska, who now inhabited the
remote mountain valleys between the Hittite homeland and the Black Sea, seem to
have been continually in revolt. Their tribal organization and guerrilla tactics
prevented the Hittites from conclusive conquest of the country, despite yearly
Hittite campaigns. Unrest in Kaska country seems also to have affected the
rather nebulous state of Azzi-Hayasa, a client kingdom farther to the east on
the upper Lycus River. Suppiluliumas had suffered a good deal of trouble from
these people early in his reign, and in the seventh year of Mursilis' reign they
again revolted. The king, who was attending to his religious duties at Kummanni
(Comana), entrusted their pacification to one of his generals. While the king
was at Kummanni, he was joined by his brother Piyasilis, king of Carchemish, who
was taken ill and died; his death sparked off a revolt in Syria supported by
Egypt and Assyria, but the appearance of the king himself at the head of his
imperial army proved sufficient to suppress it. Mursilis reigned for 25 years
(c. 1345-20 BC, or possibly from 1321 or 1317) and bequeathed to his successor,
Muwatallis, a substantial empire, securely surrounded by dependent states. Early in the reign of
Muwatallis, Egypt, under its 19th-dynasty kings, began to recover its
imperialist ambitions. Seti I (c. 1290-79 BC) led his army into Canaan to
restore the system of colonial administration, which had been relinquished in
the time of Akhenaton, and advanced as far as Kadesh (modern Tall an-Nabi Mind)
on the Orontes River. A confrontation between the two powers was avoided until
the end of his reign. On the accession of Ramses II in 1279 BC, however, a clash
between them became imminent, and Muwatallis enlisted the support of his allies.
(The Hittite records at this time are fragmentary, but Egyptian scribes mention
for the first time the Dardanians, familiar from Homer's Iliad, and the
Philistines.) The Hittite and Egyptian armies met at Kadesh about 1275 BC, and
the battle that followed is one of the first in history of which a tactical
description has survived. The Hittite specialist O.R. Gurney summarizes the
Egyptian text as follows: The Hittite army based on Kadesh succeeded in
completely concealing its position from the Egyptian scouts; and as the
unsuspecting Egyptians advanced in marching order towards the city and started
to pitch their camp, a strong detachment of Hittite chariotry passed round
unnoticed behind the city, crossed the river Orontes, and fell upon the center
of the Egyptian column with shattering force. The Egyptian army would have been
annihilated, had not a detached Egyptian regiment arrived most opportunely from
another direction and caught the Hittites unawares as they were pillaging the
camp. This lucky chance enabled the Egyptian king to save the remainder of his
forces and to represent the battle as a great victory. (From O.R. Gurney, The
Hittites, Penguin Books, 1952.)Evidently, the battle was inconclusive, as
Muwatallis subsequently advanced as far south as Damascus, and the Hittites
maintained their ascendancy in Syria. The king then found it necessary to
transfer his residence to Dattassa, a city somewhere in the Taurus area, and he
assigned the government of his northern provinces to his brother Hattusilis.
When Muwatallis died and was succeeded by his son, Urhi-Teshub (Mursilis III),
the boy's uncle became a rival to the throne and, after a seven-year quarrel,
forced him into exile in Syria. The accession of Hattusilis
III about 1266 BC inaugurated a period of relative peace and prosperity.
Relations steadily improved between the Hittites and Egypt, perhaps as a result
of their mutual interest in protecting themselves against Assyria. In 1259
Hattusilis negotiated a famous treaty with Ramses II, assuring the peace and
security of the Levant state. Thirteen years later, a further bond was created
by the marriage of his daughter to the pharaoh. This girl's mother was Puduhepa
(Pudu-Kheba), the daughter of a Kizzuwadnian priest, whom Hattusilis had
married. Puduhepa was evidently a woman of strong character who governed
alongside her husband; together they reoccupied and rebuilt the old capital city
at Hattusas, ordered the recopying of the national archives, and instituted
constitutional reforms. Among the many surviving texts from this reign, one
appears to be the king's personal apologia justifying his seizure of the throne
and his displacement of Urhi-Teshub, the legitimate heir. Urhi-Teshub during
this period appears to have been plotting with Kadashman-Enlil II, Kassite king
of Babylonia (c. 1264-55 BC), and this was probably responsible for
deteriorating relations between the two kings. Kurunta, another son of
Muwatallis, was installed as Great King of a state centered on the city of
Tarhuntassa, probably southwest of Konya, with equal status to the ruler of
Carchemish; the city would have served as a base for operations farther west.
This may be connected with events referred to in a document known as the
Tawagalawas Letter that describes a Hittite campaign in the Lukka lands and the
activities there of a certain Piyamaradus. Piyamaradus used Millawanda (possibly
Miletus) as his base; that city was a dependency of Ahhiyawa, a large and
formidable country, the identity and geographic location of which have been the
subject of prolonged controversy. Some scholars identify the Ahhiyawans with the
Achaeans of Homer, or at least with some subdivision of the Mycenaean world,
while others place them on Rhodes or on the Anatolian mainland north of Assuwa,
identifying the Ahhiyawans as ancestors of the Trojans. After the death of
Hattusilis, his son Tudhaliyas IV (c. 1240-10 BC) extended his father's reforms
to the structure and institutions of the Hittite state religion. In this he was
much influenced by his mother, Puduhepa, who became coregent with Tudhaliyas. It
was probably during their reign that the rock reliefs depicting a Hurrian
pantheon were carved at Yazlkaya, near Bogazköy. Tudhaliyas engaged in an
unsuccessful attempt to curb the growing power of Tukulti-Ninurta I of Assyria
(c. 1233-1197 BC), which led to rebellion in Syria (Ugarsit). A bronze tablet
excavated at Bogazköy in 1986 records a treaty between Tudhaliyas IV and his
cousin Kurunta of Tarhuntassa, who later may have rebelled. Little is known about Arnuwandas III and Suppiluliumas II, who succeeded Tudhaliyas, and these final episodes in the saga of Hittite history are difficult to reconstruct. To the latter reign can be dated a maritime expedition, perhaps involving Cyprus, and the earliest Hieroglyphic Hittite inscriptions of any length. The Phrygian invasion of Asia Minor must already have started, and throughout the Middle East a mass movement of peoples had begun that was destined not only to destroy the Hittite empire but also to sweep the Hittites out of their homeland on the Anatolian plateau and into Syria. Home Page
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