Hittite sites

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Hittite Empire (red) at the height of its power ca. 1290 BC, bordering on the Egyptian Empire (green)
The Hittite Empire (red) at the height of its power ca. 1290 BC, bordering on the Egyptian Empire (green)
Ancient Near East Portal

The geography of the Hittite Empire is known from Hittite texts on one hand, and from archaeological excavation on the other. Matching philology to archaeology is a difficult task, and only a handful of sites are identified with their ancient name with certainty.

The Hittite kingdom was centered around the lands surrounding Hattusa and Neša, known as "the land of the Hatti" (URUHa-at-ti). After Hattusa was made capital, the area encompassed by the bend of the Halys River (which they called the Marassantiya) was considered the core of the empire, and some Hittite laws make a distinction between "this side of the river" and "that side of the river", for example, the reward for the capture of an runaway slave after he managed to flee beyond the Halys is higher than that for a slave caught before he could reach the river.

To the south of the core territory was the land of Kizzuwatna in the area of the Taurus Mountains. To the west, the confederacy of Arzawa. To the north, the mountain people of the "Kaskians". To the east, the Mitanni. After the incorporation or association of Arzawa and Mitanni (under Suppiluliuma I), the Hittite sphere of influence under Mursili II bordered on the "Hayasa-Azzi" to the east, on the "Ahhiyawa" and the newly-forming Assuwa league to the west, on Egypt-controlled Canaan to the south, and on Assyria to the south-east.

[edit] List of Hittite sites

[edit] References

  • Garstang & Gurney, Geography of the Hittite Empire (1959)

[edit] External links