The Kingdom Of The Hittites History Essay

The Kingdom Of The Hittites History EssayTwo Archaeologist who were among the archetypical ones to take an interest in the Hittites were the French adventurer-explorer c aloneed Charles Texier (1834), and British scholar c wholeed Archibald heat content Sayce (1876), who gave lectures to the Society of Biblical Archaeology about a group of quite a little referred to in the Bible as the Hittites. Sayce puts forward a bold in the buff theory-that the Hittites, far from being an insignifi keistert Canaanite tribe, were in fact the masters of a great and widespread empire extending byout the nigh East (Bryce, 2002, p2). The German archaeologist Hugo Winckler began excavating the situation, examining over 1000 clay tablets which had been discovered. They were inscribed in the cuneal script the Hittites used cunei counterfeit script on their writing. Hieroglyph form was as well used and it was intended for ordinary people so that they would hear the contents (Sansal, 2010). Win ckler was able to read a follow of these tablets, since they be in the language called Akkadian, the international language of diplomacy in the second millenary BC. He discovered the Akkadian version of a treaty which the pharaoh Ramesses II displace up with Hattusili, king of the Hittites, in the twenty- scratch line year of his reign. This, combined with different essay, make it clear that the site under excavation is the Hittite capital, later(prenominal) to be identified as Hattusa (Bryce, 2002, p2). Today a lot of contribute is taking place at these sites on the supervision of German archaeologist.Hittites chose to dissolve in Anatolia payable to the rich source of timber and graphicsless products of all kind, and more all important(predicate)ly an abundance of the mineral wealth which with the advance of the culture became increasingly necessary. The mountains of Anatolia are rich in metal-deposits (MacQueen, 1986. P13-15)Chronology remains a regretful problem whe n studying this region. Many of the dates established for the body politic are at large last dependent on Egyptian sources.The Hittite history is divided into 3 phases Old Kingdom 1680-1500, Middle Kingdom 1500-1430, Empire 1430-1200. Total crease around 1180 BC. (Matthews, 2010)A Hittite king was constantly inundated with decisions, as he was non only the supreme ruler, but in like manner a judicial authority, high priest, and a military assureer. All important matters in these fields had to be reported to the king. He had a enceinte number of aristocrats and personages who possessed a significant amount of power and were assigned with alert designs in the kingdom. These men were always kin relatives of the king (Bryce, 2002, p16). Hattusili I, 1650-1620 BC was the first Hittite king to expand into north Syria, including Aleppo and Alalakh. This demonstrates the early value of portal to sea and duty for Hittites as Hattusa is set(p) rather far from the sea (Matthews, 2010). Hittite kings adopted Hatti names and were greatly inspired by Hatti nuance in their art, religion, culture and mythology (Sansal, 2010)The army consisted of two main arms, infantry and chariots. The nigh important posts both in government and the army were begetn to the kings blood relatives, eldest sons and br opposites. The infantry had a grim core of permanent phalanx who acted as the kings personal bodyguard and were responsible for frontier-patrols and the crushing of rebellions (Mac butt, 1986. P56).Women also compete an important farewell in the Hittites state. Queen Pudupepe, wife of Hattusili III, and the last queen of Suppiluliumas I were present in rancidice until their husbands deaths and throw off been mentioned and portrayed in a number of clay tablets discovered (Gurney, 1990. P54).About 200 Hittite laws which were inscribed on two tablets, enclose the laws of this great empire. These include punishments for agricultural defence, adultery, theft, mur der, defiance in case of slaves and many other rules and punishments (Sansal, 2010). A large number of tablets bring in been discovered baring these laws from later periods which indicate that the identical laws were kept by later kings. At the lowest level of monastic order were slaves. A person could become a slave through debts, through indentured servitude, as punishment of a crime, or through war (Collin, 2007. 117). An owner appears to ave had virtually unlimited power in his treatment of his slaves Bryce, 2002. p52).The art of fortification is an ancient one in Anatolia. A good exemplification can be seen at the settlements in Hacilar II (c. 5400) which has an independent breakwater of mud brick among 1.5 and 3 m thick and digestd with small towers which enabled the defenders to give the gate along the face of the wall. The slightly later (c. 5250) wall of Hacilar I are even bigger, and is create in a series of steps to give a clear field for covering-fire in front of it ( Macqueen, 1986. P64). Many construction had mud-brick on perdition open upations, with upper storey, and some had storage for grains (Matthews, 2010)Excavations show that streets had a strong tendency to be straight, and were usually well finished with a surface of coarse gravel. In an area where al or so e very(prenominal) site was on sloping ground, systems of terracing were constantly necessary, many streets had large drainage-channels, running floor the middle and connected to lesser channels or clay pipes which carried mucky water into them from the houses on either side (Macqueen, 1986. P70)Agriculture played an important role in the economy of the Hittites. Some of the main crops included emmer-wheat and barleycorn but peas, beans, onions, flax, figs, olives, . Cattle, pigs, goats, sheep, horses, donkeys, dogs and were kept, and bees too were an important item (honey was important in diet). day-after-day diet consisted mainly of different sorts, of bread and cake s, milk, cheese, porridge or gruel, and meat and veg stews (Bryce, 2002, p74). in that respect is evidence for the presence of doctors, builders, carpenters, goldsmiths, coppersmiths, potters, fishermen, and watchmen, although in many cases full- condemnation professionals were utilize only by the palace and temples (Macqueen, 1986. P97). Sometimes there is evidence for what can only be described as industrial areas, as trade played an important role in the economy and merchants from overseas visited the urban center often. These constructs can be especially in connection with metal-working, excavations show that these buildings could obligate functioned as a shop in some areas of the town.Many seals have been discovered, but the signet-ring, like the cylinder-seal, was the exception, in the Hittite world. Newly- found seal-impressions which describe kuruntas as a Great King suggest that he was for a time able to seize power in the capital and will hence have to be added to t he list of the Hittite monarchs (Macqueen, 1986, p9, p101). Pottery of Hittite token was in use throughout central Anatolia and in many areas touched by Hittite political or military influence. Perhaps the most attractive c type of Hittite pottery is the vessel in the form of an animal (Gurney, 1990. p163-165).Religion played an extremely important role among the Hittites, and it was involved mainly with serving the gods which in most cases was the weather gods Collin, 2007, p173-174). The kings prayed and made offerings to gods regularly at the temples dedicated to them. The temple was not only the building in which the great festivals took place, but also the home of the god throughout the year inside it, he had his dining-room and his bedroom, and he had at his command a host of temple-servants attend to his every need (Bryce, 2002, p153). King Mursili II is best known among all the Hittite kings for his duty to gods and religion. This dedication to the gods and the colossal nu mber of temples built, was the main reason that Hattusa remained a capital throughout the days even though it was not the most ideal place to have as the centre of an empire mainly due to its extreme humour changes, the impossibility of the relocation of the gods temples made Hattusa the unchangeable capital. Most of the surviving evidence of temples relates to the official state-cult, little is known of local religious buildings, but inventories of their contents, keep at the capital, tell us something of their furnishings and their festivals the principal object in a shrine was a cult-image of normal size, usually a weapon, an animal or a huwasi-stone, an upright Stella set on a carved traveling bag (Macqueen, 1986, p111). Only towards the end of the Imperial period were these objects beginning to be replaced by anthropomorphic images, usually the gift of the king. Small buildings used for cult purposes also existed in Hattusas itself, and several have recently been excavated in the southern fiber of the city.Hittite art is basically naturalistic, in the sense that it portrays human beings, animals and once in a while objects. About deuce-ace-quarters of a mile north-east of Bogazkoy lies Yazilikaya the most impressive of all Hittites religious structures. One of the gods depicted here is Teshub (Sansal, 2010). Here at a point where a spring of fresh water once flowed, is an outcrop of rock which forms two natural Chambers of different sizes the problems with interpreting the sculptures of Yazihkaya in terms of find ritual and belief have certainly not all been solved (Macqueen, 1986, P 123-127). It has been pointed out by the excavators that the temple buildings, contrasted those of the capital, were weakly constructed, and cannot have supported an upper storey this suggests that they were not in daily use, but were reserved for some special function, perhaps an yearbook event (Bittel, 1970. P107-8)Cremation was widespread in central Anatolia fro m textual resources it is known to be the funerary custom of the Hittite Kings. The ordinary people of Hattusa, however, were either conceal or cremated (Bryce, 2002. P176-7). At Bogazkoy, for instance, bodies were often buried in or contiguous the houses. Burial gifts were few and poor in quality and no favorable distinction can be made in terms of types or location of burial (Macqueen, 1986. P133)Hattusa is located at the southern end of the Budakozii vale adjacent to the stream of the same name, which has cut a large go into the rocks to form a natural citadel that was settled already at the end of the former(a) Bronze Age easily defensible, the citadel commanded a view of the entire Late Bronze Age city called Buyilkkale forthwith (Bryce, 2002. P33). Here was located the palace, which was the residence of the king, his family, and their retinue, and, adjacent to it, the administrative buildings, including an extensive depository library and chancellery the oldest part of th e city is located in the Lower City to the north, in the area around and including the Great Temple (Bryce, 2002. P33). In this temple, priests saw to the require of the Storm-God and Sun-Goddess, the divine couple who ruled the Hittite pantheon.Three monumental provide are located in the southern part of the city. Each of the three gate is decorated with elaborate sculpture that helps to define their separate uses. From an fake embankment at the highest and southernmost point of the city, known as Yerkapi, two carved sphinxes once looked down protectively upon the temple quarter the gate was tender from the outside only by two steep, narrow staircases and so is flimsy to have been a regular point of penetration to the city. Its narrow feed gateway has a shrine-like feel, and it may have served primarily as the re-create for religious celebrations (Collin, 2007. P35). A large tablet uniquely made of bronzy found near the Sphinx Gate contains the text of a treaty between Tud haliyas IV and his cousin Kuruntas king of Tarhuntassa, a son of Muwatallis, and gives important geographic information on south and south-west Anatolia (Macqueen, 1986. P8-9). The Lion Gate located near Temple 3, to the southwest, so-called because of the two massive lions in stone designed to impress those entering the city, probably served as the citys formal entrance for dignitaries and other important visitors (Collin, 2007, p35). A bronze sword of Aegean type, found outside the Lion Gate and inscribed with a dedication by Great king Tudhaliyas when he shattered the Assuwa-country, is important confirmation of the Assuwa runnel of Tudhaliyas I and of early Hittite contact with the west and the Aegean lantern slide (Macqueen, 1986. P8-9). The Kings Gate with a deity carved in high moderateness on it, is believed to have been used primarily for special occasions, due to its very close distance from Temple 5. Professor Neve notes that Temple 5 with an area of 3,000 m is the big gest sacred building in the upper city (Bryce, 2002. P242-3). To the southeastern United States of the South Citadel In Hattusa, a large sacred crime syndicate has been revealed, some 92m by 65m in area, supplied by an aqueduct from the north of the kings Gate. At the western sandwich end of this pool is a large embankment, 100 m long and 30 m wide, under which are two barrel-vaulted chambers. One of those, built over an older water-channel, is decorated with the relief of a king and an commitment of suppiluliumas II which describes it as a sacred path to the underworld (Macqueen, 1986. P8-9). These gates were also there to give protective aid of supernatural powers, by being designed to keep evil influences and evil men at bay.Excavations show that in the ridge called Bulyukkaya, the Hittites built an extensive granary comprising rectangular cellars dug into the earth( Collin, 2007. P16), with a capacity to store some four to six thousand tons of grain totals, this indicated th at the city prepared for siege and also for bad harvest years (Matthews, 2010). New excavations in the western part of the fastness City, dominated by Sarikale, have revealed that the area was settled already in the sixteenth century. The square structures dating to this period are judgement to have been barracks for military troops, thus clearing up the mystery of where Hattusas defenders resided (Collin, 2007).There is focus on the new excavations (since 2001) in the western part of the Upper City in the valley west of the rock of Sarikale, which may provide evidence of the elusive residential quarter. One major challenge rest for excavators is to find a royal tomb (Collin, 2007. P16).In the south-west the wreck near Uluburun, east of Kas, has provided a rich cargo which includes copper, tin, gold, glass, ivory, ebony, amber, ostrich-egg shell, terebinth resin, pellets or purple murex dye, a scarab of Nefertiti, and a wooden folding writing tablet, as well as a wide assortment of jewellery, weapons, tools, weights and other equipment the wreck vastly increases our understanding of international sea-trade and also of shipbuilding techniques c. 1300 BC. (Macqueen, 1986)ConclusionsThe Hittite empire collapsed around 1180 BC, at end of the late Bronze Age. Early in the twelfth century, the royal capital Hattusa was destroyed by fire, and with its death the Anatolian kingdom of the Hittite came to an abrupt end. This occurred within the situation of the widespread upheavals linked with the fall down of many Bronze Age kingdoms throughout the Near East and mainland Greece (Bryce, 2002. P9) . This empire had a fragile political unit, perhaps due to the location of its capital and the great mixture of people living within it, which made union rather more difficult and sensitive. Harvests were failing, and grain had to be imported from as far afield as Egypt to ward off famine, which caused the empire to be on the edge. Hittites disappeared from central Anatolia but survived as small Iron Age kingdoms in the south east of Turkey and northerly Syria these are the peoples referred to in the Bible, whom we call Neo-Hittites (Matthews, 2010). While Hittitology continues to be a energising and evolving field of study, it is nevertheless still a comparatively young and relatively small field, and there is still much to learn about its people and history.