Hittites and Anatolia

The Hittites built a major Late Bronze Age empire from their capital Hattusa in central Anatolia, rivaling Egypt and the Mesopotamian powers before the upheavals around 1200 BC.

Definition

The study of the Hittite state and the wider cultures of ancient Anatolia, an Indo-European-speaking imperial power and the peoples of the Anatolian plateau in the second and early first millennia BC.

Scope

This topic covers the history of Bronze Age Anatolia, centered on the Hittite kingdom and empire (c. 1650–1180 BC), its capital at Hattusa, its relations with Egypt, Mitanni, and Assyria, the Anatolian languages preserved in cuneiform and hieroglyphic Luwian, and the successor Neo-Hittite states of the early Iron Age.

Core questions

• How did the Hittites establish and govern an empire across Anatolia and northern Syria?
• What do the Hittite archives reveal about diplomacy, treaty-making, and law in the Late Bronze Age?
• How did the Hittites interact with Egypt, Mitanni, Assyria, and the Aegean world?
• What caused the collapse of the Hittite Empire around 1180 BC, and what survived in the Neo-Hittite states?

Key theories

Late Bronze Age collapse and the Sea Peoples

The interpretation that the fall of Hattusa around 1180 BC formed part of a systemic collapse of eastern Mediterranean Bronze Age states, variously attributed to migrations, climate stress, internal strain, and disrupted trade.

Treaty and vassal diplomacy

The view that Hittite imperial control rested heavily on a structured system of suzerain-vassal treaties whose form influenced later Near Eastern covenant traditions.

History

The Hittites were largely unknown until the rediscovery of Hattusa (Boğazköy) in the early 20th century and Bedřich Hrozný's 1915 demonstration that the Hittite language was Indo-European. Excavation of the royal archives yielded thousands of cuneiform tablets, including treaties, laws, and the Egyptian-Hittite peace agreement after the Battle of Kadesh, transforming knowledge of Bronze Age international relations.

Debates

Causes of Hittite imperial collapse

Scholars debate the relative weight of drought and famine, internal political fragmentation, the movements labeled the 'Sea Peoples', and disrupted grain supply in explaining the rapid end of the Hittite Empire.

Key figures

• Trevor Bryce
• Billie Jean Collins
• Gary Beckman
• Bedřich Hrozný

Seminal works

• bryce2005
• collins2007
• beckman1999

Frequently asked questions

Where was the Hittite capital?

The Hittite capital was Hattusa, near the modern village of Boğazkale in central Turkey, where a large archive of cuneiform tablets was excavated.

What language did the Hittites speak?

The Hittites spoke an Indo-European language written in cuneiform; related Anatolian languages included Luwian, Palaic, and later Lydian and Lycian.