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HITTITES
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HITTITES , an See also:ancient See also:people, alluded to frequently in the earlier records of See also:Israel, and also, under slightly variant names, in See also:Egyptian records of the XVIIIth, XIXth and XXth Dynasties, and in See also:Assyrian from about iroo to 700 B.C. They appear also in the Vannic See also:cuneiform texts, and are believed to be the authors of a class of monuments bearing See also:inscriptions in a See also:peculiar pictographic See also:character, and widely distributed over See also:Asia See also:Minor and N. See also:Syria, around which much controversy has raged during the past See also:thirty years. 1. The See also:Bible.—In the Old Testament the name of the See also:race is written Heth (with initial aspirate), .members of it being Hitti, Hittim, which the See also:Septuagint renders x&, xerralor, xer'refv or xerrelp, keeping, it will be noted, a in the See also:stem throughout. The race appears in two connexions. (a) In pre-Israelite See also:Palestine, it is See also:resident about See also:Hebron (Gen. See also:xxiii. 3), and in the central uplands (Num. xiii. 29). To See also:Joshua (i. 4) is promised " from the See also:wilderness and this See also:Lebanon even unto the See also:great See also:river, the river See also:Euphrates, all the See also:land of the Hittites." The See also:term " wilderness " here is of See also:geographical See also:ambiguity; but the promise is usually taken to mean that Palestine itself was See also:part of the Hittite land before the coming of Israel; and an See also:apostrophe of See also:Ezekiel (xvi. 3) to See also:Jerusalem, " thy See also:mother (was) an Hittite," is quoted in See also:confirmation. Under the See also:monarchy we hear frequently of Hittites within the See also:borders of Israel, but either as a small subject people, coupled with other See also:petty tribes, or as individuals in the Jewish service (e.g. Uriah, in the See also:time of See also:David). It appears, therefore, that there survived in Palestine to See also:late times a detached Hittite See also:population, with which See also:Hebrews sometimes intermarried (See also:Judges iii. 5-6 ; Gen. See also:xxvi. 34) and lived in relations now amicable, now tyrannical (e.g. Hittites were made tributary bondsmen by See also:Solomon, i See also:Kings ix. 20, 21; 2 Chron. viii. 7, 8). (b) An See also:independent and powerful Hittite people was domiciled N. of Palestine proper, organized rather as a confederacy of tribes than a single monarchy (r Kings x. 28; 2 Kings vii. 6). Presumably it was a daughter of these Hittites that Solomon took to wife. If the emendation of 2 Sam. See also:xxiv. 64, " Tahtim-hodshi," based on the Septuagint version yriv Xerreiµ Kabip be accepted, we hear of them at Kadesh on See also:Orontes; and some minor Hittite cities are mentioned, e.g. Luz; but no one See also:capital See also:city of the race is clearly indicated. Carchemish, on the Euphrates, though mentioned three times (2 Chron. See also:xxxv. 20; Isa. x. 9; Jer. xlvi. 2), is not connected explicitly with Hittites, a fact which is not surprising, since that city was no longer under a Hatti See also:dynasty at the See also:epoch of the Old Testament references. So far as the Old Testament goes, therefore, we gather that the Hittites were a considerable people, widely spread in Syria, in part subdued and to some extent assimilated by Israel, but in part out of reach. The latter portion was not much known to the Hebrews, but was vaguely feared as a See also:power in the See also:early days of the monarchy, though not in the later pre-Captivity See also:period. The See also:identification of the See also:northern and See also:southern Hittites, however, presents certain difficulties not yet fully explained; and it seems that we must assume Heth to have been the name both of a See also:country in the See also:north and of a tribal population not confined t0 that country. 2. Egyptian Records.—The decipherment of the inscriptions of the XVIIIth Theban Dynasty led, before the See also:middle of the kings of Bianas (See also:Fan), and apparently domiciled on the middle this See also:scholar, however, is owed the next great step ahead. In Euphrates N. of See also:Taurus in the 9th See also:century B.C. This name again may safely be identified with Khatti-Kheta. The Khatti also appear on a " prophecy-tablet," referring ostensibly to the time of See also:Sargon of Agade (middle of 4th See also:millennium B. C.); but the document is probably of very much later date. Lastly, a fragmentary See also:chronicle of the 1st Babylonian Dynasty mentions an invasion of See also:Akkad by them about 'Soo B.C. From all these various See also:sources we should gather that the Hittites were among the more important racial elements in N. Syria and S.E. Asia Minor for at least a thousand years. The limits at each end, however, are very See also:ill defined, the See also:superior falling not later than 2000 B.C. and the inferior not earlier than 600 B.C. This people was militant, aggressive and unsettled in the earlier part of that time; commercial, wealthy and enervated in the latter. A memorial of its trading See also:long remained in Asia in the shape of the See also:weight-measure called in cuneiform records the maneh " of Carchemish." These Hittites had See also:close relations with other Asia Minor peoples, and at times headed a confederacy. During the later part of their See also:history they were in continual contact with See also:Assyria, and, as a Syrian power, and perhaps also as a Cappadocian one, they finally succumbed to Assyrian pressure. The " Hittite " Monuments.—It remains to consider in the See also:light of the foregoing See also:evidence a class of monuments to which See also:attention began to be called about 187o. In that See also:year two Americans, See also:Consul J. A. See also: It still exists, built into a See also:mosque on the western See also:wall of the city. Certain See also:clay sealings, eight of which See also:bore pictographic signs, found by A. H. See also:Layard in the See also:palace of See also:Assur-bani-See also:pal at Kuyunjik (See also:Nineveh), as long ago as 1851 and noticed then as in a " doubtful character," were compared by See also:Hayes See also: Meanwhile Wright, Ward and See also:Sayce had all suggested " Hittite " as a substitute for " Hamathite," because no other N. Syrian people loomed so large in ancient records as did the Hittites, and the See also:suggestion began to find See also:acceptance. Jerablus was confidently identified with Carchemish (but without See also:positive See also:proof to this See also:day), and the occurrence of Hamathite monuments there was held to confirm the Hittite theory.
In 1876 Sayce pointed out the resemblance between certain Hittite signs and characters in the lately deciphered Cypriote syllabary, and suggested that the comparison might See also:lead to a beginning of decipherment; but the See also:hope has proved vain. To
' First described by the Turk, Hajji See also:Khalifa, in the 17th century; first seen by the See also:Swedish traveller See also:Otter in 1736, and first published in 184o in See also:Ritter's Erdkunde, iii., after a See also:drawing by See also:Major See also:Fischer, made in 1837.
1879 it first occurred to him to compare the rock-monuments at Boghaz Keui (see See also:PTERIA) and See also:Euyuk in N. Cappadocia, discovered by Texier and See also: See also:Round the rim was a cuneiform See also:legend, and in the See also: B. PHRYGIA.—Giaur-Kalessi; rock-cut figures and remains of a stronghold, but no inscriptions. Doghanliidere and Beikeui in the Phrygian rock-monument country; at the first is a sculptured rock-See also:panel with a few pictographs in relief ; at the latter a fragment of an inscription in relief was disinterred from a See also:mound. Kolitolu Yaila, near Ilghin; See also:block inscribed in relief, disinterred from mounds apparently marking a See also:camp or palace-enclosure. Eflatun Bunar (=See also:Plato's See also:Spring), W. of See also:Konia; megalithic See also:building with See also:rude and greatly defaced reliefs, not certainly Hittite: no inscription. Fassiler, W. of Konia; gigantic stela, or composite statue (figure on animals), not certainly Hittite; no inscription. Konia; relief of See also:warrior, See also:drawn by Texier in 1835 and since lost; of very doubtful Hittite character. A See also:gold inscribed Hittite See also:ring, now at See also:Oxford, was bought there in 1903. Emirghazi (anc. Ardislama ?) ; three inscriptions in relief (two on altars) and large mounds. Evidently an important Hittite site. Kara-Dagh; See also: L. See also:Bell and See also:Sir W. M. See also:Ramsay in 1907 (see their Thousand and One Churches, 1909).
C. NORTH CA PPADOCIA.—Boghaz Keui (see PTERIA) ; large city with remains of palace, citadel, walls, &c. Long rock-cut inscription of ten lines in relief, two See also:short relief inscriptions cut on blocks, and also cuneiform tablets in Babylonian and also in a native See also:language, first found in situ in 1893, and showing the site to be the capital of Arzawa, whence came two of the Tell el-Amarna letters. Near the site are the rock reliefs of Yasili Kaya in two hypaethral galleries, showing, in the one, two processions composed of over sixty figures See also:meeting at the See also:head of the See also:gallery; in the other, isolated See also:groups of figures, fifteen in number (see for detailed description See also: Chantre (.1894) very slight. In 1906 a See also:German expedition under See also:Professor H. Winckler under-took the See also:work, and great See also:numbers of cuneiform tablets were found. These refer to the reigns of at least four kings from Subbiluliuma (=Saplel, see above) to Hattusil II. or Khattusil (=Khetasar, see above). The latter was an ally of Katashmanturgu of See also:Babylon, ' The "Niobe " statue near See also:Manisa was not definitely known for " Hittite " till 1882, when G. See also:Dennis detected pictographs near it. ' The " pseudo-Sesostres " of See also:Herodotus, already demonstrated non-Egyptian by See also:Rosellini. The second figure was unknown, till found by Dr Beddoe in 1856. abrr °See also:Yuzgat Erze:See also:rum See also:Kutaiah spas. ,54ta• tlel;ashl I Kprabel) See also:Ephesus o v nglish See also:Miles aoo t t Sites where Hittite remains have been discouered are shown thus - .Boghaz Real 7 after a name implies doubt us to real provenance of the remains or their /iittite character. ? before a name /biPite.s doubt as to the exact situation of the site. A i8' and powerful enough to write to the Babylonian See also:court as a See also:sovereign of equal See also:standing. His See also:letter shows that he considered the rise of Assyria a menace to himself. Winckler claims to read Hatti as the name of the possessors of Boghaz Keui, and to find in this name the proof of the Hittite character of Syro-Cappadocian power and of the imperial predominance of the city. But it remains to be proved whether these tablets were written there, and not rather, being in a See also:foreign script, abroad, like most of the Tell el-Amarna archives. O. Puchstein has cleared and studied important architectural remains. Euyuk; large mound with remains of palace entered between sphinxes. Sculptured wall-dados, but no Hittite inscriptions. Cuneiform tablets; some Babylonian, others in a native language. Also inscriptions in early Phrygian character and language, found in 1894. The most famous of Hittite reliefs is here—a See also:double-headed See also:eagle " displayed " on the flank of one of the gateway sphinxes. This is supposed to have suggested to the See also:Seljuks of Konia their heraldic See also:device adopted in the 13th century, which, brought to See also:Europe by the Crusaders, became the See also:emblem of See also:Teutonic empire in 1345. This derivation must be taken, how-ever, cum grano, proof of its successive steps being wanting. Kara-Euyuk; a mound near Dedik, partially excavated by E. Chantre in 1894. Cuneiform tablets and small objects possibly, but not certainly, Hittite. A See also:colossal eagle was found on a deserted site near Yamuli on the middle Halys, in 1907 by W. Attmore See also:Robinson. D. See also:SOUTH CAPPADOCIA.—Karaburna ; long, incised rock-inscription. Bogja, eight See also:hours west of Kaisariye; four-sided stela with incised inscription. Assarjik, on the See also:side of Mt. Argaeus; incised rock-inscription. Ekrek; a fragmentary inscription in relief and an incised inscription on a stela of very late See also:appearance. Fraklin or Farakdin (probably anc. Das-tarkon); sculptured rock-panel showing two groups of figures in See also:act of cult, with hieroglyphs in relief. Arslan Tashi, near See also:Comana (Cappadocia), on the Soghan Dagh; two colossal lions, one with incised inscription. Tashji in the Zamanti valley; rock-relief with rudely incised inscription. And See also:eve! and Bor; inscriptions incised on sculptured stelae of kings (?), probably from Tyana (Ekuzli Hisser). All are now in Constantinople. A silver See also:seal with hieroglyphs, now at Oxford, came also from Bor. See also:Nigdeh; See also:basalt See also:drum or See also:altar with incised inscription. Ivriz; rock-sculpture of king adoring See also:god, with three inscriptions in relief. A second sculpture, similar in subject but smaller and much defaced, was found hard by in 1906. Bulgar Maden; long incised rock inscription, near silver-mines. Gorun (Gurun); two rock-inscriptions in relief, much damaged. Arslan-Tepe, near Ordasu (two hours from See also:Malatia); large mound whence two sculptured stelae or wall-blocks with inscriptions in relief have been unearthed (now in Constantinople and the Louvre). Four other See also:Van Toprak Kai-eh ? reliefs, reported found near Malatia and published by J. Garstang in See also:Annals See also:Arch. and Anthrop., 1908, probably came also from Arslan Tepe. Palanga; See also:lower aniconic See also:half of draped statue with incised inscription, now in Constantinople. Also a small basalt See also:lion. Arslan Tash, near Palanga; two rude gateway lions, uninscribed. Yapalak; defaced inscription, reported by J. S. Sterrett but never copied. Izgin; See also:obelisk with long inscription in relief on all four faces, now in Constantinople. These last four places seem to lie on a See also:man road leading from Cappadocia to See also:Marash and the Syrian sites. The expedition sent out by Cornell t:n:vers:ty in 1907 found several Hittite inscriptions on rocks near Darende in the valley of the Tokhma Su. E. NORTH SYRIA.—Marash; several monuments (stelae, wall-blocks and two lions) with inscriptions, both in relief and incised (part are now at Constantinople, part in See also:Berlin and See also:America) ; evidently one of the most important of Hittite sites. Karaburshlu, Arbistan, Gerchin, Sinjerli; mounds about the head-See also:waters of the Kara Su. The last-named mound, brought to O. Puchstein's See also:notice in 1882 by the See also:chance discovery of sculptured wall-dados, now in Constantinople, was the See also:scene of extensive German excavaLions in 1893-1894, directed by F. v. Luschan and K. Koldewey, and was found to See also:cover a walled See also:town with central fortified palace. Hittite, cuneiform and old Aramaean monuments were found with many small objects, most of which have been taken to Berlin; but no Hittite inscriptions came to light. Sakchegeuzu (Sakchegozu), a site with several mounds between Sinjerli and See also:Aintab; See also:series of reliefs, once wall-dados, now in Berlin and Constantinople. This site is in See also:process of excavation by Professor J. Garstang of the University of See also:Liverpool. A sculptured See also:portico has come to light in the smallest of the five mounds, and much pottery, with incised and painted decoration, has been recovered. Aintab; fragment of relief inscription. Samsat (See also:Samosata) ; sculptured stela with incised inscription much defaced. Jerablus; see above. Several Hittite objects sent from See also:Birejik and Aintab to Europe probably came from Jerablus, others from Tell Bashar on the Sajur. Kellekis, near Jerablus; two stelae, one with relief inscription. Iskanderun (See also:Alexandretta); source of a long inscription cut on both sides of a spheroidal See also:object of unknown origin. Kirchoglu, a site on the Afrin, whence a fragmentary draped statue with incised inscription was sent to Berlin. Aleppo; inscription in relief (see above). Tell Ahmar (on See also:left See also:bank of Euphrates); large stela with sculpture and long relief inscription, found in 1908 with several sculptured slabs and two gateway lions, inscribed in cuneiform. Two hours south, a lion and a fragment of a relief inscription were found in 1909 by Miss G. L. Bell. Tell Halaf in See also:Mid-See also:Mesopotamia, near Has el-See also:Ain; sculptures on portico of a See also:temple or palace; cuneiform inscriptions ~Pghap !aeu,See also:Par eo Karjae(-ttssnF„ .0 b.s Karabejyna _=,Aj~ i See also:Ana n tlg,n~•Jf niltolu Ynil} Pra. See also:tin l"" lbistan K Vibsik ~ 'L¢' ' a. at ~Q oma.7 flftatan a?) J pn r. {Tyana) \ r1 ' Eregl. See also:Mara h A~3 .~ a h~ BU aK..ra. • C a( SI, oo afn5 G I~aana 5i q See also:Tar s _ I~ ~ iisa n,r rslan+ep_( rdasu) and large mounds, explored in 1902 by See also:Oppenheim. Harrah; five blocks inscribed in relief (see above). F. OUTLYING SITES.—See also:Erzerum; source of an incised inscription, perhaps not originally found there. Kedabeg; See also:metal boss or hilt-top with pictographs, found in a See also:tomb and stated by F. Hommel to be Hittite, but doubtful. Toprak Kaleh; See also:bronze fragments with two pictographs; doubtful if Hittite. Nineveh; sealings, see above. Babylon ; a bowl and a stela of See also:storm-god, both with incised inscriptions; doubtless spoil of See also:war or See also:tribute brought from Syria. The bowl is inscribed round the outside, the stela on the back.
(For a detailed description of the subjects of the reliefs, &c., with the necessary illustrations, see the See also:works indicated in the bibliography.)
Structures.—The structural remains found as yet on Hittite sites are few, scanty and far between. They consist of: (a) Ground plans of a palatial building and three temples and fortifications with sculptured See also:gate at Boghaz Keui. The palace was built round a central court, flanked by passages and entered by a See also:doorway of three battants hung on two columns. The whole See also:plan bears more than a superficial resemblance to those of Cretan palaces in the later Minoan period. Only the rough core of the walls is standing to a height of about 3 ft. The fortifications of the citadel have an elaborate double gate with flanking towers. (b) Fortifications, palace, &c., at Sinjerli. The See also:gates here are more elaborate than at Boghaz Keui, but planned with the same See also:idea--that of entrapping in an enclosed space, barred by a second See also:door, an enemy who may have forced the first door, while flanking towers would add to his discomfiture. The palace plan is again rectangular, with a central pillared See also: Columns, probably of See also:wood, rested on bases carved as winged lions. (c) Gate with sculptured approach at Euyuk. The ground plan of the gate is practically the same in idea as that at Sinjerli. Structures were found at Jerablus, but never properly uncovered or planned. (d) Sculptured porticoes of temples or palaces uncovered at Sakchegeuzu and Tell Halaf (see above). On other sites, e.g. Arslan Tepe (Ordasu), Arbistan, Marash (above the See also:modern town and near the springs), Beikeui, mounds, doubtless covering structures, may be seen, and sculptured slabs have been recovered. The mounds, probably Hittite, in N. Syria alone are to be counted by hundreds. No tombs certainly Hittite have been found,' though it is possible that some of the reliefs (e.g. at Fraktin) are of funerary character. Sculptures and other Objects of See also:Art.—The sculptures hitherto found consist of reliefs on rocks and on stelae, either honorific or funerary; reliefs on blocks forming parts of wall-dados; and a few figures more or less in the round, though most of these (e.g. the sphinxes of Euyuk and the lions of Arslan Tash and Marash) are not completely disengaged from the block. The most considerable sculptured rock-panels are at Boghaz Keui (see PTERIA); the others (Ivriz, Fraktin, Karabel, Giaur Kalessi, Doghanludere), it should be observed, all lie N. of Taurus—a fact of some bearing on the problem of the origin and See also:local See also:domicile of the art, since rock-reliefs, at any See also:rate, cannot be otherwise than in situ. Sculptured stelae, honorific: or funerary, all with pyramidal or slightly rounded upper ends, and showing a single See also:regal or divine figure or two figures, have come to light at Bor, Marash, Sinjerli, Jerablus, Babylon, &c. These, like most of the rock-panels, are all marked as Hittite by accompanying pictographic inscriptions. The wall-blocks are seldom in- scribed, the exceptions (e.g. the Arslan Tepe lion-See also:hunt and certain blocks from Marash and Jerablus) being not more certainly wall-dados than stelae. The only fairly See also:complete anthropoid statue known is the much-defaced " Niobe " at Suratlu Tash, engaged in the rock behind. The aniconic lower part of an inscribed statue wholly in the round was found at Palanga, and parts of others at Kirchoglu and Marash. Despite considerable Five intramural See also:graves were explored at Sinjerli, but whether of the Hittite or of the Assyrian occupation is doubtful.See also:differences in See also:execution and details, all these sculptures show one See also:general type of art, a type which recalls now Babylonian, now Assyrian, now Egyptian, now archaic Ionian, See also:style, but is always individual and easily distinguishable from the actual products of those peoples. The figures, whether of men or beasts, are of a squat, heavy See also:order, with See also:internal features (e.g. bones, muscles, &c.) shown as if See also:external, as in some Mesopotamian sculptures. The human type is always very See also:brachycephalic, with brow receding sharply and long See also:nose making almost one See also:line with the sloping forehead. In the sculptures of the Cornmagene and the Tyana districts, the nose has a long curving tip, of very Jewish appearance, but not unlike the outline given to Kheta warriors in Egyptian scenes. The lips are full and the See also:chin short and shaven. The whole See also:physiognomy is fleshy and markedly distinct from that of other Syrians. At Boghaz Keui, Euyuk and Jerablus, the facial type is very markedly non-Semitic. But not much stress can be laid on these differences owing to (r) great variety of execution in different sculptures, which argues artists of very unequal capacity; (2) doubt whether individual portraits are intended in some cases and not in others. The See also:hair of See also:males is sometimes, but not always, worn in pigtail. The fashions of head-covering and clothes are very various, but several of them—e.g. the horned cap of the Ivriz god; the conical See also:hat at Boghaz Keui, Fraktin, &c.; the " See also:jockey-cap " on the Tarkudimme boss; the broad-bordered over-robe, and the upturned shoes—are not found on other See also:Asiatic monuments, except where Hittites are portrayed. Animals in See also:profile are represented more naturalistically than human beings, e.g. at Yasili Kaya, and especially in some pictographic symbols in relief (e.g. at Hamah). This, however, is a feature common to Mesopotamian and Egyptian, and perhaps to all See also:primitive art. The subjects depicted are processions of figures, human and divine (Yasili Kaya, Euyuk, Giaur Kalessi); scenes of See also:sacrifice or See also:adoration, or other cult-practice (Yasili Kaya, Euyuk, Fraktin, Ivriz, and perhaps the figures seated beside tables at Marash Sakchegeuzu, Sinjerli, &c.); of the See also:chase (Arslan Tepe, Sakchegeuzu); but not, as known at present, of See also:battle. Both at Euyuk and Yasili Kaya reliefs in one and the same series are widely separated in See also:artistic conception and execution, some showing the utmost naivete, others expressing both outline and See also:motion with See also:fair success. The fact warns us against drawing hasty inductions as to relative See also:dates from style and execution. Besides sculptures, well assured, Hittite art-products include a few small objects in metal (e.g. heavy, inscribed gold ring bought by Sir W. M. Ramsay at Konia; See also:base silver seal, sup-ported on three lions' claws, bought by D. G. See also:Hogarth at Bor; inscribed silver boss of " Tarkudimme," mentioned above, &c., &c.); many intaglios in various stones (chiefly in steatite), mostly either spheroidal or gable-shaped, but a few scarabaeoid, conical or cylindrical, bearing sometimes pictographic symbols, sometimes divine, human or See also:animal figures. The best collection is at Oxford. The See also:majority are of very rude workmanship, bodies and limbs being represented by See also:mere See also:skeleton lines or unfilled outlines; a few vessels (e.g. inscribed basalt bowl found at Babylon) and fragments of See also:ware painted with dark See also:ornament on light See also:body-clay, or in polychrome on a cream-See also: The objects represented by these symbols have been certainly identified in only a few instances. A certain number are heads (human and animal) detached from bodies, in a manner not known in the Egyptian hieroglyphic See also:system, with which some of the other symbols show obvious analogies. Articles of See also:dress, weapons, tools, &c., also appear. The longer inscriptions are disposed in See also:horizontal zones or panels, divided by lines, and, it seems, they were to be read boustrophedon, not only as regards the lines (which begin right to left) but also the words, which are written in columnar See also:fashion, syllable below syllable, and read downwards and upwards alternately. The direction of reading is towards any faces which may be shown among the pictographs. The words are perhaps distinguished in some texts by See also:punctuation marks. Long and patient efforts have been made to decipher this script, ever since it was first restored to our knowledge; and among the would-be decipherers See also:honourable mention must be made, for persistence and courage, of Professor A. H. Sayce and of Professor P. See also:Jensen. Other interpretations have been put forward by F. E.-Peiser (based on conjectures as to the names on the Nineveh sealings), C. R. See also:Conder (based largely on Cypriote comparisons and phonetic values transferred from these) and C. J. See also:Ball (based on Hittite names recorded on Egyptian and Assyrian monuments, and applied to word-groups on the Hittite monuments). These, however, as having arbitrary and inadequate See also:foundations, and for other reasons, have not been accepted. F. Hommel, J. See also:Halevy and J. See also:Menant have done useful work in distinguishing word-groups, and have essayed partial interpretations. No other decipherers See also:call for mention. A. H. Sayce and P. Jensen alone have enlisted any large body of adherents; and the former, who has worked upon his system for thirty years and published in the Proceedings of the Society for Biblical See also:Archaeology for 1907 a See also:summary of his method and results, has proceeded on the more scientific plan. His system, however, like all others, is built in the See also:main upon hypotheses incapable at present of quite satisfactory verification, such, for example, as the conjectural reading " Gargamish " for a group of symbols which recurs in inscriptions from Jerablus and elsewhere. In this See also:case, to add to the other obvious elements of uncertainty, it must be See also:borne in mind that the location of Carchemish at Jerablus is not proved, though it is very probable. Other conjectural identifications of groups of symbols with the See also:place-names Hamath, Marash, Tyana are bases of Sayce's system. Jensen's system may be said to have been effectually demolished by L. Messerschmidt in his Bemerkungen (1898); but Sayce's system, which has been approved by Hommel and others, is probably in its main lines correct. Its frequent explanation, however, of incompatible symbols by the doctrines of phonetic variation and interchange, or by alternative values of the same See also:symbol used as See also:ideograph, determinative or phonetic See also:complement, and the occasional use of circular See also:argument in the process of " verification," do not inspire confidence in other than its broader results. Sayce's phonetic values and interpretations of determinatives are his best assured achievements. But the words thus arrived at represent a language on which other known See also:tongues throw little or no light, and their meaning is usually to be guessed only. In some significant cases, however, the Boghaz Keui tablets appear to give striking confirmation of Sayce's conjectures. See also:Writing in 1903 L. Messerschmidt, editor of the best collection of Hittite texts up to date, made a tabula rasa of all systems of decipherment, asserting that only one sign out of two hundredthe bisected See also:oval, determinative of divinity—had been interpreted with any certainty; and in view of this See also:opinion, coupled with the steady refusal of historians to apply the results of any Hittite decipherment, and the obvious lack of satisfactory verification, without which the piling of See also:hypothesis on hypothesis may only lead further from See also:probability, there is no choice but to suspend See also:judgment for some time longer as to the inscriptions and all deductions drawn from them. Are the Monuments Hittite.'=It is time to ask this question, although a perfectly satisfactory See also:answer can only be expected when the inscriptions themselves have been deciphered. Almost all " Hittitologues " assume a connexion between the monuments and the Kheta-Khatti-Hittites, but in various degrees; e.g. while Sayce has said roundly that common sense demands the acceptance of all as the work of the Hittites, who were the dominant See also:caste throughout a loosely-knit empire extending at one time from the Orontes to the See also:Aegean, Messerschmidt has stated with equal dogmatism that the Hittites proper were only one people out of many' in N. Syria and Asia Minor who shared a common See also:civilization, and that therefore they were authors of a part of the monuments only—presumably the N. Syrian, Cornmagenian and Cataonian groups. O. Puchstein 2 has denied to the Hittites some of the N. Syrian monuments, holding these of too late a date (judged by their Assyrian analogies) for the flourishing period of the Kheta-Khatti, as known from Egyptian and Assyrian records. He would ascribe them to the Kummukh (Commagenians), who seem to have succeeded the Khatti as the strongest opponents of Assyria in these parts. He was possibly right as regards the Sinjerli and Sakchegeuzu sculptures, which are of provincial appearance. The following considerations, how-ever, may be stated in favour of the ascription of the monuments to the Hittites: (1) The monuments in question are found frequently where-ever, from other records, we know the Hittites to have been domiciled at some period, i.e. throughout N. Syria and in Cataonia. (2) It was under the Khatti that Carchemish was a flourishing commercial city; and if Jerablus be really Carchemish, it is significant that apparently the most numerous and most artistic of the monuments occur there. (3) Among all the early peoples of N. Syria and Asia Minor known to us from Egyptian and Assyrian records, the Kheta-Khatti alone appear frequently as leading to war peoples from far beyond Taurus. (4) The Kheta certainly had a system of writing and a glyptic art in the time of See also:Rameses II., or else the Egyptian See also:account of their copy of the treaty would be baseless. (5) The physiognomy given to Kheta warriors by Egyptian artists is fairly representative of the prevailing type shown in the Hittite sculptures. Furthermore, the Boghaz Keui tablets, though only partially deciphered as yet, go far to See also:settle the question. They show that whether Boghaz Keui was actually the capital of the Hatti or not, it was a great city of the Hatti, and that the latter were an important See also:element in Cappadocia from very early times. Before the middle of the 16th century n. e. the Cappadocian Hatti were already in relations, generally more or less hostile, with a See also:rival power in Syria, that of Mitanni; and Subbiluliuma (=Saplel or Saparura), king of these Hatti, a contemporary of Amenophis IV. and Rameses I., seems to have obtained lasting dominion in Syria by subduing Dushratta of Mitanni. Carchemish thenceforward became a Hatti city and the southern capital of Cappadocian power. Since all the Syrian monuments of the Hittite class, so far known, seem comparatively late (most show such strong Assyrian, See also:influence that they must fall after 'too B.C. and probably even considerably later), while the North Cappadocian monuments (as Sayce, Ramsay, Perrot and others saw long ago) are the earlier in style, we are See also:bound to ascribe the origin of the civilization which they represent to the Cappadocian Hatti. ' The Assyrian records, as well as the Egyptian, distinguish many peoples in both areas from the Kheta-Khatti; and the most we can infer from these records is that there was an occasional See also:league formed under the Hittites, not any imperial subjection or even a continuous federation. Pseudo-Hethitische Kunst (Berlin, 1890). Whether the Mitanni had shared in that civilization while independent, and whether they were racially See also:kin to the Hatti, cannot be determined at present. Winckler has adduced evidence from names of local gods to show that there was an Indo-See also:European racial element in Mitanni; but none for a similar element in the Hatti, whose See also:chief god was Teshub. The majority of scholars has always regarded the Hittites proper as, at any rate, non-Semitic, and some leading authorities have called them proto-Armenian, and believed that they have modern descendants in the See also:Caucasus. This racial question can hardly be determined till those Hatti records, whether in cuneiform or pictographic script, which are couched in a native See also:tongue, not in Babylonian, are read. In the meantime we have proper names to argue from; and these give us at least the significant indication that the Hittite nominative ended in s and the See also:accusative in m. In any case the connexion of the Hatti with the peculiar class of monuments which we have been describing, can hardly be further questioned; and it has become more than probable that the Hatti of Cappadocia were responsible in the beginning for the art and script of those monuments and for the civilization of which they are memorials. Other peoples of north Syria and Asia Minor (e.g. the Kummukh or Commagenians and the Muski or Phrygians) came no doubt under the influence of this civilization and imitated its monuments, while subject to or federated with the Hatti. Through Phrygia and See also:Lydia (q.v.) influences of this same Cappadocian civilization passed towards the west; and indeed, before the See also:Greek colonization of Asia Minor, a loosely knit Hatti empire may have stretched even to the Aegean. The Nymphi (Kara See also:Bel) and Niobe sculptures near Smyrna are probably memorials of that See also:extension. Certainly some inland Anatolian power seems to have kept Aegean settlers and culture away from the Ionian coast during the Bronze See also:Age, and that power was in all likelihood the Hatti See also:kingdom of Cappadocia. Owing perhaps to Assyrian aggression, this power seems to have begun to suffer decay about 1000 B.C. and thereafter to have shrunk inwards, leaving the coasts open. The See also:powers of Phrygia and Lydia See also:rose successively out of its ruins, and continued to offer westward passage to influences of Mesopotamian culture till well into historic times. The Greeks came too late to Asia to have had any contact with Hatti power obscured from their view by the intermediate and secondary See also:state of Phrygia, Their earliest writers regarded the latter as the seat of the See also:oldest and most godlike of mankind. Only one Greek author, Herodotus, alludes to the prehistoric Cappadocian power and only at the latest moment of its long decline. At the same time, some of the Greek legends seem to show that peoples, with whom the Greeks came into early See also:con-tact, had vivid memories of the Hatti. Such are the See also:Amazon stories, whose local range was very extensive, and the myths of See also:Memnon and See also:Pelops. The real reference of these stories, how-ever, was forgotten, and it has been reserved to our own See also:generation to rediscover the records of a power and a civilization which once dominated Asia Minor and north Syria and occupied all the See also:continental roads of communication between the See also:East and the West of the ancient See also:world. The See also:credit of having been the first to divine this importance of the Hittites should always be ascribed to Sayce. The history of the Hatti and their civilization, then, would appear to have been, very briefly, this. They belonged to an ethnic scattered widely over Eastern Asia Minor and Syria at an early period (Khatti invaded Akkad about r800 B.C. in the reign of Samsuditana); but they first formed a strong state in Cappadocia late in the 16th century B.C. Subbiluliuma became their first great king, though he had at least one dynastic predecessor of the name of Hattusil. The Hatti now pushed southwards in force, overcame the kingdom of Mitanni and proceeded partly to occupy and partly to make tributary both north Syria and western Mesopotamia where some of their congeners were already settled. They came early into collision with See also:Egypt, and at the height of their power under Hattusil II. fought the battle of Kadesh with Rameses II., on at least equal terms. Both now and previously the See also:diplomatic correspondenceof the Hatti monarchs shows that they treated on terms of See also:practical equality with both the Babylonian and the Egyptian courts; and that they waged See also:constant See also:wars in Syria, mainly with the Amorite tribes. At this time the Hatti empire or confederacy probably included, on the west, both Phrygia and Lydia. The Boghaz Keui See also:correspondence ceases to be important with the generation following Hattusil II., and in the Assyrian records, which begin about a couple of centuries later, we find Carchemish the chief Hatti city and N. Syria called the Hattiland. It is possible therefore that a See also:change of imperial centre took place after the Hatti had ceased to fear Egypt in north Syria. If so, the continuation of Hittite history will have to be sought among the remains at Jerablus and other middle Euphratean sites, rather than in those at Boghaz Keui. The See also:establishment of the Hatti at Carchemish not only made them a commercial people and probably sapped their highland vigour, but also brought them into closer proximity to the rising North Semitic power of Assyria, whose See also:advent had been regarded with See also:apprehension by Hattusil II. (see above). One of his successors, Arnaunta (late 13th century?), was already feeling the effect of Assyrian pressure, and with the See also:accession of Tiglath Pileser I., about a century later, a long but often interrupted series of Assyrian efforts to break up the Hatti power began. A See also:succession of Ninevite armies raided north Syria and even south-east Asia Minor, and gradually reduced the Hatti. But the resistance of the latter was sturdy and prolonged. They, remained the strongest power in Syria and eastern Asia Minor till well into the first millennium B.C., and their Syrian seat was not lost finally till after the great extension of Assyrian power which took place in the latter part of the 0th century. What had been happening to their Cappadocian See also:province meanwhile we do not yet know; but the presence of Phrygian inscriptions at Euyuk and Tyana, ancient seats of their power, suggests that the client monarchy in the Sangarius valley shook itself See also:free during the early part of the Hittite struggle with Assyria, and in the day of Hatti weakness extended its dominion over the See also:home territory of its former suzerain. " White Syrians," however, were still in Cappadocia even after the Cimmerians had destroyed the Phrygian monarchy, allowing Lydia to become independent under the Mermnad dynasty. See also:Croesus found them centred at Pteria in the 6th century and dealt them a final See also:blow. But much of their See also:secular or religious See also:custom lived on to be recorded by Greek writers, and regarded by modern scholars as typically " Anatolian." Inscriptions : L. Messerschmidt, " Corpus inscr. Hettiticarum," Zeitsch. d. d. morgenland. Gesellschaft (1900, 1902, 1906, &c.), and Bemerkungen zu d. Heth. Inschriften," Mitleil. d. vorderasiat. Gesellschaft (1898) ; P. Jensen, " Grundlagen See also:fur eine Entzifferung der,(Hat. See also:oder) Cilicischen Inschriften," Zeitschr. d. d. morgenland. Gesellschaft (1894); F. E. Peiser, See also:Die Hettitischen Inschriften (1892); A. H. Sayce, Decipherment of the Hittite Inscriptions," Proc. See also:Soc. of Bibl. Archaeology (1903), and " Hittite Inscriptions, translated and annotated," ibid. (1905, 1907) ; J. Menant, " Etudes Heteennes," Recueil de travaux rel. d la philologie, 6'c., and Mem. de l'Acad. Incr., vol. xxxiv. (189o); J. Halevy in Revue semitique, vol. i. Also See also:divers articles by A. H. Sayce, F. Hommel and others in Proc. and Trans. Soc. Bibl. Arch. since 1876, and in Recueil de travaux, &c., since its beginning. Exploration : G. Perrot and E. Guillaume, Exploration arch. de la Galatie, &c. (1862–1872); E. Chantre, Mission en Cappadocie (1898) ; Sir W. M. Ramsay, " Syro-Cappadocian Monuments," in Athen. Mitteilungen (1889), with D. G. Hogarth, " Pre-Hellenic Monuments of Cappadocia," in Recueil de travaux, &c. (1892–1895) and with Miss Gertrude Bell, The Thousand and One Churches (1909) ; C. See also:Hamann and O. Puchstein, Reisen in See also:Nord-Syrien, &c. (189o), J. Garstang in Annals of Archaeology and See also:Anthropology, i. (1908) and following numbers. Reports on excavations at Sinjerli in Berl. Philol. Wochenschrift (1891), pp. 803, 951; and F. von Luschan, and others, " Ausgrabungen in Sendschirli " in Mitteil. Orient-Sammlungen (Berlin Museum, 1893 ff.); and on excavations at Boghaz-Keui, H. Winckler in Orient. Literaturzeitung (Berlin, 1907) ; Mitteil. Orient-Gesellschaft (Dec. 1907). See also s.v. PTERIA. (D. G. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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