The
Hittites
Hittites appeared around 2200 BC. Unlike other civilizations, their arrival was
progressive and peaceful. It has not been proved that the barbarians who destroyed Troy II
between 2500 and 2000 BC were proto-Hittites, though it is generally accepted that the
Hittites, who are of Indo-European origin, penetrated Anatolia by way of the Caucasus.
However certain researchers have suggested that the Hittites may have originated in
Anatolia itself. At first the Hittites called themselves the "Nesi", their
language was nesili, and their first capital was Nesa. They later adopted the name of
"Hattians", doubtless following their integration with the indigenous people,
and perhaps to identify themselves with the ancient capital, Hattusas, which they rebuilt.
As for the word `Hittite', it is the transcription of the "HT" of the Old
Testament. Hattian considerably influenced the so-called Hittite language. However, it
would perhaps be more exact to speak of Hittite languages because we know of six, all
related to each other and spoken by the Hittites around the year 2000 BC. The differences
between these dialects reveal the assimilation by the Hittites of various Anatolian
populations. Some twenty thousand clay tablets discovered at Hattusas were written in
these languages and even included dictionaries. They constitute the first State archives
of mankind. The existence of these documents, the writing of which must have demanded a
great number of scribes, calls to mind the importance that the Turks have always given to
archives. Anatolia is the only country in the world whose official archives cover sixteen
hundred years of history eight centuries relating to the Hittites and an equal number to
the Turks. It was the Hittites who gave Anatolia the name 'Asia' (Assuwa) around 2000 BC;
the word gradually came to mean the whole Asian continent. During the Byzantine era the
Asian territory of present-day Turkey began to be called Asia Minor, to distinguish it
from the rest of Asia. The Hittite Empire slowly incorporated all the other population
groups of Anatolia, and represented one of the first civilized societies of its time. It
was organized as a confederation, a structure that enabled it first to establish, and then
to maintain for eight centuries, the unity of Anatolia, and to protect it from barbarian
invasion. In fact, the usual waves of invasions were absent during the Hittite period. It
was during this time, therefore, that the territory first appeared as a geopolitical unity
on the world scene. For the first time political unity was implemented on the geographical
unity of the country, creating in people's minds the idea of belonging to Anatolia. This
can be taken for granted an essential contribution by the Hittites to the history of
Anatolia, the establishment and maintenance of its territorial unity. Civil law was no
less important to the Hittites than international law, and morality seems have been very
strict. In general though, a leniency astonishing for the time seems to have been the
rule-no retaliation, no brutality, no mutilation. The guilty were required to make
restitution of what they had stolen, to pay compensation to the injured party, even if
they had killed, provided it was accidentally or in hot blood. Injuries done to slaves
cost half those caused to free persons. The death penalty was rare, and reserved
principally for the punishment of crimes against the authority of the State. Although
Roman law regarded slaves simply as a means of production, divested of any individual
rights, among the Hittites a slave did have certain rights, including that of property.
Another example of the profoundly humane nature of the Hittites was their treatment of
prisoners of war, in sharp contrast to the cruelty of the Assyrians. This behaviour has
equally been characteristic of the Turks. The Hittite Empire was one of the major states
of the past. Its expansion into the Middle East is explained by the geographical and
strategic position of Anatolia in the heart of what was then the principal area of
civilization and, likewise, of political power. The Hittites created the political unity
of Anatolia. They did this by organizing the indigenous populations into the flexible
framework of a confederation, while not involving themselves in their internal affairs.
Their society, respectful of the law, and founded on the equality of men and women,
inaugurated the Iron Age by achieving significant technological advances. At the beginning
of the fourteenth century BC, the Pharaoh of Egypt attempted to conquer Syria, but the
Hittite King Mursilis successfully repelled him. Rameses II, five years after his
accession to the throne of Egypt, began the struggle again. In 1299 BC one of the great
battles of antiquity took place at Kadesh on the Orates River, between Mutawallis, the son
of Mursilis, and the Pharaoh. At stake was the domination of the known world, for the
great era of the Babylonians had ended, and that of the Assyrians was in decline. The
clash between the armies of the two great Empires of the time, Egyptian and Hittite, was
tremendous but politically inconclusive. Both parties proclaimed themselves the winners,
although only the Hittites could justifiably claim victory, Mutawallis having pursued the
Egyptian army as far as Damascus. Inhabitants, remote from each other and speaking
different languages, such as the Mysians (Pergamum region), the Dardanians (Çanakkale),
and the Cilicians (south-east of Anatolia, facing Cyprus), took part in the combat
alongside the Hittites-a clear sign of Anatolian unity. The Trojan War, which occurred
later but which dates from the same century, seems to present certain similarities with
the battle of Kadesh. Traces of an earlier matriarchal regime can be found in the Hittite
civil code. To marry a young girl, it was necessary to give her father gifts worthy of his
rank. The young bride went to live with her husband in a regime of joint estate, but she
retained the right to the disposition of her dowry. Certain of these customs still survive
today in Anatolia. Hittites were the first known race that used the horse as a means of
transport. Though this achievement is sometimes attributed to the Mittanis, but the credit
for the training of horses and their widespread use to this day really belongs to the
Hittites. The Hittites used horses to pull chariots, which were also their invention. They
were vehicles with two six-spoke wheels, which carried into battle a driver and a warrior
armed with a lance. The intervention at Kadesh of fourteen hundred chariots constituted a
veritable revolution in military technology that enabled the Hittites to destroy the
Egyptian army in a few hours. The production of iron was another Hittite contribution to
human civilization. At the beginning of the second millennium BC, iron was more valuable
than gold. Thanks to simple and efficient techniques evolved by the Hittites, it could be
produced at a lower cost even to that of silver. Since then, cheap iron has been used both
for the manufacture of weapons and for agricultural and industrial tools, and has allowed
enormous development in these two areas. Thus Anatolia reached the Iron Age well before
other countries. The peace treaty drawn up ten years later undoubtedly has more
significance for us than the result of the battle itself. The Egyptian text of this treaty
was discovered in Egypt, and a version written in cuneiform characters in the Akkadian
language, which the Hittites used in international relations, was found in the ruins of
Hattusas. Other tablets relating to other agreements show that the Hittites attached a
sacred character to these treaties. A reproduction of this first treaty is a feature of
the entrance to the headquarters of the Security Council of the United Nations. It is a
sign that present-day civilization acknowledges its debt to the Hittites and to Anatolia.
To sum up then, the Indo-European Hittite tribes arrived as barbarians in Anatolia, but
became assimilated by the indigenous population, the Hattians, to the point where they
abandoned their original name for that of the Hattians. Another indigenous people, the
Hurrians, and the Anatolian tradition of the Mother-Goddess also influenced their
religion. The goddess Cybele, or Kupapa, or Hepa, symbolized Hittite womanhood. Respect
for women was therefore intrinsic in laws and customs; disrespect was inconceivable.
Queens were not merely the wives of kings; they were partners in their sovereignty. The
treaty of Kadesh bears beside the seal of King Hattusilis III, that of Queen Pudu Hepa.
Towards the end of the twelfth century BC, the invasion of barbarians originating in the
northwest, the Thracians put an end to the Hittite Empire. The civilized world was thus
overturned; and the so-called "Dark Age" had began.
