The Hittites were a Bronze Age Anatolian people who established an empire with Hattusa as its capital from 1600 BCE to around 1180 BCE, reaching its apex during the mid-14th century BCE. While it collapsed in the "Late Bronze Age Collapse" for reasons historians still debate about, "neo-Hittite states" who based their political legitimacy on supposed descent of the Hittite Empire existed in the Levant for centuries afterwards. It was those "Hittites" that are described in the Bible as they came into contact with the Israelites and the name "Hittite" (rather than e.g. "Hatti") used in modern parlance when referring to them stems from those post-Hittite polities.
Understand
The earliest Anatolians known to form an organized state, the Hittites seemingly appeared out of thin air in the high plateau of northern Central Anatolia, although they identified much with their predecessors, the Hattis, who were of equally mysterious origins.
At its height, the Hittites were a great power, comparable in might to their Ancient Egyptian and Assyrian neighbors, with whom the Hittites were often in an uneasy relationship, and with its border stretching well into modern-day Syria and Lebanon. An attempted Egyptian invasion in 1274 BC was stopped by the Hittites at the city of Kadesh, on the Orontes River in what is now Syria. In the aftermath, the opposing sides celebrated the Egyptian–Hittite peace treaty, the first of its kind in recorded history, the only ancient Near Eastern treaty for which both sides' versions have survived—the original tablets are in Istanbul's Archaeological Museum, while a replica is displayed in the United Nation headquarters in New York. It was ratified in the 21st year of pharaoh Ramses II's reign (1258 BC) and continued in force until the Hittite Empire collapsed, 80 years later.
Destinations
Historic sites are in green while museums housing Hittite artifacts are in blue.
In Turkey
The most important Hittite sites of Anatolia can be geographically grouped into four areas: the ancient Hittite heartland in what is now Çorum Province in Northern Anatolia, the southern reaches of Central Anatolia on the foothills of the Taurus Mountains, Southern Turkey east of Adana, and the eastern outposts of the empire around Malatya.
Northern Anatolia
A couple hundred kilometres northeast of Ankara, this is where the Hittites first established their kingdom and the countryside is littered with a large number of sites.
- 1 Çorum Museum (Çorum). The museum of the region's modern capital hosts some artefacts excavated from the surrounding countryside.
- 1 Boğazkale. South of Çorum, Boğazkale is a modern village just next to the ruins of the Hittite capital of 2 Hattuşa , making it one of the few Hittite sites easy to access by public transport. While the ruins themselves are little more than foundation stones, it is easy to visualize how large a city this should have been in its heyday, and partially reconstructed city walls certainly help with this. Farther from the village, although still within walking distance if you are in a reasonable shape, is the sanctuary of 3 Yazılıkaya , an impressive set of rock reliefs depicting the numerous Hittite gods. Both sites constitute a UNESCO World Heritage site together.
- 4 Alacahöyük (off the highway between Boğazkale and Çorum; not to be confused with the nearby modern town of Alaca). The site that much of the rich Hittite collection of Ankara's Museum of Anatolian Civilizations excavated from, the Hittite name of Alacahöyük is yet to be identified, although the extensive ruins indicate that it was already a substantial community before the Hittite take-over. In the outskirts, the Gölpınar Dam dates back to 1240 BC, built after a drought hit the Anatolian highlands, so that the Hittites would never put themselves to shame again by having to import wheat from their rivals, the Egyptians, to avoid famine.
- 2 Museum of Anatolian Civilizations (Ankara). For travellers with even the slightest interest in the Anatolian history, no trip to Turkey is complete without a visit to the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations in the capital city, as the museum displays much of the crème de la crème of ancient Anatolian (as well as ancient Near Eastern) art. The Hittites are not only a non-exception, but their artifacts are aiways given the most honourable, prominent positions in the museum—an exact replica of a huge Hittite statue excavated from Fasıllar near Konya welcomes the visitors in the front yard. Indeed, during the nation-building process of the early years of the modern republic, Ankara much identified itself with its Hittite origins, celebrated by the modern 3 Hittite Sun Course Monument placed in the middle of the Sıhhiye Square's roundabout.
Along the Taurus Mountains
The southern extension of Central Anatolia is home to a number of striking and solitary sites literally lost in the hilly landscape.
- 5 Eflatunpınar (near Beyşehir, Lakes District). A monument with numerous reliefs surrounding it, on the side of a pool formed by a local spring held sacred by the Hittites. Probably intended as a base of a large statue that was never to be placed, the medieval Seljuk Turks presumed it was a memorial to ancient Greek philosopher Plato, and hence the name "Plato's spring".
- 6 İvriz (south of Ereğli). A large (4.2 m high and 2.4 m wide) rock relief at the end of a canyon, dating back to the 8th century BC and depicting Warpalawas, the king of the time and Tarhunzas, the storm god together, the god bestowing cereal ears and bunches of grapes to the king.
- 7 Kültepe (near Kayseri).
Southern Turkey
After the old kingdom centred around Hattuşa fell in the 12th century BC as part of the Late Bronze Age collapse that took place around the larger Eastern Mediterranean (due to numerous reasons, including loss of traditional trade partners, invasions from unfriendly neighbours, spread of ironworking technology and its advantages in weapon production over bronze and some even theorize environmental changes due to the eruption of some far away volcano), a number of successor states, collectively known as "Neo-Hittite" or "Syro-Hittite", emerged in what is now southern Turkey and northern Syria. Some major Neo-Hittite sites dot the countryside east of Adana.
- 8 Karatepe-Aslantaş National Park (north of Osmaniye, Çukurova). An open air museum inside the dense pine forest almost fully encircled by a dam lake (hence the local name Hitit Yarımadası, "the Hittite Peninsula") was the site of an ancient Neo-Hittite settlement, the walls of which still remain and surround the site. The museum exhibits a series of stone reliefs in a style with an unmissable Near Eastern influence, as well as a number of large-ish free standing statues, including that of the Phoenician thunder god Baal, absorbed into the Hittite pantheon as Tarhunzas.
- 9 Yesemek (near İslahiye, southwest of Gaziantep). Yesemek was a Hittite quary and statue workshop, with an entire hillside dotted by an almost uncountable number of half-finished statues that would be distributed all over the empire had they been completed before the quarry was abandoned after the collapse of the empire.
Eastern Anatolia
- 10 Darende. Some distance out of the town, two solitary lion statues facing eastwards are thought to be the remnants of a Hittite temple.
- 11 Arslantepe (in Orduzu, near Malatya). A far more interesting and extensive set of ruins than neighbouring Darende's 'Lion Rocks', a number of detailed sculptures with typically Hittite designs were excavated in the site and have been exhibited there.
Rest of the Near East
- 12 Aleppo. After being conquered in the 15th century BCE, Aleppo took on a spiritual role, known for the temple of the storm god, the remains of which are partially standing.
Elsewhere
Talk
The Hittite language was an ancient Indo-European language and therefore related to English. In fact, it is the oldest attested language in the family, one of the earliest deciphered Hittite words being wadar, which as many modern Indo-European speakers can easily guess, meant "water". Unlike Latin, Greek or Sanskrit, it has no modern-day descendants. Indeed the Anatolian branch of Indo-European has been extinct for 1,500 years.