Transcript Hittites

Who Were the Hittites?
 Ancient Anatolian people
 Lived in modern day Turkey and Syria
 Existed in 1750 BCE
Hittite History
Old Kingdom
New Kingdom
Middle Kingdom
 Divided into 3 periods
 Old Hittite Kingdom [1750-1500 BCE]
 Middle Hittite Kingdom [1500-1430 BCE]
 New Hittite Kingdom [1430-1180 BCE]
Old Hittite Kingdom: 1750-1500 BCE
 Founded by Labarna I or Hattusili I
 First king
 Conquered the area of south and north of Hattusa
 Attacked but did not capture the kingdom
Yamkhad
 The next king, Mursili I, conquered it
 Responsible for the reintroduction of cuneiform
Old Hittite Kingdom – Mursili
Individuals in History
 Second King
 Ruled from 1526-1556 BCE
 Continued conquering


Aleppo in Northern Syria
Babylon

Ended the dynasty of Hammurabi and the Amorite people
 Assassinated by his brother-in-law when he came
home
The Middle Kingdom: 1500-1430 BCE
 Telepinu last monarch
of the Old Kingdom
 Began the length of
weakness phase
 Started to conduct
alliances and write
treaties
 Shows Cooperation
and Conflict
The New Kingdom
 Tudhaliya I
 First king of New Kingdom
 Helped Hittites emerge from the weak phase of
darkness
 Allied with Kizzuwanta and expanded the empire

Captured Assuwa [orgin of Asia]
The Rise of Democratic Ideas
 Significantly updated the law they took from the
Old Bablyonians
 Differences:
1. More merciful
2. No death penaly for minor crimes
3. More fines than death
4. Gave more power to the king
 Basically everything on the Hittite territory
belonged to the king [Monarchy]
The Rise of Democratic Ideas
 Even though the Hittites had a monarchy, they still
helped shape our democracy.
Iron
 Hittites Started the Dawn of the
Iron Age
 First to make tools and weapons out
of iron
 Iron was harder, sharper, and
cheaper to make than bronze and
copper
 Tried to keep iron a secret
 Ironsmiths migrated and hepled
other empires by bringing the idea of
iron to them
Iron
 Continuity and Change
 Changes the way people live
 Cultural Development
 Helps develop art as well as weapons
 Technology in History
 First to create it
 Impact of Ideas
 Influences many others things
 Human-Environmental Interaction
 Blacksmiths
Religion
 Polytheism
 Adopted mostly the same gods of the Sumerian
people and Old Babylonians
 Whenever they conquered a group of people they
adopt their gods they believed in to their religion
Downfall
 The Assyrians conquered the Hittites
 Expand to the Euphratyes
 Take trade routes
Who were they?
 Ancient Anatolian people
 Language-variation of Indo-European
(Uncovered in 1906)
 Used cuneiform, developed from pictographs
 Center-Hattusa (city)
 Hittite translates “Son of Heth” (son of canan)
Human-Geography/ Evironment
Interaction
 Based in Anatolia(Asia Minor)
 Hattusa (Khattusha)-capital city
 Nesa-secondary major city
 Small amount of farming (warriors), later much more
impact of farmlands
History
 Early Hittites: attempt to gain control of metal ore and
products trade
 Conquered Babylon under Murshili I
(1595 B.C.E)
 Later war with Egypt (1192 B.C.E)
 Conquered by Assyria and the “Sea People”, a group of
invaders. (1185 B.C.E)
Economy and Trade
 Skilled metal workers
 Grains, vegetables, and fruits
 Grapes-wine
 Varied craftspeople
 Most craftsmen “controlled” by temple
Economy and Trade (continued)
 Domesticated animals- ox, sheep, goats, horses, mules,
donkeys, pigs, dogs.
 Goats and sheep made milk and cheese
 Oxen, horses, mules, and donkeys- beasts of burden
 Records were written in cuneiform
Cooperation and Conflict
 The early Hittites were warlike and often fought
surrounding nations, mostly Assyria
 Tried to remain at peace with Egypt; marriage between
kingdoms
 Changes between distributed power
and focused power (capital)
Rulers and Leadership
 Hereditary kings- dominant hereditary monarchy
 Passed from father to ANY son, not always 1st son
 Chief priest, acting in place of gods
 Commander of military
Notable Kings:
Labarna I-founder
Mursili I-sacked Babylon
Tudhaliya III-killed when
father died
Suppiliuma II-fall of capital
 Founders of first constitutional monarchy
Laws
 200 paragraphs of laws; nearly as detailed as
Hammurabi’s code
 Defined all crimes
 2 versions of the code were found
Religion and Worship
 Religion and traditions drew on other cultures
 Over 100 gods
 Important gods: Teshub (storms), Khepat (sun)
 Festivals occurred monthly
 Believed in afterlife
Technology
 Hittites made many innovations in the field of metal
working
 Many people were craftsmen and worked as potters,
textile makers, and many other jobs
 Increased chariot effectiveness
Continuity and Change
 Hittites took religions from others
 Kept what worked (iron), left what didn’t (bronze)
Ideas
 Controlled the market of metal ore and refinement
trade
 Large time use of chariots in wars and travel
 Sacking of Babylon, leaving it open for invaders for
about 100 years
 Conquered most of Anatolia
The Three Hittite Periods
 Old Hittite Kingdom
 1750-1500 BCE
 Middle Hittite Kingdom
 1500-1430 BCE
 New Hittite Kingdom
 1430-1180 BCE
What do we know about the
Hittites?
 Developed their own language
 Nesile

Through 1100 BCE
 Wrote in Cuneiform
 Each civilization had own
alteration
 Found/translated tablets
 Stupendous Metal Workers
Cultural
Development
 Religion
 Influenced by Mesopotamian
mythology
 Polytheistic
 Biblical references
 Referenced to in the Hebrew
bible
 Lived among Israelites
 High military officers in
King David’s army
Geography
 Second largest empire in
Mesopotamia
 Included parts of modern
day Syria, Lebanon and
Turkey
 Empire was north of
Canaan on the Central
Anatolian Plateau
 Capital was Hattusa (in
modern day Turkey)
Social
Institutions
 Royalty
 King
 Royal family
 The pankus (monitered king’s
activities)
 Aristocracy
 Commoners
 Merchants
 farmers
 Slaves
Government
 First constitutional
monarchy
 King was leader
 Produced Hittite laws
 Less severe alteration of
Hammurabi’s code
 Death was rarely a
punishment (murder
resulted in a fine)
Individuals in History
 Tudhaliya I
 First emperor
 Bloodline ran four
generations
 Suppiluliuma I
 Expanded the empire
 1344 to 1322 B.C.E
 Bloodline ran two generations
Land
Distribution
 King owned all land
under his control
• Individuals were
only to allowed
control land if
served army
 Resulted in many tenant
farmers
Technology
 First to work with Iron
 Stronger than bronze
 Abundant in nature
 Made innovations in
weaponry
 Iron made them stronger
Economics
 Economy based on
farming
 Main crops: wheat and
barley
 Livestock: cattle and
sheep
 Lands rich with minerals
Cooperation
and
Conflict
 Warriors
 Soldiers kept hair long
 Referred to by Pharaoh
as “women soldiers”
 Superior weapons
 Stronger
 Made of iron
Bibliography
“Hittites.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. 16 November
2008. 16 November 2008
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hittites>
“The Hittites.” World Civilizations. 16 November 2008. 16
November 2008
<http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/MESO/HITTITES.HTM>
“List of Hittite Kings.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. 16
November 2008
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Hittite_kings>
Bibliography (cont.)
“Hittites.” Looklex Encyclopedia. 16 November 2008. 16
November 2008 <http://lexicorient.com/e.o/hittites.htm>
“History of the Hittites.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia.
16 November 2008.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hittite_empire>
Jantzen, Steven L. and Kreiger, Larry S. and Neil, Kenneth.
World History: Perspectives on the Past. Lexington,
Massachusetts and Toranto, Ontario: D.C. Heath and
Company, 1992.
Bibliography
 Wallenfels, The Ancient Near East Volume II. Charles
Scribner’s Sons, San Francisco; publishing year 2000
 Wikipedia.org, Hittites.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hittites November 13,
2008;
Bibliography
 <en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hittites>
 www.wsu.edu/~dee/MESO/HITTITES.HTM
 <www.crystalinks.com/hittites.html>