Οι Χετταίοι

by Oliver Robert Gurney, Δημήτρης Παυλάκης (Translator)

Η ανακάλυψη της αρχαίας αυτοκρατορίας των Χετταίων υπήρξε ένα από τα μεγαλύτερα επιτεύγματα των τελευταίων εκατό χρόνων. Γνωστοί από την Παλαιά Διαθήκη ως μία από τις φυλές που είχαν καταλάβει τη Γη της Επαγγελίας, οι Χετταίοι ήταν στην πραγματικότητα ένα κραταιό βασίλειο, που διέθετε εξελιγμένη πολιτική οργάνωση, σύστημα απονομής δικαιοσύνης και στρατιωτική ισχύ· ανέπτυξαν λογοτεχνία, την οποία κατέγραψαν σε πήλινες πινακίδες με σφηνοειδή γραφή και μια αναπαραστατική τέχνη, δείγματα της οποίας συναντάμε σε λίθινα μνημεία και προσόψεις βράχων, διάσπαρτα σε απομονωμένες περιοχές. Το κλασικό αυτό έργο του O. R. Gurney, πρόσφατα αναθεωρημένο και ενημερωμένο, συνθέτει μέσα από συναρπαστικές λεπτομέρειες μια πλήρη εικόνα του πολιτισμού των Χετταίων, αξιοποιώντας τις ήδη γνωστές αλλά και τις πιο πρόσφατες πηγές.

Genres: History, Ancient History, Nonfiction, Archaeology, Middle East, Ancient

260 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1952

Reviews

[GoldGato · Rating 5 out of 5]

Until I read this book, I only had a very vague idea of the Hittites. I guess I got my "ites" mixed up, because I didn't realize they were one of the major ancient civilizations lost to history until the discovery of the Aleppo Stone in the 19th century. The Stone had all but been rubbed away by local inhabitants because they thought it was a cure for diseased eyes. A strange way to re-discover Asia Minor's most formidable people.

Mighty builders of empire and the most formidable foe of Ramesses II, the Hittites dominated Asia Minor for hundreds of years...and then vanished. Was it war? Fire? Famine? Disease? Did the Four Horsemen all visit at once?

What is this, O gods, that you have done? You have let in a plague and the Land of Hatti, all of it, is dying...

I believe the Hittites are connected to the Trojans. At the very least, Homer must have heard about their great debacle and used it for his Iliad. Were the Trojans actually the Hittites themselves? Or were they the next generation? So many questions, so few answers, as much is lost.

This is the Folio Society edition, which means I was scared to touch it. Gorgeous imprinted cover, drop-dead gorgeous typesetting, and color photographs that make the reader yearn for a little expedition to modern-day Turkey.

Book Season = Summer (but not for the beach)

[J. Boo · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Hittites were a major power of the Ancient Near East, based in central Anatolia. At their height they were rivals and (rarely) allies of the Egyptian New Kingdom. The Hittite Empire was destroyed by the Sea Peoples during the Bronze Age collapse, save for a group of small successor kingdoms in northern Syria which lasted until overrun by the Assyrians. Other than a few terse references in the Old Testament, the Hittites were then forgotten until the discovery of their diplomatic letters in the Amarna cache, and the excavation of Hattusas, their capital.

This is a very readable general history of the Hittites: their religion, their politics, and their culture. It's a bit older, but, as far as I'm aware, there haven't been much in the way of important innovations in Hittiteology in the last thirty years.

Read in college, and re-read recently -- I was searching for my favorite example of elaborate (and, from the modern view, ridiculous) Hittite auguries. Unfortunately the examples of auguries in "The Hittites" were more prosaic, but I enjoyed the chapter enough that I went back to the beginning and re-read the whole thing. Still need to keep my eye out for the original source.

[Ευθυμία Δεσποτάκη · Rating 5 out of 5]

Έχω μεγάλη αδυναμία στους Χετταίους. Μάλλον γιατί ακόμη κι η προγιαγιά μου τους ήξερε -για την ακρίβεια ήξερε την πρωτεύουσά τους τη Χαττούσσα, την οποία και μνημόνευε εις την ποντιακήν, όποτε ήθελε να πει ότι κάτι ήταν μακριά. Πάντως τους έχω αδυναμία φοβερή, γιαυτό κι όταν αποφάσισα να γράψω κάτι ψευδοελληνικό-ψευδοποντιακό, οι αντίπαλοι των ηρώων μου, αν και όχι οι κακοί, ήταν κάποιοι που έμοιαζαν με Χετταίους.

Για να κάνεις κάτι τέτοιο όμως χρειάζεσαι άπειρο διάβασμα. Κι έχω κάνει άπειρο χετταίϊκο διάβασμα. Και το βιβλίο του Γκάρνεϋ είναι από τα καλύτερα που έχω διαβάσει.

Απλό αλλά όχι απλοϊκό, λεπτομερές αλλά όχι μπουκωτικό και τίμιο στις πηγές και τις ιδέες του, ζωντανεύει με προσοχή και τρυφερότητα έναν λαό που για αιώνες είχε μείνει ξεχασμένος. Έναν λαό που κάποιοι (ναι, φίλτατε Ραμσή, εσένα εννοώ) προσπάθησαν να μας πείσουν ότι τον νίκησαν, ενώ παραλίγο να νικηθούν από αυτόν. Ένα λαό που πιθανόν να ήταν κοντινότερα στην ισότητα των δύο φύλων από εμάς, κοντινότερα στην ανεξιθρησκεία από εμάς και κοντινότερα στο απόλυτο δίκαιο από μας.

Σταματώ εδώ, τους αγαπώ τόσο πολύ, που μπορώ να γράφω γι' αυτούς για ώρες. Αν πετύχετε πουθενά το βιβλίο, διαβάστε το. Θα τους αγαπήσετε κι εσείς όπως κι εγώ.

[samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Note on Spelling of Proper Names
• Hittite names
o pronunciation only approximately known, but the possible degree of error is not very large. Valuable clues have been obtained from con¬ temporary transliterations into other scripts, such as Egyptian and Ugaritic.
o Nominative case ending -s omitted in geographical and divine names
• Introduction
o Figure in HB as one of several tribes which the Israelites found inhabiting Palestine when they entered promised land.
 aboriginal tribes of Palestine
 “dwell in the Mountains” (Numb 13:29)
o Monarchy adds importance
 Solomon’s Hittite wives (i Kings xi. i) are foreigners, grouped with Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, and Sidonians.
 Two passages referring to “king of Hittites”
o Egyptian records speak of Kheta
 Who could doubt that the Kheta-folk of the Egyptian texts and the Hittites of the Old Testament were one and the same?
o Assyrian cuneiform inscriptions reveal that during Tiglath-pileser I (1100 bc), Syria was known to Assyrians as “Land of Hatti” with capital Carchemish
o Sayce 1876 archaeology proposes to ascribe to the Hittites the basalt blocks inscribed with a. peculiar form of writing which had been found at Hama (bibl. Hamath) and at Aleppo.
 Hamath Stones are casted
o The Aleppo stone was first seen in 1871 built into the wall of a mosque; it was believed by the natives to possess the power to cure ophthalmia, and generations of sufferers from this disease had worn the surface smooth by rubbing their eyes upon it. It was afterwards reported lost for a number of years, but it had in fact been removed by the local in¬ habitants and was later replaced.
 Is this a Hamath stone or distinct?
o Hamathite script found also at Ivriz in Taurus Mountains by Davis.
 With this we are able to locate category of similar monuments
o Next 20 years, Turkey is visited by archaeologists
o History of Hittites, meanwhile, illuminated by the discovery in 1887 of Tell El Amarna letters
 clay tablets, inscribed in cuneiform characters and for the most part in the Akkadian language,’ which had formed the diplomatic and administrative correspondence of King Akhenaten and (for the last few years of his reign) of his father Amenophis UI, thus covering roughly the period 1385-1360 b.c. Not only did the letters from Palesti¬nian and Syrian vassals contain frequent references to the King of Hatti and the movements of his armies but among the letters was one from Suppiluliumas himself, the King of Hatti, congratulating Akhenaten on his accession.
 Also two letters in unknown language (Indo-European affinities), one of which addressed to the king of a country called Arzawa
 Knudtzon notes that this language is similar to that found in Boghazkoy
o We must excavate Boghazkoy!
 Royal archive found! Many in this unknown Arzawan language, which is evidently the official language of Hatti. So we will now call it Hittite language.
 Thank goodness: a document which proved to be the Hittite version
 of the treaty already mentioned between Ramesses 11 and the King of Hatti. We can translate!
 We have also found the capital of Kheta!
o We begin attempts at decipherment
o B. Hrozny publihsed first sketch of Hittite grammar in 1915. Undoubtedly this is Indo-European.
 But Hrozny was not an Indo-Euro philologist and he freely assigned meanings to words merely by reason of their similarity to words in other Indo-Euro languages.
o Corrective introduced in 1920 by F. Sommer
 Refused to use deceptive etymologies.
 He is helped by allography: scribes replaced common Hittite words by corresponding Sumerian or Babylonian word by way of abbreviation
o The first notable undertaking in the field of Hittite studies outside Germany was the Elements de la Grammaire Hittite^ by L. Delaporte, pubhshed in 1929
o In 1940 we get Friedrich’s definitive grammar
o Excavations continued. Turks got involved.
o It will be seen from this narrative that, largely through extraneous circumstances, the several branches of Hittite studies tended for a while to become separated.
Chapter 1: Outline of History
• I. The Earliest Period
o Cappadocian plateau lands.
o Capital Hattusas
o The historical ‘Land of Hatti” in second millennium bc was a state, later an empire, created by kings ruling from this mountain fastness.
o This kingdom and its official language have become known as ‘Hittite’, and the name must now be accepted. But the ‘Hittite’ lan¬guage was not indigenous in Asia Minor, and the name of Hatti was given to the country by the earlier people of the land, whom we call Hattians.
o The Indo-European Hittite language was superimposed on the non-Indo-European Hattian by an invading people….Thus we may be fairly sure that none of these Indo-European in¬vaders would have called themselves Hittites, or anything similar, before their arrival in the district of Hatti.
o True history begins in Anatolia with the arrival on the plateau of Assyrian traders about 1900 b.c.
o We have from this period clay tablets, of only a few in Hittite.
 we hear of local princes and their palaces, and it is evident that the country was broken up into at least ten small principalities, among which the dty of Burushkliatum (the Hittite Puruskhanda) seems at first to have held a dominant position, since its ruler is distinguished from the rest as a ‘Great Prince’.
 Very few of the local princes are known to us by name.
 But we know Pitkhana (Hittite: Pitkahanas), and his son Anitta (Hittite: Anittas)
o Anittas’ inscription: he records the story of his and his father’s struggle for power against rival cities. By the end of his reign he controlled a greater part of the Cappadocian plateau.
 this script is unlike any we have at the time.
 In what language then did he write? Such elaborate inscriptions as this are not produced out of a literary vacuum. Yet not a single example of an Anatohan royal inscription of this period has yet come to hghtlight It has been suggested that a whole literature inscribed on some perishable material, such as wood, possibly in Hittite hieroglyphs, has been lost to us; but in view of the very brief and formal nature of the earli¬est extant hieroglyphic inscriptions, it does not seem very likely that such a literature can have existed in these early times, even though ‘scribes of wood’ are frequently men¬tioned in the later Hittite texts.
 I AM CONFUSED BY THIS**** How can we read it then lol? Do we have an Assyrian copy of something that would not have been in Assyrian and are just wondering about the original????****
o Assyrian commercial activity in Cappadocia comes to sudden end
o What is the relation of Anittas to the kingdom of Hatti? On the one hand, Kussara, his city, was evidently a royal residence in early Hittite times, if not the actual administra¬tive capital, and this has suggested to many scholars that the Hittite royal line was really descended from Anittas.
o But no Hittite king ever claimed Anittas as his forebear
• The Old Kingdom
o The later Hittite kings liked to trace their descent back to the ancient King Labarnas, and with him therefore Hittite history may be said to begin, although he does not appear to have been the first of his line. No authentic inscription of this monarch has survived, but his deeds are narrated by one of his successors, and there is no reason to doubt the record.
 the moral of his story: the strength of the kingdom lay in the existence of harmonious relations between the members of the royal family.
o His successor, Hattusilis I (likely changed his name from Labarnas, which was also his father’s name)
 administrative capital at end of his reign was Hattusas
o Next king is Mursilis I
 He conquered Babylon/Akkad!! Woohoo. Shortly after 1600 bce?
 There was mad instability though: Mursilis wasn’t Hattusilis’ son, he was banished! UNAMMED SON leaves an absence that is felt.
o Generations of palace murders
o King Hantilis….does nothing but witness eternal disasters
o Telipinus, husband of a royal princess, seizes throne in 1525 bc. He knows we need a law of succession.
 He makes an edict with a brief survey of Hittite history
 Establisehs safe and defensible frontier.
 He is the last king of the Old Kingdom.
o Immediate successors unclear. Half a century passes….
o Then Tudhaliyas II begins new epoch.
• The Empire
o The Hittite Empire was the creation of the great military leader, Suppiluliumas, who came to throne ca. 1380 bc.
 He is new dynasty? His father WAS king before him. But otherwise his filiation to earlier kings is unknown.
 His family had Hurrian names, dating back to Nikkalmati, queen of Tudhaliyas
 Tudhaliyas attacked and destroyed Aleppo. He had to defend his kingdom from mad attacks.
o Supp had accompanied his father, Tudhaliyas III, on campaigns.
 He lays out protective wall on south side of city of Hattusas and other fortifications of capital.
 His main task was the settling of accounts with Mitanni, the enemy who had been responsible for the distressful condition of his kingdom in the previous generation.
 Mitanni king at time was Tushratta.
• He allies with king of Egypt.
• Supp forms alliance with nebulous kingdom called Azzi/Hayasa, marries his sister (?) to chieftain.
• Supp conquers Mitannian capital Wassukkanni, gets local princelings to submit too.
• King of Kadesh (outpost of Egyptian influence) came out to battle but was smacked down.
• Supp claims he made Lebanon his frontier! Super southwards! Egypt is fine with this, they have internal religious reform going on.
• This expedition is all dated to about 1370. Halep (Aleppo) and Alalakh (Atchana) become Hittite.
o Supp recalled to his capital
 He had left Syria business to his son Telipinus, ‘the priest,’
 The Syrian principalities were split into pro-Hittite and pro-Mitannian factions.
 Tushratta is assassinated and replaced by king Artatama, then his son Shutarna.
o Anyway Telipinus is made king of Aleppo and Supp’s other son Piyassilis is made king of Carchemish.
o Supp allies with kingdom of Kizzuwatna
o Supp receives a letter, before the conquering of Carchemish, from Egyptian queen
 ‘My husband has died and I have no son, but of you it is said that you have many sons. If you would send me one of your sons, he could become my husband. I will on no account take one of my subjects and make him my hus¬band. I am very much afraid.’
 This was most certainly Ankhesenamun, third daughter of “heretic” king Akhenaten and, though still a young girl, widow of boy-king Tutankhamun who died around 18yo.
 Supp sends son. Son is put to death upon arrival at Egypt by priest Ai, who becomes next king of Egypt and marries Ankhesenamun to legitimize his usurpation.
o Anyway. The son of murdered Tushratta of Mitanni suppliants to Supp. This young man teams up with Piyassilis (Supp’s son, in Carchemish) to re-enter Qussukkanni, Mittannian capital. New vassal kingdom baby!
o Supp and his eldest son Arnuwandas II die of pestielence.
o Throne goes to Mursilis II, his other son.
 He crushes Arzawa
 Things are shaky during his reign, everywhere.
o Mursilis left to his son and successor Muwatallis an em¬pire firmly established and surrounded by a network of vassal kingdoms.
 His concern: Egypt is back in the game. “the Egyptian colossus was at last astir”
• The kings of the Nineteenth Dynasty were ambitious to recover the territories in Syria formerly conquered by Tuthmosis HI and lost again through the apathy of the reli¬gious reformer Akhenaten.
 Ramesses II ascends in 1304. Muwatallis gathers his allies.
• A list of them is given by the Egyptian scribes (the Hittite records of this reign have not been found), and here we find for the first time mention of the Dardanians, familiar from Homer’s Iliad.
• The armies meet at Kadesh, 1300 bc. Muwatallis smacks down!
 While Muwatallis is in Datassa, a southern city near all this nonsense, his brother Hattusilis watches over capital Hakpis.
 Muwatallis’ son Urhi-Teshub (Mursilis III) tries to take away his uncle Hattusilis’ power.
• Hattusilis is sick of being taunted by this kid. Declares war on nephew and drives him from the throne. He succeeds easily-- Urhi-Teshub (Mursilis III) was obviously not popular. Anyway Urhi-Teshub (Mursilis III) is taken prisoner and treated leniently.
o So ascends Hattusilis III, about 50.
 Peace, prosperity.
 Moves capital back to Hattusas. City rebuilt and archives re-copied.
 He marries his daughter to Pharaoh Ramesses (Hattusilis III had married his queen, Puduhepa, a daughter of a priest of Kizzuwatna, 29 years earlier).
 All is not well in the West, though.
 He authored a remarkable document to justify his seizure of throne. He says Ishtar of Samuha okay-ed it.
 He dies soon after his daughter marries Ramesses.
o His son Tudhaliyas IV is super interested in religious duties. Institutes reforms relating to festivals and other ceremonies.
 Maybe he was the one who comissioend reliefs at Yazilikaya
 Trouble: King of Ahhiyawa named Attarissiyas is messing with Western Hittite dependencies.
 He manages to repulse further attacks. But Hittite Empire’s days are numbered.
o Next king, Arnuwandas III
 West is falling apart.
 king Madduwattas, a king of something in the West, is hanging out with Attarissiyas
 Anyway edits of Arnuwandas contain no hint of impending doom.
o Succeeded by his brother, Suppiluliumas II. Short.
• Neo-Hittite Kingdoms
o Hittite culture has strange afterglow which lasted for no less than five centuries
o Assyrian records continue to refer to Syria and the Taurus area as the ‘Land of Hatti’ and speak of kings bearing names like Sapalulme, Mutallu, Katuzili, and Lubama (cf. Suppiluliumas, Muwatallis, Hattusilis or Kantuzzilis, Labamas)
o HB has many names of kings of Hittites
o Yet the language and the religion of these ‘Neo-Hittite’ inscriptions are not those of the Hittites of Hattusas, nor are they those of the common people who had inhabited Syria under the Hittite Empire (for they were Hurrians). It seems that Syria must have been overrun by another people coming from one of the Hittite provinces, who had adopted the Hittite civilization
o The first Assyrian king to reach die Euphrates after the downfall of Hattusas was Tiglath-pileser I, who in 1110 B.c. encountered at Milid a kingdom which he calls ‘Great Hatti’.
o The Assyrian armies, however, retired, and it was many years before an Assyrian king again reached or crossed the Euphrates.
o The Neo-Hittite kingdoms and their Aramean neighbours quickly settled down to a brief period of prosperity and affluence. This is to be inferred from the large sums of gold and silver which the Assyrian kings were able to exact from them as tribute.
o This failure of the Hittite states to combine against the invader is presumably evidence of internecine rivalries among themselves, of which we have no further information.
o Assyria backs off for a bit because new rival in northern mountains, Urartu (Ararat) draws off main effort of Assyrian kings.
 Hittite kingdoms have some racial or cultural affinity with Urartu
o Assyria revamps under Tiglath-pileser III (745-727 bc)
 in the year 738 b.c. the pohcy of direct annexation was extended into Syria. The first Hittite state to become an Assyrian province seems to have been Unqi, and it was not long before the same fate overtook most of its neighbours.
o Thus ended the history of the Hittite states of North Syria. When Greek travelers penetrated into these territories, they found only provinces of the Assyrian Empire. The very name of Hatti was already forgotten.
• The Achaeans and Trojans in the Hittite Texts
o Hittite texts refer to country Ahhiyawa/Ahhiya
 Supp may have sent his wife into banishment there
 Mursilis II fell ill and the god of Ahhiyawa and hod of Lazpa(s) are consulted on it! Friendly relations between Hatti and Ahhiyawa
 The Tawagalawas Letter: a communication addressed to king of Ahhiyawa by Hittite king (name not preserved)
• Former Hittite subject of high rank Piyamaradus is out carrying raids in provinces, namely Lukka Lands. His base is in Millawanda, under control of the king of Ahhiyawa.
• Letter wants Piamaradus extradited
• Tawagalawas, a relative of the king of Ahhiyawa, lives in Lukka Lands. It was a kind of no-mans land between the two kingdoms. Frontier ill-defined. Anyway Tawagalawas wanted to be recognized as a vassal. The Hatti king sends his son, and not himself- Tawagalawas wanted the king, not the son!
• So the Hatti king is mentioning all this to show that whatever Tawagalawas had told Ahhiyawa of what was going on in the Lukka Lands may have been biased bc he hates king of Hatti.
• King of Ahhiyawa sends Atpas, based in Millawanda, to hand over Piyamaradus. But oh no! Piyamaradus escaped by ship!
 Another letter with both Piyamaradus and Atpas written to unknown Hittite king by Manapa-Dattas, ruler of Land of Seha River
 A later letter, written after Millawanda became a vassal (called the Milawata Letter) cites the Piyamaradus as precedent: implies here that the Ahhiyawa king did hand over the marauder to Hittite king afterall.
o The Ahhiyawans were a powerful sea-faring people
o Anyway I guess “it is known that from the downfall of the Minoan dynasty c. 1400 b.c. until the Dorian invasion in the twelfth century the command of the seas was firmly in the hands of the Mycenean Greeks, who are the Homeric Achaioi — orig¬inally Achaiwoi
o If the identity of the Ahhiyawa folk with the Achaeans be assumed at least as a working hypothesis, there is room for much speculation on matters of detail.
o in the fourteenth and early thirteenth centuries B.c. mainland Greece at least was united under the kings of Mycenae. Was Ahhiyawa the kingdom of Mycenae itself? Or was it one of the island kingdoms of Crete, Rhodes, or Cyprus, which may well have exercised a considerable degree of independence?
• The Hittites in Palestine
o In the HB, the Hittites appear as a Palestinian tribe. But archaeologically we can’t see them living there. They’re in the Anatolian plateau.
o far from explaining it, all our accumulated knowledge of the people of Hatti has only made it more perplexing.
o The HB NAMES The Hittites of the Palestinian hills. How?
 Forrer’s answer: Hatti was suffering from pestilence at beginning of reign of Mursilis II (1335 bc). King searches archives for divine explanation. Finds two tablets.
• One tablet shows a certain festival had been neglected.
• Another shows the city of Kurustamma, whose people were bound in treaty to the people of Hatti by their weather-god. The treaty was violated an the weather-god sent pestilence to the people, Mursilis II ded

[B.W. Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the great seminal works which helped to bring the Hittite Empire out of the darkness. Although now more than half a century has passed since publication, it remains a classic in its field.

[Apollo Y · Rating 3 out of 5]

informative? yes. boring? also yes.
me and the author don’t see eye to eye, he likes military history, i couldn’t care less. i like folklore and magic, he glosses past it. i can tell he seems well informed at least. there were some included figures and art reliefs i liked to look at in reference to the text. compared to other books like this ive read published in the 50s i think this is the least racist ive read, so congrats to gurney for that feat. we have a few… weird moments here and there but compared to lots of other authors ive read… its an improvement.
i took what i can from this, and did feel like i learned some things so that’s nice.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a really nice accessible volume that covers a distinct historical period and area.
I picked this up as part of the Ancient Near East set by Folio, and this is a lovely set. I chose to read this one first. I was pretty worn out after a major family event, and I wasn't sure if I'd be able to make much headway, but I sliced through it like butter. It was so engaging and interesting.
The book has numerous illustrations and maps, and hones in on a period and people that are key in ancient history, but you don't often hear much about the Hittites.
I enjoyed this and I can see referring to it again and again. I am looking forward to reading the other books in the series.

[Pam Baddeley · Rating 3 out of 5]

An introduction to the civilisation of the Hittites, a people who lived on the Anatolian plateau and also in what is now Syria, and were contemporaneous with other better known nations such as the Assyrians and Egyptians. It gives a good coverage of the various aspects, though the linguistics section is rather erudite, assuming knowledge of Latin and ancient Greek.

The version I read is an ex library discard, rather old, so I don't know how different the 1990 update is, which presumably itself is somewhat out of date, but this work still seems to be a basic primer on the subject.

[Kathryn Lunn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fascinating account of an historical race of people. Some of the language is rather old fashioned and obviously more is known now about the Hittites, or Hattians, than when the book was written in the 1950's. It is very interesting to learn about this people's religion and laws, and to find how they are linked to other countries and races, some of which are quite surprising. Well worth a read.

[Andreas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lettlest og gir en grei oversikt over forksjellige aspekter ved Hetittene uten å gå noe speiselt i dybden på noe. Boka er opprinnelig fra 1950-tallet og bærer preg av det ved å til tider ha endel funky og litt gammeldagse vendinger i språk og omtale av forskjellige kulturer.

[Gino Kutcher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good introductory textbook. Not really light reading.

[Krista · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gurney's work is a solid overview of Hittite history, culture, religion, and mythology. - (from my Hittite/Hurrian Mythology REF in March 1996)

[Robert Whelan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Quite boring to read. I suppose it's a miracle that we know anything about these people from 3600 years ago but the book itself felt fragmented and frustrating about what little we do know.

[Rufus May · Rating 3 out of 5]

3/5

[Triumphal Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 out of 5 stars - Full review can be found at - https://triumphalreads.com/hittites-o...

Cons - No real wrap-up/reflection
- Some esoteric sections (Hittite and ancient Anatolian languages)
Pros - Great chapter on Hittite law
-Solid overview of much of everything
- Folio Society edition
- Extensive bibliography

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent introduction to the topic. Though there are more up-todate/indepth works on the Hittites, most notably Trevor Bryce's publications, Gurney's book should still be read. Firstly, it highlights how advanced our understanding of the Hittites was in the period between the 20s and the 50s, and in light of subsequent discoveries, how much there was still left to learn. Secondly, there is something to learn from his reference to theories that have now fallen out of favor, and thirdly its section on Hittite language is concise and very well written. There are a few negatives. The sections on art and literature felt a bit tacked on, though that may be a result of a lack of material at the time this book was published. This was the first book published for a english general readership - most of the Hittite scholarship of that time being in German and Czech. I would also deduct one star on this edition as the maps are inadequate. There are a number of sites referenced in the book that do not appear on the map or are obviously outside the view that the map takes. There are many landmarks in Anatolia that are also better known by their names from classical history that I feel would have benefitted from some sort of dual-labeling.

[Benjamin Uke · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book covers both the history and the society of the Hittites, with the greater emphasis being placed on the society. To give an idea of what this book covers the chapters are as follows: The Discovery of the Hittites, Outline of History, Hittite State and Society, Life and Economy, Law and Institutions, Warfare, Languages and Races, Religion, Literature, Art etc. It almost reminds me of an Iron Age Scottish highlands, lots of small feudal fiefdoms in a mountainous region, surrounded by powerful enemies. Other than the "blood gate" and polytheist tendencies I was surprised how fuedal their society felt.

Gurney possesses some important insights, but some of his facts are a little dated. This book was first published in 1952 but he has been quite good at updating it since then. Still, the last update was in the 1980s so it isn't that up to date.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hittites! I remember in my high school ancient history class as we breezed past the glories of Pharaonic Egypt and mighty Babylon that the Hittites received the briefest of mentions. What I did not know in high school was that the Hittite Empire was completely lost to history and only recently re-discovered in the 19th century. What was most interesting was learning how long it took to decipher the Hittite language, almost 60 years (from the 1890s to the 1950s) to crack the meaning of Hittite hieroglyphics. It turns out that Hittite is the earliest known Indo-European language, which is awesome. Words like "eat" and "drink" in Hittite are startling simular to modern German and English.

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting. I'm not so very familiar with pre-classical antiquity, but I'm interested in all the new insights resulting from modern research techniques, technology, & findings in the past few decades, so I'm checking out the recent books on the ancient civilizations. Not much was known about the Hittites 40 years ago, but now the tablets can be deciphered, locations of cities have been proven, and relations with surrounding cultures can be assessed. Maybe I'll read about the Egyptians next.

[Zach · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting and reasonably well written. It's just that there's a lot that we don't know about the Hittites and this book is generally content to say that and move on. It's worthwhile reading to get some context about a major near eastern power, there's just not as much information as Sumer, Egypt, Babylon, or Assyria.

[Sean Brennan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The trouble with reading a history which is now over 60 years old is always wondering what information contained within is now obsolete, and what is not. On the whole a little too Academic for my tastes such as the section on linguistics but still an interesting read!

[Mesoscope · Rating 5 out of 5]

A short, readable introduction to the history and culture of the Anatolian Hittites. A classic.

[Charles · Rating 5 out of 5]

Remains the definitive volume on the Hittites by a scholar of the old school, who understood his subject intellectually and viscerally.

[David H. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Retroactive Review (11 Jun 2022): I don't remember anything about this book other than it was boring and hard to get through.

[Fredrick Danysh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Coming from Palestine, the Hittites were an ancient tribe. This history looks at their history and culture to include religious practices, language, and race.

[June Ling · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well written, easy to read and great albeit brief insight of the Hittites.