Warriors of Anatolia: A Concise History of the Hittites

301 Pages·2019·4.727 MB·English

by  Trevor Bryce

Trevor Bryce is Honorary Professor of Classics and Ancient
HistoryattheUniversityofQueenslandandEmeritusProfessorof
Classics and Ancient History at the University of New England,
Armidale, New South Wales. His many books include Life and
Society in the Hittite World (2002), The Kingdom of the Hittites
(new edition, 2005), The World of the Neo-Hittite Kingdoms:
APoliticalandMilitaryHistory(2012),LettersoftheGreatKingsof
theAncientNearEast:TheRoyalCorrespondenceoftheLateBronze
Age (2014), Ancient Syria: A Three Thousand-Year History (2014)
and Babylonia: A Very Short Introduction (2016).
‘TrevorBrycehasdevotedhisscholarlycareertoreconstructingthe
civilization of the Hittites of pre-Classical Turkey. In this book he
draws on this experience to present an accessible overview of
thehistoryandcultureofthisfascinatingancientpeople.Whenthe
available evidence is scanty or unclear, he invites the reader to
consider his or her own solution to historical quandaries.’
– Gary Beckman, George C. Cameron
Professor of Ancient Near Eastern Languages and Cultures,
University of Michigan, USA
W
ARRIORS OF
A
NATOLIA
A Concise History of the
HITTITES
Trevor Bryce
Publishedin2019by
I.B.Tauris&Co.Ltd
LondonzNewYork
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Copyrightq2019TrevorBryce
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ISBN:9781788312370
eISBN:9781786725288
ePDF:9781786735287
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TypesetinMinionProbyOKSPrepressServices,Chennai,India
Iwouldliketo dedicatethisbooktomywifeNan,inrecognitionof
her unfailing support and patience for this and the many other
projects in which I have engaged throughout my academic career.

contents
Maps and Figures ix
Acknowledgements xii
INTRODUCTION 1
Chapter 1: Rediscovering a Lost World 7
Chapter 2: How Do The Hittites Tell Us About Themselves? 16
Chapter 3: The Dawn of the Hittite Era 22
Chapter 4: The Legacy of an Ailing King 34
Chapter 5: ‘Now Bloodshed Has Become Common’ 41
Chapter 6: The Setting for an Empire 46
Chapter 7: Building an Empire 57
Chapter 8: Lion or Pussycat? 66
Chapter 9: From Near Extinction to the Threshold of
International Supremacy 73
Chapter 10: The Greatest Kingdom of Them All 81
Chapter 11: Intermediaries of the Gods: The Great Kings
of Hatti 92
Chapter 12: King by Default 107
Chapter 13: Health, Hygiene and Healing 118
Chapter 14: Justice and the Commoner 127
viii WARRIORS OF ANATOLIA
Chapter 15: No Sex Please, We’re Hittite 136
Chapter 16: Women, Marriage and Slavery 144
Chapter 17: War with Egypt 158
Chapter 18: All the King’s Horses and All the King’s Men:
The Hittite Military Machine 167
Chapter 19: The Man Who Would Be King 183
Chapter 20: Partners in Power: The Great Queens of Hatti 196
Chapter 21: City of Temples and Bureaucrats:
The Royal Capital 202
Chapter 22: An Elite Fraternity: The Club of Royal Brothers 224
Chapter 23: The Empire’s Struggle for Survival 231
Chapter 24: Hatti’s Divine Overlords 240
Chapter 25: Death of an Empire 254
Appendix 1: Rulers of Hatti 268
Appendix 2: Outline of Main Events in Hittite History 270
Notes 273
Bibliography 280
Index 282
maps and figures
M
APS
Map I.1 Anatolia, satellite photo by Jeff Schmaltz,
MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA/GSFC. 4
Map 6.1 The Hittite world. 47
Map 6.2 Late Bronze Age Greece and western Anatolia. 52
Map 21.1 Hattusa. 208
F
IGURES
(All figures/photographs are by the author unless otherwise
acknowledged.)
Figure I.1 Modern Hittite hospitality. 1
Figure I.2 The disk monument, courtesy Umut Çomak. 2
Figure I.3 The stag container. 2
Figure 1.1 Yazılıkaya today. 8
Figure 1.2 The key sentence. 14
Figure 2.1 Scribes at work, from The Hittites (film
documentary), courtesy Tolga Örnek, Ekip Film. 19
Figure 6.1 Classical Miletos, Lion Harbour. 51
Figure 7.1 Aleppo citadel, courtesy Jonathan Tubb. 59