Editing Hittites (section)

===Early period===
[[File:Sphinx_Gate,_Alaca_Höyük_03.jpg|thumb|left|The Sphinx Gate ([[Alaca Höyük]], [[Çorum]], [[Turkey]])]]
[[Image:Hattusa reliefs1.jpg|thumb|Reliefs and hieroglyphs from Chamber 2 at Hattusa built and decorated by Šuppiluliuma II, the last king of the Hittites]]

[[File:Hittite Chariot.jpg|thumb|right|Hittite chariot, from an Egyptian relief]]
The Hittite state was formed from many small polities in North-Central Anatolia, at the banks of the [[Kızılırmak River]], during the Middle Bronze Age (ca. 1900–1650 BC).<ref>Matessi, Alvise, (2021). [https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S027841652100026X "The ways of an empire: Continuity and change of route landscapes across the Taurus during the Hittite Period (ca. 1650–1200 BCE)"], in: Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, Volume 62, June 2021: "...the Hittite state emerged in Hatti, in the bend of the Kızılırmak, from a mosaic of canton polities occupying North-Central Anatolia during the Middle Bronze Age (MBA; ca. 1900–1650 BCE)."</ref> The early history of the Hittite kingdom is known through four "cushion-shaped" tablets, (classified as KBo 3.22, KBo 17.21+, KBo 22.1, and KBo 22.2), not made in Ḫattuša, but probably created in [[Kussara]], [[Nesha|Nēša]], or another site in Anatolia, that may first have been written in the 18th century BC,{{sfn|Kloekhorst|Waal|2019|p=189}}{{sfn|Kloekhorst|2020}} in Old Hittite language, and three of them using the so-called "Old Script" (OS);<ref>Kloekhorst, Alwin, and Willemijn Waal, (2019). [https://scholarlypublications.universiteitleiden.nl/access/item%3A3303401/view "A Hittite scribal tradition predating the tablet collections of Ḫattuša?: The origin of the 'cushion-shaped' tablets KBo 3.22, KBo 17.21+, KBo 22.1, and KBo 22.2."], in: Zeitschrift Für Assyriologie Und Vorderasiatische Archäologie, 109(2), '''p. 190''': "...Three of the four documents that have this peculiar 'cushion-shape' are generally regarded as showing Old Script (OS): KBo 3.22, KBo 17.21+, and KBo 22.1..."</ref> although most of the remaining tablets survived only as Akkadian copies made in the 14th and 13th centuries BC. These reveal a rivalry within two branches of the royal family up to the Middle Kingdom; a northern branch first based in [[Zalpuwa]] and secondarily [[Hattusa]], and a southern branch based in [[Kussara]] (still not found) and the former Assyrian colony of [[Kültepe|Kanesh]]. These are distinguishable by their names; the northerners retained language isolate Hattian names, and the southerners adopted Indo-European Hittite and Luwian names.{{sfn|Forlanini|2010|pp=115–135}}

Zalpuwa first attacked [[Kültepe|Kanesh]] under Uhna in 1833 BC.{{sfn|Forlanini|2010|p=121}} And during this [[Karum (trade post)|kārum]] period, when the merchant colony of the Old Assyrian Empire was flourishing in the site, and before the conquest of [[Pithana]], the following local kings reigned in Kaneš: Ḫurmili (prior to 1790 BC), Paḫanu (a short time in 1790 BC), Inar ({{Circa|1790}}–1775 BC), and Waršama ({{Circa|1775}}–1750 BC).<ref>Kloekhorst, Alwin, (2021). [https://www.academia.edu/53253292/A_new_interpretation_of_the_Old_Hittite_Zalpa_text_CTH_3_1_N%C4%93%C5%A1a_as_the_capital_under_%E1%B8%AAuzzii_a_I_Labarna_I_and_%E1%B8%AAattu%C5%A1ili_I_2021_ "A new interpretation of the Old Hittite Zalpa-text (CTH 3.1): Nēša as the capital under Ḫuzzii̯a I, Labarna I, and Ḫattušili I"], in ''Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol.141, No. 3'', p. 564.</ref>

One set of tablets, known collectively as the [[Anitta (king)|Anitta]] text,<ref>ed. [[StBoT]] 18</ref> begin by telling how [[Pithana]] the king of [[Kussara]] conquered neighbouring Neša ([[Kanesh]]),<ref name="Kuhrt-1995"/> this conquest took place around 1750 BC.<ref>Kloekhorst, Alwin, (2021). [https://www.academia.edu/53253292/A_new_interpretation_of_the_Old_Hittite_Zalpa_text_CTH_3_1_N%C4%93%C5%A1a_as_the_capital_under_%E1%B8%AAuzzii_a_I_Labarna_I_and_%E1%B8%AAattu%C5%A1ili_I_2021_ "A new interpretation of the Old Hittite Zalpa-text (CTH 3.1): Nēša as the capital under Ḫuzzii̯a I, Labarna I, and Ḫattušili I"], in ''Journal of the American Oriental Society'', Vol. 141, No. 3, p. 564: "...Around 1750 BCE, Pitḫāna, king of Kuššara, conquered Nēša and took over power. He was succeeded by his son Anitta..."</ref> However, the real subject of these tablets is [[Pithana]]'s son Anitta ({{reign|1745|1720}} BC),{{sfn|Forlanini|2010|p=122}} who continued where his father left off and conquered several northern cities: including Hattusa, which he cursed, and also Zalpuwa. This was likely propaganda for the southern branch of the royal family, against the northern branch who had fixed on Hattusa as capital.{{sfn|Forlanini|2010|p=130}} Another set, the Tale of Zalpuwa, supports Zalpuwa and exonerates the later [[Ḫattušili I]] from the charge of sacking [[Kültepe|Kanesh]].{{sfn|Forlanini|2010|p=130}}

Anitta was succeeded by [[Zuzzu]] ({{reign|1720|1710|lk=no}} BC);{{sfn|Forlanini|2010|p=122}} but sometime in 1710–1705 BC, Kanesh was destroyed, taking the long-established Assyrian merchant trading system with it.{{sfn|Forlanini|2010|p=121}} A Kussaran noble family survived to contest the Zalpuwan/Hattusan family, though whether these were of the direct line of Anitta is uncertain.{{sfn|Bryce|2005|p=}}

Meanwhile, the lords of [[Zalpa]] lived on. Huzziya I( the "elder" Huzziya), descendant of a Huzziya of Zalpa, took over Hatti. His son-in-law [[Labarna I]], a southerner from Hurma usurped the throne but made sure to adopt Huzziya's grandson Ḫattušili as his own son and heir. The location of the land of Hurma is believed to be in the mountains south of [[Kussara]].<ref>Joost Blasweiler (2020), [https://www.academia.edu/42931706/ The kingdom of Hurma during the reign of Labarna and Hattusili. Part I.] academia.edu</ref>