Editing Hittites (section)

===New Kingdom===
[[File:Hattusa,_capital_of_the_Hittite_Empire_38.jpg|thumb|Tudhaliya IV (relief in [[Hattusa]])]]
[[File:Ankara_Muzeum_B19-45.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Exact replica of a Hittite monument from Fasıllar, {{Circa|1300 BC}} ([[Museum of Anatolian Civilizations]])]]
With the reign of Tudhaliya I (who may actually not have been the first of that name; see also [[Tudhaliya]]), the Hittite Kingdom re-emerged from the fog of obscurity and entered the "Hittite Empire period". Many changes were afoot during this time, not the least of which was a strengthening of the kingship. Settlement of the Hittites progressed in the Empire period.{{sfn|Roebuck|1966|p=94}} However, the Hittite people tended to settle in the older lands of south Anatolia rather than the lands of the Aegean. As this settlement progressed, treaties were signed with neighboring peoples.{{sfn|Roebuck|1966|p=94}} During the Hittite Empire period the kingship became hereditary and the king took on a "superhuman aura" and began to be referred to by the Hittite citizens as "My Sun". The kings of the Empire period began acting as a high priest for the whole kingdom{{snd}}making an annual tour of the Hittite holy cities, conducting festivals and supervising the upkeep of the sanctuaries.{{sfn|Roebuck|1966|p=94}}

During his reign ({{Circa|1400 BC}}), King Tudhaliya I, again allied with Kizzuwatna, then vanquished the Hurrian states of [[Aleppo]] and Mitanni, and expanded to the west at the expense of Arzawa (a Luwian state).

Another weak phase followed Tudhaliya I, and the Hittites' [[Hittite Wars of Survival|enemies from all directions]] were able to advance even to Hattusa and raze it. However, the kingdom recovered its former glory under [[Šuppiluliuma I]] ({{Circa|1350 BC}}), who again conquered Aleppo. Mitanni was reduced to vassalage by the Assyrians under his son-in-law, and he defeated [[Carchemish]], another Amorite city-state. With his own sons placed over all of these new conquests and Babylonia still in the hands of the allied [[Kassites]], this left Šuppiluliuma the supreme power broker in the known world, alongside Assyria and Egypt, and it was not long before Egypt was seeking an [[Marriage of state|alliance by marriage]] of another of his sons with the widow of [[Tutankhamen]]. That son was evidently murdered before reaching his destination, and this alliance was never consummated. However, the [[Middle Assyrian Empire]] (1365–1050 BC) once more began to grow in power with the ascension of [[Ashur-uballit I]] in 1365 BC. Ashur-uballit I attacked and defeated [[Shattiwaza|Mattiwaza]] the Mitanni king despite attempts by the Hittite king Šuppiluliuma I, now fearful of growing Assyrian power, attempting to preserve his throne with military support. The lands of the Mitanni and Hurrians were duly appropriated by Assyria, enabling it to encroach on Hittite territory in eastern [[Asia Minor]], and [[Adad-nirari I]] annexed Carchemish and northeast Syria from the control of the Hittites.<ref name=Roux>{{cite book |first1=Georges |last1=Roux |title=Ancient Iraq|year=1993 |publisher=Penguin (Non-Classics) |isbn=978-0140125238 |url=https://archive.org/details/ancientiraq00roux |url-access=registration }}</ref>

While Šuppiluliuma I reigned, the Hittite Empire was devastated by [[Hittite plague|an epidemic]] of [[tularemia]]. The epidemic afflicted the Hittites for decades and tularemia killed Šuppiluliuma I and his successor, [[Arnuwanda II]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Zuckerman |first1=Molly K. |last2=Martin |first2=Debra L. |title=New directions in biocultural anthropology |date=2016 |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |location=Hoboken, New Jersey |isbn=978-1118962961 |page=297 |edition=1st |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J4DODAAAQBAJ&dq=hittite+plague&pg=PA297}}</ref> After Šuppiluliuma I's rule, and the brief reign of his eldest son, Arnuwanda II, another son, [[Mursili II]], became king ({{Circa|1330 BC}}). Having inherited a position of strength in the east, Mursili was able to turn his attention to the west, where he attacked Arzawa. At a point when the Hittites were weakened by the tularemia epidemic, the Arzawans attacked the Hittites, who repelled the attack by sending infected rams to the Arzawans. This was the first recorded use of [[biological warfare]]. Mursili also attacked a city known as Millawanda ([[Miletus]]), which was under the control of [[Ahhiyawa]]. More recent research based on new readings and interpretations of the Hittite texts, as well as of the material evidence for Mycenaean contacts with the Anatolian mainland, came to the conclusion that Ahhiyawa referred to [[Mycenaean Greece]], or at least to a part of it.<ref>{{cite journal | url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17499936/ | pmid=17499936 | year=2007 | last1=Trevisanato | first1=S. I. | title=The 'Hittite plague', an epidemic of tularemia and the first record of biological warfare | journal=Medical Hypotheses | volume=69 | issue=6 | pages=1371–1374 | doi=10.1016/j.mehy.2007.03.012 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Windle|first1=Joachim Latacz|title=Troy and Homer: Towards a Solution of an Old Mystery|year=2004|location=Oxford|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-926308-0|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ccQIyA9CW-wC|pages=121–122|access-date=2 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170227092043/https://books.google.com/books?id=ccQIyA9CW-wC|archive-date=27 February 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>{{sfn|Bryce|2005|pp=57–60}}<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Beckman|first1=Gary M.|last2=Bryce|first2=Trevor R.|last3=Cline|first3=Eric H.|title=Writings from the Ancient World: The Ahhiyawa Texts|journal=Writings from the Ancient World|year=2012|location=Atlanta|publisher=Society of Biblical Literature|url=http://www.sbl-site.org/assets/pdfs/pubs/061528P.front.pdf|issn=1570-7008|page=6|quote=At the very least, perhaps we can say that the Ahhiyawa Problem/Question has been solved and answered after all, for there is now little doubt that Ahhiyawa was a reference by the Hittites to some or all of the Bronze Age Mycenaean world.|access-date=2 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160423201908/http://www.sbl-site.org/assets/pdfs/pubs/061528P.front.pdf|archive-date=23 April 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>

====Battle of Kadesh====
[[File:Ramses IIs seger över Chetafolket och stormningen av Dapur, Nordisk familjebok.png|thumb|Egyptian pharaoh [[Ramesses II]] storming the Hittite fortress of [[Siege of Dapur|Dapur]]]]
{{Main|Battle of Kadesh}}
Hittite prosperity was mostly dependent on control of the trade routes and metal sources. Because of the importance of Northern Syria to the vital routes linking the [[Cilician Gates|Cilician gates]] with Mesopotamia, defense of this area was crucial, and was soon put to the test by Egyptian expansion under Pharaoh [[Ramesses II]]. The outcome of the [[Battle of Kadesh]] is uncertain, though it seems that the timely arrival of Egyptian reinforcements prevented total Hittite victory.{{sfn|Gurney|1966|p=110}} The Egyptians forced the Hittites to take refuge in the fortress of [[Kadesh (Syria)|Kadesh]], but their own losses prevented them from sustaining a siege. This battle took place in the 5th year of Ramesses ({{Circa|1274 BC}} by the most commonly used chronology).

====Downfall and demise of the kingdom====
[[File:Treaty of Kadesh.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Egyptian–Hittite peace treaty|Egypto-Hittite Peace Treaty]] (c. 1258 BC) between [[Hattusili III]] and [[Ramesses II]], the earliest known surviving peace treaty, sometimes called the Treaty of Kadesh after the [[Battle of Kadesh]] ([[Istanbul Archaeology Museum]]).]]
[[File:Museum_of_Anatolian_Civilizations080.jpg|thumb|upright|left|[[Chimera (mythology)|Chimera]] with a human head and a lion's body; Late Hittite period in [[Museum of Anatolian Civilizations]], [[Ankara]] ]]
After this date, the power of both the Hittites and Egyptians began to decline yet again because of the power of the Assyrians.{{sfn|Gurney|1966|p=36}} The Assyrian king [[Shalmaneser I]] had seized the opportunity to vanquish [[Hurrians|Hurria]] and Mitanni, occupy their lands, and expand up to the head of the [[Euphrates]], while [[Muwatalli II|Muwatalli]] was preoccupied with the Egyptians. The Hittites had vainly tried to preserve the Mitanni Kingdom with military support.<ref name=Roux /> Assyria now posed just as great a threat to Hittite trade routes as Egypt ever had. Muwatalli's son, [[Urhi-Teshub]], took the throne and ruled as king for seven years as [[Mursili III]] before being ousted by his uncle, [[Hattusili III]] after a [[Hattusili's Civil War|brief civil war]]. In response to increasing Assyrian annexation of Hittite territory, he concluded a peace and alliance with Ramesses II (also fearful of Assyria), presenting his daughter's hand in marriage to the Pharaoh.{{sfn|Gurney|1966|p=36}} The [[Treaty of Kadesh]], one of the oldest completely surviving treaties in history, fixed their mutual boundaries in southern Canaan, and was signed in the 21st year of Rameses (c. 1258 BC). Terms of this treaty included the marriage of one of the Hittite princesses to Ramesses.{{sfn|Gurney|1966|p=36}}<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.reshafim.org.il/ad/egypt/ramses-hattusili-treaty.htm |title=The peace treaty between Ramses II and Hattusili III |work=Ancient Egypt: an introduction to the history and culture |date=December 2006 |access-date=27 January 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110608080809/http://www.reshafim.org.il/ad/egypt/ramses-hattusili-treaty.htm |archive-date=8 June 2011 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Hattusili's son, [[Tudhaliya IV]], was the last strong Hittite king able to keep the Assyrians out of the Hittite heartland to some degree at least, though he too lost much territory to them, and was heavily defeated by [[Tukulti-Ninurta I]] of Assyria in the [[Battle of Nihriya]]. He even temporarily annexed the island of [[Cyprus]], before that too fell to Assyria. The last king, [[Šuppiluliuma II]] also managed to win some victories, including a naval battle against [[Alashiya]] off the coast of Cyprus.<ref name="naval">Horst Nowacki, Wolfgang Lefèvre ''Creating Shapes in Civil and Naval Architecture: A Cross-Disciplinary Comparison'' Brill, 2009 {{ISBN|9004173455}}</ref> {{dubious span|text=But the Assyrians, under [[Ashur-resh-ishi I]] had by this time annexed much Hittite territory in Asia Minor and Syria, driving out and defeating the Babylonian king [[Nebuchadnezzar I]] in the process, who also had eyes on Hittite lands.|date=June 2023|reason=not sourced, and dubious because Ashur-resh-ishi I and Nebuchadnezzar I are not of the same period as Suppiluliuma II}}
Bryce sees the Great Kingdom's end as a gradual disintegration. Pointing to the death of Hattusili as a starting point. Tudhaliya would have to put down rebellions and plots against his rule. This was not abnormal. However the Hittite military were stretched thin, due to a lack of manpower and hits to the [[Hittites#Population|population]] of the Empire. Putting down revolts and civil wars with brute force was not something Hatti could do to the same extent anymore. Every soldier was also a worker away from the [[Hittites#Economy|economy]], such as food production. Thus, casualties from war became ever more costly and unsustainable.<ref>{{cite book|last=Bryce|first=Trevor|year=2024|title= Hattusili: The Hittite Prince who stole an Empire|publisher=Bloomsbury|isbn=978-1-3503-4182-1|pages=182–183}}</ref>

The [[Sea Peoples]] had already begun their push down the [[Mediterranean]] coastline, starting from the [[Aegean Sea|Aegean]], and continuing all the way to Canaan, founding the state of [[Philistia]]{{snd}}taking [[Cilicia]] and Cyprus away from the Hittites en route and cutting off their coveted trade routes. This left the Hittite homelands vulnerable to attack from all directions, and Hattusa was burnt to the ground sometime around 1180 BC following a combined onslaught from new waves of invaders: the Kaskians, [[Phrygians]] and [[Bryges]]. The Hittite Kingdom thus vanished from historical records, much of the territory being seized by Assyria.{{sfn|Gurney|1966|p=39}} Alongside these attacks, many internal issues also led to the end of the Hittite Kingdom. The end of the kingdom was part of the larger [[Bronze Age Collapse]].<ref>{{Cite book |title=Western Civilization |last1=Spielvolgel |first1=Jackson |publisher=Wadsworth Cengage Learning |year=2011 |isbn=978-1111342142 |location=Boston, MA |page=30}}</ref> A study of tree rings of juniper trees growing in the region showed a change to drier conditions from the 13th century BC into the 12th century BC with drought for three consecutive years in 1198, 1197 and 1196 BC.<ref>{{Cite news |date=8 February 2023 |title=Drought may have doomed ancient Hittite empire, tree study reveals |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/feb/08/ancient-hittite-empire-tree-study-drought |access-date=9 February 2023 |issn=}}</ref>