Editing Hittites (section)

==Geography==
[[File:Museum_of_Anatolian_Civilizations052_kopie1.jpg|thumb|upright|Ceremonial vessels in the shape of [[sacred bull]]s, called ''Hurri'' (Day) and ''Seri'' (Night) found in [[Hattusa]], Hittite Old Kingdom (16th century BC) [[Museum of Anatolian Civilizations]], [[Ankara]]]]
{{Main|Hittite sites}}
The Hittite kingdom was centered on the lands surrounding Hattusa and Neša (Kültepe), known as "the land Hatti" ({{Hittite|Ha-at-ti}}). After Hattusa was made the capital, the area encompassed by the bend of the [[Kızılırmak River]] (Hittite ''Marassantiya,'' Greek ''Halys'') was considered the core of the Empire, and some Hittite laws make a distinction between "this side of the river" and "that side of the river". For example, the [[Bounty (reward)|bounty]] for an escaped slave who had fled beyond the river is higher than for a slave caught on the near side.{{Citation needed|date=August 2021}}

To the west and south of the core territory lay the region known as ''[[Luwians|Luwiya]]'' in the earliest Hittite texts. This terminology was replaced by the names [[Arzawa]] and [[Kizzuwatna]] with the rise of those kingdoms.<ref>John Marangozis (2003) ''A Short Grammar of Hieroglyphic Luwian''</ref> Nevertheless, the Hittites continued to refer to the language that originated in these areas as [[Luwian language|Luwian]]. Prior to the rise of Kizzuwatna, the heart of that territory in [[Cilicia]] was first referred to by the Hittites as [[Adana|Adaniya]].{{sfn|Beal|1986}} Upon its revolt from the Hittites during the reign of [[Ammuna]],{{sfn|Beal|1986|p=426}} it assumed the name of Kizzuwatna and successfully expanded northward to encompass the lower [[Anti-Taurus Mountains]] as well. To the north lived the mountain people called the [[Kaskians]]. To the southeast of the Hittites lay the Hurrian empire of [[Mitanni]].

At its peak during the reign of [[Muršili II]], the Hittite empire stretched from Arzawa in the west to Mitanni in the east, and included many of the Kaskian territories north as far as [[Hayasa-Azzi]] in the far north-east, as well as south into [[Canaan]] near the southern border of [[Lebanon]].{{Citation needed|date=August 2021}}