Editing Hittites (section)

==History<!--'History of the Hittites' redirects here-->==
[[File:Indo-European expansions.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35| Scheme of Indo-European language dispersals from c.&nbsp;4000 to 1000 BC according to the widely held [[Kurgan hypothesis]].<br>– Center: Steppe cultures<br>1 (black): Anatolian languages (archaic PIE)<br>2 (black): Afanasievo culture (early PIE)<br>3 (black) Yamnaya culture expansion (Pontic-Caspian steppe, Danube Valley) (late PIE)<br>4A (black): Western Corded Ware<br>4B-C (blue & dark blue): Bell Beaker; adopted by Indo-European speakers<br>5A-B (red): Eastern Corded ware<br>5C (red): Sintashta (proto-Indo-Iranian)<br>6 (magenta): Andronovo<br>7A (purple): Indo-Aryans (Mittani)<br>7B (purple): Indo-Aryans (India)<br>[NN] (dark yellow): proto-Balto-Slavic<br>8 (grey): Greek<br>9 (yellow):Iranians<br>– [not drawn]: Armenian, expanding from western steppe]]

===Origins===

The ancestors of the Hittites came into [[Anatolia]] between 4400 and 4100 BC, when the Anatolian language family split from (Proto)-Indo-European.<ref>Kloekhorst, Alwin, (2022). [https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/82F6A46F99BB62BB588D3EFC130292CE/9781108499798c5_63-82.pdf/anatolian.pdf "Anatolian"], in: Thomas Olander (ed.), The Indo-European Language Family: A Phylogenetic Perspective, Cambridge University Press, p. 78: "...the Anatolian split may be dated to the period between 4400–4100 BCE. If Proto-Anatolian indeed first broke up into its daughter languages around the thirty-first century BCE...it would mean that it had some 1,300–1000 years to undergo the specific innovations that define Anatolian as a separate branch..."</ref> Recent genetic and archaeological research has indicated that Proto-Anatolian speakers arrived in this region sometime between 5000 and 3000 BC.<ref>Lazaridis, Iosif, et al., (2022). [https://reich.hms.harvard.edu/sites/reich.hms.harvard.edu/files/inline-files/8_25_2022_Manuscript1_ChalcolithicBronzeAge_2.pdf "The genetic history of the Southern Arc: A bridge between West Asia and Europe"], in: Science, 26 Aug 2022, Vol 377, Issue 6609, [Research Article Summary, p. 1]: "Around 7000-5000 years ago, people with ancestry from the Caucasus [...] moved west into Anatolia [...] Some of these migrants may have spoken ancestral forms of Anatolian [...]"</ref> The Proto-Hittite language developed around 2100 BC,<ref>Kloekhorst, Alwin, (2022). [https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/82F6A46F99BB62BB588D3EFC130292CE/9781108499798c5_63-82.pdf/anatolian.pdf "Anatolian"], in: Thomas Olander (ed.), The Indo-European Language Family: A Phylogenetic Perspective, Cambridge University Press, p. 75: "...a Proto-Hittite ancestor language that may have been spoken only a few generations before the oldest attestations of Kanišite Hittite (twentieth century BCE), i.e. around 2100 BCE..."</ref> and the Hittite language itself is believed to have been in use in [[Central Anatolia Region|Central Anatolia]] between the 20th and 12th centuries BC.<ref>Kroonen, Guus, et al., (2018). [https://zenodo.org/record/1240524#.YVvHl31Z3IU "Linguistic supplement to Damgaard et al. 2018: Early Indo-European languages, Anatolian, Tocharian and Indo-Iranian"], in ''Zenodo 2018'', p. 3: "...The Anatolian branch is an extinct subclade of the Indo-European language family attested from the 25th century BCE onwards (see below) that consists of Hittite (known 20th–12th centuries BCE), Luwian (known 20th–7th centuries BCE), and a number of less well-attested members, such as Carian, Lycian, Lydian, and Palai..."</ref>

The Hittites are first associated with the kingdom of [[Kussara]] sometime prior to 1750 BC.<ref name="Kuhrt-1995">{{cite book |last1=Kuhrt |first1=Amélie |date=1995 |title=The Ancient Near East, Volume I |location=London and New York |publisher=Routledge |pages=[https://archive.org/details/ancientneareastc00akuh/page/226 226–27] |isbn=978-0-415-16763-5 |url=https://archive.org/details/ancientneareastc00akuh/page/226 }}</ref>

Hittites in Anatolia during the [[Bronze Age]] coexisted with [[Hattians]] and [[Hurrians]], either by means of conquest or by gradual assimilation.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Puhvel |first1=J. |year=1994 |title=Anatolian: Autochton or Interloper |journal=Journal of Indo-European Studies |volume=22 |issue=3 & 4 |pages=251–264 }}.</ref><ref name = "cvhjei">{{Cite journal |last1=Steiner |first1=G. |year=1990 |title=The Immigration of the First Indo-Europeans into Anatolia Reconsidered |journal=Journal of Indo-European Studies |volume=18 |issue=1 & 2 |pages=185–214 }}.</ref> In archaeological terms, relationships of the Hittites to the [[Ezero culture]] of the Balkans and [[Maykop culture]] of the [[Caucasus]] had previously been considered within the migration framework.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mallory |first1=J. P. |title=In Search of the Indo-Europeans: Language, Archaeology, and Myth |date=1989 |publisher=Thames and Hudson |location=New York |isbn=978-0-500-05052-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wLeYkgEACAAJ |access-date=18 February 2022 |language=en}}</ref>

Analyses by [[David W. Anthony]] in 2007 concluded that steppe herders who were archaic Indo-European speakers spread into the lower Danube valley about 4200–4000 BC, either causing or taking advantage of the collapse of [[Old Europe (archaeology)|Old Europe]].{{sfn|Anthony|2007|p=133}} He thought their languages "probably included archaic Proto-Indo-European dialects of the kind partly preserved later in Anatolian,"{{sfn|Anthony|2007|p=229}} and that their descendants later moved into Anatolia at an unknown time but maybe as early as 3000 BC.{{sfn|Anthony|2007|p=262}}

[[J. P. Mallory]] also thought it was likely that the Anatolians reached the Near East from the north either via the Balkans or the [[Caucasus]] in the 3rd millennium BC.{{sfn|Mallory|Adams|1997|pp=12–16}} According to Parpola, the appearance of Indo-European speakers from Europe into Anatolia, and the appearance of Hittite, was related to later migrations of Proto-Indo-European speakers from the Yamnaya culture into the Danube Valley at c. 2800 BC,{{sfn|Parpola|2015|pp=37–38}}{{sfn|Anthony|2007|pp=345, 361–367}} which was in line with the "customary" assumption that the Anatolian Indo-European language was introduced into Anatolia sometime in the third millennium BC.<ref>{{cite web |title=Anatolian languages |website=[[Encyclopædia Britannica Online]] |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Anatolian-languages |access-date=1 May 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160316002105/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Anatolian-languages |archive-date=16 March 2016 |url-status=live }}</ref>

However, Petra Goedegebuure has shown that the Hittite language has borrowed many words related to agriculture from cultures on their eastern borders, which is evidence of having taken a route across the Caucasus.<ref>{{Citation|title=Petra Goedegebuure {{!}} Anatolians on the Move: From Kurgans to Kanesh (Marija Gimbutas Memorial Lecture)|date=5 February 2020 |publisher=Oriental Institute, University of Chicago|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pe4jnBdVxjw|language=en|access-date=2021-11-23}}</ref>

David Reich, Iosif Lazaridis, Songül Alpaslan-Roodenberg et al. have demonstrated that the Hittite route must have been via the Caucasus and not the Balkans, since Yamnaya expansion into the Balkans carried a component of Eastern Hunter Gatherer ancestry that does not exist in any ancient Anatolian DNA samples, which indicates also that Hittites and their cousin groups split off from the Proto Indo Europeans before the formation of the Yamnaya which did admix with Eastern Hunter Gatherers.<ref>https://reich.hms.harvard.edu/sites/reich.hms.harvard.edu/files/inline-files/8_25_2022_Manuscript1_ChalcolithicBronzeAge_1.pdf</ref>

The dominant indigenous inhabitants in central Anatolia were Hurrians and Hattians who spoke non-[[Indo-European languages]]. Some have argued that Hattic was a [[Northwest Caucasian languages|Northwest Caucasian language]], but its affiliation remains uncertain, whilst the [[Hurrian language]] was a near-[[language isolate|isolate]] (i.e. it was one of only two or three languages in the [[Hurro-Urartian languages|Hurro-Urartian family]]). There were also [[Assyria]]n colonies in the region during the [[Old Assyrian Empire]] (2025–1750 BC); it was from the Assyrian speakers of [[Upper Mesopotamia]] that the Hittites adopted the [[cuneiform script]]. It took some time before the Hittites established themselves following the collapse of the Old Assyrian Empire in the mid-18th century BC, as is clear from some of the texts included here. For several centuries there were separate Hittite groups, usually centered on various cities. But then strong rulers with their center in Hattusa (modern Boğazkale) succeeded in bringing these together and conquering large parts of central Anatolia to establish the Hittite kingdom.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/lrc/eieol/hitol-0-X.html |title=Hittite Online |first1=Winfred P. |last1=Lehmann |first2=Jonathan |last2=Slocum |work=Linguistics Research Center |publisher=University of Texas at Austin: College of Liberal Arts |access-date=12 April 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100412083827/http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/lrc/eieol/hitol-0-X.html |archive-date=12 April 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===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>

===Old Kingdom===
[[File:Hattusa.rampart.jpg|thumb|upright|left|[[Hattusa]] ramp]]
The founding of the Hittite Kingdom is attributed to either Labarna I or [[Ḫattušili I|Hattusili I]] (the latter might also have had Labarna as a personal name),{{sfn|Forlanini|2010|p=119}} who conquered the area south and north of Hattusa. Hattusili I campaigned as far as the Semitic [[Amorite]] kingdom of [[Yamkhad]] in [[Syria]], where he attacked, but did not capture, its capital of [[Aleppo]]. Hattusili I did eventually capture Hattusa and was credited for the foundation of the Hittite Empire. <blockquote>"Hattusili was king, and his sons, brothers, in-laws, family members, and troops were all united. Wherever he went on campaign he controlled the enemy land with force. He destroyed the lands one after the other, took away their power, and made them the borders of the sea. When he came back from campaign, however, each of his sons went somewhere to a country, and in his hand the great cities prospered. But, when later the princes' servants became corrupt, they began to devour the properties, conspired constantly against their masters, and began to shed their blood." </blockquote>This excerpt from ''The Edict of Telepinu'', dating to the 16th century BC, is supposed to illustrate the unification, growth, and prosperity of the Hittites under his rule. It also illustrates the corruption of "the princes", believed to be his sons. The lack of sources leads to uncertainty of how the corruption was addressed. On Hattusili I's deathbed, he chose his grandson, [[Mursili I]] (or Murshilish I), as his heir.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.worldhistory.org/hittite/|title=The Hittites|last1=Mark|first1=Joshua|date=28 April 2011|access-date=9 May 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210413083436/https://www.worldhistory.org/hittite/|archive-date=13 April 2021|encyclopedia=[[World History Encyclopedia]]|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:The İnandık vase, a Hittite four-handled large terracota vase with scenes in relief depicting a sacred wedding ceremony, mid 17th century, found in İnandıktepe, Museum of Anatolian Civilizations, Ankara (26167755270).jpg|thumb|upright|The İnandık vase, also known as a [[Hüseyindede vases|Hüseyindede vase]], a large, four-handled Hittite terracotta vase with scenes in relief depicting a sacred wedding ceremony, mid 17th century BC, İnandıktepe, Museum of Anatolian Civilizations, Ankara]]

Mursili continued the conquests of Hattusili I. In 1595 BC ([[middle chronology]]) or 1587 BC (low middle chronology), Mursili I conducted a great raid down the Euphrates River, bypassing Assyria and sacking [[Mari, Syria|Mari]] and [[Babylon]], ejecting the [[Amorite dynasty|Amorite rulers]] of the [[Old Babylonian Empire]] in the process. Rather than incorporate [[Babylonia]] into Hittite domains, Mursili seems to have instead turned control of Babylonia over to his [[Kassites|Kassite]] allies, who were to [[Kassite dynasty|rule it]] for the next four centuries. Due to fear of revolts at home, he did not remain in Babylon for long. This lengthy campaign strained the resources of Hatti, and left the capital in a state of near-anarchy. Mursili was assassinated by his brother-in-law [[Hantili I]] during his journey back to Hattusa or shortly after his return home, and the Hittite Kingdom was plunged into chaos. Hantili took the throne. He was able to escape multiple murder attempts on himself, however, his family did not. His wife, [[Harapsili]] and her son were murdered. In addition, other members of the royal family were killed by [[Zidanta I]], who was then murdered by his own son, [[Ammuna]]. All of the internal unrest among the Hittite royal family led to a decline of power. The Hurrians, a people living in the mountainous region along the upper [[Tigris River|Tigris]] and [[Euphrates River|Euphrates]] rivers in modern south east Turkey, took advantage of the situation to seize Aleppo and the surrounding areas for themselves, as well as the coastal region of Adaniya, renaming it Kizzuwatna (later [[Cilicia]]). Throughout the remainder of the 16th century BC, the Hittite kings were held to their homelands by dynastic quarrels and warfare with the Hurrians. The Hurrians became the center of power in Anatolia.{{sfn|Roebuck|1966|p=93}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.periclespress.net/Hittites_resources.html|title=The Hittites – Resources of Ancient Anatolia|date=May 2017|website=Pericles Press|access-date=5 May 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170306132041/http://www.periclespress.net/Hittites_resources.html|archive-date=6 March 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> The campaigns into [[Amurru kingdom|Amurru]] and southern Mesopotamia may be responsible for the reintroduction of cuneiform writing into Anatolia, since the Hittite script is quite different from that of the preceding Assyrian colonial period.

The Hittites entered a weak phase of obscure records, insignificant rulers, and reduced domains. This pattern of expansion under strong kings followed by contraction under weaker ones, was to be repeated over and over through the Hittite Kingdom's 500-year history, making events during the waning periods difficult to reconstruct. The political instability of these years of the Old Hittite Kingdom can be explained in part by the nature of the Hittite kingship at that time. During the Old Hittite Kingdom prior to 1400 BC, the king of the Hittites was not viewed by his subjects as a "living god" like the [[pharaoh]]s of Egypt, but rather as a first among equals.{{sfn|Roebuck|1966|p=94}} Only in the later period from 1400 BC until 1200 BC did the Hittite kingship become more centralized and powerful. Also in earlier years the succession was not legally fixed, enabling [[Wars of the Roses|"War of the Roses"]]-style rivalries between northern and southern branches.

The next monarch of note following Mursili I was [[Telepinu]] ({{Circa|1500 BC}}), who won a few victories to the southwest, apparently by allying himself with one Hurrian state (Kizzuwatna) against another. Telepinu also attempted to secure the lines of succession.{{sfn|Forlanini|2010|pp=115–116}}

===Middle Kingdom===
[[File:Yazilikaya_B_12erGruppe.jpg|thumb|left|Twelve Hittite gods of the Underworld in the nearby [[Yazılıkaya]], a sanctuary of [[Hattusa]]]]
The last monarch of the Old Kingdom, Telepinu, reigned until about 1500 BC. Telepinu's reign marked the end of the "Old Kingdom" and the beginning of the lengthy weak phase known as the "Middle Kingdom".{{sfn|Gurney|1966|p=25}} The period of the 15th century BC is largely unknown with few surviving records.{{sfn|Gurney|1966|pp=25–26}} Part of the reason for both the weakness and the obscurity is that the Hittites were under constant attack, mainly from the Kaskians, a non-[[Proto-Indo-Europeans|Indo-European]] people settled along the shores of the [[Black Sea]]. The capital once again went on the move, first to [[Sapinuwa]] and then to [[Samuha]]. There is an archive in Sapinuwa, but it has not been adequately translated to date.

It segues into the "Hittite Empire period" proper, which dates from the reign of [[Tudhaliya I]] from {{Circa|1430 BC}}.

One innovation that can be credited to these early Hittite rulers is the practice of conducting treaties and alliances with neighboring states; the Hittites were thus among the earliest known pioneers in the art of international politics and diplomacy. This is also when the Hittite religion adopted several gods and rituals from the Hurrians.

===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>

===Post-Hittite period===
[[File:Hetite_God_in_Aleppo.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Luwians|Luwian]] storm god [[Tarḫunz]] in the [[National Museum of Aleppo]]]]
{{Main|Syro-Hittite states}}
By 1160 BC, the political situation in Asia Minor looked vastly different from that of only 25 years earlier. In that year, the Assyrian king [[Tiglath-Pileser I]] was defeating the ''[[Mushki]]'' (Phrygians) who had been attempting to press into Assyrian colonies in southern Anatolia from the Anatolian highlands, and the Kaska people, the Hittites' old enemies from the northern hill-country between Hatti and the Black Sea, seem to have joined them soon after. The Phrygians had apparently overrun [[Cappadocia]] from the West, with recently discovered epigraphic evidence confirming their origins as the Balkan "Bryges" tribe, forced out by the Macedonians.

Although the Hittite Kingdom disappeared from Anatolia at this point, there emerged a number of so-called [[Syro-Hittite states]] in Anatolia and northern Syria. They were the successors of the Hittite Kingdom. The most notable Syro-Hittite kingdoms were those at [[Carchemish]] and [[Melid]]. With the ruling family in Carchemish believed to have been a [[Carchemish#Kuzi-Teshub I|cadet branch]] of the then defunct central ruling Hittite line. These Syro-Hittite states gradually fell under the control of the [[Neo-Assyrian Empire]] (911–608 BC). Carchemish and Melid were made vassals of Assyria under [[Shalmaneser III]] (858–823 BC), and fully incorporated into Assyria during the reign of [[Sargon II]] (722–705 BC).

A large and powerful state known as [[Tabal (state)|Tabal]] occupied much of southern Anatolia. Known as Greek ''[[Tibareni|Tibarenoi]]'' ({{langx|grc|Τιβαρηνοί}}), Latin ''Tibareni'', ''Thobeles'' in [[Josephus]], their language may have been Luwian,<ref>Barnett, R.D., "Phrygia and the Peoples of Anatolia in the Iron Age", ''The Cambridge Ancient History, Vol. II, Part 2'' (1975) p. 422</ref> testified to by monuments written using [[Anatolian hieroglyphs]].<ref>The Georgian historian [[Ivane Javakhishvili]] considered Tabal, [[Tubal]], [[Jabal (name)|Jabal]] and [[Jubal (Bible)|Jubal]] to be ancient [[Georgians|Georgian]] tribal designations, and argued that they spoke [[Kartvelian languages]], a non-Indo-European language</ref> This state too was conquered and incorporated into the vast Neo-Assyrian Empire.

Ultimately, both Luwian hieroglyphs and cuneiform were rendered obsolete by an innovation, the [[alphabet]], which seems to have entered Anatolia simultaneously from the [[Aegean civilization|Aegean]] (with the Bryges, who changed their name to Phrygians), and from the [[Phoenicia]]ns and neighboring peoples in Syria.