Hittite Language and Literature

Hittites- Language, Literature, and Warfare

The Hittites were an Anatolian civilization that started around 1600 BC in what we now know as Turkey, Syria and Lebanon.  They were an advanced civilization, having a specific government (Monarchy), laws, and class system.  They made successful use of chariots, writing tools, and communication.  Their civilization survived through the Bronze Age, but were also one of the first to use Iron weapons.  Because of the powerful rising Assyrians, their kingdom was eventually taken over and all that was left for discovery was their clay tablets and stone drawings.  From these, historians were able to decipher the texts and learn how the Hittite and Egyptian kingdom were really destroyed. 



The Hittites had a simple way of expressing themselves.  Much like us, they wrote letters and books to communicate.  These were discovered near the end of the 19th century by many historians, in a large archeological dig.  Their language was symbolic, they drew symbols to represent different phonetic sounds (much like the ancient China civilizations) and had simple but effective grammar rules.  The language dates back to about 1600 BC and remained in use until 1100 BC, over 9,000 years ago, when it started to fuse into Luwian.  It is also known as Nesili, Nesite or Neshite and is classified as the Anatolian branch of the Indo-European languages.  It is related to many other ancient languages such as Luwian, Palaic, and Carian but has a few grammatical differences.  Although the language goes back 9,000 years ago, it was only discovered and translated by the end of the 19^th century when the clay tablets were restored.  Jorgen Alexander Knudtzon, a Norwegian linguist and historian, had worked on deciphering the symbols for years and in the end he produced The Armana letters, two volumes of the translated clay tablets.  The language still confuses many historians to this day, but they have translated and deciphered it to every extent, finding over 382 letters that spanned thirty years of these civilizations.


An example of Symbols that were used to communicate

When the archeological excavation was made, archeologists found many tablets that had been written on in the form of letters, texts, or messages from kingdom to kingdom.  The Hittites had many different texts which contained Myths, Rules and regulations, Laws, and even a horse training text!  An important myth named Illuyanka was depicted through drawings on clay tablets and features a story about a serpentine dragon being slayed.  It was an important story for the Hittite people, because it featured one of their most popular gods, Tarhunt.  Another important text found was the Hittite military oath, which describes the oath that all the Hittite military would have to swear to.  If their weapons broke they would have to take on women’s work, or if they broke their word to the oath, they would be made deaf and blind.  Along with the myths and rules, there was letters found that were written by the king in each Kingdom, mostly discussing war tactics and treaties.  Much of what we know about the Hittite civilization has come from these clay tablets and texts, and there is always more to decipher.

One of the largest chariot battles during this time was the battle of Kadesh.  The two opposing forces were the Egyptian empire ruled by Ramesses II and The Hittite Empire ruled by Muwatalli II.  The battle dates back to about 1274 BC and started with the Egyptian empire becoming more aggressive about borders and size of their empire.   The Egyptians outsmarted the Hittites with their advanced tactics, and had them almost surrounded by the end of the battle.  The agreement on the borders didn't come until 15 years after the battle had ended, so the treaty was signed in 1258 BC. 


The Kadesh Treaty in the
Archeology Museum in Istanbul