See also: Hittite

The Hittites are people attached to the Indo-Europeans, they invaded the Asia Mineure and subjected the indigenous people, the Hatti S, to the XXVI E. They borrowed from those various gods, myths and rites. From this mixture was born a flourishing civilization, which will perdura to the VIII E. In addition to its military great power, civilization hittite seems to have been of a great tolerance, as well religious as social. New Indo-European migrations, like that of the Phrygie NS, then the rise to power of the Assyrie rang nevertheless the knell of this empire.

History

The history of these people can be divided into several phases:

Genesis and migration in Anatolia

Hittites, and the people related Indo-Europeans, are not originating in Asia Mineure. It seems that the indigenous people are the Hatti, a very advanced urban civilization whose many vestiges remain (Hacilar, Çatal Hüyük or Alisar). Hittites would come from Europe. Their origin is still very fuzzy, but the commonly allowed assumption is the following one:

In the Neolithic , between (thousand-year-old VIIe) and thousand-year-old IVe, a flourishing civilization develops in the Balkan S and the basin of the the Danube, very refined, it even seems to have created a kind of pictorial writing, probably a Syllabaire. In parallel, in thousand-year-old Ve, rougher people speaking most probably a language close to the Indo-European original open out in the plains between the Dniepr and the the Volga. One characterizes this settlement by the tombs of his elites: pits covered with small Tumulus, called in Russian Kourgan, who a little improperly gives his name to this civilization: the Kourganes. In three waves of migration, between Ve and thousand-year-old IIIe, they will destroy Danubian civilization. Many people, by reciprocal assimilation, will result from it.

It is not known if Hittites result from the first wave of Kourganes (4400 av. J.C with 4200 av. J.C.) which would have, after having reached Balkans, summer forced to migrate towards the Anatolia under the pressure of the second vagueness of migrations or if they result from this second migration (3400-3200) but it is only at the end of thousand-year-old IIIe that archeology attests shifts in population of Balkans towards the Anatolia. Populations of language Louvite seem to settle towards 2300-2200: many cities of Minor Asia, whose Troy, is devastated. One second vague about 2000-1900 seems to be installed more calmly, they are the populations speaking the hittite-nésite, primarily in the loop of the river Halys. Hittites are then on the territory of Hattis and a cultural fusion of two civilizations takes place. The dialect hittite of the town of Nesa (or Kanesh) is essential in the daily life, whereas the language hattie becomes the liturgical language. This fusion was carried out little by little: indeed between the arrival of the Indo-Europeans and the observation of the fusion of two civilizations during the Assyrian establishment of the S, it occurs two to three centuries.

It should be noted that this thesis concerning the origin of Hittites, although most common, does not achieve the unanimity. Thus certain hittitologists estimate that Hittites entered in Anatolia by the east, others, such Colin Renfrew, even estimate that these people are indigenous in Asia Mineure and are downward cultures of Çatal Hüyük and first farmers of the area.

The time of the Assyrian counters

At the beginning of, the Assyrie NS install a score of Comptoir S in Anatolia. Contrary to Hittites, the Assyrians arrive of small number and each counter consists of an Assyrian colony, separated from the local population. Each one of these colonies, called karum preserves the traditional Assyrian organization and remains under the authority of the karum of Kanesh, itself controlled by the metropolis. The Assyrians, as the many found shelves Cunéiforme S attest it, controlled all the economy of minor Asia, in particular the trade of the Cuivre. The political power on the other hand was with the hands of the princes hittites who reigned on the multitude of principalities of which was made up it Anatolia.

But at the beginning of the XVIII E century, the upheavals of the the Middle East involve the ruin, sometimes violent, of these establishments. What allows a first movement of unification of the area, when the prince of Kussar, Pithana, seizes Nesa, the old economic center, and is established there. His/her son Anitta continues his work and unifies part of Anatolia. In its Proclamation of Anitta , it takes the title of Grand King which will be used by many sovereigns of the the Middle East during both Millénaire S following. Anitta was the only king of its dynasty. After him, it Anatolia crosses one obscure period of wars and from famines which lasts a hundred years, the use of the writing disappears almost completely.

The old kingdom (towards 1680/1495)

Labarna I {{er}} seems to have been the first true king of Hittites. Few documents or vestiges of its reign attesting of its existence, with share the Edict of Telibinu , certain historians advance that it could be a question of a legendary king. All the kings who succeeded to him on the throne hittite used the title of Labarna , according to a method similar to those of the Roman Emperors who used the titles of César and Auguste following Jules César. In the same way, probably to mark continuity with the transitory dynasty of Anitta, Labarna Ier, and all its successors until the fall of the Empire, take the titles of Grand King and of man of Kussar , town of origin of Pithana, father of first king Anitta.

Its successor was Hattusili I {{er}}, also called Labarna II; its name indicates that it had established the capital with Hattusa. Their family ties are not very clear: some think that it was the grandson, the nephew or the adoptive son of Labarna. Conquering king, with him the kingdom hittite extended to north until the Black Sea (Zalpa), to the south until the Arzawa and to the east until the Euphrate. He destroys Alahah, vassal kingdom of Yamkhad whose capital was Alep, becoming the first king hittite to cross the mounts Taurus separating the Anatolia from the current Syria.

Mursili I {{er}} succeeded his/her grandfather, like him large warrior, it abatit the power of the Yamkhad of which it destroys the capital Alep, then, in 1594 carried out a raid on Babylon, which it took, involving the fall of the dynasty founded by Hammourabi. But with guerroyer far from its capital, the kingdom hittite weakened and when Hantili I {{er}}, brother-in-law of Mursili, succeeded to him after having assassinated it, it was the one long period beginning of disorders. At the time of the Revolt of Karkemish, the Hourrites of the Euphrate, raised and beat the sovereign. The Gasgas made their first incursions into the provinces of North. Its successor, Zidanta I {{er}} is especially known for his lack of scruples, assassinating the son and the grandson of Hantili, to reach the throne. He even finishes assassinated to him by his own Ammuna son, who replaced it. Under the reign of this one, the situation of the kingdom hittite worsened, with the loss of several provinces of which the Arzawa and the Adana. After the assassination of its legitimate heirs, it is Huzziya Ier, probably an illegitimate descendant, which was essential, but to be at once reversed by Telibinu, son-in-law of Ammuna which exiled it like his/her brothers. Telibinu then rectified the situation of the kingdom by military victories and the establishment of a law of succession, the Edict of Telibinu and a treaty with the king of the Kizzuwatna.

The kingdom of Hatta (towards 1495/1465)

The successors of Telibinu are still badly known. Only their names and their order of succession are known for us: Alluwamna, Hantili II, wire of the precedent, Tarhurwaili, Zidanta II, Huzziya II and Muwatalli Ist Nevertheless, this period corresponds to one period of weakening of the State hittite, and that following the appearance of two new external threats:

  • the Gasgas, which had made their first appearances under the reign of Hantili Ier, become more threatening. They force Hantili II to reinforce defenses of the capital and the cities close to the borders of the kingdom.
  • the Hourrites which unify and form the kingdom of the Mitanni whose power increases quickly. This State annexes or vassalizes then the kingdoms of Alep, Alahah and the Kizzuwatna.

The average empire (1465/1380)

About 1465, the dynasty founded by Labarna is reversed. It is the consequence of the disorders of the preceding reigns and the new king, Tudhaliya Ieer, have ascents hourrites and kizzuwatniennes. Benefitting from the actions of the Pharaon Thoutmôsis III against the Mitanni, which overcomes a coalition mitanno-canaanéenne with the battles of Megiddo, it gains various victories against the Hourrites what enables him to replace the Kizzuwatna under the domination of Hattusa and to destroy Alep. In addition to the era of good relationships with the Egypt which the new dynasty inaugurates, Tudhalya renews the elites of the country deeply: as of its reign, at the sides of the traditional aristocracy, many characters carrying of the names of origin hourrite occupied of the important stations.

The new empire (1380/1190)

After the assassination of the heir to the throne, the young person and energetic prince Suppiluliuma I {{er}} reform completely the kingdom hittite. It is the true creation of the Empire hittite.

Suppiluliuma also restores the kingdom in its role of major piece of the chess-board of the Middle East. He fights against the Mitanni of which he reduces the power, then he launches a campaign against the Kizzuwatna which he annexes.

The revival of the power hittite upsets the balance of the Middle East: Hittites and the Egyptians exerted a fight of influence there in order to control the commercial corridor passing between Syria and Palestine. However the Egyptian Pharaons react only mollement to the conquests hittites which annex or vassalize the allied States of the Mitanni, itself combined of the Egypt: Alalah, Nuhasse and even Qadesh, key of the valley of the Oronte, are controlled by Suppiluliuma under the reign of Akhénaton; the kingdoms of Amourrou, Aziru and Ougarit become the vassal ones during the reign of Toutânkhamon. Finally, the last allies of the Mitanni yield and Karkemish, controlling the passage of the Euphrate, is integrated into the empire.

Breaking with the tradition, Suppiluliuma consolidates its conquests while passing from the treaties with its vassal, which it chooses carefully. It thus names its two sons kings of Alep and Karkemish. This city, one of oldest of the Middle East, becomes the second city of the empire. It is there that remains the viceroy, controlling EC city the various Syrian kingdoms all become gradually the vassal ones of the empire hittite. Suppiluliuma reinforces its position by marrying his/her daughters with the various Syrian kings.

Whereas the Egyptian troops are pushed back with Qadesh, the Pharaon Toutânkhamon dies suddenly without heir. His wife Ankhesenamon, convinces Suppiluliuma to send to him one of her sons for a remarriage. Suppiluliuma sends finally the prince Zannanzach who is assassinated before reaching the Egypt. This point remains still obscure for the historians, some claim that the prince succeeds in reaching Egypt to found a dynasty there (but that will not explain the wars between the two people). This event is one of the factors starting of the wars which opposed the two powers during several generations.

Suppiluliuma dies precociously of a plague, whose propagation had been supported by the many deportations of its reign. Its successor, Arnuwanda II disappears also a little later from the same disease. But the work of Suppiluliuma survives to him. The kings of Alep and Karkemish, its sons, as well as the king of the Mitanni, his/her son-in-law, are bound by very strong bonds to the dynasty: they will remain faithful to the kings hittites until the fall of the empire.

Thus, a son junior by Suppiluliuma goes up on the throne: Mursili II. The situation is difficult: not only the plague devastates the country, but Mursili must first of all subdue the rebellion of certain vassal. The king gives up some time the capital Hattusa. He conquers the Arzawa and destroyed the kingdom of Azzi. Ougarit and the Amourrou is seen constrained to renew their treaties of vassalage. Finally, the fight against the Gasgas is also necessary: it releases the provinces of north and reinforces the border on the mountains overhanging the Black Sea.

His/her son Muwatalli II succeeds to him on the throne. As for its predecessors, his reign is rate/rhythm by the wars. Muwatilli overcomes the kingdom of Wilusa first of all, in the North-West of the empire, which becomes its vassal. Then it must face the Gasgas which cross the border, plundering and destroying the cities hittites. The capital Hattusa is destroyed and the king and his court take refuge with Tarhuntassa, a city of the south. To restore its authority on the north of the country, it names his brother Hattusili administrator of the provinces of north. At the same time, the Assyrian threat is specified: the Mitanni is overcome and becomes vassal empire mésopotamien.

While Hattusili pacifies north and that the Assyrian king Adad-Nirari becomes the suzerain of the Mitanni, king Muwatalli concentrates on close Syria. The conflict with Egypt is not long in beginning again, its Pharaons Séthi I {{er}}, then Ramsès II wishing to recover the Syrian possessions lost under Akhénaton and Toutankhamon, in particular the kingdom of the Amourrou and the key of trade route connecting the Mediterranean and Mésopotamie, the citadel of Qadesh, at the border between the zones of influence of the two empires. Ramsès initially gains a diplomatic victory by rejoining the sovereign of Amourrou to its cause. The war will reach its paroxysm at the time of the second battle of Qadesh, true tie which will restore the status quo by replaçant the kingdom of Amourrou under suzerainty hittite. It was the end of the conflict between the empires hittites and Egyptians: all two from now on will be monopolized by the Assyrian threat .

Muwatalli II dies in 1270 and his/her illegitimate son, Mursili III, succeed to him under the regency of his uncle Hattusili. This one rebels soon and exiles Mursili which takes refuge on the island of Cyprus. Hattusili III goes up on the throne and signs a peace treaty with Egypt (see the heading Droit). Having reconquered the occupied territories by the Gasgas and overcome a rebellion of the Louvite S which did not recognize its usurpation, Hattusili III has a reign a little more peaceful lasting which it stabilizes the situation in Syria by peace with Egypt and an alliance with Babylon enabling him to supervise the Assyrian threat . But this threat grows: the Mitanni is broken by the Assyrie NS in 1260.

The successor of Hattusili III is, in accordance with the successional law, his son, Tudhaliya IV. This one fights initially to maintain the unit of the empire, against the kingdoms of Ahhiyawa and Arzawa. During this conflict, it n the other hand ensures its backs by signing peace with Assyrie of the recognition of its conquests. But soon Assyrie passes by again with the offensive and attacks western bank of Euphrate, in hands hittites. Tudhaliya reacts, but its counter-attack leads to a failure with the Bataille of Nihiriya in 1230.

Tudhaliya then gets busy to impose a maritime blockade on Assyrie. Using king de Karkemish, he convinces the Syrian kingdoms, in particular Amourrou, to respect the blockade. Those refuse the boats of the Ahhiyawa. Tudhalia also unloads with the kingdom of Alasiya, current the Cyprus, which pours a copper tribute to him. The blockade proves to be paying: Assyrie signs a peace treaty and restores the territories glânés with the detriment of the kingdom of Karkemish.

But Tudhaliya did not only mark the history hittite by its warlike facts: true religious reformer, it reorganized the worship, modified the festivals and increases the sanctuary of Yazilikaya.

If peace is maintained under the successors of Tudhaliya, Arnuwanda III then his/her brother Suppiluliuma II, the empire hittite, mined by long famines having involved many shifts in population which completely destabilized the State still will weaken under the blows of the Peuples of the Sea which devastate all the area. The Empire hittite survives it, contrary to the kingdoms Achaean and Mycènes, but in 1190 the Empire crumbles under the blows of the Gasgas. Hattusa and the hittites main cities are destroyed and will never be raised.

The kingdoms néo-hittites

At the same time, towards 1190, the Phrygie NS, another Indo-European people , invades the central plate of Anatolia and establish their kingdom and their cities there. However, civilization hittite survives the fall of its historical center. In the south of Anatolia, like in Syria, several kingdoms of language Louvite are founded: in Cappadoce, ten princes are combined in the confederation of the Tabal, whereas in the east, along the Euphrate, other principalities appear: the Milid, the Kummuhu, the Gurgum. In the south, one finds the States following: the Cilicie, kingdoms of Ya' diya and Karkemish, Pattina, Arpad, the kingdom of Alep, the principality of Til Barsid and finally the kingdom of Hama. Karkemish, where reign of the descendant of the dynasty of Suppiluliuma Ier, takes again the role of cultural capital of the world hittite given up by Hattusa. These kingdoms do not certainly play any major political role, but they thrive of the XII E to the IX E, and it is only between 745 and 708 that the last disappear, one after the other under the blows of the Assyrie NS. Most powerful of them, the kingdom of Karkemish, disappears in 717, marking the end of civilization hittite.

Religion

The enormous Pantheon

Deeply polytheist, so much so that Hittites they same spoke about their “ thousand gods ”, their religion was characterized by three fundamental phenomena: first of all it is the result of a syncretism between the original religion of these people and that practiced by the Hatti S autochtones; then, it there forever have of the official Pantheon, each area, each locality had its own Pantheon which varied with the liking of the conquests and the defections; finally, the gods adored by Hittites varied considerably during the centuries, by the assimilation of the divinities of the close people, sometimes by identifying them with the other similar ones of the former Pantheon. In spite of the absence of the official Pantheon, an effort of identification of the gods took place under the Empire: each city preserved the names of its own gods, but the similar gods of each city were regarded as single, although bearing different names. At the top of this Pantheon the god of the storm trônait. Called Teshub in hourrite or sometimes Tarhunt , it is symbolized by the bull. It was also, and especially, the god of the war, more particularly against the foreigners. Another important god, Telebinu is the god of the fertility. He is the son of Teshub. Its angers result in bad harvests.

The worship

Contrary to other great Eastern civilizations, the priests did not have a great importance in the religious life hittite, because their role was rather modest. The temple shelters, like elsewhere in the East, the statue which is entitled to the daily care defined by the ritual ones. The principal festivals take place in spring and the autumn; on this occasion the god leaves the temple. He is often taken along in a sanctuary out of the city; specific rites to each divinity are then accompanied by sacrifices which give the opportunity of a joint meal; plays in the form of sporting event and sham fights finish these festivals, practices certainly of Indo-European origin, which brings us closer to the Greek world.

The popular worship is practically unknown for us. The divination and the magic play a big role. Hittites adopt the practice of the reading of the entrails, practiced for a long time in Mésopotamie. A temple, whose holder was a soothsayer, at found summer with Emar, with its files and its library. Euphrate at summer the way of natural expansion of the cultural practices of Mésopotamie towards Syria of North and the world hittite, and from there towards the Mediterranean. It is allowed that the Hatti was surely a liturgical language.

Languages

Many languages were spoken in the history hittite. Populate Indo-European, the hittites spoke the nésite (or hittite-nésite), principal representing branch of the Anatolian languages. It was the official language of the empire. Beside it one finds mainly two other languages related: the Louvite coming from the Anatolian south (Kingdom of the Kizzuwatna) which will be the principal language of the kingdoms néo-hittites North of Syria and the Palaïte spoken in the North-West about the Hatti. Vestiges of other Anatolian dialects were found in all current Turkey: the Lydian on the Aegean coast, the Carien on the south-western coast, the Pisidien and the Sidétique on the southern part. The near total of these Indo-European languages will disappear EM even time that the empire. The Louvite will survive a few centuries in Syria and will give rise to the Lycien.

But, beside the Indo-European languages spoken by the invaders hittites, we find in Anatolia of Hittites of other types of languages. First of all, the indigenous language the hatti, agglutinant Langue which became after the arrival of the hittites a dead language to which the hittique-nésique one borrowed many words, in particular in the cultural field and monk because it was the liturgical language throughout thousand-year-old IIe. Spoken in the east about the Kizzuwatna, on Euphrate (in particular the Mitanni) and in the vassal countries in Syria, the Hourrite, other agglutinant Langue will be used more and more by Hittites, in particular in the administrative domain and religious: that comes from the countryside of hourritisation undertaken by Suppiluliuma at the time of its deep reform at the beginning of the Empire. Finally the Akkadien, language of diplomacy of the time, is also attested, more particularly after the raid on Babylon by Mursili Ist It acts nevertheless of a use in the correspondence which probably does not correspond to a use of the language in the everyday life.

Written forms

Hittites did not have a writing when they arrived in Anatolia. It is naturally that they adopted the system used locally, the wedge-shaped writing, that they adapted to their language. Indeed, the wedge-shaped writing created initially for the transcription of the Sumérien, agglutinant Language, had been adapted to the transcription of the Semitic languages, but for the writing of a Indo-European Langue was not appropriate inevitably. It is nevertheless rather tardily that the wedge-shaped writing was used, probably after forwardings in Mésopotamie, because the spelling-book used is different from that used before in the Assyrian counters and nearer from that used in Babylon.

Beside the wedge-shaped writing, Hittites used, mainly for the monumental inscriptions, a hieroglyphic writing. The symbols of this writing are improperly called hiéroglyphes hittites because they transcribe only seldom the hittite-nesic language: the majority of the monumental inscriptions are indeed inscriptions in Louvite.

During the third, second and first millenia, the Parchemin remained rare and expensive, just like the Vélin. The marking system of the time was a shelf, which was appeared as a small box filled with loam fraiche and humidified by a lingette posed on surface. By means of a small tool, a such stylet out of metal or a feather of cut reed, the Calame, one registered on the surface of the shelf what one wished to note, and which one could preserve by cooking it at the furnace. The wedge-shaped signs were formed by vertically typing the stylet on the surface of the shelf, then by drawing it to form a feature.

Texts

Pousuivant itself still nowadays, the archaeological research campaigns made it possible to discover more than 31.000 shelves, whose majority are only fragments. One knows currently more than 750 different texts hittites, very unequal length, of some lines to a hundred pages in printed version. It is estimated that these texts account for approximately 15% of the produced texts, advanced figure according to the reading of the shelves files of a library hittite.

The oldest texts are of historical type, the chronicles and the yearly , in which a sovereign exposed how its reign had proceeded. Even if they are the primary sources of information over the time, it is advisable to approach them under a critical angle.

The second type of texts most often found are legal; they are codes of laws hittites, which count more than 200 articles of law in various fields. These texts thus enable us to determine the bases of the company hittite, without having however the means of confirming their real application. It would be perhaps about academic case intended to exert the lawyers.

A third category of texts found in great number are the international treaties, and the administrative instructions, which were regarded by Hittites as similar. It was acted in fact of instructions sent to the local delegates representing the central capacity (governors of the cities or sovereigns of the féodés kingdoms), or of reserve training and customs. These last, addressed to the frontier guards, thus made it possible to delimit the borders of the empire hittite during time. The international treaties relate to the relationships to the close powers: that enables us to measure the importance of this kingdom in all the Asia Mineure. One thus found diplomatic exchanges between the empire hittite and the Egypt written in Akkadien. These correspondences show us the existence of relations, as a whole cordial since distant, and in particular in XIVe century at the time of the assassination of Toutankhamon.

The very great majority of the 750 found texts hittites are monk: a first part of them of ritual type, are employed in all the situations, to ask for the protection of a god. They are relatively short, and break up into a contextual description of the ritual and a succession of instructions. There exist the ritual ones for all types of situations, and their number would not have ceased increasing during the history. A second part of these religious texts are of mythological type, in the form of accounts. They much are developed than those of the ancient Greece, and describe the Pantheon hittite dominated by the god of the storm, then a series of important gods charged with argriculture, war, etc, and finally the gods local or minor. A third part of these texts relates to the magic, which also gathers medicine, because the concept even of medicine calls upon magic practices which rest on the divination. These capacities are the prerogative of women, of the witches in the great majority Louvite S, charged to interpret predict them. Today still, one continues to find documents hittites in Anatolia.

The company

The world hittite is divided into two. The court - formed of the family members royal, of a certain number of aristocratic families and family members of the close sovereigns, dependant on the Empire hittite by treaties, high-clergy as of the personnel of the palate - lives in isolation, and only royal justice applies to these rich.

The low-people as for him are divided between free men, serfs and slaves:

  • the free men are primarily the craftsmen, the merchants and the peasants
  • the Serf S are trained by populations off-set with the liking of the wars: these serfs, related to the ground where they are established cannot move freely. The purpose of these deportations were to repopulate the devastated areas.
  • the Esclave has a true legal status, which is exceptional for the time. Its Master can sell it or punish it, but the slaves can go in justice, marry a free woman or to have clean goods.

Royalty

See also: Political organization of the kingdom hittite

The royalty hittite was quite different from certain contemporary monarchies, in particular of Egyptian monarchy: indeed, contrary to the Pharaon, the king was not regarded as a god of alive sound. The grounds hittites belonged to the gods, the king was their representative and managed them on their behalf. It is only after its death that the king was divinisé, its statue joined that of its ancestors. In addition, the term used to indicate the death of the king also meant “to become god”.

Thus, as a representative of the gods, invested by the god of the Tarhunt storm, it is the function of high priest which prevailed on the others. Thus, although commander-in-chief permanent armies hittites, the king did not hesitate to stop campaigns, even remote, to hold its role in the liturgy.

In addition to these two roles, the king was also the chief of the judicial power , and for this reason ultimate recourse in justice, and the person in charge of the diplomacy .

Many terms are used in the texts hittites to appoint the monarch. The pronunciation of some of them is not known besides because Hittites using the wedge-shaped writing sometimes took again the Sumérogramme S and the akkadogrammes without modifying them to represent their own words:

  • LUGAL appoints the kings of average importance: chiefs of the vassal kingdoms or those of the cities belonging to the empire;
  • LUGAL GALL, “Large King”, appoints the king hittite, the king of the kings. He also designates the large foreign sovereigns (Egyptian, Babylonian or sometimes even Achaean);
  • labarna (pre-hittite) or tabarna (hittite), “solar”, of the god sun, honorary title allotted to the kings;
  • hassu ;
  • UTU “Sun”.

List sovereigns hittites

; legendary
  • Towards 2160: Pamba
  • Towards 2050: Pithana
  • Towards 1900: Anitta
; old kingdom ; kingdom of Hatta
  • 1495/? : Alluwamna
  • Hantili II
  • Tarhurwaili
  • Zidanta II
  • Huzziya II
  • ? /1465: Muwatalli I {{er}}
; average empire ; new empire

The assembly

If the existence of an assembly is attested by the documents hittic, there is nevertheless few certainty about it. The found texts use two terms: tuliya and panku. The first term could be used to designate the assembly as a group of people, therefore physical, whereas the second would indicate the institutional role rather, the function. One is unaware of if there were one or two. One is unaware of also his composition: were they delegates, of noble, influential characters such of the top-civils servant, monk? as well as the mode of nomination of its members. Our knowledge on the capacities of this assembly is also fuzzy, much think that it had only one advisory role. The frequency of its meetings higher at the beginning of the monarchical period brought to formulate the assumption than the assembly was a remainder of the culture hattie, at which monarchy would have been elective.

The army

The people hittite are at his origins conquering people. The command of the army is ensured by the king, who went sometimes itself to the battle. It could however delegate its power in the event of the religious loads to achieve or health issues. The army hittite, strong in normal weather of some thirty thousand men, is formed by those which have with regard to the capacity of the military obligations, by mercenaries and quotas provided by the vassal States. The organization of the army is decimal: the basic unit includes/understands 10 men ordered by an officer resulting from the minor nobility. The higher level gathers 100 men, and following it 1000. There is undoubtedly no balance for the men normally compels with the service and those are paid in general on the spoils. In parking, the army lives certainly on the country, but there exists a service of provisioning of the armies which is equipped with oxcarts and asses. The weapons are the lance, the right or bent sword, the dagger, the axe and the arc accompanied by a Carquois of about thirty arrow S, rather used by the light infantry. The warrior is protected by an armor with scales, a helmet and a Bouclier.

It includes/understands two weapons, the infantry and the tanks. The infantry occupies the first role only on rough ground, however, its role in maintains order in the dominated countries is essential. She is particularly formed for launching surprise attacks and thus unexpected, its methodical drive and its discipline make a very good weapon of it. If not, when the ground allows it, the tank is the essential component of the combat: Leger and handy, fast, it ensures a relative speed to the shooting. He is assembled by the driver, a combatant and an assistant charged to protect the others with a shield. By using the lance rather that the arrow (used by the Egyptians), Hittites made of it an offensive weapon effective, asked to sink in the unfavourable rows, to dislocate them and to sow panic there.

Hittites also became Masters in the art of the urban fortifications.

Right

The right hittite is rather badly known, primarily by collections of laws (two found tables with Hattusa) and at all by documents of the practice, like the contracts. It seems to be one of most advanced of Antiquity, and this very early, as of. Dating from the XIV E, the laws are composed by an antiquated usual bottom, of Jurisprudence and royal laws of different times.

The penal left seeks more the compensation for damage undergone (such as the handing-over in a state of a ransacked plantation) that revenge. The legislative measures stress the amendment of the faulty one, and of many pecuniary compensations are envisaged. The temporary incapacities of work are envisaged, and the person in charge must replace the victim, in person or by a slave, it pays also the doctor and an allowance. The pecuniary compensations are less low if the crime is committed against a person of the commun run.

Despite everything, there exist sorrows of mutilation (ears or nose) reserved to the slaves in the case of flight or fire. The capital punishment is also envisaged, but with a field of application restricted for the time: rebellion against the king or one of his high representatives, rebellion of a slave, adulterates of the woman, rape, and magic spell of a slave. Especially, the law provides that it must be inflicted without being accompanied by torments. The sorrow is individual, except in the event of collective responsibility for a city, an antiquated provision patriarchal, which testifies to a weak legal repression. For the time, the fact of even envisaging cases where the capital punishment is applied to the slave is a projection, because in all the contemporary rights, it is of course which his Master has the same rights as on an animal or an object.

Civilly, the woman enjoys a privileged statute, for the time. Admittedly the marriage is concluded by purchase or abduction, in this case a compensation for the family is envisaged besides, but the Divorce and the Viol are recognized, this last being punished of death, and the Reine legitimates control surface in the absence of the king. However the absence of documents proving the application of the texts moderates the analysis which one can make of these provisions.

Dans the field of the International law , after the null result of Qadesh, Ramsès II and Hattusili III, all the two anxious ones of the rise to power of the Assyrie, sign what is the first known international treaty of the history. Fortunately, the two versions of this document reached us and one can discover there a non-aggression pact, a pact of mutual assistance and even of the mutual clauses of extraditions of refugees.

Art

In Architecture, the Temple S hittites are massive. The stones at the base of the walls are covered with paintings and gigantic: they are the Orthostate S. to see the Hittite art More.

Archeological sites hittites

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