The Hittites and their contemporaries in Asia Minor

The Hittites were an Indo-European speaking people who established a kingdom in Anatolia (modern Turkey) almost 4,000 years ago. They rose to become one of the greatest powers of the Ancient Middle Eastern world by conquering Babylon and challenging the power of the Egyptian Pharaoh Rameses II at the battle of Quadesh. They themselves were destroyed in the wake of movements of the enigmatic Sea peoples around 1180 BC. This study investigates the origins of the Hittites, the sources of the metals that were so vital to their success and their relationship with contemporaries in the Aegean world, the Trojans and the Mycenaean Greeks. It includes descriptions of excavations, particularly at the temples and great defensive ramparts of the Hittite capital at Hattusas.… (more)

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LibraryThing member keylawk

Macqueen was born in Glasgow, and is an Oxford graduate, with time in the British institute of Archaeology at Ankara doing excavation. Previous book on Babylon. Expert on Anatolian languages, religion and geography.

At times the Hittites had the largest army in the known world -- could place 30,000

strong into the field. The force was often supplemented by mercenaries. To put this into context, although demographic estimates are notoriously inaccurate [77], that may be almost the entire population of the capital city of Hattusas in 2d millenium Anatolia. The principal weapon was the dual-horse-drawn chariot [96], and soldiers were equipped with spears, iron axes and swords, as well as with bows and slings.

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