In their records the Hittites preserved memories of a time when their kings ruled from a city called Kussara (not yet located). One of its early kings Pithana and his son Anitta captured Nesa (the local name for Kanesh) and Huttusa. The government seems to have been transferred to Kanesh, but Hattusa was destroyed. Between Anitta and the Hittite Old Kingdom (c.1600-c.1420 BC) there is a gap of several generations. Expansion continued under another king of Kussara, Labarna-I (c.1600 BC). His son Labarna II (r.c.1585-c.1555 BC), rebuilt and occupied Hattusa. It was probably in honour of this event that he changed his name to Hattusili-I.
In his first campaign Hattusili consolidated his rule over areas to the north. In the second campaign he crossed the Taurus Mountains and ravaged and destroyed towns and cities in north Syria. In his third campaign he led his army against a powerful state called Arzawa in western Anatolia. While he was so engaged, much of the territory he had gained the previous year was overrun by the Hurrians, a new nation that had settled in the mountainous regions of upper Mesopotamia. He abandoned his attack on Arzawa, but two further years passed before his frontiers were re-established.
His grandson Mursili-I (r.c.1555-c.1525 BC) defeated a Hurrian army and destroyed Aleppo. Finding he was unopposed, Mursili continued down the Euphrates and captured Babylon (c.1531 BC). The Hittites, however, had outrun their resources. On their way home they beat off a Hurrian attack, but the king’s long absence had weakened the Hittite kingdom. Shortly after his return, Mursili was assassinated by his brother-in-law, Hantili-I (r.c.1525-c.1495 BC).
The accession of Hantili initiated a period of political and military disasters for the Hittites. The Hurrians stripped them of their southern possessions, including Adaniya (=Cilicia), which from then on was known as Kizzuwadna. Stability was restored by Telepinu (r.c.1460 BC) who drew up a proclamation that attempted to end the violence and secure the means of succession. In foreign relations he entered into a treaty with Isputahsu of Kizzuwadna.
Kizzuwadna, positioned between the Hittites and the Mitannians, was not an insignificant state but like many other states across the region it had to balance its needs against the dangers of siding with a larger kingdom. The treaty with the Hittites was renewed several times until Pilliya of Kizzuwadna had to sign a treaty with Idrimi of Alalakh, himself a vassal of Parrattarna of Mitanni (r.c.1460-c.1440 BC).
The period of the Hittite Empire (c.1420-c.1200 BC) began in the reign of Tudhaliya-I (r.c.1420-c.1400 BC). He launched a preemptive attack against western Anatolian states to discourage the forming of a military alliance against Hatti. Soon after this campaign, twenty-two western Anatolian states formed the anti-Hittite Assuwa League, which Tudhaliya defeated.
Ahhiyawa, a state in the west that sometimes joined forces with Arzawa against the Hittites, is first mentioned when an adventurer Attarsiya (the ‘man of Ahhiya’) appeared in western Anatolia. Madduwatta, driven out of his chiefdom by Attarsiya, fled to the Hittites who established him as vassal ruler of a small state close to Arzawa. During the reign of Tudhaliya-I, Madduwatta attacked Kupanta-Kurunta, king of Arzawa, but his expedition failed and he had to be rescued by the Hittites. He eventually concluded a treaty with Kupanta-Kurunta and married one of the king’s daughters. During the reign of Arnuwanda-I (r.c.1400-c.1385 BC), the state of Hapalla close to Madduwatta’s own state became hostile to the Hittites. At Arnuwanda’s request Madduwatta conquered Hapalla, but added it to his own lands and made conquests in the Lukka lands (≈Lycia). Finally, with much of southwest Anatolia under his control, he conquered Alasiya (=Cyprus?), apparently with the assistance of his former enemy, Attarsiya.
While Tudhaliya was campaigning in the west, the Kaska tribes from the north devastated the Hittite homeland. On his return Tudhaliya first drove the enemy from the homeland, then pursued them in a series of campaigns into their own territory. To the east the kingdom of Isuwa lay between the Hatti and Mitanni, and like Kizzuwadna its allegiance fluctuated between them. Earlier in his reign Tudhaliya had crushed an Isuwan rebellion and taken control of the country, but then Hurrian troops invaded and plundered Isuwa. It seems that Tudhaliya now succeeded in restoring Hittite control over the region, but this would have been only temporary.
After securing a treaty with Kizzuwadna, Tudhaliya invaded Syria and conquered Aleppo, but failed to completely end Mitanni control over the region. After his death, his co-ruler and heir Arnuwanda-I (r.c.1400-c.1385 BC) inherited a large but fragile kingdom that began to deteriorate: Kaskans renewed their attacks from the north, sacking and pillaging Hittite towns and temples; and with a royal marriage the Mitannians secured an alliance with Egypt and began to restore their control over Syria.
During the reign of Tudhaliya II (r.c.1360-c.1344 BC) the kingdom was confronted by invasions. The Kaskans attacked from the north and sacked Hattusa, and the Arzawans overran the ‘Lower Land’ (south central Anatolia) to emerge a dominant force in the region. Arzawa’s new status is clearly shown in the diplomatic overtures made by Amenhotep III (r.c.1390-c.1352 BC) towards Arzawa’s king, Tarhundaradu.
Tudhaliya, together with his son Suppiluliuma-I (r.c.1344-c.1322 BC), embarked on a military campaign to recover his losses. Samuha (not yet located), which may have been the first major city to be recaptured, became the base for successive attacks against the Kaskans. Tudhaliya led the attacks but when he fell sick, command was handed to Suppiluliuma who defeated the Kaskans and the federation of Azzi-Hayasa, which enabled the Hittite court to return to Hattusa. Tudhaliya II was succeeded by Tudhaliya III (r.c.1344 BC), who was overthrown and succeeded by his brother Suppiluliuma. After securing the homeland, Suppiluliuma captured the city of Sallapa (not yet located) at the border of Arzawan held territories and eventually regained control of the Lower Land.
In his first Syrian campaign, Suppiluliuma moved directly south through the Taurus passes. (This implies that the region had already been brought under Hittite control by an earlier king. Suppiluliuma later incorporated all of Kizzuwadna into the Hittite Empire.) In this campaign, however, Suppiluliuma was not victorious; he may have suffered a defeat at the hands of the Mitannian king Tushratta (r.c.1370-c.1340 BC).
In his second Syrian campaign (the Great Syrian War), Suppiluliuma moved eastwards, crossed the Euphrates near Melid (=Melitene) into Isuwa and struck south into Mitanni territory, capturing and plundering its capital Washukanni. Suppiluliuma then turned westwards, recrossed the Euphrates and captured all the local kingdoms subject to Mitanni from the Euphrates to the Mediterranean coast, including Aleppo and Kadesh. Other kingdoms such as Ugarit and Amurru (an Egyptian vassal) voluntarily became vassals of the Hittites. Suppiluliuma installed his second son Telipinu as viceroy at Aleppo, and his third son Piyassili (=Sarri-Kusuh) as viceroy at Carchemish when the city fell after an eight-day siege.
His fourth son Zennanza was killed on his way to Egypt to marry the widow of Tutankhamun (c.18; r.c.1336-c.1327 BC), Ankhesenpaaten. A furious Suppiluliuma sent his eldest son Arnuwanda II (r.c.1322-c.1321 BC) on a punitive raid against Egyptian territory in Syria. This attack was militarily successful, but there was a disastrous consequence: thousands of prisoners of war brought back a fatal plague, which later claimed both Suppiluliuma and his son and heir Arnuwanda.
The weakened Mitannian kingdom now ruled by Shuttarna III (r.c.1340 BC) allied itself with a resurgent Assyria. Suppiluliuma sent his son Piyassili, viceroy of Carchemish, and his Mitanni ally Shattiwaza (r.c.1340-c.1310 BC) against the Mitannian kingdom, taking Irrite, Harran and finally the Mitanni capital Washukanni. Shattiwaza was made the king of the new Mitanni vassal state.
Suppiluliuma had made good provision for the security of his kingdom after his death. In Syria the permanent presence of the viceroys Telipinu and Piyassili was a deterrent against Assyrian and Egyptian encroachment on Hittite subject territory in the region. The veteran commander Hannutti has been appointed governor of the Lower Land to guard against aggression from that region. Of more immediate concern was Kaskan aggression against Hittite territory, which had continued throughout Suppiluliuma’s reign and was now gaining momentum. Hannutti was ordered to the north but he died shortly after he arrived.
This was the situation facing Suppiluliuma’s youngest son Mursili II (r.c.1321-c.1295 BC) on his accession. Punitive campaigns against the Kaskans occupied the first two years of his reign. He then turned west where Uhhaziti of Arzawa was forming an anti-Hittite alliance with Ahhiyawa, Millawanda (Miletus) and other Arzawan kings of the region. Mursili defeated Uhhaziti’s son, Piyama-Kurunta, at the Astarpa River then took his capital Apasa (=Ephesus) and the fortress of Puranda. Mursili then turned against the kingdom of Seha River Land, which had allied with Uhhaziti. Its king Manapa-Tarhunda surrendered and Mursili left him on the throne.
Mursili was constantly drawn to problems to the north – the Kaska lands, the Upper Land and Azzi-Hayasa. Trouble with a rebellious vassal in Nuhasse in Syria was aggravated by Egyptian military involvement during the reign of Horemheb (r.c.1323-c.1295 BC). In Mursili’s ninth year, both of his brothers died. This encouraged the Assyrians to invade Carchemish. Leaving his generals to deal with the north, Mursili invaded Carchemish and drove out the Assyrians. Later in his reign Mursili campaigned against the Kaskans and retook the city of Nerik. He also defeated the king of Tummanna.
Early in his reign Muwatalli II (r.c.1295-c.1272 BC) dealt with Piyamaradu, a king in western Anatolia, who had allied himself with Ahhiyawa and gone on to invade Wilusa, the Seha River Land and Lazpa (=Lesbos). Meanwhile, the Egyptian pharaoh Seti-I (r.c.1294-c.1279 BC) had invaded and conquered Amurru and Kadesh. Since they were both Hittite vassals, this amounted to a declaration of war on Hatti. During this period Muwatalli moved the capital further south to the city of Tarhuntassa and appointed his brother Hattusili III (r.c.1267-c.1237 BC) as governor of the region around Hattusa to contain the Kaskans; Tarhuntassa was also a better position from which to launch attacks on Syria
In his fifth year the Egyptian pharaoh Rameses II (c.85; r.c.1279-c.1213 BC) launched a campaign into Syria, where his forces met Muwatalli’s at the Battle of Kadesh (c.1274 BC). Rameses, eager to arrive at Kadesh, split his forces. Muwatalli attacked, destroyed the Re division and followed them to the camp of the Amun division, causing chaos in the Egyptian army. Only a counterattack led by the pharaoh himself turned back the Hittite forces that had stopped their attack to loot the enemy camp. The battle was inconclusive, but the Egyptians retreated south followed by the Hittites who took Damascus and also retook the city of Amurru.
Early in his reign, Mursili III (Urhi-Teshub; r.c.1272-c.1267 BC) moved the capital back to Hattusa, but when the Assyrians annexed Mitanni his legitimacy to rule the Hittite Empire was severely weakened. His uncle Hattusili III had won back the northern territories. Urhi-Teshub now tried to remove his uncle as a threat to the throne by reducing the area under his control. Hattusili, with support from the Hittite nobility and elements of the Kaskans, overthrew his nephew who fled to the Egyptian court. Hattusili installed Muwatalli’s second son Kurunta (=Ulmi-Teshup), who had supported his coup, as king of Tarhuntassa, which became a vassal state. The tensions with Assyria led Hattusili to seek a treaty with Egypt.
At the beginning of his reign Tudhaliya IV (r.c.1237-c.1209 BC) had to deal with rebellions in the Lower Land; and continuing conflict with Lukka, Ahhiyawa and the Seha River Land. Faced with the growing threat of Assyria, he sent a large army to Nihriya (near Diyabakir?). The armies clashed in northern Assyria and Tukulti-Ninurta-I (r.c.1233-c.1197 BC) proved victorious. The prospects of the success of an Assyrian invasion of Hittite subject territories must then have seemed extremely good. Instead, Tukulti-Ninurta turned his attention southwards – towards Babylon. It may have only shortly after this that Tudhaliya faced a coup by Kurunta, perhaps even losing his throne for a short time. Later, Tudhaliya attacked Alasiya for its timber and copper.
Arnuwanda III (r.c.1209-c.1207 BC) was soon replaced by his brother, Suppiluliuma II (r.c.1207-c.1178 BC). From the reign of Hattusili III, famine had forced the Hittites to import grain from Egypt and Ugarit. The loss of Tarhuntassa possibly during Tudhaliya IV’s reign was damaging to Hatti because the grain ships from Egypt docked here at the port of Ura. Thus, Suppiluliuma undertook numerous naval actions off the coast of Alasiya, almost certainly to protect the supply routes to Hatti.
The swift and utter destruction of the Hittites is attributed to the massive movement of the Sea People, who destroyed much of Anatolia, Syria and Palestine in the early twelfth century BC. Hattusa was sacked and Hittite records end abruptly with Suppiluliuma’s battles against Alasiya. It does however seem that most of the Bronze Age Hittite sites were abandoned rather than destroyed.
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