Rise and Fall of the Hittite Empire: Iron, Conquests, and Legacy

The Hittites emerged onto the historical stage in the 20th century BC, establishing their capital at Hattusa on the Anatolian plateau. Originating from regions beyond the Black Sea, their influence began spreading outward around 1600 BC. The Hittites were a diverse people, predominantly of Asian descent but influenced significantly by Indo-European aristocratic elements from the Bosporus region.

A pivotal advancement for the Hittites was their mastery of ironworking, which revolutionized warfare by providing stronger and more affordable weaponry due to the abundance of iron ore. This technological edge propelled them to military successes under leaders like Mursilis I, who, in the 17th century BC, conquered Aleppo and Babylon, shaking the dominance of the Hammurabi dynasty.

Around 1600 BC, the Hittites consolidated their power, forming a formidable empire in western Asia that rivaled even the Egyptian empire. By 1460 BC, their empire had expanded dramatically, stretching from the Black Sea to Lydia and the frontiers of Assyria. Under Suppiluliumas in the 14th century BC, the Hittites reached their zenith, asserting hegemony alongside Egypt over the western world after subduing the kingdom of Mitanni.

However, by 1190 BC, the Hittite empire began to decline rapidly. The capital, Hattusa, fell, marking the end of their dominance. The last king, Suppiluliumas II, ruled briefly from 1200 to 1190 BC, symbolizing the empire's collapse. Surviving Neo-Hittite states in Assyria maintained remnants of Hittite culture and tradition until their absorption by the Assyrian Empire in 715 BC.

In conclusion, the Hittites left a profound legacy in ancient history through their innovative use of iron, military conquests, and establishment of a vast empire that rivaled the great powers of their time. Despite their eventual decline, their cultural and technological contributions endured through succeeding civilizations, shaping the course of ancient Near Eastern history.
Rise and Fall of the Hittite Empire: Iron, Conquests, and Legacy

The Decline and Fall of the Mitanni Empire

The Mitanni Empire, a confederation of powerful sub-kings bound by fealty and kinship to a central 'great king,' once stood as a formidable force in the ancient Near East. Emerging around 1600 BC, it wielded control over vast territories stretching from western Iran to the Mediterranean Sea. However, its zenith was followed by a swift descent into oblivion, marked by internal strife, external pressures, and conquests by rival powers.

During its ascendancy, the Mitanni Empire exerted dominance over Assyria while contending with the rising Hittite Empire to the north. Yet, the tide turned against Mitanni when Assyrian incursions intensified in the 14th century BC. Led by King Ashur-ubalit I, Assyrian forces seized significant territories, weakening Mitanni's grip on power.

Amidst these challenges, internal discord plagued Mitanni as succession disputes among royalty sowed seeds of disunity. This internal fragmentation left the empire vulnerable to external threats, particularly from the Hittites under King Suppiluliuma I. Exploiting Mitanni's weakened state, the Hittites launched devastating attacks, deporting swathes of the population and supplanting them with Hittite settlers.

The final blow came under the reign of Shalmaneser, the Assyrian monarch who relentlessly pursued the remnants of Mitanni. By 1244 BC, the once-mighty Mitanni Empire had crumbled, its territories absorbed by rival powers and its legacy relegated to the annals of history.

The fall of Mitanni stands as a cautionary tale of the perils of internal strife and external aggression, underscoring the fragility of even the most formidable empires in the face of shifting geopolitical dynamics.
The Decline and Fall of the Mitanni Empire

Empire of Hittite (c.1680 BC–c. 1178 BC)

Hittite Kingdom was located in the central Anatolian Plateau known as the Land of Hatti. The Hittites spoke one of the oldest known languages which is considered to belong in the Indo-European language group. They continued their sovereignty by making different ethnic groups in Anatolia directly or indirectly subjected to the kingdom.

It began around 1700 BCE and lasted about 500 years, during the Late Bronze Age. The Hittites arrived in Anatolia sometime around 2000 B.C. Given the Caucasus route, one of the first encounters of the Hittites with native Anatolians must have been at or near the city of Divrigi.

Later Divrigi was taken by the Hittites. Archeological evidence shows that after the initial take-over, the Hittites immediately undertook to subdue and dominate the surrounding area. The result was the establishment of the small state of Kussara. The most important consequence of the establishment of the state of Kussara for the eventual establishment of a Hittite Empire was control of the only remaining tin routes between east and west.

The Hittites conquered much of Anatolia as well as northern Syria and the western edge of Mesopotamia. From its foundation the kingdom broadened its influence reaching to the west and southeast of Anatolia and even to Northern Syria and left a permanent influence in this vast area.

The nucleus of the kingdom was formed by the Land of Hatti proper, the Upper and Lower Lands, and the neighboring territories of Kizuwatna and Tarhuntassa. This area was populated not only by Hittites, speaking “Nesili”, the language of Nesha, but also by Luwians and Palaians, speaking parentage languages of Indo-European lineage, Hurrians (notably in Kizuwatna) and, to an extent difficult to discern, ancient Hattians, the original inhabitants of the region.

The Hittite Empire was quite large and at times very powerful. Through absorbing neighboring peoples the society that resulted was a multi-cultural one in many respects. However, the Hittite kingdom rapidly deteriorated from the beginning of the 12thcentury B.C. , and for various reasons it finally collapsed.

Empire of Hittite (c.1680 BC–c. 1178 BC)

Tabal kingdom

In the tenth and early ninth centuries BC, Assyrian kings strove to re-establish the traditional “land of Assur” by recovering territories in Syria and the north that had been lost at the end of the second millennium B.C.

The Assyrians entered Tabal in 836 BC. in order to make a show of force, extort whatever goods they could, and most importantly, stabilize their presence in Syria by intimidating the lands beyond it. In the early Iron Age, the region called Tabal in Neo-Assyrian texts was occupied by a number of mainly small independent kingdoms.

History most likely first encounter the Tabalian dynasty in question in 836 BC, when Shalmaneser III, coming from Melid (Malatya) via Mt Timur, invades Tabal, burns the cities of Tuatti (king) of Tabal, besieges his capital city, Artulu, and receives the submission and tribute of Tuatti’s son Kikki along with that of twenty other unnamed ‘‘kings of Tabal’’.

The numerous petty kings of Tabal, unable to mobilize effectively against the larger power and cowed by Assyria’s military capabilities, had little choice but to “pay up.” Tabal Kingdom came to prominence during the 1st millennium BC after the decline of the great Hittite kingdom of Hattusas.
Tabal kingdom

Lydian empire

The Lydians were an ancient people of the Anatolian Peninsula. The Lydians may have migrated from north Africa at an early stage in their history.

They then have emerged for the Luwian-speaking peoples who widespread in western and central Anatolia at the time of the Hittite Empire.

After the collapse of the Hittite Empire, the Lydians regained their independence and gradually became strong.

They established a kingdom centered on the city of Sardis (45 miles inland from the modern Turkish city of Izmir) around 1200 BC.

Izmir was the site of the oldest human settlements in the Mediterranean world, going back to 4000 BC or even earlier.

Lydia had excellent trade routes to the east and west and had its own reserves of gold and silver.

According to the ancient Greek historian Herodotus, the Lydians were the first people to invent coinage.

Lydia was renowned for its wealth in ancient Persian and Greek literature, and King Croesus has passed into legend as a figure of unparalleled wealth.

In 546 BC Lydia fell under the expanding power of Persia, which was reaching for the Aegean.

Lydia was then made a province of the Medo-Persian Empire and never recovered its independence.

Under Persian rule, Lydia remained an important province until it was conquered by Alexander the Great.
Lydian empire

Phrygians Empire (1200–700 B.C)

The pre-Armenians are thought by many specialists to have been one group of Thraco-Phrygian invaders who moved across the Hellespont and into Anatolia about 1200 BC.

It was due to the power vacuum in Anatolia created by the collapsed of the Hittite kingdom.

According to the Greek tradition, the earliest Phrygians were immigrants from Macedon and Thrace. The Phrygians came sometime before the Trojan War in the middle of the thirteenth century.

The Phrygians took up residence and later the settlement became capital of the empire founded by the Phrygian king Gordios.

The Phrygian civilization has taken on an Anatolian character. The Phrygians had established an empire extending for Taurus Mountains and the kingdom of Uratu on the eastern to the Lydian border on the west. 

With abundant resources and an advantages location, they flourished and developed as advanced civilization.

The Phrygian Empire was defeated by the Cimmerians, a displaced people probably originating north of the Black Sea. According to tradition, the people of Cimmerians arrive at the beginning of the seventh century BC. The king of Midas committed suicide and in 696 BC nomadic Cimmerians have sacked the capital of Gordion.
Phrygians Empire (1200–700 B.C)

Hittite Empire

The Hittites first appeared in history in the 20th century BC, as inhabitants of the Anatolian plateau with city of Hattusa. Historians trace the origin of the Hittites to areas beyond the Black Sea. It began spread outward around 1600 BC.

The Hittites were a composite people, fundamentally of Asian origin, but dominated by Indo-European aristocratic elements from the neighborhood of the Bosporus. 

The Hittites were the first of the Indo-European peoples to make use of iron, enabling them to construct weapons that were stronger and cheaper to make because of their widespread availability of iron ore.

The state was so powerful that a few decades later Mursilis I son of Hattusilis I (1630-1600 BC) succeeded conquering first Aleppo and then Babylon, thus causing the downfall of the Hammurabi dynasty. 

Starting around 1600 BC, the Hittites assembled their own empire in western Asia and even threatened the power of the Egyptians.

About 1460 BC, the Hittite empire arose to become one of the most amazing empires of ancient times.

The Hittite empire then stretched from the Black Sea and Lydia to the frontiers of Assyria. During the reign of Suppiluliumas (1380-1345 BC), with the submission of the kingdom of Mitanni, the Hittite state became a mighty empire, on a par with Egypt, to the extent that in the 14th and 13th centuries BC these two powers shared hegemony over the western world.

By 1190 BC Hittite power was at an end. The Hittite empire ended with the fall of its capital Hattusa. The last king was Suppiluliumas, who reign only briefly (1200-1190 BC).

After the destruction of the Hittite Empire, the surviving Neo-Hittite states in Assyria, who had been under Hittite control, continued the Hittite tradition. In 715 BC, they were finally absorbed into the Assyrian Empire. 
Hittite Empire