Who Were the Hittites?
Archaeology and the Bible give different answers
Who were the Hittites? At one time the Hittites were one of three superpowers in the ancient world. Tudhaliya IV (1237–1209 B.C.E.) ruled over the Hittite Kingdom during its heyday and is depicted here on a rock carving from the Hittites’ sacred open-air shrine at Yazilikaya, less than a mile from the Hittite capital of Hattusa in present-day Turkey. Photo: Sonia Halliday.
Who were the Hittites? This question is not as simple as it appears. There is plenty of evidence from archaeology and the Biblical texts, but the two sources of information are not compatible, which adds an element of mystery to this ancient kingdom. The article “The Hittites—Between Tradition and History” in the March/April 2016 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review examines what archaeology and the Bible say about the Hittites.
Who were the Hittites according to archaeology? As early as 1900 B.C.E., an Indo-European people began to settle in what is now Turkey. By the 16th century B.C.E., they were powerful enough to invade Babylon. Their might continued to expand until they were a superpower on the level with Egypt and Assyria. Relations with Egypt were particularly volatile and included the famous Battle of Kadesh and the eventual signing of the world’s oldest peace treaty. The Hittite capital, Hattusa, has been excavated, revealing a formidable and religious empire.
Excavation evidence shows that Hattusa was invaded and burned in the early 12th century B.C.E., but this was after the city had largely been abandoned. In the 14th century B.C.E., Carchemish in northern Syria was made a vice-regal seat. As the Hittites began abandoning the land of Hatti during the region-wide decline at the end of the 12th century B.C.E., they may have fled to this location.
Who were the Hittites according to the Bible? The Hittites play a prominent role at key places in the Hebrew Bible: Ephron the Hittite sells Abraham the family burial ground (Genesis 23); Esau married Hittite women, and Rebecca despised them (Genesis 26:34); frequently they are listed as one of the inhabitants of Canaan (e.g., Exodus 13:5; Numbers 13:29; Joshua 11:3); King David had Uriah the Hittite killed in order to acquire Uriah’s wife (2 Samuel 11); King Solomon had Hittites among his many wives (1 Kings 10:29–11:2; 2 Chronicles 1:17); and the prophet Ezekiel degrades Israel with the metaphor of a Hittite mother (Ezekiel 16:3, 45).
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“The impression is that many Hittites are living in the land of Canaan during the time of the Founding Families … And this impression is reinforced by Biblical references to Hittites during the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah,” notes the BAR article “The Hittites—Between Tradition and History”.
The wall around Hattusa was more than 6 miles long and had several decorated gates. Visitors to the city would enter through the Lion Gate—named for the stone lions on either side of the entrance. The lion was a symbol of protection, defiance and royalty in Hittite culture. Photo: Sonia Halliday Photographs/Photo by Jane Taylor.
According to the BAR article, “[T]his still leaves us with an open question regarding the references to the Hittites during the time of the patriarchs. To a certain extent, the composition history of the Pentateuch may be relevant to this discussion. If one were to assume that these narratives depict historical realities that were written down close to the time of occurrence, then one might conclude that the references are to the original Hittites rather than the Neo-Hittites. However, the majority of scholars believe that these narratives were composed hundreds of years after the events that they describe and often contain anachronisms for the time of composition superimposed on the narrative time. This would suggest that the references reflect the Neo-Hittites.”
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So who were the Hittites? The older Hittites never self-identified as Hittites, but called their language Nesite and their land Hatti, referring to themselves as the people of Hatti. Had scholars known from the beginning what has been subsequently uncovered, these people would probably be called Nesites or perhaps Nesians. When the once-mighty kingdom collapsed, those in the former Syrian vassal states kept the culture alive, becoming the Neo-Hittites. The archaeological record reveals the story of the original Hittites, while the Bible refers mostly to the Neo-Hittites.
For more on the Hittites as told through archaeology and the Bible, read the full article “The Hittites—Between Tradition and History” in the March/April 2016 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review.
BAS Library Members: Read the full article “The Hittites—Between Tradition and History” in the March/April 2016 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review.
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This Bible History Daily feature was originally published on February 16, 2016.
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Dr. White:
Actually, the transliteration of Hittite and Hittites from the Hebrew in Genesis 23:10 and 15:20 is a bit of a misnomer introduced by the Masoretic scholars of Tiberias who vocalized the text of the Hebrew Bible around 800 CE. If we examine historical changes in the Hebrew language introduced in the area of Tiberias, we can see that between about 250 CE and 450 CE, there was a shift of many short A vowels to I vowels in closed unstressed initial syllables (usually followed by an accented syllable).
Thus, prior to that time, the Hebrew actually was read Hatti and Hattis. And that is why we call Moses’ sister Maryam: Miryam. The Greek (and Arabic) reading is Mariam/Maryam.
Furthermore, if we look at the Greek Septuagint translation of ca. 250 BCE: Χετταῖος, we see that the initial consonantal transcription does not reflect the ḥêṯ that we see in our Hebrew Bibles, but that of an earlier consonant, ḫayt, that merged into ḥêṯ in the second century CE that is not pronounced in modern Hebrew, but persists in Arabic.
Thus the Hittite and Hittites were actually pronounced Ḫatti and Ḫattis by the writers of Genesis, just as those ancient people referred to themselves. The consonant ḫayt [IPA: x] was a voiceless velar fricative, the same as Greek chi, and similar to the Ashkenazi (European) Jewish pronunciation of ḥêṯ.
Respectfully,
Robert M Goodman
Hittites were closet to Armenians of today!
Based on historic fact we do know that the Hittite empire at one time extended into the land of Canaan and the Hittites fought the Egyptians. It would therefore seem to make sense that to some extent the Hittites were allied with the Israelites and that as the Hittite empire retreated, Hittite cities in the area were absorbed by the Israelites.
The Hittites were an ancient group of Indo-Europeans who moved into Asia Minor and formed an empire at Hattusa in Anatolia (modern Turkey) around 1600 BCE. The Hittite Empire reached great heights during the mid-1300s BCE, when it spread across Asia Minor, into the northern Levant and Upper Mesopotamia.
The part so very true and most interesting was that the Hittites were Indo-European hailing from Scandinavia. Scholars have suspected and concluded in deductive anticipation of this fact for generations now. These same Indo-Europeans also filled the area of Iran. There is strong evidence where foundations for religious belief, especially the messianic belief system, originated with the Indo-European. When we dare to delve deeply enough, we are going to discover where not only the original Sumerians were Indo-European, but so were the original founders of Egypt as we now know the Minoans were, and likewise, the original Canaanite tribe of Hebrew (Hibiru) and the Clan of Abraham. All of these grand empires corrupted due to invasions from southern Asia and eventually collapsed because of them.
Another asinine liar. WHITE (LEPROSY GENE) CAME FROM THE NEANDERTHAL AND WHITE PEOPLE ARE DESCENDANTS OF CANAAN. GENES-IS 36:12 AND JEREMIAH 49:10. WHITE PEOPLE ARE THE ONLY ONES WHO ARE A COLOR. THEY’RE LEPERS. NOTHING MORE THAN LEPERS AND NOT STOLEN IDENTITIES. NOT EUROPEAN. NOT CAUCASIAN. NOT ATTACHED TO A LAND OR PLACE. THEY WERE DISCOVERED LIVING UNDER A ROCK (CAVE-MAN). LEPERS.
Homo-Sapiens (HUE-MANS) originated from Sumeria and the NEANDERTHALS are DENISOVANS (MAN-KIND). THE HEBREWS (HIBIRU) ARE NOT CANAANITES AS YOU PORTRAY. WHITE PEOPLE ARE THE DESCENDANTS OF CANAAN. ESAU’S FIRSTBORN SON ELIPHAZ WAS BORN OF A HORITE MOTHER (TROGLODYTES) NEANDERTHAL GENE LEPROSY. THEY WERE APES. JACOB WAS A STRANGER IN THE LAND OF CANAAN. CURSED BE CANAAN. GENES-IS 9:25. NOAH (UNCOVERED HIS NAKEDNESS MEANING ALBINO) CANAAN DESCENDANTS ARE WHITE. WHITE MAN IS HAMITE AS IN BUCKINGHAM PALACE. BEING WHITE IN THE BUYBULL IS A CURSE. BEING WHITE IN AFRICAN HISTORY WAS A CURSE OF LEPROSY IN THOSE DAYS. WHITE PEOPLE COME FROM HAM. MAN-KIND ARE NEANDERTHAL, ARE APES, WHITE, ARAB, CHINESE, INDIA. LEVITICUS 13:13 IS WHERE WHITE PEOPLE COMES FROM. LEPROSY.
There’s no such thing as Indo-European so stop the bullshit. Genes-is 36:12 And Timnaz was concubine to Eliphaz Esau’s son; and she bare to Eliphaz Amalek. THESE WERE THE ‘SONS’ OF ADAH (HORITE) ESAU’S WIFE. THESE ‘WERE THE HORITES’ OR TROGLODYTES (NEANDERTHAL) WHO MERGED SEED WITH ESAU. THE NEANDERTHAL HAS LEPROSY GENE. AMALEK BORN IN MOUNT SEIR.
Jeremiah 49:10 But I have made Esau bare (albino), I have uncovered his secret places, and he shall not be able to hide himself: his seed (Eliphaz, Amalek) is spoiled (leprosy: white as ‘snow’) and his brethren (Yaphet), and his neighbour’s, and he is not.
Bryant Wood looked at this question in some detail and offers a solution that I find persuasive (see https://biblearchaeology.org/research/divided-kingdom/2796-hittites-and-hethites-a-proposed-solution-to-an-etymological-conundrum )