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The Epic Interactive Encyclopedia 1998
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Epic Interactive Encyclopedia, The - 1998 Edition (1998)(Epic Marketing).iso
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Hittite
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1992-09-02
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Member of a group of people who inhabited
Anatolia and N Syria from the 3rd millennium
to the 1st millennium BC. The city of
Hattusas (now Bogazkoy in central Turkey)
became the capital of a strong kingdom which
overthrew the Babylonian empire. After a
period of eclipse the Hittite New Empire
became a great power (about 1400-1200 BC),
which successfully waged war with Egypt. The
Hittite language is an Indo-European
language. The original Hittites, a people of
Armenian/Anatolian type, inhabited a number
of city-states in E Anatolia, one of which,
Hatti, gained supremacy over the others. An
Indo-European people invaded the country
about 2000 BC, made themselves the ruling
class, and intermarried with the original
inhabitants. The Hittites developed advanced
military, political, and legal systems. The
New Empire concluded a peace treaty with
Egypt 1269 BC, but was eventually overthrown
by the Sea Peoples. Small Hittite states then
arose in N Syria, the most important of which
was Carchemish; these were conquered by the
Assyrians in the 8th century BC. Carchemish
was conquered 717. The Hittites used a
cuneiform script, modelled on the Babylonian,
for ordinary purposes, and a hieroglyphic
script for inscriptions on monuments. The
Hittite royal archives were discovered at
Hattusas 1906-07 and deciphered 1915.