ConflictThe Middle East

The Hittite empire

1,651 BCE – 1,181 BCE

Anatolia's great power, forgotten for three thousand years

In depth

The archive at Hattusa holds tens of thousands of tablets in eight languages, and Hittite proved to be Indo-European — the earliest recorded language in the family, which changed the whole picture of where and when it spread. The Hittites were also early with iron, but used it chiefly for ceremonial objects; it was not the military secret long supposed.

For children

The Hittites ruled Anatolia and fought Egypt over Syria. Then they vanished from history so completely that no one knew they had existed — until archaeologists uncovered their capital in the twentieth century.

Connects to

The battle of Kadesh1,275 BCE
The steppe people move out3,301 BCE – 2,601 BCE
The Iron Age1,201 BCE
The Bronze Age collapse1,178 BCE

Part of Terra Saga — the story of Earth on a timeline. terrasaga.org