The Dark Lords of Hattusha/Hittite Empire 1595 BC

gordopolis · Jun 17, 2019

peccavi said:
Do you have any recommendations on books (preferably affordable) or academic papers on this subject?

Thanks - always been interested in Hittites and how they fit into the IE story.

I don't have my reading list to hand, but for me, Trevor Bryce's two books are comprehensive and very accessible (they read like a novel in places)
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Kingdom-Hittites-Trevor-Bryce-ebook/dp/B001NCDFOW
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Society-Hittite-World-Trevor-Bryce-ebook/dp/B00JKOF2BO

...but looking on Amazon I was shocked to see the prices! (same with this one: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Armies-Ancient-Near-East-000/dp/B001S9KL88 )

Archibald sayce and J.G. MacQueen offer good - if dated - information. Seton Lloyd's 'Ancient Turkey' was excellent, although it covers much more than just the Hittites. This other volume of his looks rather promising too (haven't read it but it only costs a few £££s) https://www.amazon.co.uk/Highland-Peoples-Anatolia-Library-Civilisation/dp/B004CFFIEC

There's also the Osprey Hittite books 'Hittite fortifications', 'Qadesh 1300 BC', 'Hittite Warrior' and 'Bronze Age War Chariots' which are good, concise volumes supported by evocative artwork.

Quite sad how many of these books are not available or are so highly priced. I'm hoping to bring the Hittites to popular attention with my effort. Fingers crossed.

gordopolis · Jun 17, 2019

Whoops- accidental post

peccavi · Jun 17, 2019

gordopolis said:
I don't have my reading list to hand, but for me, Trevor Bryce's two books are comprehensive and very accessible (they read like a novel in places)
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Kingdom-Hittites-Trevor-Bryce-ebook/dp/B001NCDFOW
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Society-Hittite-World-Trevor-Bryce-ebook/dp/B00JKOF2BO

...but looking on Amazon I was shocked to see the prices! (same with this one: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Armies-Ancient-Near-East-000/dp/B001S9KL88 )

Archibald sayce and J.G. MacQueen offer good - if dated - information. Seton Lloyd's 'Ancient Turkey' was excellent, although it covers much more than just the Hittites. This other volume of his looks rather promising too (haven't read it but it only costs a few £££s) https://www.amazon.co.uk/Highland-Peoples-Anatolia-Library-Civilisation/dp/B004CFFIEC

There's also the Osprey Hittite books 'Hittite fortifications', 'Qadesh 1300 BC', 'Hittite Warrior' and 'Bronze Age War Chariots' which are good, concise volumes supported by evocative artwork.

Quite sad how many of these books are not available or are so highly priced. I'm hoping to bring the Hittites to popular attention with my effort. Fingers crossed.

Thanks - just ordered the first Bryce book. Mazing someone is trying to sell second-hand on Amazon for £818 - cost of mine is about a twentieth!

gordopolis · Jun 20, 2019

I've quickly realised that a lot of people's first reaction to the Hittites is "Er, who were they?", so I've put together a blog article with the aim of introducing people to them and answering the who, where, when and why. It's intended to be fun and accessible - hope it is!

Who Were the Hittites? - Gordon Doherty - Writer

bedb · Jul 8, 2019

What I can say about the Hittites is their word for horse Aswa came from the Mittani (Ashva) who were the best horse breeders of all time in my opinion. Like many IE people, they simply absorbed the local gods into their own pantheon.

bedb · Jul 8, 2019

gordopolis said:
I've quickly realised that a lot of people's first reaction to the Hittites is "Er, who were they?", so I've put together a blog article with the aim of introducing people to them and answering the who, where, when and why. It's intended to be fun and accessible - hope it is!

Who Were the Hittites? - Gordon Doherty - Writer

View attachment 20896

I use their missing god legend along with and Irish and Cheyenne one to show a very ancient myth that could actually be a memory of the Younger Dryas event.

gordopolis · Jul 18, 2019

So I've been away exploring the Hittite lands for the last few weeks, rambling across northern Turkey and Georgia. Here's a video and some photos of me rambling across the ruins of Hattusa, the ancient Hittite capital. What a place! I'm not sure the camera does it justice to be honest - parts of it are nearly vertical!

Here's my vid on my #HistFix YouTube channel: ]

And here's a photo album on FaceBook: Gordon Doherty

Enjoy!

peccavi · Jul 18, 2019

gordopolis said:
So I've been away exploring the Hittite lands for the last few weeks, rambling across northern Turkey and Georgia. Here's a video and some photos of me rambling across the ruins of Hattusa, the ancient Hittite capital. What a place! I'm not sure the camera does it justice to be honest - parts of it are nearly vertical!

Here's my vid on my #HistFix YouTube channel: ]

And here's a photo album on FaceBook: Gordon Doherty

Enjoy!

Huge - I have visited Mycenae which was very interesting but is tiny. This is on a par and maybe greater than Knossos -look forward to more of your videos.

gordopolis · Jul 18, 2019

peccavi said:
Huge - I have visited Mycenae which was very interesting but is tiny. This is on a par and maybe greater than Knossos -look forward to more of your videos.

Cheers - yes the site is massive, and the scary thing is there was probably loads more outwith those 7km long lower town walls! We know there was a great military academy somewhere a short way west of the city, then there's the sacred rock shrine 1km north (vid of that coming).

Dreamhunter · Jul 20, 2019

Well, they were worthy rivals to Egypt in their time. Including lording it over both Assyria & Mitanni during some periods. Even Troy was a tributary vassal of theirs. So, everything about them would have been pretty formidable.

bedb · Jul 20, 2019

Dreamhunter said:
Well, they were worthy rivals to Egypt in their time. Including lording it over both Assyria & Mitanni during some periods. Even Troy was a tributary vassal of theirs. So, everything about them would have been pretty formidable.

Could Troy have been a Hittite city?

gordopolis · Jul 20, 2019

bedb said:
Could Troy have been a Hittite city?

It was 'Hittite' in so much as it was closely allied to the Hittites, but the Trojan people were culturally separate/distinct from the Hittites. It seems that they had more in common culturally with the Aegean and western Anatolian peoples than they did with the Hittites.

gordopolis · Jul 25, 2019

Part 2 of my jaunt around Hattusa:

Enjoy!

gordopolis · Aug 1, 2019

Part 3 - the 'King's Gate'

gordopolis · Aug 7, 2019

Part 4 - the acropolis

dreamregent · Aug 7, 2019

bedb said:
Could Troy have been a Hittite city?

To the extent one associates Troy with Wilusa from Hittite sources, the answer is unquestionably a no as we have extant records which explain the nature of the relationship in some detail. Wilusa was reduced to vassalage, apparently more than once. But it was recognized as being part of a separate geopolitical entity like other vassal states surrounding core Hittite territory. While the kings of these states were often propped up by and took their marching orders from Hittite rulers under vassal treaties, they held real power within their own lands as well. They also variously experienced periods of rebellion and independence from Hatti as well as vassalage to other nearby powers.

gordopolis · Aug 14, 2019

A 2 minute tour of Chamber A at Yazilikaya - the ancient Hittite rock shrine

Theodoric · Aug 14, 2019

bedb said:
Could Troy have been a Hittite city?

They were involved with the Hittites -- we know this from the Hittite records.

The Hittite writings indicate it is an independent city, but the written evidence found around Troy is the Luwian language, which is related to Hittite and the main language of the Hittite Empire.

gordopolis · May 7, 2020

So book 2 of my Hittite series is out today! 'Empires of Bronze: Dawn of War'!

Hope it's okay to share the promo trailer here with other Hittite enthusiasts (there are very few Hittite websites out there!):

If you're interested in checking out the book, you can do so here: Empires of Bronze: Dawn of War (Empires of Bronze 2) - Kindle edition by Doherty, Gordon. Literature & Fiction Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.

gordopolis · May 27, 2020

A new military history blog about the Hittites: The Hittite War Machine

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The Dark Lords of Hattusha/Hittite Empire 1595 BC

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