11-A HITTITE INVASION

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The Hittites occupied the region ofAnatolia (also known as Asia Minor, modern-day Turkey) prior to 1700 BCE, developed a culture apparently from the indigenous Hatti (and possibly the Hurrian) people, and expanded their territories into anempire which rivaled, and threatened, the established nation of Egypt. They are repeatedly mentioned throughout the Hebrew Tanakh (also known as the Christian Old Testament) as the adversaries of the Israelites and their god. According to Genesis 10, they were the descendants of Heth, son of Canaan, who was the son of Ham, born of Noah (Genesis 10: 1-6). The name they are known by today, therefore, comes from the Bible and from the Amarna Letters of Egypt which reference a "Kingdom of Kheta" identified today as the `Kingdom of Hatti' (the designation the land of the Hittites was known by) but their own documents refer to them as Nesili, as do others of the time.  Their control of the region is divided by modern-day scholars into two periods: The Old Kingdom (1700-1500 BCE), and the New Kingdom, also known as theHittite Empire (1400-1200 BCE). There is an interregnum between these two which, to those who accept that version of history, is known as the Middle Kingdom. The discrepancy between those scholars who recognize a Middle Kingdom and those who do not arises from the fact that there was no discontinuity between the Old Kingdom and the New, merely a `dark age’ of less than 100 years about which little is known.  The Hittite Empire reached its peak between under the reign of King Suppiluliuma I(c.1344-1322 BCE) and his son Mursilli II (c.1321-1295 BCE) after which it declined and, after repeated attacks by the Sea Peoples and the Kaska tribe, fell to the Assyrians

Sumer

The city of Uruk had 10,000 people in 3800 BC, and with pottery manufacturing increasing eight hundred years later 50,000 people were protected by defensive walls. Most settlements by this time were fortified, and documents written about 2600 BC describe major conflicts between the city-states of Ur, Uruk, Umma, and others. With cities came civilization and its organized violence—war.
In addition to pottery, other specializations included stonecutters, bricklayers, metalsmiths, farmers, fishers, shepherds, weavers, leather-workers, and sailors. The wheel was invented for carts, chariots, and pottery-making. Iron was smelted about 2500 BC. Seals had been used to stamp a carved insignia on clay before cylindrical seals became widespread for labeling commodities and legal documents. Pictographic writing was first used by the Sumerians about 3400, and by 3000 BC this had evolved into cuneiform words and syllables.
The Sumerian language was not deciphered until the nineteenth century of our era when it was found to be different from both the Indo-European and Semitic language groups. Fifteen hundred cuneiform symbols were reduced in the next thousand years to about seven hundred, but it did not become alphabetic until about 1300 BC. By 2500 BC libraries were established at Shuruppak and Eresh, and schools had been established to train scribes for the temple and state bureaucracies as well as to legally document contracts and business transactions. Schools were regularly attended by the sons of the aristocracy and successful; discipline was by caning.

The second dynasty at Uruk in Sumer itself must have overlapped with the first because it was the legendary fifth king of that dynasty, Gilgamesh, who was attacked by the last Kish king Agga. An ancient account told the following story: Agga, having besieged Uruk, sent envoys to Gilgamesh with an ultimatum. Gilgamesh went to his city's elders, suggesting that they not submit but fight with weapons. However, the elders came to the opposite conclusion. So Gilgamesh took his proposal to the "men of the city," and they agreed with him. Gilgamesh was elated and said to his servant Enkidu, "Now, then, let the (peaceful) tool be put aside for the violence of battle."2 Gilgamesh then asked for a volunteer to go to Agga. Birhurturre, the head man, went and withstood torture; but when the awesome Gilgamesh ascended the wall and was seen by the foes, the foreigners felt overwhelmed and abandoned the siege.
The Uruk dynasty was well known in Sumerian tradition, as Gilgamesh was preceded by Meskiaggasher, son of the sun-god Utu, Enmerkar also son of Utu who built Uruk, the shepherd Lugalbanda, who was also considered divine, and the fisherman Dumuzi, the legendary vegetation god who married the love goddess Inanna. Tales of Gilgamesh became very popular.

Eventually Kish was occupied by mountain people from Khamazi while the Elamites encroached on Sumer. In Lagash Ur-Nanshe's grandson, Eannatum, who also built temples and dug canals, became a warrior, fighting back against the Elamites, conquering Ur and Uruk, and taking the kingship of Kish. Closer to home was the local conflict with Umma. Claiming his god commanded it, the governor of Umma raided the disputed field of Gu-edin, removed the marker set up by Mesalim, and invaded the territory of Lagash. However, Eannatum won the battle with the help of his god Enlil and captured in a great net his enemies, who begged for life. A peace treaty was agreed upon with Enakalli, the next governor of Umma, and Mesalim's stela was restored to its former place. Umma was required to pay heavy taxes in barley, and Eannatum's victory was commemorated by a stela depicting vultures tearing up the corpses of the defeated. Eannatum boasted of killing 3,600 men of Umma and had to bury twenty heaps of his own men.
Later Eannatum had to fight a coalition of forces from Kish and Mari led by the King of Akshak; though he claimed victory, his little empire was declining. Umma once again seized the disputed canal, destroyed the stela of the vultures, and defeated Eannatum. However, his nephew, Entemena, regained the canal from Umma even though they were backed by foreign kings (probably from Mari). He assigned his own governor to control the irrigation Lagash needed. Entemena also constructed new canals, attained a "brotherhood pact" with Lugal-kinishe-dudu, who had united Uruk and Ur, and for a reign of peace and prosperity was deified by a grateful people with statues for nearly a thousand years. A second Eannatum was succeeded by a high priest of the warrior god Ningirsu, and for a time peace prevailed as the people of Umma were allowed to live in Lagash with religious and civil liberties.


Mursili continued the conquests of Hattusili, his conquests reaching Mesopotamia, and even ransacked Babylon itself in 1531 BCE bringing to an end the dynasty ofHammurabi. Rather than incorporate Babylonia into Hittite domains, Mursili seems to have instead turned control of Babylonia over to his Kassite allies, who were to rule it for the next four centuries. This lengthy campaign, however, allowed for a plot to be formed by Mursili's brother-in-law Hantili and Hantili's son-in-law Zidanta. Mursili was assassinated shortly after his return home by Hantili and Zidanta. Hantili then took the throne; he campaigned against the Hurrians in Syria, but was unable to stop their advances. The Hurrians invaded the Hittite kingdom and plundered the land of Hatti. Hantili's sons were murdered by Zidanta who took the throne, only to be killed by his own son Ammuna. During this period the Hittite Kingdom began its decline and was attacked by various surrounding rebellious states such as the Hurrian Kingdom of Kizzuwadna and the Kingdom of Arzawa. Ammuna tried but ultimately failed toconquer these rebel kingdoms. After Ammuna's death, the usurper Huzziya attempted to kill off his sons but was himself deposed by Telepinu, a son of Ammuna. Telepinu established control over the Hittite core once again, and expanded towards the Euphrates, taking various towns in the region near Carchemish. He also signed a treaty with the southern Kingdom of Kizzuwadna which formalized territorial agreements.



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