Figure 1.--.

The Hittites were one of the major civilization of the Bronze Age world and presented a major challenge to the Egyptian New Kingdom. The Hitties arose in Anatolia on the periphery of Mesopotamia from mysterious origins. The term Hitties has nothing to do with the actual people and is of Binlical origins-- Hebrew 'khitti'. They actually called themselvs the People of the Land of Hatti. The capital was Hattusa, located near Boğazkale in modern Turkey. Despite their historical importance, they are one of the least studied ancient Most of what we know about the Hittites comes from the many clay cuneiform tablet that have been discovered. It took some time to decipher them. They spoke Nesite, an Indo-European langage. The similarities between Nesite, and modern European languages, evetually led to decypering the language. With a Anatolian heartland the Hittite kingdom stretched from Mesopotamia into Syria and Palestine which it contested with Egypt. The extension into the Levant is whythey are mentioned in the Bible. They are mentioned over 50 times. This began with Abraham (Genesis) and continued in subsequent books (Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles). One of King David’s most loyal and elite 'mighty men' was Uriah the Hittite, whose tragic story is central to the account of David and Bathsheba. Scholars used to doubt their existence like many Biblical references. For years, skeptics standing on the he lack of extra-biblical evidence on the Hittites dismissed their existence. It was widely believed that the biblical accounts were mythical. But modern scholars, especually archeologists have confirmed the historical accuracy of many Biblical references. In the case of the Hittites, archaeologists ultimately uncovered the Hittite capital of Hattusa (1906 AD). It was with Egypt that the Hittites fought the first well-recorded battle of history--Qadesh (1274 BC). The Hittites fielded powerful chariot-powered armies. They were the first people ti use disease as a weapon. Ancient Troy seems to have been influenced by Hittite culture. They spoke an Indo-European language. They conquered Mesopotamia, but were strongly influenced by Mesopotamian culture. The Hittites adopted the laws, religion, and the literature of Babylonian thus represented a continuation of Sumerian culture. Their religion was one of accumulation. The gods of defeated peoples (or at least the sacred iconography would be carried to Hattusa and added to their ever-growing pantheon. Apparently it was believed they could be watched over and not cause future troubles. Eventually over 100 religious festivals were celebrated with often bloody sacrificial rituals. The Hittite civilization was at its peak (1600-1200 BC). A major weakness was issues of succession. New rulers would kill all the descendants of a deposed king. Another major problem was the small population baser. Hittite armies would rely bon levies of defeated peoples. They lost control of Mesopotamia to Assyria, but continued on for many centuries. Their Anatolian capital held out fo centuries, but finally fell (717 BC). It is believed the Hittite Empire was weakened by internal divisions. The Hebrews refer mant times to the Hittis, but actully say little about them. The Canaanites are believed to have been a surviving Hittite people. The Hittites were a trading empire. There importance lies primarily in transmitting Sumerian culture through its far-flung empire and even wider trading contacts to the Aegean/ Mediterranean world--the cradle of Western civilization. There is little available information on Hittite clothing. And weare unlikeky to find surviving textiles or even detailed informtion on how clothing was manufactured or worn. That is not the kind of information preserved in the cuneiform tablets. It is likely that the Hitties shared generalized Bronze Age Anatolian dress eith Babylonian influences. There is not a great deal to work with. A few Hittite orthostates and relief carvings exist, but re not very detailed. And painfully few vAses with imagery (the Hüseyindede Vases). Wool was the primary fiber of the region and period and this would have been the dominant Hittite textile. Linnen was an imported luxury good from Egypt. Babylonian sources discuss the favored use of red and blue dyes. Given that the plants involved wereavailable to the Hittites and shared words incluse the dying industry, the colors were probably popular with the Hitties as well. We note one basic asessment focusing on female atire, "Garments appear to have been simple, rectangular cuts of various widths and lengths to allow for draping and pleating, as seen in contemporary cultures such as Mycenaean Greece (The Ahhiyawa), Babylon, and Egypt. Comparing Hittite dress with Aegean hypotheses as worked out by Bernice Jones has been helpful as well in this regard. While the women of the Ahhiyawa appear to have been comfortable with deep necklines and exposed breasts, women of Hatti did not. This possibly had to do a great deal with climate of the arid Anatolian highlands, versus modesty." 【Costello】 As far as we knowm, nothing nothing is know about children's clothing. THe Httites were impacted by disease, drought, and military defeats. The Hittites disappeared so completely during the Late Bronze Age collapse that there existence was unknown until discovered by archeologists (20th century).

Sources

Costello, Angela. "Clothing: Hittite," Anna's New Rome Website.

Created: 7:32 PM 2/11/2009
Last updated: 3:26 AM 6/6/2026