Hittite Empire
The Hittite kingdom of Hatti in Anatolia (c. 1650-1180 BCE): its capital Hattusa, its rivalry with Egypt, Mitanni and Assyria, and its end around 1190 BCE.
Category: States
- c. 1650 BCEHattusili I makes Hattusa the Hittite capital
Around 1650 BCE the Hittite king Labarna, taking the name Hattusili I, makes Hattusa his capital and campaigns in northern Syria. The article credits the kingdom's founding to either Labarna I or Hattusili I.
- c. 1595 BCEMursili I sacks Babylon
In 1595 BCE (1587 on another chronology) the Hittite king Mursili I sacks Aleppo and Babylon. The Kassites are left to rule Babylonia for some four centuries. Mursili is then murdered by Hantili I, and the Hittite kingdom falls into chaos.
- c. 1400 BCEHittite texts name Wilusa
From c. 1400 BCE, when it joins the Assuwa confederation, to a letter of Tudhaliya IV, Hittite records name a western Anatolian state, Wilusa. It is generally identified with Troy, though not all scholars see that as settled. The texts do not describe a Greek attack on it.
- c. 1350 BCESuppiluliuma I makes Hatti a great power
Suppiluliuma I, whose reign is dated c. 1350-1322 BCE with variations, overruns Mitanni's heartland, takes Aleppo and other Syrian kingdoms, and installs Piyassili at Carchemish. Mitanni stays a Hittite dependency until Assyria annexes it under Shalmaneser I.
- c. 1350 BCEUgarit becomes a Hittite vassal
Under Niqmaddu II (c. 1350-1315 BCE) Ugarit, a coastal kingdom in northern Syria, becomes a vassal of the Hittite Empire and answers to its viceroy at Carchemish. Its archives show a busy trading city whose navy later helps Hatti on Cyprus.
- c. 1334 BCEAn Egyptian queen asks Hatti for a prince
The widow of an Egyptian king called NipαΈ«ururia, probably Tutankhamun or Akhenaten, asks Suppiluliuma I for a son to marry. His son Zannanza is killed on the road. Later Hittite prayers link a plague among Egyptian captives to the affair.
- May 1274 BCEThe Battle of Kadesh
In May 1274 BCE, on the usual chronology, Ramesses II and Muwatalli II fight near Kadesh on the Orontes. Ramesses proclaims a rout of his enemies, while Hittite records say he was forced to withdraw. Modern historians generally see a draw.
- 1258 BCEEgypt and Hatti sign a peace treaty
In Ramesses II's 21st year (c. 1258 BCE), about fifteen years after Kadesh, Egypt and Hattusili III's Hatti agree a treaty, one of the oldest to survive nearly complete. It was inscribed on a silver tablet; a clay copy found at Hattusa is now in Istanbul.
- c. 1243 BCETukulti-Ninurta I of Assyria takes Babylon
Tukulti-Ninurta I (reigned 1243-1207 BCE, or 1233-1197 on the low chronology) wins a major victory over the Hittites at Nihriya and captures Babylon, carrying off the Kassite king Kashtiliash IV and the statue of Marduk. His sons later besiege and kill him at Kar-Tukulti-Ninurta.
- c. 1230 BCEThe Hittites briefly annex Cyprus
Under Tudhaliya IV (c. 1245-1215 BCE, with other reign dates given) the Hittites invade and temporarily annex Cyprus, then called Alashiya, with help from the navy of Ugarit. The occupation does not last.
- c. 1207 BCESuppiluliuma II fights at sea off Cyprus
The last known Hittite king, Suppiluliuma II (reigned from c. 1207 or 1210 BCE), wins a naval battle off Cyprus and is credited with reconquering the island around 1200. Ammurapi of Ugarit is his contemporary.
- c. 1190 BCEHattusa is abandoned
The Hittite capital is gradually abandoned over several decades from about 1190 BCE. Fire damage probably came after it was empty. Farmers settled in the ruins in the twelfth century, and some people stayed until the 10th. The causes are disputed.
- c. 1187 BCEEmar is destroyed
Emar, a Hittite-ruled town on the Euphrates, is destroyed in 1187 BCE by one dating (the second year of Meli-Shipak II of Babylon), though the siege is hard to date. A text mentions a siege by Tarwi in a "year of distress" (famine). About 1,100 of its tablets are known.