1,000 years before the golden age of Greece, Hittites ruled Asia Minor and the northern Levant. In 1595 BCE they sacked Babylon. In 1274 BCE they routed the armies of Ramases II, mightiest pharaoh in Egypt's history. They perfected chariot warfare, fielding 40,000 men and 3,500 chariots, 900 miles from home.
Theirs is the oldest known writing in an Indo-European language.
They built with stone blocks of up to 40 tons: 3500 years later, a piece of paper still can't be slipped between the blocks. Their capital Hatusha (Bogazkoy) rivaled Babylon or Thebes: far larger than ancient Athens or Troy, it boasted plumbing, sewers, fountains.
Their myths are repeated by Hesiod and Homer; their storm god became the Greeks' Zeus. They were masters of diplomacy and personal contact in international relations. Their scribes maintained archives for centuries--which the rulers read, knowing the roots of the present are in the past.
They instituted a system of justice based on compensation rather than retribution.
The movie is an eye-opening view of a little-known chapter in human civilization. The records left by the Hittites, and deciphered by 20th-century archaeologists, tell the personalities of the rulers, the religious attitudes, the physical, military, and social environment, of a lost but important civilization.
Theirs is the oldest known writing in an Indo-European language.
They built with stone blocks of up to 40 tons: 3500 years later, a piece of paper still can't be slipped between the blocks. Their capital Hatusha (Bogazkoy) rivaled Babylon or Thebes: far larger than ancient Athens or Troy, it boasted plumbing, sewers, fountains.
Their myths are repeated by Hesiod and Homer; their storm god became the Greeks' Zeus. They were masters of diplomacy and personal contact in international relations. Their scribes maintained archives for centuries--which the rulers read, knowing the roots of the present are in the past.
They instituted a system of justice based on compensation rather than retribution.
The movie is an eye-opening view of a little-known chapter in human civilization. The records left by the Hittites, and deciphered by 20th-century archaeologists, tell the personalities of the rulers, the religious attitudes, the physical, military, and social environment, of a lost but important civilization.