Difference between revisions of "Hittites"

== Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible <ref name="term_51703" /> ==

<p> <strong> HITTITES </strong> . A people said in the J [Note: Jahwist.] document (&nbsp; Exodus 3:8; &nbsp; Exodus 3:17 ) to have been one of the pre-Israelitish occupants of Palestine. The E [Note: Elohist.] document says they lived in the mountains (&nbsp; Numbers 13:29 ). They are often included by D [Note: Deuteronomist.] and his followers among the early inhabitants of the land, while P [Note: Priestly Narrative.] tells us (&nbsp; [[Genesis]] 23:1-20 ) that [[Abraham]] bought from a Hittite the cave of [[Machpelah]] at Hebron. They are probably the people known in [[Egyptian]] inscriptions as <em> Kheta </em> , in [[Assyrian]] annals as <em> Khatti </em> , and in [[Homer]] ( <em> [[Od]] </em> . xi. 521) as <em> Kçteioi </em> . </p> <p> It is supposed that the carved figures found in many parts of Asia Minor, having a peculiar type of high hat and shoes which turn up at the toe, and containing hieroglyphs of a distinct type which are as yet undeciphered, are Hittite monuments. Assuming that this is correct, the principal <em> habitat </em> of the [[Hittites]] was Asia Minor, for these monuments are found from Karabel, a pass near Smyrna, to Erzerum, and from the so-called [[Niobe]] (originally a Hittite goddess), near Magnesia, to Jerabis, the ancient Carchemish, on the Euphrates. They have also been found at Zenjirli and [[Hamath]] in northern Syria (cf. Messerschmidt’s ‘Corp. Inscript. Hett.’ in <em> Mitteilungen der Vorderas. Gesell </em> . vol. v.; and Sayce, <em> PSBA </em> <em> [Note: SBA Proceedings of Soc. of Bibl. Archeology.] </em> vol. xxviii. 91 95). It appears from these monuments that at Boghazkui east of the Halys, at Marash, and at various points in ancient Galatia, Lycaonia, Isauria, and [[Cilicia]] the Hittites were especially strong. It is probable that their civilization was developed in Asia Minor, and that they afterwards pushed southward into northern Syria, invading a region as far eastward as the Euphrates. </p> <p> This is confirmed by what we know of them from the inscriptions of other nations. Our earliest mention of them occurs in the annals of Thothmes iii. of Egypt (about b.c. 1500), to whom they paid tribute (cf. Breasted’s <em> [[Ancient]] [[Records]] of Egypt </em> , ii. 213). </p> <p> In the reign of Amenophis iii. (about b.c. 1400) they attempted unsuccessfully to invade the land of Mittani on the Euphrates, and successfully planted themselves on the [[Orontes]] valley in Syria (cf. <em> KIB </em> <em> [Note: IB Keilinschriftliche Bibliothek.] </em> v. 33, and 255, 257). In the reign of Amenophis iv. they made much greater advances, as the el-Amarna letters show. In the next dynasty Seti i. fought a battle with the Hittites between the ranges of the Lehanon (Breasted, <em> op cit </em> . iii. 71). In the reign of [[Rameses]] ii. [[Kadesh]] on the Orontes was in their hands. Rameses fought a great battle with them there, and afterwards made a treaty of peace with them (Breasted, <em> op. cit. </em> iii. 125 ff., 165 ff.). Meren-Ptah and Rameses iii. had skirmishes with them, the latter as late as b.c. 1200. From the similarity of his name to the names of Hittite kings, Moore has conjectured ( <em> JAOS </em> <em> [Note: AOS Journ. of the Amer. Oriental Society.] </em> xix. 159, 160) that [[Sisera]] (&nbsp; Judges 5:1-31 ) was a Hittite. If so, in the time of [[Deborah]] (about b.c. 1150) a Hittite dynasty invaded northern Palestine. </p> <p> About b.c. 1100 Tiglath-pileser i. of [[Assyria]] fought with Hittites ( <em> KIB </em> <em> [Note: IB Keilinschriftliche Bibliothek.] </em> i. 23). In David’s reign individual Hittites such as [[Ahimelech]] and [[Uriah]] were in [[Israel]] (&nbsp; 1 Samuel 26:6 , &nbsp; 2 Samuel 11:3 etc.). Kings of the Hittites are said to have been contemporary with [[Solomon]] (&nbsp; 1 Kings 10:29; &nbsp; 1 Kings 11:1 ), also a century later contemporary with [[Joram]] of Israel (&nbsp; 2 Kings 7:6 ). In the 9th cent. the Assyrian kings Ashurnazir-pal ( <em> KIB </em> <em> [Note: IB Keilinschriftliche Bibliothek.] </em> i. 105) and [[Shalmaneser]] ii. ( <em> ib. </em> p. 139) fought with Hittites, as did Tiglath-pileser iii. ( <em> ib. </em> ii. 29), in the next century, while [[Sargon]] ii. in 717 ( <em> ib. </em> ii. 43; &nbsp; Isaiah 10:9 ) destroyed the kingdom of Carchemish, the last of the Hittite kingdoms of which we have definite record. The researches of recent years, especially those of Jensen and Breasted, make it probable that the Cilicians were a Hittite people, and that Syennesis, king of Cilicia, mentioned in Xenopbon’s <em> Anabasis </em> as a vassal king of [[Persia]] about b.c. 400, was a Hittite. Possibly the people of Lycaonia, whose language Paul and [[Barnabas]] did not understand (&nbsp; Acts 14:11 ), spoke a dialect of Hittite. </p> <p> The Hittites accordingly played an important part in history from b.c. 1500 to b.c. 700, and lingered on in many quarters much longer. It is probable that a Hittite kingdom in [[Sardis]] preceded the [[Lydian]] kingdom there (cf. Herod, i. 7). The Lydian Cyhele and [[Artemis]] of [[Ephesus]] were probably originally Hittite divinities. </p> <p> Jensen, who has made a little progress in deciphering the Hittite inscriptions, believes them to be an Aryan people, the ancestors of the [[Armenians]] (cf. his <em> Hittiter und Armenier </em> ), but this is very doubtful. </p> <p> Politically the Hittites were not, so far as we know, united. They seem to have formed small city-kingdoms. </p> <p> The religion of the Hittites seems to have had some features in common with Semitic religion (cf. Barton, <em> Semitic Origins </em> , pp. 311 316). </p> <p> [[George]] A. Barton. </p>

== Easton's Bible Dictionary <ref name="term_31722" /> ==

<li> the Hittites, who were the warlike element of this confederation of tribes. They inhabited the whole region between the [[Euphrates]] and Damascus, their chief cities being [[Carchemish]] on the Euphrates, and Kadesh, now Tell Neby Mendeh, in the Orontes valley, about six miles south of the Lake of Homs. These Hittites seem to have risen to great power as a nation, as for a long time they were formidable rivals of the Egyptian and Assyrian empires. In the book of Joshua they always appear as the dominant race to the north of Galilee. <p> [[Somewhere]] about the twenty-third century B.C. the [[Syrian]] confederation, led probably by the Hittites, arched against Lower Egypt, which they took possession of, making [[Zoan]] their capital. Their rulers were the Hyksos, or shepherd kings. They were at length finally driven out of Egypt. Rameses II. sought vengeance against the "vile Kheta," as he called them, and encountered and defeated them in the great battle of Kadesh, four centuries after Abraham. (See [[Joshua]] .) </p> <p> They are first referred to in [[Scripture]] in the history of Abraham, who bought from [[Ephron]] the Hittite the field and the cave of Machpelah (&nbsp;Genesis 15:20 : &nbsp;23:3-18 ). They were then settled at Kirjath-arba. From this tribe [[Esau]] took his first two wives (26:34; 36:2). </p> <p> They are afterwards mentioned in the usual way among the inhabitants of the [[Promised]] Land (&nbsp;Exodus 23:28 ). They were closely allied to the Amorites, and are frequently mentioned along with them as inhabiting the mountains of Palestine. When the spies entered the land they seem to have occupied with the [[Amorites]] the mountain region of Judah (&nbsp;Numbers 13:29 ). They took part with the other [[Canaanites]] against the [[Israelites]] (&nbsp;Joshua 9:1; &nbsp;11:3 ). </p> <p> After this there are few references to them in Scripture. [[Mention]] is made of "Ahimelech the Hittite" (&nbsp;1 Samuel 26:6 ), and of "Uriah the Hittite," one of David's chief officers (&nbsp;2 Samuel 23:39; &nbsp;1 Chronicles 11:41 ). In the days of Solomon they were a powerful confederation in the north of Syria, and were ruled by "kings." They are met with after the [[Exile]] still a distinct people (&nbsp;Ezra 9:1; Compare &nbsp;Nehemiah 13:23-28 ). </p> <p> The [[Hebrew]] merchants exported horses from Egypt not only for the kings of Israel, but also for the Hittites (&nbsp;1 Kings 10:28,29 ). From the Egyptian monuments we learn that "the Hittites were a people with yellow skins and 'Mongoloid' features, whose receding foreheads, oblique eyes, and protruding upper jaws are represented as faithfully on their own monuments as they are on those of Egypt, so that we cannot accuse the Egyptian artists of caricaturing their enemies. The Amorites, on the contrary, were a tall and handsome people. They are depicted with white skins, blue eyes, and reddish hair, all the characteristics, in fact, of the white race" (Sayce's The Hittites). The original seat of the Hittite tribes was the mountain ranges of Taurus. They belonged to Asia Minor, and not to Syria. </p> <div> <p> '''Copyright Statement''' These dictionary topics are from M.G. Easton [[M.A., DD]]  Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Third Edition, published by [[Thomas]] Nelson, 1897. Public Domain. </p> <p> '''Bibliography Information''' Easton, Matthew George. Entry for 'Hittites'. Easton's Bible Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/ebd/h/hittites.html. 1897. </p> </div> </li>

== People's Dictionary of the Bible <ref name="term_70217" /> ==

<p> [[Hittites]] ( ''Hĭt'Tîtes'' ), The tribe or nation descended from Heth, the son of Canaan. &nbsp;Genesis 10:15; &nbsp;1 Chronicles 1:13. They were inhabitants of [[Canaan]] in the time of Abraham. &nbsp;Genesis 15:20. They then occupied the southern part of the land, as Hebron, &nbsp;Genesis 23:3-18, extending towards Beersheba; since Esau married Hittite wives, and Isaac and [[Rebekah]] feared that Jacob might follow his example. &nbsp;Genesis 26:34; &nbsp;Genesis 27:46; &nbsp;Genesis 28:9. Hittites evidently, therefore, were in the neighborhood: they were subsequently in the mountainous region near the Amorites and Jebusites, &nbsp;Numbers 13:29; &nbsp;Joshua 11:3; and were perhaps some of the original inhabitants of Jerusalem, &nbsp;Ezekiel 16:3; &nbsp;Ezekiel 16:45, as well as in the neighborhood of Bethel. &nbsp;Judges 1:22-26. Indeed, they had spread so extensively, that Canaan, or at least the northern part of it, was called the "land of the Hittites." &nbsp;Joshua 1:4. Some suppose them to have been a commercial people. &nbsp;Genesis 23:16. In subsequent times we find two of David's warriors Hittites, Abimelech, &nbsp;1 Samuel 26:6, and Uriah, &nbsp;2 Samuel 11:3. Solomon rendered those that yet remained in [[Palestine]] tributary, &nbsp;1 Kings 9:20; and they are mentioned after the captivity. &nbsp;Ezra 9:1. But there are some remarkable notices of Hittites, &nbsp;Judges 1:26; &nbsp;1 Kings 10:29; &nbsp;2 Kings 7:6; &nbsp;2 Chronicles 1:17, which point to a people, a branch of the great family, or the descendants of those expelled from Palestine, who were settled independently beyond Lebanon, and it may be on the southeastern frontier towards Arabia. And Egyptian annals speak of a war with Hittites; and Egyptian pictures axe believed to represent Hittites. These representations may be taken not unfairly to figure the old Hittites of Canaan. We are learning much of the Hittites from recent explorations, but their inscriptions lately discovered have not been certainly deciphered nor their records indisputably determined. </p>

<p> Descended from [[Cheth]] or Heth, second son of Canaan. (See [[Heth]] .) A peaceable and commercial people when first brought before us at [[Kirjath]] [[Arba]] or [[Hebron]] (&nbsp;Genesis 23:19; &nbsp;Genesis 25:9). Their courteous dignity of bearing towards Abraham is conspicuous throughout. As he took the Amorites as his allies in warfare, so he sought: from the Hittites a tomb. The Amalekites' advance necessitated their withdrawal to the mountains (&nbsp;Numbers 13:29). In Joshua (&nbsp;Joshua 1:4; &nbsp;Joshua 9:1; &nbsp;Joshua 11:3-4; &nbsp;Joshua 12:8) they appear as the principal power occupying upper Syria, between Palestine and the Euphrates. The Egyptian monuments represent them (Sheta) as forming a confederacy of chiefs, Egypt's opponents in the valley of the Orontes, during the 19th and 20th dynasties of Manetho, including Joshua's time. Sethos I took their capital Ketesh near Emesa, 1340 B.C. </p> <p> Two or three centuries later the Assyrian inscription of Tiglath Pileser (1125 B.C.) mentions them. As the [[Philistines]] appear in Joshua (&nbsp;Joshua 13:3; &nbsp;Judges 3:3) predominant in S. Canaan toward Egypt, so the Hittites in the N. Their military power is represented in Joshua as consisting in chariots (&nbsp;1 Kings 10:29; &nbsp;2 Kings 7:6). A hieroglyphic inscription of Rameses II mentions Astert (Ashtoreth) as their god. Uriah, the unsuspicious, self-denying patriot, whom David so wronged though of his own bodyguard "the thirty," was a Hittite, and showed the chivalrous bearing which Ephron the Hittite and his people had showed of old. </p> <p> The names of Hittites mentioned in Scripture, Adah, Ahimelech, etc., seem akin to Hebrew. (See [[Hebrew]] .) G. Smith has just discovered their capital lying about half way between the mighty cities of the Euphrates valley and those of the Nile. Their art forms the connecting link between Egyptian and Assyrian art. The name of their capital is identical with that of the Etruscans. This implies a connection of the Hittites with that people. </p>

== Bridgeway Bible Dictionary <ref name="term_18682" /> ==

<p> The Middle Eastern political power known as the Hittite [[Empire]] lasted from about 1800 to 1200 BC. It extended from northern Palestine across Syria and into Asia Minor. Tidal, king of Goiim, was possibly a Hittite king of the era before the Empire was fully established (&nbsp;Genesis 14:1). </p> <p> Even after the Empire had collapsed, Syria was still sometimes referred to as the land of the Hittites. Likewise the people of various states and cities in Syria still called themselves Hittites (&nbsp;Joshua 1:4; &nbsp;2 Samuel 24:6; &nbsp;1 Kings 10:29; &nbsp;1 Kings 11:1; &nbsp;2 Kings 7:6). </p> <p> However, the Hittites most often mentioned in the Bible are not those of the ancient Hittite Empire in the north, but those of smaller tribal groups in Canaan. They were probably the descendants of migrants from earlier Hittite kingdoms, and formed one of the many tribal groups that occupied Canaan before the conquering Israelites drove them out (&nbsp;Genesis 15:20; &nbsp;Exodus 3:8; &nbsp;Exodus 23:28; &nbsp;Deuteronomy 7:1; &nbsp;Joshua 3:10; &nbsp;Ezra 9:1). </p> <p> The main area where the Hittites of Canaan lived was the central mountain region. This included the towns of Bethel, Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Hebron and [[Beersheba]] (&nbsp;Genesis 23:2-16; &nbsp;Genesis 26:34; &nbsp;Judges 1:23; &nbsp;Judges 1:26; &nbsp;2 Samuel 23:39; &nbsp;Ezekiel 16:3). The Hittites were among the many [[Canaanite]] groups whom Solomon used as slaves in his building programs (&nbsp;1 Kings 9:20-21). Eventually they were absorbed into the Israelites and so ceased to be a distinct racial group. </p>

<p> The descendants of Heth, a son of Canaan, and hence descendants of Ham: a numerous race who inhabited Palestine. In God's covenant with Abraham their territory was to be possessed by his descendants. &nbsp;Genesis 15:20 . On the death of Sarah, Abraham bought the field and cave of Machpelah from the Hittites. His intercourse and contract with them show that they were a civilised race, used to commercial transactions. &nbsp;Genesis 23:3-20 . This was near or at Hebron in the south of Palestine, whereas other passages speak of them in the north, between the [[Lebanon]] and the Euphrates, which was probably where they originally settled, &nbsp;Joshua 1:4; and there are intimations that they continued a powerful and warlike race after Palestine was possessed by Israel. &nbsp;1 Kings 10:29; &nbsp;2 Kings 7:6 . Ahimelech and Uriah, eminent men in the time of David, were Hittites. &nbsp;1 Samuel 26:6; &nbsp;2 Samuel 23:39 . </p> <p> In various parts of Palestine and Syria monuments have been found of the Hittites, and in Egypt there are records of a long defensive treaty that was made between the [[Egyptians]] and the Hittites, showing that the latter were an important race. The Tell Amarna tablets show that they seized upon [[Damascus]] then held by Egypt. Letter after letter urged Egypt to come to the rescue. Their features even are now well understood on the monuments, being described as a people with yellow skins and 'mongoloid ' features, receding foreheads, oblique eyes, and protruding upper jaws. </p>

== American Tract Society Bible Dictionary <ref name="term_16225" /> ==

<p> Descendants of Heth, &nbsp;Genesis 10:15 , a Canaanite tribe dwelling near Hebron in the time of Abraham, &nbsp;Genesis 15:20,21 , and subdued in the [[Israelitish]] invasion, &nbsp;Exodus 3:8 &nbsp; Joshua 3:10 . They were not, however, exterminated: Uriah was a Hittite, &nbsp;2 Samuel 11:3; Solomon used their services, &nbsp;1 Kings 10:29 &nbsp; 2 Kings 7:6; and they were not lost as a people until after the Jews' return from captivity, &nbsp;Ezra 9:1 . See Canaanites . </p>

<p> the descendants of Heth, &nbsp;Genesis 15:20 . </p>

<p> Hit´tites or children of Heth, one of the tribes of Canaanites which occupied Palestine before the Israelites (;; ). They lived in and about Hebron; and Abraham, when he abode in that neighborhood, was treated by them with respect and consideration . This intimacy led to Esau's marriage with two women of this nation, to the grief and annoyance of his parents . The Hittites are described in , along with the Amorites, as 'dwelling in the mountains,' that is, in what were afterwards called 'the mountains of Judah,' of which Hebron was the chief town. Uriah, who had the high honor of being one of David's thirty 'worthies,' is called a Hittite (;; ). He was, doubtless, a proselyte, and probably descended from several generations of proselytes; but the fact shows that [[Canaanitish]] blood was in itself no bar to advancement in the court and army of David. Solomon subjected the remaining Hittites to the same tribute of bond-service as the other remnants of the Canaanite nations . Of all these the Hittites appear to have been the most important, and to have been under a king of their own: for 'the kings of the Hittites' are, in , coupled with the kings of Syria as purchasers of the chariots which Solomon imported from Egypt. The Hittites were still present in Palestine as a distinct people after the Exile, and are named among the alien tribes with whom the returned Israelites contracted those marriages which Ezra urged, and Nehemiah compelled, them to dissolve (, etc.; comp. ). After this we hear no more of the Hittites, who probably lost their national identity by intermixture with the neighboring tribes or nations. </p>

<p> One of the original tribes of Canaan, and one of the most powerful, whose dominion extended at one time as far as the border of Egypt on the one hand, and [[Mesopotamia]] on the other, and northward beyond the [[Taurus]] Mountains, traces of which have been discovered over all Asia Minor, while they were strong enough to engage in war with the Egyptians; they had two capitals, Kadesh on the Orontes, and Carchemish on the Euphrates. </p>

<p> All that is known concerning this important Canaanitish people, whose history is often referred to on' the Egyptian and Assyrian monuments under the name Kheta, has been collected by Wright, Empire of the Hittites (Lond. 1884, 8vo). </p>

<ref name="term_51703"> [https://bibleportal.com/dictionary/hastings-dictionary-of-the-bible/hittites Hittites from Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible]</ref>

<ref name="term_31722"> [https://bibleportal.com/dictionary/easton-s-bible-dictionary/hittites Hittites from Easton's Bible Dictionary]</ref>

<ref name="term_70217"> [https://bibleportal.com/dictionary/people-s-dictionary-of-the-bible/hittites Hittites from People's Dictionary of the Bible]</ref>

<ref name="term_18682"> [https://bibleportal.com/dictionary/bridgeway-bible-dictionary/hittites Hittites from Bridgeway Bible Dictionary]</ref>

<ref name="term_16225"> [https://bibleportal.com/dictionary/american-tract-society-bible-dictionary/hittites Hittites from American Tract Society Bible Dictionary]</ref>