Hittites

2025-09-11

• spoke an indo-european language
• settled as farmers and herders in the lands of existing anatolian kingdoms
• were probably views backwards compared to their sophisticated neighbors
• warfare among the Hittites' neighbors gave the opportunity to rise to prominecnce
• king Hattusilis I build the capital at Hattusas
• conquest of other lands began
• Hittites participated in an attack on Babylon
• this attack ended hammurabi's dynasty
• hittites first developed iron
• much of what we know about the hittites comes from clay tablets from Hattusas
• the tablets were written in a form of cuniform.
• the Hittite empire was at its strongest until the Sea People attacked
• Hittite warriors fought the Egyptians and Rameses II to a standstill ad Kadesh
• peace followed the battle with both sides realizing that a treaty would be better tha war
• the treaty lasted around 100 years

Society

• slaves
• commoners - farmers, craftsmen, herders
• warriors - many were commoners
  • sat in an assembly that could try cases and order punishments, but could not make laws
• priests
• nobles
  • strong landowners (?) and warriors
  • frequent challengers of the king's authority
• royal family - also a noble family; members of this family held influential posts
  • nobles and the royal family frequently quarreled, and plots against the royal family were frequent

The Fall

The Sea People raided and destoryed Hittite cities. The Hittite Empire simply crumbled.

The Phoenicians

• the Phoenicians were a semetic people
• they lived in cities and towns in modern day lebanon
• famous cities include Sidon, Tyre, and Byblos
• the Phoenicians were conquered by the New Kingdom Egyptians, and then
• the Sea People
• after that, the Egyptians left Phoenicia alone
• the Phoenicians took to the sea, and established trade routes
• they spread their influence quite far
• possibly to the atlantic
• possibly to the british isles
• possibly to the red sea (before the canal) and india
• the Phoenicians founded trading posts and colonies in many places along the mediteranian
• two of the most famous colonies were Gades (modern day Cadiz), and Carthage
• Phoenician cities were briefly unified by Hiram I of Tyre
• Hiram I was a nally of Israel's Solomon
• Hebrew ships sailed with thhe Phoenicians
• Phoenician craftsmen helped build the great temple of Israel

The Fall

• Phoenician decline began when Phoenician cities started paying tribute to the Assyrians
• the Phoenicians rebelled, but were defeated and absorbed by the Assyrians

why do we remember the Phoenicians?

• seafaring skills
• extensive trade, which included the spread of iron-making technology
• the phonetic alphabet
  • greeks later added vowel symbols
  • the phonetic language implied vowels

The Assyrians

• the Assyrians were a Semetic people, whose culture followed many of the practices of other Mesopotamian peoples
• initially began expanding, but were invaded and forced to start over
• they responding a war culture
• the Assyrians recovered and began expanding again
• they conquered all of Mesopotamia, Phoenicia, Palestine
• the Assyrian king ran his empire smoothly
• efficient administration
• local leaders who agreed to cooperate with the Assyrians became tributaries
• network of spies
• used cruelty to terrorize and intimidate the conquered peoples
• the Assyrians were hated by their subjects

why do we remember the Assyrians?

• effective administration
• skilled paintings and carvings
• very cruel

The Fall

the Assyrians were defeated by the Chaldeans or the New Babylonians who allied themselves with Medes