Empire of the Hittites Was
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
EMPI E R OF THE HITTITES. LL AM T D D W WR GH . I I I , , WITH DECIPHERMENT OF HI TTI TE INS CRIPTI ONS BY PROF A. H . E . SAY LL D C , . A H I T T I T E M A P N AND C DER R E. Y L m HARLES ILSO Om ON . B C O . S C W , . , AND 21 complete S et of 1hittite finscriptions D Y MR W H RYLAND F S REV S B . S . A I E . , . SEC OND EDI TI ON. L O ND O N JAME B 2 BERNERS STREET. S NI ET C O . 1 S , 1 8 8 6 . A l i h r eserved [l r g ts . ] PREFACE TO SEC O ND EDITIO N. THE secon d edition of this book has been much delayed by the prepara tion of new plates of n r aim n Hittite sculptures and i sc iptions . My has bee t o m m ake the work as co plete as possible, without n unduly increasing its size or addi g t o its price . The t wenty - seven plates contain reproductions of sculptures r eferred to in the text, and also the latest discovered t m inscriptions accessible . O her inscriptions have co e t o H - light in ittite land , but as yet they have not r Dr H s b een copied or b ought to this country ; and . aye m me Ward, j ust returned fro the East, has given a H m um list of widely scattered ittite on ents , which await the courageous explorer. I think I may say that my object in compiling the B m H ook has been attained . The E pire of the ittites has been “ restored to its rightful position in secular ” “ th e s H s history, and cattered references to the ittite “ l in sacred history have been confirmed . The approva viii PREFA CE T0 SECOND EDI TI ON: which fav our ed my hazardous venture was not so much owing to the merits of the work as to the pre ar edn ess me p of the public to receive it, and though so w ould doubtless prefer a more systematic treatment of the subject, I think it better to adhere, in this issue, to the arrangement which accords best with the frag m H is entary character of ittite discoveries, and which likely to find most favour with the greatest number of readers . w on e The revie s of the book, with two exceptions, m m English and one A erican, have been arked by a w as generous candour and honest courtesy, for which I a not ltogether prepared . ’ Canon Taylor s review in the Br itish Quar ter ly is m m m a lu inous su mary of the whole argu ent . Canon ’ am Chur chman s Tristr s brilliant article, in the , cover u of the whole gro nd , and adds a graphic account his r H t own explo ation of the ittite coun ry, and his m n situ personal inspection of the Hittite monu ents i . r m an n eau t o M . Cla e ont G introduced the book r Jour n al O ciel French readers , by a pape in the fi , marked by his rare and exhaustive scholarship . Athen eeam Academ Satur da Review Stan dar d The , y, y , , ’ l r a h t Jam Te e S . es s Gazette g p , , and the other leading papers of the secular press, discussed the subject with i a as intell gence and f vour, and such Church papers DI TI i x PREFA CE TO S EC OND E ON . h Guar dian an d Recor d t e on the one hand , and the Tablet r on the othe , dealt with the question in hi m a thorough and scholarly fas on . All ad it the i m m chief po nts of y thesis , though so e criticise details . Exception has been taken to the title of the book , as if I had in view a compact homogeneous race ruled m — in f m over by an E peror f act , so ething like the late m r n o l m i French E pi e . The title lays c ai to scient fic s m m m m the preci ion . By E pire, I si ply ean Do inion, m S one eaning given to the word by keat, and perhaps the best example at the present time is the Turkish m m m E pire, a Do inion including any diverse and hetero en eous i m r g peoples , but with a vo ce at the seat of e pi e strong enough to summon war r iors or allies from m In t re ote and slightly attached provinces . the tex my meanin g is sufficiently clear when I speak of the H mm at King of the ittites having under his co and , e Megiddo and Kad sh , the surrounding people , either lli as subj ects or as a es. Masper o and Schrader have been quoted by a few i n favour of the theor y that there w as a Hittite people r H in the no th , and also a tribe of ittites in the south , r . but that they had no connection with each othe . M H Ed . Meyer goes so far as to state that the name ittite w as erroneously applied by the Hebr ew s to a Canaanite P REFA CE TO SECOND EDI TI OJV. 1 O w r m tribe . But these pinions e e enunciated before y B s ook appeared, and even Wilkinson who follow 2 ” Maspero in the theory of the t w o distin ct tribes r m declares they both fought in ca s , and used the sa e weapons , and we even find they lived together and m ” garrisoned the sa e towns . ‘ Any one acquainted with history will admit that the dominant Hittites of the north who pushed the Assy the m rians in east, ight have sent out an enterprising colony Egyptw ar d as far south as Hebron ; and when see t he m m fi ht we two peoples bearing the sa e na e, g r t r m ing in g eat bat les unde the same leaders , arshalled m m m r m in the sa e anner, using the sa e a s, and guarding m ow s r the sa e t n , the conviction is i resistible that they r m we e the sa e people, and this conclusion shatters the theory that the Pentateuch is a post - exilic fabrication woven and pieced together fr om the floating traditions r of Babylonia. The sto y of the Hittite occupation of Hebron fits in with the cont emporary history of Egypt an d r t n Assy ia , and was not likely to have been wri te at a late per iod when the events r eferred to had faded out of histor y . It has been pointed out that the Hittite name in late Assyrian inscriptions shifted west as far as Philistia ; 1 “ it r if T e s t A. i f i ssen s a t . 1 25 . 1 88 1 Z ch . W ch , . 2 3 “ Hi st i re An i en n 2 e . 1 9 . An ien t E tian s i o c , p . 258 . c gyp , EK A E T ED T x i EF C O SECOND ] OZV. but we have a parallel to this in Our ow n day when the ” n ame Frank is applied in Syria to Englishmen and m A ericans as well as to the French . An attempt has been made to use the variations in the spelling of the w ord for Hittite as an argument a gainst the oneness of the people . But this is to be e E xplained by the fact that the Assyrians, like the gyp ow n m m tians , and like people in our day, ade istakes in spelling . Any one who looks at Whitehouse ’s admirable trans ’ lation of Schrader s book on The Cuneiform In scr ip m ” h m tions and the Old Testa ent, will see t at al ost e very proper name was spelled by the Assyrians in ff r . H m di e ent ways a ath is spelled in a variety of ways , closely r esembling the var ious ways in which the word H m for ittite is spelled . Da ascus is spelled in several r m m In a e e . ways, and so ost other na s fact, the ’ Queen s Inspector Was not at the elbow of the Assyr ian s r ib c e . ’ r s 1 11 My eference to Dr . Cheyne s article the Ency ” clopaedia Britan nica led to a correspondence in the ” Academ Dr . n m y . Chey e being the most e inent m n I leader of a school of criticis in E gland, have r III . rep oduced the correspondence in Appendix , pp . 206 — 21 7 . As my book was just leaving the pr ess a happy xii PREFACE TO SECOND EDI TI ON circumstance brought me into fr iendly correspondence m n it . n w h Dr Chey e, and at y suggestio he has written i m for publication the follow ng note, which ore clearly defines his attitude to the Hittites of Genesis than anythi ng in the corr espondence I wish to express my deep respect for the labours by which Dr .