The civilisations of Europe emerged from one island, the island of Crete. The Hittite civilisation emerged from this island. This civilisation does not belong to the well-known classical civilisations such as Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Indus Valley or Hovanho.
This is a minor civilisation. The Hittite civilisation was the pioneer in building connections between the Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilisations in the Aegean region.
Mediators
In other words, they were the mediators in the earlier bilateral relations. Even though it was a small civilisation, it has a special value in history.
Although early people knew about the Hittite civilisation, it was not considered a very important civilisation. Therefore, people were not interested in looking into it. In 1870, archaeologists became interested in the Hittite civilisation due to the discovery of granite tablets in Hama, Syria.
Clay tablets
In 1907, they found an ancient city during an excavation in a village called Bigas Koi in Turkey. Repeated excavations revealed a fortified city with 20,000 clay tablets. This changed the opinions about the Hittite civilisation in the earlier stages.
Where the Hittites came from is still an unsolved problem. The peak of their power is considered to be from 1600 B.C to 1200 BC. The period between 1600 - 1500 BC is known as the old Hittite Kingdom, while the period from 1500 – 1180 BC is known as the New Hittite Kingdom. At the end of this period, the Hittites were at war with Egypt. During this time, the civilisation collapsed in such a way that it could not rise again. However, after 1200 century BC, the Hittite city of Carchemish near the Euphrates and Tigris river valleys began to grow as a commercial city. After 717 BC, the Hittite cities that existed until then were taken over by neighbouring civilisations.
The facts uncovered during excavations reveal that the Hittites had extensive knowledge about agriculture. They operated silver and copper mines on a large scale and sold them to neighbouring states. Iron ore deposits were also discovered in this vicinity. It is said that iron production was carried out at a high level in the civilisation.
Economy
The Hittites had extensive knowledge of metal mining and production, and compared to other civilisations, they had unequaled abilities in this regard. Trade played an important role in the economy of the Hittites.
The Hittite civilisation is unique because of its legal system. Hittite law was not as inhumane as that of the surrounding civilisations of the time. To maintain their power at the time, the rulers of Nineveh carried out punishments such as flaying people, cutting off the testicles of men, and impaling them. History does not mention that the Hittites used such inhuman methods of punishment. Hittite law is also somewhat similar to the laws mentioned in the Old Testament of the Bible.
The Hittites only imposed the death penalty for eight offences. Among them, theft of royal palace property and witchcraft are the main ones. Hittite territories were under strict Government control.
King
Clay tablets revealed that there was a developed urban society there. The king owned all the lands in the kingdom. Those lands were given to army personnel because of their military service. They were given lands under the condition that they must cultivate them. A price was fixed for every commodity in the State. Prices were fixed not only for industrial goods, but also for food and clothing.
When compared with contemporary civilisations, the works of Hittites do not have many artistic features. As currently recognised, they had only sculpture and architecture-related work. The buildings of the Hittites, constructed using mostly human labour, were quite large.
Buildings
The buildings are also simple without much decoration.
On either side of the entrance of every important building, two figures are found on stone gates with lion carvings. Their sculptures are also somewhat rough. They depicted war and mythological scenes.
Little is known about the religion of the Hittites. They believe in a large number of gods mentioned in myths. The Hittites seem to have had a religious pattern inspired by the Mesopotamian civilisation. They did not believe in the special powers of the gods, but worshiped them. This is a unique point. After the war victories, the Hittites also included the gods believed by those who were defeated into their pantheon. The three basic characteristics of Hittite religion were god worship, sacrifice and purification.