#hittite

[memories-of-ancients]

Silver rhyton in the form of a bull, Hittite, 14th-13th century BC

from The Metropolitan Museum of Art

[whencyclopedia]

When Bronze Age Worlds Fell

For centuries, the eastern Mediterranean was a busy world of kings, traders, and scribes.[2] Then, between about 1250 and 1150 BCE, cities burned, trade networks snapped, and some writing systems vanished.[7] Scholars still debate the cause, but earthquakes, drought, rebellions, invasions, and the collapse of trade likely all played a role.[7][8]

Key Facts

Time period: The collapse hit the Mediterranean in the 13th–12th centuries BCE, especially c. 1250–1150 BCE.[7]

What happened: Major cities were destroyed, whole civilizations fell, and diplomacy and trade broke apart.[7]

Possible causes: Earthquakes, climate-driven drought and famine, internal rebellion, invasions by the Sea Peoples, and trade-system failure.[7][8]

Aftermath: The region entered an Iron Age in which iron replaced bronze, and later scholars have argued this period was not as “dark” as once believed.[1][7]

Big picture: The late Bronze Age was a connected international system linking Egyptians, Mycenaeans, Hittites, Assyrians, and others.[2]

Historical Context

The Bronze Age lasted roughly from 3300 to 1200 BCE and is remembered for major advances in culture, language, technology, religion, art, architecture, politics, warfare, and trade.[1] By the late Bronze Age, the Mediterranean had become a tightly linked world of several major powers.[2]

Historical Significance

The collapse ended one era and helped usher in another, reshaping the ancient Mediterranean for centuries.[1][7] It also shows how climate stress, conflict, and broken trade can combine to bring down complex societies.[7][8]

Learn More: Bronze Age Collapse

[along-the-silkroad]

A Hittite god (?), Karchemish, Syria, Neo-Hititite, 9th century BCE. Ankara's Museum of Anatolian Civilizations (ID: 3095)

[baebeylik]

Drinking vessel in the shape of a fist. Anatolian, Hittite, New Kingdom, reign of Tudhaliya III 1450–1300 BCE.

Museum of Fine Arts Boston.

[ea-nasir-my-beloved]

A Hittite cuneiform tablet declaring the first surviving recorded peace treaty in history between Ramesses II and Ḫattušili III respectivly rulers of the New Kingdom of Egypt and the empire of the Hittites. The tablet is written in the Hittite language and their cuneiform.

This is one of three known relics of the treaty. Also known as The Treaty of Kadesh.

Circa 1259 BC

The tabelt is displayed at the Museum of the Ancient Orient in Turkey

[kabishkat19]

Death Gala Guest List

Lelwani Deity if the Underworld

(Hittite Mythology)

[bronzeageecho]

vessel terminating in the forepart of a stag | c. 14th-13th century BCE | hittite

in the met museum collection

[chimeride]

Illuyanka, the 248th Known One.