It cannot be long before the inscriptions left to us by the Hittites, in their peculiar form of hieroglyphic writing, are also made to reveal their secrets. All that is required are more materials upon which to work, and we shall then know which, if any, of the attempts hitherto made to explain them has hit the truth. Major Conder's system of decipherment has not yet obtained the adhesion of other scholars; neither has the rival system of Mr. Ball, ingenious and learned as it is. But if we may judge from the successes of the last few years, it cannot be long before we know as much about the Hittite language and writing as we now know about Hittite art and civilisation. To quote the words of Dr. Wright: 'We must labour to unloose the dumb tongue of these inscriptions, and to unlock their mysteries, not with the view of finding something sensational in them, or for the purpose of advancing some theory, but for the love of knowing what they really contain; and I doubt not that, proceeding in the right method of investigation, we shall reach results satisfactory to the Oriental scholar, and confirmatory of Divine truth.'
A. H. SAYCE. QUEEN'S COLLEGE, OXFORD. _October_ 1888.
CHAP. PAGE I. THE HITTITES OF THE BIBLE 11 II. THE HITTITES ON THE MONUMENTS OF EGYPT AND ASSYRIA 19 III. THE HITTITE MONUMENTS 54 IV. THE HITTITE EMPIRE 73 V. THE HITTITE CITIES AND RACE 97 VI. HITTITE RELIGION AND ART 104 VII. THE INSCRIPTIONS 122 VIII. HITTITE TRADE AND INDUSTRY 136
PAGE SLABS WITH HITTITE SCULPTURE AT KELLER NEAR AINTAB _Frontispiece_ MAP ILLUSTRATING THE EXTENT OF THE HITTITE EMPIRE 10 A SLAB FOUND AT MERASH 54 SLABS WITH HITTITE SCULPTURES FOUND AT KELLER NEAR AINTAB 63 THE PSEUDO-SESOSTRIS CARVED ON THE ROCK IN THE PASS OF KARABEL 67 MONUMENT OF A HITTITE KING FOUND AT CARCHEMISH 72 THE DOUBLE-HEADED EAGLE OF EYUK 84 SCULPTURES AT BOGHAZ KEUI 88 SCULPTURES AT BOGHAZ KEUI 91 AN INSCRIPTION FOUND AT CARCHEMISH (_now destroyed_) 122 THE BILINGUAL BOSS OF TARKONDEMOS 127 THE LION OF MERASH 131
[Illustration: MAP ILLUSTRATING THE EXTENT OF THE HITTITE EMPIRE. (_Copied by permission from 'The Empire of the Hittites.'_)]
We are told in the Second Book of Kings (vii. 6) that when the Syrians were encamped about Samaria and the Lord had sent a panic upon them, 'they said one to another, Lo, the king of Israel hath hired against us the kings of the Hittites, and the kings of the Egyptians, to come upon us.' Nearly forty years ago a distinguished scholar selected this passage for his criticism. Its 'unhistorical tone,' he declared, 'is too manifest to allow of our easy belief in it.' 'No Hittite kings can have compared in power with the king of Judah, the real and near ally, who is not named at all ... nor is there a single mark of acquaintance with the contemporaneous history.'