The land of the Hittites

The land of the Hittites - An account of recent explorations and discoveries in Asia Minor, with descriptions of the Hittite monuments

Since Professor Sayce and Dr. Wright first called attention, more than thirty years ago, to the forgotten empire and civilisation of the Hittites, no book has appeared to keep the English reader abreast of the further information which has since come to light upon that subject. In the meantime researches made by British and German explorers in northern Syria and Asia Minor, and the studies of numerous scholars who have applied themselves to this problem, have advanced the position so far that the Hittites are nebulous no longer, but stand revealed in the clear light of history, claiming the attention of all those interested in the story of the Bible Lands, of Asia Minor, and of early Greece. The position and character of Asia Minor lend a wide interest and charm to its past no less than its present. The present volume aims at filling the gap which has already grown too wide. It starts ab initio with a rapid survey of the Hittite lands, and an outline of their history. The Hittite monuments are then passed in review, each described separately and independently, in such a way as to be useful to any one visiting them in situ or in the museums of Constantinople and Berlin, where there are departments devoted specially to this branch of archology. The bibliography and numerous[xii] cross-references in the footnotes will, it is hoped, make the work handy to the archologist as a book of reference. The authors own theories are mostly confined to the last chapter, and an effort has been made to distinguish between facts proved or generally accepted and matters of personal opinion. The attempt to reconstruct the history of the fourteenth and thirteenth centuries B.C. from the archives recently discovered by Dr. Winckler at Boghaz-Keui is put forward tentatively, and would doubtless have been better done by a philologist. It has been found impossible to treat the subject of Hittite art and religious symbolism in general within the limited scope of this volume and its title. Some other points are best noted at the outset. One aim of the book being to interest the English reader in a fascinating but neglected subject, the bibliographical references are given in English wherever translations of foreign authors are available. Unhappily some of the masterpieces of modern scholarship, like Meyers Geschichte des Alterthums, are not yet rendered into English. The geographical names employed, even at the risk of inconsistency, are those most familiar or in common use. Thus Hamath instead of Hama, Aleppo for Haleb, Carchemish for Jerablus, Tyana for Kilisse Hissar. In regard to the term Hittite, also, the word is primarily used in reference to that class of monuments generally known as Hittite, and hence to the ancient people whose handiwork these were. The word Hatti is used in a more restricted sense, to imply[xiii] the central and at one time dominant Hittite state or states whose seat and centre of organisation was at Boghaz-Keui. But it should not be forgotten that actually the words Hittite and Hatti are interchangeable. ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 68806
Author: Garstang, John
Release Date: Aug 21, 2022
Format: eBook
Language: English
Publication Date: 1910
Publisher Country: UK