Saturday, May 7, 2022

Ancient Hittite Origins Discovered

 Nadene Goldfoot                                         

As mentioned in  our Torah, one of the enemies of the Jews who entered Canaan were the Hittites We knew that they were people inhabiting Asia Minor, which meant Anatolia,  and that from the 15th century BCE, their power extended southward to Syria.  Jews were living in Anatolia, which meant the peninsula in SW Asia, before it passed under Roman rule in the 2nd century BCE.  One of the charges against a Roman in 59 BCE was about his confiscation of money collected by the Jews of this region for the Temple in Jerusalem.                              

The early origins of the Hittites were not entirely certain, but it is likely the people we call Hittites arrived in Anatolia about 2000BC
The Pontic–Caspian steppe, formed by the Caspian steppe and the Pontic steppe, is the steppeland stretching from the northern shores of the Black Sea (the Pontus Euxinus of antiquity) to the northern area around the Caspian Sea.

and came from Europe as part of a broader migration from the Black Sea region and Pontic steppe. In diplomatic correspondence of the Late Bronze Age the realm is the land of Hatti (Khatta in Egyptian).

The latest news is that their origins were Turkey, from the city of Anatolia.  Archaeologists have discovered their king and their city of so long ago. In 1833, the French archaeologist, Charles Texier (1802–1871), was sent on an exploratory mission to Turkey, where in 1834 he discovered ruins of the ancient Hittite capital of Hattusa. Ernest Chantre opened some trial trenches at the village then called Boğazköy, in 1893–94.

Hattusa (also Ḫattuša or Hattusas /ˌhɑːttʊˈsɑːs/;[1] HittiteURUḪa-at-tu-šaHatticHattush) was the capital of the Hittite Empire in the late Bronze Age. Its ruins lie near modern BoğazkaleTurkey, within the great loop of the Kızılırmak River (Hittite: Marashantiya; Greek: Halys).

Hattusa was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Site list in 1986.A carbonized layer apparent in excavations attests to the burning and ruin of the city of Hattusa around 1700 BC. The responsible party appears to have been King Anitta from Kussara, who took credit for the act and erected an inscribed curse for good measure:

Whoever after me becomes king resettles Hattusas, let the Stormgod of the Sky strike him!

 The city had a stone carved lion on each side of its entrance where a gate had been, reminiscent of the Egyptian carvings who were their enemy, it appears.  The city had walls that were 20 feet thick all around the city, and the sides were slanted, like a pyramid structure.  In itself, it was a display of power more than anything.  

Hattusa was the name of their city and their king and this was at the time of Rameses of Egypt.  The Youtube I watched showed this Lion Gate.  They were investigating this original city's remains.  

The main kingdom fell in about 1200 BCE from infighting by the family line itself over power.  However, small Hittite kingdoms continued to flourish in northern Syria and in the vicinity of the Euphrates river area around Ur, where Abraham had come from. These states were eventually overrun by the Armenians and the Assyrians.

The Torah connects the Hittites with the Canaanites (Gen.10:15) and indicates that some dwelt in Eretz Yisrael (Israel) at an early period.  Abraham (2nd millennium BCE-1945 BCE) - had purchased the cave at Machpelah from a Hittite man.  The burial site of Abraham is a series of caves situated 30 kilometres (18.6411 miles)  south of Jerusalem in the heart of the Old City of Hebron in the West Bank.  

Hebron was a city that would be within the Tribe of Judea's land.  The Torah called it Kiriath-Arba.  Before Abraham appeared, it had been under the control of the Hittites. In those days, cities were simply, city-states.  Each reigned on their own accord.  The land had not become a nation.

 Today a mosque stands over the reputed site that Abraham had bought.  Later, David made Hebron his capital and it remained so for seven and one-half years before he moved to Jerusalem.  Hebron was one of the 4 sacred Jewish cities that were refuge cities, decided as such by Joshua who had assigned it to Caleb and was a levitical city first.                  

Canaanites (descendants from Canaan, son of Ham) were made up of 11 different peoples who lived in the area between the Nile and the Euphrates Rivers (Gen 10:15-19).  Canaanites were a mixture of Horites, Hittites, and Hebrews, dating back to the Hyksos period of the 17th century BCE. (Hyksos is an Egyptian word meaning "rulers of the foreign lands). " The Canaanites were almost entirely obliterated or assimilated by the Israelites in the 13th Century BCE, the Philistines along the coast of the 12th century BCE, and the Arameans in the North by the 11th century BCE.  The remnants of Canaanites were subjected by David and Solomon and were absorbed.  Later, the name was preserved not only in the Torah, but among the Sidonians and Phoenicians.  A few of us Jews alive may have a few Canaanite genes.  

Esau, twin brother of Jacob, son of Isaac, who left Isaac and his family,  took wives from among them. (Esau's first two wives, Adah and Judith, are described as adulterous and idolatrous. Adah (also called Basemath) is linked with harlotry, as her name is linked with jewelry and perfume. Judith (also called Ohlibamah) is similarly linked by her name to idolatry and is also described as adulterous, not listed in regular Jewish literature but found written in Greek in Apocrypha from original Hebrew.The Hittites were one of the 7 peoples from whom the Israelites conquered Canaan.  Later, David had Hittite warriors (1010-970 BCE) , and Solomon had Hittite wives (961-920 BCE), so they had kept their identification.  David's grandmother, Ruth, had been a Moabite, married to Mahlon, whose mother was Naomi. Ruth later married Boaz, Naomi's kinsman, maybe a cousin.  

Many of us claim descendancy from RASHI, who was descended from king David.  My, what a mixture of genes we are carrying!  


Resource:

update:5/18/22: https://www.quora.com/What-was-the-haplogroup-of-the-Hittites

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hattusa#:~:text=Hattusa%20(also%20%E1%B8%AAattu%C5%A1a%20or%20Hattusas,Marashantiya%3B%20Greek%3A%20Halys).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krEKIgRh0iA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-NZMEZ04dY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ygahpk-Zh9M

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amcowif39mI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bJmbhafz8M

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIrEhvNtJzc

The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia

Hittites-youtube

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hattusa#:~:text=In%201833%2C%20the%20French%20archaeologist,Bo%C4%9Fazk%C3%B6y%2C%20in%201893%E2%80%9394.

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