Death of lost empire

Death of lost empire

In 1906 some 10,000 tablets were discovered by archaeologists working in Turkey. They revealed the incredible story of the Hittle Empire; powerful for six centuries until its destruction in 1200BC

A map of Asia Minor in the time of the Hittites At its greatest
extent, the Hittite Empire covered an area of some 100,000
square miles, roughly the size of Great Britain.

IN 1200 BC the long northern reaches of the River Euphrates marked the barrier between two great empires - uneasy neighbours in the past, but now at peace and busily trading with each other to the profit of both. East of the great river lay Assyria, with its Semitic population; to the west was the land of the Hittites - hawk-nosed men of Indo-European speech. Their ancestors, some 800 or 900 years earlier, had come down into Turkey and settled in the upland plateau of Anatolia, east and south of the modern city of Ankara. Their history, like that of their neighbours in the Near East, had been a stormy complication of battles and treachery, alliances and retreats; but now they seemed to have reached a point of balance.