As a result of archaeological excavations undertaken at the end of the 19th century in Asia Minor, scientists discovered previously unseen monuments and unknown writings, the language of which was not similar to either Egyptian or the Semitic languages of ancient Mesopotamia.
It was the language of the Hittites, a people who for centuries was the master of the Ancient East …
The first Hittite monuments were discovered in the Turkish village of Bogazkoy by the French traveler Charles Texier. The destroyed wall of an unknown ancient city stretched for many kilometers, and on the two fortress gates there were bas-reliefs and stone lions. At the same time, English archaeologists unearthed the city of Karkemish, mentioned in the Bible, in the bend of the Euphrates. To the surprise of scientists, the style of buildings and statues of both settlements - Bogazkoy and Karkemish, between which hundreds of kilometers, turned out to be similar. So the assumption was put forward, later confirmed, that 5 thousand years ago the territory of the third great power of the Ancient East, in addition to Egypt and Babylon, stretched over a vast territory from Northern Turkey to Southern Syria - the Hittite state.
Where did the Neva flow?
Excavations at Bogazkoy led to the discovery of a large royal "archive" of Hittite cuneiform and hieroglyphic inscriptions made on clay tablets. There are more than 14 thousand documents in total, the oldest one - the inscription of King Anittas (Anitta) - dates back to the 18th century BC. All of them dealt with events from 2000 to 1200 BC. At first, scientists read the texts, but did not understand the words, until in 1916 the professor of the Prague University Bedřich the Terrible was able to decipher the texts of the archive. Grozny compiled the first grammar of the Hittite language and established that the Hittite language is related to Indo-European languages. For example, the word "water" in Hittite sounds like "vater"; the word "sky" sounds like "nebis" and "month" like "menulas". Let's compare: in Latin - "menzis", and in Lithuanian "menulis". The word "horse" in Hittite is "akuvas", in Latin - "equus",and the adjective "new" in Hittite is "neva", etc. It turns out that the language of the mysterious Hittites is almost a "relative" to the Russian language? Yes, a relative, the professor announced, and not only Russian, but also English, German, Greek, Hindi and other languages belonging to the Indo-European family.
It was also possible to learn that on the site of Bogazkoy 4 thousand years ago there was the capital of the Hittites - the city of Hattusas. The stone bas-reliefs found here made it possible to represent the external appearance of the creators of a previously unknown civilization. The Hittites were large-headed, with large long noses. They resembled the inhabitants of the Caucasus, which was later confirmed: the Hittites are closest to the Abkhaz and Adygs.
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The legend is defeated
In the XIV-XIII centuries BC, the Hittite state was the most powerful in the Middle East. The Hittite king Suppilulium I destroyed the strong Hurrian state of Mitanni, which even Egypt had to reckon with. Another king, Hattusili III, ended the long war with Pharaoh Ramses II with a peace treaty, making it the first documented peace treaty in world history.
Around 1250 BC, the Hittite empire was severely tested. From the shores of the Northern Mediterranean into Asia Minor, a stream of barbarian "sea peoples" rushed. Among them, the tribes of the Danaans (in Hittite - Danuva) and the Achaeans (Akhiyava) stood out, which especially attracted the attention of scientists, because the named tribes played an essential role in the so-called Trojan War, sung by Homer. Further study of the "Hittite archive" and other material evidence of the history of that time, primarily the excavations of the Hisarlik hill, where the legendary Troy was found, brought a number of surprises.
It turned out that Ilion, or Troy, was called Vilios by the Hittites. The city was founded at the end of the 4th millennium BC and was one of the oldest settlements on the western coast of Asia Minor. The first settlers of Vilios were the Tevkras, an Indo-European tribe that came from the Balkans. Around 2500 BC, Luwians, closely related to the Hittites, settled in Vilios. It became known that long before the invasion of the Sea Peoples, relations between the Hittite king Tudhalia III and the king of the country of Ahhiyava named Akagamunas (Greek Agamemnon is the name of one of the main characters in Homer's Iliad) were friendly. But, apparently, the insidious Achaeans, who occupied the Peloponnese, used this time to gather forces in order to then land in Asia Minor. They knew that Assyria threatened the Hittites from the east and Egypt from the south. The Hittite king had his hands tied,which the western "friends" -neighbors took advantage of. The documents of the Bogazkoy archive tell that the next king of the Hittites, Tudhalia IV, concluded an agreement with the king of Vilios on joint actions against Egypt and other countries, and Alaksandus was named the ruler of Vilios (obviously Alexander, that is, Paris, for with these two names Homer calls one and the same person).
The poem "Iliad" tells about further events that took place around 1240 BC. The Greeks (mainly Achaeans and Danaans) laid siege to the walls of Troy, and the "sitting" lasted nine years and only in the 10th year the city was taken by storm and destroyed.
After 4 thousand years, archaeologists have excavated the walls of ancient Troy, the ruins of the royal palace, a wide area, the agora in front of the palace. The tower mentioned in the Iliad, from where King Priam watched the duel between Achilles and Hector, was also discovered. Found and the gates of the city - Dardan, behind which Hector sought protection. In a word, they learned a lot about Troy not only from Homer's words, but also from archaeological research. And yet, before reading the archive from Bogazkoy, historians did not know the most important thing - who were they, the inhabitants of Troy? What language was spoken, with what tribes were they related? Hittite documents opened the veil of many secrets.
Unlucky Greeks
The key to the language of the Trojans was given by their own names. Thus, the name of the legendary king of Troy Priam goes back to the Hittite-Luwian root "priyama", which means "the first, exceptional". The name of the Trojan Falkes comes from the Hittite "palh" - "wide." Another important fact is the very name of the city of Troy. In the Iliad, it is mentioned only 50 times, while the middle name, Ilion, is 106! That is why the poem is called "Iliad" and not "Troada". Apparently, it is no coincidence, because the toponym Ilion (Vilios) appeared before Troy. But be that as it may, both place names are words not of Greek origin, but of Hittite origin! Consequently, the Trojans who fought with the Greeks spoke the Hittite language, and the Hittite state itself was nearby. This is why Tudhalia IV enlisted the support of Vilios. Its inhabitants are Luwians - "relatives" of the Hittites,and their coastal outpost defended the Hittite kingdom from the "waves" of the advancing "sea peoples". However, scientists, according to the outstanding researcher of the Homeric epic Leo Klein, “are somewhat surprised that the Hittites, who closely followed the actions of Ahkhiyava in Asia Minor, did not notice the grandiose Trojan War anywhere …” And in this regard, he gives his unexpected explanation: 10-year the siege of Troy by the Achaeans ended in nothing, the Greeks had to get out. Actually, there is no victorious ending in the Iliad. Only the "Odyssey", which took shape later, reports retroactively how the Trojan War ended. Homer, not wanting to come to terms with the inglorious defeat of the Greeks, created an obviously contrived episode with the Trojan horse - the gift of the Danaans, the allies of the Achaeans, thanks to which they allegedly managed to penetrate the fortress and break the resistance of the besieged. About,that Homer was prone to "disinformation," other episodes say. For example, the author of the Iliad argued that the kidnapping of Helen by Paris, the wife of the Spartan king Menelaus, was the reason for the outbreak of war. However, modern researchers have a different opinion: Homer resorted to "folk rewriting" for a catchphrase, that is, he changed the "reason". In fact, Helen was the legal wife of Paris, the son of the aged Trojan king Priam, and Menelaus decided to win her hand by war, so that, according to tradition, having killed Paris, he would take the throne of Troy by marrying the heiress.that is, I changed the "reason". In fact, Helen was the legal wife of Paris, the son of the aged Trojan king Priam, and Menelaus decided to win her hand by war, so that, according to tradition, having killed Paris, he would take the throne of Troy by marrying the heiress.that is, I changed the "reason". In fact, Helen was the legal wife of Paris, the son of the aged Trojan king Priam, and Menelaus decided to win her hand by war, so that, according to tradition, having killed Paris, he would take the throne of Troy by marrying the heiress.
Despite the defeat at Vilios, the colossal migration of the Sea Peoples continued. The Hittites resisted for a long time and finally disappeared from world history in 717 BC.
Magazine: Mysteries of History №21. Author: Ada Mikhailova