Hititas

In the late Bronze Age, the Hittites became the most powerful military power in the Ancient Near East, despite the fact that their empire was always vulnerable to attack by enemy forces and that their territory, Anatolia, lacked navigable rivers. , access to the sea and a large population. How then to explain the emergence and triumph of this ancient empire against such adversities? In his agile and novel treatment of one of the most mysterious civilizations of antiquity, whose history disappeared from the records more than three thousand years ago, Trevor Bryce sheds new light on the Hittite warriors, as well as on their social, religious and political culture. , contributing new hypotheses to many of the unknowns to be solved. In this work, such suggestive aspects are revealed and detailed, such as that they were consummate masters of war with chariots; that Muwatalli II, Hittite king, was about to culminate the most disastrous defeat of Ramses II in the battle of Qadesh; he shows that the Hittites were also faithful worshipers of a large pantheon of storm gods, and many others; and architects of a new diplomatic system that reinforced and enshrined their authority for centuries. This gripping volume reveals the Hittites in all their complexity, beyond the typical image of fierce warriors. Collect a documented analysis of your society; of the temples and palaces they built; It reveals their customs and superstitions, the crimes they committed, their social hierarchy -from king to slave- and even the marriages and prenuptial agreements they entered into. A journey that combines epic grandeur and spectacle with an approach to the intimacies and idiosyncrasies of Hittite daily life.