The Historical Connections of the Hittites

Abstract

The subject for your consideration in the present paper is one which has recently attracted attention, and which is of necessity destined to arouse controversy. I do not desire to weary you with dry details which must be carefully investigated and verified, or to make any reply to adverse criticisms, which as yet have served to show that the most careful demonstration of every point in a new thesis is required by modern scholarship. There are three separate questions to be considered, each of which might demand a volume by itself, and each of which might be independently considered. First, who were the Hittites? What do we know about them, and what bearing has such knowledge on general questions of history and ethnology? Secondly, what are the hieroglyphic texts of Northern Syria and Asia Minor? Is there any reason to suppose that all or any of them are the work of Hittites? and how are they to be deciphered? Third, what bearing have the two preceding studies on the Old Testament historical notices of the Hittites? Do they serve to support the general historical accuracy of the Hebrew Scriptures, or the reverse? I propose to confine my remarks in this paper chiefly to the first of these questions. The second has less bearing on history, and requires a great amount of study yet to lead to a solution.