The corpus of texts written in the

Hittite language Hittite (, or ), also known as Nesite (Nešite/Neshite, Nessite), is an extinct Indo-European language that was spoken by the Hittites, a people of Bronze Age Anatolia who created an empire centred on Hattusa, as well as parts of the northern ...

consists of more than 30,000 tablets or fragments that have been excavated from the royal archives of the capital of the Hittite Kingdom,

Hattusa Hattusa, also Hattuşa, Ḫattuša, Hattusas, or Hattusha, was the capital of the Hittites, Hittite Empire in the late Bronze Age during two distinct periods. Its ruins lie near modern Boğazkale, Turkey (originally Boğazköy) within the great ...

, close to the modern Turkish town of

Boğazkale Boğazkale ("Gorge Fortress") is a town of Çorum Province in the Black Sea region of Turkey, located from the city of Çorum. It is the seat of Boğazkale District.Maşat Höyük, Ortaköy, Kuşaklı or Kayalıpınar in

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

Alalakh Alalakh (''Tell Atchana''; Hittite: Alalaḫ) is an ancient archaeological site approximately northeast of Antakya (historic Antioch) in what is now Turkey's Hatay Province. It flourished as an urban settlement in the Middle and Late Bronze Age ...

Ugarit Ugarit (; , ''ủgrt'' /ʾUgarītu/) was an ancient port city in northern Syria about 10 kilometers north of modern Latakia. At its height it ruled an area roughly equivalent to the modern Latakia Governorate. It was discovered by accident in 19 ...

and

Emar Emar (, ), is an archaeological site at Tell Meskene in the Aleppo Governorate of northern Syria. It sits in the great bend of the mid-Euphrates, now on the shoreline of the man-made Lake Assad near the town of Maskanah. It has been the sourc ...

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

Amarna Amarna (; ) is an extensive ancient Egyptian archaeological site containing the ruins of Akhetaten, the capital city during the late Eighteenth Dynasty. The city was established in 1346 BC, built at the direction of the Pharaoh Akhenaten, and a ...

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

. The tablets are mostly conserved in the Turkish museums of

Ankara Ankara is the capital city of Turkey and List of national capitals by area, the largest capital by area in the world. Located in the Central Anatolia Region, central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5,290,822 in its urban center ( ...

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

, Boğazkale and Çorum (Ortaköy) as well as in international museums such as the Pergamonmuseum in Berlin, the

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

in London and the

Musée du Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...

in Paris. The corpus is indexed by the ''Catalogue des Textes Hittites'' (CTH, since 1971). The catalogue is only a classification of texts; it does not give the texts. One traditionally cites texts by their numbers in CTH. Major sources for studies of selected texts themselves are the books of the

StBoT Studien zu den Bogazköy-Texten (abbreviated StBoT; lit. Studies in the Bogazköy (Hattusa) Texts) edited by the German ''Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur'' (Academy of Sciences and Literature), Mainz, since 1965, is a series of editio ...

series and the online ''Textzeugnisse der Hethiter''.

CTH numbering scheme

Hittite Cuneiform Tablet- Cultic Festival Script

The texts are classified as follows: *Historical Texts (CTH 1–220) *Administrative Texts (CTH 221–290) *Legal Texts (CTH 291–298) *Lexical Texts (CTH 299–309) *Literary Texts (CTH 310–320) *Mythological Texts (CTH 321–370) *Hymns and Prayers (CTH 371–389) *Ritual Texts (CTH 390–500) *Cult Inventory Texts (CTH 501–530) *Omen and Oracle Texts (CTH 531–582) *Vows (CTH 583–590) *Festival Texts (CTH 591–724) *Texts in Other Languages (CTH 725–830) *Texts of Unknown Type (CTH 831–833)

Selected texts

Some Wikipedia articles dedicated to specific Hittite texts follow. More are to be found as sections of other articles.

Old Kingdom

Anitta text Anitta, son of Pitḫana, was a Middle Bronze Age king of Kuššara (c. 1740-1725 BC middle chronology). The city has not yet been identified. He is the earliest known ruler to compose a text in the Hittite language. His high official, or ''rab ...

Hittite military oath The Hittite military oath ( CTH 427) is a Hittite text on two cuneiform tablets. The first tablet is only preserved in fragments (KBo XXI 10, KUB XL 13, and minor fragments), the second tablet survives in three copies, and can be restituted almo ...

Hittite laws The Hittite laws, also known as the Code of the Nesilim, constitute an ancient legal code dating from – 1500 BCE. They have been preserved on a number of Hittite cuneiform tablets found at Hattusa ( CTH 291–292, listing 200 laws). Copi ...

(CTH 291–292), also called the Code of the Nesilim * Myth of Illuyanka

New Kingdom

Aleppo Treaty The Aleppo Treaty ( CTH 75) is a 13th Century BCE document created by Hittite King Muwatalli II, consisting of a copy of an earlier treaty made between Talmi-Šarruma, King of Aleppo, and Muwatalli II's father and predecessor, Muršili II. Acc ...

Kikkuli Kikkuli was the Hurrian "master horse trainer 'assussanni''of the land of Mitanni" (LÚ''A-AŠ-ŠU-UŠ-ŠA-AN-NI ŠA'' KUR URU''MI-IT-TA-AN-NI'') and author of a chariot horse training text written primarily in the Hittite language (as well as a ...

's horse training instructions * Indictment of Madduwatta *

Manapa-Tarhunta letter The Manapa-Tarhunta letter ( CTH 191; KUB 19.5 + KBo 19.79) is a fragmentary text in the Hittite language from the 13th century BC. The letter was sent to the Hittite king by Manapa-Tarhunta, client king of the Seha River Land. In the letter, Manap ...

Milawata letter The Milawata letter ( CTH 182) is an item of diplomatic correspondence from a Hittite king at Hattusa to a client king in western Anatolia around 1240 BC. It constitutes an important piece of evidence in the debate concerning the historicity of H ...

Song of Kumarbi Kumarbi, also known as Kumurwe, Kumarwi and Kumarma, was a Hurrian god. He held a senior position in the Hurrian pantheon, and was described as the "father of gods". He was portrayed as an old, deposed king of the gods, though this most likely ...

Story of Appu The ''Story of Appu'' is a mythological Hittite text (CTH 360). The text is fragmentary, and the sequence of events in the story is a reconstruction. The text is usually taken as an account of a Hurrian myth, but it does not itself contain any H ...

Tawagalawa letter The Tawagalawa letter (Catalogue des Textes Hittites, CTH 181) is a fragmentary Hittite text from the mid 13th century BC. It is notable for providing a window into relations between Hittites and Mycenaean Greece, Greeks during the Late Bronze Age ...

Zita (Hittite prince) Zita was a Hittite prince and probably the brother of Suppiluliuma I, (Šuppiluliumaš of the letters), in the 382–letter correspondence called the Amarna letters. The letters were mostly sent to the pharaoh of Egypt from 1350- 1335 BC, ...

Notes

References

* Gary M. Beckman, Harry A. Hoffner, ''Hittite diplomatic texts'', volume 7 of Writings from the ancient world, Scholars Press, 1999, .

External links

* * Membership required for some databases. Other databases under construction. * This database currently contains transliterations and translations of Hittite state treaties, decrees, myths, and rituals. {{DEFAULTSORT:Hittite Texts Inscriptions by languages