Archæology and the BibleBarton, George A. (George Aaron)
Religion
Archæology and the Bible
Barton, George A. (George Aaron)
Bible -- Antiquities; Egypt -- Antiquities; Middle East -- Antiquities
The king who laid the foundations of the greatness of this dynasty was
Subbiluliuma, the next king, whose conquests over the Mitanni and Harri we
have already traced. He conquered also a number of neighboring states, and
compelled them to sign with him treaties of alliance which made them his
vassals. Chronicles of these events were discovered by Winckler among the
clay tablets found at Boghaz Koi. Subbiluliuma also turned his armies
southward and conquered Syria down to the confines of Palestine. These
conquests were in progress when some of the El-Amarna letters, written to
Amenophis IV of Egypt and translated in Part II, p. 344, ff., were
written. Here he pursued the same policy that he had pursued in
Mesopotamia, and compelled the conquered countries to enter into treaties
with him, which subjugated them to his will. Among the kings so treated
was the Amorite King Aziru, who at that time ruled Amorites living in the
southern part of the valley between the Lebanon mountain ranges and in the
region afterward occupied by the tribe of Asher. They also held some of
the southern Phœnician cities. This represents the most southerly
extension of Subbiluliuma’s power.
Whether Subbiluliuma also extended his conquests to the west of Asia
Minor, we have no means of knowing. Some scholars suppose that he had done
so before he began the conquest of Mitanni. Certain it is that Hittite
rock sculptures of gigantic size exist in the mountains near Smyrna and
Manissia, to the west of Sardis. These sculptures represent the great
Hittite goddess. Near Smyrna there are also the remains of great
buildings. We know of no Hittite monarch who would be so likely to have
carried Hittite power to these parts as Subbiluliuma. If he did so,
possibly in later time the Hittites here became independent. At all
events, some centuries later they were known to Ionian Greeks in this
region, for Homer’s _Odyssey_, Book XI, line 521, records the tradition
that some Hittites were killed with Eurypylos.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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