The Hittites : $b The story of a forgotten empireSayce, A. H. (Archibald Henry)
History
The Hittites : $b The story of a forgotten empire
Sayce, A. H. (Archibald Henry)
Hittites
At times, as we may gather from a bas-relief at Merash, they entertained
themselves at a banquet with the sounds of music. Several different
kinds of musical instruments are represented on the monuments, among
which we may recognise a lyre, a trumpet, and a sort of guitar. It is
evident that they were fond of music, and had cultivated the art, as
befitted a people to whom wealth had given leisure. A curious indication
of the same leisured ease is to be found in a sculpture at Eyuk, where
an attendant is depicted carrying a monkey on his shoulders. Those only
who enjoyed the quiet of a peaceful and wealthy life would have
gratified the taste for animals which the monuments reveal, by importing
an animal like the monkey from the distant south. The Hittites were
doubtless a warlike people when they first swooped down upon the plains
of Syria, but they soon began to cultivate the arts of peace and to
become one of the great mercantile peoples of the ancient world.
We learn from the Books of Kings that horses and chariots were exported
from Egypt for the Hittite princes, the Israelites serving as
intermediaries in the trade. But they must also have obtained horses
from the north, and perhaps have bred them for themselves. The prophet
Ezekiel tells us (xxvii. 14) that 'they of Togarmah traded' in the fairs
of Tyre 'with horses and horsemen and mules,' and Togarmah has been
identified with the Tul-Garimmi of the Assyrian inscriptions, which was
situated in Komagênê. In the wars between Egypt and Kadesh a portion of
the Hittite army fought in chariots, each drawn by two horses, and
holding sometimes two, sometimes three men. The chariots were of light
make, and rested on two wheels, usually furnished with six spokes.
The army was well-disciplined and well-arranged. Its nucleus was formed
of native-born Hittites, who occupied the centre and the posts of
danger. Around them were ranged their allies and mercenaries, under the
command of special generals. The native infantry and cavalry also obeyed
separate captains, but the whole host was led by a single
commander-in-chief.
We have yet to be made acquainted with the details of their domestic
architecture. The ground-plan of their palaces has been given us at
Boghaz Keui and Eyuk, at Carchemish and Sinjirli, and we know that they
were built round a central court of quadrangular form. We know too that
the entrance to the palace was, like that to an Egyptian temple, flanked
by massive blocks of stone on either side, and approached by an avenue
of sculptured slabs. We have learned, moreover, that the palace was
erected on raised terraces or mounds; but beyond this we know little
except that use was made of a pillar without a base, which had been
originally derived from Babylonia, the primitive home of columnar
architecture.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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