The Modern art of the Hittites
The Modern art of the Hittites
The story of the Hittites is a new chapter in the history of the Ancient World. It Is the story of a people living twenty centuries before the Christian era who were only recently "discovered" by scholars after nearly a century of detective work excavation, research and subtle reasoning.
One hundred years ago the very existence of the Hittites was little more than a vague surmise. Only during the past few decades have they emerged from the shadows. Only since then has their history been reconstructed from the records they themselves inscribed and the meaning of their religion and beliefs been revealed through painstaking studies of their rock-hewn sculpture.
The wondrous civilizations of the pre-classical Orient were at least known to the Greeks, both through traditional accounts and actual contacts.
But an impenetrable curtain of oblivion had fallen over ancient Anatolia from the day when the last independent Anatolian tribes were crushed and then absorbed, first into the Assyrian and later into the Persian Empire.
We know that in one of his texts Homer makes passing reference to the people of Ketelol and this we now presume to be an allusion to the Hittites, disguised under a Hellenic label.