Hititler: Bir Anadolu İmparatorluğu

by Meltem Doğan Alparslan (Editor), Metin Alparslan (Editor)

Yakındoğu coğrafyası MÖ 2. binyılda Mısır, Babil, Assur gibi dönemin süper güçlerine ev sahipliği yapıyordu. Hitit devletinin kurucusu ve aynı zamanda devletin başkenti Hattuşa’ya da adını veren I. Hattu ili, Anadolu, Mezopotamya ve Nil Vadisi ’nde hüküm süren bu süper güçlerle giriştiği mücadele sonucu, Anadolu’da yeni bir gücün doğmasını sağlamıştır: Hitit Krallığı. Onun döneminde Hititler, sistemli biçimde devletleşme sürecini tamamlayarak sınırlarını genişletmişler ve Anadolu’yu MÖ 2. binyılın ekonomik ve kültürel cazibe merkezine dönüştürmüşlerdir. Bu dönüşümün altında Hititlerin askeri, siyasi, ticari ve hukuki enstrümanları etkin biçimde kullanmaları yatmaktadır.

Kitapta, devlet yapılarını yaklaşık 450 yıl sürdürerek insanlık kültür tarihine pek çok yenilik getiren Hititlerin tarihini, yasalarını, sanatını, mimarisini, ekonomisini, siyasi, dini ve sosyal yaşamını irdeleyen ve her biri alanında uzman araştırmacılar tarafından kaleme alınan 22 makale okuyucuya sunulmaktadır.

Genres: History

328 pages, Paperback

First published March 19, 2014

Reviews

[İlkim · Rating 5 out of 5]

İlgi alanınıza giriyorsa okumanız gereken kitaplardan. Neredeyse haklarında hiçbir şey bilmediğim bir devleti tüm yönleriyle okumuş oldum. Hititler zaten uzun süre keşfedilmemiş, ya da onlara ait bir şey bulduklarında başka uygarlıklara ait sanmışlar. Öyle bir uygarlıkmış ki tarih sayfasından da bir anda silinmiş, o yüzden bu kadar bilinmemesi. Hala gidemediğim ama tabelalarını çok gördüğüm Hattuşa ve diğer Hitit antik alanlarına bir dahaki sefer kesinlikle uğrayacağım.

[Caterina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Çeşitli ana başlıklar altında toplanmış konular hakkında makalelerden oluşan bu kitap Hititlerle tanışmak isteyenler için çerçeve olacaktır. Kronolojik tarih ve kralların yaşamına dair detayların eksikliğini hissettiğim için 3 yıldız verdim. Fakat yeni başlangıç yapacaklar için keyifli ve öğretici bir eser.

Konu başlıkları ve makale içerikleri de şöyle:

ZAMAN VE MEKAN
Hitit Krallığı ve İmparatorluğu'nun Kısa Tarihi
Geçmişi Kaydetmek: Hitit Tarih Yazıcılığı
Hitit Devleti'nin Uluslararası İlişkileri ve Politik Enstrümanları: Savaş ve Diplomasi

HALKLAR, YAZILAR VE DİLLER
Hititçe ve Hitit Çiviyazısı
Hitit Hiyeroglifleri ve Luwice
Hititler Dönemi'nde Anadolu'da Halklar ve Diller

YERLEŞİM ORGANİZASYONU VE KENTLER
Şehirler ve Yerleşim Düzeni
Hattusa, Hitit İmparatorluğu'nun Başkenti

YAPILAR, İNŞAAT TEKNİKLERİ VE ÇANAK ÇÖMLEK
Hitit Mimarlığı
Hitit Mimarisinde Kullanılmış Teknikler
Gündelik Hayatın ve Ayrıcalığın Nesneleri: Hitit Çanak Çömleği

BELGELER VE BELGELİKLER
Katipler ve Arşivler
Hitit Mühürcülüğü (Gliptik)

İNANÇ DÜNYASI
Din ve Mitoloji
Tanrılar Kültü, Büyü Ritüeli ve Ölülerin Bakımı
Falcılık ve Kehanet
Hititlerde Rüya

ÜRETİM VE TOPLUM DÜZENİ
Bir İmparatorluğu Ayakta Tutabilmek: Ekonomi ve Ticaret
Hitit Yasaları

SANAT
Hitit Sanatının Gelişimi ve Toplumsal İşlevlerine Dair
Taşa Oyulmuş Suretler: Hitit Kaya Anıtları
Hititlerde Müzik ve Dans

Her kesimden okura hitap edecek dili ve makale sonlarına eklenmiş kaynakçası ile Hititler'e merakı olan herkesi aydınlatacaktır.

[Lain · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a work presenting research on the Hittite civilization: through a series of thematic chapters we are presented with primary sources and what they can tell us about the Hittites and their society. There is little in terms of narrative or political history, but rather a collection of narrowly focused studies that shine light on various aspect of their culture, which put together allows one to form an impression of the whole.

There are primarily three types of sources left by the Hittities: the physical remains of their cities, a few scattered remains of monumental art, and collections of clay tablets. The tablets in particular give rich insight into Hittite culture, for example how dreams could be used for power-politics: Hattusili III confiscated all the property of his main rival, because "The goddess commanded me in a dream to share out the house of Arma-Tarhunta and I did not refuse her" (p. 484). Surely, this revelation came to him in a dream!

Cities:
Archaeological remains demonstrate that settlements in Anatolia prior to the Hittie period had remained virtually unchanged for thousands of years: small, asymmetric, organically built hilltop settlements, with buildings made from whatever rocks were available.

With the arrival of the centralized Hittite state this changed. New cities were built and old ones were remodeled. The new Hittite cities followed planned layouts with central streets and districts. Living areas were lined with housing units of a standardized size and shape, while artisans and craftsmen were located in their own separated districts.

The Hittites also employed new forms of masonry. Instead of building with packed dirt and rocks small enough to be carried by hand, they started building with larger slabs of stone that required large teams of workers to move and to hammer into shape. Such building techniques were utilized to build larger structures than ever before and to display power in public: city walls, temples, reservoirs.

The upper districts of the cities were reserved for temple complexes, archives and scribal schools: the nucleus of a centralized bureaucracy. Within the temples there have been unearthed enormous lined pits and ceramic jars large enough to store thousands of tons of grain, oil, wine and other forms of produce, as well as huge reservoirs built to collect rainwater. Unlike Mesopotamia and Egypt which thrived on river-based irrigation, the Hittites were reliant on rainfall. Naturally these Temple-stores of food and reservoirs of water were incredibly important in times of drought, and were intimately linked with the centralized Hittite kingship.

Monuments and rock-inscriptions displaying Hittite power have primarily been found on the outskirts of Hittite territory, along trade roads and in mountain passes - thus demonstrating both to their own subjects and to travelers of other states the reach of Hittite power.

All of this points to the development of a centralized state that could muster human resources on a far greater scale than ever before in Anatolian history.


Clay tablets:
The most varied source is represented by clay tablets and excavated archives. Many of these ironically survived through their destruction: cities were burned to the ground, and the blazing flames baked the clay into pottery.

There are many chapters detailing different types of tablets and analyzing their contents. They range from diplomatic treatises between states, personal letters, religious rites, literature, law texts, receipts for goods, trades, and orders to and from the provinces, to records of dreams, prayers and sacrifices. All in all they give a rich insight into Hittite culture and society.

Diplomatic treatises between states show that the Hittites employed professional archivars. When sending diplomatic letters to other states the Hittite kings made references to earlier treaties reaching far into the past, so as to legitimize their friendship or enmity. Someone must have had the responsibility of maintaining oversight of diplomatic history, and be able to supply this information to the king when needed. From markings on the side of tablets we know the Hittites employed a classification-system to order their tablets and orient them within their shelves.

Clay tablets with orders showcase that the Hittites were careful to maintain the safety of merchants, and would strongly reprimand those who failed to protect traders and trade routes. Separate laws were written in which the punishment for hurting a slave was half that of hurting a free man, which was again half that of hurting or stealing from a merchant.


Religion:
The Hittites were religious, and the Hittite kings would interact with their gods before every major venture, whether it be war or travel. Disasters were the cause of immoral and evil actions, which had to be atoned for. This was done through sacrifice of animals, religious rituals, shamans, dreams, prayers and inspection of animal intestines. Clay tablets in the shape of livers with signs and notes have been found, to document the divination and the conclusions reached, and many prayer-tablet have been found. Sending prayers to the gods as a representative of his subjects was the duty of the king, and the prayers that have come down to us represent both personal pleas of moral crisis:

"Let my god open his heart entirely to me, and tell me all my sins that I may know what they are. Let my god tell me my sins in a dream that I may accept them. Or let a soothsayer tell me, or a diviner of the Sun God examine the entrails of an animal and tell me. Let my god open up completely to me and tell me all my sins so that I may know what they are and atone for them" (p. 481).

and desperate cries of help against plague and disaster:

"Whoever is the cause of rage and anger to the gods, and whoever is not respectful to the gods, let not the good ones perish with the evil ones. Whether it is a single town, a single house, or a single person, O gods destroy only that one" (p. 496).


Conclusion:
The book is beautifully illustrated with tons of pictures and diagrams, with thick high quality paper, and a side-by-side english and turkish text. I found the english translations to be perfectly fine, I very rarely noticed anything jarring, with the exception of one or two articles.
You wont get a narrative history of the Hittites here, but overall it's a great book. It is not written in a dry and academic style either, and the topics are of interest beyond the specific things being discussed. For the right person it is definitely worth 5 stars.

[Ülkü Doğan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ortalama olanlar da var ama genel olarak aşırı iyi makaleler var. Özellikle efsanelerle ve hititçe ile ilgili bölümler güzel.

[Benn Uzayy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bir devleti her yönüyle ele alan bir tarih kitabı.. döneme ışık tutuyor.. Tarihsel gelişimimizi anlamamız yönünden önemli bir kitap oldu benim için.

[Alvaroperezoso · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book is great and I would have given it five stars if it hadn't been for the awful translation of some articles. Some translations are so bad that you want to cry. I can't understand why they didn't get an English speaking person to proofread the book.