The Bible mentions the Hittites numerous times. For many, many years scholars argued that there was no independent evidence of this nation. Eventually, archaeologists found evidence of the Hittite Empire, seemingly confirming the Bible’s account. However, are the Hittites of the Bible actually the same as those of the Hittite Empire of Anatolia? There is significant controversy surrounding this issue. What do the facts show?
First, let us examine what the Bible says about the Hittites. They first appear in the book of Genesis, where they have dealings with Abraham. Later, they appear as one of the seven nations occupying the land of Canaan whose destruction was decreed by the God of the Israelites.
This destruction was started by the Israelites under the command of Joshua. However, after Joshua died the Israelites no longer followed God’s commands as they had done before. The Hittites thus remained.
Out of the seven nations who inhabited Canaan before the Israelites, it appears that the Hittites were the only ones who remained powerful enough to have warfaring kings in later periods. Their kings are mentioned as late as the time of King Jehoram of Israel, several generations after King David.
However, there is no indication that the Hittites continued as a powerful nation long after this. Nevertheless, as late as the fifth century BCE, the Bible mentions the Hittites as a distinct nation.
For a long time, there was no trace of the Hittites outside of the Bible. Then, in the nineteenth century, archaeologists uncovered evidence of the Hittite Empire in Anatolia. This was a powerful nation which ruled over most of Anatolia throughout the Late Bronze Age.
In the context of students of Greek history, the Hittite Empire is perhaps most famous for its interactions with the Mycenaean Greeks. Famously, Hittite letters of diplomatic correspondence reveal that the Hittites and the Greeks were fighting wars in western Anatolia throughout much of the Late Bronze Age.
The Hittites referred to the Mycenaeans as the Ahhiyawa, from the Greek ethnonym ‘Akhaioi.’ One letter refers to a conflict between the Hittites and the Ahhiyawa over the city of Wilusa, or Troy. Some researchers believe that this conflict was the historical event behind stories of the Trojan War.
Eventually, with the Bronze Age Collapse, the Hittite Empire fell apart. Its downfall was at least partially caused by attacks from the Sea Peoples. Hence, the Hittite Empire came to an end in the twelfth century BCE.
One controversy surrounding the Hittites is the question of whether or not the Hittites of the Bible are the same as those of the Hittite Empire. The nineteenth century archaeologists who uncovered this ancient empire were the ones who made this identification, and many historians still follow it.
The primary basis for this is the fact that other nations referred to the land of the Hittites as the land of ‘Hatti’. The Amarna letters appear to have referred to them as the kingdom of Kheti.
There is a very close correspondence between these ancient designations for the Hittite Empire and the Hebrew word for the Hittites in the Bible. Due to this close match, it could seem reasonable to identify the Hittites of the Bible as those of the Hittite Empire in Anatolia.
Despite the popularity of this identification, there are several fundamental problems with it.
For one thing, the geography of the two nations are not a close match. The Hittites of the Bible first appear in southern Canaan. Throughout the rest of the Biblical narrative, they appear in either Canaan itself (essentially the region of Palestine) or southern Syria.
On the other hand, the Hittite Empire never extended as far south as Canaan. Its southernmost border touched Canaan, but that is all. In fact, the lack of Hittite presence in Canaan itself is fundamentally linked to the famous Battle of Kadesh.
This was a battle fought between the Egyptians and the Hittite Empire in Syria in the thirteenth century BCE. It was in the border region between the Egyptian Empire and the Hittite Empire. Hence, the southernmost border of the Hittite Empire stopped far north of where the Bible places the Hittites.
To be clear, the Bible does not merely refer to Hittites as an ethnic group in Canaan. It refers to Hittite kings in Canaan in the Late Bronze Age. This clearly shows that the Bible cannot be referring to the Hittite Empire in those passages.
Another key issue with this identification is to do with the names of these nations. The Hittites in the Bible received their name because they were the sons of Heth, one of the early descendants of Noah. This is clearly seen from the fact that the Bible refers to a certain ‘Ephron the Hittite’ as being one of the sons of Heth.
In contrast, the Hittite Empire in Anatolia referred to its land as the land of Hatti because that is what the previous nation who lived there already called it. The Hittites themselves never referred to their own nation as the Hittites. They kept the name ‘Hatti’ for the land, but their nation called itself the Neshites or Neshians.
Whether the original group who lived in that territory had anything to do with the Hittites of the Bible is less clear. In any case, the Hittite Empire who succeeded them almost certainly did not.
The only possible connection between them is the name of their land, Hatti, which is similar to the name of the Biblical Hittites. Yet as we have just seen, that name was simply passed on from the previous inhabitants of Anatolia, and the Hittite Empire never used that name for its own people.
Therefore, on both geographical and ethnonymic grounds, it is extremely improbable that the Hittite Empire had anything to do with the Hittites of the Bible.
This does not mean that there is no trace of the Biblical Hittites. In fact, numerous ancient Middle Eastern tablets use the term ‘Hatti’ for the land of Syria or Canaan. This usage may well be a reference to the Biblical Hittites.
