"THE HITTITES.”

Read before the Association, November 8th, 1888,

BY REV. SAMUEL LYLE, B. D.

The discovery of the lost Hittite Empire may be regarded as the great historical surprise of the nineteenth century. Awakening from a sleep of two thousand years, the Hittites claim to be recognized as a powerful, learned and warlike people. A few able critics refused, on what seemed good grounds, to admit the claims put forth by the friends of the discovery. Was it likely that a nation, powerful almost as ancient Egypt, could be entirely lost and that no trace of it had appeared for two thousand years, save a doubtful reference or two in the Sacred Books of the Hebrews? How could this be, when the nation in question was linked, and that most closely, to the three ancient, oriental peoples most familiar to us-the Hebrews, the Egyptians, and the Assyrians? If, a priori, ideas could settle the point in dispute, then we would be forced to conclude that no such people as the Hittites ever existed. But, happily, we live in an age that has learned to place a high value on facts, and so to use them as to unlock the mysteries of the past and the present; and, happily too, the love of truth has induced men of great ability to go out to the fields once tilled by races now extinct, and to dig up the relics that have thrown so much light on the history of the Ancient Orient. Through the labors of such men the most startling results have been reached, and we are brought face to face with the long lost Hittites.

Upwards of seventy years ago Burckhardt, in his work on Syria, declared that he had seen in the corner of a house of one of the bazaars a stone with hieroglyphics differing from those of Egypt. Many declared that Burckhardt was mistaken, and that no antiquities existed in Hamah. From the nature of the case the general public took no interest in finding out the truth. This state of mixed incredulity and indifference was brought to an end through the discov

eries made by two Americans, the Rev. S. Jessup and Mr. J. A. Johnson. Their announcement of the discovery of the Hamah inscriptions awoke a profound interest in the minds of antiquarians, linguists and historians. Soon rude copies of the stones were procured, and given to the world through the medium of the American Palestine Exploration Society. Captain Burton's explanations of the stone, and of its strange writings, deepened the growing interest in the Hamah inscriptions. Dr. Wright and Mr. W. R. Green, working through the Sublime Pasha, at last succeeded in securing these stones, thus opening the way to the discovery of the lost Empire of the Hittites. When the natives found that their treasures were about to be removed, they threatened to destroy them rather than permit them to be taken away. Let me quote Dr. Wright's words ::- "I saw "now that a crisis was reached. For hundreds, perhaps thousands "of years these mute inscriptions had waited for some one to hear "their story. Egyptian, Assyrian, Greek, Selucedæ, Roman, Saracen, "Crusader and Turk had passed them by as unworthy of even a "passing notice; and now, that travellers from the Isles of the Sea,

eager to learn their secrets, had arrived, their voice was to be "hushed for ever. A greater calamity than the Moabite stone "tragedy was imminent—a mighty empire was about to claim its "rightful position among the great nations of the ancient world, and a few fanatics were about to push it back into the outer darkness "to which classic history had assigned it." Happily for the cause of truth, and for the right understanding of the past, the designs of ignorant zeal were frustrated, and the Hamah stones secured.

But what is the import of these inscriptions? By some they were regarded not as writings, but as the vagaries of ornamentation. But the shape of the sharply cut figures, their resemblance to the Cypriote Syllabary, and the discovery of writings similar, have established the fact of their being literature on stone.

This admitted, how are they to be read? Captain Burton thought the key to unlock the inscriptions was to be found in the rude tribe marks of the Bedawi. But the location of the inscriptions belonging to the family of which the Hamah stone are a specimen, the finish of the characters of the writing-a finish clearly indicating good instruments, well used by the skilful hands of ready scribesare against the supposition that much light to their discipherment is

to be found in "the scratchy tribe marks of the uncultured Bedawin."

Mr. Hyde Clarke thought he could see the clearest traces of resemblance between the Hamah inscriptions and the Himyaritic and Libyan. But Mr. Clarke's theory is at war with the facts of the Hamah writings, both in the matter of time and of space.

Mr. Johnson, the discoverer of the inscriptions, suggested that they might be the work of Assyrians, of Egyptians, or of Hebrews? "We should naturally" he says, expect to find in the vicinity some trace of the Assyrians and Egyptian conquerors, who ravished the Valley of the Orontes, and of their struggles with the Hittites on this ancient field, and of Solomon, who built stone cities in Hamah. The arrow-headed characters are suggestive of Assur-Nasir-Pal."

Captain Conder, drawing attention to the similarities of the Hittite and the earliest Egyptian hieroglyphics, is inclined to think that they are akin, if not actual representations of early Phoenician. But the ablest and soundest specialists inform us that the Hamah writing is not Hebrew, not Egyptian, not Phoenician, and not Assyrian.

Dr. Wright, Prof. Sayce, Dr. Taylor, and others, regard the Hamah inscriptions, and the others of similar character subsequently found, as Hittite remains. The following extract, taken from Dr. Wright's able work on the Hittites, gives a good idea of the Hittite writings :

"The Hamah inscribed stones were four in number, and "those contained five inscriptions, one of the large stones being "inscribed on the side and on the end. All the stones were close"grained basalt (fully ripe, as the Arabs say) doubtless brought "from the basaltic region east of the city. Many similar stones "were lying about or built into the walls, some of them with Greek "and Arabic inscriptions, and some of them having the figures of "animals carved upon them.

"The Hittite inscriptions differ from the inscriptions of Baby"lon, Egypt, Assyria, Greece and Rome, in that they are all, except "that of Tyana and the Babylon Vase, in raised character. The "lines of inscriptions and their boundaries are clearly defined by "raised bars about four inches apart. The interstices between the "bars and characters have been cut away. The faces of the stones "had been dressed smooth before the inscriptions were carved upon

"them, and the stones, as I have already pointed out, were dressed

narrow towards the inscribed points, their bases being left un"dressed for several feet. They are clearly intended to be inserted "in masonry with the inscribed parts standing out so that the inscrip"tions might be publicly read, and these were doubtless in the lan"guage of the people of Hamah. The inscriptions begin at the top "of the right side, and read along the line between the bars to the "left. The next line is read from left to right, and thus the reader "proceeds from right to left and left to right, boustrophedon style, or "as an ox ploughs. The flow of the line is always in the opposite "direction from that in which the speaking figures in the inscriptions "look."

These historic treasures have a tongue, and speak, though the ears of the learned are perplexed as to what they say. Doubtless the key to their understanding is to be found in the thorough mastery of the ancient and mysterious scripts of Asia Minor. In the Hittite Hamah inscriptions we have the central stem of which the Cypriote and Asia Minor scripts are the branches. Speaking of the Hamah treasures, and of others of similar nature, Dr. Taylor says:— "These monuments are those of a people who have been identified "with the Hittites of the Old Testament, the Kheta of the Egyptian "monuments, the Rhatte of Assyrian records, and the Keteioi of "Homer (Od. XI. 521). They were one of the most powerful "peoples of the primeval world, their empire extending from the "frontier of Egypt to the shores of the Ægean, and, like the Baby"lonians and the Egyptians, they possessed a culture, an art, and a "script peculiar to themselves, and plainly of indigenous origin. * It is now admitted that the primitive art, the mythol66 ogy, and the metrical standards of Asia Minor were, to a great 'extent, obtained from the Hittites, and the independent system of 'picture-writing which they possess, offers an obvious source from "which the Asiatic Syllabary might have been obtained.”

Prof. Sayce, who is at work on these Hamah inscriptions, has given a clue to their meaning, and in a short time the historic world will have the satisfaction of knowing what light they throw on the past of a great people long in darkness and in the shadow of death. In the meantime Egypt and Assyria have much to say of the Hittites, and their testimony is confirmed by the witnesses of Jew and of Greek. If the amount of evidence is not so great as we could wish, still

it is ever increasing as the work of the explorer advances, and what is of more importance, the character of the evidence is of the highest order. Three distinct peoples through their literaturea literature written on stone, and secure from the tampering hand of the scribe-tell us of the greatness and glory of the Hittite Empire. And since the literature of stone has risen from the grave of centuries, and told the world of the heroic nations of the dead past, a seemingly meaningless passage in the Eleventh Book of the Odyssey of Homer becomes clear and pregnant with meaning. Mr. Gladstone, who was the first to detect the passage and show its bearings on the Hittites, in a letter to Dr. Wright, says "Your "account of the local extension of Hittite influence is in complete "conformity with the idea which conceives them as within the circle "of possible Trojan alliances. I may add to the suggestion, which "I first published in fear and trembling, that the manner of the "mention in Homer is completely in accord with your doctrines as "to the greatness of the Hittites. (1) Because the slaughter of their "chief seems to be the crowning exploit that has been performed by "the son of Achilles. 'I will not,' says Odusseus, 'name all that he "slew, but only the hero Eurupulos.' (2) Because the Keteioi are "named without epithet, description, or indication, which accords "with the idea of their being a famous and well known race." Thus we have voices from Egypt, from Assyria, from Palestine, and from Greece, telling us what they know of the Hittites, and all in harmony.

Look at some of the facts brought to light during the last few years. Listen to Egypt's account of her neighbors and rivals in art, in literature, in statesmanship, and war-the Hittites. She is constantly threatened on the north by a people called Amu, which in Egyptian means herdsman. Doubtless the Egyptians used the term to express their contempt for this foe, for we learn from the Good Old Book, that "every shepherd is an abomination unto the Egyptians." Regarding the shepherd's calling as the lowest, the Egyptians would naturally use the word herdsman much in the same way as the Greek spoke of the Barbarian. Among these hordes that were ever hovering around the north of Egypt two nationalities stand out as the most powerful-the Akharru and the Kheta. The Akharru are the Phoenicians, to whom we owe so many elements of our civilization. The Kheta or Khatti are the Hittites, who cross the path of the Bible student as he reads the story of the