Hittite frieze fragment with mace-bearers

myminifactory

The Hittites were a powerful Ancient Anatolian people who built an empire around Hattusa in north-central Anatolia around 1600 BC. This mighty empire reached its peak during the mid-14th century BC under Suppiluliuma I, when it controlled most of Anatolia and significant parts of the northern Levant and Upper Mesopotamia. Between the 15th and 13th centuries BC, the Hittite Empire clashed with Egypt's powerful Empire, Middle Assyria's Empire and Mitanni's empire for control of the Near East. The Assyrians ultimately became the dominant force, absorbing much of the Hittite empire, while the remaining parts were overthrown by Phrygian newcomers to the region. After c. 1180 BC, during the catastrophic Bronze Age collapse, the Hittites fractured into several independent "Neo-Hittite" city-states, some of which survived until the 8th century BC before succumbing to the Neo-Assyrian Empire.