Page 213 - Four Thousand Years Ago by Geoffrey Bibby

would at first appear. While the only confirmed 'date is ''that "of

the capture of Babylon by Mursilis in 1595 B.c., and it is there­

fore somewhat conjectural to equate the life of Mursilis with the

duration of the chapter, the main sequence of events is well at­
tested, much by the royal archives of Hattusas, now in Berlin.

Hattusilis’s speech at the adaption of Mursilis is extant, and re­

veals that he was earlier (and still officially) called Labarnas.

The foundation of Hattusas, the campaign of Hattusilis against
Aleppo and its subsequent revolt, its reconquest by Mursilis,

and the Babylonian expedition are all known facts. Even such

things as the covert support given by the Hurrians to Yamkhad,

and the early inefficiency of the Hittites in using siege machinery,
is suggested by a “war-correspondent” report. That the Baby­

lonian expedition was occasioned by support given by Babylonia

to Yamkhad is surmise, but surely not unwarrantable. That Mur­
silis and the Hurrians came into conflict is strongly suggested

by a single defective tablet, and the subsequent Hurrian attack

on the home territory of the Hittites is historical, as is the mur­

der of Mursilis and the accession of Hantilis.
The best brief accounts of the Hittites are furnished by

O. R. Gurney in The Hittites and Seton Lloyd in Early Anatolia.
C. W. Ceram s The Secret o£ the Hittites gives a very readable

account of the discovery of the Hittite Empire.