AUTHOR’S PREFACE
Since Professor Sayce and Dr. Wright first called attention, more than thirty years ago, to the forgotten empire and civilisation of the Hittites, no book has appeared to keep the English reader abreast of the further information which has since come to light upon that subject. In the meantime researches made by British and German explorers in northern Syria and Asia Minor, and the studies of numerous scholars who have applied themselves to this problem, have advanced the position so far that the Hittites are nebulous no longer, but stand revealed in the clear light of history, claiming the attention of all those interested in the story of the Bible Lands, of Asia Minor, and of early Greece. The position and character of Asia Minor lend a wide interest and charm to its past no less than its present.
The present volume aims at filling the gap which has already grown too wide. It starts ab initio with a rapid survey of the Hittite lands, and an outline of their history. The Hittite monuments are then passed in review, each described separately and independently, in such a way as to be useful to any one visiting them in situ or in the museums of Constantinople and Berlin, where there are departments devoted specially to this branch of archæology. The bibliography and numerous cross-references in the footnotes will, it is hoped, make the work handy to the archæologist as a book of reference. The author’s own theories are mostly confined to the last chapter, and an effort has been made to distinguish between facts proved or generally accepted and matters of personal opinion. The attempt to reconstruct the history of the fourteenth and thirteenth centuries B.C. from the archives recently discovered by Dr. Winckler at Boghaz-Keui is put forward tentatively, and would doubtless have been better done by a philologist. It has been found impossible to treat the subject of Hittite art and religious symbolism in general within the limited scope of this volume and its title.
Some other points are best noted at the outset. One aim of the book being to interest the English reader in a fascinating but neglected subject, the bibliographical references are given in English wherever translations of foreign authors are available. Unhappily some of the masterpieces of modern scholarship, like Meyer’s Geschichte des Alterthums, are not yet rendered into English. The geographical names employed, even at the risk of inconsistency, are those most familiar or in common use. Thus Hamath instead of Hama, Aleppo for Haleb, Carchemish for Jerablus, Tyana for Kilisse Hissar. In regard to the term ‘Hittite,’ also, the word is primarily used in reference to that class of monuments generally known as Hittite, and hence to the ancient people whose handiwork these were. The word Hatti is used in a more restricted sense, to imply the central and at one time dominant Hittite state or states whose seat and centre of organisation was at Boghaz-Keui. But it should not be forgotten that actually the words Hittite and Hatti are interchangeable.
There are many friends who have helped forward the completion of the work at various stages. Among them are the writer’s colleagues during two of his journeys of exploration in Asia Minor. The Rev. W. M. Linton Smith has corrected several chapters in proof, and has provided several photographs of the Phrygian monuments. Mr. Arthur Wilkin has kindly supplied the photographs of Ephesus, Sardis, and the goddess on Mount Sipylus. The bulk of the illustrations, however, are the handiwork of Mr. Horst Schliephack, and they speak for themselves. Any one who has attempted photography under the conditions of travel in Asia Minor will realise the skill with which these results have been obtained. In Constantinople our work has received the constant help of Sir Edwin Pears and Mr. G. H. Fitzmaurice; while H.E. the late Hamdi Bey greatly facilitated our expeditions by his good-will as Director of the Imperial Ottoman Museum. In this connection we cannot omit to mention those patrons of science whose generosity provided the means of carrying out these expeditions, namely, the Right Hon. Sir John T. Brunner, Bart., M.P., the late Dr. Ludwig Mond, Mr. Ralph Brocklebank, Mr. Martyn Kennard, and Mr. Robert Mond. These gentlemen have earned the gratitude of all those interested in the advance of knowledge; and the writer trusts sincerely that they will find within these pages something that will reward their interest in these undertakings. Mr. Hogarth and Dr. Messerschmidt are also to be thanked for the loan of several photographs, and for the facilities granted in the museums at Oxford and Berlin respectively under their control.
The brunt of the proof-reading has again been borne by the Rev. W. Macgregor, and Mrs. R. Gurney has also helped again in the revision of a considerable portion of the manuscript previous to printing; in this connection the help and kindly criticism of colleagues at Liverpool is not forgotten. Finally to Professor Sayce the writer’s warmest gratitude is due, both for his first lessons in Hittite lore, and for the constant stimulus of suggestion and correction given unstintingly from the funds of his knowledge. The pleasant labour of the best part of two years devoted to the preparation of this volume has been amply rewarded by many delightful days spent with him amid the Past in Oxford and Edinburgh and on the Nile.
J. G.
Meroë, February 7, 1910.