FIGS. 47 AND 48.
REPRESENTATIONS OF HITTITES IN EGYPTIAN SCULPTURE.
The two Figures are parts of the same scene from a relief found at Karnak, representing the introduction of Asiatic ambassadors by an Egyptian prince to Rameses II. The bearded Semites are readily to be distinguished from their Hittite colleagues, clean-shaven and with their long plaits of hair, or pig-tails, hanging down the back.
(After Meyer.)
Until the discovery of the documents at Boghaz Keui, it had only been possible to deduce the existence of the Hittites from the mark they had left in the records of Egypt and Assyria; and at that time it was not even certain whether we might regard as their work the hieroglyphic rock-inscriptions, which are scattered over a great part of Asia Minor. But it is now possible to supplement our material from native sources, and to trace the gradual extension of their power by both conquest and diplomacy. They were a virile race, and their strongly marked features may be still seen, not only on their own rock-sculptures, but also in Egyptian reliefs beside those of other Asiatics.[28] In facial type, too, they are quite distinct, for the nose, though prominent and slightly curved, is not very fleshy, mouth and chin are small, and the forehead recedes abruptly, with the hair drawn back from it and falling in one, or possibly in two plaits, or pig-tails, on the shoulders.[29] It is still not certain to which of the great families of nations they belonged. The suggestion has been made that their language has certain Indo-European characteristics, but for the present it is safer to regard them as an indigenous race of Asia Minor.[30] Their facial type in any case suggests comparison as little with Aryan as with Semitic stock.
FIG. 49.
HITTITE FOOT-SOLDIERS AT THE BATTLE OF KADESH.
The figure illustrates the facial type of the Hittite, with his prominent and slightly curved nose and strongly receding brow.
(After Meyer.)
Their civilization was strongly influenced by that of Babylonia, perhaps through the medium of Assyrian trading settlements, which were already established in Cappadocia in the second half of the third millennium. From these early Semitic immigrants, or their successors, they borrowed the clay tablet and the cuneiform system of writing. But they continued to use their own picture-characters for monumental records; and even in the later period, when they came into direct contact with the Assyrian empire, their art never lost its individual character. Some of the most elaborate of their rock-sculptures still survive in the holy sanctuary at Yasili Kaya, not far from Boghaz Keui. Here on the rock-face, in a natural fissure of the mountain, are carved the figures of their deities, chief among them the great Mother-goddess of the Hittites.