Anitta (king)

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Anitta
DolchAnitta.jpg
Bronze dagger of king Anitta
Born
Anitta
PredecessorPithana
Parent(s)King Pithana[1]

Anitta, son of Pithana, was a king of Kussara, a city that has yet to be identified. He is the earliest known ruler to compose a text in the Hittite language.

His high official, or rabi simmiltim, was named Peruwa.[2]

Biography[]

Anitta, as per middle chronology, reigned ca. 1740-1725 BC,[3] or alternatively in the 17th century BC (short chronology) and is the author of the Anitta text (CTH 1.A, edited in StBoT 18, 1974),[4] the oldest known text in the Hittite language (and the oldest known Indo-European text altogether). This text seems to represent a cuneiform record of Anitta's inscriptions at Kanesh, perhaps compiled by Hattusili I, one of the earliest Hittite kings of Hattusa.

The Anitta text indicates that Anitta's father conquered Neša (Kanesh, Kültepe), which became an important city within the kingdom of Kussara.[5] During his own reign, Anitta defeated Huzziya, the last recorded king of Zalpuwa, and the Hattic king Piyusti and then conquered his capital at the site of the future Hittite capital of Hattusa. He then destroyed the city, sowed the ground with weeds,[6] and laid a curse on the site.[7]

Anitta's name appears on an inscription on a dagger found in Kültepe and also, together with the name of his father, on various Kültepe texts, as well as in later Hittite tradition.

See also[]

  • History of the Hittites

Notes[]

  1. ^ "Reign of Anitta", Hittites
  2. ^ Klaas R Veenhof (2008). Mesopotamia: The Old Assyrian Period. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. p. 145.
  3. ^ Kloekhorst, Alwin, (2020). "The Authorship of the Old Hittite Palace Chronicle (CTH 8): A Case for Anitta", in Journal of Cuneiform Studies, Volume 72 (2020).
  4. ^ Didact, DE: Uni. Frankfurt.
  5. ^ Kuhrt, Amélie (1995). The Ancient Near East, Volume I. London and New York: Routledge. pp. 226–27. ISBN 0-415-16763-9.
  6. ^ S. P. B. Durnford, J. R. Akeroyd: Anatolian marashanha and the many uses of Fennel. In: Anatolian Studies. London 55.2005, 1-13. ISSN 0066-1546
  7. ^ William James Hamblin (2006). Warfare in the Ancient Near East to 1600 BC. Routledge. p. 293..

External links[]

Preceded by
Pithana 		Hittite king
ca. 17th century BC 		Unknown
Next known title holder:
Tudhaliya (?)
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