Geschichte des hethitischen Reiches.

• Author: BECKMAN, GARY
• Position: Review

Geschichte des hethitischen Reiches. By HORST KLENGEL, with the assistance of FIORELLA IMPARATI, VOLKERT HAAS, and THEO P. J. VAN DEN HOUT. Handbuch der Orientalistik, vol. 1.34. Leiden: E. J. BRILL, 1999. Pp. xv + 428, 63 plates. $152.

Two narrative histories of the Hittite state have recently appeared, the first by Trevor Bryce in 1998, and now this book by Horst Kiengel and collaborators. Bryce's The Kingdom of the Hittites is well researched, full of interesting interpretations of events, accessible to the general reader, and a boon for teachers of ancient history in anglophone universities--see my evaluation in Bryn Mawr Classical Reviews (April 18, 1999). As befits a constituent of the Handbuch der Orientalistik, the work under consideration here addresses a more specialized audience, primarily researchers concerned with the history of the cuneiform cultures, although it should prove worthwhile for Classicists as well.

Horst Klengel is the dean of Hittite historians, having dedicated himself to the study of the history of Hatti and its empire for more than forty years, and this Geschichte presents his mature reflections on the rise, growth, and collapse of the Hittite polity. He himself wrote the major part of the book--the first five chapters that discuss the late prehistory of Anatolia and the events of the second millennium in this region. A final chapter dealing with the structure of the Hittite state was composed by the recognized authority on this topic, Fiorella Imparati, and translated by the primary author into German. Klengel also generously credits Theo van den Hout and Volkert Haas, who commented on a first draft.

Following an introduction sketching the geographical and ecological setting of Hittite history and the progress of Hittitology from its birth in the late nineteenth century, five chapters treat the origins of Hatti, the political events of the Old, Middle, and New Kingdoms, and the disappearance of the Hittite realm at the close of the Bronze Age. The discussion of each period or reign is prefaced by a careful enumeration of the primary sources, contemporary and retrospective, Hittite and foreign, textual and archaeological, on which it is based. Secondary sources are listed in a select bibliography at the end of the book, organized by topic and ordered chronologically within each section to allow the reader to follow the course of scholarly discussion. This bibliography takes account of material available as of...