History written the way it should be
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Trevor Bryce achieves the near impossible here - he weaves a coherent, detailed and dramatic history of the Hittite empire out of the fragmentary available base of information. It is rare to find a book that is so readable without sacrificing standards of scholarship. I particularly admired the manner in which Bryce was prepared to take a view on the numerous controversies whilst providing the reader with a good understanding (through endnotes) of the nature of the where scholarly dispute exists. Detailed references then allow the interested reader to delve into the academic details.
I would heartily recommend this book for those with an interest in the Ancient Near East and Bronze Age civilisation. It also provides fascinating background and context for those with an interest in the historical reality underpinning Homer's tale of the Trojan War.
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A great read about a forgotten people worth getting to know!
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A stunning presentation of the Hittites and their civilization, which looks at their history through their own words and in the light of their contemporaries. Trevor Bryce has previously published books about the records of the early Hittite Kingdom (mid 17th to 15th century BC) and also of the Lycians and their Late Bronze Age antecedents the Lukka people. Here he has broadened the canvas to present a largely unknown civilization that had a unique culture and became one of the great powers of the Late Bronze Age in the ancient Middle East. Speakers of the earliest Indo-European language (before Sanskrit and Latin), the Hittites also were the mediators between Mesopotamian culture and that of the Mycenaean Greeks. In this book we see the beginnings of the kingdom c. 1650 BC centred on the ancient capital Hattusa, to its apogee and disintegration from numerous pressures internal and external at the turn of the 2nd millennium BC. Plus we see its continuation in the Neo-Hittite states that lasted up until their destruction under the expansion of Assyria by 705 BC. Written with great style, with plenty of translations, it is excellent!
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