Hittites: Egyptian records, translated in the 1800's, briefly noted a people called Kheta (or Khata, or Khita). But who were they? Nothing was known of them until early in the 1900's, when the capital of the Hittites was discovered in central Turkey. There, a vast collection of their official records was found. Translation proceeded rapidly. As a result, much Hittite history is now known. The Hittites were a relatively small group, but through skilled and determined military activity and state-craft over centuries, they came to dominate a region from the Aegean Sea through Syria. It was the largest empire of the Late Bronze Age. Then, mysteriously, the Hittites and the Hittite empire disappeared.
Hurrians: Like the Hittites, Hurrians were briefly mentioned in Egyptian records, but essentially nothing was known about them. With the discovery and translation of the Hittite records, and the results of archaeolgical excavation in several places in the Near East, something is now known. Hurrians occupied the mountains and valleys of eastern Turkey and northern Iraq. For a time, they were able to maintain a limited empire, and they challenged the power of the Hittites. Hurrians placed kings on the throne as far south as Jerusalem. Then, like the Hittites, traces of them vanished. Strange among the Hurrians was their leadership, which seemed to have been Indian (Asian Indian), though the Hurrians were not.
Arzawa: Hittites records frequently mention Arzawa, a land to the west. Arzawa was a a powerful state which, over centuries, contested with the Hittites for dominance in the region until finally overcome by superior Hittite military power. With the end of Hittite records, no more is heard of Arzawa. Hittite records mention other nearby people or states of the Bronze Age-Mira, Seha, Kaska, Lukka. All vanished from history but the Lukka, known in later years as Lycians.
Ahhiyawa:The Hittites wrote of Ahhiyawa, a land to the west, in the direction of Greece. Linguists have debated whether the name "Ahhiyawa" is the Hittite equivalent of the Greek term "Achaean," by which Homer referred to the Greeks. Linguists could not settle the matter but circumstantial evidence supports that identification. It appears that this is the earliest known reference to Greece, or part of it. Hittite records mention an individual from Ahhiyawa named Attarissiyas, and this is the earliest record of a Greek name. Greeks have not vanished from history, but the name of the land, Ahhiyawa, disappeared until the Hittite records were found and translated.
Trojans: Trojans, the Trojan War, and ancient Troy are well known from Homer's Iliad. However, Homer lived and composed his great works at least four hundred years after the collapse of the Bronze Age, so that the Iliad is not a contemporary record of Bronze Age Troy. Hittite records of the Bronze Age mention a land of Wilusa. which many scholars take to be Troy. Something of the Bronze Age history of Wilusa-Troy is known from Hittite records. These show that Troy was a subordinate ally of the Hittites, bound to the Hittites by treaty. The records also mention a king of Wilusa-Troy named Alaksandus. He could have been the model for Alexander (Paris) of the Iliad.
Hapiru: In Bronze Age records of Syria, Canaan, and Egypt a group referred to as Hapiru or Apiru were often mentioned. Ancient records indicate that the Hapiru were not an ethnic group in the usual sense, but a group of the socially displaced who banded togther for survival-an ancient version of Robin Hood's "merry men." Hapiru hired out as mercenary soldiers, or fought opportunistically in their own interest, occasionally attacking Canaanite cities. The name Hapiru suggested the name "Hebrew" or "Hebrews" to scholars, and though the connection is now rejected, it cannot be entirely ruled out.
Shasu: Egyptian records tell of the Shasu. They are largely herders of flocks, living in and moving through the semi-arid lands of Syria, Canaan, and Sinai. Egyptian illustrations often show them in scenes of combat, and as captives. Some scholars believe that certain of these Shasu were the forefathers of ancient Israel, earliest Israelites, still in the partly nomadic phase as described of the biblical Patriarchs.
Philistines: At the end of the BronzeAge, invaders came by sea and attacked Egypt, or landed on the nearby coast of Canaan. They were the "Peoples of the Sea," and their leaders were the Philistines. Egyptian reliefs show them, and the Egyptian report of the Philistines is earlier than the earliest biblical record of them. The origin of the Philistines is a mystery. Philistines settled on the coast of Canaan, and were for a time a distinct people, but eventually merged invisibly into the local population.
