jjares reviewed Hattusa: The History and Legacy of the Ancient Hittites? Capital City on + 3275 more book reviews
Recently, I decided to do something different. I read the three books listed below* and decided to compare them. They are each about the Hittites; I've provided a separate review of each book (on its particular page). This book also talks about the Hittites but looks at it from a framework of their capital, Hattusa. I read the books in the order listed and within a span of about 4 days. Much of the information offered was similar, but each had a point-of-view that differed.
* (1) Hittites: A History from Beginning to End (Mesopotamia History Book 5) -- Hourly History
(2) The Hittites: The History and Legacy of the Bronze Age's Forgotten Empire -- Charles Rivers Editors
(3) Hattusa: The History and Legacy of the Ancient Hittites' Capital City -- Charles River Editors
I don't know if the reading order affected my view of things. However, I found this last one to be the most interesting. This book explained the WHY of the Hittites. I knew they were a warlike people; this book explains how they built their capital to stand forever with incredible aspects that made the capital impervious to anyone trying to dominate them. They built their capital away from oceans and not located near a river. They were the mightiest warriors of their age.
Just the explanation of their water system makes them incredibly resourceful and astounding engineers. The Hittites were an Indo-European speaking civilization surrounded by an ocean of Afro-Asiatic and Semitic dynasties and tribes. Many of the photographs and drawings used in Charles River's "The Hittites" book are the same; that does not make them less valuable because they are perfect to explain the texts.
The Hittites were an unknown civilization until the early 1900s. There are only minor references to them in the Bible. This book explains the very difficult time the archaeologists had in trying to decipher the cuneiform writings.
What was so magical about this book is that the writing was exceptionally clear and took the reader from the discovery of the cuneiform writings and archaeology digs to a clear explanation of the capital. Then the workings of the people were included and finally the history of the Hittites. Utter perfection!
* (1) Hittites: A History from Beginning to End (Mesopotamia History Book 5) -- Hourly History
(2) The Hittites: The History and Legacy of the Bronze Age's Forgotten Empire -- Charles Rivers Editors
(3) Hattusa: The History and Legacy of the Ancient Hittites' Capital City -- Charles River Editors
I don't know if the reading order affected my view of things. However, I found this last one to be the most interesting. This book explained the WHY of the Hittites. I knew they were a warlike people; this book explains how they built their capital to stand forever with incredible aspects that made the capital impervious to anyone trying to dominate them. They built their capital away from oceans and not located near a river. They were the mightiest warriors of their age.
Just the explanation of their water system makes them incredibly resourceful and astounding engineers. The Hittites were an Indo-European speaking civilization surrounded by an ocean of Afro-Asiatic and Semitic dynasties and tribes. Many of the photographs and drawings used in Charles River's "The Hittites" book are the same; that does not make them less valuable because they are perfect to explain the texts.
The Hittites were an unknown civilization until the early 1900s. There are only minor references to them in the Bible. This book explains the very difficult time the archaeologists had in trying to decipher the cuneiform writings.
What was so magical about this book is that the writing was exceptionally clear and took the reader from the discovery of the cuneiform writings and archaeology digs to a clear explanation of the capital. Then the workings of the people were included and finally the history of the Hittites. Utter perfection!
