Hittites and Anatolian Ethnic Diversity 135importance, lying as it did astride major routes linking Anatolia with the kingdoms of
northern Syria.
For a time, Kizzuwatna became subject to Mitanni, in the fifteenth century, and it
was then no doubt that a strong Hurrian presence was established in the region. Hur-
rian elements were to persist in Kizzuwatna long after the Hittite king Suppiluliuma I
(ca. 1350–1322) destroyed the Mitannian Empire, and indeed until the Hittite Empire’s
end. More generally, Hurrian elements came to permeate many aspects of Hittite culture,
most notably in the fields of literature, mythology, art, and religion. The famous Kumarbi
epic cycle was a Hurrian literary creation preserved in the archives of the Hittite capital,
and many of the features of Hurrian religion were incorporated into Hittite religious cult
practice, visually represented in Hurrian-style iconography. This is most evident in the
sculptures of the Hittite rock sanctuary at Yazılıkaya, located a kilometer east of Hat-
tusa. The walls of the sanctuary’s rock-chambers were embellished with reliefs, the most
important group of which consists of two files of deities, male on the left and female
on the right (with one exception in each case), apparently approaching each other. It is
clear from the arrangement of the figures and the names associated with them (written
in Luwian hieroglyphs) that the Hurrian pantheon of deities is here represented. Hur-
rian influence on Hittite culture becomes particularly marked in the final century of the
Late Bronze Age, following the marriage of the future king Hattusili III to a Hurrian
woman Puduhepa, daughter of a priest in Lawazantiya. Already before Hattusili’s reign,
a number of royal family members had Hurrian alternative names—thus, the first Hittite
viceroy at Carchemish, Piyassili, son of Suppiluliuma I, was also known by the Hurrian
name Sharri-Kushuh; Hattusili’s predecessor on the Hittite throne, Mursili III, is most
commonly referred to by his Hurrian name Urhi-Teshub; and the last clearly attested
viceroy at Carchemish was called Talmi-Teshub.
The Homeland’s Cultural and Ethnic Mix
The Hittites showed a great capacity for absorbing into their civilization a wide range of
cultural elements from other lands. One of their most important foreign acquisitions was
the technology of writing. Literacy in the Hittite world began with the introduction of
the cuneiform script into the Hittite administration, probably initially by Syrian scribes
hired or taken prisoner during one of the campaigns conducted into Syria by Hattusili I
(ca. 1650–1620). Very likely, such scribes were instrumental in setting up a local scribal
profession. Training for the profession involved learning Akkadian, the internationallin-
gua francaof the Late Bronze Age, and to a lesser extent the Sumerian language and
perhaps other languages, as well as developing literacy in the “Hittite” (Nesite) language.
A study of the classical Mesopotamian texts such as the Epic of Gilgamesh was incorpo-
rated into the scribal training program, thus providing one of the means by which the
great works of Mesopotamian literature were introduced into the Hittite world.
The importation of doctors, ritualists, and sculptors from Egypt and Babylonia
undoubtedly enriched the cultural and ethnic mix of the Hittite society, particularly in its
upper echelons. However, by far the largest number of human imports into the Hittite
world were the transportees—“booty-people” who became part of the spoils of Hittite
military campaigns. Many of the victims of these campaigns were transplanted from their