Carved marble sheep head, Asia Minor, Old Hittite Kingdom, 2100 BC-1200 BC (?)

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Carved marble sheep head, Asia Minor, Old Hittite Kingdom, 2100 BC-1200 BC (?) Size: 52 mm x 41 mm x 24 mm Sheep were one of the first domesticated livestock in the Neolithic period, about 10,000 years ago. Archaeological data showed that domestication of sheep took place in the Middle East, in a region that included eastern and central Anatolia. Main article: Hittite mythology Hittite religion and mythology were heavily influenced by their Hattic, Mesopotamian, Canaanite, and Hurrian counterparts. In earlier times, Indo-European elements may still be clearly discerned. Storm gods were prominent in the Hittite pantheon. Tarhunt (Hurrian's Teshub) was referred to as 'The Conqueror', 'The king of Kummiya', 'King of Heaven', 'Lord of the land of Hatti'. He was chief among the gods and his symbol is the bull. As Teshub he was depicted as a bearded man astride two mountains and bearing a club. He was the god of battle and victory, especially when the conflict involved a foreign power.[88] Teshub was also known for his conflict with the serpent Illuyanka.[89] The earliest historically attested populations of Anatolia were the Hattians in central Anatolia, and Hurrians further to the east. The Hattians were an indigenous people, whose main center was the city of Hattush. Affiliation of Hattian language remains unclear, while Hurrian language belongs to a distinctive family of Hurro-Urartian languages. All of those languages are extinct relationships with indigenous languages of the Caucasus have been proposed,[37] but are not generally accepted. The region became famous for exporting raw materials. Organized trade between Anatolia and Mesopotamia started to emerge during the period of the Akkadian Empire, and was continued and intensified during the period of the Old Assyrian Empire, between the 21st and the 18th centuries BCE. Assyrian traders were bringing tin and textiles in exchange for copper, silver or gold. Cuneiform records, dated c. 20th century BCE, found in Anatolia at the Assyrian colony of Kanesh, use an advanced system of trading computations and credit lines.[38][39][40] The ancestors of the Hittites came into Anatolia between 4400 and 4100 BC, when the Anatolian language family split from (Proto)-Indo-European.[24] Recent genetic and archaeological research has indicated that Proto-Anatolian speakers arrived in this region sometime between 5000 and 3000 BC.[25] The Proto-Hittite language developed around 2100 BC,[26] and the Hittite language itself is believed to have been in use in Central Anatolia between the 20th and 12th centuries BC.[27] The Hittites are first associated with the kingdom of Kussara sometime prior to 1750 BC.[28] Hittites in Anatolia during the Bronze Age coexisted with Hattians and Hurrians, either by means of conquest or by gradual assimilation.[29][30] In archaeological terms, relationships of the Hittites to the Ezero culture of the Balkans and Maykop culture of the Caucasus had previously been considered within the migration framework.[31] Old Hittite Kingdom prior to 1400 BC, the king of the Hittites was not viewed by his subjects as a "living god" like the Pharaohs of Egypt, but rather as a first among equals.[57] Only in the later period from 1400 BC until 1200 BC did the Hittite kingship become more centralized and powerful. Also in earlier years the succession was not legally fixed, enabling "War of the Roses"-style rivalries between northern and southern branches.

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