Explorations in Bible lands during the 19th century - H. V. Hilprecht

790 EXPLORATIONS IN BIBLE LANDS
sand years antedating our era. At this period there were
only petty " Hittite " states. The inscriptions lead us to
suppose that the conquest of Syria and the district to the
north, with the apparent exception of Karkemish, in all
probability proceeded from Cilicia, for several distinct kings
of this group call themselves Cilicians, and Cilicia is spoken
of in several of their inscriptions, even in cases when an
actual connection with Cilicia is out of the question. The
inscriptions prove the Cilicians to have been a subdivision
of the " Hittites." Sargon of Assyria (722-705 b. c.) put
an end to the " Hittite " rule over the country east of the
Taurus.
At what date the Hittites or their kindred first appeared
in the district west of the Taurus remains still unsettled.
From considerations stated above it does not seem impossible
that the so-called Pseudo-Sesostris in
the pass of Karabel
near the coast of the i^gean Sea dates from before
1200 b. c. Somewhere about 850 b. c. and later there flourished
in Cappadocia a kingdom, perhaps called Khamani,
the kings of which have left us the magnificent Hittite sculptures
and inscriptions at
Boghazkoi.
When the universal empire of the Assyrians, which had
absorbed the petty " Hittite " states, w r as shattered to pieces,
or perhaps a little earlier, the (i Hittite " nation lifted its head
once more. It was led by Cilician kings under whom, perhaps
800 years before or even earlier, it had settled southeast
and north from the mount of Amanus. About 600
b. c. we find a " Hittite" king of Cilicia, the king of the
Bulgharmaden inscription, whose dominions, besides Cilicia
proper, south of the Taurus, include Cataonia to
the west,
Khate to the east of the Taurus, and the territory of Karkemish
on the Euphrates to the east. He styles himself
perhaps also supreme lord of the Lycaonians, just as he
does of the " Hittites." Another king of Cilicia has left
an inscription found in ancient Lycaonia in which he per-