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The Hittite Empire was a powerful, Late Bronze Age state in Central Asia Minor, with its homeland centered around the Kizil Irmak River (classical Halys River), that flourished roughly during the period 1600-1180 BCE. For a long time, the Hittites were thought to have pioneered the use of iron for weaponry, but that notion has long been debunked (though it lives on in some textbooks). The Hittites did work "black iron" (probably meteoric iron) when black iron was a precious metal, and before carbonizing and fire quenching techniques made iron practical for weapons, and before new smelting techniques made iron relatively inexpensive compared to bronze.

The Old Testament mentions Hittites, but these are almost certainly not the ones of the Late Bronze Age empire. Most likely, they are neo-Hittites, who were remants of the old empire living in the northern Levant. On at least one occasion, the Old Testament locates "sons of Heth" south of this area. It is not certain who these Hittites might be, but it was not uncommon, at this time, to relocate entire communities as spoils of war.

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16y ago

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