The tribes which settled in Anatolia at the beginning of the 2nd millenium B. C are called the Hittites. They got integrated into the highly developed civilization of the Hatti. the original inhabitants of Anatolia. The migration routes of the Hittites are still disputable but they are generally accepted to have come down to Anatolia over Caucassus. The early clay tablets of the Hittites mention a number of kings, the most important of whom has been Anitta, who had chosen Kültepe to build his capital. The Hittites founded their empire in Cappadocia but expanded it to such an extent, that they conquered Aleppo and Babylonia, and overthrew the Hammurabi Dynasty of Babylonia. As a result of their expansion, they established close ties with the local peoples of Mesopotamia and Syria.
The strength of the Hittite Empire reached its peak in the 15th and 14th centuries B.C. This was an epoch when the lands of Syria and Palestine turned out to be the battle ground of the wars between the Hittites and the Egyptians. It finally came to an end with the war of Kadesh and the peace treaty following it, which was signed by the Hittite king Hattusilis III and the Egyptian pharaoh Rameses II in 1286 B.C. The Hittite Empire was conquered by the ” sea tribes” coming from Europe in the 12th century B.C and a period of social tumult began. One of these warlike tribes was the Phyrigians who founded a state and stopped the political unrest in Anatolia.
