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      Hittite geographers: geographical perceptions and practices in hittite anatolia

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      Author
      Gerçek, N. İ.
      Date
      2018-05-04
      Source Title
      Journal of Ancient Near Eastern History
      Print ISSN
      2328-9554
      Electronic ISSN
      2328-9562
      Publisher
      De Gruyter
      Volume
      4
      Issue
      1-2
      Language
      English
      Type
      Article
      Item Usage Stats
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      Abstract
      Hittite archives are remarkably rich in geographical data. A diverse array of documents has yielded, aside from thousands of geographical names (of towns, territories, mountains, and rivers), detailed descriptions of the Hittite state’s frontiers and depictions of landscape and topography. Historical geography has, as a result, occupied a central place in Hittitological research since the beginnings of the field. The primary aim of scholarship in this area has been to locate (precisely) or localize (approximately) regions, towns, and other geographical features, matching Hittite geographical names with archaeological sites, unexcavated mounds, and—whenever possible—with geographical names from the classical period. At the same time, comparatively little work has been done on geographical thinking in Hittite Anatolia: how and for what purpose(s) was geographical information collected, organized, and presented? How did those who produce the texts imagine their world and their homeland, “the Land of Hatti?” How did they characterize other lands and peoples they came into contact with? Concentrating on these questions, the present paper aims to extract from Hittite written sources their writers’ geographical conceptions and practices. It is argued that the acquisition and management of geographical information was an essential component of the Hittite Empire’s administrative infrastructure and that geographical knowledge was central to the creation of a Hittite homeland.
      Keywords
      Hittite
      Hittites
      Hatti
      Historical geography
      Cosmology
      Permalink
      http://hdl.handle.net/11693/50553
      Published Version (Please cite this version)
      https://doi.org/10.1515/janeh-2017-0026
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      • Department of Archaeology 113
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