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Chapter 4 - First Writing in Hattusa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 December 2020

Theo van den Hout
Affiliation:
University of Chicago
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Summary

An overview of all documents (originals) that were written until late in the sixteenth century BC shows that besides occasional experimenting Akkadian was the predominant language of writing. The shift to writing in the vernacular, that is, Hittite, came slowly and received a decisive push in the second half of the sixteenth century. The Hittite king Telipinu (ca. 1525 BC), the probable driving force behind the collection of the Hittite Laws, may have been instrumental in this development. From now on Hittite was the language of all written communication. Akkadian was only for diplomatic purposes and sometimes for prestige on seals and in titulature.

Type
Chapter
Information
A History of Hittite Literacy
Writing and Reading in Late Bronze-Age Anatolia (1650–1200 BC)
, pp. 57 - 69
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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