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Document Details : Title: On Luwians and Hittites Author(s): SINGER, I. Journal: Bibliotheca Orientalis Volume: 62 Issue: 5-6 Date: september-december 2005 Pages: 430-451 DOI: 10.2143/BIOR.62.5.2011734 Abstract : 'History is written by the victors' is well demonstrated in ancient Anatolia. Most authorities would agree that Luwian was spoken by at least as many people as Hittite, yet books on the Hittites can easily fill up a library, whereas the reviewed monograph is the first to be entirely dedicated to the Luwians (except for dictionaries). Two ponderous circumstances have teamed together to create this disproportional picture, one inherent, the other accidental. For much of their common history the Hittites dominated the Luwian-speaking areas of Anatolia and, as a great power, they left behind extensive archives fitting their stature. The effects of this political disparity are further intensified by the fortuitousness of discovery. Not a single tablet was found as yet in the vast territories in which Luwian was spoken (as the main language). To be sure, there must be cuneiform tablets buried in the major sites of western Anatolia, since letters sent from there have been found in Hattuša. |
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