690 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1908. 



western Asia. It is obvious that this " Hittite " population could not 

 have remained for a millenium and more as a single united people. 

 The question is, What is the relation of our Chatti of Subbiluliuma's 

 dynasty and their language to those conquerors? 



In the first place, it is clear that we have here to do with two dif- 

 ferent languages, as different as Latin and Greek. The " Mitani " 

 tongue must be considered as the earlier one in western Asia ; it is the 

 language of the older strata of the migration. The question is only, 

 Was it the language of the " Chatti " conquerors at the end of the 

 first Babylonian dynasty, or did these Chatti already speak the 

 " Hittite " language ? This question can not here be definitely decided. 

 For the present it may be stated that in the Assyrian inscriptions 

 Mitani is considered as the language of Mesopotamia, and as thus 

 having a sure footing within the narrower sphere of Babylonian 

 civilization, while the Tel el-Amarna documents attest to its use also 

 in Palestine. Taking this evidence in connection with the new infor- 

 mation it may now be stated as a certainty that before the Tel el- 

 Amarna period a people, such as may be comprised under the name 

 of " Hittite," and which was identical with the one until now best 

 known by the name of "" Mitani," spread as far as the southern borders 

 of Palestine. 



From this conclusion it follows that we have to count with a very 

 considerable non-Semitic layer in the population of Syria over which 

 the Israelitish or " Hebrew " layer was later superimposed. The dif- 

 ferentiation of the component parts of this " Hittite " layer can only 

 be undertaken after a more thorough investigation of the language of 

 Mitani and the " Hittite." 



In the accounts of conditions after Tushratta's death the Charri 

 play a part. There is no question that they were a population of 

 Mitani, forming the ruling or aristocratic class. By the side of this 

 there is also a people of Charri, evidently closely related to that of 

 Mitani, having its own kings, thus forming a state by itself. The 

 simple explanation would be that a great Charri conquest took place, 

 which concerned Mesopotamia and the adjacent countries. From 

 their royal family Tushratta became king of Mitani, thus attempt- 

 ing to support his power by the part of the population that was older 

 than the Charri (but likewise " Hittite "). That would have been the 

 usual course of things under such conditions. 



As to the situation of the state of Charri, it must be placed in the 

 immediate neighborhood of Mitani, in Mesopotamia, rather north- 

 ward than southward — that is, in the direction of Armenia. But 

 here we recall that the Egyptian accounts also mention a country of 

 Cha-ru, and both names can not well be separated. In these records, 

 however, Cha-ru was taken as the designation of southern Palestine, 

 which would carry the name a long distance away. This difficulty is 



