THE HAMtLTON ASSOCIATION. 23 



"THE HITTITES." 



Read before the Association, November 8th, 1888, 

 BY REV. SAMUEL LYLE, B. D. 



The discovery of the lost Hittite Empire may be regarded as 

 the great historical surprise of the nineteenth century. Awakening 

 from a sleep of two thousand years, the Hittites claim to be recogni- 

 zed as a powerful, learned and warlike people. A few able critics 

 refused, on what seemed good grounds, to admit the claims put 

 forth by the friends of the discovery. Was it likely that a nation, 

 powerful almost as ancient Egypt, could be entirely lost and that no 

 trace of it had appeared for two thousand years, save a doubtful 

 reference or two in the Sacred Books of the Hebrews ? How could 

 this be, when the nation in question was linked, and that most 

 closely, to the three ancient, oriental peoples most familiar to us — the 

 Hebrews, the Egyptians, and the Assyrians? If, a priori, ideas 

 could settle the point in dispute, then we would be forced to con- 

 clude that no such people as the Hittites ever existed. But, happily, 

 we live in an age that has learned to place a high value on facts, 

 and so to use them as to unlock the mysteries of the past and 

 the present ; and, happily too, the love of truth has induced men of 

 great ability to go out to the fields once tilled by races now extinct, 

 and to dig up the relics that have thrown so much light on the his- 

 tory of the Ancient Orient. Through the labors of such men the 

 most startling results have been reached, and we are brought face to 

 face with the long lost Hittites. 



Upwards of seventy years ago Burckhardt, in his work on 

 Syria, declared that he had seen in the corner of a house of one of 

 the bazaars a stone with hieroglyphics differing from those of Egypt. 

 Many declared that Burckhardt was mistaken, and that no antiquities 

 existed in Hamah. From the nature of the case the general public 

 took no interest in finding out the truth. This state of mixed in- 

 credulity and indifference was brought to an end through the discov- 



