= Hout Th.P.J. van den, Elites and the Social Stratification of the
Ruling Class in the Hittite Kingdom, in: HHE 313-354. [Ch. 7; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110661781-008. Abstract: Over the course of its more than 400 years of recorded history, the Late
Bronze Age Hittite kingdom in central Anatolia was largely in the hands of one
extended family. Evidence suggests that the elite sought to tightly control their
and their family’s hold on power through a mix of nepotism on the one hand
and favoritism of not blood-related individuals on the other. This essay tries to
identify the elites in Hittite history during the Old and New Kingdoms using witness
lists and glyptic material and what the ratio between that nepotism and favoritism
was. It analyzes what Hittite visual culture might contribute to the picture
of elites and the importance of language and literacy for who belonged to
the elite and who didn’t.] Neue Abfrage | New Search
