The Hittite cuneiform tablets from Bogazköy
Documentary heritage submitted by Turkey and recommended for inclusion in the Memory of the World Register in 2001.
The archive of cuneiform clay tablets from Bogazköy (ancient Hattusas) presents the only extant recorded material about the civilization of Hittites, one of the most powerful political organisations of the Middle East during the 2nd millennium B.C. Most of our knowledge relating to that period of history in Asia Minor and partially in the Middle East come from the cuneiform tablets found at Bogazköy. This archive that totals up nearly 25.000 tablets includes the records of social, political, commercial, military, religious, legislative and artistic lives of the era.
The archive includes tablets of Treaty of Quadesh signed between Hittites and Egypt. This well-known treaty of "eternal peace" guaranteed peace and security throughout the area.
The archive includes tablets of many literary works, chiefly of an epic and mythological character; some of the most important of these tell the story of the exploits and quarrels of the gods, which in their essential features differ little from those of other Middle Eastern peoples.
The Hittite civilisation while being linked with that of the Akkadians and Sumerians and was not free from Egyptian and Hurrian influences, it seems also that, in its turn, Hittite arts and civilization had some influences on the arts of the Eagean.