hittites

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hittites - Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary :

  Hittites
  Palestine and Syria appear to have been originally inhabited by
  three different tribes. (1.) The Semites, living on the east of
  the isthmus of Suez. They were nomadic and pastoral tribes. (2.)
  The Phoenicians, who were merchants and traders; and (3.) the
  Hittites, who were the warlike element of this confederation of
  tribes. They inhabited the whole region between the Euphrates
  and Damascus, their chief cities being Carchemish on the
  Euphrates, and Kadesh, now Tell Neby Mendeh, in the Orontes
  valley, about six miles south of the Lake of Homs. These
  Hittites seem to have risen to great power as a nation, as for a
  long time they were formidable rivals of the Egyptian and
  Assyrian empires. In the book of Joshua they always appear as
  the dominant race to the north of Galilee.
  
    Somewhere about the twenty-third century B.C. the Syrian
  confederation, led probably by the Hittites, arched against
  Lower Egypt, which they took possession of, making Zoan their
  capital. Their rulers were the Hyksos, or shepherd kings. They
  were at length finally driven out of Egypt. Rameses II. sought
  vengeance against the "vile Kheta," as he called them, and
  encountered and defeated them in the great battle of Kadesh,
  four centuries after Abraham. (See JOSHUA.)
  
    They are first referred to in Scripture in the history of
  Abraham, who bought from Ephron the Hittite the field and the
  cave of Machpelah (Gen. 15:20: 23:3-18). They were then settled
  at Kirjath-arba. From this tribe Esau took his first two wives
  (26:34; 36:2).
  
    They are afterwards mentioned in the usual way among the
  inhabitants of the Promised Land (Ex. 23:28). They were closely
  allied to the Amorites, and are frequently mentioned along with
  them as inhabiting the mountains of Palestine. When the spies
  entered the land they seem to have occupied with the Amorites
  the mountain region of Judah (Num. 13:29). They took part with
  the other Canaanites against the Israelites (Josh. 9:1; 11:3).
  
    After this there are few references to them in Scripture.
  Mention is made of "Ahimelech the Hittite" (1 Sam. 26:6), and of
  "Uriah the Hittite," one of David's chief officers (2 Sam.
  23:39; 1 Chr. 11:41). In the days of Solomon they were a
  powerful confederation in the north of Syria, and were ruled by
  "kings." They are met with after the Exile still a distinct
  people (Ezra 9:1; comp. Neh. 13:23-28).
  
    The Hebrew merchants exported horses from Egypt not only for
  the kings of Israel, but also for the Hittites (1 Kings 10:28,
  29). From the Egyptian monuments we learn that "the Hittites
  were a people with yellow skins and 'Mongoloid' features, whose
  receding foreheads, oblique eyes, and protruding upper jaws are
  represented as faithfully on their own monuments as they are on
  those of Egypt, so that we cannot accuse the Egyptian artists of
  caricaturing their enemies. The Amorites, on the contrary, were
  a tall and handsome people. They are depicted with white skins,
  blue eyes, and reddish hair, all the characteristics, in fact,
  of the white race" (Sayce's The Hittites). The original seat of
  the Hittite tribes was the mountain ranges of Taurus. They
  belonged to Asia Minor, and not to Syria.