city state · Anatolia and the Levant

Hattum

2000 BCE – 1730 BCE (approx.) · capital Hattus

Hattum, the Hattian city-state on the site of later Hattusa, cursed and destroyed by Anitta before it rose again as the Hittite capital.

Origins

Hattus was a native Hattian town on a rocky ridge near modern Boğazkale in central Anatolia. By the early 2nd millennium BCE it was the seat of a local king and hosted a small trading quarter of merchants from Assur, part of the network centred on Kanesh.

Rule and society

Little is known of its government beyond Old Assyrian letters and the later Hittite tradition. Its people spoke Hattic, a language unrelated to Hittite or Semitic tongues, and their gods, such as the sun goddess of Arinna, were later absorbed into Hittite religion.

Decline and legacy

Around 1730 BCE Anitta of Kussara took the city after its king Piyusti was defeated, razed it and sowed it with weeds, cursing any king who resettled it. A century later Hattusili I did exactly that, making Hattusa the capital of the Hittite Empire.

Few sources survive for this state; details are uncertain.

Connections (1)

  • Hattum was conquered by Kussara1730 BCE

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Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Hattum. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/hattum
MLA
“Hattum.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/hattum. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Hattum.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/hattum.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Hattum’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/hattum (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻