"The Hittites came to power in the first half of the Second Millennium B.C., in the earlier part of the Late Bronze Age. In the 14th century forces of the Hittite Empire clashed with Egypt for control of North Syria. The Hittite capital was Hattusha, some 50 km to the northwest of Kerkenes. The Hittite Empire collapsed sometime after 1200 B.C. but attempted to re-established itself at Carchemish on the Euphrates River. In the 9th century B.C. Neo-Hittite states emerged on the Central Anatolian Plateau and in North Syria. These Neo-Hittite Kingdoms appear to have all vanished by the 6th century, but on the Central Anatolian Plateau we are very poorly informed about events and cultures after the end of the 8th century when inscriptions in hieroglyphic Luwian (an Indo-European language used by the Hittites for public inscriptions) cease.
