Most people in Hittite society did not live in a town or city but in small village communities that were largely self-sufficient. Each village had its own area of agricultural land, which was separated from the land of other nearby villages by tracts of fallow land. The villagers grew their crops and pastured their animals on the land belonging to their village, most of which was held in common.
Some of the inhabitants of a village might not be native Hittites but people who had been relocated from conquered regions. These new arrivals were settled on Hittite land and helped to increase the productivity of the village. There would also be some craftsmen living in the village, and they might hold individual plots of land on lease. In addition to their services as craftsmen, they were required to spend time working on community projects such as digging irrigation channels and sinking wells.
Village life was governed by a body of senior members of the community, or elders. The elders were responsible for maintaining law and order in the village and for protecting any strangers who arrived on village land. An elder was usually the head of a household and as such had the power to give his daughters away in marriage.
As well as producing enough food to feed themselves, the villagers had to pay regular taxes to the central government. Native-born Hittite citizens also had to serve a term of military duty when required.
Lions were popular subjects for Hittite sculptors. This is one of several surviving statues of the animal.
Dancing, wearing animal skins and hiding their faces behind masks. Other reliefs show more scenes from day-to-day life, such as the king speaking to his vizier, with his hand resting on the vizier’s shoulder, and a queen carrying a small prince on her arm, with the prince leading a tame ox by a rope.
World History
