Hattians

The Hattians were an ancient people who inhabited the land of Hatti (present-day central Anatolia, Turkey). The group was documented at least as early as the empire of Sargon of Akkad (ca. 2300 BC), until it was gradually absorbed ca. 2000–1700 BC by the Indo-European Hittites, who became identified with the "land of Hatti".

As the Hattians did not have a written language, scholars rely on indirect sources or statements by other peoples. Hattian leaders probably used scribes who wrote in Akkadian to conduct business with Assyria. From the 21st to the mid-18th centuries BC, Assyria established colonies in Hatti, such as at Kanesh. Scholars have long assumed that the predominant population of the region of Anatolia "in the third millennium was an indigenous pre-Indo-European group called the Hattians."

The oldest name for Anatolia, "Land of the Hatti", was found on Mesopotamian cuneiform tablets from the period of Sargon the Great of Akkad ca. 2350–2150 BC: on those tablets Assyrian-Akkadian traders implored King Sargon for help. This appellation continued to exist for about 1500 years until 630 BC, as stated in Assyrian chronicles. According to later Hittite documents, Sargon the Great had fought with the Hatti king Nurdaggal of Burushanda, while Sargon's successor Naram-Sin of Akkad had battled Pamba, king of Hatti and 16 other confederates.

The Hattians spoke Hattic, a non-Indo-European language of uncertain affiliation. Hattic is now believed by some scholars to be related to the Northwest Caucasian language group. Many Northwest Caucasian (Adygean) family names have prefixes like "Hath" or "Hatti", and one of the well known Adygean tribes has the name "Hattico" (in the meaning of "HattiSon") . Trevor Bryce writes:

Evidence of a 'Hattic' civilisation is provided by the remnants of one of the non-Indo-European languages found in the later Hittite archives. The language is identified in several of the texts in which it appears by the term hattili- '(written) in the language of Hatti.' The few texts that survive are predominantly religious or cultic in character. They provide us with the names of a number of Hattic deities, as well as Hattic personal and place-names.

The use of the word "Proto-Hittite" to refer to Hattians is inaccurate. The Hittites were an Indo-European people,linguistically distinct from the Hattians. However, the term "Land of Hatti" was so ingrained that the Hittites continued to use it when referring to their own country. The Hattians eventually merged with people, who spoke Indo-European languages like Hittite, Luwian and Palaic.

The Hattians were organised in feudal city-states and small kingdoms or principalities. These cities were well organized and ruled as theocratic principalities.