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.