The Hittites
The Ancients
History Hit
4.7 • 4.5K Ratings
🗓️ 16 April 2026
⏱️ 59 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
What made the Hittites one of the great Bronze Age powers, and how did their empire survive on war, diplomacy and faith? Tristan Hughes is joined by Professor Elena Devecchi to uncover ancient royal intrigue, lavish festivals, the 'Thousand God', and the world’s oldest known peace treaty.
From Hattusha’s immense lion gates to secret archives and sacking Babylon, it’s a dramatic deep dive into an empire that once stretched as far as Troy.
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Presented by Tristan Hughes. Audio editor is Aidan Lonergan, the producer is Joseph Knight. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.
All music courtesy of Epidemic Sounds
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Ever wondered why the Romans were defeated in the Tudorburg forest? |
| 0:04.0 | What secrets lie buried in prehistoric Ireland? |
| 0:07.0 | Or what made Alexander truly great? |
| 0:10.0 | With a subscription to history hit, you can explore our ancient past alongside the world's leading historians and archaeologists. |
| 0:17.0 | You'll also unlock hundreds of hours of original documentaries with a brand new release every single week covering everything from the ancient world to World War II. |
| 0:26.5 | Just visit historyhit.com slash subscribe. Three thousand years ago, and the late Bronze Age world of the Near East is awash with remarkable powers. |
| 0:52.2 | You have the Babylonians and the Assyrians in Mesopotamia, the Mycenaeans in Greece, |
| 0:58.4 | the Minoans in Crete, the thriving Kingdom of Egypt along the River Nile. |
| 1:04.5 | And in central Anatolia, modern-day Turkey, was another power, a kingdom that had risen to become one of the major players |
| 1:12.7 | of the late Bronze Age, the Hittites. |
| 1:16.4 | Now, we know them as the Hittites because of their language, the oldest recorded Indo-European |
| 1:22.3 | language in the world. |
| 1:24.3 | A vast wealth of their documents have survived, giving us this fascinating insight into who |
| 1:29.8 | the Hittites were and how they ruled their empire, an empire that at its height stretched |
| 1:36.3 | from Syria to potentially as far west as Troy. |
| 1:41.8 | The Hittites ruled over a multi-ethnic empire. They themselves appear to have migrated |
| 1:47.1 | into Anatolia during the earlier Bronze Age, but when and from where exactly, we're not |
| 1:53.3 | exactly sure. It's debated. But that is one of many fascinating parts of the Hittite story |
| 1:59.2 | that we're covering today, with our guest, Dr. |
| 2:02.5 | Elena DeVecci, Associate Professor at the University of Turin. |
| 2:11.1 | Elena, it is such a pleasure to have you on the podcast today. |
| 2:14.1 | Hi, thank you very much for the invitation. And to give us a wonderful introduction to the Hittites, it's about time we covered the story |
... |
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