The legendary, and partly mythological, rise of the Hittite kingdom out of the mess of the warring kingdoms of Anatolia is our subject today. Quite a few intertwined stories lead up to our first properly Hittite King, Hattusili I, and we will hear about famous figures such as the Queen of Kanesh, Anitta, and Labarna and the will stars align to allow one kingdom to rise above all the others.
Kanesh is also sometimes called Nesa. Hattusa is sometimes called Hattus. I am not completely sure how much of this is the old way of doing things vs new and more correct ways among modern scholars, and how much represents individual cities having multiple names across different ethnic groups. I am going with the most common names for each, for sake of simplicity. I think it may have to do with case endings in the Nesite language, but still, I have gone with the most common versions.
Oldest Stories 