writing_system hittite language
Mitanni ( ___MASK25___ Their sphere of influence is shown in Hurrian place names , personal names and the spread through Syria and the Levant of a distinct pottery type . Hittite ( natively nešili `` ( in the language ) of Neša '' ) , also known as Nesite and Neshite , is the extinct language once spoken by the Hittites , an Indo - European people who created an empire centred on Hattusa in north - central Anatolia ( modern - day Turkey ) . The language is attested in ___MASK45___ , in records from the 16th ( Anitta text ) down to the 13th century BC , with isolated Hittite loanwords and numerous personal names appearing in an Old Assyrian context from as early as the 20th century BC . By the Late Bronze Age , Hittite had started losing ground to its close relative Luwian . It appears that in the 13th century BC Luwian was the most widely spoken language in the Hittite capital Hattusa . After the collapse of the Hittite Empire as a part of the more general Bronze Age collapse , Luwian emerged in the Early Iron Age as the main language of the so - called Neo - Hittite states in southwestern Anatolia and northern Syria . Hittite is the earliest attested Indo - European language . It is the best known of the Anatolian branch . The Hittites were an Ancient Anatolian people who established an empire centered on Hattusa in north - central Anatolia around 1600 BC . This empire reached its height during the mid - 14th century BC under Suppiluliuma I , when it encompassed an area that included most of Anatolia as well as parts of the northern Levant and Upper Mesopotamia . Between the 15th and 13th centuries BC the Hittite Empire came into conflict with the Egyptian Empire , Middle Assyrian Empire and the empire of the Mitanni for control of the Near East . The Assyrians eventually emerged as the dominant power and annexed much of the Hittite empire , while the remainder was sacked by Phrygian newcomers to the region . After c . 1180 BC , during the Bronze Age collapse , the Hittites splintered into several independent " Neo - Hittite " city - states , some of which survived until the 8th century BC before succumbing to the Neo - Assyrian Empire .