The Cuneiform inscriptions and the Old Testament; - The Search For ...

92 THE CUNEIFORM INSCRIPTIONS AND THE 0. T.
of (along with those of the Syrians) ; comp. 2 Sam. XXIV. 6,
where following Thenius, Hitzig, Wellhausen and Ed. Meyer
we should read "K'np D^nnn y^ii ^N "into the land of the
Hethites, to Kadesh" (on the Orontes). Also the Assyrian
inscriptions frequently make reference to a country (m§,t)
Hatti, Hatti; rarely Hati (Del.), as well as of a people,
the Chattaeans Hattai (with variations) or Hethites. We
come across the name as far back as in the cylinder-
inscription of Tiglath-Pileser I (about 11 OO B.C.) and
after that as late as the time of Asarhaddon. After as
lOSw^ell as in the reign of his son and successor Asnrbanipal
it disappears. From a comparison of the inscriptions now
under consideration it appears that these Chattaeans were
settled West of the Middle Euphrates * as far as the Orontes,
and were divided into various small states and kingdoms,
among which Karkemish on the Euphrates occupied a
specially important place. The king of Karkemish is
styled on the inscriptions "king of the land of Chatti"
(Asurnasirh. III. 65 comp. line 57 ; Sargon in Layard 34,
22). It is certain that the name m§,tHatti is employed
by the Assyrians in this original sense as late as the S'*"
century B. C. As the region inhabited by the Chaldaeans
became gradually and permanently occupied by the Assyri-
ans after the time of Tiglath-Pileser II (745— 722) and
Sargon (722— 705),— the latter of whom incorporated both
the Chatti states of Karkemish (717 B. C.) and Kummuch-
Commagene (708 B. C.) into the Assyrian empire,—the name
Chatti was shifted in its application further to the West,
and we find indeed , first of all in the records of Sargon,
* IncludiDg under this term the extent from Samosata (Sumeisat)
to Barbalissus (Balis).