Page:History of Art in Sardinia, Judæa, Syria and Asia Minor Vol 2.djvu/285

 General Characteristics of Hittite Civilization. 267 towards the sea ; whose more fastidious needs were satisfied in full by Punic traders. Hence the uplands of central Asia Minor nor Cappadocia were interpenetrated by the ferment and spiritual life which obtained in regions in almost daily contact with the outer world. The Naharana was more favourably placed ; for on the Mediterranean the narrow strip of Coelo-Syria was the only barrier between it and the delta or at least the Egyptian possessions ; whilst, on the other side, Chaldaea could be reached through the Euphrates. No matter the way the Hittites took, or the purpose for which they left their homes, they everywhere met inscriptions, strongholds, palaces, temples, and sculptures. Some of these, the statue of Ramses, for example, may have been carried off in one of their expeditions in Southern Syria, and set up as a trophy of their successful arms.^ Nor was this all ; trading caravans brought them high-class industrial productions in vogue among neigh- bouring peoples ; be it textiles, clay and metal vessels, jewellery, weapons, and objects of all kinds. Thus enframed, stimulated and aided by the innumerable instances they beheld around them, the Hittites, in undisputed possession of a vast country, traversed by great and countless streams, in the full consciousness of their power, awoke to the need, with all the eagerness of a young vigorous nation, of procuring those outward signs of refined life, the value and importance of which were brought home to them by easy and frequent comparison. As a matter of course, they never reached the high level which had been attained by their more favoured neighbours, whose civilization and richer past had placed them on a widely different platform. Nevertheless, they may be said to have succeeded in all essentials ; in that they formed themselves into a powerful federation, with such means of defence as to compel the great Eastern world to treat with them on a footing of parity. It was on the Orontes, therefore, and not on the Halys, that the Hittites gathered themselves together into a first nucleus, and ere long developed into a mighty nation. Their system of writing, peculiar style of dress, mode of warfare, in fact, all those habits which distinguish one people from another were then elaborated. Then, too, were aroused the restless spirit and need for action which seem to be inseparable from young blood, whether of individuals or communities, at that supreme moment of their life when bud- ding youth suddenly awakes to the full strength of manhood, impel- ' Maspero, Hist. Anc des Pfuples de C Orient, 4* edition, p. 224.