La concezione di "mare" presso gli ittiti tra simbolo e realtà

For a civilization like that of the Hittites, developed in the Anatolian plateau from the first half of the second millennium BC, the perception of geographical spaces undoubtedly played a key role in defining the boundaries and in legitimizing political power. In particular, the perception of water space was for the Hittites, as well as for other ancient Near Eastern civilizations, an indispensable element in the definition of the geographical areas in which they exercised their jurisdiction and power. The reaching of land borders, “crossing mountains and waters”, is the expression of the ability to spread the beneficial effects of the established order over the world limits. These boundaries are shifted and extended as they are reached. Although the Hittites are rightly called “the civilization of the rocks”, the concept of sea and the knowledge of water space are not entirely alien to these people. The Hittite word for sea is well attested in various religious, mythological, historical and political texts. Research to date suggests, however, that the Hittites did not have a word for “island”. This paper will briefly review the perception of water space (symbolic or not) in the Hittite world, on the basis of cultural interferences and through the analysis of some texts.