The Hittites were an ancient Anatolian people who established an empire centred on Hattusa in north-central Anatolia around 1600 BCE. This empire reached its height during the mid-14th century BC under Suppiluliuma I, when it encompassed an area that included most of Asia Minor as well as parts of the northern Levant and Upper Mesopotamia.

After c. 1180 BCE, the empire came to an end during the Bronze Age collapse, splintering into several independent city-states, some of which survived until the 8th century BCE.