The Hittites in the Late Bronze Age became the mightiest military power in the Ancient Near East. Yet their empire was always vulnerable to destruction by enemy forces; their Anatolian homeland occupied a remote region, with no navigable rivers; and they were cut off from the sea. Perhaps most seriously, they suffered chronic under-population and sometimes devastating plague. How, then, can the rise and triumph of this ancient imperium be explained, against seemingly insuperable odds?

In his lively and unconventional treatment of one of antiquity's most mysterious civilizations, whose history disappeared from the records over three thousand years ago, Trevor Bryce sheds fresh light on Hittite warriors as well as on the Hittites' social, religious and political culture and offers new solutions to many unsolved questions. Revealing them to have been masters of chariot warfare, who almost inflicted disastrous defeat on Rameses II at the Battle of Qadesh (1274 BCE), he shows the Hittites also to have been devout worshippers of a pantheon of storm-gods and many other gods, and masters of a new diplomatic system which bolstered their authority for centuries.

Drawing authoritatively both on texts and on ongoing archaeological discoveries, while at the same time offering imaginative reconstructions of the Hittite world, the author argues that while the development of a warrior culture was essential, not only for the Empire's expansion but for its very survival, this by itself was not enough. The range of skills demanded of the Hittite ruling class went way beyond mere military prowess, while there was much more to the Hittites themselves than just skill in warfare. This engaging volume reveals the Hittites in their full complexity, including the festivals they celebrated; the temples and palaces they built; their customs and superstitions; the crimes they committed; their social hierarchy, from king to slave; and the marriages and pre-nuptial agreements they contracted. It takes the reader on a journey which combines epic grandeur, spectacle and pageantry with an understanding of the intimacies and idiosyncrasies of Hittite daily life.

青铜时代晚期的赫梯人成为古代近东最强大的军事力量。然而，他们的帝国总是容易被敌军摧毁；他们的安纳托利亚家园占据了一个偏远地区，没有可通航的河流；而且他们与大海隔绝。也许最严重的是，他们长期遭受人口不足和有时是毁灭性的瘟疫。那么，如何解释这个古老帝国的兴起和胜利，面对似乎无法克服的困难？

特雷弗-布莱斯对古代最神秘的文明之一进行了生动而非传统的处理，其历史在三千多年前就从记录中消失了，他对赫梯战士以及赫梯的社会、宗教和政治文化进行了全新的解读，并对许多未解决的问题提供了新的解决方案。他揭示了赫梯人是战车战争的高手，在卡德什战役（公元前1274年）中几乎让拉美西斯二世遭受了灾难性的失败，他还表明赫梯人也是风暴之神和其他许多神的虔诚崇拜者，并且是新的外交体系的主人，这种体系在几个世纪里增强了其权威。

作者以权威性的文本和正在进行的考古发现为依据，同时对赫梯世界进行了富有想象力的重建，他认为，尽管发展战士文化是必不可少的，不仅对帝国的扩张而且对其生存也是如此，但这本身是不够的。对赫梯统治阶级的技能要求远远超出了单纯的军事能力，而赫梯人本身的能力也远远超出了战争的技巧。这本引人入胜的书揭示了赫梯人的全部复杂性，包括他们庆祝的节日；他们建造的庙宇和宫殿；他们的习俗和迷信；他们犯下的罪行；他们的社会等级制度，从国王到奴隶；以及他们缔结的婚姻和婚前协议。它将读者带入了一个将史诗般的宏伟、壮观和盛况与对赫梯人日常生活中的亲密关系和特质的了解相结合的旅程。