HITTITES, THE. This ancient Oriental people ruled over a great part of Asia Minor and Syria between the years 2000 and 1200 before the birth of Christ, and imposed their own high degree of civilization upon those regions. Rivals of the old Egyp tians and Assyro-Babylonians, in comparison with both these nations, the Hittites rank third in importance among the peoples of the ancient East. Modern research has proved that the ruling people of the Hittite kingdom spoke a language which is related to modern European languages.