query: writing_system hittite language
supports: Mitanni (Hittite cuneiform Their sphere of influence is shown in Hurrian place names, personal names and the spread through Syria and the Levant of a distinct pottery type. The Hittites were an Ancient Anatolian people who established an empire centered on Hattusa in north-central Anatolia around 1600 BC. This empire reached its height during the mid-14th century BC under Suppiluliuma I, when it encompassed an area that included most of Anatolia as well as parts of the northern Levant and Upper Mesopotamia. Between the 15th and 13th centuries BC the Hittite Empire came into conflict with the Egyptian Empire, Middle Assyrian Empire and the empire of the Mitanni for control of the Near East. The Assyrians eventually emerged as the dominant power and annexed much of the Hittite empire, while the remainder was sacked by Phrygian newcomers to the region. After c. 1180 BC, during the Bronze Age collapse, the Hittites splintered into several independent "Neo-Hittite" city-states, some of which survived until the 8th century BC before succumbing to the Neo-Assyrian Empire. Hittite ( natively nešili `` ( in the language ) of Neša '' ) , also known as Nesite and Neshite , is the extinct language once spoken by the Hittites , an Indo - European people who created an empire centred on Hattusa in north - central Anatolia ( modern - day Turkey ) . The language is attested in cuneiform , in records from the 16th ( Anitta text ) down to the 13th century BC , with isolated Hittite loanwords and numerous personal names appearing in an Old Assyrian context from as early as the 20th century BC. By the Late Bronze Age , Hittite had started losing ground to its close relative Luwian . It appears that in the 13th century BC Luwian was the most widely spoken language in the Hittite capital Hattusa . After the collapse of the Hittite Empire as a part of the more general Bronze Age collapse , Luwian emerged in the Early Iron Age as the main language of the so - called Neo-Hittite states in southwestern Anatolia and northern Syria . Hittite is the earliest attested Indo - European language . It is the best known of the Anatolian branch .
candidates: cuneiform hittite cuneiform
answer: hittite cuneiform