A map of the Near Eastern kingdoms around 1400 BC and of the campaigns of Suppiluliuma I, the king who made Hatti the dominant power in the region. It accompanies the feature on the Hittites in issue 272 of Historia National Geographic.
In the 14th century BC, Mitanni, Egypt and Hatti competed for supremacy in the Near East. Their zones of expansion collided in Syria, where cities and territories were ruled by local potentates whose loyalties shifted with circumstances. This map, published in issue 272 (August 2026) of Historia National Geographic, shows the main players around 1400 BC.
It shows the Hittite and Mitanni kingdoms, Assyria, Kassite Babylonia, New Kingdom Egypt and Elam, together with neighbouring peoples. Two differently dashed lines mark the sphere of influence of Mitanni and the maximum extent of Egyptian influence. A third shows the greatest extent of the Hittite Empire, around 1322 BC.
The blue arrows trace the campaigns of Suppiluliuma I (1344–1323 BC). Zooming in reveals the names of regions and cities across Anatolia, Syria and Mesopotamia, such as Hatti, Arzawa, Kizzuwadna, Mitanni, Aleppo, Ugarit and Babylonia, set against shaded relief.
The map illustrates the text by Juan Antonio Álvarez-Pedrosa, which portrays Suppiluliuma I as a conquering king and a skilled diplomat. It also helps to place the borders the king set in his treaty with Shattiwaza, ruler of Mitanni: the Euphrates and Mount Niblani.
Published in Historia National Geographic no. 272, 2026-8
