It is difficult to say what the daily life of an Ancient Hittite was depending on whether a male or female but to begin with, in general it is thought that during childhood years you would have been brought up by training in the family profession . If a girl for instance she would be taught to weave by her mother, if a boy he may have helped his father out in the farm, or making pottery or even spending long hours learning their cuneiform language of the Hittites
Women’s appearance when adults had long hair which was most likely kept veiled, and as if a man his hair was usually shoulder length and he would have been clean shaven. Ethnically the Hittites were a mixture of Hittite, Luwian, Hurrian, Hattian and a subject of the Hittite King.
Most people worked as farmers, relying on the weather for their survival. It seems that contagious illnesses were a constant threat as under King Mursili ll the land suffered a deadly plague for almost 20 years , enemy invasions were also a constant threat.
With regards to the Hittites clothing , a man wore a kilt or a sleeved tunic with a belt of cloth or leather, woman wore a long dress and if married she wore a veil. All clothing was made from wool or linen and colours mentioned in texts consist of a variety of dies, red, yellow, blue, green, black and white are all colours mentioned in texts.. If you were rich enough it was possible to import a purple-dyed fabric from Greek Lesbos .Shoes had upturned toes.
A staple diet was NINDA=bread in the Cuneiform texts. Bread is usually made from wheat or barley but could also be made from beans or lentils and there was a variety of bread, sour bread, flat bread, honey bread were some of the choices. There was also a variety of fruits and vegetables such as , leeks, carrots ,lentils, beans, figs, olives ,grapes, onions, garlic. Animal products consisted of , milk, butter, meat was mainly from sheep, goats, cows, and wild game. There was a variety of spices to flavour the food such as, coriandor and cumin were the favourites. Where drinks are concerned water was usual and it is thought the Hittites drank beer.
Depending on your social status and gender most people would do the same work as their parents before them, for instance they may have been a gardener, a ritual practitioner, a potter, a weaver, or even a perfume maker. If a farmer for instance, he and his peers would be responsible for putting food on the plates of the Hittites everywhere, he would have livestock to take care of, cows, sheep, goats, pigs, horses donkeys and possibly ducks. The farmer may have hired seasonal workers, both male and female to help or he may have a few slaves. Like today Hittite farmers had plenty to do, cows were milked every morning, fields were ploughed, grain and fruit would need harvesting, sheering sheep, birthing calves, and repairing barns and various other tasks had to be carried out, in particular the farmer and his helpers had to keep a sharp eye out for intruders such as, bears, wolves, foxes even lions and leopards.
Few people were literate in the Hittite society but those that were would have been learning to read and write the Hittite Cuneiform language from an early age. Later in adult life you would be required for maybe, drawing up work contracts or creating work contracts and creating sales receipts, recording the results of oracles, also cross checking the correct procedures for a ritual which were held frequently, also you may be entrusted with the confidential task of writing the kings annals, an important task indeed.
Regardless of where you are and what job you had two things were obviously needed, that of a stylus and a tablet, If you were a scribe of the clay tablets you would need a small portion of clay wherever you went, with a little water to moisten it. If you were a scribe of the wooden tablets you would use a wax tablet in a wooden frame. It’s unclear whether these types of tablets were used for different purposes.
When the working day was finished it was time for families to get together which would likely include,spouse and children or maybe an extended family which was also common, there may have been as many as 20 people in one household, siblings, aunts, uncles, parents, grandparents, children and babies all sharing the evening meal. Some nights the whole family may have gathered together to sing and dance, tell stories, or play games.
Religion was important to the Hittites and they were very concious of the power of the gods and learned to respect them.These gods were, of the of the sun, the moon, the streams. These gods maybe represented by Anthomorphic statues , by animals such as a bull, by symbols such as, gold discs or even by a stone . Some days are more sacred than others as there are a hundred festivals held each year, some lasting les than a day but some lasting a month. some were local, some celebrated by the whole Hittite Empire. We can see that the Hittites had a very busy life.
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