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The geography of the Hittite Empire is inferred from Hittite texts on the one hand, and from archaeological excavation on the other. Matching philology to archaeology is a difficult and ongoing task, and so far, only a handful of sites are identified with their ancient name with certainty.
The Hittites kingdom was centered on the lands surrounding Hattusa and Neša, known as "the land of the Hattians" (URU Ha-at-ti). After Hattusa was made the Hittite capital, the area encompassed by the bend of the Halys River (which they called the Marassantiya) was considered the core of the empire, and some Hittite laws make a distinction between "this side of the river" and "that side of the river". For example, the reward for the capture of a runaway slave after he managed to flee beyond the Halys is higher than that for a slave caught before he could reach the river.
To the south of the core territory was the land of Kizzuwatna in the area of the Taurus Mountains. To the west, the confederacies of Arzawa and Assuwa, the second of which in particular may not have indicated a contiguous geographic area. To the north, the mountain people of the "Kaskians". To the east, the Mitanni. After the incorporation or association of Arzawa and Mitanni (under Suppiluliuma I), the Hittite sphere of influence under Mursili II bordered on the "Hayasa-Azzi" to the east, on the "Ahhiyawa" and the newly forming Assuwa league to the west, on Ancient Egypt-controlled Canaan to the south, and on Assyria to the south-east.
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