A major power in the 14th cent. BCE from a base in Asia Minor (modern Turkey), conquering north and central Syria and most of Lebanon, but they were eventually absorbed into the Assyrian and Babylonian empires. There are references to Hittites in the OT (e.g. Gen. 23: 3) and to the kings of the Hittites in 1 Kgs. 10: 29, 2 Kgs. 7: 6. The latter were probably rulers of small states in north Syria. King Solomon had Hittite wives (1 Kgs. 11: 1) and David married Bathsheba, widow of Uriah the Hittite (2 Sam. 11), who was employed in David's army.