The Hittites lose control of much of…

The Hittites under Hattusili had battled with the Syrians of Aleppo and the Hurrians of Mittani for control of Cilicia; his heir, Mursili I, conquers Aleppo and stalemates Mitanni, then launches a series of forays down the Euphrates Valley, plundering Babylon and leaving it to the further depredations of the Kassites and other groups.

The Dynasty of the Sealand, based in the far south, fills the power vacuum left when the Hitttites withdraw.

Mursili defeats the Hurrians on his return march from Babylon, bringing with him captives and possessions of Babylon to Hattusa.

Following the assassination of Mursili in 1590 BCE, the Hittite kingdom experiences several decades of internal strife, punctuated by political insurrection, royal assassinations, and palace intrigues.

Labarna I is the earliest Hittite ruler for whom contemporary records have been found.

In addition to "King of Hattusas", he took the title "Man of Kushara", a reference to the prehistoric capital and home of the Hittites, before they had occupied Neša, which has remained the dynastic capital for about a century.

Labarna was not the first in line to the throne.

PU-Sarruma designated Labarna as his successor after his own sons revolted against him.

Upon PU-Sarruma's death, Labarna and Papahdilmah, one of PU-Sarruma's sons, contended for the throne, with Labarna emerging victorious.

A cuneiform tablet found in 1957 written in both the Hittite and the Akkadian language provides details of six years of his reign.

In it, he claims to have extended Hittite domain to the sea, and in the second year, to have subdued Alalakh and other cities in Syria.

In the third year, he campaigned against Arzawa in western Anatolia, then returned to Syria to spend the next three years retaking his former conquests from the Hurrians, who had occupied them in his absence.

What little is known about him is culled mainly from the Edict of Telipinu, which states that he overwhelmed his enemies and "made them borders of the sea", a statement which may refer to conquests as far as the Mediterranean coast in the south, and the Black Sea in the north.

He installed his sons as governors in several cities including Tuwanuwa, Hupisna, Landa, and Lusna (the identities of these cities are uncertain, but thought to perhaps be Tyana, Heraclea Cybistra, Laranda, and Lystra).

Through his conquests, he is responsible for laying the groundwork for the Hittite empire that is to come.

The Kassites dislodge the Amorites around 1570 BCE to become the new political masters of Babylonia.

The Venus tablet of Ammisaduqa, one of the oldest surviving astronomical documents, a copy of which will be found in the ruins of the eighth century BCE library of Ashurbanipal, is a twenty-one-year record of the appearances of Venus (which the early Babylonians called Nindaranna).

Hantili I has ruled the Hittites for thirty years, approximately 1590–1560 BCE.

Zidanta I succeeds him.

It takes some time before the Hittites establish themselves, as is clear from some of the texts.

For several centuries there have been separate Hittite groups, usually centered around various cities, but strong rulers with their center in Boğazköy succeed in bringing these together and conquering large parts of central Anatolia to establish the Hittite kingdom about 1700 BCE.

The Assyrian trading colonies in Anatolia come to an end, as the Hittites begin to take over Anatolia and Assyria loses its independence to a dynasty of Amorite descent.

The kingdom’s founder (according to tradition) is a leader named Labarnas, who is said to have established the seas as his boundaries and made his sons governors of seven major conquered territories.

Labarnas’ successor rules the Hitttites from about 1586 BCE as Hattusilis I, apparently establishing his capital in the fortress city of Hattusa (Bogazkale), the reoccupied site of the Assyrian merchant colony destroyed in 1720.

Under Hattusilis I, the Hittite kingdom begins to expand into northwest Syria.

His “Annals” tell of the king’s penetrations into that region and eastward across the Euphates River to Mesopotamia.

The Hittites’ legal code concedes that slaves are human beings, although of an inferior order.

The so-called Old Hittite Kingdom maintains internal strength and military security for the first century and a half of its existence, achieving the enduring political unification of Anatolia.

Whereas the earlier Hittite kings had based their court at Neša, Labarna II is the first king of the Hittites to reign from Hattusa, the modern Bogazkale, where he builds a hilltop citadel and takes the throne name of Hattusilis.

Under his rule, the Hittites have penetrated south to the plains of northern Syria near Antioch and southwest in Anatolia through Cilicia, incurring the enmity of the Syrians of Aleppo and the Hurrians also: his “Annals” tell of the king’s penetrations into that region and eastward across the Euphates River to Mesopotamia Cilicia, having come under Hurrian control about 1660, had, with help from Aleppo, been reacquired about 1556 in a battle that proves fatal to Hattusilis.

His military capital, Hattusa, remains the principal Hittite administrative center.

His adopted son and heir ascends the Hittite throne as Mursilis I, and soon launching a series of forays down the Euphrates Valley.

Ammunu, who is the son of Hantili, succeeds Zidanta to Hittite throne around 1550.

The Hurrians of Mitanni retake Cilicia and establish the subkingdom of Kizzuwatna, …

…then, to deprive the Hittites of access to northern Syria, establish a southeastern kingdom, Hanilgalbat.