Vessel terminating in the forepart of a stag. Culture: Hittite. Dimensions: H. 18 cm. Date: ca. 14th-13th century B.C..By 1700 B.C., people speaking Hittite--an Indo-European language--had founded a capital at Bogazköy (ancient Hattusha) and, under a series of powerful kings, established a state in central Anatolia. The Hittite army attacked and partly destroyed Babylon in 1595 B.C., and in 1285 B.C. fought a battle against the Egyptian king Ramesses II at Qadesh in Syria.This silver rhyton--a drinking vessel in the form of an animal with a pouring hole in its chest--in the form of a stag was hammered from one piece that was joined to the head by a checkerboard-patterned ring. Both the horns and the handle were attached separately. A frieze depicting a religious ceremony decorates the rim of the cup, suggesting the uses for which the cup was intended. A prominent figure, thought to be a goddess, sits on a cross-legged stool, holding a bird of prey in her left hand and a small cup in he