Fromthe17thtothe12thCenturyB.C.theHittiteKingdomwasoneofthemostnotablepowersintheNearEast.Itrangedoveravastgeographicalareadominatingthesurroundingcitiesandsmallerstates.ThroughoutthistimetheHittitesconsistentlydevelopedtheirpoliticalsystemtherebyascendingtothelevelofanempire.Fromsourcespertainingtothisera,itcanbeascertainedthatalreadyintheearlystages,whentheborderswerenotasextended,theHittiteKingdomadoptedthetraditionofsendingtheking'ssonsandprincestothe