Hittites Eponymous Ancestor

Canaan was the name of a large and prosperous ancient territory (at times independent, at others a tributary to Egypt) located in the Levant region of present-day Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Palestinian territory and Israel. It was also known in part as Phoenicia and Philistine (Palestine).

The Israelites occupied and conquered Philistine, or Canaan in part, beginning in the late 2nd millennium BC, or perhaps earlier; and "the Bible justifies such occupation by identifying Canaan with the 'Promised Land', the land promised to Abraham by God", as per Encyclop?dia Britannica.

The popular understanding of Israel as the ‘Promised Land’ comes from (Genesis 17), where God's covenant with Abraham and his offspring is affirmed, and gift them the land of Canaan for a perpetual holding.

Canaan's firstborn son was Sidon, who shares his name with the Phoenician city of Sidon in present-day Lebanon. His second son was Heth.

Heth (h?th "????") is, according to son of Canaan in the Table of Nations (Gen 10:15;?1 Chron 1:13), the second son of Canaan, who is son of Ham, son of Noah. He is the eponym ancestor of the Hittites (Hivites), second of the twelve Canaanite nations, who lived near Hebron (Genesis 23:3,7).

In (Genesis 10:15-16), Heth is placed between Sidon and the Jebusites, Amorites, Girgasites, Hivites, Arkite, Sinite, Arvadite, Zemarite, Hamathite and other peoples, showing their descent through their children, called "Children of Heth" (Genesis 23:3, 5, 7, 10, 16, 18, 20).

?Instead of referring to children as “children,”?the Bible often refers to them as “sons and daughters.”?in the Old Testament genealogies.

The Hittites are mentioned fifty four times in the Bible. Twice we are told that Heth, their father, was a son of Canaan, one of the four sons of Ham. The language of some passages would seem to give the Hittites far more importance than is given to the other Canaanite populations, and to make of them a great power, despite of which, they were?virtually unknown until the late 19th and early 20th century.

That said, why not much more is known about Heth? and did many doubt the existence of the Hittite civilization until the 20th century?

Food for thought!