Arzawa

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Kingdom of Arzawa
𒅈𒍝𒉿
ar-za-wa
1700–1300 BC
Map of the Arzawa and the surrounding kingdoms, c. 1400 BC.
Map of the Arzawa and the surrounding kingdoms, c. 1400 BC.
CapitalApaša
Common languagesLuwian or related languages
GovernmentMonarchy
Kings[a] 
• Late 15th century BC
Kupanta-Kurunta
• Early 14th century BC
Tarḫuntaradu
• 1320s BC
Tarkasnawa
• 1320–1300 BC
Uhha-Ziti
Historical eraBronze Age
• Established
1700 BC
• Disestablished
1300 BC
Mira, in the Karabel relief
, circa 1350 BC

Arzawa was a region and political entity in Western

Apasa is often referred to as Arzawa Minor, while the other Arzawan kingdoms included Mira, Hapalla, Wilusa, and the Seha River Land
.

Arzawa is known from contemporary texts documenting its political and military relationships with

Mursili II
around 1300 BC.

Geography

The Kingdom of Arzawa was located in Western Anatolia. Its capital was a coastal city called Apasa, which is believed to have been

Late Bronze Age and contemporary graves suggest that it was a locally important center, though much of the potential ruins are obscured by the later Basilica of St. John.[1][2][3]

In Hittite texts, the term "Arzawa" is also used more broadly to refer to a group of kingdoms including Arzawa itself. These other "Arzawa Lands" included Mira, Hapalla, Seha, and in later periods Wilusa as well. At times, the Arzawa Lands appear to have banded together as a loose military confederation, which may have been led by the Kingdom of Arzawa itself. However, they were never fully united as a single kingdom, and did not always operate in solidarity with one another.[1]

History

The zenith of the kingdom was during the 15th and 14th centuries BC. The Hittites were then weakened, and Arzawa was an ally of Egypt.

Early history

Around 1650 BC, the Hittite

Tudhaliya I/II around 1400 BC, concurrently with the Assuwa Revolt.[1]

A Hittite text known as the Indictment of Madduwatta discusses the exploits of an Anatolian warlord named Madduwatta in and around Arzawa during Tudhaliya's reign. The document recounts that Madduwatta launched multiple unsuccessful attacks on Arzawa before seeking a marriage alliance with the Arzawan king Kupanta-Kurunta.[4]

Zenith

Around 1370 BC, during the reign of Tudhaliya III, Arzawa conquered a large portion of Western Anatolia. Their army swept across the Lower Land, into territories that the Hittites had never lost before, reaching as far as the border as the Hittite homeland.[1][5]

In response, the Egyptian pharaoh

Tarhundaradu, proposing a marriage alliance. In his letter, the pharaoh refers to the Hittite Empire as paralyzed, suggesting that he expected Arzawa to replace it as the major regional power. This correspondence had to be carried out in Hittite, since the Arzawan court did not have scribes capable of writing Akkadian, the contemporary lingua franca for international diplomacy.[6][1][5]

Arzawa never achieved political or military supremacy over Anatolia. The territory they had seized was soon recaptured by the Hittite prince Šuppiluliuma I. After coming to the throne around 1350 BC, Šuppiluliuma continued to campaign against Arzawa, even installing pro-Hittite rulers in former Arzawan vassal states such as Mira.[1][5]

Revolt and fragmentation

The Arzawa lands were fully subjugated by the Hittites around 1300 BC, after an unsuccessful rebellion. When

Ahhiyawa. However, he was also opposed by King Mashuiluwa of Mira, one of the other Arzawan kingdoms.[7][8]

The Hittites responded with full military force. The Annals of Mursili claim that Uhha-Ziti was incapacitated after being struck by lightning and that his capital city of

Apasa fell after a short siege. Uhha-Ziti and his family fled to Ahhiyawa-controlled islands in the Aegean, while local populations faced further sieges and deportations. Uhha-Zitti died shortly afterwards in exile, and his son Tapalazunawali failed to regain control of the kingdom.[7][8]

Society

The Arzawa Lands were unusual in Western Anatolia for having a

Lukka, Karkiya, and Masa, were stateless societies ruled by councils of elders, and thus had more informal relations with outsiders.[1]

The languages spoken in Arzawa cannot be directly determined due to the paucity of written sources. The primary languages are believed to have been from the

Luwian-speaking.[1][9]

Amarna letters

The

Tarhundaradu and the Egyptian Pharaoh Amenhotep III. One letter, known to modern scholars as EA 31, was sent from the pharaoh to Arzawa; the other, known as EA 32, contains the Arzawan king's reply. While most of the Amarna letters were written in the Akkadian language, these letters were written in Hittite. The Egyptian letter EA 31 was written by a scribe not fully proficient in Hittite, and contains significant grammatical errors.[10]

When these letters were excavated in the 1880s, they were the first Hittite texts to be discovered. Because they were written in the already-deciphered

Jorgen A. Knudtzon proposed that the language was from the Indo-European family. This hypothesis proved correct after thousands more tablets were discovered at Hattusa.[10]

The letters have also proved relevant in debates about Arzawan geography. While the general consensus suggests that Arzawa's capital was at

Ephesos, chemical analyses suggest that EA 32 was written on clay from far to the north, near Kyme in the region later known as the Aeolis.[11][12]

Kings of Arzawa

The inscription of the Karabel rock-carved prince-warrior monument in Mount Nif was read as attributing it to "Tarkasnawa, King of Mira", a part of the Kingdom of Arzawa.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ ḫandawat(i)

References

  1. ^
    doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195376142.013.0015
    .
  2. ISBN 978-1589832688
    .
  3. doi:10.1163/9789004349391_014
    .
  4. ISBN 978-1589832688
    .
  5. ^
    doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195376142.013.0026
    .
  6. ISBN 978-1589832121
    .
  7. ^
    ISBN 978-1589832688
    .
  8. ^
    ISBN 978-0-415-34959-8
    .
  9. ^ Yakubovich 2010, pp. 107-11
  10. ^
    hdl:2027.42/86652
    .
  11. ^ Max Gander (2014), An Alternative View on the Location of Arzawa. Hittitology today: Studies on Hittite and Neo-Hittite Anatolia in Honor of Emmanuel Laroche’s 100th Birthday. Alice Mouton, ed. p. 163-190
  12. ^ Kerschner, M., “On the Provenance of Aiolian Pottery”, in: Naukratis: Greek Diversity in Egypt. Studies on East Greek Pottery and Exchange in the Eastern Mediterranean (The British Museum Research Publication 162), Villing, A. / Schlotzhauer, U. (éds.). British Museum Company, Londres, 2006, 109-126. p.115

External links

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