client king in western Anatolia around 1240 BC. It constitutes an important piece of evidence in the debate concerning the historicity of Homer's Iliad
.
The reason for its title "Milawata letter" is that it mentions that both parties to the letter had campaigned on the borders of Milawata; it also mentions the city Atriya, elsewhere known as a dependent of "Millawanda". Millawanda and Milawata are accepted as ancient names for Miletus.[1][2][3]
The letter demands that the client resolve a dispute over hostages, turn over fugitives from Hittite justice, and turn over a pretender from
Mursili II around 1320 BC, he did rather little himself; and Manapa-Tarhunta remained quiet after Mursili forgave him. By contrast, Mashuiluwa of Mira rebelled and incited Pitassa
into revolt in c. 1310. After this, Mursili deposed Mashuiluwa and elevated Mashuiluwa's nephew and adopted son Kupanta-Kurunta (who was Mursili's nephew as well).
In a subsequent treaty, Mursili agreed to cede Kuwaliya to Kupanta-Kurunta, which had as a border the
Hattusili III (1265–1235 BC), which allows for multiple candidates for authorship on the Hittite side; assuming that the treaty between Muwatalli II (1295–1272 BC) and Alaksandu
of Wilusa has not erred (but note Beckman's footnote in Hittite Diplomatic Texts), Manapa-Tarhunta died before that treaty (that is, before c. 1280 BC).
. The scholarly consensus places the Milawata letter at the tail of this series of letters.
Burney
Tudhaliya IV
writing to a later king of Mira. If so, the letter's references to the events in which Kupanta-Kurunta and Mursili II participated are meant to evoke their dynasties rather than the actual characters, or else parallel events from a later period (which would however remove some of the above arguments for placing the letter at Mira).
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