Hartapu was an
Anatolian king in the 8th century BCE.
He is known from
Hieroglyphic Luwian
Hieroglyphic Luwian (''luwili'') is a variant of the Luwian language, recorded in official and royal seals and a small number of monumental inscriptions. It is written in a hieroglyphic script known as Anatolian hieroglyphs.
A decipherment was ...
inscriptions from
Kizildağ,
Mount Karadağ
Karadağ (literally: ''Black mountain'') is an extinct volcano in Karaman Province, Turkey.
Geography
The crater of the volcano, which is now a lava plain, is approximately north of Karaman at at AMSL. The peak of the mountain is east of ...
,
Burunkaya near
Aksaray
Aksaray (, Koine Greek: Ἀρχελαΐς ''Arhelays'', Medieval Greek: Κολώνεια ''Koloneya'', Ancient Greek: Γαρσάουρα ''Garsaura'') is a city in the Central Anatolia region of Turkey and the capital of Aksaray Province. In 202 ...
, and most recently
Türkmen-Karahöyük, site of a monumental stele in which he claimed victory over the kingdom of
Phrygia
In classical antiquity, Phrygia ( ; grc, Φρυγία, ''Phrygía'' ) was a kingdom in the west central part of Anatolia, in what is now Asian Turkey, centered on the Sangarios River. After its conquest, it became a region of the great empire ...
, ruled around that time by
King Midas.
Hartapu, who bore the titles
Great king
Great king, and the equivalent in many languages, refers to historical titles of certain monarchs, suggesting an elevated status among the host of kings and princes. This title is most usually associated with the ''shahanshah'' (shah of shahs, ...
,
and
Hero
A hero (feminine: heroine) is a real person or a main fictional character who, in the face of danger, combats adversity through feats of ingenuity, courage, or strength. Like other formerly gender-specific terms (like ''actor''), ''hero ...
, states himself to be the son of another Great King and Hero named Mursili.
If Hartapu is the son of Mursili III, he may have succeeded his uncle
Kurunta, the younger brother of Mursili III as king of
Tarḫuntašša
''Tarḫuntašša ( ''dIM-ta-aš-ša'' "City of Tarhunt"; Hieroglyphic Luwian: ''(DEUS)TONITRUS-hu-ta-sá'') was a Hittite Bronze Age city in south-central Anatolia mentioned in Hittite documents. Its location is unknown. In 2019, a previously l ...
in the 2nd half of the 13th century BC. Hartapu's use of royal titulation may have been similar to its use by to Kurunta, who also bore the titles Great King and Hero to demonstrate his right to the throne of
Hattusa
Hattusa (also Ḫattuša or Hattusas ; Hittite: URU''Ḫa-at-tu-ša'',Turkish: Hattuşaş , Hattic: Hattush) was the capital of the Hittite Empire in the late Bronze Age. Its ruins lie near modern Boğazkale, Turkey, within the great loop of t ...
, still occupied by the descendants of the usurper Ḫattušili III. Those descendants were
Tudhaliya IV Tudhaliya is the name of several Hittite kings:
*Tudhaliya (also Tudhaliya I) is a hypothetic pre-Empire king of the Hittites. He would have reigned in the late 17th century BC (short chronology). Forlanini (1993) conjectures that this king corres ...
during Kurunta's reign, and
Suppiluliuma II during Hartapu's reign.
It is known that Suppiluliuma II, last known Great King of Hattusa and usurper from Hartapu's point of view, conquered Tarhuntassa during a military campaign. This may have brought Hartapu's reign to an end. Tarhuntassa may have been ruled by the great king of Hattusa again and collapsed together with the rest of the Hittite empire.
Tarhuntassa may have survived the collapse of the Hittite empire. Possible evidence is given by a Hieroglyphic Luwian inscription from
Karahöyük in south-central
Anatolia
Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The r ...
. In this an inscription dated to the (later?) 12th century BC, a certain Armanani informs about a visit of a great king named Ir-Teššub in the land POCULUM, at which event the great king gave control of three cities within the country of POCULUM to Armanani. It is sure that Ir-Teššub was a Great King, but his country is unknown. One hypothesis is that he was a Great King of
Carchemish
Carchemish (Turkish: ''Karkamış''; or ), also spelled Karkemish ( hit, ; Hieroglyphic Luwian: , /; Akkadian: ; Egyptian: ; Hebrew: ) was an important ancient capital in the northern part of the region of Syria. At times during it ...
and successor of
Kuzi-Teššub. The other hypothesis is that he may in fact have been a Great King of Tarhuntassa. This hypothesis is based on epigraphic similarities between the inscription from Karahöyük and the inscriptions of Hartapu. This would imply that the royal line represented by Hartapu continued at least to the early
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...
.
In 2019, a farmer near the site of Türkmen-Karahöyük discovered a stone stele commissioned by Hartapu to commemorate his victory over Phrygia written in Luwian Hieroglyphics. Archaeologists from the University of Chicago joined the Konya Regional Archaeological Survey Project to excavate the stele, and the excavations of the archaeological mound at the site, which is believed to be the capital of Hartapu's as yet unnamed kingdom, will continue in 2020.
Luwian hieroglyphs have been found on the stone stele in a canal next to the ancient mound of Türkmen-Karahöyük, describing the military victory of "Great King Hartapu" over an alliance of 13 kings, dating from the 8th century B.C.
The description has a reference to defeating the royal house of Phrygia, which included
King Midas.
See also
*
Luwian
The Luwians were a group of Anatolian peoples who lived in central, western, and southern Anatolia, in present-day Turkey, during the Bronze Age and the Iron Age. They spoke the Luwian language, an Indo-European language of the Anatolian sub- ...
people
*
Luwian language
Luwian (), sometimes known as Luvian or Luish, is an ancient language, or group of languages, within the Anatolian branch of the Indo-European language family. The ethnonym Luwian comes from ''Luwiya'' (also spelled ''Luwia'' or ''Luvia'') ...
*
Hieroglyphic Luwian
Hieroglyphic Luwian (''luwili'') is a variant of the Luwian language, recorded in official and royal seals and a small number of monumental inscriptions. It is written in a hieroglyphic script known as Anatolian hieroglyphs.
A decipherment was ...
Literature
* Trevor Bryce: ''The World of the Neo-Hittite Kingdoms: A Political and Military History''. Oxford University Press: Oxford, New York 2012.
References
{{Hittite tree , state=collapsed
Hittite kings
13th-century BC rulers