The Kaska (also Kaška, later
Tabalian Kasku and Gasga,) were a loosely affiliated
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...
non-Indo-European tribal people, who spoke the unclassified
Kaskian language and lived in mountainous East
Pontic 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 re ...
, known from
Hittite sources. They lived in the mountainous region between the core
Hittite region in eastern
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 re ...
and the
Black Sea
The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Rom ...
, and are cited as the reason that the later
Hittite Empire never extended northward to that area. They are sometimes identified with the
Caucones
The Caucones ( grc-gre, Καύκωνες ''Kaukônes'') were an autochthonous tribe of Anatolia (modern-day Turkey), who later migrated to parts of the Greek mainland ( Arcadia, Triphylian Pylos and Elis).
The phonology of the name Caucones ...
known from Greek records.
Early history
The Kaska, probably originating from the eastern shore of the
Propontis,
Toumanoff, Cyril
Cyril Leo Toumanoff (russian: Кирилл Львович Туманов; 13 October 1913 – 4 February 1997) was a Russian-born Georgian historian and genealogist who mostly specialized in the history and genealogies of medieval Georgia, Armenia, ...
(1967). ''Studies in Christian Caucasian History'', pp. 55–56. Georgetown University Press
Georgetown University Press is a university press affiliated with Georgetown University that publishes about forty new books a year. The press's major subject areas include bioethics, international affairs, languages and linguistics, political s ...
. may have displaced the speakers of the
Palaic language from their home in
Pala Pala may refer to:
Places
Chad
*Pala, Chad, the capital of the region of Mayo-Kebbi Ouest
Estonia
*Pala, Kose Parish, village in Kose Parish, Harju County
*Pala, Kuusalu Parish, village in Kuusalu Parish, Harju County
* Pala, Järva County, vil ...
.
The Kaska first appear in the Hittite prayer inscriptions that date from the reign of
Hantili II, c. 1450 BC, and make references to their movement into the ruins of the holy city of
Nerik. During the reign of Hantili's son,
Tudhaliya II (c. 1430 BC), "
Tudhaliya's 3rd campaign was against the Kaskas." His successor
Arnuwanda I composed a prayer for the gods to return Nerik to the empire; he also mentioned
Kammama and
Zalpuwa as cities which he claimed had been Hittite but which were now under the Kaskas. Arnuwanda attempted to mollify some of the Kaska tribes by means of tribute.
Sometime between the reigns of Arnuwanda and
Suppiluliuma I (about 1330 BC), letters found in
Maşat Höyük
Maşat Höyük is a Bronze Age Hittite archaeological site 100 km nearly east of Boğazkale/ Hattusa, about 20 km south of Zile, Tokat Province, north-central Turkey, not far from the Çekerek River. The site is under agricultural ...
note that locusts ate the Kaskas' grain. The hungry Kaska were able to join with
Hayasa-Azzi
Hayasa-Azzi or Azzi-Hayasa ( hit, URUḪaiaša-, hy, Հայասա) was a Late Bronze Age confederation in the Armenian Highlands and/or Pontic region of Asia Minor. The Hayasa-Azzi confederation was in conflict with the Hittite Empire in t ...
and
Isuwa to the east, as well as other enemies of the Hittites, and burn
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 ...
, the Hittite capital, to the ground. They probably also burned the Hittites' secondary capital
Sapinuwa. Suppiluliuma's grandson
Hattusili III in the mid-13th century BC wrote of the time before Tudhaliya. He said that in those days the Kaska had "made
Nenassa their frontier" and that their allies in Azzi-Hayasa had done the same to
Samuha
Šamuḫa is an ancient settlement near the village of Kayalı Pinar, c. 40 km west of Sivas, in the Sivas Province of Turkey. Located on the northern bank of Kizil Irmak river, it was a city of the Hittites, a religious centre and, for a ...
.
In the
Amarna letters
The Amarna letters (; sometimes referred to as the Amarna correspondence or Amarna tablets, and cited with the abbreviation EA, for "El Amarna") are an archive, written on clay tablets, primarily consisting of diplomatic correspondence between ...
,
Amenhotep III
Amenhotep III ( egy, jmn-ḥtp(.w), ''Amānəḥūtpū'' , "Amun is Satisfied"; Hellenized as Amenophis III), also known as Amenhotep the Magnificent or Amenhotep the Great, was the ninth pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty. According to different ...
wrote to the
Arzawan king Tarhunta-Radu that the "country Hattusa" was obliterated, and further asked for
Arzawa to send him some of these Kaska people of whom he had heard. The Hittites also enlisted subject Kaska for their armies. When the Kaska were not raiding or serving as mercenaries, they raised pigs and wove linen, leaving scarcely any imprint on the permanent landscape.
Tudhaliya III
Tudhaliya III was a king of the Hittite Empire. In academic literature, this name can refer to two separate individuals. One is known under the Hurrian name ''Tasmi-Sarri''. He could also be referred to as Tudhaliya II or Tudhaliya III.
The other ...
and
Suppiluliuma (c. 1375–1350 BC) set up their court in
Samuha
Šamuḫa is an ancient settlement near the village of Kayalı Pinar, c. 40 km west of Sivas, in the Sivas Province of Turkey. Located on the northern bank of Kizil Irmak river, it was a city of the Hittites, a religious centre and, for a ...
and invaded
Azzi-Hayasa from there. The Kaska intervened, but Suppiluliuma defeated them; after Suppiluliuma had fully pacified the region, Tudhaliya and Suppiluliuma were able to move on Hayasa and defeat it too, despite some devastating guerrilla tactics at their rear. Some twelve tribes of Kaska then united under a leader named
Piyapili, but Piyapili was no match for Suppiluliuma. Eventually, Tudhaliya and Suppiluliuma returned Hattusa to the Hittites. But the Kaska continued to be a menace both inside and out and a constant military threat. They are said to have fielded as many as 9,000 warriors and 800 chariots.
In the time of ailing
Arnuwanda II (around 1323 BC), the Hittites worried that the Kaskas from
Ishupitta within the kingdom to Kammama without might take advantage of the plague in Hatti. The veteran commander Hannutti moved to Ishupitta, but he died there. Ishupitta then seceded from Hatti, and Arnuwanda died too. Arnuwanda's brother and successor
Mursili II recorded in his annals that he defeated this rebellion. Over the ongoing decades, the Kaskans were also active in Durmitta and in Tipiya, by Mount Tarikarimu in the land of Ziharriya, and by Mount Asharpaya on the route to Pala; they rebelled and/or performed egregious banditry in each place. At first, Mursili defeated each Kaska uprising piecemeal.
Later history
Then the Kaska united for the first time under Pihhuniya of Tipiya, who "ruled like a king" the Hittites recorded. Pihhuniya conquered Istitina and advanced as far as Zazzissa. But Mursili defeated this force and brought Pihhuniya back as a prisoner to Hattusas. Mursili then switched to a defensive strategy, with a chain of border fortresses north to the
Devrez. Even so, in the early 13th century, when Mursili's son
Muwatalli II was king in Hatti, the Kaskas sacked Hattusa. Muwatalli stopped enlisting Kaska as troops; he moved his capital to
Tarhuntassa to the south; and he appointed his brother, the future
Hattusili III, as governor over the northern
marches. Hattusili defeated the Kaska to the point of recapturing Nerik, and when he took over the kingdom he returned the capital to Hattusa.
The Kaska may have contributed to the fall of the Hittite empire in the
Bronze Age collapse
The Late Bronze Age collapse was a time of widespread societal collapse during the 12th century BC, between c. 1200 and 1150. The collapse affected a large area of the Eastern Mediterranean (North Africa and Southeast Europe) and the Near ...
, c. 1200 BC.
Then they penetrated eastern Anatolia, and continued their thrust southwards, where they encountered the
Assyria
Assyria ( Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , romanized: ''māt Aššur''; syc, ܐܬܘܪ, ʾāthor) was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization which existed as a city-state at times controlling regional territories in the indigenous lands of the A ...
ns. The Assyrian king
Tiglath-Pileser I recorded late in the 12th century BC that the Kaska (whom he referred to as "Apishlu") and their
Mushki and Urumu (Urumean) allies were active in what had been the Hatti heartland. Tiglath-Pileser defeated them, and the Kaska then disappear from all historical records.
Repulsed by the Assyrians, a subdivision of the Kaska might have passed north-eastwards to the
Caucasus
The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range, have historica ...
, where they probably blended with the
Proto-Colchian or
Zan autochthons, forming a polity which was known as the Kolkha to the
Urartians and later as the
Colchis
In Greco-Roman geography, Colchis (; ) was an exonym for the Georgian polity of Egrisi ( ka, ეგრისი) located on the coast of the Black Sea, centered in present-day western Georgia.
Its population, the Colchians are generally though ...
to the
Greeks
The Greeks or Hellenes (; el, Έλληνες, ''Éllines'' ) are an ethnic group and nation indigenous to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea regions, namely Greece, Cyprus, Albania, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, and, to a lesser extent, ot ...
. Another branch might have established themselves in
Cappadocia
Cappadocia or Capadocia (; tr, Kapadokya), is a historical region in Central Anatolia, Turkey. It largely is in the provinces Nevşehir, Kayseri, Aksaray, Kırşehir, Sivas and Niğde.
According to Herodotus, in the time of the Ionian Revo ...
, which in the 8th century BC became a vassal of Assyria and ruled some Anatolian areas.
According to
I. Singer, Kaskians and Hattians are different branches of the same people. However, if the Hattians were assimilated by the Hittites, then the Kaskians were pushed to the periphery of their former territory.
[''Singer, I.'' Who were the Kaska? // Phasis. Greek and Roman Studies, 10(I), Tbilisi State University, 2007. — P. 166—181.]
See also
References
{{Reflist, 2
External links
Annals of Mursilis II
Hittite Empire
Ancient peoples of Anatolia
Amarna letters locations
Late Bronze Age collapse