Kizzuwatna (or Kizzuwadna; in
Ancient Egyptian ''Kode'' or ''Qode''), was an ancient
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 ...
n kingdom in the 2nd millennium BC. It was situated in the highlands of southeastern
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 ...
, near the
Gulf of İskenderun
The Gulf of Alexandretta or İskenderun ( tr, İskenderun Körfezi) is a gulf of the eastern Mediterranean or Levantine Sea. It lies beside the southern Turkish provinces of Adana and Hatay.
Names
The gulf is named for the nearby Turkish city ...
, in modern-day
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
. It encircled the
Taurus Mountains
The Taurus Mountains ( Turkish: ''Toros Dağları'' or ''Toroslar'') are a mountain complex in southern Turkey, separating the Mediterranean coastal region from the central Anatolian Plateau. The system extends along a curve from Lake Eğirdir ...
and the
Ceyhan River
The Ceyhan River (historically Pyramos or Pyramus ( el, Πύραμος), Leucosyrus ( el, Λευκόσυρος) or Jihun) is a river in Anatolia in the south of Turkey.
Course of the river
The Ceyhan River (Pyramus) has its source (known as ' ...
. The centre of the kingdom was the city of
Kummanni Kummanni ( Hittite: ''Kummiya'') was the name of the main center of the Anatolian kingdom of Kizzuwatna. Its location is uncertain, but it may have been near the classical settlement of Comana in Cappadocia.
Recent research also proposed as a loca ...
, in the highlands. In a later era, the same region was known as
Cilicia
Cilicia (); el, Κιλικία, ''Kilikía''; Middle Persian: ''klkyʾy'' (''Klikiyā''); Parthian: ''kylkyʾ'' (''Kilikiyā''); tr, Kilikya). is a geographical region in southern Anatolia in Turkey, extending inland from the northeastern coa ...
.
Land
![Hititas 1300 adC](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2a/Hititas_1300_adC.svg)
The country possessed valuable resources, such as silver mines in the
Taurus Mountains
The Taurus Mountains ( Turkish: ''Toros Dağları'' or ''Toroslar'') are a mountain complex in southern Turkey, separating the Mediterranean coastal region from the central Anatolian Plateau. The system extends along a curve from Lake Eğirdir ...
. The slopes of the mountain range are still partly covered by woods. Annual winter rains made agriculture possible in the area at a very early date (see
Çatalhöyük
Çatalhöyük (; also ''Çatal Höyük'' and ''Çatal Hüyük''; from Turkish ''çatal'' "fork" + ''höyük'' "tumulus") is a tell of a very large Neolithic and Chalcolithic proto-city settlement in southern Anatolia, which existed from appr ...
). The plains at the lower course of the
Ceyhan River
The Ceyhan River (historically Pyramos or Pyramus ( el, Πύραμος), Leucosyrus ( el, Λευκόσυρος) or Jihun) is a river in Anatolia in the south of Turkey.
Course of the river
The Ceyhan River (Pyramus) has its source (known as ' ...
provided rich cultivated fields.
People
Several ethnic groups coexisted in the Kingdom of Kizzuwatna. The
Hurrians
The Hurrians (; cuneiform: ; transliteration: ''Ḫu-ur-ri''; also called Hari, Khurrites, Hourri, Churri, Hurri or Hurriter) were a people of the Bronze Age Near East. They spoke a Hurrian language and lived in Anatolia, Syria and Northern Mes ...
inhabited this area at least since the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. The
Hittite expansion in the early Old Kingdom period (under
Hattusili I Ḫattušili (''Ḫattušiliš'' in the inflected nominative case) was the regnal name of three Hittite kings:
* Ḫattušili I (Labarna II)
*Ḫattušili II
*Ḫattušili III
It was also the name of two Neo-Hittite kings:
* Ḫattušili I (Labarn ...
and
Mursili I
Mursili I (also known as Mursilis; sometimes transcribed as Murshili) was a king of the Hittites 1620-1590 BC, as per the middle chronology, the most accepted chronology in our times, (or alternatively c. 1556–1526 BC, short chronology), and wa ...
) was likely to bring the Hittites and the
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-fa ...
s to southeastern Anatolia. The
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'') – ...
was part of the
Indo-European language
The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Dutch ...
group, with close ties to the
Hittite language
Hittite (natively / "the language of Neša", or ''nešumnili'' / "the language of the people of Neša"), also known as Nesite (''Nešite'' / Neshite, Nessite), is an extinct Indo-European language that was spoken by the Hittites, a people ...
. Both the local Hittites and the Luwians were likely to contribute to the formation of independent Kizzuwatna after the weakening of the Hittite Old Kingdom. The toponym Kizzuwatna is possibly a Luwian adaptation of Hittite *''kez-udne'' 'country on this side (of the mountains)', while the name
Isputahsu
Isputahsu (also transliterated as Išputaḫšu) was a king of Kizzuwatna, probably during the mid 15th century BC (short chronology). He signed a treaty of alliance with the Hittite king Telepinu.
Family
His father was Pariyawatri, who maybe wa ...
is definitely Hittite and not Luwian (Yakubovich 2010, pp. 273–4). Hurrian culture became more prominent in Kizzuwatna once it entered the sphere of influence of the Hurrian kingdom of
Mitanni
Mitanni (; Hittite cuneiform ; ''Mittani'' '), c. 1550–1260 BC, earlier called Ḫabigalbat in old Babylonian texts, c. 1600 BC; Hanigalbat or Hani-Rabbat (''Hanikalbat'', ''Khanigalbat'', cuneiform ') in Assyrian records, or ''Naharin'' in ...
, with whom they shared various degrees of kinship.
Puduhepa, queen of the Hittite king
Hattusili III Ḫattušili (''Ḫattušiliš'' in the inflected nominative case) was the regnal name of three Hittite kings:
* Ḫattušili I (Labarna II)
*Ḫattušili II
*Ḫattušili III
It was also the name of two Neo-Hittite kings:
* Ḫattušili I (Labarn ...
, came from Kizzuwatna, where she had been a priestess. Their
pantheon
Pantheon may refer to:
* Pantheon (religion), a set of gods belonging to a particular religion or tradition, and a temple or sacred building
Arts and entertainment Comics
*Pantheon (Marvel Comics), a fictional organization
* ''Pantheon'' (Lone S ...
was also integrated into the Hittite one, and the goddess
Hebat of Kizzuwatna became very important in
Hittite religion
Hittite mythology and Hittite religion were the religious beliefs and practices of the Hittites, who created an empire centered in what is now Turkey from .
Most of the narratives embodying Hittite mythology are lost, and the elements that wo ...
towards the end of the 13th century BC. A corpus of religious texts called the ''
Kizzuwatna rituals'' was discovered at
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 ...
. Believed to be, at present, the earliest Indo-European ritual corpus discovered to date.
History
King
Sargon of Akkad
Sargon of Akkad (; akk, ''Šarrugi''), also known as Sargon the Great, was the first ruler of the Akkadian Empire, known for his conquests of the Sumerian city-states in the 24th to 23rd centuries BC.The date of the reign of Sargon is highl ...
claimed to have reached the Taurus Mountains (the silver mountains) in the 23rd century BC. However, archaeology has yet to confirm any
Akkadian Akkadian or Accadian may refer to:
* Akkadians, inhabitants of the Akkadian Empire
* Akkadian language, an extinct Eastern Semitic language
* Akkadian literature, literature in this language
* Akkadian cuneiform
Cuneiform is a logo- syllabi ...
influence in the area. The trade routes from
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 ...
to the ''
karum'' in the Anatolian Highlands went through Kizzuwatna by the early 2nd millennium BC.
The kings of Kizzuwatna of the 2nd millennium BC had frequent contact with the
Hittites
The Hittites () were an Anatolian people who played an important role in establishing first a kingdom in Kussara (before 1750 BC), then the Kanesh or Nesha kingdom (c. 1750–1650 BC), and next an empire centered on Hattusa in north-centra ...
to the north. The earliest Hittite records seem to refer to Kizzuwatna and
Arzawa
Arzawa was a region and a political entity (a "kingdom" or a federation of local powers) in Western Anatolia in the second half of the 2nd millennium BC (roughly from the late 15th century BC until the beginning of the 12th century BC). The core o ...
(Western Anatolia) collectively as Luwia.
In the power struggle that arose between the Hittites and the Hurrian kingdom of
Mitanni
Mitanni (; Hittite cuneiform ; ''Mittani'' '), c. 1550–1260 BC, earlier called Ḫabigalbat in old Babylonian texts, c. 1600 BC; Hanigalbat or Hani-Rabbat (''Hanikalbat'', ''Khanigalbat'', cuneiform ') in Assyrian records, or ''Naharin'' in ...
, Kizzuwatna became a strategic partner because of its location.
Isputahsu
Isputahsu (also transliterated as Išputaḫšu) was a king of Kizzuwatna, probably during the mid 15th century BC (short chronology). He signed a treaty of alliance with the Hittite king Telepinu.
Family
His father was Pariyawatri, who maybe wa ...
made a treaty with Hittite King
Telepinu
Telipinu was the last king of the Hittites Old Kingdom, living in 16th century BC, reigned c. 1525-1500 BC in middle chronology. At the beginning of his reign, the Hittite Empire had contracted to its core territories, having long since lost all ...
. Later, Kizzuwatna shifted its allegiance, perhaps because of a new ruling dynasty. The city-state of
Alalakh
Alalakh (''Tell Atchana''; Hittite: Alalaḫ) is an ancient archaeological site approximately northeast of Antakya (historic Antioch) in what is now Turkey's Hatay Province. It flourished, as an urban settlement, in the Middle and Late Bronze A ...
, to the south, expanded under its new vigorous leader,
Idrimi
Idrimi was the king of Alalakh c. 1490–1465 BC, or around 1450 BC. He is known, mainly, from an inscription on his statue found at Alalakh by Leonard Woolley in 1939.Longman III, Tremper, (1991)Fictional Akkadian Autobiography: A Generic and Co ...
, himself a subject of the Mitannian king
Barattarna
Barattarna, Parattarna, Paršatar, or Parshatatar was the name of a Hurrian king of Mitanni and is considered to have reigned, as per middle chronology between c. 1510 and 1490 BC by J. A. Belmonte-Marin quoting H. Klengel.
Very few records of hi ...
. King
Pilliya
Pilliya was a king of Kizzuwatna ca. the 15th century BC ( short chronology). He signed a treaty with Idrimi of Alalakh, allying with the Mitanni empire.
He made peace with Zidanta II
Zidanta II was a king of the Hittites (Middle Kingdom) in t ...
of Kizzuwatna had to sign a treaty with Idrimi. The treaty was for fugitives exchanges between Idrimi and Pilliya.
Pilliya also made peace with the Hittite king
Zidanta II
Zidanta II was a king of the Hittites (Middle Kingdom) in the 15th century BC.
Life
He was probably a nephew of Hantili II and had a wife Yaya. Zidanta made peace through the means of a parity treaty with a ruler named Pilliya, his counterpart ...
, signing a parity treaty between the two.
On Kizzuwatna's north-eastern border, there also existed the state of
Ishuwa during this period, that played a political role in the rivalry between Hittites and the Mitanni.
At the time of Kizzuwatna king
Shunashura I (Sunassura), the Hittite king
Tudhaliya I 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 ...
became more powerful. He concluded a treaty with Sunassura, and took it away from the domination of Mitanni.
His adopted son king
Arnuwanda I
Arnuwanda I was a king of the Hittite Empire. He became a ruler by marriage and was very religious. He ruled c. 1390–1380 BC (middle chronology).
Biography
Arnuwanda became a king by marriage. His wife was Ašmu-nikal, daughter of king Tudha ...
likely continued the policy of his father. The exceedingly rough and unfavourable terrain of the Tarsus Mountains made it likely that to remain in a position of prominence among their Hurrian- and Luwian- speaking neighbours, the Kizzuwatna requested favourable terms for the treaties, and that they were subsequently granted.
Kizzuwatna rebelled during the reign of
Suppiluliuma I but remained in the
Hittite Empire
The Hittites () were an Anatolian people who played an important role in establishing first a kingdom in Kussara (before 1750 BC), then the Kanesh or Nesha kingdom (c. 1750–1650 BC), and next an empire centered on Hattusa in north-centra ...
for 200 years. In the famous
Battle of Kadesh
The Battle of Kadesh or Battle of Qadesh took place between the forces of the New Kingdom of Egypt under Ramesses II and the Hittite Empire under Muwatalli II at the city of Kadesh on the Orontes River, just upstream of Lake Homs near the mod ...
(c. 1274 BC), Kizzuwatna supplied troops to the Hittite king. As master equestrians, some of the first in the areas south of the Caucasus region, they provided the horses, which were later favoured by King Solomon and allowed the more aggressive use of the Hittite chariot than their Egyptian and Assyrian rivals were able.
The Kizzuwatna were master craftsman, mining experts and blacksmiths. Being the first to work "black iron", which is understood to have been iron of meteoric origin, into weapons such as maces, swords and warheads for spears. Their location in the mineral-rich Tarsus Range gave them ample materials from which to work.
Around 1200 BC, an invasion by the
Sea Peoples
The Sea Peoples are a hypothesized seafaring confederation that attacked ancient Egypt and other regions in the East Mediterranean prior to and during the Late Bronze Age collapse (1200–900 BCE).. Quote: "First coined in 1881 by the Fren ...
is believed to have temporarily displaced the people of the Cilician plain, but many among the entourage of the Sea peoples were likely to have been composed of Luwian and Hurrians, possibly to ensure that they had a stake in how the invasions ended for their people, rather than being simple victims of them.
After the fall of the Hittite Empire, the
Neo-Hittite
The states that are called Syro-Hittite, Neo-Hittite (in older literature), or Luwian-Aramean (in modern scholarly works), were Luwian and Aramean regional polities of the Iron Age, situated in southeastern parts of modern Turkey and northwestern ...
kingdom
Quwe, or Hiyawa, emerged in the area of former Kizzuwatna.
Kings
*
Pariyawatri
*
Isputahsu
Isputahsu (also transliterated as Išputaḫšu) was a king of Kizzuwatna, probably during the mid 15th century BC (short chronology). He signed a treaty of alliance with the Hittite king Telepinu.
Family
His father was Pariyawatri, who maybe wa ...
/ Išputahšu
[''Š'' represents a "s" sound (as in "sun") in Hittite and Luwian transliteration ( in the ]International Phonetic Alphabet
The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is an alphabetic system of phonetic transcription, phonetic notation based primarily on the Latin script. It was devised by the International Phonetic Association in the late 19th century as a standa ...
) although ''š'' usually represents "sh" (as in "shun") in other languages in the IPA.
* Paddatisu / Paddatišu
*
Pilliya
Pilliya was a king of Kizzuwatna ca. the 15th century BC ( short chronology). He signed a treaty with Idrimi of Alalakh, allying with the Mitanni empire.
He made peace with Zidanta II
Zidanta II was a king of the Hittites (Middle Kingdom) in t ...
* Sunassura I / Šunaššura I
* Talzu
* Sunassura II / Šunaššura II - contemporary of
Hittite king
Tudhaliya II
Tudhaliya II (also Tudhaliya III; Hurrian name ''Tasmi-Sarri'') was a king of the Hittite empire (New kingdom) c. 1380–1370 BC (middle chronology) or 1360? – 1344 BC ( short chronology). He was the son of King Arnuwanda I and Ašmu-nikal.
Tu ...
(c. 1400 BC)
Notes
See also
*
Ancient regions of Anatolia
The following is a list of regions of Ancient Anatolia, also known as "Asia Minor," in the present day Anatolia region of Turkey in Western Asia.
Late Bronze Age regions (circa 1200 BC)
* Alasiya / Alashiya (later Cyprus in the Classical Age, ...
*
Cilicia
Cilicia (); el, Κιλικία, ''Kilikía''; Middle Persian: ''klkyʾy'' (''Klikiyā''); Parthian: ''kylkyʾ'' (''Kilikiyā''); tr, Kilikya). is a geographical region in southern Anatolia in Turkey, extending inland from the northeastern coa ...
*
Neo-Hittites
The states that are called Syro-Hittite, Neo-Hittite (in older literature), or Luwian-Aramean (in modern scholarly works), were Luwian and Aramean regional polities of the Iron Age, situated in southeastern parts of modern Turkey and northwester ...
Sources
* Beckman, Garry M.: ''Hittite Diplomatic Texts'', Scholars Press, Atlanta 1996.
* Götze, Albrecht: ''Kizzuwatna and the problem of Hittite geography'', Yale university press, New Haven 1940.
* Haas, Volkert: ''Hurritische und luwische Riten aus Kizzuwatna'', Butzon & Bercker, Kevelaer 1974.
* Yakubovich, Ilya: ''Sociolinguistics of the Luvian Language'', Brill, Leiden 2010.
* Novák, Mirko: Kizzuwatna, Ḥiyawa, Quwe – Ein Abriss der Kulturgeschichte des Ebenen Kilikien, in J. Becker, R. Hempelmann, E. Rehm (ed.), ''Kulturlandschaft Syrien – Zentrum und Peripherie.Festschrift für Jan-Waalke Meyer'', Alter Orient und Altes Testament 371, Ugarit-Verlag, Münster 2010, pp. 397–425
* Forlanini, Massimo: How to infer Ancient Roads and Intineraries from heterogenous Hittite Texts: The Case of the Cilician (Kizzuwatnean) Road System, ''KASKAL 10'', 2013, pp. 1–34.
* Novák, Mirko and Rutishauser, Susanne: Tutḫaliya, Šunaššura und die Grenze zwischen Ḫatti und Kizzuwatna, in: C. Mittermayer, S. Ecklin (eds.), ''Altorientalische Studien zu Ehren von Pascal Attinger, Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis 256'', Academic Press, Fribourg/Göttingen 2012, pp. 259–269.
* Kozal, Ekin and Novák, Mirko: Facing Muwattalli. Some Thoughts on the Visibility and Function of the Rock Reliefs at Sirkeli Höyük, Cilicia, in: E. Kozal, M. Akar, Y. Heffron, Ç. Çilingiroğlu, T.E. Şerifoğlu, C. Çakırlar, S. Ünlüsoy and E. Jean (eds.), ''Questions, Approaches, and Dialoguesin the Eastern Mediterranean Archaeology Studies in Honor of Marie-Henriette and Charles Gates, Alter Orient und Altes Testament 445'', Ugarit-Verlag, Münster 2017, pp. 371–388.
* Novák, Mirko and Rutishauser, Susanne: Kizzuwatna: Archaeology. In: M. Weeden und L.Z. Ullmann (ed.), ''Hittite Landscape and Geography. Handbuch der Orientalistik I,121'', Brill, Leiden 2017, pp. 134–145.
* Kozal, Ekin and Novák, Mirko: Alalakh and Kizzuwatna. Some Thoughts on the Synchronization, in: Ç. Maner, A. Gilbert, M. Horowitz (ed.), ''Overturning Certainties in Near Eastern Archaeology, A Festschrift in Honor of K. Aslıhan Yener for her 40 years of Field Archaeology in the Eastern Mediterranean'', Brill, Leiden 2017, pp. 296–317.
{{Authority control
States and territories established in the 2nd millennium BC
States and territories disestablished in the 2nd millennium BC
Ancient Cilicia
States in Bronze Age Anatolia
Former kingdoms
Former countries in Western Asia
2nd millennium BC
Hittite Empire
Hurrians