Tegarama (Old Assyria: Tergarma; Hittite: Takarama, Luwian: Lakarma/Lukarma) was a city in

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 ...

during the

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 ...

. It is often identified with

Gürün Gürün is a town and a district of Sivas Province of Turkey. The mayor is Nami Çiftçi ( MHP). History Toponymy The current name Gürün is most probably a corruption of the ancient name Tegarama, a city in Anatolia during the Bronze Age. ...

and biblical

Togarmah Togarmah (Hebrew: ''Tōgarmā'') is a figure in the "table of nations" in Genesis 10, the list of descendants of Noah that represents the peoples known to the ancient Hebrews. Togarmah is among the descendants of Japheth and is thought to repres ...

. A fortified city in

Kammanu Kammanu was a Luwian speaking Neo-Hittite state in a plateau (Malatya Plain) to the north of the Taurus Mountains and to the west of Euphrates river in the late 2nd millennium BC, formed from part of Kizzuwatna after the collapse of the Hittite E ...

(on the border of

Tabal Tabal (c.f. biblical ''Tubal''; Assyrian: 𒋫𒁄) was a Luwian speaking Neo-Hittite kingdom (and/or collection of kingdoms) of South Central Anatolia during the Iron Age. According to archaeologist Kurt Bittel, references to Tabal first appear ...

) mentioned in Neo-Assyrian royal inscriptions of the ninth, eighth, and seventh centuries BC (reigns of Shalmaneser III, Sargon II, and Sennacherib) as Til-garimmu/Til-garimme.

Middle Bronze Age

The city contained a palace, a karum and an

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 ...

n colony office. It was important in terms of trade which included tin, textiles, wool, slaves and wine. The city was inhabited during the Old Assyrian Kingdom and

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 ...

Late Bronze Age

Reign of Tudhaliya III

The city was sacked by

Isuwa Isuwa (transcribed Išuwa and sometimes rendered Ishuwa) was the ancient Hittite name for one of its neighboring Anatolian kingdoms to the east, in an area which later became the Luwian Neo-Hittite state of Kammanu. The land The land of Isuwa ...

during the early reign of the

Hittite king The dating and sequence of the Hittite kings is compiled from fragmentary records, supplemented by the recent find in Hattusa of a cache of more than 3500 seal impressions giving names and titles and genealogy of Hittite kings. All dates given here ...

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 ...

on the eastern border.

Reign of Suppiluliuma I

During his victorious campaign against

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 ...

Suppiluliuma I halted in Tegarama and inspected his forces before attacking and capturing

Karkemish 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 its ...

. Consequently, city must have been on the road from

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 ...

to Karkhemish.

Theories

The exact location of the city in Anatolia is disputed.

Oliver Gurney Oliver Robert Gurney (28 January 1911 – 11 January 2001) was an English Assyriologist from the Gurney family and a leading scholar of the Hittites. Early life Gurney was born in London in 1911, the son of Robert Gurney, a zoologist, and a ...

placed Tegarama in Southeast Anatolia. Others have located it in central Anatolia near the town of

Sivas Sivas (Latin and Greek: ''Sebastia'', ''Sebastea'', Σεβάστεια, Σεβαστή, ) is a city in central Turkey and the seat of Sivas Province. The city, which lies at an elevation of in the broad valley of the Kızılırmak river, is a ...

about 90 miles (140 km) east of Kanesh.

Gürün

Til-garimmu is usually identified with modern Gürün, biblical Tōgarmā, classical Gauraene/Gauraina, Old Assyrian Tergarama, Hittite Takarama, and Luwian Lakarma/Lukarma. However, no pre-Roman remains have been discovered at Gürün.

Akçadaǧ

Akçadaǧ, ca. 30 km west of Malatya, has been tentatively suggested as an alternate location.

Changing location

One theory is that the name of the city was 'moved' to another settlement during the history.

Biblical tradition

The city is sometimes associated with

Biblical The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

.Srinivasan, Liny ''Desi Words Speak of the Past'' p.175 Author House (2011?),

Bibliography

- YAMADA, SHIGEO. "The City of Togarma in Neo-Assyrian Sources" Altorientalische Forschungen, vol. 33, no. 2, 2006, pp. 223-236. https://doi.org/10.1524/aofo.2006.33.2.223

References

{{Authority control Hittite cities Former populated places in Turkey Lost ancient cities and towns