Tarḫuntašša
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''Tarḫuntašša ( ''dIM-ta-aš-ša'' "City of Tarhunt";
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 pr ...
: ''(DEUS)TONITRUS-hu-ta-sá'') was a Hittite
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 ...
city 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 re ...
mentioned in Hittite documents. Its location is unknown. In 2019, a previously little-researched site at Türkmen-Karahöyük, near
Çumra Çumra is a town and district of Konya Province in the Central Anatolia region of Turkey. According to 2000 census, population of the district is 104,576 of which 42,308 live in the town of Çumra. Çumra town The town of Çumra is at at an altit ...
on the
Konya Plain The Konya Plain is a plain in the Central Anatolia Region of Turkey, associated with the Konya Province. It is a flat plain (a height of 900–1050 m) that covers the majority of Konya Basin and constitutes the main part of the Central Anat ...
, was investigated and put forward as the site of Tarḫuntassa by Michele Massa, James Osborne and Christoph Bachhuber. Previously proposed locations include
Konya Konya () is a major city in central Turkey, on the southwestern edge of the Central Anatolian Plateau, and is the capital of Konya Province. During antiquity and into Seljuk times it was known as Iconium (), although the Seljuks also called it D ...
,
Sirkeli Höyük Sirkeli Höyük is one of the largest tells (settlement mounds) of Cilicia with an area of approximately 80 ha.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 ...
, the
Göksu The Göksu ( Turkish for "sky water" also called ''Geuk Su'', ''Goksu Nehri''; la, Saleph, grc, Καλύκαδνος, translit=Calycadnus) is a river on the Taşeli plateau (Turkey). Both its sources arise in the Taurus Mountains—the northern ...
valley, the vicinity of
Kayseri Kayseri (; el, Καισάρεια) is a large Industrialisation, industrialised List of cities in Turkey, city in Central Anatolia, Turkey, and the capital of Kayseri Province, Kayseri province. The Kayseri Metropolitan Municipality area is comp ...
, Kilise Tepe (near
Mut Mut, also known as Maut and Mout, was a mother goddess worshipped in ancient Egypt and the Kingdom of Kush in present-day North Sudan. In Meroitic, her name was pronounced mata): 𐦨𐦴. Her name means ''mother'' in the ancient Egyptian la ...
, formerly known as Maltepe), and Kızıldağ (north of
Karaman Karaman, historically known as Laranda (Greek: Λάρανδα), is a city in south central Turkey, located in Central Anatolia, north of the Taurus Mountains, about south of Konya. It is the capital district of the Karaman Province. According to ...
).


New Hittite capital

In the early 13th century BC,
Muwatalli II :''See also Muwatalli I'' Muwatalli II (also Muwatallis, or Muwatallish) was a king of the New Kingdom of the Hittite empire c. 1295–1282 (middle chronology) and 1295–1272 BC in the short chronology. Biography He was the eldest son of Mursil ...
moved the Hittite capital 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 Tarhuntassa. The reasons for this move remain unclear. Official records postdating Muwatalli II's death state that he moved the capital as the result of an omen. Generally, archaeologists explain the move as a military strategy, in order to be closer to the Syrian region in preparation for battle with
Ramses II Ramesses II ( egy, rꜥ-ms-sw ''Rīʿa-məsī-sū'', , meaning "Ra is the one who bore him"; ), commonly known as Ramesses the Great, was the third pharaoh of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt. Along with Thutmose III he is often regarded as t ...
at
Kadesh Qadesh, Qedesh, Qetesh, Kadesh, Kedesh, Kadeš and Qades come from the common Semitic root "Q-D-Š", which means "sacred." Kadesh and variations may refer to: Ancient/biblical places * Kadesh (Syria) or Qadesh, an ancient city of the Levant, on ...
. However, Itamar Singer has proposed instead that Muwatalli II moved the capital as part of a religious reform, attempting to elevate his personal god, pihassassi, the Storm-God of Lightning to a more powerful position in Hittite religious observance. A third explanation is that at this point in time, Tarhuntassa was more centrally located within the network of overland and sea routes connecting the Hittite empire and beyond, making it an ideal capital for managing trade and communication throughout the territory. Muwatalli II's son
Mursili III Mursili III, also known as Urhi-Teshub, was a king of the Hittites who assumed the throne of the Hittite empire (New Kingdom) at Tarhuntassa upon his father's death. He was a cousin of Tudhaliya IV and Queen Maathorneferure. He ruled ca. 1282–1 ...
later moved the capital back to Hattusa. After
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 ...
deposed Mursili, the new king appointed Muwatalli's son
Kurunta Kurunta (Cuneiform: ) was younger son of the early 13th century BC Hittite king Muwatalli II and cousin of Tudhaliya IV. Kurunta was thereby a Hittite prince and king of Tarhuntassa country. It has been suggested that he may have captured the Hi ...
as king in Tarhuntassa. The treaty which survives mostly refers to the appointed king as "Ulmi-Tessup", and so some scholars believe that Ulmi-Tessup and Kurunta are two different rulers of Tarhuntassa.


Kurunta of Tarhuntassa

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 ...
re-ratified Kurunta as king in a treaty inscribed in bronze. At this time, Kurunta was leading his forces to war with
Parha Perga or Perge ( Hittite: ''Parha'', el, Πέργη ''Perge'', tr, Perge) was originally an ancient Lycian settlement that later became a Greek city in Pamphylia. It was the capital of the Roman province of Pamphylia Secunda, now located in ...
. This treaty, unlike previous treaties involving Tarhuntassa, calls to witness the Hittites' vassal kings of Mira and the
Seha River The Seha River Land was a kingdom in Western Anatolia in the Late Bronze Age known from Hittite texts. Part of Arzawa, it was located north of Mira and south of Wilusa, and at one point controlled the island of Lazpa. History The Seha River L ...
Land on the Aegean coast. This implies that Tarhuntassa's stature was now a matter of importance for all western Anatolia. Kurunta later claimed the title of Great King for himself. Whether or not this claim extended to the whole domain of Hatti, the court in Hattusa contested it (and buried the treaty).


Fall of the Hittite Empire

Toward the end of the Hittite empire, Suppiluliuma II recorded in a
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 pr ...
inscription that Hatti had attacked and sacked the city of Tarhuntassa. Other Hieroglyphic Luwian inscriptions from the late 13th century BC also mention a certain great king
Hartapu Hartapu was an Anatolian king in the 8th century BCE. He is known from Hieroglyphic Luwian inscriptions from Kizildağ, Mount Karadağ, Burunkaya near Aksaray, and most recently Türkmen-Karahöyük, site of a monumental stele in which he claim ...
, son of the great king Mursili (III), who likely ruled Tarhuntassa. It may be possible that Suppiluliuma II's campaign was directed against Hartapu.


Türkmen-Karahöyük

Though occupied beginning in the Late Chalcolithic period this site was most heavily occupied in the Late Bronze Age (c. 1300-1100 BC) and Middle Iron Age (c. 900-600 BC). At those times it reached an extent of over 120 hectares making it largest site in west and central Anatolia. During a 2019 regional archaeological survey, called the Konya Regional Archaeological Survey Project,
Oriental Institute of Chicago The Oriental Institute (OI), established in 1919, is the University of Chicago's interdisciplinary research center for ancient Near Eastern ("Orient") studies and archaeology museum. It was founded for the university by professor James Henry Brea ...
archaeologists unearthed a monumental
Luwian Hieroglyphs Anatolian hieroglyphs are an indigenous logographic script native to central Anatolia, consisting of some 500 signs. They were once commonly known as Hittite hieroglyphs, but the language they encode proved to be Luwian, not Hittite, and the ter ...
inscription in an irrigation ditch. Investigation showed that the stone had originally been at the top of the mound but had been moved during illegal excavations. The inscription detailed a ruler named Harapu's victory over
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 empires ...
. Because an already known inscription referred to a Hartapu son of Mursili which some suggested was Mursili III a known king of Tarḫuntašša some researchers speculated Türkmen-Karahöyük was Tarḫuntašša. The excavators determined that the inscription dated to the 8th century BC, much too recent to be related to Tarḫuntašša and continue to stand by that view though not precluding the site being Tarḫuntašša in Middle Bronze times. At the site of Kızıldağ, about 13 kilometers to the south-southeast, there is another inscription of Hartapu on an outcrop.


References


Sources

* O. R. Gurney (1993)
"The Treaty with Ulmi-Tešub"
''Anatolian Studies'' 43:13-28. {{Authority control Hittite cities Luwians Former populated places in Turkey Late Bronze Age collapse Lost cities and towns