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The Bronze Age collapse at the end of the thirteenth century BC
saw a great many changes in the ancient world. Many second
millennium states disappeared entirely, as cities were destroyed and
peoples migrated. Others underwent a process of transformation which
effectively turned them into new states, and some regions in western
and central Anatolia remained abandoned for decades.
Until the collapse, the Hittites had been almost the only ones
to record the names of the
various Anatolian states, using their language
to interpret those names, although many of the inhabitants of those
states spoke a similar language anyway. During and after the
collapse, written records became very sparse. Mycenaean Greeks were
migrating into Anatolia, often destroying the established local
political structure, and bringing with them their own language and
oral traditions. Local names that may have first been written down
by them centuries later underwent a degree of transformation in that
time.
Although it seems that Greek settlers had been arriving on the
western shores of Anatolia for a couple of centuries, the Trojan War
in about 1183 BC was the high-point of their involvement in
'Hittite' Anatolia. Following
the destruction of what seems to have been the last organised
Anatolian opposition (Troy), Greek settlement of western Anatolia appears
to have been largely unopposed, although the available historical
data is extremely sparse.
Troy's various regional allies at the time of the Trojan War are shown here, many of which are only mentioned in later works
by Homer, Herodotus, and other Greek chroniclers. Naturally, these
works often use names which were familiar to their audience, but
which may have been very different in the twelfth century BC. Nevertheless,
the traditional names are used here. Many states, especially those
outside the Troad, are historically attested, even if only poorly at
first.
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