Middle East Kingdoms

Ahhiyawa (Ahhiya)

The most important Bronze Age kingdom in western Anatolia during the latter part of the thirteenth century BC was that of Ahhiyawa. Unfortunately, little is known of it, even down to its exact location and the origin of its people. While scholarly opinion is hotly divided, there may be a connection with the Mycenaeans, who certainly established commercial outposts on the Anatolian coast. The possibility is that they also established a political and military presence there, as a loose confederation of Mycenaean-period cities from the Greek mainland, Rhodes, and Thrace. The similarity between the names Ahhiyawa and Achaeans, the Homeric term for the Greeks of this period, has suggested this link since the kingdom's existence was first discovered.

Mycenaeans or not, Ahhiyawa was situated between the coast and the state of Arzawa, with the Lukka on the south-eastern border. It first became prominent in the fifteenth century BC, but it was in the mid-thirteenth century that it became a serious problem for the Hittites, once Arzawa had become a Hittite vassal. Chronicled by them as the state of Ekmesh (a name also linked to the Sea Peoples), Ahhiyawa clearly became one of the major powers of that period, and was also one with a strong seaborne trade which provided certain important trade goods to Syrian cities and through them, the Assyrians.

c.1450 BC

Ahhiyawa first becomes prominent on the Aegean coast of Anatolia, being mentioned in Hittite texts, but remains of minor importance. Their main base or capital is Milawata (Millawanda, classical Miletus).

fl c.1430s BC

Attarsiyya

The only monarch to have his name recorded.

c.1430 BC

Attarsiyya conquers the Cypriot kingdom of Alashiya, and the ruler, Madduwattas, flees to the protection of the Hittite king, Tudhaliya II (I). With Hittite support, Madduwattas later conquers the kingdom of Arzawa while the Hittites take Alashiya.

c.1330? BC

Ahhiyawa shares peaceful relations with the Hittites at this point in time, bringing a statue of their main god to Mursili II to cure his illness.

c.1325 BC

Ahhiyawa is attacked by the Hittites as they invade and conquer Arzawa, bringing their power and presence right up to Ahhiyawa's borders. Perhaps as part of a 'cold war', Ahhiyawa later supports an overthrow of the ruler of Wilusa by one Piyama-Radu.

c.1250 BC

An elusive 'king of Ahhiyawa', is a major player, and is addressed as 'brother' by the Hittite king, Hattusili III, but is hard to pinpoint in any detail. The peaceful relations of the previous century are now harder to find as the two kingdoms vie for supremacy. Hattusili mentions that Wilusa has previously been a bone of contention between the two kingdoms.

fl c.1245 BC

?

'Great King'.

fl c.1245 BC

Tawagalawa

Brother. Gave aid to Piyama-Radu.

c.1240 BC

Hittite vassals in the west and south-west of Anatolia rebel under Piyama-Radu, perhaps inspired by the king of Ahhiyawa. Piyama-Radu's name suggests he may be an Arzawan and he already seems to have been expelled from Wilusa after taking control there. King Tudhaliya is unable to suppress him, despite invading and taking Milawata and perhaps the nearby dependant city of Atriya.

c.1230 BC

Amurru concludes a treaty with the Hittite king, preventing seaborne trade between Assyria and Ahhiyawa. The treaty lists the great kings of the period with whom the Hittite king considers himself to be equal: Egypt, Babylonia, Assyria, and lastly Ahhiyawa. After writing the treaty, the scribe crosses out the final name.

c.1220 BC

With the decline of the Hittites, the textual information regarding the Ahhiyawans also disappears. It seems unlikely they are definitively defeated, as this is bound to be recorded - instead, they are probably assimilated into the newly emergent kingdoms of the twelfth century, some of which have a Greek heritage which the Ahhiyawans may share.

It is theoretically possible that they become involved in the Mycenaean fight against Troy. When the latter is defeated, further areas of the Anatolian coastline are opened up to Greek settlement, and pressures caused by the regional drought and instability of this period force the dissipation of Ahhiyawa as its people find safer settlement in the north.

Another possibility is that some of the Ahhiyawan population can be equated with the Ekwesh, part of the Sea Peoples according to Egyptian accounts. If so, their hostility towards the Hittites probably leads to their being involved in the destruction of that state when it falls in about 1200 BC.