Karkiya or Karkisa was a Late Bronze Age region in western Anatolia known from references in Hittite and Egyptian records. It is believed to refer to the classical era region of Caria or to a region where ancestors of the Carians lived at the time, though this identification has not been firmly established.
Karkiya was governed by a council of chiefs rather than a king, and thus was not a unified political entity. The Karkiyans had relations with the Hittite Empire, but were never part of the empire proper. Relations with the Hittites had ups and downs, and Karkiyan soldiers fought for the Hittites at the Battle of Kadesh, most likely as mercenaries. [1] [2]
The name Karkisa/Karkiya has been argued to be related to later terms for Caria such as Greek Kares, Akkadian Karsa, and Persian Karka. [2] [3] [4] However, the linguistic link is not firmly established, since the differences between the earlier and later terms do not follow regular patterns of sound change [5] and the relevance of such laws to the transmission of toponyms between languages has been questioned. [6] Similarly, it is currently impossible to pinpoint Karkiya's location beyond it being in western Anatolia. Its identification with the later area of Caria is motivated by textual evidence which potentially suggests a location to the north of Lukka, south of Arzawa-Mira, west of Tarhuntassa, but inland from Millawanda. However, there is room for doubt of this textual interpretation. [1] [3] [6] Woudhuizen has located the Bronze Age forerunners of Karkiyans amongst the Cyclades, [7] though there is no known archaeological evidence for or against such migrations. [6]
Caria was a region of western Anatolia extending along the coast from mid-Ionia (Mycale) south to Lycia and east to Phrygia. The Ionian and Dorian Greeks colonized the west of it and joined the Carian population in forming Greek-dominated states there. Carians were described by Herodotus as being of Minoan descent, while he reports that the Carians themselves maintained that they were Anatolian mainlanders intensely engaged in seafaring and were akin to the Mysians and the Lydians. The Carians spoke Carian, a native Anatolian language closely related to Luwian. Also closely associated with the Carians were the Leleges, which could be an earlier name for Carians.
The Anatolian languages are an extinct branch of Indo-European languages that were spoken in Anatolia, part of present-day Turkey. The best known Anatolian language is Hittite, which is considered the earliest-attested Indo-European 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 – the name of the region in which the Luwians lived. Luwiya is attested, for example, in the Hittite laws.
The Carians were the ancient inhabitants of Caria in southwest Anatolia.
Arzawa was a region and a political entity in Western Anatolia in the second half of the 2nd millennium BC. The core of Arzawa is believed to be along the Kaystros River, with its capital at Apasa, later known as Ephesus. When the Hittites conquered Arzawa, it was divided into three Hittite provinces: a southern province called Mira along the Maeander River, which would later become known as Caria; a northern province called the Seha River Land, along the Gediz River, which would later become known as Lydia; and an eastern province called Hapalla.
Hittite, also known as Nesite, is an extinct Indo-European language that was spoken by the Hittites, a people of Bronze Age Anatolia who created an empire centred on Hattusa, as well as parts of the northern Levant and Upper Mesopotamia. The language, now long extinct, is attested in cuneiform, in records dating from the 17th to the 13th centuries BCE, with isolated Hittite loanwords and numerous personal names appearing in an Old Assyrian context from as early as the 20th century BCE, making it the earliest-attested use of the Indo-European languages.
Wilusa or Wilusiya was a Late Bronze Age city in western Anatolia known from references in fragmentary Hittite records. The city is notable for its identification with the archaeological site of Troy, and thus its potential connection to the legendary Trojan War.
Madduwatta was a Late Bronze Age warlord who conquered a portion of southwest Anatolia. He is known from the Hittite text known as the Indictment of Madduwatta.
The term Lukka lands, in Hittite language texts from the 2nd millennium BC, is a collective term for states formed by the Lukka people in south-west Anatolia. The Lukka were never subjugated long-term by the Hittites, who generally viewed them as hostile. It is commonly accepted that the Bronze Age toponym Lukka is cognate with the Lycia of classical antiquity.
The Trojan language was the language spoken in Troy during the Late Bronze Age. The identity of the language is unknown, and it is not certain that there was one single language used in the city at the time.
Piyamaradu was a warlord mentioned in Hittite documents from the middle and late 13th century BC. As an ally of the Ahhiyawa, he led or supported insurrections against the Hittites in Western Anatolia. His history is of particular interest since his area of activity may have included Wilusa, thus suggesting a potential connection to the myth of the Trojan War.
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-family, which was written in cuneiform imported from Mesopotamia, and a unique native hieroglyphic script, which was sometimes used by the linguistically-related Hittites as well.
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.
The prehistory of Anatolia stretches from the Paleolithic era through to the appearance of classical civilisation in the middle of the 1st millennium BC. It is generally regarded as being divided into three ages reflecting the dominant materials used for the making of domestic implements and weapons: Stone Age, Bronze Age and Iron Age. The term Copper Age (Chalcolithic) is used to denote the period straddling the stone and Bronze Ages.
Tarḫunna or Tarḫuna/i was the Hittite weather god. He was also referred to as the "Weather god of Heaven" or the "Lord of the Land of Hatti".
Frederik Christiaan Woudhuizen was a Dutch independent scholar who studied ancient Indo-European languages, hieroglyphic Luvian/Luwian, and Mediterranean protohistory. He was the former editor of Talanta, Proceedings of the Dutch Archaeological and Historical Society.
Kildara or Killara (Κιλλαρα) was a town of ancient Caria. It was a polis (city-state) and was in a sympoliteia with Theangela and Thodosa. Kildara is the find-spot of numerous inscriptions in the Carian language and is the name of one specific type of Carian script.
Mira was one of the semi-autonomous vassal state kingdoms that emerged in western Anatolia following the defeat and partition of the larger kingdom of Arzawa by the victorious Suppiluliuma I of the Hittite Empire. A significantly smaller Arzawa continued, centered on Apasa (Ephesus), with Mira to the east.
Luwian Studies is an independent, private, non-profit foundation based in Zürich, Switzerland. Its sole purpose is to promote the study of cultures of the second millennium BC in western Asia Minor. The foundation encourages and supports archaeological, linguistic and natural scientific investigations to complete the understanding of Middle and Late Bronze Age Mediterranean cultures. Western Anatolia was, at that point in time, home to groups of people who spoke Luwian, an Indo-European language.
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.
