Madduwatta (or Madduwattas) 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.
Madduwatta (or Madduwattas) 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.
Madduwatta is known solely from the Indictment of Madduwatta (CTH 147), a fragmentary Hittite text which recounts his exploits from a Hittite perspective. The Indictment was written during the reign of the Hittite king Arnuwanda I, but much of the text addresses events from the reign of his predecessor Tudhaliya I/II and frequently cites or quotes earlier documents which do not survive. It is unclear whether it was a legal document, a diplomatic warning, or something else, and the extant copy contains errors and corrections which seem to suggest that it was merely a draft. [1]
The Indictment is notable for containing the earliest mention of Ahhiyawa, which it renders as "Ahhiya", as well as the name Attarissiya , one of only two certain Ahhiyawan personal names in the surviving corpus. [2] It provides historical context about the growth of Mycenean Greek power in Anatolia, as well as the Hittites' strategy for maintaining their tenuous influence on the Aegean coast. [3]
Madduwatta began his career as a "man of importance" in an unknown western Anatolian polity, within the Hittite sphere of influence but beyond its direct control. During the reign of the Hittite king Tudhaliya I/II, he was attacked by an Ahhiyawan warlord named Attarissiya and forced to flee. He was granted asylum by Tudhaliya, to whom he took an oath of allegiance. Madduwatta was installed as ruler of Zippasla and the Siyanta River Land, while accepting treaty obligations which precluded establishing diplomatic relations or undertaking military enterprises except through the Hittites. [4]
Madduwatta repeatedly violated this agreement. Despite Tudhaliya's explicit prohibition, he undertook a disastrous invasion of neighboring Arzawa, at the time ruled by the anti-Hittite king Kupanta-Kurunta. Madduwatta not only failed to conquer Arzawa, but needed Hittite reinforcements to bail him out. Shortly afterwards, he neglected his treaty obligation to counter anti-Hittite activity in the region, ignoring a second incursion by Attarissiya and once again requiring Hittite military assistance. [5]
In the subsequent period, Madduwatta undertook a number of successful military exploits, and seems to have established control over a sizable chunk of southwestern Anatolia. [6] He attacked and occupied Hittite subject lands including Hapalla and unidentified territories called Iiyalanti, Zumarri, and Wallarimma which may have been part of Lukka. [7] He refused extradition requests from the Hittite king, and incited anti-Hittite rebellion among other vassal states:
Then because Madduwatta did not go to Dalauwa for battle, but in fact wrote away to the people of Dalauwa (saying): “[The troops] of Hatti have just gone to Hinduwa for battle. Block the road before them and attack them!”... They proceeded to block the way [of our] troops and routed them. They killed Kisnapili and Partahulla. But [Madduwatta] laughed out loud about them. [8]
Madduwatta also formed alliances with former enemies. He sought a marriage alliance with the Arzawan king Kupanta-Kurunta, though he justified this move to the Hittites by claiming that it was merely a covert assassination attempt. He then partnered with Attarissiya to raid the island of Alasiya, which the Hittites claimed as their own. In response to Hittite protests, he claimed ignorance: [9]
Madduwatta said thus: “...the father of his Majesty [had never informed] me, [nor] had his Majesty ever informed [me] (thus): ʻThe land of Alasiya is mine—recognize it as such!ʼ” [10]
The surviving text of the Indictment ends with a verbal confrontation between Madduwatta and an envoy sent by Arnuwanda I. What became of Madduwatta is unknown. [11]
Arzawa was a region and political entity in Western Anatolia during the Late Bronze Age. In Hittite texts, the term is used to refer both to a particular kingdom and to a loose confederation of states. The chief Arzawan state, whose capital was at Apasa is often referred to as Arzawa Minor, while the other Arzawan kingdoms included Mira, Hapalla, Wilusa, and the Seha River Land.
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.
Hattusili III was king of the Hittite empire c. 1275–1245 BC or 1267–1237 BC.
Alashiya, also spelled Alasiya, also known as the Kingdom of Alashiya, was a state which existed in the Middle and Late Bronze Ages, and was situated somewhere in the Eastern Mediterranean. It was a major source of goods, especially copper, for ancient Egypt and other states in the Ancient Near East. It is referred to in a number of the surviving texts and is now thought to be the ancient name of Cyprus, or an area of Cyprus. This was confirmed by the scientific analysis performed in Tel Aviv University of the clay tablets which were sent from Alashiya to other rulers.
Assuwa was a confederation of 22 states in western Anatolia around 1400 BC. The confederation formed to oppose the Hittite Empire, but was defeated under Tudhaliya I/II. The name was recorded in various centres in Mycenaean Greece as Asiwia, which later acquired the form Asia.
The historicity of the Iliad has been a topic of scholarly debate for centuries. While researchers of the 18th century had largely rejected the story of the Trojan War as fable, the discoveries made by Heinrich Schliemann at Hisarlik reopened the question. The subsequent excavation of Troy VIIa and the discovery of the toponym "Wilusa" in cuneiform Hittite correspondence has made it plausible that the Trojan War cycle was at least remotely based on a historical conflict of the 12th century BC, even if the poems of Homer remembered the event only through the distortion of four centuries of oral tradition.
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.
Kurunta 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 Hittite capital for a very short time during the reign of the Hittite king Tuthaliya IV and declared himself a great king.
The Manapa-Tarhunta letter is a fragmentary text in the Hittite language from the 13th century BC. The letter was sent to the Hittite king by Manapa-Tarhunta, client king of the Seha River Land. In the letter, Manapa-Tarhunta discusses Hittite attempts to reassert control over northwest Anatolia. The letter is particularly notable for its mention of Wilusa, generally identified with Troy.
The Tawagalawa letter is a fragmentary Hittite text from the mid 13th century BC. It is notable for providing a window into relations between Hittites and Greeks during the Late Bronze Age and for its mention of a prior disagreement concerning a city called Wilusa, generally identified with the archaeological site of Troy.
Kupanta-Kurunta was a king of Mira known for his involvement in Hittite geopolitics. He was born in the 1330s or 1320s BC at Mira in western Anatolia, in one of the princely families. His father joined a coup against king Mašḫuiluwa. The Hittite king Suppiluliuma I married Mašḫuiluwa to his daughter Muwatti and reinstalled him. Kupanta-Kurunta's father apparently died or was exiled soon after. Mašḫuiluwa then asked Suppiluliuma's successor Mursili II if he could adopt Kupanta-Kurunta as a son.
The Milawata letter is an item of diplomatic correspondence from a Hittite king at Hattusa to a client king in western Anatolia around 1240 BC. It constitutes an important piece of evidence in the debate concerning the historicity of Homer's Iliad.
Pitassa is an as-yet undiscovered frontier city in western Anatolia, mentioned in Bronze Age archives at Hattusa. The name seems Luwian or considered Hittite. It occasionally formed the border between Hatti and various iterations of Arzawa. Another account referred to it as an imperial geographical designation for the region found at the foot of the Sultan Mountains and extend northwards all the way to the Sakarya River and Gordion near Polath. It is also described as part of the region of Classical Lycaonia, which was located east of the Salt Lake.
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 Hittite empire 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.
Walmu was a king of Wilusa in the late 13th century BC. He is known from the Milawata letter, which reports that he had been deposed and discusses the Hittites' intent to reinstall him. The letter does not specify how Walmu was deposed or who was responsible.
Kisnapali was a Hittite general during the reign of Tudhaliya I in the early 14th century BC. The Hittite text known as the Indictment of Madduwatta reports that he supported the Hittite vassal Madduwatta against the Ahhiyan warlord Attarsiya, but was later betrayed by Madduwatta and died in battle near Dalawa.
Attarsiya was a 15th–14th century BCE military leader of Ahhiya. In the Hittite archives of circa 1400 BCE, he is described as a "man of Ahhiya", a country identified with the Achaeans and Mycenaean Greece. The campaigns of Attarsiya, as well as his conflict with the Hittite vassal, Madduwatta, represent the first recorded Mycenaean Greek military activity on the Anatolian mainland, as well as the first conflict between Achaeans and Hittites. He finally withdrew from Anatolia after Hittite intervention, but later launched a campaign against Alashiya (Cyprus).
The military nature of Mycenaean Greece in the Late Bronze Age is evident by the numerous weapons unearthed, warrior and combat representations in contemporary art, as well as by the preserved Greek Linear B records. The Mycenaeans invested in the development of military infrastructure with military production and logistics being supervised directly from the palatial centres.
Hapalla, also written as Haballa, was a kingdom in central-western Anatolia during the Late Bronze Age. As one of the Arzawa states, it was a sometime vassal and sometime enemy of the Hittite Empire.
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.
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