Assuwa () was a region of

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

Anatolia Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

located west of the

Kızılırmak River The Kızılırmak (, Turkish language, Turkish for "Red River"), once known as the Halys River () and Alis River, is the longest river flowing entirely within Turkey. It is a source of hydroelectric power and is not used for navigation. Geogra ...

. It was mentioned in Aegean, Anatolian and Egyptian inscriptions but is best known from Hittite records describing a league of 22 towns or states that rebelled against Hittite authority. It disappears from history during the thirteenth century BC.

Etymology

The name appears in different scripts over the course of a few hundred years. The individual etymologies are unknown, but scholarship has come to accept that the is

cognate In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymological ancestor in a common parent language. Because language change can have radical effects on both the s ...

to the ).Cline, Eric H. (1996). ''Assuwa and the Achaeans: The Mycenaean Sword at Hattusas and Its Possible Implications''. The Annual at the British School at Athens, Vol. 91, pp. 137–151
ResearchGate
/ref>
* Luwic: ''a-šu-wi-ya''Achterberg, W. (2004). ''The Phaistos Disc: A Luwian Letter to Nestor'', p. 99. Netherlands: Dutch Archaeological and Historical Society
Academic.edu
/ref>Best, Jan and Woudhuizen, Fred. (1988). ''Ancient Scripts from Crete and Cyprus'', p. 83. Germany: Brill
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/ref>Best Jan and Woudhuizen, Fred. (2023). ''Lost Languages from the Mediterranean'', pp. 18, 69-70. Germany: Brill
Google Books
/ref> *

Linear A Linear A is a writing system that was used by the Minoans of Crete from 1800 BC to 1450 BC. Linear A was the primary script used in Minoan palaces, palace and religious writings of the Minoan civilization. It evolved into Linear B, ...

: ''a-su-ja''Packard, David W. (2023). ''Minoan Linear A'', p. 4, 43, 95. Germany: University of California Press
Google Books
/ref> *

Egyptian hieroglyphs Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs ( ) were the formal writing system used in Ancient Egypt for writing the Egyptian language. Hieroglyphs combined Ideogram, ideographic, logographic, syllabic and alphabetic elements, with more than 1,000 distinct char ...

: ''i-s-y^w''Strange, John. (2023). ''Caphtor/Keftiu: A New Investigation'', p. 19. Germany: Brill
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/ref>Cline, E. H. (2015). ''1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed'', p. 28–41. United Kingdom: Princeton University Press
Google Books
/ref> *

Hittite cuneiform Hittite cuneiform is the implementation of cuneiform script used in writing the Hittite language. The surviving corpus of Hittite texts is preserved in cuneiform on clay tablets dating to the 2nd millennium BC (roughly spanning the 17th to 1 ...

: ''aš-šu-wa''Cline, Eric H. (1997). ''Achilles in Anatolia: Myth, History, and the Assuwa Rebellion''. Crossing Boundaries and Linking Horizons: Studies in Honor of Michael Astour on His 80th Birthday, pp. 189–210. Eds. Gordon D. Young, Mark W. Chavalas, and Richard E. Averbeck. (Bethesda, MD: CDL Press)
Academia.edu
/ref> *

Linear B Linear B is a syllabary, syllabic script that was used for writing in Mycenaean Greek, the earliest Attested language, attested form of the Greek language. The script predates the Greek alphabet by several centuries, the earliest known examp ...

: ''a-si-wi-ja/jo''Collins, B. J., Bachvarova, M. R., Rutherford, I. (2010). ''Anatolian Interfaces: Hittites, Greeks and Their Neighbours''. United Kingdom: Oxbow Books
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/ref>Latacz, J. (2004). ''Troy and Homer: towards a solution of an old mystery''. United Kingdom: OUP Oxford
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/ref>Woudhuizen, Fred. (2023), ''The Luwians of Western Anatolia: Their Neighbours and Predecessors'', pp. 23, 26, 34-66, 71-72, 119, 123, 134. United Kingdom: Archaeopress Publishing Limited
Academia.edu
/ref>

Geography

Assuwa was located somewhere in Anatolia. Linear B texts from

Mycenaean Greece Mycenaean Greece (or the Mycenaean civilization) was the last phase of the Bronze Age in ancient Greece, spanning the period from approximately 1750 to 1050 BC.. It represents the first advanced and distinctively Greek civilization in mainla ...

identified it as a region within reach of Pylos associated with levies of rowers, suggesting a location separated by water from the

Peloponnese The Peloponnese ( ), Peloponnesus ( ; , ) or Morea (; ) is a peninsula and geographic region in Southern Greece, and the southernmost region of the Balkans. It is connected to the central part of the country by the Isthmus of Corinth land bridg ...

. While the extent of its geography is a matter of debate, recent scholarship has argued that much of its territory was located in the western part of classical

Phrygia In classical antiquity, Phrygia ( ; , ''Phrygía'') was a kingdom in the west-central part of Anatolia, in what is now Asian Turkey, centered on the Sangarios River. Stories of the heroic age of Greek mythology tell of several legendary Ph ...

.Forlanini, Massimo. (2008). ''The Historical Geography of Anatolia and the Transition From the Karum-Period to the Early Hittite Empire''. Anatolia and the Jazira during the Old Assyrian Period, p. 58, 6
Academic.edu
This same region was designated by the

Hittite laws The Hittite laws, also known as the Code of the Nesilim, constitute an ancient legal code dating from – 1500 BCE. They have been preserved on a number of Hittite cuneiform tablets found at Hattusa ( CTH 291–292, listing 200 laws). Copi ...

as part of the land of Luwiya, according to modern researchers.Blasweiler, Joost. (2016). ''The kingdom of Purušhanda in the land Luwiya'', pp. 31-38. Arnhem, Arnhem (NL) Bronze Age
Academia.edu
/ref> It was likewise mentioned in a contemporary Egyptian poetical stela along with Keftiu as one of the lands to the west of Egypt.

History

The earliest mention of ''a-šu-wi(ya)'' is from an Anatolian royal seal dating to the eighteenth/seventeenth centuries BC, contemporary to the first and only mention of the land of Luwiya of the Hittite texts. The name ''a-su-ja'' in Minoan Linear A texts of the sixteenth century BC is also acknowledged to be a likely reference to Assuwa, though with no clear understanding of the context. Egyptian records mention a region called ''isy'' and an Assuwan "chief" and "prince" providing supplies to

Thutmose III Thutmose III (variously also spelt Tuthmosis or Thothmes), sometimes called Thutmose the Great, (1479–1425 BC) was the fifth pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty of Egypt. He is regarded as one of the greatest warriors, military commanders, and milita ...

from 1445-1439 BC during his military campaigns against

Nuhašše Nuhašše (kurnu-ḫa-áš-še; kurnu-ḫa-šeki), was a region in northwestern Syria that flourished in the 2nd millennium BC. It was east of the Orontes River bordering Aleppo (northwest) and Qatna (south). It was a petty kingdom or federacy of ...

in modern Syria, including copper, lead,

lapis lazuli Lapis lazuli (; ), or lapis for short, is a deep-blue metamorphic rock used as a semi-precious stone that has been prized since antiquity for its intense color. Originating from the Persian word for the gem, ''lāžward'', lapis lazuli is ...

, ivory, wood and horses. It has been suggested these references predate Egypt's direct contacts with the Hittites and refer to a trade relationship mediated by Alashiya and initiated by an Assuwan power with access to the Mediterranean. Assuwa is likewise mentioned in six surviving Hittite documents, with all texts either dated to or referring to events occurring during the reign of Tudhaliya I/II. Most of our knowledge comes from the ''Annals of Tudḫaliya'', which gives a detailed account of a rebellion by a league of towns in the aftermath of a Hittite campaign against Arzawan controlled territories west of the Maraššantiya.Rose, Charles Brian. (2014). ''The Archaeology of Greek and Roman Troy'', pp. 108-109. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press
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/ref> Cline dates this rebellion to circa 1430 BC and Bryce describes it as "the first major ittiteventure to the west" which was "not carried out with the aim to impose authority on the western border, but just to secure it." The annals further detail the capture of an Assuwan king named Piyama-^dKAL, the establishment of a client state under his son Kukkuli and a second rebellion after which "the coalition of Assuwa was destroyed".

Analysis

The Land of Luwiya

It is possible that Asuwiya was simply the native name for territory occupied by Luwic speakers. Linguistic models suggest the existence of a common Luwian-speaking state circa 2000 BC, stretching from the central Anatolian plateau (modern Konya) northward to the western bend of the Maraššantiya (where modern Ankara, Kırıkkale and Kırşehir provinces meet).Yakubovich, Ilya. (2011). ''Luwian and the Luwians''. The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Anatolia: (10,000-323 BCE), p. 364, 535. Spain: OUP USA
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The region was dominated by the kingdom of

Purushanda Purushanda (also variously Puruskhanda, Purushhattum, Purushhatum or Burushattum) was an Anatolian kingdom of the early second millennium prior to the common era. It was conquered by the Hittites circa 1700 BC. The name disappears from history soon ...

, the etymology of which suggests a takeover of Hattic lands by Luwian elites and a kingdom made up of an eclectic mix of Luwian-speaking Luwians, Hattic-speaking Luwians, Luwian-speaking Hattians and Hattic-speaking Hattians. Archaeology at Acemhöyük has confirmed the remains of central Anatolian, Mesopotamian and north Syrian pottery - as well as traces of monumental structures - dated 2659 to 2157 BC, providing a plausible ''terminus a quo'' for the Luwian takeover of the region. In the eighteenth century BC the Hittites conquered the Assyrian karum at Kanesh and ultimately moved south to Purushanda, establishing Hittite rule over ''ikkuwaniya'' - the Lower land. By 1650 BC everything west of Purushanda was regarded as the unconquered (and not worth conquering) land of Luwiya,Melchert, Craig. (2003). ''The Luwians'', pp. 1-2, 7, 11 54-70. Netherlands: Brill
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/ref> "an Old Hittite ethno-linguistic term referring to the area where Luwian was spoken."Hawkins, David J. (2013). ''Luwians vs. Hittites''. Luwian Identities: Culture, Language and Religion Between Anatolia and the Aegean, p. 31-35. Netherlands: Brill. While it is still an open question whether the border between the Hittites and the Luwians ever extended as far west as the Sangarious, in the 1600s BC that border was clearly the Maraššantiya.

Arzawa

Within a generation "Arzawiya" is first mentioned in the Hittite records, located somewhere beyond the Hittite sphere of influence in the Lower land. This suggests an extensive colonization of the land of Luwiya by a non-Luwian peoples by the turn of the sixteenth century BC - Gander focuses on

Hurrian The Hurrians (; ; also called Hari, Khurrites, Hourri, Churri, Hurri) were a people who inhabited the Ancient Near East during the Bronze Age. They spoke the Hurro-Urartian language, Hurrian language, and lived throughout northern Syria (region) ...

Yakubovich says Carian and Cline implies Ahhiyawan - in the wake of prior Luwian westward migration.Bryce, T. (2018). ''Warriors of Anatolia: A Concise History of the Hittites''. United Kingdom: Bloomsbury Publishing
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/ref> There are historical traces of this migration - the

Leleges The Leleges (; ) were an aboriginal people of the Aegean Sea, Aegean region, before the Greek people, Greeks arrived. They were distinct from another pre-Hellenic people of the region, the Pelasgians. The exact areas to which they were native are u ...

and the Lukka - but it is clear the Luwians came into contact with the Mycenaeans, whose strongholds in the

Argolis Argolis or Argolida ( , ; , in ancient Greek and Katharevousa) is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the modern regions of Greece, region of Peloponnese (region), Peloponnese, situated in the eastern part of the Peloponnese penin ...

lay directly across the

Aegean Sea The Aegean Sea is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea between Europe and Asia. It is located between the Balkans and Anatolia, and covers an area of some . In the north, the Aegean is connected to the Marmara Sea, which in turn con ...

from modern İzmir and who seem to have at first called the Luwian territory ''ru-wa-ni-jo'' ("land where Luwian is spoken"). With time bred by familiarity the Luwian name ''a-šu-wi-ya'' was transliterated into Mycenaean as ''a-si-wi-ja''. As a result of this contact the Luwian language and culture went through a profound metamorphosis, - and spread inland along the Hermos and Maeander river valleys into classical

Pisidia Pisidia (; , ; ) was a region of ancient Asia Minor located north of Pamphylia, northeast of Lycia, west of Isauria and Cilicia, and south of Phrygia, corresponding roughly to the modern-day province of Antalya in Turkey. Among Pisidia's set ...

and beyond: "Extension of the Lower land further to the southwest would have brought Hittite territory in close proximity to the region which came to be called Arzawa, thus creating the potential for border disputes and cross border raids of the kind allied to in a number of treaties which Hittite kings subsequently drew up with their immediate neighbors." By the 1430s BC the Hittites perceived a threat from this unfamiliar mixture of different political, social, cultural and linguistic groups amongst the small entities and independent politiesMeriç, Recep. (2020). ''The Arzawa lands. The historical geography of İzmir and its environs during late bronze age in the light of new archaeological research''. TÜBA-AR Türkiye Bilimler Akademisi Arkeoloji Dergisi, no. 27 : 151-177. in the land of Luwiya and launched a preemptive strike. The campaigns against the Assuwa coalition are listed after the Lusa campaign south of Lake Beyşehir.

Towns of the Assuwa League

The confederacy appears to have been a rather short-lived affair, and there is thus far no consensus as to identification of the towns of the Assuwa league listed in the ''Annals of Tudḫaliya'': ‣"Now, the Assuwan League consisted of a coalition of forces running from Lukka in the southwest to Wilusiya in the northwest, and hence comprised western Anatolia in its entirety."
‣"The group of states making up this confederacy probably lay in the far west of Anatolia, covering at least part of the Aegean coast."
‣"...the province of Assuwa...is located in the Hermos valley, as much as four toponyms featuring in the list with bearing on the blanket term Assuwian League can positively be situated in the realm of Arzawa."
‣"Starke...connects...the Land of Assuwa...with classical

Assos Assos (; , ) was an Ancient Greece, ancient Greek city near today's Behramkale () or Behram for short, which most people still call by its ancient name of Assos. It is located on the Aegean Sea, Aegean coast in the Ayvacık, Çanakkale, Ayvac ...

."
‣"Assuwa" was merely a city or town "somewhere in the region of the upper stretches of the Sangarius and the Tembris" and "located in the immediate proximity of the region in which the coalition was apparently active, just to the (south)east of Huwalusiya and Masa." *Kispuwa ‣"...not attested anywhere else." *Unaliya ‣"...not attested anywhere else." * Dura ‣"For the identification of Dura with classical Tyrrha and modern Tire(h) along the southern bank of the river late called Kaystros, see Freu (208)b...''
‣For the Kassite custom of appending "dura" to the name of cities, see Beaulieu. *Halluwa ‣"...not attested anywhere else." *Huwallusiya ‣"..it can hardly be separated from the town of Huwalusa, which is mentioned in another small fragment probably dating from the reign of Mursillis II."Garstang, J. (2017). ''The Geography of the Hittite Empire'', 105-106. United Kingdom: British Institute at Ankara
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‣"Many of the towns mentioned alongside thave convincingly been localized in western Phrygia by M. Forlanini."Gander, Max. (2022). ''The West: Philology'', p. 264-266. Hittite Landscape and Geography, Netherlands: Brill
Academia.edu
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‣Woudhuizen associated it with the town of

Honaz Honaz (also known as ''Khonaz'' or ''Cadmus'') is a municipality and district of Denizli Province, Turkey. Its area is 449 km2, and its population is 34,074 (2022). Honaz is about 20 km (12 mi) east of the city of Denizli on the sl ...

near the ancient Lycus river in Phrygia. *Karakisa ‣"...can only be the well attested country of Karkisa..."
‣"...was apparently situated close to the Seha River Land..."Unwin, Naomi Carless. (2017). ''Caria and Crete in Antiquity: Cultural Interaction Between Anatolia and the Aegean'', pp. 57, 115-118. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press
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*Dunda ‣"is to be localized in

Kizzuwatna Kizzuwatna (or Kizzuwadna; in Ancient Egyptian ''Kode'' or ''Qode'') was an ancient Anatolian kingdom, attested in written sources from the end of the 16th century BC onwards, but though its origins are still obscure, the Middle Bronze Age in Cili ...

..." * Adadura ‣"...not attested anywhere else." * Parista ‣"...not attested anywhere else." *Warsiya ‣" ggests some close connection with the country of Warsiyalla mentioned in §14 of the Alaksandus treaty together with the

Lukka lands The Lukka lands (sometimes Luqqa lands), were an ancient region of Anatolia. They are known from Hittite and Egyptian texts, which viewed them as hostile. It is commonly accepted that the Bronze Age toponym Lukka is cognate with the Lycia of cl ...

, Masa and Karkisa, in a context which...probably serves only to locate these countries somewhere in the west of Asia Minor." *Kuruppiya ‣The name is identified with Karatepe on the Cilician plain, far removed from traditional locations of Assuwa.
‣Woudhuizen associated it with a mountain near

İzmir İzmir is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara. It is on the Aegean Sea, Aegean coast of Anatolia, and is the capital of İzmir Province. In 2024, the city of İzmir had ...

. * Alatra ‣"...not attested anywhere else."
‣"...only mentioned in a fragmentary ritual text without determinative and lacking any geographical context."
‣Woudhuizen noted the correspondence with the Luwian name for

Kaunos Kaunos ( Carian: ''Kbid'';. Translator Chris Markham. Lycian: ''Xbide''; Ancient Greek: ; ) was a city of ancient Caria and in Anatolia, a few kilometres west of the modern town of Dalyan, Muğla Province, Turkey. The Calbys river (now kno ...

, ''Kwalatarna'' (“army camp”).
* Pasuhalta ‣"...not attested anywhere else."
*Mount Pahurina ‣"...not attested anywhere else."
*

Wilusa Wilusa () or Wilusiya was a Late Bronze Age city in western Anatolia (modern-day Turkey) known from references in fragmentary Hittites, Hittite records. The city is notable for its identification with the archaeological site of Troy, and thus its ...

‣".. tcan be equated Ilios by way of a hypothetical form Wiluwa."
‣"...an alternative location at the Byzantine site of Iluza was proposed by Vangelis Pantazis..." *Taruisa ‣"The possibility that tmight be identified with Greek Troia, i.e. the city of

Troy Troy (/; ; ) or Ilion (; ) was an ancient city located in present-day Hisarlik, Turkey. It is best known as the setting for the Greek mythology, Greek myth of the Trojan War. The archaeological site is open to the public as a tourist destina ...

, was observed in 1924 by E. Forrer, and after much controversy philologists have agreed that the equation is possible by way of the hypothetical form Tauriya."
‣"A silver bowl whose hieroglyphic inscription mentions the name of Taruisa (ta-r-wi-za) might be evidence of the same Tudhaliya's campaign against Assuwa."Taracha, Piotr. (2003). ''Is Tuthaliya's Sword really Aegean''? Hittite Studies in Honor of Harry A. Hoffner, Jr: On the Occasion of His 65th Birthday, p. 367. Eds. Gary Beckman, Richard Beal and Gregory MaMahon. United States: Eisenbrauns
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/ref>Bryce, T. (2006). ''The Trojans and Their Neighbours'', pp. 33-35, 81. Kiribati: Routledge
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/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Assuwa League States and territories established in the 15th century BC States and territories disestablished in the 14th century BC Trojan War Former confederations