Kammanu ( Neo-Assyrian Akkadian: 𒆳𒄰𒈠𒉡, ''^KUR kam-ma-nu'') or Malizi (

Luwian 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'' (also spelled ''Luwia'' or ''Luvia'') – ...

: 𔒃‎𔒗‎𔖩, MA_x.LI_x-zi) was a

speaking Neo-Hittite state in a plateau ( Malatya Plain) to the north of the

Taurus Mountains The Taurus Mountains (Turkish language, Turkish: ''Toros Dağları'' or ''Toroslar,'' Greek language, Greek'':'' Ταύρος) are a mountain range, mountain complex in southern Turkey, separating the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coastal reg ...

and to the west of

Euphrates The Euphrates ( ; see #Etymology, below) is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of West Asia. Tigris–Euphrates river system, Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia (). Originati ...

river in the late 2nd millennium BC, formed from part of Kizzuwatna after the collapse of the

Hittite Empire The Hittites () were an Anatolian peoples, Anatolian Proto-Indo-Europeans, Indo-European people who formed one of the first major civilizations of the Bronze Age in West Asia. Possibly originating from beyond the Black Sea, they settled in mo ...

. Its principal city was

Melid Arslantepe, also known as Melid, was an ancient city on the Tohma River, a tributary of the upper Euphrates rising in the Taurus Mountains. It has been identified with the modern archaeological site of Arslantepe near Malatya, Turkey. It was na ...

History

Sources

There are a few primary sources which can be used to reconstruct the history of the polity of Kammanu: * The inscriptions of Neo-Assyrian kings, especially royal annals; * The less common Hieroglyphic Luwian inscriptions from Kammanu itself. However, there are still gaps in the Kammanean record which make its history more difficult to reconstruct.

Early history

The earliest archaeological levels at the archaeological site of Arslantepe, the Melid of the Iron Age, date to the mid-to-late fifth millenium BCE, or more precisely between 4300 and 3900 BCE, during a time period known as the

Chalcolithic The Chalcolithic ( ) (also called the Copper Age and Eneolithic) was an archaeological period characterized by the increasing use of smelted copper. It followed the Neolithic and preceded the Bronze Age. It occurred at different periods in di ...

, or Copper Age. During the Uruk period (c. 3300 BCE, there existed a large palace complex at Melid.

Hurrian and Hittite periods

Melid and the region of Malatya at large, were, during the Middle Bronze Age (c. 1600 BCE), part of the

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) ...

kingdom of Ishuwa, which fell under the sphere of influence of the Mitanni Empire, a large state populated by Hurrians which flourished during this time. The wars of the Hittite Great King Šuppiluliuma I against Mitanni's king Tushratta brought Ishuwa under Hittite control, and Šuppiluliuma used Melid as a base of operations for their gradual conquest of the Mitanni, beginning with the sack of the Mitanni capital of Waššukanni. The Malatya region remained part of the periphery of the Hittite Empire for the remainder of the existence of the Hittite Empire, despite attacks from certain kings of the

Middle Assyrian Empire The Middle Assyrian Empire was the third stage of Assyrian history, covering the history of Assyria from the accession of Ashur-uballit I 1363 BC and the rise of Assyria as a territorial kingdom to the death of Ashur-dan II in 912 BC. ...

against the Hittites in Eastern Anatolia. Around 1200 BCE, the Hittite state collapsed as a result of numerous factors, including, but not limited to, drought, disease, attacks by the

Sea Peoples The Sea Peoples were a group of tribes hypothesized to have attacked Ancient Egypt, Egypt and other Eastern Mediterranean regions around 1200 BC during the Late Bronze Age. The hypothesis was proposed by the 19th-century Egyptology, Egyptologis ...

, and raids by the

Kaskians The Kaska (also Kaška, later Tabal (state), Tabalian Kasku and Gasga) were a loosely affiliated Bronze Age non-Indo-European tribal people, who spoke the unclassified Kaskian language and lived in mountainous East Pontus (region), Pontic Anatolia ...

. Many other state societies in the ancient Near East at that time were either destroyed or heavily affected by similar events. This period of societal collapse is known as the

Late Bronze Age Collapse The Late Bronze Age collapse was a period of societal collapse in the Mediterranean basin during the 12th century BC. It is thought to have affected much of the Eastern Mediterranean and Near East, in particular Egypt, Anatolia, the Aegea ...

. Despite the apparent turmoil across Mesopotamia and into Anatolia, Malatya was largely unaffected by this Bronze Age Collapse.

Independent Neo-Hittite kingdom

After the fall of the Hittite Empire, a level of authority was still present among the Luwian lands in the southeast of Anatolia as well as across Syria. A scion of the Hittite royal dynasty held a position of power in the city-state of

Carchemish Carchemish ( or ), also spelled Karkemish (), was an important ancient capital in the northern part of the region of Syria. At times during its history the city was independent, but it was also part of the Mitanni, Hittite and Neo-Assyrian ...

, a fiefdom granted to Šarri-Kusuh during the reign of Šuppiluliuma I, and several small kingdoms arose in the region of Tabal. Kuzi-Teshub was the first king of Carchemish after the fall of the Hittite Empire. He was one of the few remaining direct descendants of the great kings of the Hittites, and seeing that the title of "Great King" itself was left vacant after the abandonment of

Hattusa Hattusa, also Hattuşa, Ḫattuša, Hattusas, or Hattusha, was the capital of the Hittites, Hittite Empire in the late Bronze Age during two distinct periods. Its ruins lie near modern Boğazkale, Turkey (originally Boğazköy) within the great ...

, he simply claimed the title for himself. Kuzi-Teshub's domain was based at Carchemish, but he also held power over the city of Melid.

Malizi

After the death of Kuzi-Teshub, the kingdom he had built was split between two royal lines, one controlling Carchemish, and one controlling Malatya, which the Luwians called ''Malizi.'' Kuzi-Teshub's son, named PUGNUS-mili I, received the land of Malizi, and he ruled over it as its "country-lord." During this time, the city of Melid was expanded and its material culture flourished. PUGNUS-mili's son, Runtiya, changed the Malizean royal title from country-lord to king, and as a show of his strength as a ruler, etched his inscription into the mountain at Gürün. Many of the kings and rulers of the various Neo-Hittite city-states took the names of Hittite great kings, Malizi being no exception. The name of king Arnuwanti I, brother of Runtiya, who most likely succeeded Runtiya on the throne, is possibly a reference to or translation of, the name of one of three Hittite great kings named Arnuwanda. PUGNUS-mili II was the son of Arnuwanti. During his reign, the Assyrian king

Tiglath-Pileser I Tiglath-Pileser I (; from the Hebraic form of , "my trust is in the son of Ešarra") was a king of Assyria during the Middle Assyrian period (1114–1076 BC). According to Georges Roux, Tiglath-Pileser was "one of the two or three great Assyri ...

was making conquests across Syria. On a campaign in the region, King Tiglath-Pileser requested that PUGNUS-mili send tribute. This event is recorded in Assyrian records, where the name PUGNUS-mili is recorded as ''Allumari'', perhaps the true pronunciation of the name which is difficult to transcribe. Arnuwanti II was the son of PUGNUS-mili, and was named after his grandfather. His connection with his grandfather Arnuwanti is recorded by the İspekçür and Darende monuments which he commemorated. The monumental Luwian hieroglyphic inscriptions were continued in the 10th century BC throughout Kammanu by kings such as Taras and Halpasulupi. During the 9th and early 8th century, the entire region of southeastern Anatolia was increasingly brought under the control of the Kingdom of

Urartu Urartu was an Iron Age kingdom centered around the Armenian highlands between Lake Van, Lake Urmia, and Lake Sevan. The territory of the ancient kingdom of Urartu extended over the modern frontiers of Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Armenia.Kleiss, Wo ...

, who placed vassal kings such as Hilaruada on the throne. From this point onwards, there were no Luwian royal inscriptions made as most of the available records of Kammanu came from the inscriptions of Urartu and

Assyria Assyria (Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , ''māt Aššur'') was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization that existed as a city-state from the 21st century BC to the 14th century BC and eventually expanded into an empire from the 14th century BC t ...

. In 719 BC, the Assyrian king

Sargon II Sargon II (, meaning "the faithful king" or "the legitimate king") was the king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from 722 BC to his death in battle in 705. Probably the son of Tiglath-Pileser III (745–727), Sargon is generally believed to have be ...

deposed Gunzinanu, the ruler of Kammanu, and replaced him with a Malizean warlord named Tarhunazi, who swore an oath of loyalty to the Assyrian throne. Tarhunazi, however, became disgruntled as a vassal under the rule of Assyria. He contacted Mita, king of the Mushki (Phrygians), enemies of Assyria, to aid him in a rebellion. However, Tarhunazi's plan failed, and he fled, but was caught by Sargon and deposed. Kammanu was annexed by Assyria and the city of Melid was placed under the rule of Mutallu, king of Kummuh.

Rulers

* Kuzi-Teššub (Luwian: 𔗜‎𔖩‎𔓢 ''ku-zi-TONITRUS'') * PUGNUS-mili I (Luwian: 𔐨𔖻‎𔔹‎ ''PUGNUS-mi-li''), son * Runtiya (Luwian: 𔑳 ''CERVUS''), son * Arnuwanti I (Luwian: 𔒞‎‎𔗬‎𔐞‎𔕮 ''AVIS₂-wa/i-tá-sa₅''), brother * PUGNUS-mili II (Luwian: 𔐨𔖻‎𔔹 ''PUGNUS-mi-li''), son * Arnuwanti II (Luwian: 𔒞‎‎𔗬‎𔐞‎𔕮 ''AVIS₂-wa/i-tá-sa₅''), son * PUGNUS-mili III (Luwian: 𔐨𔖻‎𔔹 ''PUGNUS-mi-li'') * CRUS-ra/i-sa * Wasu(?)runtiya * Halpasulupi * Suwarimi * Mariti, son of Suwarimi * Sahwi, could be identical with Sahu * Sa(?)tiruntiya, could be identical with Hilaruada * Sahu, Urartian vassal * Hilaruada, Urartian vassal * Sulumal, 743 – 732 BC * Gunzinanu, until 719 BC, deposed by the Assyrians * Tarhunazi (), Assyrian vassal, 719 – 713 BC * Mutallu, Assyrian vassal, 713 – 708 BC * (Assyrian rule 708 – 675 BC) * Mugallu, also king of Tabal * x-ussi, son of Mugallu