Pitassa is an as-yet undiscovered frontier land/city in western

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 ...

, mentioned in

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 ...

archives at

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 ...

. The name seems

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'') – ...

or considered Hittite.

Etymology

" e place name Pedessa is presumably the derivative of the equivalent of the Hitt. te''peda''- place in Luwian, where the form ''pida-'' is postulated."

Location

Pitassa lay somewhere west of the Salt Lake. It has been described as "the region at the 'foot' of the

Sultan Mountains The Sultan Mountains (), also known as Sultan Dagh range or Sultan Dag, is a short mountain range on the western edge of the Anatolian Plateau, Turkey with highest elevation of . The town of Sultandağı is their namesake. They are made up of m ...

and stretching northward all the way to the

Sakarya River The Sakarya (; ; ; ) is the third longest river in Turkey. It runs through the region known in ancient times as Phrygia. It was considered one of the principal rivers of Asia Minor (Anatolia) in Greek classical antiquity, and is mentioned in th ...

and

Gordion Gordion (Phrygian language, Phrygian: ; ; or ; ) was the capital city of ancient Phrygia. It was located at the site of modern Yassıhüyük, Polatlı, Yassıhüyük, about southwest of Ankara (capital of Turkey), in the immediate vicinity of ...

near

Polatlı Polatlı (formerly Ancient Greek: Γόρδιον, Górdion and Latin: Gordium) is a municipality and district of Ankara Province, Turkey. Its area is 3,618 km2, and its population is 128,378 (2022). It is 80 km west of the Turkish capital ...

." It occasionally formed the border between

Hatti Hatti may refer to *Hatti (; Assyrian ) in Bronze Age Anatolia: **the area of Hattusa, roughly delimited by the Halys bend **the Hattians of the 3rd and 2nd millennia BC **the Hittites of ''ca'' 1400–1200 BC **the areas to the west of the Euphra ...

and various iterations of

Arzawa 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 wa ...

. Another account referred to it as an imperial geographical designation (also called Pedassa) for the region found at the foot of the

and extend northwards all the way to the

and Gordion near Polath. It is also described as part of the region of Classical Lycaonia, which was located east of the

Salt Lake A salt lake or saline lake is a landlocked body of water that has a concentration of salts (typically sodium chloride) and other dissolved minerals significantly higher than most lakes (often defined as at least three grams of salt per liter). I ...

History

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''. Textual background Madduwatta is known solely from the ''Indi ...

wrested Pitassa from

Arnuwanda I Arnuwanda I was a Hittite great king during the early 14th century BC, ruling in c. 1390–1380/1370 BC. Origins Arnuwanda's parents are unknown. Because both Arnuwanda and his wife, Queen Ašmu-Nikkal, are described on their respective seals a ...

in the late 15th century BC. This figure was described as a freebooter and he forced the inhabitants of Pitassa to swear loyalty to himself.

Suppiluliuma I

Decades later Suppiluliuma I retook it while he was the crown prince acting in behalf of his father. The city was included in the list of conquered territories cited in the ''Deeds of Suppiluliuma''. Mashuiluwa of Mira then incited it to revolt c. 1310 BC, after which

Mursili II There were three Hittite kings called Mursili: * Mursili I, ca. 1556–1526 BCE ( short chronology), and was likely a grandson of his predecessor, Hattusili I. His sister was Ḫarapšili and his wife was queen Kali. * Mursili II, (also spelled Mur ...

moved upon it and resubjugated it.

Muwatalli II

One of the earliest records of Pitassa involve the account of Egyptian scribes of the

battle of Qadesh The Battle of Kadesh took place in the 13th century BC between the Egyptian Empire led by pharaoh Ramesses II and the Hittite Empire led by king Muwatalli II. Their armies engaged each other at the Orontes River, just upstream of Lake Homs and ...

in 1275 B.C. During the conflict, Pitassa provided a contingent that served under the Hittite army. In these documents, it was referred to as ''P-d-s'' or the equivalent of Pitassa and was located in the area of Salt Lake (Tuz Golu) and the plains of

Konya Konya is a major city in central Turkey, on the southwestern edge of the Central Anatolian Plateau, and is the capital of Konya Province. During antiquity and into Seljuk times it was known as Iconium. In 19th-century accounts of the city in En ...

. The city during this period was recorded as a subject of the kingdom of Hatti.

Tudhaliya IV

Pitassa is cited in several historical documents such as the case of Hittite treaties that included the descriptions of boundaries and towns. These include the treaty between

Tudhaliya IV Tudḫaliya is the name of several Hittite kings or royals. It is not clear how many kings bore that name, and numbering schemes vary from source to source. *Tudḫaliya (sometimes called Tudḫaliya I) is deduced from his early placement in a lat ...

of Hatti and his cousin

Kurunta Kurunta () or Kurunti(ya) is the Hittite mythology, Hittite stag god and a tutelary god of the countryside. Name The name of Kurunta is spelled as (DEUS)CERVUS in Hieroglyphic Luwian, or as dKAL in Hittite cuneiform. As dKAL has to be read ...

around 1240-1210 BC, which described the latter's frontiers in the following words:

In the direction of the land of Pitassa, his frontier city of Sanantarwa, but the kantanna of Zarniya belongs to the land of the Hulaya River, while Sanantarwa belongs to the land of Pitassa.

References

Hittite Empire {{AncientNearEast-stub