The Seha River Land was a kingdom 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 ...

in the

Late 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 ...

known from

Hittite texts The corpus of texts written in the Hittite language consists of more than 30,000 tablets or fragments that have been excavated from the royal archives of the capital of the Hittite Kingdom, Hattusa, close to the modern Turkish town of Boğazkale ...

. Part 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 ...

, it was located north of

Mira Mira (), designation Omicron Ceti (ο Ceti, abbreviated Omicron Cet, ο Cet), is a red-giant star estimated to be 200–300 light-years from the Sun in the constellation Cetus. ο Ceti is a binary stellar system, consisting of a vari ...

and south of

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 ...

, and at one point controlled the island of Lazpa.

History

The Seha River Land was a reluctant vassal state 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 ...

, and much of its known history was turbulent. The ''Annals of Mursili II'' recount how the

Hittite king The dating and sequence of Hittite kings is compiled by scholars from fragmentary records, supplemented by the finds in Ḫattuša and other administrative centers of cuneiform tablets and more than 3,500 seal impressions providing the names, tit ...

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 ...

consolidated power over the region around 1320 BC, crushing a revolt in which the Seha River Land participated. According to Mursili, he besieged the Seha River Land's capital and was on the verge of destroying it when he accepted a last minute mercy plea from King Manapa-Tarhunta's own mother, delivered right outside the city gates. A treaty was drawn up which confirmed Manapa-Tarhunta's status as a Hittite vassal, though he once again had to plead for mercy in the

Manapa-Tarhunta letter The Manapa-Tarhunta letter ( CTH 191; KUB 19.5 + KBo 19.79) 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, Manap ...

, this time because of his failure to provide Mursili with timely military support. Manapa-Tarhunta was eventually deposed and replaced by someone named Masturi, who may have been his son. Masturi's ascent to the throne was supported by Mursili's successor

Muwatalli II Muwatalli II (also Muwatallis, or Muwatallish; meaning "mighty") was a king of the New Kingdom of the Hittite empire c. 1295–1282 ( middle chronology) and 1295–1272 BC in the short chronology. Biography He was the eldest son of Mursili II ...

, and the kingdom appears to have remained loyal to the Hittites under his rule. However, it once again revolted after Masturi was himself deposed by someone named Tarhunta-Radu, seemingly with the support of the

Ahhiyawa The Achaeans or Akhaians (; , "the Achaeans" or "of Achaea") is one of the names in Homer which is used to refer to the Greeks collectively. The term "Achaean" is believed to be related to the Hittite term Ahhiyawa and the Egyptian term Ekwe ...

. This revolt was crushed by the Hittite king

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 ...

, after which a descendant of Manapa-Tarhunta was reinstalled on the Seha River Land's throne.

Kings of Seha River Land

* Muwa-Walwi: king during the late reign of Suppiluliuma I, died during the reign of

Arnuwanda II Arnuwanda II was a Hittite great king who reigned in the late 14th century BC, perhaps in c. 1322–1321 BC. His reign was a briefly interlude between those of his father Šuppiluliuma I and younger brother Muršili II. Early Life Arnuwanda ...

.(1322 BC) * Manapa-Tarhunta: king during the reign of

.(1322 BC) ** Briefly deposed by Ura-Tarhunta during the reign of

.(1322 BC) * Manapa-Kurunta: king during reign of

, mentioned in the

Alaksandu treaty Alaksandu ( Hittite: ), alternatively called Alakasandu or Alaksandus, was a king of Wilusa who sealed a treaty with Hittite king Muwatalli II ca. 1280 BC. This treaty implies that Alaksandu had previously secured a treaty with Muwatalli's fath ...

(c. 1290s BC) * Masturi during the reign of

He is mentioned as a witness in the Treaty of Tudhaliya IV and Kurunta of Tarhuntassa.

Muwa-Walwi

Muwa-Walwi was the king of the Seha River Land as well as Appawiya during the time of Suppiluliuma I. In CTH 211, the Hittites refer to the "descendant of Muwawalwi" indicating he formed a dynasty. However, his death led to a war of succession between his sons Manapa-Tarhunta and Ura-Tarhunta.

Mašturi

In the Treaty of Tudhaliya IV and Kurunta of Tarhuntassa, Mašturi is mentioned as a witness along with other notable rulers like Ini-Teshub of Carchemish, Alantalli of Mira, Bentesina of Amurru etc.

Location

The Seha River itself is generally identified with the Bakırçay River or the

Gediz River The Gediz River (, ) is the second-longest river in Anatolia flowing into the Aegean Sea. From its source of Mount Murat in Kütahya Province, it flows generally west for to the Gediz River Delta in the Gulf of İzmir. Name The ancient Greek ...

, but the kingdom's precise location has not been conclusively identified. The leading candidate for the site of its capital is Kaymakçı Tepe near the Gediz River, where excavations since 2014 have revealed a major Bronze Age settlement whose citadel is more than four times larger than that of contemporary

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 ...

. Max Gander suggested that evidence would also be compatible with the Seha River Land being located south of

Ephesus Ephesus (; ; ; may ultimately derive from ) was an Ancient Greece, ancient Greek city on the coast of Ionia, in present-day Selçuk in İzmir Province, Turkey. It was built in the 10th century BC on the site of Apasa, the former Arzawan capital ...

, and closer to the valley of Meander River. As part of this argument, he suggests that the

need not be read as implying that Seha ruled Lesbos.Max Gander (2014)
An Alternative View on the Location of Arzawa.
Hittitology today: Studies on Hittite and Neo-Hittite Anatolia in Honor of Emmanuel Laroche’s 100th Birthday. Alice Mouton, ed. p. 163-190

Notes