Kizzuwatna is the name of an ancient kingdom of the second millennium BC. It was situated in the highlands of Anatolia, Turkey. It encircled the Taurus Mountains and the Ceyhan river. Later the area was known as Cilicia. (3rd millennium BC – 2nd millennium BC – 1st millennium BC – other millennia) Events Second dynasty of Babylon First Bantu migrations from west Africa The Cushites drive the original inhabitants from Ethiopia, and establish trade relations with Egypt. ... Asia Minor lies east of the Bosporus, between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. ... The Taurus Mountains (Taurus=bull in greek) (Turkish Toros, also known as Ala-Dagh or Bulghar-Dagh) are a mountain range in Eastern Anatolian plateau, from which the Euphrates (Turkish Fırat) River descends into Syria. ... Ceyhan is the second most populous city of the Turkish province of Adana and is an important Mediterranean port. ... Cilicia as Roman province, 120 AD In Antiquity, Cilicia (Ki-LIK-ya) was a region, and often a political unit, on the southeastern coast of Asia Minor (modern Turkey), north of Cyprus. ...

The land

The country possessed valuable resources such as silver mines in the Taurus Mountains. The slopes of the mountain range is still partly covered by woods. Annual winter rains made agriculture possible in the area very early (see Çatal Hüyük). The plains at the lower course of the Ceyhan river provided rich cultivated fields. The Taurus Mountains (Taurus=bull in greek) (Turkish Toros, also known as Ala-Dagh or Bulghar-Dagh) are a mountain range in Eastern Anatolian plateau, from which the Euphrates (Turkish Fırat) River descends into Syria. ... Excavations at the South Area of Çatal Höyük Çatalhöyük (also Çatal Höyük and Çatal Hüyük, or any of the three without accent marks -- Çatal is Turkish for fork and Höyük is Turkish for mound) was a very large Neolithic and... Ceyhan is the second most populous city of the Turkish province of Adana and is an important Mediterranean port. ...

The people

The population of Kizzuwatna was made up of Luwian people and Hurrians. The Luwian language were part of the Indo-European language group with close ties to the Hittite language. The Hurrian culture performed a strong influence on the people of Kizzuwatna. The center of the kingdom was the city of Kummanni situated in the highlands. Luwian (sometimes spelled Luwiyan) is an Anatolian language known in three forms: (1) Cuneiform Luwian, (2) Hieroglyphic-Luwian and (3), the somewhat later Lycian. ... The Hurrians were a people of the Ancient Near East, who lived in northern Mesopotamia and areas to the immediate east and west, beginning approximately 2500 BC. They probably originated in the Caucasus and entered from the north, but this is not certain. ... Luwian (sometimes spelled Luvian) is part of the Anatolian branch of the Indo European language family and has been preserved in three forms: (1) Cuneiform Luwian, (2) Hieroglyphic-Luwian and (3), the somewhat later Lycian. ... Proto-Indo-European Indo-European studies The Indo-European languages include some 443 (SIL estimate) languages and dialects spoken by about three billion people, including most of the major language families of Europe and western Asia, which belong to a single superfamily. ... The Hittite language is the dead language once spoken by the Hittites, a people who once created an empire centered on ancient Hattusa (modern Boğazköy) in north-central Anatolia (modern Turkey). ... The word Hurrian may refer to: An ancient people of the Near East, the Hurrians. ...

History of Kizzuwatna

King Sargon of Akkad claimed to have reached the Taurus mountains (the silver mountains) in about 2300 BC. However archaeology has yet not proven any Akkadian influence in the area. Trade routes from Assyria to the Anatolian highlands went through Kizzuwatna by the early second millennium BC (the karum trade). Sargon of Akkad, or Sargon the Great (Akkadian Sharru-kin ܫܪܘܟܢ, the true king, reigned 2334 BC - 2279 BC, short chronology), founder of the Dynasty of Akkad. ... Akkadian language city of Akkad or Agad Akkadian Empire Sargon of Akkad the Amarna letters and Amarna Letters EA 296(Yahtiru) This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Relief from Assyrian capital of Dur Sharrukin, showing transport of Lebanese cedar (8th c. ... Kültepe is the modern Turkish name for an ancient city in central eastern Anatolia, which was also called Kârum Kanesh merchant-colony city of Kanes in Assyrian (rendered Karum Kaniş in Turkish). ...

The kings of Kizzuwatna of the second millennium BC made frequent contacts with the Hittites in the north. In the power struggle between the Hittites and the Hurrian kingdom of Mitanni Kizzuwatna became a strategic partner due to its location. Ishputashu made a treaty with the Hittite king Telipinu. Later Kizzuwatna shifted its allegiance, perhaps due to a new ruling dynasty. The city state of Alalakh to the south expanded under its new vigourous leader Idrimi, himself a subject of the Mitannian king Barattarna. King Pilliya of Kizzuwatna had to sign a treaty with Idrimi. Kizzuwatna became an ally of Mitanni from the reign of Shunashura I until the Hittite king Arnuwanda I overran the country and made it a vassal kingdom. Kizzuwatna rebelled during the reign of Suppiluliuma I but remained within the Hittite empire for two hundred years. (3rd millennium BC – 2nd millennium BC – 1st millennium BC – other millennia) Events Second dynasty of Babylon First Bantu migrations from west Africa The Cushites drive the original inhabitants from Ethiopia, and establish trade relations with Egypt. ... Relief of Suppiluliuma II, last known king of the Hittite Empire Hittites is the conventional English-language term for an ancient people who spoke an Indo-European language and established a kingdom centered in Hattusa (Hittite URU) in north-central Anatolia from the 18th century BC. In the 14th century... Mitanni or Mittani (in Assyrian sources Hanilgalbat, Khanigalbat) was a Hurrian kingdom in northern Syria during the later 2nd millennium BC. The name was later used as a geographical term for the area between the Khabur and Euphrates rivers in Neo-Assyrian times. ... Alalakh is the name of an ancient city and its associated city-state of the Amuq River valley, located in the Hatay region of southern Turkey near the city of Antakya (ancient Antioch), and now represented by an extensive city-mound known as Tell Atchana. ... Barattarna, also spelled Parattarna, was a king of the Hurrian kingdom of Mitanni in the fifteenth century BC. He may also be identical to a king called Parsatatar. ... Arnuwanda I was a king of the Hittite empire (New kingdom) 1410 BC–1386 BC. Categories: Historical stubs | Hittite kings ... Suppiluliuma I (Shuppiluliuma) was king of the Hittites (ca. ...

The culture and religion of the Luwians strongly influenced the Hittites. A corpus of religious texts called the Kizzuwatna rituals were discovered at Hattusa. Pudu-Hepa, queen of the Hittite king Hattusili III came from Kizzuwatna where she had been a priestess. After the fall of the Hittite empire several minor Neo-Hittite kingdoms emerged in the area, such as Tabal, Kummuhu and Que. The Lion Gate in the south-west Hattusa (also known as Hattusas or Hattushash) was the capital of the Hittite Empire. ... Hattusili III was a king of the Hittite empire (New kingdom) 1265 BC–1235 BC. An archive of over 200 letters have been found from the royal palace at Hattusa which show that he exchanged with letters with numerous Near Eastern kings including Ramesses II of ancient Egypt, making a... Tabals (also Tobal, Tubal, Jabal, and Tibarenoi) were an indigenous tribe of Asia Minor, who inhabited Great Cappadocia, now part of Turkey. ...

Kings of Kizzuwatna

• Pariyawatri
• Ishputahshu / Išputaššu - contemporary of Telipinu of Hatti (c.1500 BC)
• Paddatishu / Paddatišu
• Pilliya - contemporary of Idrimi of Alalakh (c.1460 BC)
• Shunashshura / Šunaššura I
• Talzu
• Shunashshura / Šunaššura II - contemporary of Tuthaliya II of Hatti (c.1400 BC)

conquest by Arnuwanda I of Hatti (c.1380 BC)

Bibliography

• Beckman, Garry M.: Hittite Diplomatic Texts, Scholars Press, Atlanta 1996.
• Götze, Albrecht: Kizzuwatna and the problem of Hittite geography, Yale university press, New Haven 1940.
• Haas, Volkert: Hurritische und luwische Riten aus Kizzuwatna, Butzon & Bercker, Kevelaer 1974.