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independent state (612 BC–549 BC)
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Ḫilakku (Neo-Assyrian Akkadian: 𒆳𒄭𒋃𒆪), later known as Pirindu (Neo-Babylonian Akkadian: 𒆳𒉿𒆸𒁺 and 𒆳𒉿𒊑𒅔𒁺), was a Luwian-speaking Neo-Hittite state which existed in southeastern Anatolia in the Iron Age.
The native name of this kingdom is still unknown due to a lack of Hieroglyphic Luwian inscriptions from it during the Iron Age, although it has been tentatively identified with:
Ḫilakku (𒆳𒄭𒋃𒆪) was the name given by Neo-Assyrian Akkadian sources to this kingdom, and the name of the region which in Graeco-Roman times was called Cilicia was derived from that of Ḫilakku.
Following the collapse of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, the country of Ḫilakku reappeared in Neo-Babylonian Akkadian sources under the name of Pirindu (𒆳𒉿𒆸𒁺 and 𒆳𒉿𒊑𒅔𒁺).
The name Pirindu was derived from a Luwian name *Piruwanda, meaning lit. 'stony (place)', corresponding to the later Greek and Turkish appelations of this region as Kilikia Trakheia (Κιλικία Τραχεῖα) and Taşeli, which have the same meanings.
It is uncertain whether the Neo-Babylonian name Pirindu is identical to the country of Pirundummeya (Hittite: 𒌷𒁉𒊒𒌦𒁺𒌝𒈨𒅀) mentioned in the records of the Hittite Empire as a source of gold.
The kingdom of Ḫilakku was located in the western section of the territory which later in Classical Antiquity became known as Cilicia, more specifically in the part which was referred to as Rough Cilicia (Ancient Greek: Κιλικία Τραχεῖα, romanized: Kilikía Trakheîa; Latin: Cilicia Aspera), in the region of the Taurus and Bolkar mountains to the north and north-west of Ḫiyawa, between it and the Tabalian region, thus corresponding to the northern and northeastern parts of Rough Cilicia in the region of the later Olba and alongside the lower Calycadnus river.
Ḫilakku's eastern boundary was located in the mountainous region between the southeastern Konya Plain and northern Tarsus, while its western border was the Calycadnus river, whose valley linked it to the Konya Plain.
By the Neo-Babylonian period, Pirindu was located in the western and southern parts of Rough Cilicia, and it had expanded to include the lands to the west of the Calycadnus river, where it reached Sallunê in the west and the Mediterranean sea in the south. To the east, Pirindu had expanded until the city of Ḫarrua in Plain Cilicia.
The neighbours of Ḫilakku were Ḫiyawa to its east and the kingdoms of the Tabalian region to its north, hence why Neo-Assyrian records associated Ḫilakku with Que (Ḫiyawa) and Tabal.
Neo-Assyrian sources recorded the existence of a city of Ḫilakku, although this cannot be taken as evidence for the kingdom being a city-state, and its attempted identification with the city of Mazaka, corresponding to modern-day Kayseri, is inaccurate. These sources also mention the existence of "21 strong towns and their surrounding villages" (Neo-Assyrian Akkadian: 𒌋𒌋𒁹 𒌷𒈨𒌍𒋙𒉡 𒆗𒉡𒋾 𒅇 𒌷𒈨𒌍 𒌉𒈨𒌍 𒁲 𒇷𒈨𒋾𒋙𒉡, romanized: 21 ālānišunu dannūti u ālāni ṣeḫrūti ša limētišunu) in Ḫilakku.
During the Neo-Babylonian period, the capital of Pirindu was Urā (or Urâ or Uraʾa), and another of its royal cities was Kirši.
In the Late Bronze Age, the region which would later become Ḫilakku was part of the kingdom of Kizzuwatna and later of the southeastern border regions of the kingdom of Tarḫuntašša.
Some time during the early Iron Age, the kingdom of Ḫilakku was formed as a result of the disintegration of Tarḫuntašša, although nothing is known about it during its early history except that it maintained close cultural relations with Ḫiyawa and the other states to its east.
Some time in the 11th century BC, the kingdom of Melid might have annexed Ḫilakku, although it is uncertain whether Ḫilakku is to be identified with the land of Ḫilikka which was the target of Melid's campaign according to Melidian inscriptions.
In the 9th century BC, Assyria experienced a resurgence in the form of the fledgling Neo-Assyrian Empire, leading to the formation of various military coalitions by the various Neo-Hittite states in reaction to the campaigns of the Neo-Assyrian king Ashurnasirpal II (r. 883 – 859 BC) in Syria during the c. 870s to c. 860s BC. The campaigns of Ashurnasirpal II's son and successor, Shalmaneser III (r. 859 – 824 BC) would further lead to an intensification of activities in opposition to the Neo-Assyrian Empire in the kingdoms of Syria.
After Shalmaneser III had defeated a coalition of Karkamiš, Samʾal, Pattin and Bit Adini in Samʾalian territory during his first campaign to the west in 858 BC, the king Suppiluliumas of Pattin convened the coalition again when Shalmaneser III threatened his own kingdom. In addition to the coalition forces, the Arab tribe of Yasbuq and the country of Yahan from the Aramaean kingdom of Bit Agusi sent reinforcements to these allied forces.
And, although the Neo-Assyrian Empire was a more distant threat to Ḫilakku and its western neighbour Ḫiyawa, which were located to the west of the passes of the Amanus Mountains, Shalmaneser III had erected a gigantic statue of himself at the foot of these mountains as a warning that they were not safe from his forces. Therefore, Ḫilakku and Ḫiyawa feared that Shalmaneser III would attack them next should Pattin fall: during this time, Ḫilakku was ruled by the king Piḫirim, who, along with his neighbour Katî of Ḫiyawa, also contributed troops to this alliance, which was, however, defeated by the Neo-Assyrian army.
Katî of Ḫiyawa and Piḫirim of Ḫilakku had nonetheless managed to escape from this defeat with their troops unharmed, and Shalmaneser III at most only demanded tribute from them.
Although Shalmaneser III campaigned against Ḫiyawa in 839 BC, into the Tabalian region in 837 BC, and later campaigned into Ḫiyawa again in 834 and 833 BC, he, however, did not attempt to attack Ḫilakku, which was further to the west of his campaign route, as well as because Ḫilakku was more isolated and inaccessible due to its rough terrain.
The king Ḫalparuntiyas of Gurgum might have attacked Ḫilakku during the campaign of Shalmaneser III against Ḫiyawa, although it is uncertain whether Ḫilakku is to be identified with the land of Ḫirikka which was the target of Ḫalparuntiyas's campaign according to his records.
Ḫilakku largely remained out of reach of Neo-Assyrian aggression, and, while both Ḫilakku and Ḫiyawa were mentioned in the records of the Neo-Assyrian king Tiglath-pileser III (r. 745 – 727 BC, Ḫilakku was not listed as one of his tributaries, showing that Ḫilakku had remained independent from Neo-Assyrian imperialism.
Ḫilakku remained independent of Neo-Assyrian rule until the late 8th century BC, but both it as well as Ḫiyawa (under the name of Que) had become provinces of the Neo-Assyrian Empire at some point during the reigns of the Neo-Assyrian king Shalmaneser V (r. 727 – 722 BC) or Sargon II (r. 722 – 705 BC).
Following the union of the Phrygians and the Muški under the Phrygian king Midas, this latter king was able to extend his kingdom to the east across the Halys river into the former core territory of the Hittite Empire and build a large empire in Anatolia which reached the Aegean Sea in the west and the environs of the Euphrates and borders of the Tabalian region in the east and south. The eastward expansionist ventures of Midas in the east soon led to his fledgling Phrygian empire becoming a major rival to Neo-Assyrian power in eastern Anatolia, especially when Midas initiated contacts with Neo-Assyrian vassals, causing the Tabalian region, which bordered on Ḫiyawa to the north, to become contested between the Neo-Assyrian and Phrygian empires.
As part of his expansionist ventures, Midas attempted to connect his empire to the Mediterranean Sea through Laranda and the eastern bank of the Calycadnus river valley.
After this, Midas resorted to attempting to reach the Mediterranean sea through the route of Bozkır-Hadim-Ermenek to reach the sea passages of the mountainous regions to the west of Ḫiyawa.
Since the Tabalian region was a subject of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, this Phrygian expansion increased the possibility of war between the two rival empires. Thus, the Tabalian region found itself wedged between the Neo-Assyrian and Phrygian empires, both of whom saw it as a strategically useful buffer zone to contain the other's expansionist ambitions.
Therefore, Midas tried to persuade the still independent local rulers of the Tabalian region to switch their allegiances to Phrygia: the loyalty of the Tabalian kings to the Neo-Assyrian Empire was unsteady, and those among them who were diplomatically approached by Midas might have preferred renouncing their allegiance to the Neo-Assyrian Empire and instead allying with Midas. Thus, the kings of the Tabalian region found themselves having to choose whether aligning themselves with the Neo-Assyrian or the Phrygian empire was in their interests, and several of them did accept Midas's offer.
In addition to the wavering loyalty of the Tabalian kings, the possibility of an alliance between Midas and Rusa I of Urartu further threatened Neo-Assyrian power not only in southeastern Anatolia, but also throughout all of eastern Anatolia and in northern Mesopotamia.
Assuming the king wryk of the Cebelires Daǧı inscription was the same as Awarikus of Ḫiyawa, his kingdom might have extended to the western limits of Rough Cilicia and nearly reached Pamphylia, and would thus have included Ḫilakku.
To counter the threat of the rising power of Phrygia, Sargon II tried to establish a centralised authority under a ruler whom he could trust in the Tabalian region, and he therefore reorganised the kingdom of Tabal proper into the state of Bīt-Burutaš under the rule of the king Ambaris, who was himself the son of the former Tabalian king Ḫullî, and to whom he had married his daughter Aḫat-abiša: as part of this arrangement, the new kingdom of Bīt-Burutaš consisted of the kingdom of Tabal which had been significantly enlarged with the territory of Ḫilakku, which had itself been offered to Ambaris as Aḫat-abiša's dowry.
Since Ḫilakku was a country with a rough terrain and its inhabitants were extremely independent, the Neo-Assyrian rule over it was itself nominal at most, and it is unlikely that Ambaris would have had any significant involvement in managing Ḫilakku.
However, Midas continued pressuring the western Neo-Assyrian territories and intensified his efforts to persuade the local rulers of this region to renounce their vassalage to the Neo-Assyrian Empire, and he even launched attacks as far south as the territories of Ḫiyawa. In addition to finding themselves pressured by Phrygia or Urartu, several of the western vassals of the Neo-Assyrian Empire might also have themselves initiated contacts with Phrygia and Urartu with the hope of freeing themselves from Neo-Assyrian suzerainty, thus leading to a series of anti-Assyrian uprisings by the Anatolian vassals of the Neo-Assyrian Empire during the rest of Sargon II's reign.
Ambaris himself came under pressure from Midas, who attempted to persuade him to renounce Neo-Assyrian allegiance and join him, initially through diplomatic means and later through military threats. This situation left Ambaris with little choice but to accept an alliance with Phrygia and renounce his allegiance to the Neo-Assyrian Empire. Facing increased pressure from both Midas of Phrygia and Argišti II of Urartu, Ambaris communicated with them seeking guarantees that they would protect him should he break his ties with the Neo-Assyrian Empire.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Kingdom of Cilicia (Ancient)”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.