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Luwian-speaking Syro-Hittite state
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Ḫiyawa (Hieroglyphic Luwian: 𔗒𔓱𔗬𔔂) or Adanawa (Hieroglyphic Luwian: 𔐓𔗢𔗬𔔂) was a Luwian-speaking Neo-Hittite state which existed in southeastern Anatolia in the Iron Age.
The native Luwian name of the kingdom was Ḫiyawa (𔗒𔓱𔗬𔔂), which bears a strong similarity to the name Aḫḫiyawā (𒆳𒌷𒄴𒄭𒅀𒉿𒀀) used to refer to the Achaeans (Ancient Greek: Ἀχαιοί, romanized: Akhaioí, from earlier Ἀχαιϝοί, Akhaiwoí), that is to the Mycenaean Greeks, in the Hittite texts of the Bronze Age. The use of this name for the kingdom of Ḫiyawa might have been the result of a migration of Greek populations from Western Anatolia into this region in the early Iron Age.
The name Ḫiyawa was recorded in Semitic languages in several forms:
Another name by which the kingdom of Ḫiyawa was called in its native Hieroglyphic Luwian inscriptions was Adanawa (𔐓𔗢𔗬𔔂), which was derived from the name of the state's capital and was used synonymously with the name Ḫiyawa.
The scholar Rostyslav Oreshko has, however, suggested that the value of the sign 𔗢 was -ḫiya-, and that the name 𔐓𔗢𔗬𔔂 should therefore be read as Aḫḫiyawa. This proposal has, however, been criticised.
The Phoenician inscriptions from Ḫiyawa also used the name lit. 'Plain of Adana' (Phoenician: 𐤏𐤌𐤒 𐤀𐤃𐤍, romanized: ʿmq ʾdn) as the equivalent of both the names Ḫiyawa and Adanawa.
In Phoenician language inscriptions, the people of Ḫiyawa are called the Danunayim (𐤃𐤍𐤍𐤉𐤌) likely describing them as the people of Adanawa. This name might be connected with the name of the Land of Danuna (Middle Babylonian Akkadian: 𒆳𒁕𒉡𒈾) mentioned in Late Bronze Age texts, as well as with one of the constituent groups of the Sea Peoples, the Denyen (Late Egyptian: 𓂧𓄿𓇋𓈖𓇋𓍢𓋔𓄿𓌙𓀀𓀭𓏥, romanized: dꜣjnjwnꜣ, Ancient Egyptian pronunciation: [da.nu.nə]).
In the Luwian-Phoenician bilingual inscription of one Azzattiwadas who was subordinate to the king Awarikus of Ḫiyawa, the Phoenician language equivalent of the kingdom of Adanawa was given as (land of) the Danunayim (Phoenician: 𐤃𐤍𐤍𐤉𐤌), that is of the Danunians.
In the Luwian-Phoenician bilingual inscription of the king Awarikus of Ḫiyawa, he called his kingdom as Ḫiyawa in Luwian and as (land of the) Danunayim in Phoenician.
Azzattiwadas's inscription referred to the king Awarikus as the lit. 'king of the Danunians' (Phoenician: 𐤌𐤋𐤊 𐤃𐤍𐤍𐤉𐤌, romanized: milk Danunayim) as the equivalent of the Hieroglyphic Luwian term lit. 'king of Adanawa'.
The kingdom of Ḫiyawa was located in the eastern section of the Anatolian territory which later in Classical Antiquity became known as Cilicia, more specifically in the plain region which was referred to as Plain Cilicia (Ancient Greek: Κιλικία Πεδιάς, romanized: Kilikía Pediás; Latin: Cilicia Campestris), in the region corresponding to present-day Adana.
Ḫiyawa's boundaries were the Mediterranean Sea in the south, where it formed the Gulf of Alexandretta; the first foothills of the Taurus Mountains in the west, the north-west, and the north; the Amanus Mountains in the east; and the first foothills of the Anti-Taurus Mountains in the north-east. To the south-west, it could have extended along the Erdemli plain until the Limonlu River, or maybe possibly even along the coast until Aspendos, Cebelireis Dağı and possibly even Alanya in the west, although Neo-Assyrian sources do not mention any town of Que to the west of Illubru and Ingirra, implying that the border between Ḫiyawa and Ḫilakku was around the route from İçel/Mersin to Gözne, where there were some difficult to access passes in the mountains as well as a route which followed the coast till Silifke and followed the Calycadnus river till the region of Konya.
The Amanus Mountains formed a natural border which was difficult to cross except in some rare locations which were easy to protect and fortify, and in the centre of the Amanus, the Amanian Gate formed the main way through the mountains. More southwards, the Amanus Mountains reach the Mediterranean Sea in the Cape of Akıncı, and in this region, the main path towards the lower Orontes valley and the kingdom of Pattin was the Belen Pass. The easiest path through the mountains, however, corresponded to the present route from Hasanbeyli to Fevzipaşa, being located on the shortest way from Hasanbeyli to the Samʾalian capital of Zincirli, with the Hasanbeyli inscription having been located at an important point of entry into Ḫiyawa.
In the northern Amanus, access into Ḫiyawa was difficultly achieved through a route towards Maraş towards the Cilician Plain following the road dominating the Ceyhan river and reaching Bahadırlı to the north of Karatepe, which was the ending point of another route which passed through Göksun through Andırın. This double point of access into Ḫiyawa was fortified at Domuztepe and Karatepe, being able to repel movements from the state of Gurgum in the north-east or from the Tabalian region in the north.
In the north, several routes arrived into Ḫiyawa from Kayseri: one went through Göksun and ended at Karatepe; and another more western road went through the passes at Mazgaç and Bağdaş and then at Mehemetli; more westerly were two other routes arriving to Kozan in Ḫiyawa from Kayseri, with the easternmost one passing through Develi, Fraktin, Taşçı, the Gezbel pass, Feke, and the Krazbel/Üsküyenbel pass, having possibly been used since the Hittite Empire, and another passing through Develi, Fraktin and Karaköy.
The main route into Ḫiyawa from the north was through Pozantı and the Cilician Gates, presently the pass of Gülek Boğazi; this route led to Niğde and further west to Ḫupišna, and earlier passed near the silver mines of Bolgar Dağ near the region of Bulgar Maden. In the late 8th century BC, this region formed the northern outlet of the Cilician Gates and was controlled at least in part by the petty-kingdom of Tunna, which was itself probably linked to the kingdom of Tuwana. Within Ḫiyawa, this road ended at Tarsus.
Ḫiyawa's territory originally also covered the mountainous areas to the north-east of the Cilician Plain, although it eventually lost these regions during its conflicts with the Neo-Assyrian Empire and became confined to the plain.
The capital of Ḫiyawa was the city of Adana, and other cities of this kingdom included:
During the 8th century BC, a subordinate of the king Awarikus of Ḫiyawa, named Azzattiwadas, had founded the city of Azzattiwadaya (Hieroglyphic Luwian: 𔐔𔖪𔑣𔗬𔐬𔓱; Phoenician: 𐤀𐤆𐤕𐤅𐤃𐤉, romanized: ʾztwdy), now known as Karatepe, above the valley of the Ceyhan river in the Taurus region of Classical Cilicia, located 100 km to the northeast of Adana.
The cities of Kundi (Classical Kyinda) and Sissû (Classical Sision) jointly formed a sub-kingdom within the northeastern territory of Ḫiyawa on the boundaries of its plains region.
Multiple "lords of cities" were recorded in Neo-Assyrian sources, implying that Ḫiyawa was constituted of a federation of smaller polities or cities with their own lords who were subjects of the king of Ḫiyawa and later the Neo-Assyrian governor at Adana.
The territory of Ḫiyawa was largely composed of the Cilician Plain, which is a sedimentary table formed by the Ceyhan and Seyhan rivers and which is divided by the Misis Mountains running through it from north to south. To the north are the Taurus Mountains, which can be crossed to reach the kingdom of Tuwana through the Cilician Gates.
The neighbour of Ḫiyawa to the west was the kingdom of Ḫilakku, and to the north it bordered on the Tabalian kingdoms, while its neighbours were Gurgum in the north-east, Samʾal in the east, and Pattin in the south-east.
The earliest record of the name of Adanawa is from the period of the Hittite Empire, when it was referred to under the form of Adaniya (Hittite: 𒆳𒌷𒀀𒁕𒉌𒅀) as one of the countries which had revolted against the Hittite king Ammuna.
Adaniya later became part of the kingdom of Kizzuwatna, which was an independent state formed in the 15th century BC out of territories formerly subject to the Hittite Empire, and most of the region which would later become Ḫiyawa was part of Kizzuwatna during the Late Bronze Age.
Kizzuwatna was later reabsorbed into the Hittite Empire when the king Tudḫaliya I annexed it in the 14th century BC.
The people of Adaniya or the Greeks who would later settle in Cilicia during the early Iron Age were likely identical with the Denyen (𓂧𓄿𓇋𓈖𓇋𓍢𓋔𓄿𓌙𓀀𓀭𓏥) who participated in the Sea Peoples' attack on Egypt during the reign of the pharaoh Ramesses III.
As part of the movements of the Sea Peoples, who were themselves a collection of various populations displaced by the collapse of their respective societies, their migratory movements passed through the plain of Adana, where some of them consolidated. This migration into Cilicia appears to have been part of a larger process of migrations from the Aegean region into West Asia, and which also gave rise to the Philistines in southern Canaan, Falastin in northern Syria, and the Greek population of Cyprus in the 12th century BC. This movement into Cilicia resulted in the loss of the name Kizzuwatna for this region, and it archaeologically corresponds to the arrival of large quantities of Late Helladic IIIC-type pottery into the Cilician Plain during the 12th and 11th centuries BC.
Thus, as a result of these migratory movements that were part of the Sea Peoples' migrations, Greek populations from Western Anatolia appear to have moved into Cilicia. Due to this, the name of the kingdom, Ḫiyawa (𔗒𔓱𔗬𔔂), bears a strong similarity to the name Aḫḫiyawā (𒆳𒌷𒄴𒄭𒅀𒉿𒀀) used to refer to the Achaeans (Ancient Greek: Ἀχαιοί, romanized: Akhaioí, from earlier Ἀχαιϝοί, Akhaiwoí), that is to the Mycenaean Greeks, in the Hittite texts of the Bronze Age. The name Ḫiyawa also links the kingdom to the "Ḫiyawa-men" (Middle Babylonian Akkadian: 𒇽𒄭𒅀𒌑𒉿𒄿 and 𒇽𒎌𒄭𒅀𒌑𒉿𒄿, romanized: Ḫiyawî; 𒇽𒄭𒅀𒀀𒌑, Ḫiyâw) sent to the Lukka lands mentioned in two Akkadian letters from the Hittite king Šuppiluliuma II to the king Ammurapi of Ugarit.
As a result of this migration, a dynasty of Greek origin appears to have established itself as the ruling line in Ḫiyawa, and later Ḫiyawaean kings claimed descent from the line of one Muksas (Hieroglyphic Luwian: 𔑾𔗧𔗔𔗔), whose name was rendered in Phoenician as mpš (Phoenician: 𐤌𐤐𐤔), which corresponded to the Greek name Mopsos (Ancient Greek: Μόψος), already recorded in Linear B archives from Knossos and Pylos as Mokwsos (Mycenaean Greek: 𐀗𐀦𐀰). This name belonged to a Greek seer who, according to Greek legendary traditions, lived in the period of the Trojan War and along with Amphilochus migrated to Cilicia and founded several Greek settlements on the southern coasts of Anatolia in the Iron Age.
Thus, the ruling dynasty of Ḫiyawa was called the House of Muksas/Mopsos (Hieroglyphic Luwian: 𔑺𔗧𔗔𔗔𔐤 𔔙𔓵𔓯, 𔑾𔗧𔗦𔗦𔐤 𔔙𔓵𔓯, romanized: Muksassan parni; Phoenician: 𐤁𐤕 𐤌𐤐𐤔, romanized: bt mpš).
Text from the Wikipedia article “Ḫiyawa”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.