Kizzuwatna (or Kizzuwadna ; in Ancient Egyptian Kode or Qode ) was an ancient Anatolian kingdom, attested in written sources from the end of the 16th century BC onwards, but though its origins are still obscure, the Middle Bronze Age in Cilicia (ca. 2000–1550 BC) can be seen as its possible formative period. Kisuwatna was situated mostly in the Cilician Plain of southeastern Anatolia , near the Gulf of İskenderun , in modern-day Turkey . The Central Taurus Mountains and the Amanus Mountains encircled it. The centre of the kingdom was the city of Kummanni , in the highlands.
38-604: The country possessed valuable resources, such as silver mines in the Taurus Mountains . The slopes of the mountain range are still partly covered by woods. Annual winter rains made agriculture possible in the area at a very early date (see Çatalhöyük ). The plains at the lower course of the Ceyhan River provided rich cultivated fields. Several ethnic groups coexisted in Kizzuwatna and their culture represents
76-530: A fusion of Hurrian , Luwian , and Hittite elements. The pre-Indo-European Hurrians predate the Luwians in the area, Hittites probably arrived as part of the imperial expansion under Hattusili I and Mursili I . During the era of the Kingdom of Kizzuwatna, the primary local language was a distinctive Hurrian -influenced dialect of Luwian . However, its first king Išputahšu had a Hittite -derived name and
114-572: A new ruling dynasty. The city-state of Alalakh , to the south, expanded under its new vigorous leader, Idrimi , himself a subject of the Mitannian king Barattarna . King Pilliya of Kizzuwatna had to sign a treaty with Idrimi. The treaty was for fugitives exchanges between Idrimi and Pilliya. Pilliya also made peace with the Hittite king Zidanta II , signing a parity treaty between the two. On Kizzuwatna's north-eastern border, there also existed
152-469: A youth after his father's death; similarly, his sister Ziplantawiya was the daughter of a king. Additionally, Freu posits that the Šunaššura Treaty between the Hittite Kingdom and Kizzuwatna reflects successive equal and unequal treaty arrangements under two different sets of kings on both sides, discerns three Tudḫaliyas as predecessors of Muršili II on his "cruciform seal," and argues that
190-425: Is a 98-metre-high (322 ft) railway bridge constructed in the 1910s by Germans . Tudhaliya I Tudḫaliya I (sometimes considered identical with Tudḫaliya II and called Tudḫaliya I/II ) was a Hittite great king in the 15th century BC, ruling perhaps c. 1465–c. 1440 BC The numbering of Hittite kings named Tudḫaliya ( Hittite : 𒌅𒌓𒄩𒇷𒅀 Tūdḫaliya ) varies between scholars because of debate over
228-649: Is a natural frontier: west is Cilicia , east is Syria. There are several passes, like the Amanian Gate (Bahçe Pass) , which are of great strategical importance. In 333 BC at the Battle of Issus , Alexander the Great defeated Darius III in the foothills along the coast between these two passes. In the Second Temple period, Jewish authors seeking to establish with greater precision the geographical definition of
266-779: The Mediterranean coastal region from the central Anatolian Plateau . The system extends along a curve from Lake Eğirdir in the west to the upper reaches of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers in the east. It is a part of the Alpide belt in Eurasia . The mountain range under the current name was mentioned in The Histories by Polybius as Ταῦρος ( Taûros ). Heinrich Kiepert writes in Lehrbuch der alten Geographie that
304-756: The Promised Land , began to construe Mount Hor as a reference to the Amanus range of the Taurus Mountains, which marked the northern limit of the Syrian plain . During World War I , the German and Turkish railway system through the Taurus Mountains proved to be a major strategic objective of the Allies. This region was specifically mentioned as a strategically controlled objective slated for surrender to
342-571: The 23rd century BC. However, archaeology has yet to confirm any Akkadian influence in the area. The trade routes from Assyria to the karum in the Anatolian Highlands went through Kizzuwatna by the early 2nd millennium BC. First mentions of the kingdom of Kizzuwatna with the name Adaniya appear at the end of 16th century BC in diplomatic documents of the Hittite kingdom, in the Edict of Telipinu , regarding to political problems in
380-655: The Allies in the Armistice , which ended hostilities against the Ottoman Empire . In addition to hiking and mountain climbing, there are two ski resorts on the mountain range, one at Davras about 25 km (16 mi) from the two nearest towns of Egirdir and Isparta , the second is Saklıkent 40 km (25 mi) from the city of Antalya . The Varda Viaduct , situated on the railway lines Konya - Adana at Hacıkırı village in Adana Province ,
418-783: The Central Taurus Mountains. It has many peaks rising above 3,000–3,700 m (9,800–12,100 ft). Mt. Kizlarsivrisi , 3,086 m (10,125 ft), in the Bey Mountains is the highest peak in the Western Taurus. The Central Taurus Mountains are roughly defined to include northern Mersin Province and northwestern Adana Province . The highest point in the Central Taurus is Mt. Demirkazık (3,756m). The Cilician Gates or Gülek Pass has been
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#1732772215695456-581: The Hittite king. As master equestrians, some of the first in the areas south of the Caucasus region, they provided the horses, which were later favoured by King Solomon and allowed the more aggressive use of the Hittite chariot than their Egyptian and Assyrian rivals were able. The Kizzuwatna were master craftsman, mining experts and blacksmiths. Being the first to work "black iron", which is understood to have been iron of meteoric origin, into weapons such as maces, swords and warheads for spears. Their location in
494-530: The Hurrian kingdom of Mitanni . Puduhepa , queen of the Hittite king Hattusili III , came from Kizzuwatna, where she had been a priestess. Their pantheon was also integrated into the Hittite one, and the goddess Hebat of Kizzuwatna became very important in Hittite religion towards the end of the 13th century BC. King Sargon of Akkad claimed to have reached the Taurus Mountains (the silver mountains) in
532-564: The Middle Hittite language of the text, Freu argues that during the subsequent southern assertion of Hittite power, the Hittite king concluded the so-called Kuruštama Treaty with Egypt , whose king at that time, Thutmose III (1479–1425 BC) had been active in northern Syria and at one time reached the Euphrates . Additionally, Freu believes that Tudḫaliya concluded unequal treaties with the petty rulers of Alalaḫ /Mukiš, Emar /Aštata, and Nuhašše , all now lost or very fragmentary, as in
570-551: The Tarsus Mountains made it likely that to remain in a position of prominence among their Hurrian- and Luwian- speaking neighbours, the Kizzuwatna requested favourable terms for the treaties, and that they were subsequently granted. Kizzuwatna rebelled during the reign of Suppiluliuma I but remained in the Hittite Empire for 200 years. In the famous Battle of Kadesh (c. 1274 BC), Kizzuwatna supplied troops to
608-633: The Tudḫaliyas who engaged in repeated military action in Syria and in western Anatolia should be distinguished from each other to avoid an overly long reign. The treatment below tentatively follows Freu's distinction of two 15th-century BC Hittite great kings named Tudḫaliya. Tudḫaliya I was the son of a certain Kantuzzili, who is not known to have reigned or to have descended from an earlier Hittite monarch. Most scholars readily assume that this Kantuzzili
646-480: The case of his treaty with Tunip on the Orontes . A much later source, the treaty between the Hittite great king Muršili II and his nephew, Talmi-Šarruma of Aleppo , related Tudḫaliya's conclusion of a treaty with Aleppo. When Aleppo abandoned its alliance with Tudḫaliya in favor of Mittani , Tudḫaliya defeated Aleppo and its Mittanian allies and destroyed the city. If Tudḫaliya I and Tudḫaliya II were one and
684-547: The fall of the Hittite Empire, the Neo-Hittite kingdom Quwe , or Hiyawa, emerged in the area of former Kizzuwatna. Chronology of kings and kigdoms as per Trameri (2020). 38°N 36°E / 38°N 36°E / 38; 36 Taurus Mountains The Taurus Mountains ( Turkish : Toros Dağları or Toroslar, Greek : Ταύρος) are a mountain complex in southern Turkey , separating
722-416: The identity (or not) between the first two bearers of the name. This Tudḫaliya, now attested as the son of a certain Kantuzzili, succeeded Muwatalli I , after the latter was murdered by the officials Ḫimuili and Kantuzzili (not necessarily identical to Tudḫaliya's father). The same or a distinct Tudḫaliya was the father-in-law and predecessor of Arnuwanda I . Because of uncertainty, scholars are divided in
760-401: The interpretation of the evidence. Many scholars envision a single Tudḫaliya (I or I/II ), while others consider two separate kings, Tudḫaliya I and Tudḫaliya II. The rationale for maintaining a distinction between the two is presented by Jacques Freu, who notes, inter alia, that Tudḫaliya I was the son of the non-reigning Kantuzzili, while Tudḫaliya II writes that he ascended the throne as
798-608: The mineral-rich Tarsus Range gave them ample materials from which to work. Around 1200 BC, an invasion by the Sea Peoples is believed to have temporarily displaced the people of the Cilician plain, but many among the entourage of the Sea peoples were likely to have been composed of Luwian and Hurrians, possibly to ensure that they had a stake in how the invasions ended for their people, rather than being simple victims of them. After
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#1732772215695836-592: The name was borrowed into Ancient Greek from the Semitic ( Old Aramaic ) root טורא ( ṭūrā ), meaning "mountain". The Taurus Mountains are divided into three chains from west to east as follows; The Western Taurus Mountains form an arc around the Gulf of Antalya . It includes the Akdağlar, Bey Mountains, Katrancık Mountain, Kuyucak Mountains, and Geyik Mountains. The East Taşeli Plateau and Goksu River divide it from
874-620: The north. The earliest Hittite records seem to refer to Kizzuwatna (as Adaniya) along with Arzawa in Western Anatolia, as Luwia. In the power struggle that arose between the Anatolian Hittite kingdom and the northern Mesopotamian Hurrian kingdom of Mitanni , in the 15th and early 14th centuries BC, Kizzuwatna became a strategic partner because of its location. Isputahsu made a treaty with Hittite King Telepinu . Later, Kizzuwatna shifted its allegiance, perhaps because of
912-703: The principal pass through the Eastern Taurus since ancient times, connecting the coastal plain of Cilicia with Central Anatolia . The Tarsus-Ankara Highway ( E90 , O-21 ) passes through it. Mountain ranges in the Central Taurus include: The Southeastern Taurus Mountains form the northern boundary of the Southeastern Anatolia Region and North Mesopotamia . They include the Nurhak Mountains, Malatya Mountains, Maden Mountains, Genç Mountains, and Bitlis Mountains. They are in
950-485: The regicide Kantuzilli on the grounds of consistent contextual incompatibility between their attestations in the sources, but allows for the possibility that he is identical to the general who fought the Hurrians. Prior to the publication of the seal impression naming Kantuzilli as Tudḫaliya's father, Stefano De Martino suggested that the regicides Ḫimuili and Kantuzzili were Tudḫaliya's sons, who had placed their father on
988-507: The regicides, the brothers Ḫimuili and Kantuzzili, although their relation to him remains obscure. Muwattali's Commander of the Guard, Muwa, may have murdered a queen in retribution, and then attempted to stage a revolution with the help of Hurrians led by Kartašura. King Tudḫaliya and his general Kantuzzili (the regicide? the king's father?) defeated the enemy. Having secured his eastern flank, Tudḫaliya I apparently decided to assert himself in
1026-462: The region. One of the earliest direct sources mentioning the name Kizzuwatna is a cretula from Tarsus , stamped with the seal of king Išpudaḫšu . "The seal’s short inscription also mentions the name of his father, Pariyawatri, which raises the question of whether Pariyawatri was king or not." The kings of Kizzuwatna at the end of 16th century BC onwards had frequent contact with the Hittites to
1064-444: The same individual, the wars of Tudḫaliya II in western and northern Anatolia would also pertain to this reign. See Tudḫaliya II . A detailed and annotated genealogy of Hittite New Kingdom monarchs and their families, as reconstructed by Jacques Freu in his multi-volume work Les Hittites et leur histoire , presented as an alternative to the less detailed and sometimes differing reconstruction based on Trevor Bryce, The Kingdom of
1102-464: The south. According to Freu's reconstruction of the evidence, he was responsible for the earlier, equal treaty between a Hittite king and Šunaššura I of Kizzuwatna, which allowed the king of Kizzuwatna full freedom to support the Hittite king against his enemies or remain neutral; the Hittites's primary objective at this point might have been securing unimpeded passage into Syria. Partly on the basis of
1140-725: The southern slopes of the Beydaglari range. The mountains have a Mediterranean climate , with dry summers and rainy winters. Temperatures vary with elevation, with warm winters on the lower coastal slopes and cold winters in the high mountains and in the interior. At lower elevations, the predominant vegetation forest and woodland of evergreen oaks and Turkish pine ( Pinus brutia ), and areas of maquis shrubland . Above 1200 meters elevation are montane forests of black pine ( Pinus nigra ), Lebanon cedar ( Cedrus libani ), Taurus fir ( Abies cilicica ), and juniper ( Juniperus spp.). The high peaks are home to alpine meadows. The bull
1178-505: The state of Ishuwa during this period, that played a political role in the rivalry between Hittites and the Mitanni. At the time of Kizzuwatna king Shunashura I (Sunassura), the Hittite king Tudhaliya I became more powerful. He concluded a treaty with Sunassura, and took it away from the domination of Mitanni. His adopted son king Arnuwanda I likely continued the policy of his father. The exceedingly rough and unfavourable terrain of
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1216-402: The throne. Onofrio Carruba and Freu propose that Tudḫaliya's mother was Walanni, attested in the royal offerings lists, and who might have been a daughter of the earlier king Zidanta II . It is also sometimes conjectured that Tudḫaliya was a grandson of the earlier king Ḫuzziya . Freu suggested that Tudḫaliya I was married to the obscure great queen Kattešḫapi attested at about this time, and
1254-488: The toponym "Kizzuwatna" itself has been suggested to be a Luwianization of Hittite * kez-udne meaning "land on this side" in relation to the mountains. Though Kizzuwatna Luwian differs from Empire Luwian spoken in the Hittite heartland, incantations written in Kizzuwatna Luwian appear untranslated in Hittite ritual texts. Hurrian culture became more prominent in Kizzuwatna once it entered the sphere of influence of
1292-541: The various storm-gods of the ancient Near East, were a people whom modern scholars place in the Taurus Mountains at their probable earliest origins. A Bronze Age archaeological site, where early evidence of tin mining was found, is at Kestel . The pass known in antiquity as the Cilician Gates crosses the range north of Tarsus . The Amanus range in southern Turkey is where the Taurus Mountains are pushed up as three tectonic plates come together. The Amanus
1330-590: The watershed of the Euphrates River and Tigris River . The Taurus Mountains were formed by the collision of the African and Eurasian tectonic plates . The predominant underlying rock is limestone . In the Aladaglar and Bolkar mountains, limestone has eroded to form karstic landscapes of waterfalls , underground rivers , and some of the largest caves of Asia . The Manavgat River originates on
1368-503: Was commonly the symbol and depiction of ancient Near Eastern storm gods , hence Taurus the bull, and hence the name of the mountains. The mountains are a place of many ancient storm-god temples. Torrential thunderstorms in these mountains were deemed by the ancient Syrians to be the work of the storm-god Adad to make the Tigris and Euphrates rivers rise and flood and thereby fertilise their land. The Hurrians , probably originators of
1406-686: Was identical to the Commander of the Golden Squires Kantuzzili, who (together with his apparent brother, the Chief Cupbearer Ḫimuili) murdered the preceding king, Muwatalli I , and also with the general Kantuzzili, who assisted Tudḫaliya I in repelling a Hurrian invasion in support of Muwatalli's Commander of the Guard Muwa. On the other hand, Jacques Freu opposes the identification of Tudḫaliya's father Kantuzilli with
1444-424: Was the father of a short-lived Ḫattušili II and the grandfather of Tudḫaliya II . If Tudḫaliya I and Tudḫaliya II were one and the same individual, his queen would have been Nikkal-mati , his daughter Ašmu-Nikkal , and his son-in-law and successor, Arnuwanda I . Tudḫaliya I ascended the throne on the murder of his predecessor Muwatalli I, possibly in c. 1465 BC. Tudḫaliya appears to have pardoned and purified
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