Kalašma orKalasma (occasionallyKalašpa[1][2]) was a lateBronze Age polity inNorthern Anatolia on the border of theHittite Empire.
Kalašma was located somewhere in northwestern Anatolia. Though its precise location is uncertain, its location relative to other places can be deduced from geographical references in contemporary documents. For instance, it is known to have been south of Arawanna and west ofPala.[3] Current research suggests that it was located near modern dayBolu.[4]
A city calledHarranassi may have been located in Kalašma.[5][6] When Hittite was first deciphered,Bedřich Hrozný took the placename "Kalašmitta" to be a variant of "Kalašma", but current research suggests that they were in fact separate places.[7]
Forlanini says thatKalašma was not atribal name but acity-state, the eponymous city having been fortified by the Hittite kingHantili I (died c. 1560 BCE).[8] Hantili failed to reinstate Kalašma's localweather god, and on returning toḪattuša, the Hittite capital, he had to perform expiatory rituals to theSun goddess of the Earth.[9]
Arnuwanda I (ruled 1380s BCE) installed oathbound military commanders in regions including Kalašma.[10] Civil administration was by a council ofelders.[11] In the reign of Arnuwanda's sonTudhaliya II, troops from Kalašma and elsewhere rebelled and fled throughIšuwa to an unnamed enemy country; Tudhaliya's sonSuppiluliuma I subdued the rebel regions.[12] There were several revolts in the reign of Suppiluliuma's sonMuršili II (ended 1295 BCE). One triggered apunitive raid by Hittite general Nuwanzas.[13][14] Muršili replaced the elders with a single administrator named Aparru, who rebelled, seized royal power, and invaded neighbouring Sappa.[15][16][10][17] Aparru was soon defeated but Kalašma was incivil war until pacified the next year by Hutupiyanza, governor of Pala.[15][18]
Kalašmans were later to be found further east, at Pahhuwa on the upper Euphrates, possibly having been deported there by Muršili, or asmercenary soldiers.[19] Kalašmans fought alongside the Hittites at theBattle of Kadesh against theEgyptian Empire in 1274 BCE.[11]
Kalašma is one of the places mentioned in aLuwian hieroglyphic tablet from the reign ofArnuwanda III (ended c. 1210 BCE) as conquered byMukšuš.[20]
In 2023 a tablet written in "the language of Kalašma" was discovered in theBogazköy Archive excavated at Ḫattuša. It is in theAnatolian branch of theIndo-European languages, probably theLuwic sub-branch.[21]
In 1958Einar von Schuler [de] had noted that aHittite-language oath taken by officials from Kalašma represented a differentdialect of Hittite from the oath of other regions' officials.[22]