TheMushki (sometimes transliterated asMuški) were anIron Age people ofAnatolia who appear in sources fromAssyria but not from theHittites.[1] Several authors have connected them with theMoschoi (Μόσχοι) of Greek sources and theGeorgian tribe of theMeskhi.[2]Josephus Flavius identified theMoschoi with the BiblicalMeshech. Two different groups are calledMuški in Assyrian sources (Diakonoff 1984:115), one from the 12th to the 9th centuries BC near the confluence of theArsanias and theEuphrates ("Eastern Mushki") and the other from the 8th to the 7th centuries BC inCappadocia andCilicia ("Western Mushki"). Assyrian sources clearly identify the Western Mushki with thePhrygians, but later Greek sources then distinguish between the Phrygians and the Moschoi.
Identification of the Eastern Mushki with the Western Mushki is uncertain, but it is possible that at least some of the Eastern Mushki migrated toCilicia in the 10th to the 8th centuries BC. Although almost nothing is known about what language (or languages) the Eastern or Western Mushki spoke, they have been variously identified as being speakers of aPhrygian,Armenian,Anatolian, orGeorgian language.
The Eastern Mushki appear to have moved intoHatti in the 12th century BC, around the time that the Hittite Empire collapsed.
Together with theUrumu andKaskas (Apishlu), they attempted to invade theMiddle Assyrian Empire's Anatolian provinces of Alzi (Alshe) and Puruhuzzi in about 1160 BC, but they were pushed back and subjugated byAshur-Dan I.[3] In 1115 BC, the Mushki advanced further, penetrating into Kadmuhi, along theUpper Tigris. After being turned away byTiglath-pileser I, the Mushki apparently settled in Alzi.[4]
Whether the Mushki initially moved into the core Hittite areas from the east or west has been a matter of some discussion by historians. It has been speculated that the Mushki were connected to the spread of the so-called Transcaucasian ceramic ware, which appeared as far west as modernElazığ, Turkey in the late second millennium BC.[5] This ceramic ware is believed to have been developed in theSouth Caucasus region, possibly by theTrialeti-Vanadzor culture originally, which suggests an eastern homeland for the Mushki.[6][7][8]
In the 8th century BC,Tabal became the most influential of theNeo-Hittite polities, and the Mushki under Mita entered an anti-Assyrian alliance with Tabal andCarchemish. The alliance was soon defeated bySargon of Assyria, who captured Carchemish and drove back Mita to his own province. Ambaris of Tabal was diplomatically married to an Assyrian princess, and received the province ofHilakku under Assyrian dominion, but in 713 BC, Ambaris was deposed and Tabal became a fully fledged Assyrian province.
In 709 BC, the Mushki re-emerged as allies of Assyria, Sargon naming Mita as his friend. It appears that Mita had captured and handed over to the Assyrians emissaries of Urikki, king ofQue, who were sent to negotiate an anti-Assyrian contract with Urartu, as they passed through his territory.
According to Assyrian military intelligence reports toSargon recorded on clay tablets found in the Royal Archives ofNineveh bySir Henry Layard, theCimmerians invaded Urartu fromMannai[9][10] in 714 BC. From there they turned west along the coast of theBlack Sea as far asSinope, and then headed south towards Tabal, in 705 BC campaigning against an Assyrian army in central Anatolia, resulting in the death of Sargon II, although they were cleared from Assyrian ruled territory. Macqueen (1986:157) and others have speculated that the Mushki under Mita may have participated in the Assyrian campaign and were forced to flee to western Anatolia, disappearing from Assyrian accounts, but entering the periphery of Greek historiography as kingMidas ofPhrygia.
Rusas II ofUrartu in the 7th century BC fought theMushki-ni to his west, before he entered an alliance with them against Assyria.
Some scholars have speculated that the Western Mushki were not Phrygians, but they conquered the Phrygians, or were conquered by the Phrygians, and the two became conflated with one another.[11]
According toIgor Diakonoff, the Mushki were aThraco-Phrygian group who carried theirProto-Armenian language from theBalkans acrossAsia Minor, mixing withHurrians (andUrartians) andLuwians along the way.[12] Diakonoff theorized that the root of the name Mushki was "Mush" (or perhaps "Mus," "Mos," or "Mosh") with the addition of the Armenian plural suffix-k'.[13]Armen Petrosyan clarifies this, suggesting that-ki was aProto-Armenian form of theClassical Armenian-k' (compare toAncient Greek -κοί) and etymologizes "Mush" as meaning "worker" or "agriculturalist."[14]
Some have placed (at least the Eastern) Mushki homeland in theArmenian Highlands and South Caucasus region. It is possible that at least some of the Mushki were Armenian-speakers or speakers of a closely related language.[15][16]
Pliny in the 1st century AD mentions theMoscheni in southern Armenia ("Armenia" at the time stretching south and west to the Mediterranean, bordering on Cappadocia). InByzantine historiography, Moschoi was a name equivalent to or considered as the ancestors of "Cappadocians" (Eusebius) with their capital at Mazaca (later Caesarea Mazaca, modern Develi,Kayseri). According to Armenian tradition, the city of Mazaca was founded by and named after Mishak (Misak, Moshok), a cousin and general of the legendary patriarchAram.[17] Scholars have proposed a connection between the name Mishak and Mushki.[18][19]
The Armenian region ofMokk' and the city ofMush (Muş) may derive their names from the Mushki.[20][21]
According to Professor James R. Russell of Harvard University, the Georgian designation for Armenians, "Somekhi", refers to the Mushki.[22]
However, the connection between the Mushki and Armenian languages is quite unclear and many modern scholars have rejected a direct linguistic relationship if the Mushki were Phrygian speakers.[23][24][25][26] Additionally, genetic research does not support significant admixture into the Armenian nation after 1200 BC, making the Mushki, if they indeed migrated from a Balkan or western Anatolian homeland during or after theBronze Age Collapse, unlikely candidates for the Proto-Armenians.[27][28]
SomeGeorgian historians have proposed that the Mushki, together with other ancient tribes of Asia Minor mentioned in Assyrian sources (such as the Tibal and others), were "proto-Georgian" tribes, which contributed to the formation of the eastern GeorgianKingdom of Iberia.[29]
According to Donald Rayfield, Mushki, Moschoi, and Meskhi are floating names.[30] He argues the Mushki may have worshiped the Hittite moon godArma and the Luwian godSantush (Santa/Sandan), comparing these names to the phonetically similar pagan Iberian godsArmazi andZaden, whose idols were overthrown by Christian missionaries in the 4th century AD in Iberia.[31] Rayfield's theories are speculative, however, and nothing is actually known of the Mushki's religious convictions.
Hecataeus of Miletus (c. 550 – 476 BC) speaks of the Moschi as "Colchians", situated next to theMatieni.[32]
According toHerodotus, the equipment of the Moschoi was similar to that of theTibareni,Macrones,Mossynoeci andMardae, with wooden caps upon their heads, and shields and small spears, on which long points were set. All these tribes formed the19th satrapy of theAchaemenid empire, extending along the southeast of the Euxine, or theBlack Sea, and bounded on the south by the lofty chain of theArmenian mountains.
Strabo locates the Moschoi in two places. The first location is somewhere in modernAbkhazia on the eastern shore of the Black Sea, in agreement withStephan of Byzantium quotingHellanicus. The second locationMoschice (Moschikê) – in which was a temple ofLeucothea, once famous for its wealth, but plundered byPharnaces andMithridates – was divided between theColchians,Armenians, andIberians (cf.Mela, III. 5.4;Pliny VI.4.). These latter Moschoi were obviouslyMeskhi or Mesx’i (whereGreek χ,chi, isGeorgian ხ, x), located in southern Georgia.Procopius calls them Meschoi and says that they were subject to the Iberians (i.e., Georgians), and had embracedChristianity, the religion of their masters.
Josephus Flavius identified theCappadocianMoschoi with the BiblicalJaphetic tribe descended fromMeshech in his writings on the Genealogy of the Nations inGenesis 10, whileHippolytus of Rome connected Meshech withIllyrians. Meshech is named withTubal as a principality of the prince ofGog and Magog inEzekiel 38:2 and 39:1.
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