TheMilawata letter (CTH 182) is an item of diplomatic correspondence from aHittite king atHattusa to aclient king in westernAnatolia around 1240 BC. It constitutes an important piece of evidence in the debate concerning thehistoricity ofHomer'sIliad.
The reason for its title "Milawata letter" is that it mentions that both parties to the letter had campaigned on the borders ofMilawata; it also mentions the city Atriya, elsewhere known as a dependent of "Millawanda". Millawanda and Milawata are accepted as ancient names forMiletus.[1][2][3]
The letter demands that the client resolve a dispute over hostages, turn over fugitives from Hittite justice, and turn over a pretender fromWilusa to a Hittite envoy so that the Hittites can reinstall him as king there. The letter reminds the recipient that the recipient's father had turned against the Hittite king. The Hittite king then installed the recipient as king in place of that one's father. It also mentions that the recipient's domain is on the coast. However, since it covers events from Wilusa to Milawata, and since the current understanding is that this impliesTroy to the north, down to Miletus in the south, it must be deduced which domain this should be. Both theKingdom of Mira and theSeha River Land were carved out of the coastal state and alliances ofArzawa, and both had rulers in the late 14th century BC which rebelled againstHatti. Of what is known of Mira and the Seha River Land, the best match isKupanta-Kurunta of Mira. WhenManapa-Tarhunta of the Seha River Land joinedUhha-Ziti's revolt againstMursili II around 1320 BC, he did rather little himself; and Manapa-Tarhunta remained quiet after Mursili forgave him. By contrast, Mashuiluwa of Mira rebelled and incitedPitassa into revolt in c. 1310. After this, Mursili deposed Mashuiluwa and elevated Mashuiluwa's nephew and adopted son Kupanta-Kurunta (who was Mursili's nephew as well).
In a subsequent treaty, Mursili agreed to cede Kuwaliya to Kupanta-Kurunta, which had as a border theAstarpa (Meander?) river — which Mursili mentioned in his annals as close to "Millawanda"; the Milawata border also features in the Milawata letter. Lastly, although this is an "argument from convenience", Kupanta-Kurunta is known to have lasted as monarch into the reign ofHattusili III (1265–1235 BC), which allows for multiple candidates for authorship on the Hittite side; assuming that the treaty betweenMuwatalli II (1295–1272 BC) andAlaksandu of Wilusa has not erred (but note Beckman's footnote inHittite Diplomatic Texts), Manapa-Tarhunta died before that treaty (that is, before c. 1280 BC).
Like theManapa-Tarhunta letter (c. 1295 BC) and theTawagalawa letter (c. 1250 BC), the Milawata letter mentions the infamous adventurerPiyama-Radu;[2] but as a figure of the past. The very name "Milawata" seems to be a later development, on its way to becoming the "Mil[w]atos" of theLinear B /LHIIIB tablets ofPylos andThebes. The scholarly consensus places the Milawata letter at the tail of this series of letters.
Burney[4] and Bryce[5] attribute the Milawata letter toTudhaliya IV writing to alater king of Mira. If so, the letter's references to the events in which Kupanta-Kurunta and Mursili II participated are meant to evoke their dynasties rather than the actual characters, or else parallel events from a later period (which would however remove some of the above arguments for placing the letter at Mira).
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