Kizzuwatna (Hittite:𒆳𒌷𒆠𒄑𒍪𒉿𒀜𒈾[1]) was an ancientAnatolian 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 inCilicia (ca. 2000–1550 BC) can be seen as its possible formative period.[2] Kizzuwatna was situated mostly in theCilician Plain of southeasternAnatolia,[3] near theGulf of İskenderun, in modern-dayTurkey. TheCentral Taurus Mountains and theAmanus Mountains encircled it. The centre of the kingdom was the city ofKummanni, in the highlands.
The name is said to be aLuwic transliteration (kez-watni) of thenešilikez-udne, meaning "a country on this side (of the mountains)."[4]Puhvel alternately translates it from the nešilikez wetenez with the stem meaning "sea."[5] It has been suggested thatkez was anexonym used by theHittites for a yet to be determined ethnic group.[6]
The country possessed valuable resources, such as silver mines in theTaurus 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 (seeÇatalhöyük). The plains at the lower course of theCeyhan River provided rich cultivated fields.
Several ethnic groups coexisted in Kizzuwatna and their culture represents a fusion ofHurrian,Luwian, andHittite elements. Thepre-Indo-European Hurrians predate the Luwians in the area,[11] Hittites probably arrived as part of the imperial expansion underHattusili I andMursili I. During the era of the Kingdom of Kizzuwatna, the primary local language was a distinctiveHurrian-influenced dialect ofLuwian. However, its first kingIšputahšu had aHittite-derived name and 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 the Hurrian kingdom ofMitanni.[12]
Puduhepa, queen of the Hittite kingHattusili III, came from Kizzuwatna, where she had been a priestess. Theirpantheon was also integrated into the Hittite one, and the goddessHebat of Kizzuwatna became very important inHittite religion towards the end of the 13th century BC.[citation needed]
Excavations ofSirkeli Höyük establish occupation as early as 2420 BC, with an extensive settlement of both a central mound and a lower town existing from at least the 1600s BC, abandoned in the 1400s BC and not resettled until after theLate Bronze Age collapse.[13] This suggests the existence of a polity located at the southern end of both a "Great Caravan Route” that connected the Ciician plain with the Troad during the Early Bronze Age[14]and an overland trade route from the Hittite Lower Land toEbla,Alalakh andCarchemish during the Middle Bronze Age.[15]
KingSargon of Akkad claimed to have reached the Taurus Mountains (the silver mountains) in the 23rd century BC. However, archaeology has yet to confirm anyAkkadian influence in the area.[16] The trade routes fromAssyria to thekarum in the Anatolian Highlands went through Kizzuwatna by the early 2nd millennium BC.
First mentions of the kingdom of Kizzuwatna with the nameAdaniya appear at the end of 16th century BC in diplomatic documents of the Hittite kingdom, in the Edict ofTelipinu, regarding to political problems in the region.[17] One of the earliest direct sources mentioning the name Kizzuwatna is acretula fromTarsus, stamped with the seal of kingIšpudaḫšu. "The seal’s short inscription also mentions the name of his father, Pariyawatri, which raises the question of whether Pariyawatri was king or not."[18]
The kings of Kizzuwatna at the end of 16th century BC onwards had frequent contact with theHittites to the north. The earliest Hittite records seem to refer to Kizzuwatna (as Adaniya) along withArzawa in Western Anatolia,[19] as Luwia.
In the power struggle that arose between the Anatolian Hittite kingdom and the northern Mesopotamian Hurrian kingdom ofMitanni, in the 15th and early 14th centuries BC, Kizzuwatna became a strategic partner because of its location.[20]Isputahsu made a treaty with Hittite KingTelepinu. Later, Kizzuwatna shifted its allegiance, perhaps because of a new ruling dynasty. The city-state ofAlalakh, to the south, expanded under its new vigorous leader,Idrimi, himself a subject of the Mitannian kingBarattarna. KingPilliya of Kizzuwatna had to sign a treaty with Idrimi.[21] The treaty was for fugitives exchanges between Idrimi and Pilliya.[22]
Pilliya also made peace with the Hittite kingZidanta II, signing a parity treaty between the two.[23]
On Kizzuwatna's north-eastern border, there also existed the state ofIshuwa during this period, that played a political role in the rivalry between Hittites and the Mitanni.
At the time of Kizzuwatna kingSunassura (Shunashura), the Hittite kingTudhaliya I became more powerful. He concluded a treaty with Sunassura, and took it away from the domination of Mitanni.[24]
His adopted son kingArnuwanda I likely continued the policy of his father. The exceedingly rough and unfavourable terrain of 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 ofSuppiluliuma I but remained in theHittite Empire for 200 years. In the famousBattle of Kadesh (c. 1274 BC), Kizzuwatna supplied troops to 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 the mineral-rich Tarsus Range gave them ample materials from which to work.
Around 1200 BC, an invasion by theSea 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.[citation needed]
After the fall of the Hittite Empire, theNeo-Hittite kingdomQuwe, or Hiyawa, emerged in the area of former Kizzuwatna.
^Trameri, Andrea, (15 October 2024).Kizzuwatna. History of Cilicia in the Middle and Late Bronze Age (ca. 2000-1200 BC), Brill, p. 2: "The kingdom of Kizzuwatna is attested in written sources from the end of the 16th c. on. Since the origins of the kingdom itself are obscure, this work also provides an overview of the Middle Bronze Age in Cilicia (ca. 2000–1550 BC) as this can be seen – potentially – as a formative period for Kizzuwatna."
^Yakubovich, Ilya. (2010).Sociolinguistics of the Luvian Language. A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the Division of the Humanities In Candidacy For the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations and Department of Linguistics, University of Chicago.Academia.edu
^Puhvel, J. (1984). Hittite Etymological Dictionary. Germany: Mouton.
^Trameri, A. (2024). Kizzuwatna. History of Cilicia in the Middle and Late Bronze Age (ca. 2000-1200 BC). Netherlands: Brill.
^Mirko, Novak and Rutishauser, Susanne. (2022). "Kizzuwatna: Archaeology." Hittite Landscape and Geography. (2022). Netherlands: Brill.Google Books
^Oriental studies. (1960). Georgia: Izd-vo Akademii nauk Gruzinskoĭ SSR.
^Miller, J. L. (2004). Studies in the Origins, Development and Interpretation of the Kizzuwatna Rituals. Germany: Harrassowitz.
^Shelestin, Vladimir, (August 2019)."The ethnical history of Kizzuwatna: an onomastic approach", in: BAF-Online Proceedings of the Berner Altorientalisches Forum 3: "The mixed nature of Kizzuwatna’s population is widely accepted by the scholars, considering the Hurrians and the Luwians its main components. Which of these peoples came to the Cilician plain earlier [...] [D]istribution by language and period gives us the picture of the Hurrian domination in the Middle Hittite period [c. 1650 - 1500 BC]. By the Late New Hittite period the Luwian names became prevailing. This trend supports the scenario of the Hurrian earlier arrival."
^Yakubovich, Ilya (2011). "Luwian and the Luwians". In Steadman, Sharon; McMahon, Gregory (eds.).The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Anatolia. Oxford University Press. pp. 536–537, 539.doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195376142.013.0023.
^ Mirko Novák, Deniz Yaşin, Mirco Brunner, Sinem Hacıosmanoğlu, Ekin Kozal, Sabina Kulemann-Ossen, Hannah Mönninghoff, Susanne Rutishauser, Alexander E. Sollee, and Sönke Szidat (2020). "Sirkeli Höyük: Insights into the Archaeology of Bronze and Iron Age Cilicia." The Archaeology of Anatolia, Vol. IV: Recent Discoveries (2018-2020). Sharon R. Steadman and Gregory McMahon (eds). Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
^Blasweiler, Joost. (2019). The kingdom of Purušhanda and its relations withthe kings of Mari and Kanesh in the 18th century BCE: Part 3 The trade of the land Purušḫanda. Arnhem (NL) Bronze Age.
^Blasweiler, Joost. (2019). The kingdom of Purušhanda and its relations with the kings of Mari and Kanesh in the 18th century BCE: Part 2 The location of the land Purušḫanda. Arnhem (NL) Bronze Age.
^Blasweiler, Joost, (2016)."Into the Taurus and the KUR.KUR.KUG (the mountains of precious metals)", in: Arnhem (nl) – 2 Anatolia in the bronze age, p. 6: "It is almost certain that the control of the 'Land of Silver Mountains' was a fundamental element of the power of the king of Purušhanda. The Akkadian myth 'The battle of the King' narrates the struggle between the king of Purušhanda and Mesopotamian merchants, who were active in Anatolia. The merchants asked in the palace of Sargon of Akkade for his support [...]"
^Trameri, Andrea, (15 October 2024).Kizzuwatna. History of Cilicia in the Middle and Late Bronze Age (ca. 2000-1200 BC), Brill, p. 205: "As one of the few mentions of historical events among the scanty information on the origins of this kingdom, historians often quote the content of the Edict of Telipinu, namely the passage referring to the upheavals in Adaniya at the time of Ammuna (late 16th c.) [...]"
^Trameri, Andrea, (15 October 2024).Kizzuwatna. History of Cilicia in the Middle and Late Bronze Age (ca. 2000-1200 BC), Brill, p. 205: "Edict of Telipinu [...] The land(s) became hostile towards him/ became his enemy: the cities of [ ]-agga, [Ma?-t]ila, Galmiya, (the land of)Adaniya, the land ofArzawiya, Šalapa, Parduwata and Aḫḫulla. Wherever the troops went on campaign, however, they did not come back successfully."
^Trameri, Andrea, (May 2020).The Land of Kizzuwatna. History of Cilicia in the Second Millennium BCE until the Hittite Conquest (ca. 2000-1350), in: NYU, Faculty Digital Archive, p. vii: "From a historical-political point of view, Kizzuwatna played a strategic role between the 15th and the early 14th c. in the clash between the Anatolian Hittite kingdom and the northern Mesopotamian kingdom of Mittani – the hegemonic power in northern Syria and the principal rival of the Hittites in the macro-area at the time. As a ‘buffer’-state between the two neighbors’ territories, it was involved in their diplomatic altercations and military conflicts."
^Archi, Alfonso (2003-07-21). "Middle Hittite—"Middle Kingdom"".Hittite Studies in Honor of Harry A. Hoffner Jr. on the Occasion of His 65th Birthday. Penn State University Press. pp. 1–12.doi:10.1515/9781575065434-004.ISBN9781575065434.
Beckman, Garry M.:Hittite Diplomatic Texts, Scholars Press, Atlanta 1996.
Götze, Albrecht:Kizzuwatna and the problem of Hittite geography, Yale university press, New Haven 1940.
Haas, Volkert:Hurritische und luwische Riten aus Kizzuwatna, Butzon & Bercker, Kevelaer 1974.
Yakubovich, Ilya:Sociolinguistics of the Luvian Language, Brill, Leiden 2010.
Novák, Mirko: Kizzuwatna, Ḥiyawa, Quwe – Ein Abriss der Kulturgeschichte des Ebenen Kilikien, in J. Becker, R. Hempelmann, E. Rehm (ed.),Kulturlandschaft Syrien – Zentrum und Peripherie.Festschrift für Jan-Waalke Meyer, Alter Orient und Altes Testament 371, Ugarit-Verlag, Münster 2010, pp. 397–425
Forlanini, Massimo: How to infer Ancient Roads and Intineraries from heterogenous Hittite Texts: The Case of the Cilician (Kizzuwatnean) Road System,KASKAL 10, 2013, pp. 1–34.
Novák, Mirko and Rutishauser, Susanne: Tutḫaliya, Šunaššura und die Grenze zwischen Ḫatti und Kizzuwatna, in: C. Mittermayer, S. Ecklin (eds.),Altorientalische Studien zu Ehren von Pascal Attinger, Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis 256, Academic Press, Fribourg/Göttingen 2012, pp. 259–269.
Kozal, Ekin and Novák, Mirko: Facing Muwattalli. Some Thoughts on the Visibility and Function of the Rock Reliefs at Sirkeli Höyük, Cilicia, in: E. Kozal, M. Akar, Y. Heffron, Ç. Çilingiroğlu, T.E. Şerifoğlu, C. Çakırlar, S. Ünlüsoy and E. Jean (eds.),Questions, Approaches, and Dialoguesin the Eastern Mediterranean Archaeology Studies in Honor of Marie-Henriette and Charles Gates, Alter Orient und Altes Testament 445, Ugarit-Verlag, Münster 2017, pp. 371–388.
Novák, Mirko and Rutishauser, Susanne: Kizzuwatna: Archaeology. In: M. Weeden und L.Z. Ullmann (ed.),Hittite Landscape and Geography. Handbuch der Orientalistik I,121, Brill, Leiden 2017, pp. 134–145.
Kozal, Ekin and Novák, Mirko: Alalakh and Kizzuwatna. Some Thoughts on the Synchronization, in: Ç. Maner, A. Gilbert, M. Horowitz (ed.),Overturning Certainties in Near Eastern Archaeology, A Festschrift in Honor of K. Aslıhan Yener for her 40 years of Field Archaeology in the Eastern Mediterranean, Brill, Leiden 2017, pp. 296–317.
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