Ahhiyawa

The Ahhiyawa (old form Ahhiya ) is a kingdom which appararaît above all in the files of the kingdom hittite in second half of the III debate around its localization, centered on the fact that one could see there a mention of the Achaens, is still far from being closed.

Ahhiyawa Achaens?

As of the translation in a text hittite of the word Ahhiyawa , indicating a kingdom located towards the Western Anatolia or the Aegean Sea, to many specialists in Anatolian civilizations, brought closer this word to those of Achaiwia and Achaia , designating the Achaens, the people of the Greece of. This discovery was thus seen like the proof of the existence of the kingdom mycénien of the texts of Homère. The Ahhiyawa assumption = Achaens was however quickly disputed by the fact that this kingdom appeared with the different one as being rather located in Thrace, with Rhodos or Cyprus, asserting on the fact that nothing shows by archeology that civilization mycénienne was in direct contact with those of Hittites, nor that Mycéniens constituted a sufficiently powerful State to extend until in Anatolia. Those which saw in Ahhiyawa the Achaens are not themselves not agreement on the localization of their kingdom: in Minor Asia, or straightforwardly in continental Greece? An argument moreover in the favor of the Ahhiyawa equality = Achaens lies in the fact that one finds in the texts hittites a named city Millawanda , which is very near politically to Ahhiyawa. However much want to see in this city Milet ( Miletos ), whose archaeological excavations precisely revealed very strong bonds with civilization mycénienne.

The debate is always open at present, a certain number of the specialists in Mycéniens always disputing the fact that Ahhiyawa are well the Achaens, whereas on the other hand a majority of specialists in Anatolia the hittite believe it. It does not remain about it less than if Ahhiyawa are not the Achaens, it is necessary to imagine the existence in an identical area of two people carrying a name appreciably different, one attested only by archeology and the Homeric tradition, and the other attested only by the texts of the time.

Ahhiyawa in the texts hittites

The first mention of this country goes up with the reign of the king hittite Tudhaliya I {{er}} (C. 1465-1430). A character named Attarsiya is called “the man of Ahhiya” (undoubtedly a king or an important character). He faces vassal the hittite Madduwatta before finally being combined with him, undoubtedly against Hittites. A few decades later, it is Mursili II (C. 1340-1310) which has mesh to leave with “king d' Ahhiyawa” who are combined with the Arzawa and in Millawanda against him. The coalition is demolished, but the country of Ahhiyawa is not mentioned in the subjected territories, contrary to its two allied. On the contrary, it is king d' Arzawa Utta-ziti which takes refuge in the king of Ahhiyawa, before this one does not extradite it at Hittites under the pressure of Mursili. It thus seems that this kingdom is out of reach of Hittites, which constitutes an important argument to locate it in the Aegean Sea, or in continental Greece. Muwatalli, the son of Mursili II, has when with him business with Piyamaradu, noble a hittite renegade which sows the disorder in Anatolia Western and is combined to the king of Ahhiyawa. But the two kingdoms are not therefore in conflict, and their relations remain cordial.

The kingdom of Ahhiyawa appears to know its apogee during the reign of the brother of Muwatalli, Hattushili III (c.1265-1250). One has a copy of a letter addressed by this king to king d' Ahhiyawa, in whom he speaks with his counterpart as “a brother”, sign that he regards it as his equal, as well as the kings of Egypt, Assyrie or Babylon. But that is undoubtedly due only to the circumstances, Hattushili seeking to spare its counterpart, of which the brother, named Tawagalawa, Piyamaradu assistance to sow the disorder at vassal the hittites of Anatolia Western. That perhaps an operation going up to king d' Ahhiyawa, eager to weaken the king hittite, whereas it extends its influence until Millawanda, old vassal of Hatti which passes its its ally. Tudhaliya IV (c.1250-1210) succeeds in nevertheless hustling Ahhiyawa, and it turns over king de Millawanda on his side. In a contemporary treaty, the name king of Ahhiyawa, initially mentioned like the equal one of the king hittite, is unobtrusive as if one sought to downgrade it. This would translate a loss of influence of its share, and thus a weakening of its kingdom.

After this last intrusion of Ahhiyawa in the businesses hittites, plus nothing in the sources of this country does not mention these people and his kingdom, the crumbling kingdom hittites a few years later. Outside, one finds a toponym appreciably similar, Akaiwaya , in the files in Linéaire B found with Cnossos in Crete. The texts of the Pharaon Mineptah speaking about the Peuples of the Sea mention Eqwesh , often identified like the Achaens ( Akaiwasha ), which would show that these people are still active at that time. But the identification of Eqwesh with the Achaens is not itself not assured.

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