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Hittite Involvement in Western Anatolia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 December 2013

Jak Yakar
Jak Yakar
Affiliation:
Tel-Aviv University
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Extract

In addition to security considerations, the course of Hittite history can largely be explained by the economic motif, to control the sources and markets of metals.

The expulsion or departure of the Assyrian merchants from Anatolia at the end of Anittas' reign not only deprived the newly founded Hittite Kingdom in the central plateau of the organized trade which, among other commodities, supplied Anatolia with its imported tin (from. Assur), but also cut it off from the supply centres in the East Mediterranean and North Syria, by now under the control of the strong Yamhadian Dynasty.

In Anatolia itself the mineral-rich regions, which supplied both Anatolian and Mesopotamian provinces with copper, silver and lead, were mostly in the northern and eastern areas which the Hittites, due to the geo-political situation already pointed out by Mellaart, could not control or controlled with difficulty. This situation no doubt forced the Hittites to turn to alternative mineral-fields and supply centres in areas west of the plateau.

Type
Research Article
Information
Anatolian Studies , Volume 26 , December 1976 , pp. 117 - 128
Copyright
Copyright © The British Institute at Ankara 1976

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References

1 J. Mellaart recognized this main principle which guided the Hittites in their policies vis-a-vis their neighbours. See AS XVIII (1968), pp. 187–202Google Scholar.

2 The growing hostility of the Hurrians beyond the Euphrates would have prevented the Anatolian merchants from using the south-eastern route and reaching the tin sources beyond Assyria. See Mellaart, loc. cit. p. 191.

3 Ibid., pp. 191, 199–200.

4 Ibid., pp. 190–1.

5 The Hittites to prevent the seafaring Lukka from carrying on trade with the northern enemies such as the Gasga people; the Ahhiyawans to stop trade to Arzawa and the Hittites; the Arzawans to cut the trade route to Wilusa and/or divert the route into their own territory. See Mellaart, loc. cit., pp. 192–3. Macqueen, J. G., AS XVIII (1968), pp. 169–85Google Scholar. Reference to Lukka in the Alaksandus-treaty fits well into Macqueen's geographical pattern (see p. 172; The Hittites and their contemporaries in Asia Minor, London 1975, p. 40Google Scholar).

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53 The Lycian coast was important for shipping between the Aegean (also Crete) and East Mediterranean. It offered good harbours for refuge during storms and the possibility to get fresh supplies of food and water during the long journeys from Crete or Rhodes to Cyprus and other eastern ports (and vice versa). The shipwreck of Cape Gelidonya and finds of copper ingots (from other shipwrecks) found in the sea near Antalya may suggest that the Lycian coast was in the itinerary of the Aegean and East Mediterranean sailors. See, Nougayrol, J., “Nouveaux Textes Accadiens de Ras Shamra”, CRAI (1960), pp. 163–71Google Scholar; Ugaritica V, p. 88Google Scholar, n. 5. J. Sasson, loc. cit., 1966, p. 134. For the copper ingots see Bass, G., Cape Gelidonya: A Bronze Age Shipwreck, Philadelphia 1967Google Scholar.

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61 A number of features in the architecture and art of Late Helladic Greece seem to have derived from Hittite Anatolia. Scoufopoulos, Niki C. in her study of Mycenaean Citadels, Studies in Mediterranean Archaeology, Vol. XXII, Göteborg 1971Google Scholar, points out some of these features (pp. 101–6). The Cyclopean masonry which suddenly appeared at Tiryns, Mycenae and other sites in the LH period may have been inspired by Hittite fortifications. The Mycenaean direct-access gate type has a predecessor in the gate near the postern passage of Büyükkale. Also, the galleries and underground spring passages at Tiryns and Mycenae are features which have a wide distribution and origin in Anatolia (in the postern passages of Alişar, Boǧazköy and Alaca Hüyük). As for the use of lions in the relieving triangle of the main gate at Mycenae in local style, this may suggest Hittite influence in the adaptation of the heraldic motif to symbolize the might of the royal residence.

It is very significant that, although these elements were not adopted by Western Anatolians, the mainland Mycenaeans incorporated them, after local modifications, into their own architecture. It is possible to assume that the Mycenaean colonies in south-western Anatolia promoted relations or contact between the two mainland powers. See also Frankfort, H., The Art and Architecture of the Ancient Orient, Baltimore 1969, pp. 54–8Google Scholar.

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