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52-532: Pilliya was a king of Kizzuwatna ca. the 15th century BC ( short chronology ). He signed a treaty with Idrimi of Alalakh , allying with the Mitanni empire. He made peace with Zidanta II . This Ancient Near East –related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Kizzuwatna The country possessed valuable resources, such as silver mines in the Taurus Mountains . The slopes of

104-413: A Jebusite fortress outside of Jerusalem and renaming it the " City of David ." He also offered the elders of Judah gifts from spoils won during the raid, while Idrimi raided the seven Hittite towns and gave those spoils to his allies as mentioned in his inscription. Oppenheim also commented on similar stories of Joseph with his brothers, as those of David, claiming Idrimi's narrative is different from

156-459: A king and former Habiru refugee as he rebuilt his cities. It is clear from the inscriptions on the seal that Idrimi ruled within Level IV in the mid to late Bronze Age with piety and wise administration and that it was subsequently used by his son and successor Niqmepa as his royal seal as a replica of his own royal seal. If Niqmepa used his father's royal seal for his own royal seal, which contained

208-497: A moralizing story, composed 50-100 years after Idrimi's lifetime. This tablet (shown left) was excavated by Leonard Woolley between 1936-1949 at Tell Atchana (Alalakh) in northern Syria. It dates back to c. 1500–1450 BC. The tablet contained Idrimi's royal seal and revealed an agreement that Idrimi made for the annual dues of gold and sheep to be paid to him or to his successor, his son Niqmepa who often used his own father's seal. The seal's inscription also read: "Idrimi, servant of

260-583: A priestess. Their pantheon was also integrated into the Hittite one, and the goddess Hebat of Kizzuwatna became very important in Hittite religion towards the end of the 13th century BC. King Sargon of Akkad claimed to have reached the Taurus Mountains (the silver mountains) in the 23rd century BC. However, archaeology has yet to confirm any Akkadian influence in the area. The trade routes from Assyria to

312-748: A provincial dialect of Akkadian," and records Idrimi's autobiographical vicissitudes on his statue 's base found within a pit of a Level IB temple at the site of Tell Atchana (Alalakh). Jacob Lauinger dates the inscription around 1400-1350 BC, in Level III (/II) excavated by Woolley, or Period 3, according to Yener 's excavations. The first part of the inscription revealed Idrimi's circumstances fleeing from Aleppo. The translated inscription, according to author Amélie Kuhrt , stated: After his family had been forced to flee to Emar , with his mother's people, he realized that he wouldn't wield real power in Emar, saying: As

364-525: A result, he left his family and brothers, took his horse, chariot, and squire, went into the desert, and joined the "Hapiru people" in "Ammija (Amiya) in the land of Canaan ", where other refugees from Aleppo (the people from Halab , people from the land Mukish [dominated by Alalakh], people from the land of Nihi [near the Orontes River in Syria], and people of Nuhašše , also known as Ama'e), recognized him as

416-500: A treaty with the country Kizzuwatna . Jacob Lauinger considers Idrimi as a historical character, king of Alalakh around 1450 BC, in Late Bronze Age, but suggests his statue and inscriptions can be dated from c. 1400 to 1350 BC, and be related to a Mesopotamian pseudo -autobiography (called narû-literature ), in which kings apparently leave records of their misadventures as a lesson for future generations. Lauinger also comments that

468-589: A warfare approach that the inscription doesn't give. Author Paul Collins described Idrimi's maneuver as, Also, Collins mentioned that Barattarna had accepted Idrimi's tribute to him as a loyal vassal ruler. He only allowed Idrimi limited independence of making his own military and diplomatic decisions just as long as it didn't interfere with Mitanni's overall policy. This further allowed Idrimi to set his sights on his diplomatic and military aims in Kizzuwatna and act as an independent ruler. Idrimi's "capture" of Alalakh

520-536: A whole description of Idrimi's rule. Strong scholarly consensus argued by ancient Syro-Palestine scholars Dominique Collon and Gary Oller also suggested that Idrimi led cross-border raids into Hittite territory during his rule. According to Collon, he raided Hittite territory and used the booty from that raid to build his massive palace. Gary Oller, in his 1977 dissertation, further confirmed Collon's statement by reaffirming Idrimi's statement in lines 64-77 of his statue inscription that he raided seven cities somewhere near

572-476: Is a strong danger of using the statue's text as a single historical source. Just like the inscriptions of Ramesses II 's poetic prose of the Battle of Kadesh , the statue of Idrimi's text suggested that Idrimi's real campaigns were probably exaggerated to make himself legitimate. Many scholars studying the inscription have suggested it to be a form of pseudo-history, possibly based on "exaggerations" of his campaigns, or

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624-513: Is mentioned in the royal seal of Idrimi. It is also possible that he supported the gods of Emar and the cults of the storm-god Teshub if one looks at the brief mentions of those gods in his statue inscriptions during the early phases of his life. On the other hand, Tremper Longman III considers all this narrative passages in Idrimi's statue as having the same "basic threefold structure that characterizes all Akkadian fictional autobiography," and that, In

676-489: Is possible according to the statue text that Idrimi would have used his "spoils of war" from the seven Hittite towns, especially any valuable items, to help fund the rebuilding of his cities. It is very likely that, based on his coalition he had when he took over Alalakh as vassal king, Mukish and other cities in the coalition became a part of Alalakh's vassal kingdom. As a "gratefulness" gift for Idrimi, they would offer tribute to him for him to rebuild their cities for them, which

728-447: Is that Idrimi was recruiting potential allies in a greater effort to take Alalakh. But, it is clear from these various scholarly speculations that a political motivation may be involved in Idrimi's desire to take back Alalakh. This motive is further indicated by author Garrett Galvin who compared Idrimi's story to the famous Egyptian work, the Story of Sinuhe . Idrimi was similar to Sinuhe in

780-546: The karum in the Anatolian Highlands went through Kizzuwatna by the early 2nd millennium BC. First mentions of the kingdom of Kizzuwatna with the name Adaniya appear at the end of 16th century BC in diplomatic documents of the Hittite kingdom, in the Edict of Telipinu , regarding to political problems in the region. One of the earliest direct sources mentioning the name Kizzuwatna is a cretula from Tarsus , stamped with

832-579: The "son of their overlord" and "gathered around him." The second part of the inscription revealed major events in Idrimi's life including a campaign in Hurrian territory to reclaim Alalakh. After living among the Habiru (Hapiru) for seven years, he led his new friends and Habiru allies in a successful attack by sea on Alalakh, where he became king. The inscription further stated: Idrimi built ships and likely gathered soldiers from Mukish, Amae, Nihi, and Alakah, which

884-610: The 16th century BC of an independent Halab (Aleppo) prior to Mitanni's rise to power, though their relationship with Idrimi has yet to be determined by other scholars. Oller also proposed a theory that Idrimi's predecessors ruled Yamhad when Alalakh was a part of Yamhad's territory, though that theory has not been confirmed by other scholars. This tablet from several treaty texts revealed that Idrimi had somehow exchanged other slaves or fugitives with Pilliya of Kizzuwatna, which made sense considering that both Idrimi and Pilliya were vassal kings to Barattarna. According to Donald L. Magetti,

936-561: The British Museum. The tablet was Idrimi's royal seal, which contained his accounts of goodwill gifts of silver and other forms of tribute like cattle from Mukish and Zelki and other nearby cities, possibly demonstrating a tribute system among his allied city-states dating back to his alliance with them during his exile. His seal represented his act of piety towards the Shutu people and to those who "had no settled abode," to show his generosity as

988-614: The God Adad " (the local storm-god in Alalakh). The tablet suggested that Idrimi not only wielded absolute power in Alalakh, but it also suggested that Idrimi had exercised some independence through his own self-deification . This tablet (shown right) was excavated at Tell Achtana in northern Syria between 1936-1949 and dates back to c. 1480 BC. It was a treaty that Idrimi made with another vassal ruler to Mitanni, Pilliya of Kizzuwatna . The treaty

1040-576: 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

1092-577: The Hittites as a buffer state . This favor was to be gained by a runaway slave clause within the treaty allowing ordinary citizens to retrieve runaway slaves for rewards of five-hundred copper shekels for a man and one thousand shekels for a woman. A slave owner could also enter into Kizzuwatna and Alalakh to retrieve their runaway slaves for no reward. Assyriologist A. Leo Oppenheim saw parallels between Idrimi and King David of Judah. Idrimi stayed for seven years among Hapiru warriors. After seven years,

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1144-562: The Luwians in the area, Hittites probably arrived as part of the imperial expansion under Hattusili I and Mursili I . During the era of the Kingdom of Kizzuwatna, the primary local language was a distinctive Hurrian -influenced dialect of Luwian . However, its first king Išputahšu had a Hittite -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

1196-536: 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 of Suppiluliuma I but remained in the Hittite Empire for 200 years. In the famous Battle of Kadesh (c. 1274 BC), Kizzuwatna supplied troops to

1248-407: The city of Gaziantep in modern-day Turkey . According to Edward Greenstein and David Marcus' translation of Idrimi's statue inscription, It is possible that Idrimi may have taken slaves along with other trade goods in his raids on the seven Hittite towns as booty to restore his own power. Gary Oller gave some validity to the existence of the cities sacked in Idrimi's raid by mentioning two of

1300-452: The content and style of Mesopotamian literature, but Jacob Lauinger considers it as part of a Mesopotamian pseudo-autobiography (called narû-literature ). For Edward Greenstein, the story of Idrimi was similar to the Biblical stories of Jacob , Joseph, Moses , Jephthah , and Nehemiah . All five Biblical figures and Idrimi were exiles in their younger days, undertook journeys to discover

1352-545: The fact that Idrimi's statue was not found in Level 4 in Woolley's time, but on Level 1B (1250–1200 BC). Dominique Collon refuted his arguments by saying that many of the documents associated with Idrimi in the Level 4 Alalakh palace archives discovered by Woolley were associated with his reign in 1490–1460 BC, therefore giving some validity to Sharruwa's statements. This tablet or "seal" was one of only two recorded sources of Idrimi from

1404-621: The fall of the Hittite Empire, the Neo-Hittite kingdom Quwe , or Hiyawa, emerged in the area of former Kizzuwatna. Chronology of kings and kigdoms as per Trameri (2020). 38°N 36°E  /  38°N 36°E  / 38; 36 Idrimi Idrimi (meaning "It is my help" ) was the king of Alalakh c. 1490–1465 BC, or around 1450 BC. He is known, mainly, from an inscription on his statue found at Alalakh by Leonard Woolley in 1939. According to that inscription, he

1456-461: The final parts of the statue inscription, Idrimi commissioned the scribe Sharruwa to write his statue inscription, invoking major blessings for those who respect his statues and cursings by the gods to anyone who would defile his statue. Jack M. Sasson of the University of North Carolina contended that Sharruwa wrote the inscription for selfish reasons to bolster his national pride. This was indicated by

1508-476: The god Addu or Teshub became favorable to him and he started building ships. The king Barattarna was hostile to him for seven years. In the seventh year Idrimi launched negotiations with Barattarna. He also gathered spoils from seven Hittite cities and built his own palace. David had a similar pattern with the number seven too. He was the youngest of seven sons of Jesse . He stayed seven years in Hebron before conquering

1560-447: The inscription on lines 29–34 revealed that following the storm-god Teshub's advice in a dream, Idrimi, and he adds that, This newfound alliance with local rulers, created by cattle exchanges, was just the beginning of the gradual restoration of Idrimi's royal status as the king of Alalakh. Edward Greenstein's and David Marcus's translation of the inscription on lines 42-51 revealed that despite Barattarna's hostility to Idrimi while he

1612-508: The inscriptions try to legitimate the rule of Alalakh only by acknowledging the supremacy of Mitanni, and the text(s) may have had an audience coeval to politics of that time. All three sources were discovered by British archaeologist Leonard Woolley within the Level IV (Late Bronze Age in the mid-15th century BC) archives of the Alalakh palace and come from his collection at the British Museum . The inscription bears 104 lines "written in

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1664-459: The king approved the agreement. The treaty was concluded by Idrimi and Pilliya following Idrimi's raids into Hittite territory. This may somewhat validate line 77 of Greenstein's and Marcus's translation of Idrimi's statue inscription, "Together with them I took (booty)," suggesting that Idrimi led raids into Kizzuwatna and wanted to end them in order to gain Pilliya's favor against bigger enemies like

1716-624: The king's power in Idrimi's time. They were made up of a material of glass and silica called failence. The failence was heated at a lower temperature so that the surface could have a glazed appearance, allowing them to be easily carved and cheaply produced. The seal could suggest a possible theory that despite the Hittites being a political rival to Idrimi, he adapted the Hittite-style royal seal along with Hittite-style oaths of loyalty he made to Parshatatar and Pilliya. Oller theorized that Idrimi's predecessors in his royal seal were Halabian rulers of

1768-554: The land of Canaan. According to Marc Van de Mieroop , Idrimi was unhappy at Emar for being an "underling". If the narrative is historical, there is no scholarly debate that is adequate enough to explain why Idrimi chose to live among the Habiru in Canaan, though it is psychologically clear that Idrimi got along well with the other refugees. It was because they went through a similar experience of being uprooted from their own hometowns. Another possibility by looking at Tremper Longman's theory

1820-595: The mineral-rich Tarsus Range gave them ample materials from which to work. Around 1200 BC, an invasion by the Sea 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. After

1872-467: The mountain range are still partly covered by woods. Annual winter rains made agriculture possible in the area at a very early date (see Çatalhöyük ). The plains at the lower course of the Ceyhan River provided rich cultivated fields. Several ethnic groups coexisted in Kizzuwatna and their culture represents a fusion of Hurrian , Luwian , and Hittite elements. The pre-Indo-European Hurrians predate

1924-474: 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 of Mitanni . Puduhepa , queen of the Hittite king Hattusili III , came from Kizzuwatna, where she had been

1976-404: The names of his predecessors, "Abbaban, Sararan, Naraam", it is implied that Idrimi would have those same names on his royal seal, indicating his need for legitimacy from his previous Hurrian rulers, who made oaths to legitimize their claims to the throne according to his statue inscription. Royal seals were frequently used in the Hittite Empire and Hurrian regions in northern Syria to demonstrate

2028-463: The power struggle that arose between the Anatolian Hittite kingdom and the northern Mesopotamian Hurrian kingdom of Mitanni , in the 15th and early 14th centuries BC, Kizzuwatna became a strategic partner because of its location. Isputahsu made a treaty with Hittite King Telepinu . Later, Kizzuwatna shifted its allegiance, perhaps because of a new ruling dynasty. The city-state of Alalakh , to

2080-534: The seal of king Išpudaḫšu . "The seal’s short inscription also mentions the name of his father, Pariyawatri, which raises the question of whether Pariyawatri was king or not." The kings of Kizzuwatna at the end of 16th century BC onwards had frequent contact with the Hittites to the north. The earliest Hittite records seem to refer to Kizzuwatna (as Adaniya) along with Arzawa in Western Anatolia, as Luwia. In

2132-496: The sense that he was a high-class refugee looking back to his roots and finding an opportunity to take back his throne while being fueled by humiliation and anger towards his political enemies. Galvin also argued that Idrimi's attitude of being from a higher social class overcame the hardships he had as a refugee. After seven years living among the Habiru in Canaan, seeking an opportunity to take back his throne, Idrimi found his chance. Edward Greenstein and David Marcus' translation of

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2184-573: The seven Hatti cities of Hassuwa (Khashshum) and Zaruna in Hattusili I 's annals from his reign in c. 1580–1556 BC. The annals mentioned that Hattusili I destroyed Zaruna in his fifth campaign and defeated a coalition of Hassuwa and Halab, cities also mentioned by Idrimi in his statue inscription. Lines 77-78 from Greenstein's and Marcus's translation of the statue inscription confirmed Collon's argument of what Idrimi did with his booty: The inscription from lines 78-86 of that same translation states, It

2236-461: The south, expanded under its new vigorous leader, Idrimi , himself a subject of the Mitannian king Barattarna . King Pilliya of Kizzuwatna had to sign a treaty with Idrimi. The treaty was for fugitives exchanges between Idrimi and Pilliya. Pilliya also made peace with the Hittite king Zidanta II , signing a parity treaty between the two. On Kizzuwatna's north-eastern border, there also existed

2288-501: The state of Ishuwa during this period, that played a political role in the rivalry between Hittites and the Mitanni. At the time of Kizzuwatna king Shunashura I (Sunassura), the Hittite king Tudhaliya I became more powerful. He concluded a treaty with Sunassura, and took it away from the domination of Mitanni. His adopted son king Arnuwanda I likely continued the policy of his father. The exceedingly rough and unfavourable terrain of

2340-529: The throne of Halab from an unknown king. Idrimi goes to Emar because of his maternal ancestral connections to the Lords of Emar. While living in Emar, he considered himself as a slave. According to Tremper Longman , lines 8b-9 of the autobiography indicate that Idrimi may have considered retaking his father's lost throne, and that he tried to involve his brothers in his cause. As his brothers declined to participate, Idrimi went to Alalakh alone but then fled to Ammiya in

2392-472: The treaty was partly influenced by the swearing of oaths in the Hittite Empire, but only within the context of swearing oaths of loyalty with one another as leaders, saying in lines 3-5, they "took an oath by the gods and made this treaty". He argued that lines 40-43 of the treaty required that Barattarna, the Hittite king of Mitanni, approved the treaty before it could be effective and that fugitives or slaves could be exchanged between Idrimi and Pilliya only after

2444-451: Was a son of Ilim-Ilimma I the king of Halab , now Aleppo, who would have been deposed by the new regional master, Barattarna , king of Mitanni . Idrimi would have succeeded in gaining the throne of Alalakh with the assistance of a group known as the Habiru , founding the kingdom of Mukish as a vassal to the Mitanni state. He also invaded the Hittite territories to the north, resulting in

2496-400: Was enough to impress his own brothers to join him in reclaiming Alalakh. Inscription continues telling he somehow gained the trust of Barattarna who recognized Idrimi's oath of alliance with his brothers and placed himself within the alliance. A final section requested a blessing of the statue from Sharruwa , the statue's scribe, and cursed those who would deface his statue. However, there

2548-486: Was evidenced in his statue inscription and Collins' analysis as a peaceful movement rather than a military movement. After Idrimi's success in establishing a peaceful agreement with King Barattarna of Mitanni sometime around 1490 BC, most of his actions as king are vaguely written and are limited to only smaller sources. Tablets 1 and 2 at the British Museum are great primary sources about Idrimi's actions during his rule, but it's not enough to just look at those two tablets as

2600-558: Was for fugitives exchanges between Idrimi and Pilliya. In the first part of Idrimi's autobiography on his statue, it is claimed that an incident had occurred in Halab and that he and his family had to flee as a result. Jack M. Sasson of the University of North Carolina speculated that Idrimi didn't claim any relationship to Halab's rulers. He argued that Ilim-Ilimma I, Idrimi's father, was either dethroned or had unsuccessfully attempted to usurp

2652-543: Was in exile in Canaan, he actually respected Idrimi's coalition, maybe submitting to Idrimi out of fear that his social outcast army could overthrow him. Idrimi said that King Barattarna, Here, possibly influenced by the nature of Hittite oaths, Idrimi swore loyalty to Barattarna after seven years despite him overthrowing his father on the throne in Aleppo. He made his request to the throne peacefully by restoring Barattarna's estate and swore him an ultimate Hurrian loyalty oath, which

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2704-400: Was the first step to Idrimi regaining his power again. The inscription in lines 42-51 of Greenstein and Marcus's translation described Idrimi's capture of Alalakh as a peaceful effort to appease Barattarna with tributes of restoring his estate and swearing a loyalty oath unto him rather than using warfare to capture the city. Marc Van de Mieroop mentioned that Idrimi "captured" Alalakh implying

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