Hartapu and the Land of Maša

What is it about?

The paper presents a re-interpretation of two longer Hieroglyphic-Luwian inscriptions from the group attributed to king Hartapu (KIZILDAĞ 4, § 2 and KARADAĞ 1). It is argued that this king should be identified as a king of Maša rather than that of Ḫatti or Tarḫundašša, which, in view of the probable dating of his monuments to 12th–11th centuries BC, has important implications for the history of Anatolia after the fall of the Hittite Empire. The new attribution of the inscriptions also allows the old controversy concerning the dating of the relief of the king on the so-called ‘Throne’ to be reconsidered. Observations on the other monument of Hartapu, the ‘stepped altar’, support the connection of the KIZILDAĞ-KARADAĞ group with a foreign (non- Hittite and non-Luwian) tradition.

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Why is it important?

The analysis of the inscriptions yields insight into the question of ethno-linguistic identity of Maša and sheds new light on the problem of Balkan migrations into Anatolia. The evidence discussed in the article implies that the north-western part of Anatolia might have stood closer to the Balkan peoples in cultural and possibly linguistic terms than to Hittites or Luwians already in the Late Bronze Age.