Geography and History in Western Asia Minor in the Second Millennium B.C.

Abstract

Any examination of the geography of western Asia Minor in the second millennium B.C. must begin with the accounts of two campaigns—(a) that of Mursilis II against Arzawa, and (b) that of a Hittite king (probably also Mursilis, but perhaps Muwatallis), against the Lukka-lands and Millawanda. In each case the route followed by the Hittite army is given:Two things are clear from these accounts. First, the campaigns start off in the same general direction, as they both pass through Sallapa. Secondly, after Sallapa they diverge. There are no names beyond Sallapa common to the two, and there is no suggestion that all the later names in each list must be closely grouped in neighbouring areas reached by a common long march from Hattusas. But it is worthwhile, I think, to try to establish more closely the relationship between the two routes, and to build up a pattern in the hope that it can be applied to existing geographical and archaeological considerations.

The decline of Late Bronze Age civilization as a possible response to climatic change

“…10 Some Anatolian scholars believe that the Lycians migrated from northwestern to southwestern Anatolia sometime after the end of the Bronze Age (MacQueen, 1968;Mellart, 1968), which is consistent with the fourth January eigenvector. However, the author finds this theory inconsistent with Greek tradition.…”

An aerial Survey of Çevre Kale, Yaraşli

“…Wheat is the overwhelming crop (Koy Envanter: 108-9) but vegetables are grown locally and there is grazing on the Karaca Dag and in seasonally flooded basins. As pointed out by Mellaart (Macqueen 1968: 177 and n. 72; Mellaart 1983: 346) £evre Kale could control the area between the northern end of the Salt Lake and the more dissected higher land of the Haymana-Ankara region.…”

Curating Architecture and the City

“…69 The selection of these items and their structuring in the architectural scenario uniquely in this part of the museum, which otherwise lacks a sequential arrangement of displays, would seem to support a particular interpretation of the Ephesian Artemis, namely one suggesting an evolution from Cybele at the very site of Ephesos, which is equated with the city of Apasas in Hittite texts. 70 In this portion of the museum alone the visitors follow a programmed narrative that is a version of ancient history. 71 The significance of this clear choice from among various possible alternative explanatory models for cultural interaction and change in Mediterranean prehistory deserves to be addressed in a separate study on the bond between politics and archaeology in Anatolian historiography.…”