The land of Hiyawa (Que) revisited

Abstract

The focus of this article is the recently published, near-duplicate ARSUZ inscriptions carved on two stelae found near İskenderun in southeastern Turkey and dating to the later tenth century BC. Particular attention is given to the historical section of these inscriptions, and its reference to a land called Hiyawa (Assyrian Que) in eastern Cilicia, previously attested in only one other Iron Age inscription, the Luwian-Phoenician bilingual found at Çineköy near Adana. The article discusses what new information can be deduced about Hiyawa, including its relationship with the land of Adana(wa) in eastern Cilicia, the implications to be drawn from the findspot of the stelae and the much-debated question of whether the references to Hiyawa reflect Greek settlement in southeastern Anatolia during the Early Iron Age. Fresh attention is also given to the two Akkadian texts from the archives of Late Bronze Age Ugarit which refer to a group called the Hiyawa-men, who were located at that time (late 13th to early 12th century) in Lukka in southwestern Anatolia. The controversial identification of this group with Ahhiyawans/Mycenaean Greeks is re-examined within the broader context of a comprehensive reconsideration of the Ahhiyawa-Hiyawa equation and the role played by ‘Hiyawans’ and the land of Hiyawa in the affairs of the eastern Mediterranean world from the end of the Bronze Age through the succeeding Iron Age.