Mark wrote
> The Greeks called the Gallipoli Peninsula (the European side of the
> Hellespont/Dardenelles) the Thracian Chersonese. Homer suggests it
> was Thracian-speaking; modern scholarship suggests the Asian side
> was Anatolic-speaking.
There are some very interesting elements now being assembled from the
Hittite Archives. Muwatallis, the Labarnas (Emperor) of the Hittites
who fought against Rameses II at Kadesh had a very interesting army
including people from Willusa (Illios=Troy), Lukku (Lycians), Danuna
(Danaans) and Ahhiawaya (Achaeans) and also Tyrrhenoi
(Tarusha=Troas=Tyrsenoi) in his troops. These people seem to have
comprised the large and multi-ethnic Kingdom of Arzawa - a state to
the west of the Empire.
When engaged against the Egyptians, a revolt and invasion by the
Kaska, hill-tribes people to the north of Anatolia, had caused the
monarch to abandon Hattusas, the capital for Datassa a city to the
south. This move was very unpopular, and with the appointment to the
throne of Urhi Teshub, Muwatallis's infant son, as Mursilis III, a
most unpopular and inexperienced young man the trouble was
compounded.
Kaska ran riot throughout the Upper Country, as the Hittite
heartlands
were called. A pallace coup brought Urhi Teshub's uncle,
Muwatallis's
brother, Hattusilis III, to the throne. Hattusilis had made a very
favourable marriage to the popular, strong and capable Padukhepa,
priestess of the Ishtar temple at Kummana. He had also adopted
Kumbaba, the titulary diety of Carchemish, where he had been
installed
as governor, as his personal patron. To simplify matters, he
organised a peace treaty with the aging Rameses II, even sending a
daughter to join the Pharaoh's extensive harem. Hattusilis promptly
supressed the Kaska and moved back to Hattussas (Boghuzkoy),
restoring
and rebuilding it as the capital once again.
The disruption, and the increased taxation required for the monarch's
rebuilding program produced instability in the west. The Kingdom of
Arzawa was in insurrection. A certain Atreus and an Eteocles were
active in the vacinity of Miletus, and the king was forced to journey
westwards to that city to put down the trouble. Greek mythology
records that the house of Atreus was forced out of Anatolia and
established themselves as Mycenae and eventually in Sparta at that
time. Things seemed to settle down, but not for long.
The smooth succession to his son, Tudhalias IV belied the trouble
that
was to errupt. A Tarusha (?) Prince Alashkandush (Alexander =
Paris),
in alliance with the Achaeans, immediately began trouble on the
western border, and pretty soon the seabord from Troy around to
Cyprus
was in revolt. The King was compelled to borrow ships from his ally
and tributary king, the ruler of Ugarit to put down the Sea born
insurrection, and conquer Cyprus, the base for much of this trouble.
And then disaster struck. A change of Dynasty happened at Wilusa
(Illios). Tarusha (Tyrrsenoi) made alliance with the Thraco-Phrygian
tribes on the other side of the Dardanelles to capture control of the
city. Phrygian Mysi appeared in Anatolia, no doubt crossing from
Thrace. This cut the Dardanelles trade route that the Achaeans had
used, and they attacked the partly ruined Troy VII to gain control of
the straits once again. After a long struggle the Achaeans were
successful but it was a pyrrhic victory. The Mysi (Mushki) made
alliance with the Kaska and attacked the capital. Widespread famine
errupted and the whole late Bronze Age ediface came tumbling down.
In
the West Anatolian "city" of Colophon, Mopsus, a man of Theban
ancestry, managed to organise the people and lead them out of the
starving villages and towns of Western Anatolia, in the migration
that
was to become known as "The Peoples of the Sea".
Interesting stuff.
Regards
John