The Kingdom and City of Tarḫuntašša – An Integrated Textual,Geographic and Archaeological Analysis
Tarḫuntašša, first mentioned in early 13th century BCE texts as the chosen capital of Muwatalli, later becomes the centre of a vassal kingdom under Ḫattuššili, and probably rebels against Hittite authority between the rule of Ḫattuššili and that of the last king Šuppiluliuma in the early 12th century BCE. The goals of this paper are to refine our understanding of the kingdom of Tarḫuntašša, and to propose locating its capital city further north than traditionally suggested, through the combination of archaeological, textual and geographical evidence available for the area. In particular, this contribution argues that a comparison between the two subordination treaties highlights significant gains by Kuruntiya, including territorial expansion toward the Mediterranean coast. Looking at the same treaties, and integrating them with archaeological survey data, topography, and movement analysis, the paper also proposes a new model for the internal political geography of the kingdom and its relation with the Hittite state. This model further challenges traditional hypotheses regarding the location of its capital city either in Rough Cilicia or in the Karaman Plain, and instead highlights the possibility that Tarḫuntašša could be located within the Çarşamba River delta, the area described as the “Hulaya River Land” in Hittite texts. Finally, the presentation explores the connection between the Late Bronze Age kingdom of Tarḫuntašša and the Middle Iron Age kingdom that existed in the same area, ruled by a Great King Hartapu during the late 9th-8th centuries BCE. Integrating recent archaeological evidence for the existence of complex polities across the Early Iron Age in south-central Anatolia, it proposes that Tarḫuntašša might have survived the collapse of the Hittite state and existed in some form until at least the reign of Hartapu.