Ancient kingdoms of Anatolia

Below is a list of Ancient kingdoms in Anatolia. Anatolia (most of modern Turkey) was the home of many ancient kingdoms. This list does not include the earliest kingdoms, which were merely city states, except those that profoundly affected history. It also excludes foreign invaders (such as The Achaemenid Empire, the Macedonian Empire, Roman Empire etc.).[1]

The list of kingdoms

Map of the Hittite Empire showing and the neighbouring Anatolian peoples and kingdoms

Before Achaemenid conquest (546 BC)

The first column shows the name of the kingdom or the state, the second column shows the name of the capital, the third column shows the life span of the state. However, there are uncertainties both in the second and in the third columns. In particular, the first dates (of emergence) are approximate.

Name of the kingdom Capital Duration (BC)
Hatti Hattuma 2500-1780
Hitti Hattusa 1700-1180
Diauehi 1200
Neša Kanesh 2800-1720
Troy Troy[2] 3000-1184
Hayasa-Azzi 1500-1290
Arzawa Apasa (Ephesus?)
Mitanni Washukanni 1500-1300
Kizzuwatna Kummanni (Comana ?)
Miletus Miletus[3]
Lukka
Assuwa league
Phrygia Gordium 1200-700
Lydia Sardis 1200-546
Neo-Hittites Carchemish 1180-700
Urartu Tushpa 860-590

After Partition of Babylon (323 BC)

Name of the kingdom Capital Duration (BC)
Armenia 331-1
Cappadocia 322-130
Bithynia Nicomedia 297-74
Antigonids 306-168
Pergamon Pergamon 281-133
Galatia Ancyra 280-64
Pontus Amasia 291-62
Commagene Samosata 163-72

In the table it can be seen that there are no new local kingdoms between 9th and 3rd century BC. This era roughly corresponds to foreign rule (Achaemenid Empire and Macedonian Empire.)

See also

References and notes

  1. Seton Lloyd:Ancient Turkey (Trans. Ender Varinlioğlu) Tubitak populer Bilim Kitapları,Ankara, 1989, ISBN 975-403-084-7
  2. Both Troy and Miletus were actually city states. So the names of the capital and the state were identical
  3. Leading state of Ionian League

a. Andreas Schachner 2011, Hattuscha: the oldest settlement is of 6000 BC; between 3200-2500 there is no habitation. Hattum is the Akkadian name for Hattus(sa), the Hattian name is probably Ha-at-ti, so the same as the name of the land.(Oǧuz Soysal 2004,Hattischer Wortschatz in hethithiser Text Überlieferung). The Hattians lived in several kingdoms (city-states)in the Kizirl bassin of the Bronze Age.