Information AboutHayasa-azzi |
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| hittite empire | |
| history of armenia | |
| ancient peoples | |
| hayasa | |
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SUPPILULIUMA I (1340S-1320S BC) Hittite inscriptions deciphered in the 1920s by the Swiss scholar Emil Forrer testify to the existence of a mountain country, the Hayasa, lying around Lake Van . The cuneiform tablets of Boğazköy have preserved the names of four successive kings who ruled this state. They were Karannis, Mariyas, Hukkanas, and Anniyas, the four covering a period of 55 years, from ca. 1390 BC to 1335 BC . Karannis made incursions into the Hittite empire, which were stopped by the King Tudhaliya and his successor, Suppiluliuma I . Mariyas, the next king of Hayasa, who had married a Hittite princess, was punished with death because of his breach of matrimonial contract. Hukkanas, the third in the line, also married a Hittite princess, the sister of Suppiluliuma. In a treaty signed with Hukkaana, Suppiluliuma I mentions a series of obligations of civil right: :"My sister, whom I gave you in marriage has sisters; through your marriage, they now become your relatives. Well, there is a law in the land of the Hatti. Do not approach sisters, your sisters-in law or your cousins; that is not permitted. In Hatti Land, whosoever commits such an act does not live; he dies. In your country, you do not hesitate to marry your own sister, sister-in law or cousin, because you are not civilized. Such an act cannot be permitted in Hatti." Despite these restrictions imposed upon Hukkanas, he was no meek and submissive brother-in law in political and military affairs. As a condition for the release of the thousands of Hittite prisoners held in his domain, he demanded first the return to home of the Hayasan prisoners confined in Hatti. MURSILI II (1310S-1290S BC) The Hittite Empire had been subject to constant harassment by its eastern neighbors, from the basin of the upper Euphrates. One of the most important of these enemies crouched on its eastern border was the kingdom of Hayasa-Azzi. Mursili II , says Cavaignac, speaking of that period, :"was busy in the wars waged against Azzi or Hayasa, which were as bitter as those waged against Arzawa (Western Cilicia ). About the beginning of Suppiluliuma's reign, that country (Hayasa-Azzi) was subject to Hittite influence, but won its freedom later on. Anniyas, the King of Hayasa, had sacked several districts and refused to release the prisoners taken. He had created a political union of the tribes of Armenia, and organized a kingdom which extended from the River Iris (Yeshil-Irmak) to the Lake of Van." Hayasa's good fortune did not continue long, however. The Hittite King Mursili II, having consulted the oracles, invaded Hayasa in. In the following spring he crossed the Euphrates and re-organized his army at Ingalova ”Angegh, Angel” which, about ten centuries later, was to become the treasure-house and burial-place of the Armenian kings of the Arshakuni Dynasty . One of the captured fortresses lay on the west side of the Lake of Van. The Annals of Mursili thus describe these campaigns: The people of Nahasse arose and besieged" (name indecipherable). "Other enemies and the people of Hayasa likewise. They plundered Institina, blockaded Ganuvara with troops and chariots. And because I had left Nuvanzas, the chief cup-bearer, and all the heads of the camp and troops and chariots in the High Country, I wrote to Nuvanzas as follows; 'See the people of Hayasa have devastated Institina, and blockaded the city of Ganuvara.' And Nuvanza led troops and chariots for aid and marched to Ganuvara And then he sent to me a messenger and wrote to me; 'Will you not go to consult for me the augur and the foreteller? Could not a decision be made for me by the birds and the flesh of the expiatory victims? And I sent to Nuvanza this letter: 'See, I consulted for you birds and flesh, and they commanded, Go! because these people of Hayasa, the God U, has already delivered to you; strike them! And as I was returning from Astatan to Carchemish, the royal prince Nana-Lu came to meet me on the road and said, 'The Hayasan enemy having besieged Ganuvara, Nuvanza marched against him and met him under the walls of Ganuvara. Ten thousand men and seven hundred chariots were drawn up in battle against him, and Nuvanza defeated them. There are many dead and many prisoners. (Here the tablets are defaced, and 15 lines lost.) And when I arrived in Tiggaramma, the chief cup-bearer Nuvanza and all the noblemen came to meet me at Tiggaramma. I should have marched to Hayasa still, but the chiefs said to me, 'The season is now far advanced, Sire, Lord! Do not go to Hayasa.' And I did not go to Hayasa. 13TH CENTURY A record exists of the incursion of the Kaskas or Kaskians, who crossed the Halys River with 800 Chariot s and advanced as far as the capital, which they plundered. The King was compelled to remove the idols and the paraphernalia for the worship of the dead to a safer place. The Kaskas , whose home J. Garstang places in Armenia, attacked by way of Amasia. Leonard King describes them as an "unruly people" living between the Euphrates and the Lake of Van, and a constant menace to the Hittites. "No Hatti King," says he, "was able to establish his power there permanently." It may therefore be safely assumed that Hayasa still exerted its influence. In any case, however, the days of the Hittite hegemony were numbered. The Assyria ns forged ahead and gradually spread their domination over southern and western Armenia. The origin of the Hay element is still a mystery, but the existence of the land and people of Hayasa-Azzi as a factor in relation to the Hatti covers a long period, beginning "before the expansion of the Hittite empire towards Syria," according to Professor A. Goetze. Several prominent authorities agree in placing Azzi to the north of Ishuwa . Others see Hayasa and Azzi as identical. The Hittite Empire was overthrown 140 years after Mursil's campaign in Hayasa. From 1180 BC , the Sea Peoples , and migrating tribes such as the Phrygians , crossing the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus , overran Anatolia, destroying a number of states and cities, among which was Hattusa , the Hittite capital. SEE ALSO REFERENCES
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