Anatolian Civilizations and Historical Sites - TEDA

ANATOLIAN CIVILIZATIONS:10x19 antik kentler 8/1/11 10:50 AM Sayfa
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One of the Late Hittite states founded in Central Anatolia was the
Kingdom of Tabal in Kayseri environs, made up of 24 small kingdoms.
Cities such as Ni¤de, Erkilet, Bahçe, Topada, Karada¤, Karaburnu,
Çalapverdi, Bor, ‹vriz, Andaval and Bulgarmaden were bound to the Tabal
Kingdom and the kingdom was administered as a sort of confederation. It
has been understood that this kingdom established relations mostly with
the Assyrians and that the land of Tabal was cited as Bit-Burutash in the
Assyrian sources. In 837 BC the Assyrian King Salmanassar III set on an
expedition to the land of Tabal, and subjugated around 20 principals in
Tabal including the King Tuatte. In addition, Argishti-one of the Urartian
kings-in one of the epitaphs in Van Castle, states that during his
expedition to the west in 785 BC, descendents of Tuatte the King of Tabal
attacked his land.
Around this time, when the Urartian State started to develop,
the Kingdom of Tabal rebelled against the Assyrians together with
the Urartians; however, they were bound by the Assyrians to pay
tribute. Tabal king, who refused to pay tribute to the Assyrians King
Tiglathpileser, deployed his troops to Vassusarmas, thus dethroning him
and enthroning another named Hulli. When his son Ambaris ascended to
the throne, he married the daughter of Sargon II the Assyrian King and
Çukurova was given to him as a wedding gift. Despite being the son-in-law
of the Assyrian king, Ambaris did not hesitate to collaborate with the
Phrygian King Midas and the Urartian King Rusa against Assyria in 713
BC, upon which incident the Assyrians overthrew the king as soon as they
dispersed this union and administered the land of Tabal via a governor
they dispatched. Though the Kingdom of Tabal attained its independence
during the Assyrian King Sanharip (705-681 BC), it was overcome with
the Cimmerian and Scythian raids, which arrived in Anatolia during
Asarhaddon, and was destroyed by the Cimmerians.
On the embossment of ‹vriz created in 730 BC, which is the most
important work of art of Late Hittite art, Varpalavas the King of Tuvana is
shown as praying before Tarkhu the god of sky of the Hittites. Here the fact
that the god of sky holds in his hand a spica and grapes symbolizes
abundance. On the work measuring 4.30 m., the belt of both the god and
the king seem to have been a Phrygian product, and the geometricallypatterned
cloth of the king seems to have been of the kind worn by
Phrygian nobles. The rock embossment here is similar to Hittite rock
embossments, but Arami influence is seen on this embossment.