AHHIYAWANS AND MYCENAEANS – AN ANATOLIAN VIEWPOINT

Abstract

Summary. Ever since the 1920's, when Emil Forrer claimed to have discovered Homeric Greeks in the Hittite texts, there has been much debate about the identity and location of the Land of Ahhiyawa, to which frequent reference is made in these texts. Although the matter is not yet settled to everyone's satisfaction, an increasing number of scholars have come round to the view that the term Ahhiyawa must have been used in reference to the Mycenaean world, or at least to part of that world. My intention in this paper is to indicate a number of developments that have in recent years taken place in Hittite scholarship, and which lead to a clearer understanding of the relations between the Lands of Hatti and Ahhiyawa. Several of the most important texts relevant to the Ahhiyawa question will be discussed, and conclusions will be drawn from them with regard to the nature and extent of Ahhiyawan enterprise in Anatolia. These texts provide evidence which in my opinion gives compelling (if still circumtantial) support to the Ahhiyawa‐Mycenaean equation. This clearly has substantial implications for Mycenaean as well as Hittite scholarship. If Mycenaean scholars are prepared to entertain the equation, it will be their task to consider the extent to which the Hittite references to Ahhiyawa can be accommodated to a Mycenaean/Aegean context.