The Hittite Empire’s Anatolian Successors

Abstract

This chapter surveys the various peoples who occupied the Anatolian peninsula in the centuries following the Hittite empire’s fall. In the west, these included immigrants from the Greek world, most notably Aeolian and Ionian Greeks who settled along Anatolia’s Aegean coast. In the far south-west, the Lycian civilization developed, which had strong links with Anatolia’s Bronze Age past, but probably also contained a significant blend of elements from the Greek world. Further to the north, the Carians were allegedly immigrants from the Aegean islands, though they too may have been indigenous Anatolians. The Phrygians were the most powerful of all the groups occupying Iron Age Anatolia. In the 8th century, the empire over which their king Midas held sway extended throughout western Anatolia. The country called Tabal, divided into a number of independent kingdoms, occupied Anatolia’s south-eastern sector. It will figure prominently in our discussion of the Neo-Hittite kingdoms.