Pitassa

Pitassa is an as-yet undiscovered frontier city in western Anatolia, mentioned in Bronze Age archives at Hattusa. Its name seems Luwian, and it occasionally formed the border between Hatti and various iterations of Arzawa. Another account referred to it as an imperial geographical designation (also called Pedassa) for the region found at the foot of the Sultan Mountains and extend northwards all the way to the Sakarya River and Gordion near Polath.[1] It is also described as part of the region of Classical Lycaonia, which was located east of the Salt Lake.[2]

One of the earliest records of Pitassa involve the account of Egyptian scribes of the battle of Qadesh in 1275 B.C.[3] During the conflict, Pitassa provided a contingent that served under the Hittite army.[2] In these documents, it was referred to as P-d-s or the equivalent of Pitassa and was located in the area of Salt Lake (Tuz Golu) and the plains of Konya.[3] Pitassa is cited in several historical documents such as the case of Hittite treaties that included the descriptions of boundaries and towns. These include the treaty between Tudhaliya IV of Hatti and his cousin Kurunta around 1240-1210 BC, which described the latter's frontiers in the following words:

In the direction of the land of Pitassa, his frontier city of Sanantarwa, but the kantanna of Zarniya belongs to the land of the Hulaya River, while Sanantarwa belongs to the land of Pitassa.[4]

Madduwatta wrested Pitassa from Arnuwanda I in the late 15th century BC. This figure was described as a freebooter and he forced the inhabitants of Pitassa to swear loyalty to himself.[5] Decades later Suppiluliuma I retook it. Mashuiluwa of Mira then incited it to revolt c. 1310 BC, after which Mursili II moved upon it and resubjugated it. An account cited that refugees from Pitassa - those that settled in Karia - were the ancestor of the Greek hero Jason and his people.[6]

This may be the city of Abydos on the Hellespont.

References
  1. Steadman, Sharon; McMahon, Gregory (2015). The Archaeology of Anatolia: Recent Discoveries (2011-2014) Volume I, Volume 1. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p. 260. ISBN 1443878154.
  2. Bryce, Trevor (2009). The Routledge Handbook of the Peoples and Places of Ancient Western Asia: From the Early Bronze Age to the Fall of the Persian Empire. Oxon: Routledge. p. 563. ISBN 0203875508.
  3. Lipiński, Edward (2006). On the Skirts of Canaan in the Iron Age: Historical and Topographical Researches. Leuven: Peeters Publishers. pp. 52. ISBN 9789042917989.
  4. Pitkänen, Pekka (2010). Joshua. Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press. p. 261. ISBN 9780830825066.
  5. Bachvarova, Mary R. (2016). From Hittite to Homer: The Anatolian Background of Ancient Greek Epic. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. p. 336. ISBN 9780521509794.
  6. Mosetto, Mario (2018-03-20). Origins of European Peoples: Part One: Ancient History. AuthorHouse. ISBN 9781546284253.
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