Ancient kingdoms of Anatolia
Encyclopedia
Below is a list of Ancient kingdoms in Anatolia. Anatolia
(most of modern Turkey
) was the home of many ancient kingdoms. This list does not include the earliest kingdoms, which were merely city states, except those that profoundly affected history. It also excludes foreign invaders (such as The Achaemenid Empire
, the Macedonian Empire, Roman Empire
etc.).
After Partition of Babylon
In the table it can be seen that there are no new local kingdoms between 9th century BC and 3rd century BC. This era roughly corresponds to foreign rule (Achaemenid Empire
and Macedonian Empire.)
Anatolia
Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...
(most of modern Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
) was the home of many ancient kingdoms. This list does not include the earliest kingdoms, which were merely city states, except those that profoundly affected history. It also excludes foreign invaders (such as The Achaemenid Empire
Achaemenid Empire
The Achaemenid Empire , sometimes known as First Persian Empire and/or Persian Empire, was founded in the 6th century BCE by Cyrus the Great who overthrew the Median confederation...
, the Macedonian Empire, Roman Empire
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
etc.).
The list of kingdoms
Before Achaemenid conquest (546 BC)
The first column shows the name of the kingdom or the state, the second column shows the name of the capital, the third column shows the life span of the state. However, there are uncertainties both in the second and in the third columns. In particular, the first dates (of emergence) are approximate.Name of the kingdom | Capital | Duration (BC) |
---|---|---|
Hatti Hattians The Hattians were an ancient people who inhabited the land of Hatti in present-day central part of Anatolia, Turkey, noted at least as early as the empire of Sargon of Akkad , until they were gradually displaced and absorbed ca... |
||
Troy Troy Troy was a city, both factual and legendary, located in northwest Anatolia in what is now Turkey, southeast of the Dardanelles and beside Mount Ida... |
Troy | 3000 -1184 |
Hittite Hittites The Hittites were a Bronze Age people of Anatolia.They established a kingdom centered at Hattusa in north-central Anatolia c. the 18th century BC. The Hittite empire reached its height c... |
Hattusa Hattusa Hattusa was the capital of the Hittite Empire in the late Bronze Age. It was located near modern Boğazkale, Turkey, within the great loop of the Kızıl River .... |
1750-1180 |
Gasgas | ||
Hayasa-Azzi Hayasa-Azzi Hayasa-Azzi or Azzi-Hayasa was a Late Bronze Age confederation formed between two petty kingdoms of Anatolia, Hayasa located South of Trabzon and Azzi, located North of the Euphrates and to the South of Hayasa... |
1500-1290 | |
Arzawa Arzawa Arzawa in the second half of the second millennium BC was the name of a region and a political entity in Western Anatolia, the core area of which was centered on the Hermos and Maeander river valleys, corresponding with the Late Bronze Age kingdoms of the... |
Apasa (Ephesus Ephesus Ephesus was an ancient Greek city, and later a major Roman city, on the west coast of Asia Minor, near present-day Selçuk, Izmir Province, Turkey. It was one of the twelve cities of the Ionian League during the Classical Greek era... ?) |
|
Kizzuwatna Kizzuwatna Kizzuwatna , is the name of an ancient Anatolian kingdom in the second millennium BC. It was situated in the highlands of southeastern Anatolia, near the Gulf of İskenderun in modern-day Turkey. It encircled the Taurus Mountains and the Ceyhan river. The center of the kingdom was the city of... |
Kummanni Kummanni Kummanni was the name of the Anatolian kingdom of Kizzuwatna. Its location is uncertain, but is believed to be near the classical settlement of Comana in Cappadocia.Kummanni was the major cult center of the Hurrian chief deity, Tešup... (Comana ?) |
|
Miletus Miletus Miletus was an ancient Greek city on the western coast of Anatolia , near the mouth of the Maeander River in ancient Caria... |
Miletus | |
Lukka | ||
Assuwa league | ||
Phrygia Phrygia In antiquity, Phrygia was a kingdom in the west central part of Anatolia, in what is now modern-day Turkey. The Phrygians initially lived in the southern Balkans; according to Herodotus, under the name of Bryges , changing it to Phruges after their final migration to Anatolia, via the... |
Gordium Gordium Gordium was the capital city of ancient Phrygia. It was located at the site of modern Yassıhüyük, about 70–80 km southwest of Ankara , in the immediate vicinity of Polatlı district. The site was excavated by Gustav and Alfred Körte in 1900 and then by the University of Pennsylvania Museum,... |
1200-700 |
Lydia Lydia Lydia was an Iron Age kingdom of western Asia Minor located generally east of ancient Ionia in the modern Turkish provinces of Manisa and inland İzmir. Its population spoke an Anatolian language known as Lydian.... |
Sardis Sardis Sardis or Sardes was an ancient city at the location of modern Sart in Turkey's Manisa Province... |
1200-546 |
Neo-Hittites Syro-Hittite states The states that are called Neo-Hittite, or more recently Syro-Hittite, were Luwian, Aramaic and Phoenician-speaking political entities of the Iron Age northern Syria and southern Anatolia that arose following the collapse of the Hittite Empire around 1180 BC and lasted until roughly 700 BC... |
Carchemish Carchemish Carchemish or Kargamış was an important ancient city of the Mitanni, Hittite and Neo Assyrian Empires, now on the frontier between Turkey and Syria. It was the location of an important battle between the Babylonians and Egyptians, mentioned in the Bible... |
1180-700 |
Urartu Urartu Urartu , corresponding to Ararat or Kingdom of Van was an Iron Age kingdom centered around Lake Van in the Armenian Highland.... |
Tushpa Tushpa Tushpa was the 9th century BC capital of Urartu, later becoming known as Van which is derived from Biaina the native name of Urartu... |
860-290 |
After Partition of BabylonPartition of BabylonThe Partition of Babylon designates the attribution of the territories of Alexander the Great between his generals after his death in 323 BC.-Background:...
(323 BC323 BCYear 323 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Longus and Cerretanus...
)
Name of the kingdom | Capital | Duration (BC) |
---|---|---|
Bithynia Bithynia Bithynia was an ancient region, kingdom and Roman province in the northwest of Asia Minor, adjoining the Propontis, the Thracian Bosporus and the Euxine .-Description:... |
Nicomedia Nicomedia Nicomedia was an ancient city in what is now Turkey, founded in 712/11 BC as a Megarian colony and was originally known as Astacus . After being destroyed by Lysimachus, it was rebuilt by Nicomedes I of Bithynia in 264 BC under the name of Nicomedia, and has ever since been one of the most... |
297-74 |
Antigonids Antigonid dynasty The Antigonid dynasty was a dynasty of Hellenistic kings descended from Alexander the Great's general Antigonus I Monophthalmus .-History:... |
306-168 | |
Pergamon Pergamon Pergamon , or Pergamum, was an ancient Greek city in modern-day Turkey, in Mysia, today located from the Aegean Sea on a promontory on the north side of the river Caicus , that became the capital of the Kingdom of Pergamon during the Hellenistic period, under the Attalid dynasty, 281–133 BC... |
Pergamon | 281-133 |
Galatia Galatia Ancient Galatia was an area in the highlands of central Anatolia in modern Turkey. Galatia was named for the immigrant Gauls from Thrace , who settled here and became its ruling caste in the 3rd century BC, following the Gallic invasion of the Balkans in 279 BC. It has been called the "Gallia" of... |
Ancyra | 280-64 |
Pontus Pontus Pontus or Pontos is a historical Greek designation for a region on the southern coast of the Black Sea, located in modern-day northeastern Turkey. The name was applied to the coastal region in antiquity by the Greeks who colonized the area, and derived from the Greek name of the Black Sea: Πόντος... |
Amasia Amasya - History :Its location in this steep valley makes the city a mountain stronghold, easy to defend, and thus Amasya has had a long and prominent history.-Antiquity:... |
291-62 |
Commagene | Samosata Samosata Samosata was an ancient city on the right bank of the Euphrates whose ruins existed at the modern city of Samsat, Adıyaman Province, Turkey until the site was flooded by the newly-constructed Atatürk Dam.... |
163-72 |
In the table it can be seen that there are no new local kingdoms between 9th century BC and 3rd century BC. This era roughly corresponds to foreign rule (Achaemenid Empire
Achaemenid Empire
The Achaemenid Empire , sometimes known as First Persian Empire and/or Persian Empire, was founded in the 6th century BCE by Cyrus the Great who overthrew the Median confederation...
and Macedonian Empire.)