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The Manapa-Tarhunta letter (CTH 191; KUB 19.5 + KBo 19.79) is a Hittite letter discovered in the 1980s. It was written by a client king called Manapa-Tarhunta to an unnamed Hittite king.
The only datable Manapa-Tarhunta was one who became undisputed king of Seha River around the time of the death of Arnuwanda II. This letter further mentions a Kupanta-Kurunta. A treaty between Mursili II and a Kupanta-Kurunta, who is king of Mira, survives which mentions this Manapa-Tarhunta as still alive.
The letter also mentions a "Piyama-Radu", an "Atpa", and an attack on Hatti's historic ally Wilusa. These figures and events associate the Manapa-Tarhunta letter with an early stage of the events mentioned in the Tawagalawa letter. The Tawagalawa in that letter was the brother of Ahhiyawa's king. No king of Ahhiyawa is on record before Mursili's reign; at most there might have been a "man from Ahhiya" as under Arnuwanda I.
Manapa-Tarhunta had passed on the succession to Manapa-Kurunta by the time of the treaty between Muwatalli II and Alaksandu of Wilusa. The Manapa-Tarhunta letter would then have been written in the later years of Mursili or else the earlier years of Muwatalli II.
Piyama-Radu is further mentioned, as a past figure, in the Milawata letter; which like the other two letters handles the aftermath of events in Wilusa which did not go the Hittites' way.
The Manapa-Tarhunta letter mentions first an attack on Wilusa, and then how a notorious local troublemaker called Piyama-Radu is harrying the western lands. The Hittite king has apparently ordered Manapa-Tarhunta to drive out Piyama-Radu himself, but Manapa-Tarhunta's attempt has failed, so that the a Hittite force is now sent out to deal with the problem. Before marching to Wilusa, the expeditionary force camps at the Seha River land, placing Wilusa in the north-west corner of Anatolia.
For Trevor Bryce, this leads to the inescapable conclusion the location of Wilusa is identical to that of the archeological site of Troy.
Literature
- Forrer, Forsch. I/1 ('26) 90ff., AU ('32) 170 n.1
- Houwink ten Cate, JEOL 28 (1985) 33-79;
- Steph. JAOS 84:27 n. 35
See also
External links
Hittite texts
"Manapa-Tarhunta letter"