Middle and Late Bronze Age Metal Tools from the Aegean, Eastern ...

the Argolid acquired specialized Hittite craftspersons rather than vice versa. With this
supposition in mind, the Hittite Tawagalawa letter is intriguing to consider, for it may
document the movement of craftspersons from Anatolia to the Greek mainland. 830 The
letter was written by a Hittite king, perhaps Hattushili III in the mid-13 th century, and
addressed to the Ahhiyawan king. 831 In the text, Tawagalawa, thought to be the brother of
the Ahhiyawan king, was “operating in and around the Ahhiyawan dependency
Millawanda [Miletus], recruiting Anatolians for labor in Ahhiyawa.” 832 The letter also
indicates that an Anatolian charioteer, who had driven both the Hittite king and
Tawagalawa, was sent to Ahhiyawa, thus reflecting “personal and technical exchanges
and visits” between the Hittites and Mycenaeans. 833
According to the LBA Near Eastern textual records, the movement of
834
craftspersons between different states was reciprocal, court mandated, and temporary.
Using the ethnographic record, Helms notes that the nature of travel for craftspersons
may be either long-lasting or periodic; as well as either intentional or forced. 835
The
movement of craftspersons is well documented in historical situations as well, and there
are numerous accounts of foreign craftspersons in various Near Eastern courts during the
Iron Age. Zaccagnini suggests that these artists were perhaps independent and naturally
drawn to capital cities for employment. For example, Phoenician and Cypriot specialists
are reported in Neo-Assyrian Nineveh, while a consortium of alien craftspersons
830
Kelder 2010, 27-30.
831
Güterbock 1983, 134-137; Mellink 1983, 140; Singer 1983, 209-213.
832
Kelder 2010, 27.
833
Mellink 1983, 140; also see Singer 1983, 213 for a discussion of this Hittite charioteer.
834
Zaccagnini 1983, 247.
835
Helms 1993, 32. Also consider the possibility that specialists were obtained as war booty (Zaccagnini
1983, 257). Craftsmen and smiths were taken from Jerusalem to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar (2 Kings
24:14), and this practice is also attested much earlier in the Sumerian poem of Lugalbanda (thought to be
composed in the Ur III period), as well as by the actions of the Middle Assyrian king Tukulti-Ninurta I
(1244-1208 BC).
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