The Ethnicity of the Sea Peoples - RePub - Erasmus Universiteit ...

6. LUKKA AND THE LUKKA LANDS
Since the time of Emmanuel de Rougé, who wrote in 1867,
the Lukka have straightforwardly been identified with the
Lycians. 107 The latter are known from Homeros onwards
to inhabit the valley of the Xanthos river and its immediate
surroundings in Anatolia. 108 As to the precise habitat of
their equivalents in Hittite texts, Trevor Bryce has put forward
two specific theses, namely (1) Lycaonia to the east
and (2) Caria to the west of classical Lycia. Of these two
theses, the first one is primarily based on the fact that in a
fragment of Hattusilis III’s (1264-1239 BC) annals, Keilschrifturkunden
aus Boghazköy (= KUB) XXI 6a, the
Lukka lands (KUR.KUR MEŠ URU Luqqa) appear in a paragraph
preceding one on military campaigns against countries
like Walma, San®ata, and Walwara known from the
border description of the province of Tar®untassa – a Hittite
province situated to the east of (the) Lukka (lands). 109
The second thesis takes as its starting point that in the socalled
Tawagalawas-letter (KUB XIV 3), probably from
the reign of Muwatallis II (1295-1271 BC), 110 people from
Lukka (LU MEŠ URU Luqqa) are mentioned directly following
the destruction of Attarima. In the same letter Attarima
is associated with Iyalanda, which for its association with
Atriya must be located close to Millawanda (or Milawata).
If Millawanda (or Milawata) may be identified with classical
Miletos (as is commonly asserted by now), it follows
according to this line of reasoning that people from Lukka
must be situated in its immediate Carian hinterland. 111
What strikes us about these suggestions is that precisely
the region of the Xanthos valley and its immediate surroundings
in the middle are left out – a situation which, for
the lack of remains of Late Bronze Age settlements here,
appears to be neatly reflected in the archaeological record
(but as we will see deceitfully so). 112
Bryce makes an exception, though, for the Lycian
107 De Rougé 1867: 39.
108 Bryce 1986: 13 “There can be little doubt that for Homer Lycia
and the Xanthos valley were one and the same”.
109 Bryce 1974: 397 (with reference to Cornelius); Bryce 1992:
121-3; cf. Otten 1988: 37-8.
110 Smit 1990-1 ; Gurney 1990.
111 Bryce 1974: 398-403; Bryce 1992: 123-6.
112 Bryce 1974: 130; cf. Keen 1998: 214.
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coast. This seems to have formed part of Lukka according
to the combined evidence of El-Amarna text no. 38 and RS
20.238 from Ras Shamra/Ugarit. 113 Of these texts, the first
one bears reference to piratical raids on Alasiya (= Cyprus)
and apparently on the Egyptian coast by the people of the
land of Lukki, which is therefore likely to have had a
coastal zone. The second informs us that the king of Ugarit
has sent his entire fleet to the waters off the coast of Lukka,
presumably, as suggested by Michael Astour, in an attempt
to ward off the passage of the Sea Peoples from the Aegean
into the eastern Mediterranean. 114 If this latter suggestion
is correct, we are dealing here with the Lycian
coast, indeed.
A dramatic change in the state of affairs as presented
by Bryce occurred thanks to the recent discovery of a
monumental hieroglyphic inscription from the reign of
Tud®aliyas IV (1239-1209 BC) at Yalburt in the neighborhood
of Ilgın. As demonstrated by Massimo Poetto, this
text, which deals with a military campaign in the Lukka
lands (lúka UTNAi ), bears reference to the place names Pinata,
Awarna, Talawa, and Patara, which are identifiable
with classical Pinale or Pinara, Arñne or Arna, Tlawa or
Tls, and Pttara or Patara situated in the valley of the
lower Xanthos river. 115 It further mentions the place
names Luwanda and Hwalatarna, which correspond to
classical Loanda and bide or Kaunos in the valley of the
Indus river. 116 There can be little doubt, therefore, that, regardless
the blank in the archaeological record, the Lukka
lands are situated precisely within the confines of classical
Lycia proper. This conlusion receives even further emphasis
if Machteld Mellink is right in her identification of the
Siyanta river, which figures in the border description of
Mira in Mursilis II’s (1321-1295 BC) treaty with Kupantakuruntas,
with the Xanthos river. 117
A question which remains to be answered is whether
the expression “Lukka lands” designates the same geo-
113 Bryce 1992: 128-9; for EA no. 38, see Moran 1992: 111.
114 Astour 1965a: 255; cf. Otten 1993; Keen 1998: 27.
115 Poetto 1993: 47-8 (block 9); 78-80. Note that these identifications
are only partly followed by Keen 1998: 214-20.
116 Woudhuizen 1994-5: 174; Woudhuizen 2004a: 30-1.
117 Mellink 1995: 35-6.