THE WESTERN REGIONS OF THE ARMENIAN HIGHLAND ACCORDING TO THE 20TH-18TH CC BC KANEŠ SOURCES

Abstract

The city of Kaneš or Nesa was located in the east of Asia Minor. The city had been inhabited since the Chalcolite Age and flourished especially at the beginning of the second millennium (20th-18th centuries BC), when it was the center of the Assyrian merchants in the region and the capital of the state of Kaneš. For some time it was also the capital of the Hittite state (18th century BC). Invaluable sources for the history of Asia Minor and the surrounding areas are the so-called "Cappadocian tablets" from Kaneš, to be more precise from the Kültepe (Arm. Zrzort). These are tens of thousands of cuneiform tablets written in Akkadian, representing mainly the activities of Aššur trade colonies located in different regions of Asia Minor in the 20th-18th centuries BC. These are the earliest written documents that reveal the history of the region at that time and partially cover the history of the western regions of the Armenian Highland.

Keywords

• kaneš
• aššur
• asia minor
• armenian highland
• samuḫa
• tegarama
• kussar
• trade
• hittite state
• cappadocian tablets.