Are there any written documents in the Hittite archives that were sent from the west to the east?

69

The first written document sent from the West to the East is about the islands in front of Wilusa.
On the other hand, a finding that will prove correspondence from the West to the East meaning from Achijawa country to Hattusa has been recovered a few years ago by the Hittitologist Frank Starke. Starke reinterpreted a letter written by an Achijawa king (unfortunately the name of the king is not mentioned in the letter) to the king of Hattusa. In this letter from the 13th century B. C. E., islands controlling the access to the Dardanelles, close to Wilusa are mentioned. Hattusa's king wrote to the king of Achijawa: "These islands belong to me!" To this, the king of Achijawa replies in the letter "No, those islands belong to me!" The islands in question are probably the islands of Gökçeada (Imbroz), Limni (Lemnos) and Semadirek (Samothrake). In the letter, Achijawa king states that these islands had already become their property in the 15th century B. С. Е. due to a marriage between one of his predecessors Kadmos' daughter and the king of Assuwa. The king of Achijawa mentions a predecessor of his, a king who reigned in the 15th century named "KADMOS" (kadmu). Kadmos is seen to be related to the city of Thebes. Thus, we can think that the capital of Achijawa country in the 13th century was Thebes. From this information, we see that Wilusa Wilios Troy played a very important role in the Hittite Kingdom since the 15th century. Troy was controlling the Dardanelles (important for the Hittites because of the mineral resources, etc.) consequently the Black Sea region and it was the gateway to Thrace. It is possible therefore that there was then a problem about the ownership of the islands in the Aegean controlling the access to the Dardanelles, similar to the modern times.

Sections