Are you an EPFL student looking for a semester project?
Work with us on data science and visualisation projects, and deploy your project as an app on top of Graph Search.
Concept
Wilusa
Summary
Wilusa ( URUwi5-lu-ša) or Wilusiya was a Late Bronze Age city in western Anatolia known from references in fragmentary Hittite records. The city is notable for its identification with the archaeological site of Troy, and thus its potential connection to the legendary Trojan War.
Wilusa has been identified with the archaeological site of Troy. This correspondence was first proposed in 1924 by Emil Forrer, who also suggested that the name Ahhiyawa corresponds to the Homeric term for the Greeks, Achaeans. Forrer's work was primarily motivated by linguistic similarities, since "Wilusa" and the associated placename "Taruisa" show striking parallels to the Greek names "Wilios" and "Troia" respectively. Subsequent research on Hittite geography has lent these identifications additional support and they are now generally accepted by scholars, though they are not regarded as firmly established. One alternative hypothesis proposes that Wilusa was located near Beycesultan, which was known in the Byzantine era as "Iluza" (Ἴλουζα).
Wilusa first appears in the historical record around 1400 BC, when it was one of the twenty-two states of the Assuwa Confederation which formed in an unsuccessful attempt to oppose the Hittite Empire. This event is referenced in several surviving Hittite documents including the Annals of Tudhaliya I/II, which gives a detailed account of the Assuwans' defeat and its aftermath. In this document, the name of the city is rendered as Wilusiya rather than the later form Wilusa, and it is listed separately from Taruisa. Circumstantial evidence raises the possibility that Ahhiyawans may have supported the rebellion. For instance, a Mycenaean-style sword found at Hattusa bears an inscription suggesting that it was taken from an Assuwan soldier and left as an offering to the Hittite storm god.
By the late 1300s BC, Wilusa was politically aligned with the Hittites. Under the reign of Kukkunni, Wilusa maintained peaceful relations with Suppiluliuma I even as nearby kingdoms in Arzawa once again rebelled.
Official source
About this result
This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.