Geopolitical relationships between Hatti and the Syrian kingdoms in the Late Bronze Age.

The edicts found at Ugarit show linguistic, orthographic and paleographic features different from those of the texts coming from the Hattusha archives, suggesting that they have not been drawn up by the chancelry of the Hittite capital. The most likely source for these documents would be the state of Karkemish, which is close to the vassals from the geographical point of view and to the Hittite court from the political one. This research perspective should be now implemented through the analysis of a larger number of sources, in order to get an interrelated picture of the political and cultural interaction between Karkemish and the Syrian vassals, in particular with Ugarit and its territory. The two kingdoms come into direct contact when Karkemish annexes the small state of Siyannu-Usnatu, situated south of Ugarit, to whom it previously belonged. The topic can be studied mainly according to the texts found at Ugarit, but archaeological data can also provide very useful information. In particular, two major sites located on the border between Ugarit and Karkemish - Tell Tweini/Gibala belonging to Ugarit, and Tell Sianno/Siyannu belonging to Karkemish are going to provide a new viewpoint for recontructing political relationships between Syria and Anatolia in the Late Bronze age.

Keywords:Geopolitical relationships, Syrian kingdoms

Disciplines:History