The use of this name for the kingdom of Ḫiyawa might have been the result of a migration of Greek populations from Western Anatolia into this region in the early Iron Age.
[39][40][41][42] The territory of Ḫiyawa was largely composed of the Cilician Plain, which is a sedimentary table formed by they Ceyhan and Seyhan rivers and which is divided by the Misis Mountains running through it from north to south.
[46] The movement into Hiyawa archaeologically corresponds to the arrival of large quantities of Late Helladic IIIc-type pottery into the Cilician Plain during the 12th and 11th centuries BC.
[61] At some point in the late 10th and early 9th century BC, Ḫiyawa might have been involved in a conflict with the ruler Suppiluliumas of Falastin, followed by hostilities with the kingdoms of Karkamis and of Gurgum some time later.
The campaigns of Ashurnasirpal II's son and successor, Shalmaneser III would further lead to an intensification of activities in opposition to the Neo-Assyrian Empire in the kingdoms of Syria.
[3][69][10][61][70][68] Katiyas of Ḫiyawa and Piḫirim of Ḫilakku had nonetheless manage to escape from this defeat with their troops unharmed, and Shalmaneser III at most only demanded tribute on them.
[71] Taking advantage from the fact that Shalmaneser III had not invaded southern Anatolia after his victory over the anti-Neo-Assyrian coalition, Katiyas had tried to expand Ḫiyawa by annexing the kingdom of Samal which bordered it to the east, causing the king Kilamuwa of Samal to pledge allegiance and offered tribute to Shalmaneser III in exchange of Neo-Assyrian protection against Katiyas's ambitions.
[80][81] Around c. 800 BC, Ḫiyawa joined the nearby states of Gurgum, Pattin, and Malizi in rebelling against the Neo-Assyrian Empire,[10][79] and around c. 796 BC, an unnamed king of Ḫiyawa joined an alliance by the kingdoms of Damascus and Bēt-Gūš, and which also included Falastin, Gurgum, Samal, Melid, and two other states whose names have been lost, which besieged the king Zakkur of Ḥamat in the city of Ḥaḏrak.
However, the fact that Tiglath-pileser III was able to send his chief eunuch to depose the king Wasusarmas of Tabal in 729 BC means that the Neo-Assyrian military had access through the territory of Ḫiyawa.
[88][56][64] Thanks to this partnership and to his loyalty to the Neo-Assyrian Empire, Awarikkus would maintain his throne until the late 8th century BC and rule over Ḫiyawa for a long period.
[87][49] And, as reward for helping Tiglath-pileser III against the anti-Neo-Assyrian rebellion organised by Matiʿ-ʾel of Arpad with the support of Urartu in 743 BC, Awarikkus was granted a frontier region which significantly increased the size of Ḫiyawa.
[88] Following the union of the Phrygians and the Muški under the Phrygian king Midas,[92] this latter king was able to extend his kingdom to the east across the Halys river into the former core territory of the Hittite Empire[93] and build a large empire in Anatolia which reached the Aegean Sea in the west and the environs of the Euphrates and borders of the Tabalian region in the east and south.
[98] To counter the threat of the rising power of Phrygia, Sargon II tried to establish a centralised authority under a ruler whom he could trust in the Tabalian region, and he therefore reorganised the kingdom of Tabal proper into the state of Bīt-Burutaš, significantly enlarged with the addition of Ḫilakku into it, under the rule of the son of the former Tabalian king Ḫulliyas, the king Ambaris, to whom he had married his daughter Aḫat-abiša.
[72][98] Ambaris himself came under pressure from Midas, who attempted to persuade him to renounce Neo-Assyrian allegiance and join him, initially through diplomatic means and later through military threats.
Facing increased pressure from both Midas of Phrygia and Argišti II of Urartu, Ambaris communicated with them seeking guarantees that they would protect him should he break his ties with the Neo-Assyrian Empire.
[99][104][103] Neo-Assyrian intelligence however intercepted Ambaris's messages to Phrygia and Urartu,[103] causing him to lose favour with Sargon II, who accused him of conspiring with these rival powers and consequently deported Ambaris, his family and his chief courtiers to Assyria in 713 BC, after which a Neo-Assyrian governor was imposed on Bīt-Burutaš, Ḫilakku and Ḫiyawa by Sargon II,[92] with the first of these being Aššur-šarru-uṣur, who possibly as early as 713 BC was appointed as governor of Ḫiyawa and also held authority on Ḫilakku and the Tabalian region.
[109][105][110] Following the appointment of Aššur-šarru-uṣur, Awarikus of Ḫiyawa and Warpalawas II of Tuwana became largely symbolic rulers although they might have still held the power to manage their kingdoms locally.
[72][115] Another reason for Midas's appeasement of the Neo-Assyrian Empire might also have been an attempt by him to safeguard his kingdom against the Cimmerians, a nomadic Iranic people who had migrated into West Asia from the Eurasian Steppe, and who were starting to attack Phrygia.
"[104][114][117] As part of this normalisation of relations, Midas intercepted Awarikkus's fourteen-man delegation to Urartu and handed it over to Aššur-šarru-uṣur, who reported of it to Sargon II.
[72][88][85][111][112] As a punishment for his act of rebellion, Awarikkus was deposed and possibly executed in 709 BC,[87] his dynasty was removed from power[91] and Ḫiyawa's monarchy was abolished, while the state itself was annexed into the Neo-Assyrian Empire and made into the province of Que, thus losing its status as a client-kingdom.
[120][121] Following the death of Sargon II in battle, Neo-Assyrian control of Ḫiyawa was also lost,[72] and the region itself descended into a state of disorder[115] while it might have been invaded by either the Phrygians or the Cimmerians.
[49][123] Azzattiwadas also claimed to have restored the prosperity of Ḫiyawa by organising the planting of crops and vinyards and replenishing the grazing areas with cattle and sheep.
[25][106][70][123] One of the fortresses built by Azzattiwadas, located on a hill top in the northeastern border regions of Ḫiyawa to protect the kingdom, was named Azzattiwadaya after himself, and corresponds to the site now known as Karatepe.
According to records of the later Hellenistic Babylonian writer Berossus summarised by the Roman historian Eusebius of Caesarea, Ionian Greek pirates also participated in this rebellion, although Sennacherib appears to have failed at subduing them due to their greater mobility.
[130][38][131] Esarhaddon appears to have reached Ḫubišna by passing through the Calycadnus river valley and bypassing the Anti-Taurus Mountains and Tabal proper.
[88][70] Despite this victory, and although Esarhaddon had managed to stop the advance of Cimmerians in Que so it remained under Neo-Assyrian control,[134] the military operations were not successful enough for the Assyrians to firmly occupy the areas around of Ḫubišna, nor were they able to secure the borders of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, leaving Que vulnerable to incursions from Tabal, Kuzzurak and Ḫilakku,[135] who were allied to the western Cimmerians who were establishing themselves in Anatolia at this time.
[138][88][139] In 557 BC, the king Appuwašu of Pirindu attempted to attack the Syrian provinces of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, possibly as a result of tensions regarding the control of Ḫuwê.
[140][138] Nebuchadnezzar II's son-in-law, the Neo-Babylonian king Neriglissar, responded by marching to Ḫuwê, where Appuwašu launched a failed ambush attempt on him before being defeated, after which Neriglissar pursued Appuwašu into Pirindu itself, where he captured Ura and Kiršu as well as the island fortress of Pitusu, before marching till Sallunê, which was the most western city on the coast of Cilicia, and to the borders of the Lydian Empire before returning to Babylon.
The use of this name for the kingdom of Ḫiyawa might have been the result of a migration of Greek populations from Western Anatolia into this region in the early Iron Age.