The hill appears to have been fortified during the Late Bronze Age and contemporary graves suggest that it was a locally important center, though much of the potential ruins are obscured by the later Basilica of St.

The document recounts that Madduwatta launched multiple unsuccessful attacks on Arzawa before seeking a marriage alliance with the Arzawan king Kupanta-Kurunta.

[1][8] In response, the Egyptian pharaoh Amenhotep III opened diplomatic relations with the Arzawan king Tarhundaradu, proposing a marriage alliance.

In his letter, the pharaoh refers to the Hittite Empire as paralyzed, suggesting that he expected Arzawa to replace it as the major regional power.

This correspondence had to be carried out in Hittite, since the Arzawan court did not have scribes capable of writing Akkadian, the contemporary lingua franca for international diplomacy.

After coming to the throne around 1350 BC, Šuppiluliuma continued to campaign against Arzawa, even installing pro-Hittite rulers in former Arzawan vassal states such as Mira.

The Annals of Mursili claim that Uhha-Ziti was incapacitated after being struck by lightning and that his capital city of Apasa fell after a short siege.

Uhha-Ziti and his family fled to Ahhiyawa (Mycenaean)-controlled islands in the Aegean, while local populations faced further sieges and deportations.

[14] Hittite records also mention Piyama-Radu a local warlord who was active in Arzawa and fled to Mycenaean controlled territory that time.

[16] The Arzawa Lands were unusual in Western Anatolia for having a state-level society, being ruled by kings who conducted formal relations with one another and with foreign powers.

By contrast, other nearby groups such as the Lukka, Karkiya, and Masa, were stateless societies ruled by councils of elders, and thus had more informal relations with outsiders.

For instance, Mycenaean-style pottery and architecture are both evidenced at Apasa, which may have even had a Mycenaean cult center at the site of the later Temple of Artemis.

Because they were written in the already-deciphered Sumero-Akkadian cuneiform script, scholars were able to pronounce the words, and could often make inferences about their meanings based on the letters' formulaic rhetorical style and use of sumerograms.