[32][33] The region of Tabal was located in the eastern and southeastern part of the Central Anatolian Plateau[34] corresponding partially to the Classical region of Cappadocia[35][36] and the present-day Turkish provinces of Nevşehir and Niğde,[37][38] and covered the area ranging from the southern limits of Phrygia in the north to the Taurus Mountains in the south, and from the Konya Plain and the southern curve of the Halys river in the west to the Anti-Taurus Mountains in the east.

[44][45] The Central Anatolian Plateau where Tabal was located was divided into basins or plains and highland pastures that constituted an ideal setting for practising seasonal pastoralism.

[53] The Tabalian region appears to not have been drastically impacted by the Late Bronze Age Collapse or the fall of the Hittite Empire, and there was no significant population movement in this period.

[58] Archaeological analysis of the region has however provided evidence that developments were underway throughout post-Hittite societies during the "dark period" following the Bronze Age Collapse through which a new political structure was established.

This new framework used traditional devices of power and representation from the Hittite Empire, such as the use of hieroglyphic script and the conspicuous incorporation of monumental art in palaces, elite residences, and city gates.

[60] Following the resurgence of Assyria in the form of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, during the early 9th century BCE an alliance of Aramaean and Luwian states had opposed its expansion into Syria.

[63] During this time, the eastern and southern borders of the Neo-Assyrian Empire were relatively secure, with Nairi having been pacified, Babylonia not constituting a threat, and Elam still weakened.

[53][67][30][68][69] After the submission of the northern kingdoms of the Tabalian region, Shalmaneser III marched to the south, where he climbed the mounts Tunni and Mulî in the area of the Taurus and Bolkar Mountains, from where he extracted silver and alabaster, before erecting statues of himself on these ranges.

Puḫame became a tributary of Shalmaneser III without resistance, after which he left the Tabalian region and crossed the Cilician Gates to launch his first attack on Ḫiyawa.

[71][67][72] After Shalmaneser III had conquered the fortress of Uetaš during his campaign in Melid in 836 BCE, The kings of the Tabalian region offered tribute to him again to prevent further Neo-Assyrian attacks against them.

[96] Despite being a Neo-Assyrian tributary, Wasusarmas continued using the titles of "Great King" and "Hero," leading to Tiglath-pileser III accusing him of acting as his equal and then deposing him and replacing him with a commoner named Ḫulliyas.

[98] The deposition of Wasusarmas and his replacement by Ḫulliyas appears to not have solved the problems which Neo-Assyrian power was facing in the Tabalian region,[88] and Neo-Assyrian policy in the Tabalian region throughout the 8th century BCE would continue being characterised by an inability to find any compatible partners there,[99] as attested by how Tiglath-pileser III's son and successor, Shalmaneser V (r. 727 – 722 BCE), later deported Ḫulliyas and his family to Assyria, possibly because they had conspired with Phrygia.

[113] 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, possibly in 718 BCE itself during the campaign against Šinuḫtu,[107] 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 Ḫulliyas, the king Ambaris, to whom he had married his daughter Aḫat-abiša.

[28] Similarly, in 717 BCE Sargon II attacked the kingdom of Karkamiš, deported its king and his family and courtiers to Assyria, and annexed its territory, turning it into a province of the Neo-Assyrian Empire.

[119] 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, Ambaris communicated with them seeking guarantees that they would protect him should he break his ties with the Neo-Assyrian Empire.

[114][37][120] Neo-Assyrian intelligence however intercepted Ambaris's messages to Phrygia and Urartu,[120] 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 BCE, after which a Neo-Assyrian governor was imposed on Bīt-Burutaš, Ḫilakku and Ḫiyawa by Sargon II,[100] with the first of these being Aššur-šarru-uṣur, who possibly as early as 713 BCE was appointed as governor of Ḫiyawa and also held authority on Ḫilakku and the Tabalian region.

[126][125][129] Warpalawas and Tuwana however appear to have come under direct Neo-Assyrian rule after the annexation of Bīt-Burutaš, when Aššur-šarru-uṣur was also given authority over Ḫilakku and the broader Tabalian region.

[132] 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.

[100][132][18] Sargon II's death in battle and the loss of his corpse, which prevented him from being buried according to Assyrian royal customs, in turn led to an ideological crisis within the Neo-Assyrian Empire itself.

[157][100][182][141][140][137][177][147][183][161][151] Under Mugallu, Tabal was able to maintain its independence from the Neo-Assyrian Empire,[184] and formed a large polity reaching the region of present-day Kayseri in the west and Melid in the east, possibly even extending over the Anti-Taurus Mountains.

[147] The defeat of the Cimmerians by the Lydian king Gyges between c. 665 to c. 660 BCE weakened their allies, Mugallu of Tabal and Sandašarme of Ḫilakku, enough that they were left with no choice but to submit to the authority of the Neo-Assyrian Empire in c. 662 BCE,[185][186] after which Mugallu established diplomatic ties with the Neo-Assyrian Empire, and started paying an annual tribute of horses to it after sending an embassy and one of his daughters with a large dowry to Ashurbanipal.

[157] Although Mugallu's son and successor, Mussi, had initially continued his father's later policy of remaining a tribute-paying vassal of the Neo-Assyrian Empire,[188] around c. 640 BCE he rebelled, stopped paying his tribute, and allied with the Cimmerian king Dugdammî, but he died the same year without any engaging in any fighting, while his family and his kingdom's elite fled to or were deported to Assyria and Dugdammî fled into the mountains.

[79] By the time of the Lydian conquest in the late 7th century BCE, the northern part of the Tabalian region enclosed between the bend of the Halys had become a Phrygian kingdom centred around Kerkenes.

[200] Tubāl is mentioned again, this time as a location, in the Book of Isaiah, along with Taršīš, Pūṭ (Libya), Lūd (Lydia), Mešek, Rōš and Yāwān, as the most distant places to which the Hebrew god Yahweh sent messengers of grace.

[200] The Book of Ezekiel mentions Tubāl four more times, with the last three of these depicting it as being ruled by Gōg of Māgōg, who has been tentatively been identified with the king Gyges of Lydia.

This association was derived from the Neo-Assyrian sources of the late 8th century BCE, when records from the reign of Sargon II listed Tabal and Muški together.

[79] Beginning in the 8th century BCE, southeastern Anatolia came under Phrygian influence, with the Tabalian region being where contact between the Phrygians and the Syro-Hittite states was the most intense:[204] According to both Neo-Assyrian sources and local inscriptions, the Tabalian region was politically divided into several small city-states who had uneasy relations with each other and with the Neo-Assyrian Empire, with these relations being characterised by shifting alliances and internal hostilities.

[244] In the western Tabalian region, the sites of the peak sanctuaries on the Mounts Karadağ and Kızıldağ established by the king Ḫartapus were later reused as churches in the Byzantine period.

[253] In the Konya Plain, both Alişar IV and Phrygian Grey Ware are attested, implying that this section of the Tabalian region was located at the confluence of multiple ceramic traditions.