List of ancient peoples of Anatolia

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Prehistory Prehistory of Anatolia Palaeolithic Anatolia c. 500,000–  10,000 BC Mesolithic Anatolia c. 11,000–  9,000 BC Neolithic Anatolia c. 8,000–  5,500 BC
Bronze Age Troy 3000–700 BC Hattians 2500–2000 BC Akkadian Empire 2400–2150 BC Luwians 2300–1400 BC Assyria 1950–1750 BC Kussara 1780–1680 BC Achaeans (Homer) 1700–1300 BC Kizzuwatna 1650–1450 BC Hittites 1680–1220 BC Arzawa 1500–1320 BC Mitanni 1500–1300 BC Hayasa-Azzi 1500–1290 BC Lycia 1450–350 BC Assuwa 1300–1250 BC Diauehi 1200–800 BC Neo-Hittites 1200–800 BC Phrygia 1200–700 BC Caria 1150–547 BC Tuwanuwa 1000–700 BC Ionia 1000–545 BC Urartu 859–595/585 BC
Iron Age Diauehi 1200–800 BC Neo-Hittites 1200–800 BC Phrygia 1200–700 BC Caria 1150–547 BC Doris 1100–560 BC Aeolis 1000–560 BC Tuwanuwa 1000–700 BC Ionia 1000–545 BC Urartu 859–595/585 BC Median Empire 678–549 BC Lydia 685–547 BC
Classical Age Classical Anatolia Classical Thrace Achaemenid Empire 559–331 BC Kingdom of Alexander the Great 334–301 BC Kingdom of Cappadocia 322–130 BC Antigonids 306–168 BC Seleucid Empire 305–64 BC Ptolemaic Kingdom 305–30 BC Kingdom of Pontus 302–64 BC Bithynia 297–74 BC Attalid kingdom 282–129 BC Galatia 281–64 BC Parthian Empire 247 BC–224 AD Armenian Empire 190 BC–428 AD Roman Republic 133–27 BC Commagene 163 BC–72 AD Ancient Rome 133 BC-27 BC–330 AD Sasanian Empire 224–651 AD (briefly in Anatolia)
Medieval Age Medieval Anatolia Eastern Roman Empire (330–1453; 1204-1261 in exile as Empire of Nicaea) Rashidun Caliphate (637–656) Great Seljuk State (1037–1194) Danishmends (1071–1178) Sultanate of Rum (1077–1307) Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia (1078–1375) Anatolian beyliks (1081–1423) County of Edessa (1098–1150) Artuqids (1101–1409) Empire of Trebizond (1204–1461) Latin Empire (1204–1261) Karamanids (1250–1487) Ilkhanate (1256–1335) Kara Koyunlu (1375–1468) Ak Koyunlu (1378–1501)
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This is a list of peoples who inhabited Anatolia in antiquity. The essential purpose of the list is to identify prehistoric cultures in the region but many of the peoples continued to inhabit Anatolia into and through classical and late antiquity, so the actual scope of the list encompasses the history of Anatolia from prehistory to the Eastern Roman Empire (4th to 7th centuries AD), during which transition to the early medieval occurred.

Anatolia was inhabited by numerous peoples and its history is characterised by different waves of population movement. The earliest recorded inhabitants of Anatolia were the Hattians and Hurrians, non-Indo-European peoples who lived in Anatolia as early as c. 2300 BC. Indo-European Hittites came to Anatolia and gradually absorbed the Hattians and Hurrians c. 2000 – c. 1700 BC. Besides Hittites, Anatolian peoples included Luwians, Palaic peoples and Lydians. They spoke Anatolian languages. Other incoming people include Armenians, Greeks, Phrygians and Thracians^{[citation needed]}.

Assyrians

Ancient Assyrians spoke multiple languages such as Akkadian language, Sumerian and Aramaic languages

Hattians

The Hattians occupied the land of Hatti in central Anatolia and are documented at least as early as the empire of Sargon of Akkad (c. 2300 BC).^[1] Possibly connected to Northwest Caucasians.

Hurrians

• Mitanni (seem to have been Hurrian with an Indo-Aryan ruling class)
• Isuwans (seem to have been a mixed Anatolian, Hurrian, and Mitanni population)
• Kizzuwatnans
• Urartu (predecessors of the Armenians, they spoke a language similar to Hurrians)

Indo-European peoples

Anatolian peoples (Anatolian Indo-European)

Hittites

• Cappadocians? / Leucosyri? (Cappadocians and Leucosyri were the same people; Cappadocians was the Persian name and Leukosyroi the Greek name, Leucosyri is the Latin name based on Greek) (Cappadocians also inhabited the West Pontus that originally was part of Cappadocia)
  • Amiseni? (inhabited Themiscyra district in West Pontus)
  • Kases? / Cases?
• Cataonians?

Luwians

• Carians
• Cilicians
• Isaurians
• Leleges?
• Lycaonians
• Lycians
• Philistines? - notably inhabited Palestine; their inclusion here is tenuous as they may have had an Anatolian origin
• Pisidians / Pamphylians (Pamphylians, on the coast, and Pisidians, in the inland, were the same people and spoke the same language, the difference was that Anatolian Pamphylians were more Greek influenced since Iron Age) (there was an Anatolian Pamphylian dialect, part of the Pisidian language, and a Pamphylian Greek dialect, part of Ancient Greek, depending on the degree of Hellenization)
  • Homanades (Homana or Homona was their main settlement)
• Sidians
• Solymoi / Solymi
  • Milyans / Milyae
• Telchines?

Western Anatolian

• Lydians
  • Kaystrianoi / Caystriani
  • Kilbianoi / Cilbiani

• Trojans

Palaic peoples

• Paphlagonians?
  • Caucones? / Kaukauni?
  • Heneti?
  • Mariandyni?

Possible Anatolian (Indo-European) peoples

• Mysians? (possibly they were more related to the Phrygians, a non Anatolian Indo-European people, and therefore they were possibly not an Anatolian Indo-European people, Mysia was also known as Phrygia Hellespontica, however they probably had a mixing with an Anatolian people closer to the Lydians that would explain contradictory statements by ancient authors)
  • Milatai? / Milatae?
• Isuwans? (seem to have been a mixed Anatolian, Hurrian, and Mitanni population)

Armenians

Celts

Galatians

• Tectosages
• Tolistobogii / Tolistobogioi
• Trocmi / Trokmoi
• Aigosages, between Troy and Cyzicus
• Daguteni, in modern Marmara region around Orhaneli
• Inovanteni, east of the Trocnades
• Okondiani, between Phrygia and Galatia northeast of modern Akşehir Gölü
• Rigosages, unlocated

Greeks

• Central-Eastern Greeks
  • Central Greeks
    • Aeolians
  • Eastern Greeks
    • Achaeans (possible inhabitants of a land called Ahhiyawa by the Hittites)
    • Ionians
• Western Greeks
  • Dorians

Persians

Phrygians

• Kaourkoi / Caurci?
• Fontes?

Mysians

• Mysians (possibly they were more related to the Phrygians, a non Anatolian Indo-European people, and therefore they were possibly not an Anatolian Indo-European people, Mysia was also known as Phrygia Hellespontica, however they probably had a mixing with an Anatolian people closer to the Lydians that would explain contradictory statements by ancient authors)
  • Milatai? / Milatae?

Thracians

Bithynians

Thynians

Possible Indo-European peoples

Hayasa-Azzi

• Hayasans (Proto-Armenians?)
• Azzians (Proto-Armenians?)

Mushki

• Mushki
  • Western Mushki (synonymous of the Phrygians? and related Mysians?)
  • Eastern Mushki (Proto-Armenians?)
    • Moschi-Mossynoeci
      • Moschi (possible Mushki, Indo-European?, origin, assimilated by old Kartvelian peoples and named Meskhetians, the inhabitants of Meskheti in far southwestern Georgia - Sakartvelo)
      • Mossynoeci (possible Mushki, Indo-European?, origin, assimilated by old Kartvelian peoples and named Meskhetians, the inhabitants of Meskheti in far southwestern Georgia - Sakartvelo)

Urumu

• Urumu (Proto-Armenians?), allied with Mushki and Kaskians, possibly Arimi of Greek sources and Arme/Urme/Armini of Urartian sources

Tibareni

• Tibareni (several Classical Antiquity authors such as Herodotus, Xenophon and Strabo believed that they were of Scythian origin)

Diauehi

• Mentioned by Assyrians as one of the Nairi tribes inhabiting the Palu or Mush regions, later mentioned by Urartians in the vicinity of Kars Province, probably the Taochoi of Greek sources

Kartvelian peoples

Colchians

• Byzeres (The name of the historical region Odzrkhe is derived from the name of this tribe - Vidzerukh / Viterukh / Odzr(a)khe / Odzrkhe)
• Drilae / Sanni
  • Drilae (according to Arrian, Drilae and Sanni were the same people) (ancestors of present-day Zans)
  • Sanni (ancestors of present-day Zans)
• Machelones-Macrones
  • Machelones (closely related to the Macrones)
  • Macrones (ancestors of present-day Mingrelians)
• Marres
• Phasians
• Zydretae

Possible Kartvelian peoples

Eastern Mushki

• Moschi-Mossynoeci
  • Moschi (possible Mushki, Kartvelian?, origin, and named Meskhetians, the inhabitants of Meskheti in far southwestern Georgia - Sakartvelo)
  • Mossynoeci (possible Mushki, Kartvelian?, origin, and named Meskhetians, the inhabitants of Meskheti in far southwestern Georgia - Sakartvelo)

Tibareni

• Tibareni (several Classical Antiquity authors such as Herodotus, Xenophon and Strabo believed that they were of Scythian origin)

Kaskians

Possibly connected to Hattians and/or Northwest Caucasians.

See also

• List of ancient peoples of Italy
• Ancient regions of Anatolia

References

Further reading

• Steadman, Sharon R.; McMahon, Gregory (2011). The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Anatolia: (10,000-323 BCE). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195376142.