KASKANS
/ GASGA (KASHKU)
Occupying
a swathe of territory along the south coast of the Black Sea during
the second millennium BC Bronze Age, the Kaskans were non-Indo-Europeans.
Their language remains unclassified, although it is suspected that
it may have been related to the Hattic language of the pre-Hittite
city states of Hattusa, Kanesh, Zalpa, and others. Their neighbours
to the west were the Indo-European Pala, whom they may have displaced
somewhat by their own emergence. To the south were the Hittites,
cousins of the Pala, whose empire waxed and waned over the years.
The states of Hayasa and Colchis lay to the east.
The
Kaskans (Kaška/Kashka, Gasga, or even Gasgas - the same name
in different forms) seem to have been in existence as a recognisable
people by the seventeenth century BC, according to Hittite records
which may have been pushed back in time to extend the Kaskan threat
and therefore the scale of contemporary Hittite victories against
them. They never formed a unified state - instead they may have
moved into territory which had been abandoned by the former inhabitants
of Zalpa during the Hittite conquest of central Anatolia. The Kaskans
may also have been nudged a little further eastwards to keep the
former city of Zapla as their western border by the arrival of Luwian
speakers in what became Paphlagonia.
If
the Hittite records are to be believed then it is curious that the
Kaskan appearance seems to coincide with the collapse of the northern
city state of Zalpa. Perhaps the Zalpans, their city now dominated
by Hittites, decided to adopt a more guerrilla-based approach to
their defence - and it was certainly quite effective at times. Even
if the urbanite Zalpans were in fact absorbed into the Hittite population,
it is highly likely that their tribal cousins on the periphery of
the city provided much of the core of the later Kaskan population.
Much of their country was (and still is) rugged and mountainous,
with occasional fertile valley regions. During the entire second
and first millennia BC its inhabitants were often regarded as ungovernable
barbarians.
From
the fifteenth century BC onwards, the Kaskans continually threatened
the Hittites. It seemed not to matter much whether the Hittites
were enjoying a phase of success or were enduring one of their weaker
moments - the attacks came nonetheless. Periods of drought were
especially risky, as they would force the Kaskans to become bolder.
They often attacked and sometimes sacked the Hittite capital at
Hattusa during their raids. In return the Hittites portrayed them
as aggressive and wild tribesmen and continually campaigned against
them. That fighting was far from guaranteed to be a success - the
Kaskans could apparently almost match them for combat effectiveness.
The
Kaskans were generally pig farmers and linen weavers while they
weren't fighting, although that description comes from a possibly-derisive
Hittite description. When they were forced to fight by Hittite attacks,
they would often rally behind a single leader, seemingly imitating
the same practice as that used by the later Celts with their 'high
kings'. This would suggest that they formed a loose confederation
of Kaskan tribes, perhaps each with its own chieftain, and with
each tribe doing its own thing and probably competing against neighbouring
tribes until an external threat forced them to unify. The Pala to
their west were replaced (or absorbed) by the Phrygians in the late
thirteenth century BC, and the Kaskans themselves survived the climate-induced
social collapse at the end of the 1200s BC. Unhindered by the now-absent
Hittite state, they troubled the north-western borders of the Assyrian
empire until the time of Sargon II. Then they simply disappeared
from history, probably blending into the emerging populace of Paphlagonia.
(Information
by Peter Kessler, with additional information from A Geographical
and Historical Description of Asia Minor, John Anthony Cramer, and
from External Links: Encyclopaedia Britannia, 11th Edition, and
Who were the Kaška?, Itamar Singer (The Argonautica and World
Culture II, Phasis: Greek and Roman Studies, Vol 10 (II), Rismag
Gordeziani (Editor-in-Chief, Tbilisi, 2007, available as a PDF -
click or tap on link to download or access it).)
c.1670?
BC :
The
city state of Zalpa, resurgent after the Hittite victory under Anitta,
is finally defeated by Labarna I. It is soon after this, during
the reigns of Labarna (whether I or II is unclear) and Hattusili,
that the Kaskans appear in the historical record - but only in thirteenth
century Hittite records which recount events that may have been
stretched backwards in time further than should be the case. These
records can be attributed to Muwatalli II, stating that 'Labarna
and Hattušili [Hittite kings] did not let them over the River
Kumešmaha'. It is more likely that the Kaskans do not appear
until the middle of the 1500s BC.
![](Map1500BC_full.jpg)
Following
their conquest of the Hatti, the Hittites were dominant in central
Anatolia between 1650-1595 BC, possibly even being responsible for
creating the Kaskans out of marginalised hill dwellers to their
north
c.1560
BC
:
Having
seized the Hittite throne through murder, Hantili I reigns for around
thirty years. Hittite power may have been damaged by this act though,
or is in decline despite it. Thirteenth century Hittite records
which can be attributed to Muwatalli II show that the state loses
territory in the north to the Kaskans: 'The town of Tiliura was
empty from the days of Hantili [presumed to be Hantili I] and my
father Muršili [II] resettled it. And from there they [the
Kaskans] began to commit hostilities and Hantili built an outpost
against them... The [important religious] city of Nerik... was in
ruins from the days of Hantili', ruined by the Kaskans.
c.1430
BC
:
The
Kaskans still possess the territory around the ruins of the Hittite
holy city of Nerik, seemingly having seized the area during a period
of Hittite decline over a century previously. Now Tudhaliya II (I)
conducts his third campaign against them, apparently unsuccessfully
as his successor has to offer a prayer to the gods for the city
to be returned. The cities of Kammama and Zalpa are also under Kaskan
control.
c.1400
BC
:
The
Hittite king, Arnuwanda, has serious problems with the Kaskans,
with many northern territories falling into their hands. This includes
the cult centre of Nerik (again) which, even when laying aside its
religious connections, seems to be a strategic possession for both
sides.
![](BlackSea_SouthCoast01_full.jpg)
The
southern coast of the Black Sea is a dramatic and mountainous territory,
and it is here in lands that became better known as Paphlagonia
that the hard-fighting Kaskans emerged
The
Kaskans suffer the loss of their grain to locusts so, in search
of food, they join up with Hayasa-Azzi and Ishuwa, as well as other
Hittite enemies. The devastation to the grain crops may also have
been suffered by others, making it not only easy to get them all
to unite but highly necessary, and the Hittites may be taken by
surprise by the sheer forcefulness of the attack. Recent Hittite
resurgence suffers a knock when their fort of Masat is burned down,
but then the capital, Hattusa, is itself attacked and burned (although
the event is shrouded in mystery). Possibly the secondary capital
at Sapinuwa is also attacked and burned, and the victorious Kaskans
make Nenassa their frontier.
c.1370
BC
:
Before
seizing the throne, the Hittite king, Suppiluliuma pushes back the
Kaskan invasion and invades Hayasa-Azzi. Twelve tribes of Kaskans
unite under Piyapili and attempt to support their recent allies,
but are defeated.
fl
c.1370 BC :
Piyapili
: Temporary leader of twelve tribes.
c.1350
BC
:
The
reputation of the Kaskans has reached as far south as Egypt. In
the Amarna letters, the pharaoh requests that the king of Arzawa
sends some of the Kaskan people of whom the pharaoh has heard. For
periods around this time, Kaskan relations with the Hittites are
sometimes friendly, although the frontier commanders are constantly
engaged in hostilities.
![](AmenhotepIII_Tablet01_full.jpg)
This
contemporary cuneiform tablet inscribed with a letter from Tushratta,
king of Mitanni, to Pharaoh Amenhotep III, covers various subjects
such as the killing of the murderers of the Mitanni king's brother
and a fight against the Hittites
c.1333
BC
:
The
old Hittite general Hannutti marches from the Lower Land to attack
the Kaskan frontier town of Ishupitta. Unfortunately, the regional
plague which has already killed the Hittite's King Suppiluliuma
claims his son, Arnuwanda II, and the general too. Kaskan client
kings Pazzannas and Nunnutas quickly recover Ishupitta.
fl
c.1333 - 1326 BC :
Pazzannas
: Hittite client king? Fought off a Hittite attack. Murdered.
fl
c.1333 - 1326 BC :
Nunnutas
: Hittite client king? Fought off a Hittite attack. Murdered.
c.1326 BC :
The
Hittite king, Mursili II, attacks the Kaskans for their rebellion.
The Kaskans unite under Pihhuniya - a constant thorn in the Hittite
side for many years. In fact, unusually, he seems to be a king rather
than the leader of a temporary confederation, and communicates with
the Hittites as such. The Kaskans may be heading towards some form
of unity until it is interrupted by the Hittites.
The
Kaskans advance as far as Zazzissa, but Mursili defeats them and
captures the town of Ishupitta and then Pihhuniya behind it. Pazzannas
and Nunnutas flee to Arzawa where the king refuses to hand them
over. They resurface in the Kaskan lands to lead a fresh rebellion,
so Mursili chases them out of Palhuissa into Kammama where the locals
put the two fugitives to death.
fl
c.1326 BC :
Pihhuniya
: Kaskan leader from Tipiya. Captured by Hittites.
c.1310 BC :
Since their great defeat around sixteen years previously, the Kaskans
have remained relatively docile clients of the Hittites. Now a new
generation of rebellious Kaskan elements takes over the town of
Ishupitta before it is re-taken by Mursili II.
![](Hittite_LionGates02_full.jpg)
The
Lion Gates of the Hittite capital were of a style popular throughout
the ancient Near East, with an example being found in Mycenae and
a later version existing in Jerusalem
c.1300 BC :
The Kaskans attack and sack the Hittite capital of Hattusa. Whether
this is the reason for the Hittites moving their capital south to
Tarhuntassa or a result of it is unclear. The future Hattusili III,
in charge of the northern areas of the kingdom, reconquers Hattusa
and also the cult centre of Nerik, lost many years before.
c.1200
BC
:
The
international system has recently been creaking under the strain
of increasing waves of peasants and the poor leaving the cities
and abandoning crops. Around the end of this century the entire
region is also hit by drought and the loss of surviving crops. Food
supplies dwindle and raids by people who have banded together greatly
increases until, by about 1200 BC, this flood has turned into a
tidal wave. Already decaying from late in the thirteenth century
BC, as Assyria has risen and instability has gripped the Mediterranean
coast, the Hittite empire is now looted and destroyed by various
surrounding peoples, including the Kaskans and the Sea Peoples (and
perhaps even selectively by its own populace).
c.1200
- 750s BC
:
The
Kaskans do not immediately disappear from the historical record
despite the gradual emergence of the Luwian-speaking region of Paphlagonia
in the western half of their territory (with the Halizones perhaps
being one of the many groups in that region). Neighboured by Tabal
to the south and Urartu to the east, they are able to raid south-eastwards
to the borders of the Assyrian empire until the eighth century BC
when they simply fade out of the historical record.
![](Urartu_Dogubeyazit01_full.jpg)
The
Urartuan fortress built into the mountainous hills of Dogubeyazit,
close to Mount Ararat in modern Turkey
Following
this the Armenians soon occupy eastern Anatolia, although the region
is often overrun by barbarian peoples such as the Cimmerians. Greeks
from the city of Miletus in Caria found the colony of Sinope on
the Black Sea coast, probably in the seventh century BC. In the
Classical period Pontus is located in the eastern half of the former
Kaskan territory.
Source
:
https://www.historyfiles.co.uk/
KingListsMiddEast/
AnatoliaKaskans.htm