Hittite tablets link Wilusa to Troy and Achaea to Ahhiyawa. Over 30,000 cuneiform tablets and fragments have been recovered from Hattuşa Örenyeri, the capital of the Hittite Empire, and other Hittite sites A tablet from Bogazkoy dating to 1280 BCE records a political alliance between the Hittites and a ruler named Alexandu (Alexandros) of Wilusa Wilusa is believed to be the Hittite name for Ilios/Ilian/Troy, which is the basis for the title The Iliad
📜 Over 30,000 cuneiform tablets from Hattusa link Homer's epics to history. A 1280 BCE treaty mentions Alexandu (Paris) of Wilusa—believed to be Troy—with a god Apaliunas (Apollo) as guarantor. Later letters describe conflicts between Hittites and the Ahhiyawans, likely the Mycenaeans (Homer's Achaeans).
Key Facts
- Over 30,000 cuneiform tablets and fragments have been recovered from Hattuşa Örenyeri, the capital of the Hittite Empire, and other Hittite sites
- A tablet from Bogazkoy dating to 1280 BCE records a political alliance between the Hittites and a ruler named Alexandu (Alexandros) of Wilusa
- Wilusa is believed to be the Hittite name for Ilios/Ilian/Troy, which is the basis for the title The Iliad
- Alexandu corresponds to Paris, son of King Priam in the Iliad, though this individual lived at least 50 years before the traditional Trojan War period
- One of the three gods guaranteeing the treaty on Alexandu's side is the storm god Apaliunas, equated with Apollo, the divine champion of the Trojans in the Iliad
- The Tawagalawa letter from 1250 BCE describes resolved hostilities between the Hittites and the Ahhiyawans over Wilusa
- The name Ahhiyawa is similar to Achaea, the name Homer uses for Greece, leading scholars to identify the Ahhiyawans with the Mycenaeans
Related site: Hattuşa Örenyeri — view location, images, and history on the Ancient Nerds map.
Source: Do These 10 #Artifacts Transform The Trojan War from Myth into Reality? by Inside Archaeology