Özet:

The following two studies on the historical geography and history of Kizzuwatna classical Cilicia are to be considered as preliminary results of a larger more comprehensive project that will cover the physical and historical geography as well as the regions political history from the Stone Age down to the end of the Byzantine period The monograph will try to give “flesh and blood” so to speak to a dull history of a buffer zone that lie between the great political powers that occupied the region namely the Hittites Mesopotamians states Egyptians Greeks Persians Romans Arabs Byzantines and Turks Because of the popularity the Hittite Queen Puduhepa and urgent need for an up to date account on her biography am entire appendix will be dedicated to her Archaeological topics will be dealt with be Dr K Serdar Girginer of Çukurova University Adana The historical section of the article is based on all the available archaeological and linguistic material from various sources and archives and begins with an accurate outline of the prehistoric periods of the region We know that the region was occupied in the stone age In Sirtlanini modern Tasucu a natural cave with stalactites and stalagmites watercourses and natural benches Dr I K Kökten discovered 1957 Palaeolithic implements made of flint Sadly the cave has been stripped of its natural beauty and with the permission of local municipal authorities serves as a cesspool of apartments To date no native archives from Kizzuwatna have been found; therefore the history of the country in the second millennium B C E can only be reconstructed on the basis of written sources from Hattuša Boğazköy the Hittite capital of the time and other Near Eastern archives The usage of cuneiform texts in Akkadian Hurrian Hittite and other Hieroglyphic Luwian texts indicates clearly that the Kizzuwatneans were acquainted with these writing systems from at least 2000 B C E Key Words: Adana Çukurova Hittites Cilicia Kizzuwatnean Historical Geography

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