Piyamaradu

LÚ KUR URU Millawanda

Personage of obscure origin, Piyamaradu, supported by the Ahhiyawa Land and the city of Millawanda, ruled by the governor Atpa (who was his son-in-law), acted over wide areas of Western Anatolia, along the boundary between the range of influence of Hatti and Ahhiyawa; inducing moreover a crisis between these two countries. In the Hittite sources, Piyamaradu is attested for the first time in the text known as the “Manapa-Tarhunta’s Letter”, dated to the kingdom of Muwatalli II, in a phase preceding or following the drawing-up of the treaty with Alaksandu of Wilusa. In this document Piyamaradu is accused of having attacked Lazpa (= Lesbos), with the complicity of Atpa, and having deported from there the SARIPUTU men (i.e. artisans assigned to the work of the metals and other materials) belonging to the Hittite king. Moreover it seems possible to refer to him also a former victory on Manapa-Tarhunta for the control of the land of Wilusa. According to the “Tawagalawa’s Letter” Piyamaradu was afterwards responsible of a series of raids in the Lukka Lands, against territories under both Hittite and Ahhiyawa control. Subsequently, refusing the request of the Hittite king (which could be either Muwatlli II or Hattusili III) to become his vassal, he sheltered himself in Millawanda, and then fled into the Ahhiyawa Land, taking with himself seven thousand prisoners. Finally, there are several fragmentary texts mentioning the name of Piyamaradu; among those it’s worth to remember the Annals of Hattusili III, where the reading of his name is still uncertain, and the “Milawata’s Letter”, written after his death, where his mention represents an historical reference. [NH 981; Laroche 1966, 141; id. 1981, 34]