List of ancient peoples of Anatolia

This article is about all ancient peoples who have inhabited Anatolia. For the specific ancient Indo-European group of peoples, see Anatolian peoples.

Not to be confused with List of ancient Anatolian peoples, which focuses on the individual groups of the aforementioned Indo-European Anatolian peoples.

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History of Turkey

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)

Ottoman Era

* Periods of Ottoman Empire

|  Rise|  (1299–1453)

|

Classical Age|  (1453–1566)
Transformation|  (1566–1703)
Old Regime|  (1703–1789)
Decline and modernization|  (1789–1908)
Defeat and dissolution|  (1908–1922)

Republic of Turkey

* Periods of Turkey

|  War of Independence|  (1919–1922)

|

Provisional government|  (1920–1923)
One-party period|  (1923–1930)
(1930–1945)
Multi-party period|  (1945–present)

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Preclassical Age regions of Anatolia/Asia Minor with main settlements. Classical regions of Asia Minor/Anatolia Regions of Asia Minor/Anatolia, c. 500 BC. Aegean Greek settlements italicised

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

[edit]

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

## Hattians

[edit]

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

[edit]

* 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

## Indo-European peoples

[edit]

### Anatolian peoples (Anatolian Indo-European)

[edit]

#### Hittites

[edit]

* 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

[edit]

* Carians
* Cilicians
* Clitae
* 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

[edit]

* 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

[edit]

### Celts

[edit]

#### Galatians

[edit]

* 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

[edit]

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

### Persians

[edit]

### Phrygians

[edit]

* Kaourkoi / Caurci?
* Fontes?

#### Mysians

[edit]

* 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

[edit]

#### Bithynians

[edit]

#### Thynians

[edit]

### Possible Indo-European peoples

[edit]

#### Hayasa-Azzi

[edit]

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

#### Mushki

[edit]

* 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

[edit]

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

#### Tibareni

[edit]

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

#### Diauehi

[edit]

* 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

[edit]

### Colchians

[edit]

* 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

[edit]

#### Eastern Mushki

[edit]

* 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

[edit]

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

## Kaskians

[edit]

Possibly connected to Hattians and/or Northwest Caucasians.

## See also

[edit]

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

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Trevor Bryce, The Kingdom of the Hittites: New Edition, Oxford University Press, 2005. p.12

## Further reading

[edit]

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

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