Ahhiyawa, Kingdom of

c.1400 BC onwards.

    Mention of the kingdom of Ahhiyawa and its people occurs in the *Hittite records and it is evident that, at least for a period of time, the relationship between the *Hittite and the Ahhiyawan royal families was close. The facts also indicate that Ahhiyawa was a powerful sea-going nation and that its ships reached Syria (Amurru). The exact location of Ahhiyawa is uncertain; it has been argued that these people could be identified with the Achaeans (the Mycenaean *Greeks) who occur in Homer's writings and that Ahhiyawa might be either the kingdom of Mycenae itself or, perhaps more probably, one of the semi-independent island kingdoms of Crete, Rhodes or Cyprus. Although this identification has been challenged, it retains considerable support.The Achaeans have also been tentatively identified with the *Akawasha who are mentioned as one of the *Sea-peoples who attacked Egypt in the later New Kingdom; this theory is based on the similarity of the names.

BIBL. CAHii, ch xxviii; Huxley, G.L. Achaeans and Hittites. Oxford: 1960; Gurney O.R. The Hittites. Harmondsworth: 1964, pp. 46-58.

Biographical Dictionary of Ancient Egypt by Rosalie and Antony E. David