History of Money, Banking, and Trade
A historical look at the development and evolution of money, banking, and trade. From the ancient civilizations to the present.
History of Money, Banking, and Trade
Episode 24. From Myths to Metallurgy: The Rise of Ancient Anatolia Trade
What can ancient myths teach us about history and culture? Join us as we unravel the spellbinding legend of Shahmaran, the Queen of Serpents, and her fateful encounter with Tahmasp. This myth sets the stage for our exploration of ancient Anatolia, a region rich in history and cultural exchanges with the Greeks. We venture into the depths of Göbekli Tepe, possibly the world's first temple, and discuss its significance in early human spirituality and trade. You'll gain insights into how climatic shifts after the last glacial period reshaped human activities and paved the way for the agricultural revolution.
Ever wondered how ancient trade networks and metallurgy influenced societies? Travel back to the early Bronze Age settlement of Büyükkaya, which later became the famed city of Hattusa. We delve into the Hattians' adoption of cuneiform writing, their woodworking excellence, and the expansive trade networks they established. Discover the sophisticated business practices of Assyrian merchants in Karum-Kanesh , including checks, investment companies, and price arbitrage. Learn about the challenges faced by the Hattians, from Akkadian conquests to the economic dominance of Assyrian traders.
Step into the world of kings and empires as we chart the rise and fall of the Hittites and Phrygians. Explore the strategic maneuvers of King Suppiluliuma I, his alliances, and his confrontations with Egypt. Hear the dramatic tale of Zannanza's ill-fated journey and the resulting plague that struck the Hittite Empire. We also highlight the Phrygian Kingdom, their contributions such as an extensive road system, and their legendary King Midas. Finally, we touch on the Kingdom of Urartu and the cultural and historical impacts these civilizations had on ancient Anatolia. This episode promises a rich narrative that brings the ancient world to life.
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Welcome podcast listener. I am Mike D and this is the History of Money, banking and Trade podcast. My goal is to expand your knowledge of the history and evolution of trade, along with money, banking and credit, from ancient civilizations all the way to the present. I truly hope you find these episodes to be informative and entertaining. I truly hope you find these episodes to be informative and entertaining. Now, I'm not a historian but, like Dan Conlon likes to say, I am a fan of history.
Speaker 1:Shemarin, part woman, part snake, known as the Queen of Serpents, had acquired an incredible wealth of knowledge of the history of mankind. One day, a man named Thomas stumbled upon her secret hiding place. She kept him as a guest and told him many stories about mankind. They eventually fell in love, but Thomas got homesick and decided to leave. But he made a promise that he would never tell anyone about Shamran's hiding spot and, just as important, he would forever need to bathe alone, for if he didn't, his skin would turn to scales and therefore anyone who saw him will know that they had been together. And therefore he knows where her hiding spot is. Now you gotta understand she might have been the most valuable person on earth if she knew all there is to know about the history of mankind. However, soon after, the local king got sick and his grand advisor began to hunt for Shemarin's whereabouts because he knew the cure could be found through her. But the twist was the advisor was evil and wanted Shemarin for his own personal gain and figured he could flush her out by passing a law that forbade anyone from bathing alone. Thus Thomas was captured and forced to reveal where Shemarin's hiding spot was. When Thomas and Shemarin were alone together, thomas apologized profusely, but while he was apologizing, the king's advisor was eavesdropping and heard the entire thing. Shemarin forgave Thomas, but she knew that the king's advisor was listening. So she told Thomas that they could cure the king by killing her and cutting up and eating her body. She informed Thomas that whoever ate her tail would receive wisdom and knowledge, and whoever ate her body would die instantly.
Speaker 1:The advisor jumps out of the shadows and killed Shamaran. Instantly. He took the dead body of Shamaran to the king, where he cut her up and cooked her body. He gave the body to the king and he ate the tail, knowing he would be the next great king. Thomas at the time was so overcome with guilt that he ate her head, hoping he would die instantly. He thought this because he didn't know that the advisor was eavesdropping at first and, as you can imagine, he was tricked and he died instantly, while the king was cured when he ate the body. On the other hand, when Thomas ate the head, all the knowledge that Shalmaran had had transferred to him and he went on to become the world's first ever doctor and also became the advisor to the king.
Speaker 1:Now there are many versions of this story, but I thought this would be a great story to tell as a great primer to the ancient Anatolian myth system, and, as you can see, this is the kind of myth that would also sound very Greek at the same time. So what I'm getting at early on in this episode is how the Anatolians and the Greeks had a lot of knowledge transfer, and you're going to kind of hear a lot of it through this various episode. So I hope you find this to be enjoyable and together we can learn more about ancient Anatolia. When you think of ancient Turkey, you may hear it described as the Greek word of Anatolia, which means the east, and that would be from the Greek point of view. It is not just Turkey, but it could also include eastern Thrace. Anatolia was the Asian part of the region, while eastern Thrace was the European part.
Speaker 1:This region is also home to probably the world's first temple, located at Gobekli Tepe, which translates to, basically, potbelly Hill. Carbon dating indicates that this site was built around 9000 BCE. As you can imagine, the ancient builders left behind hundreds of stone tools, such as chisels and knives that were used to construct the ancient marvel, such as chisels and knives that were used to construct the ancient marvel. This was most likely the site of some sort of religious or spiritual location or had some kind of spiritual significance, and some suggest that the area could have been used as the world's first astronomical observatory. As the world's first astronomical observatory. Now, it's quite possible that, since trade had happened long before written language and the fact that the temple would attract people from far away, that trade would have been a central theme to the meetings. The many caves in the area also meant that the early hunter-gatherers may have used them as shelters as well and, to be clear, this wasn't a permanent settlement, but before all that could have happened, it's important to note what was happening geologically in the world at the time, in the world at the time. So, if you look back far enough, the last glacial period would have reversed course around 11,700 years ago, with glaciers receding, temperatures would have rose globally, sea levels also would have rose and coastlines around the world would have changed and, as a result, ecosystems also around the world would have been naturally altered. Well, ecosystems also around the world would have been naturally altered. Now, this climate change would have drastically altered human activity, specifically the way humans eat and survive.
Speaker 1:It was shortly after that the planet had warmed that many humans began to turn to agriculture as its main food source. Agriculture itself has no single simple origin, but it appears that it may have had its roots in, or near, anatolia. As a result, anatolia might be the location of the first ever human permanent settlements, as humans occupied it between 9600 and 7000 BCE. The fact is, anatolia was fortunate enough to have an abundance of natural grasslands, which would have allowed them to harvest grains such as wheat and barley. In addition, this area would have attracted large herds of gazelle, wild sheep and even goats, so the local population would have had an opportunity to supplement its diet with various meats, and they would have also been able to domesticate certain animals that were native to the region. So, as a result, the people had access to a wide variety of foods.
Speaker 1:Once the original site of Gobekli Tepe had lost its spiritual significance, the site would have been used for farming. In fact, it appears that the site was farmed so much that it had lost its fertility, and I should really emphasize the fact that widespread domestic farming had really been in full swing by around 8000 BCE. Domestic farming had really been in full swing by around 8,000 BCE. This meant that nomadic people would settle down and create certain communities that would become certain cultures, as norms would have been established in those communities. So essentially, what happened was, originally the sites were more or less used for nomadic sacred sites, which simply would have been filled over and then farmed over. This is precisely what happened in the first layer of Golblakli Tepe, and from there the second layer would have dated back to a period of around 88 to 8,000 BCE. The third layer is the oldest and it was famous for its circular structures. Now, it should be noted that no one is certain if the structures had a ceiling or not.
Speaker 1:The people who inhabited the site were mostly hunter-gatherers, who were essentially nomadic tribes, and the circular structures have been carbon dated to around 9,000 BCE and it was added to a world heritage list in 2018. Sadly, in recent years, the areas had faced a refugee crisis due to the Syrian conflict and, according to Klaus Schmidt, his hypothesis is that originally, hunter-gatherer tribes met to collectively build the site, and it was able to be built because of the invention of farming that would have kept people there long enough to have the ability to feed them and to sustain a large workforce that was needed to build it. Now, he didn't mention it, but I suspect that the complex would have been a critical trading post as well. So if you're going to have a sustained population in and around a site and it has some sort of spiritual aspect, then trade would have most likely followed suit or maybe possibly proceeded it and became a critical component. So, since people would have been passing through, it would kind of only make sense that they would have bring excess supplies to the site that were either grown or crafted far away for trade purposes. Now, as you can imagine, anatolia, like basically all the other prehistory settlements well, they are quite a mystery for us today. Some of these early settlements were established some 10,000 years ago and since writing wasn't established until the people of Sumer had created their cuneiform system roughly around 3300 BCE. We would have to extrapolate from the remains how the people would have lived their lives, so items such as pottery would have been a key insight as to how they lived.
Speaker 1:So far, the period we've been referring to is the Stone Age, which lasted until around 5500 BCE, when the Copper Age began. So, in other words, humans had figured out how to smelt and manipulate copper to make tools and, of course, weapons. While this was a huge step forward in the development of civilizations, to understand the nature of smelting ores to activate metals, our common ancestors had first used stone tools millions of years ago. In fact, archaeologists unearthed stone tools from the shores of Lake Turkana in Kenya, and this would have dated back to about 3.3 million years ago, long before humans were around. The fact is, homo sapiens really didn't appear until about 200 to 300,000 years ago about 200 to 300,000 years ago. So it took millions of years to develop metallurgy. And if you look into the local region, a stone tool was found in the Gadiz River that appears to be 1.2 million years old.
Speaker 1:Now, some of the oldest permanent homes in modern-day Turkey were built out of stones that were packed tightly together. These homes were generally similar in size, so this generally indicates that the people in these towns probably lived relatively equal lives, since you wouldn't see that one part of the settlement had much bigger homes as compared to the other side of the settlements. When this happens, it becomes somewhat obvious that there was some sort of inequality. If one side had these proto-mansions and the other had these proto-shacks, then you say okay, yeah, well then one side of town definitely appeared to have more wealth than the other side, so we didn't really see that at this time. The unique feature of these stone homes was they had gaps under the floors where channels were built. No one is 100% sure why these homes had these channels, but it's quite possible that they were drainage systems or that the channels were used to cool the houses down somehow. But it also goes further than that, as these homes were often painted and decorated, with some of them having deceased members of their families buried underneath the homes.
Speaker 1:To give you an idea about how old some of these homes are, the ancient city of Çatalhöyük might have been settled around 7500 BCE and, like I've said on several occasions, trade was a vital part of these ancient settlements, as it appears that they were engaging in trading with societies from the Mediterranean and even as far away as the Red Seas during the Copper Age. The first evidence of copper smelting dated back from around the 6th millennium BCE in Serbia, but the earliest documented use of lead smelting began around the 6th millennium BC as well, but slightly prior, in Yeram Tepe in Iraq. So this suggests that lead smelting may have actually predated copper smelting, that the people of Anatolia began its metallurgy in Halasir, which was initially settled by wheat and barley farmers around 7,000 BCE. So it appears that the smelting technology had descended from Southern Europe as well as from its neighbors to the south in Yarmtepe, from its neighbors to the south in Yarmtepe. When archaeologist Gil Stein began excavating the region, he kind of quickly figured out that one of the sites looks like it dated back to about 4100 BCE. But the interesting thing about this site that he excavated was it included permanent housing and even mortuaries. But a lot of similarities were discovered that also could be found in Uruk, which was far, far to the south. In addition, he noticed that there was certain bones of goats that had similar markings of how the butchers would have butchered their goats in other Mesopotamian cities. Therefore, gilstein had concluded that the people of Anatolia around 4000 BCE had already established extensive trade networks with cities far to the south or near the Euphrates River.
Speaker 1:Now, as we roll on further into the early Bronze Age, which historically starts around 3300 BCE, the settlement of Boyakaya springs up. Now. This will be an important settlement, as this will eventually grow significantly and eventually become part of the ancient city of Hattusa, which will be settled by the Hattians and then by the Hittites. As we move into the Age of Metallurgy, the various peoples in the region of ancient Turkey will discover, and then ultimately mine, a wide range of metal deposits, which allowed them to make tools and weapons, but also the surplus would be vital for trade, especially with the people of Sumer and Akkad. It wasn't just the metals that were traded. The people of Anatolia as early as 4000 BCE were also known for their red and black pottery that would eventually be found in Syria and Chechnya, as traders had taken the pottery with them as they traveled along the extensive trade routes.
Speaker 1:Probably the first culture that really thrived in Anatolia after the advent of the Bronze Age were the Hattians, who settled central Anatolia from around 2300 to 630 BCE. It appears that they may have borrowed some of the advancements made by their neighbors to the south and, in particular, the people of Sumer and Akkad, of which one of the biggest advancements that they had borrowed was that of cuneiform writing, which enabled the people of Anatolia the ability to essentially create business ledgers when conducting trade. And one of the biggest reasons why writing developed was it wasn't for a king to basically let everybody know how great they were, but instead it was so that individuals can track business transactions. In this particular region of central Anatolia, the Hattians had access to pretty dense forests, so this meant that the people of central Anatolia, and the Hattians in particular, would have become masters at woodworking and even created homes out of timber. But the thing was is they would have had excess timber, which meant that they could trade this excess to people that didn't have it, and the people that didn't have it were the people to the south, and the people that didn't have it were the people to the south. So what happened was this cuneiform writing was a great tool to track various shipments that were going to the people of the south and the places like Sumer and Akkad that demanded the excess timber. That was in central Anatolia, and this trade not so much the timber trade, but trade in general would have occurred with other people as well. So it wasn't like they were just trading with people to the south, the Sumerians and the Akkadians. No, they were also trading with the Mitanni and people, babylonia and Egypt and, of course, assyria.
Speaker 1:But despite all this, the Hattians were primarily farmers, not unlike virtually every other settled society at the time. So for the most part they just lived off the land. But what was interesting is they weren't known to be hunters, because apparently they believed that everything had a spirit and because of this they didn't want to upset their patron goddess. So therefore they basically avoided the hunting part of that society. The main city of which trade would have been extended through was their famous city of Hattusa, which was originally built around 2500 BCE on a massive hill which allowed it to have natural defenses. In fact, the Akkadians tried to conquer the Hattians on several occasions, but failed in large part because of the location of Hattusa. Failed in large part because of the location of Hattusa. Also speaking of the Akkadians, the written language was inspired by Akkadian script, but it was their own written language. As such, archaeologists could read some of the words inscribed on the records but really don't fully understand what was written.
Speaker 1:While Anatolia was dominated by small to medium kingdoms, by 1960 BCE, assyria had gained its independence from the Akkadians. It was also around this time that wealthy Assyrian merchants had established the Karims, which were small colonial settlements just outside of Anatolian cities, which were secure areas where merchants from Ashur could bring their goods. The word Karim literally means port in Akkadian. One of the Karims, known as K'nash, stood out from the rest as it became the most important trading post for Ashur, rest as it became the most important trading post for Ashur. The trade colony of Kanish was ruled by the Hattians, as this was among the most lucrative trade centers for all the Near East region. Karim Kanish was reached by donkey caravans from Ashur, which was roughly 625 miles or 1000 thousand kilometers away, which usually took about six weeks to get from Ashur to the Karim Kinesh. Just like the other Karims, the Assyrians traveled to Kinesh, set up a business and then controlled the business from Ashur by placing trusted associates, which were typically family members, in charge of the trading post. So it was the Assyrians, not the local Hattians, that were more or less making the money in the trade.
Speaker 1:Some trading houses of Karim Kanish flourished and some became extremely wealthy, the equivalent of ancient millionaires of the time. Even the banking operations came from the Assyrians and they were not local Hattians. The traders of the old Assyrian colony of Kanish were looking for ways in which they could maximize their profits by using modern instruments such as the check payable to the bearer. Also, like we saw in the traders in Babylon and Ur, investment companies were set up for trade colonies in Anatolia, and these companies in Anatolia paid dividends in a pro rata basis based on the original investment amounts by the individual investors. Also, these markets were so thoroughly developed by then that the traders and the people were well aware of price differences in different regions. So it's quite possible that there were some kind of arbitrage opportunities for traders to buy goods cheaply in one Anatolia colony and then sell the same goods at a higher price in another location. If you'd like more detailed information about the Assyrian trade colonies, you can listen to my episode dedicated to Assyria.
Speaker 1:As these trade colonies flourished, others took notice. King Anita of the city-state of Kassura was taking notice and eventually was able to sack the city of Hattusa. He was the son of Petana, who had previously conquered the Assyrian trade colony of Kness during his reign. Legend has it that King Anita placed a curse on Hattusa to prevent the people from trying to rebuild the city. However, this curse must not have been very effective, because King Hattusili I later decided to rebuild the city.
Speaker 1:Now he was accredited with founding the Hittite kingdom and this was more or less the beginning of the end for the Hattians, as the Hittites would take on as the local hegemon and, as a result, the Hattian culture began its slow decline. Eventually it would be the Hittites, who were originally descended from Indo-European peoples, that took over control of Hattian lands and, as a long result of staying in the Hattian lands, well, they kind of essentially absorbed the Hattian culture and fused it to make their own Hittite culture. So really in the end, despite the fact that the Hattians had kind of disappeared, they were super influential on the Hittite culture. So essentially they disappeared, but they were still there, because if you look at the Hittites you can kind of get a good idea of what the Hattians were potentially like. So it's kind of like a weird bizarre thing, because the people came in from Europe, they kind of lost their European culture, they dominated another culture and then basically absorbed that culture and really took that on as their own. But this new Hittite culture would become stronger and wealthier as it continued its trade with all the other regional powers.
Speaker 1:Hattusuli was able to subdue many distinct tribes in Anatolia and then moved its capital to Hattusa as a defensive measure. He went on the offensive and expanded the territory and in reality it sounds like he was kind of like a great PR man for his time, because he made sure everybody knew within his kingdom and even beyond that he was this great lion on the hunt, great lion on the hunt, and essentially he wanted to make sure everybody knew this. So therefore he can install some kind of fear in people outside his kingdom. However, he did try to sack the ancient city of Aleppo, but he could not conquer the city and apparently on his deathbed he chose his grandson, mersilli, who was only a child at the time, as his heir. Now, by the time, mersilli was a young man. He wanted to go back to Aleppo, but this time his army was able to conquer it and then, of course, plunder it. By around 1595 BCE he went down to Babylon and sacked the city as well.
Speaker 1:Now, from my perspective, he kind of had this Assyrian quality about him in that he would spare any city that gave up. But if a city put up any kind of resistance, he would come to you and try to utterly destroy it, and then he would use that as an example to the next people as to what could happen if you don't give up right away. So it was kind of like hey, I'll be fair if you just give up your city, but if you cross me, I will destroy everything. Now, once he conquered a city or region, he would generally install puppet kings that would report directly back to Hattusa, because he wouldn't stay in the city that he conquered, so he would conquer and then move on, and then ultimately he went back to Hattusa In the end. He didn't really want to expand his kingdom beyond his control, so it appears that he would have been content with the size of his kingdom, as he never really tried to expand its borders too much, but instead he preferred to attack his neighbors and plunder its valuables and then take them back to Atusa. During his reign, he successfully plundered the ancient cities of Lebo and Babylon, so those were some pretty big gets. However, his reign wouldn't really last long because he was assassinated by his brother-in-law, hantili, which started a gruesome trend among Hittite kings of assassination. Among Hittite kings of assassination, a lot of this was because they really didn't have a firm succession plan or even succession laws, which ultimately led to assassinations and coups which severely weakened the kingdom for nearly 70 years and almost collapsed it entirely because of it, and as a result, the kingdom shrunk. Now everything changed with King Telpino, who reigned from around 1525 to 1500 BCE, because he implemented a law code that finally addressed success in plans but also addressed trade, known as King Telppinos Proclamation. It was different than other Eastern law codes in that other codes were focused more on punishments, but his proclamation was more based on fines, not so much the corporal punishments that you've seen in the past. He also signed the first ever treaty that we know of as well, which would basically start a trend by Hittite kings.
Speaker 1:The Hittite kingdom was one of the most influential ruling powers in Anatolian history. During its earliest periods, it was simply just another regional power that struggled to protect itself against its enemies. But all that would change when Supilulima I ascended the throne and I apologize if I butchered that name, but that name is a tough one for me to pronounce so, as the Hittites and the Hattians had consolidated well. This meant that there were now two superpowers in Anatolia the Hittites and the Mitanni. Now they weren't really very peaceful as they would have fought against each other and, more importantly, they would have also been trade partners with the Assyrians and the Egyptians as the Hittites grew in strength. Every time the Hittites conquered far off territories, far away from Hattusa, they basically didn't have the ability to hold and govern their new conquered territories, which would have led to power vacuums of which the Mitanni were more than happy to fill, and, as a result, the Mitanni would strengthen into a very strong kingdom in the region and more or less be a thorn in the Hittite side. The Hittites' aggressiveness would lead it to some historically bad press, as they were mentioned in the Old Testament, for constantly attacking surrounding nations, especially the Israelites. But it's also possible that this was also blown way out of proportion.
Speaker 1:To give you an idea of the strength of the Hittite economy, you can almost view it from modern finds. So, for example, there was a shipwreck that was discovered off the coast of Turkey. This shipwreck may be dated to around the 13th century BCE and it may be the world's oldest shipwreck that we have actually discovered In the ship? They discovered around six tons of copper and one ton of tin. Now, as you may remember from previous episodes, tin was extremely rare and therefore the key ingredient to make bronze. So tin was kind of like the oil of the Bronze Age, whereas securing it would have been vital for the production of bronze but more importantly, it would have been important from national defense, so it would have been a national security thing too.
Speaker 1:So around the time of the shipwreck, king Supiluluma I, who had became the king around 1344 BCE, he had previously moved the Hittite capital back to Hattusa and began conquering surrounding territories. As such, he conquered the Mitanni and even took land from Syria. The result was the Mitanni kingdom became a Hittite vassal state. Supi Lululema also found other ways to exert influence, as he created alliances by taking foreign wives, just like so many other kings had done before and after him. In fact, one of his marriages included a Babylonian princess, which kind of really indicates that he was making a major power play in the region.
Speaker 1:Eventually, the Hittite kingdom would become a threat to the Egyptians, but luckily for the Hittites, egypt was weak at the time. The reason why Egypt was so weak was because of numerous factors, but in large part it was because Pharaoh Akhenaten had weakened Egypt when he decided to move Egypt away from its traditional gods to worship one of more of a monotheistic religion in Atenism. This had essentially upended and disrupted the entire kingdom, so Egypt wasn't really in a position to confront the Hittites up in Syria. His successors couldn't do much better. Tutankhamen fought against the Hittites, but the Egyptians kept on losing ground to the Hittites.
Speaker 1:As a possible refresher, tutankhamen was born with multiple health issues and as a result, he died at a very young age of maybe 19 or so. After his death, his widow requested to marry one of Supiluluma's sons. Now, this was a very unusual arrangement In fact you could probably say that it was unprecedented at that point. But Supiluluma agreed because he had a history of forging alliances through marriages. So he sent his son, sananza, to marry the queen of Egypt. However, sananza never made it to his destination and was likely murdered by Tutankhamen's general, was likely murdered by Tutankhamen's general. Supiluluma was obviously enraged and began to use this as motivation to attack various Egyptian territories and conquer much of the Levant. This ultimately proved to be a fatal move, because many Egyptian POWs had brought the plague with them, which eventually killed Subi-Luluma and his successor around 1322 BCE. So in the end, it was his grandson, mursili II, who would become the new king of the Hittite kingdom. Mersili II was still young and relatively unproven. However, he managed to prove himself quite quickly and became a very skilled and successful king.
Speaker 1:One of the more interesting aspects of the Hittites was that they would pick gods from conquered or absorbed territories and incorporate them into their own pantheon, or absorb territories and incorporate them into their own pantheon. Now, I'm not 100% sure why they did this. Maybe it was because they were honoring the people that they conquered, or maybe it was somewhat superstitious in that they didn't want to anger all the various gods. So it's better to have their opponent's god on their side instead of being an adversary. So in the end, they end up with probably the most amount of gods of any ancient society. Some of the gods would live on for millennia as they would evolve into Greek and even Roman gods. And it's funny because I have this interesting little story One of my best friends growing up who ended up being the best man at my wedding.
Speaker 1:Well, he was in building seven of the World Trade Center on 9-11. He told me afterward that he was certain he was going to die and if you remember building seven, that was the last building to fall. It was after the two twin towers had went down. Afterward he kind of had a good sense of humor about it regarding the stressful ordeal, because what he told me later was that when he was being held up in the lobby of the building they could see people from the other buildings jump into their death. At the time he kind of really made peace with the fact that he might die that day and he said he wasn't scared, but instead he was really calm. But then he started to think to himself should I pray to a God right now? I mean he was like man, there's so many to choose from. Which one would be the best? Which one should I pick? Maybe I should pick all of them and pray to all the different gods, because I don't know if there is one, and if there is I want to make sure I get it correct. So he kind of laughed about it at the end.
Speaker 1:But it kind of I bring up that story because it kind of reminds me a lot of what the Hittites were kind of maybe thinking. You know, it's like, hey, there's so many gods out there we don't know which one is correct, but maybe if we pray to them all we'll be protected. So that's kind of my little story of my friend who kind of had a real good sense of humor about 9-11. And considering that 9-11 really didn't have much humor involved, it was pretty interesting that he can kind of relate a story afterward to what was kind of going through his head. But in a weird way I kind of really see the way he was thinking, even though maybe it wasn't so much serious, whereas the Hittites would have taken this very serious. But yeah, that's my little personal story on that.
Speaker 1:So as the Pantheon was growing, so too was the Hittites' growth and strength. As such, their encroachment into the Levant continued to be a threat to the Egyptians. Encroachment into the Levant continued to be a threat to the Egyptians. Ramesses II of Egypt had kind of really guided Egypt back on track and really wanted to expand the territory northward, especially around Kadesh, because it was booming due to its lucrative trade routes, and as such, the pharaoh gathered at least 20,000 infantry and as many as 2,000 chariots in preparation for the upcoming war with the Hittites.
Speaker 1:In 1274 BCE, before the war began, the Egyptians were able to capture Hittite spies. The Egyptians were known for using torture techniques, and they used it to give up the location of the Hittite king and his troops. The Egyptians attacked Kadesh, but the battle was a stalemate and there was really no true winner that was achieved. Soon after the battle, the Hittites had another problem, as the Assyrians were also getting stronger to the southeast. Therefore, the Hittite king had to halt any planned attacks against the Egyptians because he had to deal with the growing Assyrian problem.
Speaker 1:About 15 years after the Great Battle, a peace treaty was signed by Ramesses II and Hattusulid III and, if anything, it would have relieved pressure on the Hittites. The Egyptian-Hittite peace treaty, also known as the Treaty of Kadesh, might be the earliest surviving peace treaty that we can actually view to this day. I spoke about this in the Egyptian episode, but essentially both sides of the battle claimed victory, but in reality the battle ended up as a tie, even though the Hittites waged war with its neighbors. This treaty kind of points to a larger idea that the Hittites may have been ultimately known for was that they appeared to prefer negotiations and treaties over a long-term war with its neighbors. Historians generally believe that they are one of the first kingdoms that practiced international diplomacy. You might be kind of thinking to yourself is it possible that they preferred to negotiate peace treaties because maybe they didn't have the means to wage long-term war successfully? And, to answer your question, you might be correct, as they may have had to turn to diplomacy for survival. But in the end, even though they had went to war with each other, there was a lot of information sharing between the Hittites and the Egyptians. So, for example, the Hittites had transferred a lot of their metalworking knowledge with the Egyptians, while the Egyptians had shared their farming knowledge with the Hittites. In 1210 BCE, king Supaluluma II took the throne, but he would be the last Hittite king.
Speaker 1:The reasons for the Hittite downfall aren't very clear, so there's a lot of speculation. It's quite possible that it was driven by climate change or even a serious earthquake which totally destabilized the region. So it's possible that Hattusa was abandoned. Or some believe that the city was sacked by Casca, who were people from the north of the Hittites, the north of the Hittites. What was left of Hattusa was possibly destroyed by fire and really won't be occupied again for about 500 years. But let us not forget that the Hittites were probably doomed one way or another, because it was around this time that we experienced the late Bronze Age collapse, which we saw the mysterious sea peoples that were rolling in from the Mediterranean and attacking coastal settlements in the Near East and even in Egypt, and they would have caused massive destruction. I mean to tell you how powerful they were. They basically pushed the Assyrians back into basically a little bubble where the Assyrians were basically able to fall back and survive and a lot of other societies near the coastline could not fall back and survive, so they're basically just wiped out altogether.
Speaker 1:Now I wanted to take a step back in the story and talk about the Mitanni. We know about the Mitanni because archaeologists have recovered numerous letters from around 1500 to 1240 BCE, some of the letters exchanged by the Mitanni, the Assyrians and even the Egyptian kings, which points to the fact that the Mitanni were one of the most powerful nations at the time. The Mitanni were mostly based out of the region around northern sections of the Euphrates and the Tigris rivers, different nations. Due to its location, it was able to establish several trade routes that ran down the rivers into southern Mesopotamia. And the thing is is the people in southern Mesopotamia typically did not have natural resources they needed, so it had to look to other cultures, such as the Mitanni, and being on the rivers meant trade between the different cultures would have been much easier, since they wouldn't have had to overly rely on overland travel.
Speaker 1:But it's interesting that even though they were on or near the rivers, they were also great horsemen. Or near the rivers, they were also great horsemen. In fact, the world's oldest horse training manual was found by historians that was written by the Mitanni. So basically, you combine the fact that they were great horsemen and the fact that they were able to develop metal weapons well, this would give you an idea that they would have been formidable opponents on the battlefield. But unfortunately, with the exception of the manual and the letters between the various kings, there really isn't a whole lot known about the Mitanni, as the records have basically not survived. So therefore there's many holes in the Mitanni story. However, there are letters that were discovered that were written by Akkadians regarding their dealings with the Mitanni. So the thing is, a lot of historians had to get a lot of details from other societies and it's obviously not first-hand information, but it's also information in which the victor is discussing a defeated enemy. So there's also that we do know that the Egyptians, under Thutmose III, fought a battle against the Mitanni around 1400 BCE.
Speaker 1:In modern day Syria, it also sounds like the Mitanni did what a lot of other kingdoms did during these days, in that they would try to marry off their daughters to form political alliances with other kingdoms of the region, and, of course, they would also send off many gifts, including gold and jewelry, and even camels, to foreign kings. Now, these practices typically didn't have long-lasting effects, so it usually worked in a short period of time. In fact, in one case it appears that a Mitanni king was upset with another foreign king because he did not receive his proper quantities of gold and other precious gems in exchange. Between his daughter and a foreign king, between his daughter and a foreign king. Now, as wealthy as the Mitanni were, they still weren't quite a match for their rivals in Anatolia, the Hittites, as they eventually turned the Mitanni into their vassals, of which they would never really truly regain independence under a unified kingdom, and as a result, they would be dominated for years until the Sea Peoples came along and then the Assyrians. Now the issue with the Assyrians is if any nation rebels against their authority, they would have often resulted to extreme cruelty to maintain their power. A perfect example of this is the Assyrian king Shalmaneser. I destroyed the Mitanni during one of its rebellions, and in doing so, many other survivors were left blinded in various Mitanni cities that were sacked, along with the Assyrians destroying any of the allies of the Mitanni. The ones that weren't killed or blinded were then sold out into slavery. Therefore, the Assyrians, in large part, were able to put an end to the Mitanni culture. The fact is, the Mitanni and the Hittites sprung up in an unfortunate location and in a time in history that they would have had the misfortune of being within striking distance of the Sea Peoples and the Assyrians, and therefore they were essentially wiped out completely. In fact, both cultures were so thoroughly decimated that people, for thousands of years afterward, had no clue that they even existed in the first place.
Speaker 1:Once the Hittite Empire collapsed, there was a bit of a vacuum in Anatolia, and this vacuum was ultimately filled by the Phrygians. As such, the Phrygians came to power and created a kingdom that would last for centuries. However, they never really became a military powerhouse and thus sort of were more or less a minor kingdom. In the grand scheme of things, not much is known about these people, as they really didn't leave behind a whole lot of inscriptions, which means much of the information received about them comes from other kingdoms. Some think that they came from the Sea Peoples, some think that they had come from the Balkans and possibly Macedonia. I'd say the thing that they contributed to the most to the region was the fact that they had built this massive road system which would last long after their society collapsed, which meant future societies could use their roads for trade. One of the roads that was built was through their capital of Gordium, which will ultimately be part of the Great Persian Royal Road. Since they were strategically placed between the Greeks and the Persians, their society evolved to have a heavy Greek and Persian influence.
Speaker 1:You might also be familiar with some of the Phrygian mythology, as it included the famous story of King Midas. Also, according to Greek mythology, the Phrygians were an ally defending the city of Troy in the Trojan War. Now, you might not be too familiar with the Trojan War, so I'll give you a quick recap. Familiar with the Trojan War, so I'll give you a quick recap. The Trojan War began when the Prince of Troy, paris, seduced Helen, the wife of the King of Sparta. Obviously, the Greeks weren't going to stand for this dishonor and, as a result, the Trojan King's brother led an army against Troy. This bloody war would last for about 10 years, with both sides experiencing heavy losses.
Speaker 1:Probably the most famous part of the story is when the Greeks built a massive wooden horse, known as the Trojan horse, which hid some of the finest soldiers inside. The Greeks in the meantime faked a retreat and left the wooden horse at the city gates. When the Trojans discovered the horse, they assumed the Greeks had surrendered and they had brought the horse in the city. That night the hidden Greek soldiers snuck out of the horse, opened the gates to a waiting Greek army and then they destroyed the city. Of course, my favorite Trojan horse scenes in movies were the 2006 Beer Fest movie, when the guys hid inside a Trojan keg and they used it to get into the international beer drinking contest. And of course Monty Python also used this in the quest for holy grail, but instead they had used a rabbit but forgot to hide inside the wooden rabbit. And since Monty Python is good as it gets, the wooden rabbit is thrown at them from the castle. So obviously this story is world famous and people have been telling it for thousands of years and even creating their own little spin to create their own little Trojan horse, whether it's in comedy movies or if you are trying to attack people through their computer systems movies, or if you are trying to attack people through their computer systems Now.
Speaker 1:Just a few minutes ago, I'd also brought up King Midas as well. Now, with regards to King Midas, some historians point to some inscriptions of a real-life ruler named Midas, who may have ruled from around 738 to 696 BCE, who may have been the inspiration for the legendary story. And if you aren't too familiar, the story goes that King Midas returned the satyr Salinas to his master, dionysus, the god of wine. The god, being pleased, proposed to Midas a gift for him to choose. So Midas chose the ability to turn anything he touched to gold. As such, this was obviously short-sighted decision-making, because he wouldn't be able to eat or drink anything, since all his food and liquids would be turned to gold. So the starving king begged the god to reverse the gift of gold, and Dionysus told the king to wash off in the Pactolus river. Now the interesting thing is, is the Pactolus river in Lydia was known for its copious amounts of gold deposits which later enriched the kingdom of Lydia and Caritius in particular.
Speaker 1:In real life, it was Midas who may have been the basis of the legendary myth of King Midas, who died in around 695 BCE after losing a major battle to the Sumerians, who were a nomadic people who migrated to Anatolia. Around 700 BCE, they became a somewhat minor power on Anatolia until they were conquered by Lydia. The Sumerians burned down Gordium to the ground, and they likely destroyed many important relics that would have shed a lot more light on the Phrygian society. Phrygia ultimately became a Lydian state. The Greeks, however, seemed to be fond of the Phrygians because they were highly prized in the slave market, so they probably had either a certain look or skill that separated them from other slaves. In their case, they were highly skilled metal workers and wood carvers. It is also believed that they were quite educated as well as they were quite literate, so they probably filled a void for slaves that didn't have the ability to comprehend certain ideas or even be literate.
Speaker 1:In this particular region there was also the kingdom of Aratu, which was also known as the kingdom of Van, which was located around Lake Van in the Armenian highland. They were a monarchy, and their first recorded king was Aramee, who ruled from around 860 to 840 BCE. This wasn't necessarily a long-lasting kingdom, as they only lasted a few hundred years. They did appear to end up being a thorn in the side of the Assyrians, especially because they were pretty wealthy and they had large metal reserves including silver, gold, copper, iron and even lead and as a result, they ultimately became skilled at crafting goods made of metal, which meant that they could produce quality tools and weapons. In addition, they became skilled traders and merchants due to their large natural deposits of metals. They were also able to trade excess raw materials and finished goods thanks to the trade routes that ran directly through Anatolia, mesopotamia, thanks to the trade routes that ran directly through Anatolia, mesopotamia and even out in through Iran and up into China. Also, it appears that their trade routes made it all the way to the Italian peninsula, or at least had contracts with the Etruscans, because cauldrons that were made in Oratu were very similar to the Etruscan pieces found in Italy.
Speaker 1:The Etruscan civilization inhabited central Italy between the 8th and 3rd centuries BCE, before the rise of the Romans, so it's possible that the Etruscans were influenced by the people of Oratu. So the people of Oratu and the Phrygians had something in common in that they both had an impact on Etruscan art. It would seem that the Phrygians also had extensive trade with the people of Aratu, since archaeologists found a Phrygian cauldron bearing an Aratian bull figure. They also had their own language, which was described as a Neo-Hyrian language, but it's been a long dead language. But they also adapted to using Assyrian script. My guess and I emphasize guess is that they used a Syrian script because they just adopted a more efficient means of writing from their would-be conqueror, since they would have had such a direct effect when they contacted each other.
Speaker 1:Now, it's quite possible that their civilization probably didn't last that long, because they were at perpetual war. All men were required to serve in the military and therefore their military budget would have eaten into much of their available resources, such as arming and feeding the army when they were in the field. Now, at first, the military was dedicated to defense, especially when the Assyrians were at their peak. At first, the people of Ratu were forced to engage in defensive tactics, since the Assyrians were constantly invading their territory. However, once the Assyrians were no longer a threat, the people of Ratu appeared to have picked up on the Assyrian habits and started attacking his neighbors. And in case you're wondering why Assyria couldn't conquer this region, well, it's probably two-pronged. For one, they were farther north, so this added distance probably would have helped them out. And also, this region was mountainous and rocky, which meant that when things turned negative on the battlefield, the soldiers would basically head for the rocky hills and slip away, since they knew the terrain and the Assyrians didn't. And in a way, this has kind of a North Vietnam feel to it, in that the North Vietnamese could slip away into tunnels or in the jungles whenever a battle started to tilt the other way from them.
Speaker 1:When Sargon II evaded Eratu in 714 BCE, he decided to outflank them and took the long route around to catch them off guard. However, it appears that this backfired at first, because by the time the two armies met, the Assyrians were essentially cooked and demoralized from their long trek through the mountains. Plus, they were used to fighting on flat surfaces. But Sargon led from the front and when he charged, his troops rallied around him and the people of Aratu were overwhelmed and retreated to the mountains. Sargon II chose not to pursue his enemies but plundered several cities, so in the end he was able to enrich himself despite not defeating the enemy in battle. The reason for the decline really isn't really certain. It's possible that they faced attacks from foreign invaders such as the Scythians. However, in 585 BCE, oratu fell to Cyrus the Great of Persia.
Speaker 1:I think I want to leave it off there for right now. Next, I want to really get into the Ionian Greeks and their influence on Anatolia, and then really what we're going to do is we're going to get into the part that really kind of I wanted to speak about the most, and especially the Lydian part. The Lydians would ultimately have probably the longest lasting effect on the region and really their minting of coins will have long lasting effect on societies going forward. If you like what you hear and want to donate to the show, you can visit us at patreoncom slash history of money banking trade or you can visit our website at moneybankingtradecom. Also, you can help out the show a ton by leaving a five-star review and telling a friend. Thank you very much. Talk to you soon.
