Hayasa-Azzi: The First Armenia in Written History

How the cuneiform archives of the Hittite capital came to record a powerful mountain kingdom at the sources of the Euphrates — one that fought the empire and signed treaties with it as an equal.

A Country Described by Its Enemies

Three and a half thousand years ago, a country lived in the upper reaches of the Euphrates that the Hittites called Hayasa (in combination with the neighboring region, Hayasa-Azzi). It is seen there as the first written mention of Armenia — a view held not only by Armenian historiography but also by Emil Forrer, one of the first scholars of the Hittite cuneiform texts: the name resonates with the Armenians’ own name for themselves, hay, and for their country, Hayastan. In Hittite texts of the 14th–13th centuries BCE, Hayasa-Azzi (Wikipedia) appears as a formidable neighbor, now fighting Hatti, now making peace with it.

There is a paradox in this story: we know Hayasa only through the eyes of Hittite scribes. The country left no documents of its own, and everything we know about its kings, wars and customs comes from echoes in Hittite diplomacy and military chronicles. That makes every line in which the Hayasans are named by name all the more valuable.

Where Hayasa Lay

Hittite texts place the country east of Hatti, bordering the Hittite Upper Land as well as the lands of the Kaska and Ishuwa (overview in Fundamental Armenology). In modern terms, this is the upper Euphrates and Chorokh region of the Armenian Highlands, northwest of Lake Van — the Erzurum and Erzincan areas.

The capital of Hayasa remains unknown, but its main frontier fortress is known: Ura, probably near modern Bayburt or along the Kelkit River. Another significant place is Kumaha: according to the Deeds of Suppiluliuma, it was there that the Hittites forced the Hayasan king Karanni into a decisive battle.

The Hittite Catastrophe and the Challenge from the East

In the mid-14th century BCE, the Hittite kingdom came close to collapse. Warlike tribes, the Kaska (Kaskians), pressed from the north, and, as Hittite texts report, Hayasa-Azzi, Ishuwa and other enemies of Hatti joined them. The result was dire: Hattusa fell and was burned, and the fire probably reached the reserve capital, Sapinuwa. The court of Tudhaliya III fled, while the Azzians seized Samuha, an important Hittite city. Later, King Hattusili III recalled bitterly that in those days Azzi had made Samuha its frontier.

The scale of the disaster was such that rumors reached Egypt: the pharaoh Amenhotep III wrote to the king of Arzawa that he had heard of the collapse of the land of Hatti. For the Hittite empire it was a moment of survival.

The Counterstrike: Tudhaliya III and Suppiluliuma

Tudhaliya III managed to rally his forces and regain the initiative — with speed and resolve he apparently caught his enemies off guard. Against the Hayasans he sent his best general, Suppiluliuma, the future great king. At first the Hayasans avoided direct battle, and Suppiluliuma had to deal with the Kaska. But then the Hittites found Karanni and forced a battle on him at Kumaha. The text describing the outcome is lost; however, later events show that the campaign ended with the subjugation of Hayasa: soon Suppiluliuma established vassal relations with the Hayasans.

Hittite documents name three kings of Hayasa: Karanni (Lanni), Mariya and Hukkana (also Hakkani in the literature). Mariya, like Hukkana after him, was tied to the Hittite court by marriage — dynastic alliances were the most important instrument of politics at the time.

The Treaty with Hukkana: The Oldest Diplomatic Document of Armenia

The principal document of the era is the treaty of Suppiluliuma I with Hukkana, preserved almost in full in the Hittite archive (photo of the tablet). The Armenian scholar Robert Ghazaryan calls it the most completely preserved treaty of its kind and the oldest diplomatic document in the history of Armenia (article in the Herald).

What it records:

• Hukkana swears loyalty to Suppiluliuma, his heir and his other sons and brothers, and recognizes no other legitimate authority in Hatti. In return, the Hittite king promises the same to Hukkana and his descendants;
• the parties undertake to help each other in war and to warn each other of conspiracies;
• Suppiluliuma gives Hukkana his sister in marriage but stipulates that other women of the Hittite royal house are off-limits to the Hayasan king;
• the Hayasans return Hittite fugitives and cede a disputed border territory.

The logic of the deal is clear from the geopolitics. Suppiluliuma was preparing a campaign south, against Mitanni, and needed a secure northeastern flank. Hukkana had probably established himself in Hayasa with Hittite backing and was to hold this border. One detail is curious: a Hittite oracle text calls Hukkana the ruler of Azzi, while the treaty itself calls him the ruler of Hayasa. After the signing, Suppiluliuma did indeed go off to war in Syria and northern Mesopotamia.

The treaty also addresses “the people of Hayasa,” which is intriguing. In Igor Diakonoff’s view, this may point to a popular assembly or council of elders among the Hayasans; later, Mursili II negotiated precisely with the “elders” of Azzi.

Mursili II and King Anania

Suppiluliuma reigned approximately 1344–1322 BCE, and under his son Mursili II (c. 1321–1295 BCE) the conflict flared up again. This time the opponent was King Anania (Anniya) of Azzi-Hayasa. Taking advantage of the Kaska having united under Pihhuniya, he raided the frontier town of Dankuwa.

Mursili defeated Pihhuniya, consulted the oracles, and demanded that Anania return the subjects he had carried off. Anania refused. The Hittite king then struck at once at the frontier fortress of Ura, and the following spring crossed the Euphrates and stationed his army at Ingalawa.

Hayasa did not yield. In the ninth year of Mursili’s reign, Anania went on the counteroffensive: he invaded the Upper Land, laid waste the country of Istitina and besieged the city of Kannuwara. Only in the tenth year were the Hittites able to reconquer Hayasa-Azzi, and formal submission followed a year later.

After Anania

This was the last brilliant page. After Anania’s defeat, Hayasa-Azzi never again appears in Hittite or Assyrian documents as a unified state. Azzi is still mentioned for a time, and it is possible that Hayasa was destroyed by Mursili or absorbed into Azzi. Around 1190 BCE the Hittite kingdom itself collapsed.

But the Armenian Highlands did not fall silent: Assyrian texts would later speak of the lands of Nairi, and then the Kingdom of Van (Urartu) would rise on the same stage. Hayasa was the first link in a long chain of states of the highlands.

What Archaeology Says

Hayasa-Azzi is often linked with the site of Sos Höyük IV in the Erzurum region, belonging to the Trialeti–Vanadzor cultural circle. It is one of the few material traces that help us see the country not only through Hittite eyes.

Hayasa and the Armenians

The connection between the name Hayasa and the Armenians’ self-designation hay was noticed by Emil Forrer, who worked on the Hittite texts in the 1920s. This idea, advanced by a scholar of the cuneiform texts themselves, became a cornerstone of Armenian historiography as well: Hayasa-Azzi is regarded as the first state of the Armenians known to us and the first written mention of Armenia. The main thing to remember is this: we are looking at a country that lived on the very land where Urartu, the Yervandids and Greater Armenia would later arise.

Chronology

Time (BCE)	Event
mid-14th c.	The Kaska, Hayasa-Azzi and Ishuwa strike Hatti; Hattusa and Sapinuwa burn; Azzi seizes Samuha
mid-14th c.	Tudhaliya III regains the initiative; Suppiluliuma fights Karanni at Kumaha
c. 1344–1322	Reign of Suppiluliuma I; treaty with Hukkana
c. 1321–1295	Reign of Mursili II; struggle with King Anania (Anniya)
Years 9–11 of Mursili II	Anania’s counteroffensive, then the conquest and formal submission of Hayasa-Azzi
c. 1190	Fall of the Hittite kingdom

Dates in Hittite chronology are approximate and differ by several years from one work to another.

Sources and Further Reading

• Hayasa-Azzi — Wikipedia
• Tudhaliya III — Wikipedia
• Samuha — Wikipedia
• Kaskians — Wikipedia
• Hattusa — Wikipedia
• R. Ghazaryan, “Hukkana’s Treaty” as the Diplomatic Document of the History of Armenia
• Hayasa (Azzi) — Fundamental Armenology, PDF
• Hayasa-Azzi — History Files
• The Tablet of the Treaty between Suppiluliuma I and Hukkana — World History Encyclopedia
• Trevor Bryce, The Kingdom of the Hittites

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