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 races and its history is characterised by folk movement and migration. Broadly, the peoples can be split linguistically between those who spoke a proto-Indo-European language, such as proto-Anatolian or proto-Greek, and those who spoke a language outside of the Indo-European family such as Kartvelian or Kaskian. The Indo-Europeans are further sub-divided into those who may be termed Anatolian natives and those whose origins were elsewhere. Native Anatolians included the Hittites, Luwians and the Lydians; incoming races included the Armenians, Greeks, Phrygians and Thracians.

Indo-European peoples

Anatolian peoples (Anatolian Indo-European)

Hittites

Luwians

Western Anatolian

  • Lydians
    • Kaystrianoi / Caystriani
    • Kilbianoi / Cilbiani

Palaic peoples

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

Celts

Galatians

Greeks

Phrygians

  • Kaourkoi / Caurci?
  • Fontes?

Mysians

  • 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

Bithynians

Thynians

Possible Indo-European peoples

Hayasa-Azzi

Mushki

Urumu

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

Tibareni

Diauehi

  • 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

Non-Indo-European peoples

Kartvelians

Colchians

Possible Kartvelian peoples

Eastern Mushki

Tibareni

Hurrians

  • 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 (predecessors of the Armenians, they spoke a language similar to Hurrians)

Linguistically unclassified peoples

Hattians

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.

Kaskians

Possibly connected to Hattians and/or Northwest Caucasians.

See also

References

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

Further reading

  • 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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