Ahhiyawa and the world of the Great Kings: A re-evaluation of Mycenaean political structures

Kelder reviews the evidence for the political organisation of Mycenaean Greece and its identification with Ahhiyawa in Hittite texts, asking whether the palaces were independent states, a confederation or parts of a hierarchical kingdom. He draws on Linear B records from Knossos, Pylos and Thebes, Hittite references to Ahhiyawa, palace layouts, roads and regional infrastructure, and Mycenaean finds and contacts across the eastern Mediterranean. The sections run from the state of the question through the reliability of the Hittite texts, Ahhiyawan political structures and the modalities of diplomatic contact to a conclusion on Ahhiyawa's place in the International Age.

The Hittite references to Ahhiyawa fall in the period 1400–1220 BCE, and the title Great King is attached to its ruler around the mid-13th century BCE. Kelder argues that Linear B tablets document palace administration but cannot establish political borders, and he rejects their use as proof of separate kingdoms. The Hittite title, in his reading, supports a hierarchical kingdom rather than a confederation. He proposes that the wanax may have been a travelling Great King, with local rulers represented by the lawagetas (pp. 41–46).

Kelder also considers the Hittite letter KUB 26.91 and an inscription at Tiryns described as probably Ugaritic, and evidence for writing on wooden boards and other perishable materials. He concludes that the available evidence is consistent with a unified Mycenaean state, while the absence of diplomatic archives leaves its internal political arrangements conjectural. Mycenae may have been the heartland and seat of the Great King, he suggests, and Mycenaean-Hittite correspondence may have used Akkadian, though this remains hypothetical (pp. 46–50). Kelder argues that the heartland may reasonably be identified as the Argolid.