Who were the Lukka? (Sea Peoples of Lycia in Late Bronze Age)

In this livestreamed episode from Wanax TV, the presenter examines the Lukka of southwestern Anatolia across the Late Bronze Age, tracking their appearance in Hittite and Egyptian records and their place among the Sea Peoples. The video opens with an overview of the Sea Peoples and the Lukka lands in Lycia before working chronologically through Bronze Age texts, from the Assuwa confederation and the Tawagalawa letter to the campaigns under Merneptah and Ramesses III.

Cyprus enters the account as the kingdom of Alashiya during two episodes. In the section on the Indictment of Madduwatta and the mid-14th century BC, the presenter discusses raids on Cyprus carried out by the Lukka alongside Mycenaeans and Madduwatta. He notes that Alashiya was treated as a major power because of its role in the copper trade. In the Amarna letters between Alashiya and Egypt, the Lukka are reported seizing Alashiyan villages while Egypt accuses Cypriots of collaborating with Lukka raiders against Egyptian territory.

The second Cypriot segment concerns the late 13th and early 12th centuries BC. Drawing on the archives of Ugarit, the presenter describes how Alashiya, Ugarit and Carchemish faced seaborne attacks. He cites King Ammurapi of Ugarit addressing the king of Alashiya as "my father" and explaining that Ugarit is undefended because its troops and chariots are in Hatti and its ships are off the coast of Lukka. The presenter places the destruction of Alashiya shortly after c. 1180 BC, alongside Hattusa and Ugarit, and argues that Mycenaean Greeks destroyed Alashiya and subsequently colonized Cyprus, establishing the island's Greek city-kingdoms.