CFAH-13: The Hittites, Cimmerians, and Medes

This paper identifies several kings of the New Kingdom Hittites as the same men from the archaeologically missing Median Empire. Mursilis II, Muwatallis II, and Hattusilis III are identifiable in the classical histories as Tugdamme the Cimmerian, Madyes the Scythian, and Cyaxares the Mede. We conclude the Median Empire would have been more accurately called the Cimmerian Empire, and that it was a coalition of Cimmerians, Scythians, and Medes who occupied and rebuilt Hattusa as their Western capital from about 705 to 547 BC, and adopted its language and script.