# List of ancient peoples of Anatolia

Part of a series on the :
History of Turkey :
PrehistoryPrehistory of Anatolia
Palaeolithic Anatolia c. 500,000–  10,000 BC Mesolithic Anatolia c. 11,000–  9,000 BC Neolithic Anatolia c. 8,000–  5,500 BC :
Bronze AgeTroy 3000–700 BCHattians 2500–2000 BCAkkadian Empire 2400–2150 BCLuwians 2300–1400 BCAssyria 1950–1750 BCKussara 1780–1680 BCAchaeans (Homer) 1700–1300 BCKizzuwatna 1650–1450 BCHittites 1680–1220 BCArzawa 1500–1320 BCMitanni 1500–1300 BCHayasa-Azzi 1500–1290 BCLycia 1450–350 BCAssuwa 1300–1250 BCDiauehi 1200–800 BCNeo-Hittites 1200–800 BCPhrygia 1200–700 BCCaria 1150–547 BCTuwanuwa 1000–700 BCIonia 1000–545 BCUrartu 859–595/585 BC :
Iron AgeDiauehi 1200–800 BCNeo-Hittites 1200–800 BCPhrygia 1200–700 BCCaria 1150–547 BCDoris 1100–560 BCAeolis 1000–560 BCTuwanuwa 1000–700 BCIonia 1000–545 BCUrartu 859–595/585 BCMedian Empire 678–549 BCLydia 685–547 BC :
Classical AgeClassical AnatoliaClassical Thrace
Achaemenid Empire 559–331 BCKingdom of Alexander the Great 334–301 BCKingdom of Cappadocia 322–130 BCAntigonids 306–168 BCSeleucid Empire 305–64 BCPtolemaic Kingdom 305–30 BCKingdom of Pontus 302–64 BCBithynia 297–74 BCAttalid kingdom 282–129 BCGalatia 281–64 BCParthian Empire 247 BC–224 ADArmenian Empire 190 BC–428 ADRoman Republic 133–27 BCCommagene 163 BC–72 ADAncient Rome 133 BC-27 BC–330 ADSasanian Empire 224–651 AD (briefly in Anatolia) :
Medieval AgeMedieval Anatolia
Eastern Roman Empire (330–1453; 1204-1261 in exile as Empire of Nicaea)Rashidun Caliphate (637–656)Great Seljuk State (1037–1194)Danishmends (1071–1178)Sultanate of Rum (1077–1307)Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia (1078–1375)Anatolian beyliks (1081–1423)County of Edessa (1098–1150)Artuqids (1101–1409)Empire of Trebizond (1204–1461)Latin Empire (1204–1261)Karamanids (1250–1487)Ilkhanate (1256–1335)Kara Koyunlu (1375–1468)Ak Koyunlu (1378–1501) :
Ottoman EraPeriods of Ottoman Empire
Rise (1299–1453) Classical Age (1453–1566) Transformation (1566–1703) Old Regime (1703–1789) Decline and modernization (1789–1908) Defeat and dissolution (1908–1922) :
Republic of TurkeyPeriods of Turkey
War of Independence (1919–1922) Provisional government (1920–1923) One-party period (1923–1930) (1930–1945) Multi-party period (1945–present) :
By topic
Turkic migration
Oghuz Turks
Turkification
Ancient peoples of Anatolia
History of Anatolia
History of Thrace
Religion
Islam
Christianity
Judaism
Economic history
Military history
Diplomatic history
Constitutional history
Cultural history
Genetic history
LGBT history :
Timeline :
Turkey portal :
vte :
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 peoples and its history is characterised by different waves of population movement. The earliest recorded inhabitants of Anatolia were the Hattians and Hurrians, non-Indo-European peoples who lived in Anatolia as early as c. 2300 BC. Indo-European Hittites came to Anatolia and gradually absorbed the Hattians and Hurrians c. 2000 – c. 1700 BC. Besides Hittites, Anatolian peoples included Luwians, Palaic peoples and Lydians. They spoke Anatolian languages. Other incoming people include Armenians, Greeks, Phrygians and Thracians.

## Assyrians

Ancient Assyrians spoke multiple languages such as Akkadian language, Sumerian and Aramaic languages

## 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). Possibly connected to Northwest Caucasians.

## 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)

## Indo-European peoples
### Anatolian peoples (Anatolian Indo-European)
#### Hittites

* Cappadocians? / Leucosyri? (Cappadocians and Leucosyri were the same people; Cappadocians was the Persian name and Leukosyroi the Greek name, Leucosyri is the Latin name based on Greek) (Cappadocians also inhabited the West Pontus that originally was part of Cappadocia)
** Amiseni? (inhabited Themiscyra district in West Pontus)
** Kases? / Cases?
* Cataonians?

#### Luwians

* Carians
* Cilicians
** Clitae
* Isaurians
* Leleges?
* Lycaonians
* Lycians
* Philistines? - notably inhabited Palestine; their inclusion here is tenuous as they may have had an Anatolian origin
* Pisidians / Pamphylians (Pamphylians, on the coast, and Pisidians, in the inland, were the same people and spoke the same language, the difference was that Anatolian Pamphylians were more Greek influenced since Iron Age) (there was an Anatolian Pamphylian dialect, part of the Pisidian language, and a Pamphylian Greek dialect, part of Ancient Greek, depending on the degree of Hellenization)
** Homanades (Homana or Homona was their main settlement)
* Sidians
* Solymoi / Solymi
** Milyans / Milyae
* Telchines?
Western Anatolian
* Lydians
** Kaystrianoi / Caystriani
** Kilbianoi / Cilbiani
* Trojans

#### Palaic peoples

* Paphlagonians?
** Caucones? / Kaukauni?
** Heneti?
** Mariandyni?
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)

### Celts
#### Galatians

* Tectosages
* Tolistobogii / Tolistobogioi
* Trocmi / Trokmoi
* Aigosages, between Troy and Cyzicus
* Daguteni, in modern Marmara region around Orhaneli
* Inovanteni, east of the Trocnades
* Okondiani, between Phrygia and Galatia northeast of modern Akşehir Gölü
* Rigosages, unlocated

### Greeks

* Central-Eastern Greeks
** Central Greeks
*** Aeolians
** Eastern Greeks
*** Achaeans (possible inhabitants of a land called Ahhiyawa by the Hittites)
*** Ionians
* Western Greeks
** Dorians

### 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?

### Possible Indo-European peoples
#### Hayasa-Azzi

* Hayasans (Proto-Armenians?)
* Azzians (Proto-Armenians?)

#### Mushki

* Mushki
** Western Mushki (synonymous of the Phrygians? and related Mysians?)
** Eastern Mushki (Proto-Armenians?)
*** Moschi-Mossynoeci
**** Moschi (possible Mushki, Indo-European?, origin, assimilated by old Kartvelian peoples and named Meskhetians, the inhabitants of Meskheti in far southwestern Georgia - Sakartvelo)
**** Mossynoeci (possible Mushki, Indo-European?, origin, assimilated by old Kartvelian peoples and named Meskhetians, the inhabitants of Meskheti in far southwestern Georgia - Sakartvelo)

#### Urumu

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

#### Tibareni

* Tibareni (several Classical Antiquity authors such as Herodotus, Xenophon and Strabo believed that they were of Scythian origin)

#### 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

## Kartvelian peoples
### Colchians

* Byzeres (The name of the historical region Odzrkhe is derived from the name of this tribe - Vidzerukh / Viterukh / Odzr(a)khe / Odzrkhe)
* Drilae / Sanni
** Drilae (according to Arrian, Drilae and Sanni were the same people) (ancestors of present-day Zans)
** Sanni (ancestors of present-day Zans)
* Machelones-Macrones
** Machelones (closely related to the Macrones)
** Macrones (ancestors of present-day Mingrelians)
* Marres
* Phasians
* Zydretae

### Possible Kartvelian peoples
#### Eastern Mushki

* Moschi-Mossynoeci
** Moschi (possible Mushki, Kartvelian?, origin, and named Meskhetians, the inhabitants of Meskheti in far southwestern Georgia - Sakartvelo)
** Mossynoeci (possible Mushki, Kartvelian?, origin, and named Meskhetians, the inhabitants of Meskheti in far southwestern Georgia - Sakartvelo)

#### Tibareni

* Tibareni (several Classical Antiquity authors such as Herodotus, Xenophon and Strabo believed that they were of Scythian origin)

## Kaskians

Possibly connected to Hattians and/or Northwest Caucasians.