Attarsiya Attarsiya was a 15th - 14th century BC military leader of Ahhiya . In the Hittite archives of c . 1400 BC he is described as a " man from Ahhiya " , a country identified with the Achaeans and Mycenaean Greece . The campaigns of Attarsiya , as well as his conflict with the Hittite vassal , Madduwatta , represent the first recorded Mycenaean Greek military activity on the Anatolian mainland , as well as the first conflict between Achaeans and Hittites . Contemporary Hittite accounts about the campaigns of Attarsiya and the Ahhiya in general , may indicate that there was a possible Mycenaean empire centered on late Bronze Age Greece . Moreover , Attarsiya might be a possible Hittite reconstruction of the Greek name Atreus , a king of Mycenae according to Greek Mythology . Background . All we know about Attarsiya is recorded in the Hittite archives , in particular in the " Indictment of Madduwata " . He is described as a " man from Ahhiya " , which is a typical Hittite way to refer to an enemy king . This makes Attarsiya the first known Achaean leader . Nevertheless , the exact authority of Attarsiya of Ahhiya is unclear . According to the Hittite descriptions he might have been a local Achaean ruler in western Anatolia rather than a recognized supreme leader of all the Achaeans . The chronology of the correspondent Hittite texts was initially estimated at the end of 13th century BC , but more recent research placed it , together with the events described , two centuries earlier . Military campaigns . The campaigns of Attarsiya represent the earliest recorded Mycenaean Greek military activity on the Anatolian mainland , as well as the first conflict between Achaeans and Hittites . It seems that these campaigns made a big impression on the local population , while a decorated shard of pottery from the Hittite capital , Hattusa , from that time , appears to depict a warrior of typical Achaean appearance , with body armor and boar ' s tusk helmet . Achaean military activity in the Anatolian coast continues to be attested through several Hittite records until ca . 1250 BC . Anatolia . The Hittite archives of c . 1400 BC , during the reign of Arnuwanda I , describe the military campaign of Attarsiya in southwest Anatolia , probably in Lycia . He probably used the city of Milet , in west coast Anatolia , which was already under Achaean influence , as a military base . Attarsiya launched a campaign deploying an army that included 100 war chariots and attacked regions which were Hittite vassals , or at least under a certain decree of Hittite influence . Among them , he attacked the Hittite vassal , Madduwatta , possibly a prince of the kingdom of Arzawa , and managed to expel him from his country . The latter found refuge in the court of the Hittite ruler and was installed by him as a vassal in Zipasla , somewhere in western Anatolia . However , Attarsiyas attacked the region and the Hittite vassal was unable to provide any opposition . The Achaean expedition in Anatolia is associated with increased Mycenaean findings in Milet during this period ( early 14th century BC ) , indicating that a number of Greek people moved from mainland Greece to this region . As a result of Achaean military activity in the region , the Hittites dispatched an army under Kisnapli . The " Indictment of Madduwatta " gives a brief description of the battle : The way the conflict is described , by counting only two casualties , may point that there was a duel between the nobles of the two sides . However , it is also possible that the dead among the common soldiers were not considered important to mention . The outcome of the battle remained unresolved , although Attarsiya finally decided to withdraw from battlefield . After his retreat from the Anatolian mainland , Madduwatta was again installed as a Hittite vassal in the region . Cyprus . Latter , Attarsiya , still posing a threat to the Hittites , invaded the island of Alashiya ( Cyprus ) together with a number of his Anatolian allies , including his former enemy Madduwatta . This worried the Hittites since they considered the island one of their dependencies . The Mycenaean presence in Cyprus is also associated with archaeological evidence , since Mycenaean Greek settlements dating from that time were unearthed there . Possibility of a Mycenaean empire . It has been established in modern scholarship that the Hittite term Ahhiya ( or Ahhiyawa in latter texts ) refers to Mycenaean Greek territory and its inhabitants , the Achaeans , one of the names that Homer used to refer to the Greeks in the Iliad . Historically important about the Achaeans in the time of Attarsiya is that they undertook an expedition to Anatolia , as well as Cyprus . The latter expedition indicates that the Achaean leader commanded a significant fleet and that the Achaeans were a sea power . According to the Hittite descriptions , it appears that the Ahhiya were a powerful empire , at the same scale as contemporary Egypt , Assyria and the Hittite Empire . Moreover , based on the fact that Attarsiya launched a military campaign in Anatolia and fielded one hundred chariots , in addition to infantry , Dutch researcher Jorrit Kelder suggested that Ahhiya must have had the military capacity of at least three times the size of the Mycenaean kingdom of Pylos , based on the information recorded on the Linear B tablets unearthed from the specific palace . Based on this view , the Achaeans under Attarsiya may have formed some kind of alliance which included several Mycenaean kingdoms . Link with mythical Atreus . It has been suggested by several scholars that Attarsiya might be a possible Hittite reconstruction of the Greek name Atreus , a mythical king of Mycenae and father of Agamemnon . However , other scholars argue that even though the name is probably Greek , since he is described as an Ahhiya and connected to Atreus , the person carrying the name is not necessarily identical to the famous Atreus of mythology . According to an alternative view presented by Hittitologist Albrecht Goetze , Attarsiya might be probably a possessive adjective , meaning " belonging to Atreus " ( Atreides ) , which was a typical Homeric term to refer to the sons of Atreus , Agamemnon and Menelaus , throughout the Iliad .