kingdom · Anatolia and the Levant
Isuwa
Origins
Isuwa lay in the Elazığ plain, east of the Euphrates in eastern Anatolia, a region rich in copper. It emerged as a kingdom by the 15th century BCE, inhabited by Hurrian-speaking people in the borderland between the Hittite Empire and the Mitanni Empire.
Rule and society
Little is known of its government beyond Hittite treaties. Isuwa sheltered refugees from Hittite lands and often sided with Mitanni. Salvage excavations before the Keban Dam flooded the plain uncovered fortified towns of the period.
Decline and legacy
Suppiluliuma I of the Hittite Empire conquered Isuwa in the 14th century BCE and made it a vassal. After the Hittite collapse c. 1200 BCE, the region probably passed to the kingdom of Melid.
Few sources survive for this state; details are uncertain.
On the connections map
Open the full map →Connections (2)
- Isuwa was a vassal of Mitanni Empire1450 BCE – 1350 BCE
- Isuwa was a vassal of Hittite Empire1350 BCE – 1200 BCE
More states of Anatolia and the Levant →
Cite this page
- APA
- The Epoch Institute. (2026). Isuwa. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/isuwa
- MLA
- “Isuwa.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/isuwa. Accessed .
- Chicago
- The Epoch Institute. “Isuwa.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/isuwa.
- Harvard
- The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Isuwa’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/isuwa (Accessed: ).
Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻