kingdom · Anatolia and the Levant

Melid

1180 BCE – 712 BCE (approx.) · capital Melid

Melid, a Neo-Hittite kingdom at Malatya on the upper Euphrates, ruled by heirs of the Hittite royal house until Assyria annexed it.

Origins

Melid, at Arslantepe near Malatya, had been an important town since the 4th millennium BCE. After the Hittite Empire fell c. 1180 BCE, a dynasty descended from Kuzi-Teshub of the Kingdom of Carchemish ruled the region, also called Kammanu, as an independent kingdom.

Rule and society

Its kings wrote Luwian hieroglyphic inscriptions and adorned the gate of their citadel with reliefs of lions and of the king pouring offerings to the storm god, now in Ankara. Melid lived from the farmland of the Malatya plain and the river crossing, paying tribute to the Assyrian Empire or the Kingdom of Urartu.

Decline and legacy

Sargon II of the Assyrian Empire deposed King Tarhunazi in 712 BCE, made Melid an Assyrian province and gave part of it to Kummuh. The Neo-Hittite citadel at Arslantepe was later abandoned.

Lineage

Viceroyalty of Carchemish 1340 BCE – 1180 BCEMelid

Connections (1)

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Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Melid. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/melid
MLA
“Melid.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/melid. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Melid.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/melid.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Melid’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/melid (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻