The Forgotten King of the Dead: The Rise and Fall of Tarkasnawa of Mira

 In the shadow of the Hittite Empire, a lesser-known king carved his name into stone and vanished into dust. For over 3,000 years, his story was buried — until a fragment of limestone revealed a tale of loyalty, rebellion, and a lost kingdom called Mira.

🏛 Who Was Tarkasnawa?

Tarkasnawa ruled a kingdom called Mira, located in what is now western Turkey, around 1250 BCE. Mira was a vassal state of the powerful Hittite Empire, and Tarkasnawa was both a loyal subject and a subtle challenger to the fading superpower.

His name would have been lost forever — if not for an accident of archaeology.

In the 19th century, a piece of limestone was discovered near Beyköy, Turkey, inscribed with ancient Luwian hieroglyphs. For decades, no one could read it. Locals used it as building material. Scholars dismissed it.

But then, it spoke.

🗿 The Stone That Spoke

Only in 2017 did a team of scholars, using old rubbings and photographs, decode the Beyköy inscription. The result shocked the world:

It mentioned Tarkasnawa, the King of Mira, and placed him on the map — literally.

This was the first time in centuries a new king from the Late Bronze Age had been confirmed outside of Egypt, Mesopotamia, or the Hittites.

The inscription described alliances, rivalries, and even references to Wilusa — a city many believe is the ancient Troy.

Could Tarkasnawa have been involved in the politics that would later become the Trojan War legend?

🤫 A Power in the Shadows

While the Hittites waged war and struggled against Egypt, Tarkasnawa may have:

  • Consolidated power in the western frontier

  • Negotiated trade with Aegean city-states

  • Prepared for a power vacuum as empires collapsed

His silence in major Hittite archives may not be omission — but strategy.

Some scholars now believe Mira was part of a rising coalition of western Anatolian states that played a role in the Bronze Age Collapse, a series of mysterious, simultaneous destructions that ended nearly every major civilization of the age.

💀 The Collapse — and His Disappearance

Within 50 years of Tarkasnawa’s rule, everything fell apart:

  • The Hittite Empire vanished.

  • Mycenaean Greece was destroyed.

  • Troy (Wilusa?) burned.

  • Writing disappeared across the region.

Mira? Gone.
Tarkasnawa? Lost.
Even his stone? Built into someone’s barn wall.

It took 3,000 years for the world to hear his name again.

🧭 What His Legacy Means Today

Tarkasnawa may have been one of the last kings to rule before the ancient world reset itself.

His rediscovery is more than a trivia fact — it changes how we see ancient geopolitics, confirming that small kingdoms held great influence in the era of collapsing giants.

Today, archaeologists are racing to find his lost capital. And the questions remain:

  • Did he survive the collapse?

  • Was he a rebel? A loyalist? A warlord?

  • And how many more names lie beneath our feet?

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  3. 🎧 [Audiobook] “Lost Cities of the Ancient World”
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