Dura was an ancient region of Anatolia located west of the Kızılırmak River and one of the lands of the Assuwa coalition that opposed the Hittites. It is mentioned only in the Annals of Tudḫaliya, a text that chronicled the acts of Hittite monarch Tudḫaliya I.Bryce, Trevor. (1999). The Kingdom of the Hittites. United Kingdom, Oxford University Press. Google Books.
Etymology
The etymology of Dura is unknown. It was one of six lands identified by the Hittites with the dur root,Weeden, Mark. (2017). A Hittite Tablet from Büklükale. Academia.eduGarstang, J. (2017). The Geography of the Hittite Empire. United Kingdom: British Institute at Ankara.Kryszeń, A. (2016). A Historical Geography of the Hittite Heartland. Germany: Ugarit-Verlag. possibly from the Akkadian language e.durû meaning "settlement"Zikir Šumim: Assyriological Studies Presented to F.R. Kraus on the Occasion of His Seventieth Birthday SUJE Kraus, F.R.. (2024). Germany: Brill. and/or "the area around a city or village.Hallo, W. W. (1991). The book of the people. Atlanta: Scholars Press. The root dur was commonly appended to the name of cities by the Kassites after the Hittite sack of Babylon in 1595 BCBeaulieu, P. (2018). A History of Babylon, 2200 BC - AD 75. United Kingdom: ve beenWiley. and had the meaning "fortification" or "city wall.""dūru A", in The Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago (CAD), Chicago: University of Chicago Oriental Institute, 1956–2011
History
Dura is named as one of the lands that comprised the Assuwa coalition, a military confederacy of twenty-two towns that opposed the Hittite army as it campaigned west of the Maraššantiya:
The site has yet to be archaeologically located and It does not appear to be attested anywhere else.Gander, Max. (2022). The West: Philology, p. 264-266. Hittite Landscape and Geography, Netherlands: Brill. Academia.edu See generally the debate concerning the location of Assuwa.
See also Ancient regions of Anatolia Assuwa
References