James Osborne | Great King Hartapu and Beyond: Türkmen-Karahöyük and an Iron Age Ruler

"Great King Hartapu and Beyond: Türkmen-Karahöyük and the Bronze and Iron Age Context of an Iron Age Ruler," with James Osborne
September 30, 2026
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Great King Hartapu has long been one of ancient Anatolia's most enigmatic rulers: known since the early 20th century from isolated landscape monuments and nothing else, this king has been difficult to place in time and space. That changed dramatically in 2019 with the discovery of a new inscription by Hartapu at the site of Türkmen-Karahöyük, a text that describes Hartapu's conquest of Phrygia, the greatest power of Iron Age Anatolia, and 13 other local kingdoms. In part thanks to that discovery, ISAC and Bilkent University launched the Türkmen-Karahöyük Archaeological Project (TKAP) in 2024.