The identification of this with Classical Miletos, long the focus of fervent scholarly debate, is of crucial significance for the interpretation of the historical geography of Late Bronze Age western Anatolia. If it is placed much further north near the Sea of Marmora, in the area here identified as Wilusa, then a whole string of geographical locations has to follow. This did seem perfectly arguable, along with locations for a number of lands further east and closer to the Hittite homeland, before the discovery of new inscriptions of Tudhaliya IV. All these clarify points of geography, not least among these being the Bronze Tablet. Linguistically, there has been some doubt about the identification of Millawanda with the Greek form Miletos, owing to the disparity with the Late Bronze Greek (Mycenaean) form of the name. On the other hand, the Hittites, unfamiliar with this place-name, may well have given it a form more acceptable to them, by adding the suffix -wanda, occurring in some 50 names, while the prefix mil- is common in Hittite contexts. The weight of probability therefore now favors equating Millawanda and its alternative form Milawata with Miletos, fitting in with the archaeological evidence. In the third year of Mursili II, Millawanda became in some way involved in an anti-Hittite alliance led by Uhhaziti, king of Arzawa, and by Ahhiyawa. Hittite commanders were dispatched against Millawanda. Though this may have been little more than a raid, the destruction of Level II at Miletos, revealed by excavations, could be connected with this Hittite intervention, lacking textual support. Miletos throve as a port, on the maritime trade, yet was geographically isolated from the Anatolian hinterland, explaining the evident inability of Mursili II to retain control of Millawanda-Miletos. The pottery of both Troy and Millawanda, however, shows changes in the phase termed by Mycenaean scholars Late Helladic IIIB which could reflect the destruction of greater Arzawa by Mursili II and its reduction to a number of vassal kingdoms.
valley to Iyalanda-Alinda. From the city of Iyalanda he attacked the land of that name, then advancing to the boundary of Millawanda, which probably extended across the isthmus of the peninsula on which Millawanda stood. There he negotiated the surrender of the renegade fugitive Piyamaradu. It is quite clear that Millawanda was now ruled by Ahhiyawa. Although it might be thought that Millawanda was of major significance to the Hittite kings, it meant much more to the Mycenaean merchants and settlers from Ahhiyawa. In fact, Millawanda is mentioned in only three Hittite sources, the Extended Annals of Mursili II and the Tawagalawa and Milawata letters of Hattusili III and Tudhaliya IV respectively, in the latter commanding but three lines. The Hittite kings were more concerned with territories a little removed from the coast; and it seems that Tudhaliya IV, in addressing “my son,” was writing to Tarkasnawa, king of Mira, who was holding the ruler of Wilusa, Walmu. In the generations following the end of the Hittite Empire and of the Late Bronze Age world, many settlements in western Anatolia perished; but major communities, including Miletos, survived. Indeed they prospered, with the whole region, benefiting from the immigration of Aeolian and Ionian settlers from across the Aegean Sea.
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