Ilya Yakubovich

Luwiya is known from the Old Hittite Laws as a part of the Kingdom of Hattusa, whose population enjoyed less legal protection than the Hittites. Given that this toponym provides a derivational basis for the designation of the Luwian language, it is likely to refer to the homeland of the Luwians. Using the method of exclusion, the author endevoured to identify Luwiya among all the regions associated with Luwian speakers in the Late Bronze Age. The western part of the Central Anatolian Plateau, known as the Lower Land from the Late Hittite sources, emerges as the most likely candidate. The paper advances arguments against the popular identification of Luwiya with Arzawa, a region adjacent to the Aegean coast of Asia Minor. On the methodological level, the author has attempted to demonstrate the necessity to tackle this problem on the basis of a holistic analysis of primary sources, as opposed to their interpretation in subsequent tradition.