The role and importance of Gaskanians in history of Hittites

The State of Hittites, which was a great political power in Anatolia in 2.Millenium B.C., was under the threat of a barbaric nation that was living in tribes at thetime. These were the Kaskas, which had settled in North Anatolia.Hittites had to struggle with the Kaskas from the earlier time their establishmentuntil they fell down. We get the most accurate an reliable information about the Kaskasfrom Hittites sources. It is also known to us that the Kaskas are mentioned in Egyptianand Assyrian political resources.Almost every king of the Hittites is known to have attacked on the Kaskas. Forthis reason, many documents that belong to the Hittite refer to the Kaskas. Thealmanacs of Tuthalya II., heroism texts of Suppililiuma I., the almanacs of Mursili II.and the autobiograpy of Hattusili III. give information of great significance about theKaskas. In addition, the Kaskas name is also referred to in agrrements the Hittite madewith other Anatolian kingdoms.The Kaskas first appeared in the Hittite history during the Ancient Kingdom Era.However, the first and mos detailed document that referred to the Kaskas is the prayertexts that belonged to King Arnuvanda I. and Queen Asmunikal of the New KingdomPeriod.The Kaskas lived in tribes independent of each other, and each tribe had its ownChief. As should be inferred, no central authority authority was in question. For thisreason, the were never able to dominate that nation. This warlike nation, having raidedover the Hittite unexpectelly, became part of their foreign policy and a problemnecessary to solve for every king newly throned. The State of Hittite, which came downunder the effect of the Aegean Immigrations, continued their struggle until the lastmoment. While, on the one land, they were fighting against the immigrant nations, theHittite had to continue their struggle with the Kaskas, on the other hand. Therefore, theirforces were broken into pieces and were worn out. The Kaskas caused the Hittite, themost powerful state of the 2. millenium B.C., to fall down by attacking them when theywere most weakened.