Wilusa

Wilusa is the name used in Hittite cuneiform sources for a polity located in western Anatolia, generally associated with the city known in Greek tradition as Ilios or Ilion, i.e., Troy, in the Troad. The Hittite form is usually transliterated as Wilu-za, and the identification with a western Anatolian city or region is a central point of scholarly discussion.

Attestations of Wilusa appear in Hittite texts from the second millennium BCE, especially in diplomatic and political contexts that describe relations with western Anatolian polities and with the Aegean world. In these documents Wilusa is presented as a known neighbor to the Hittite Empire and is sometimes connected with interactions involving Ahhiyawa, a term typically associated with Mycenaean Greece. The materials are fragmentary, but they are interpreted as indicating a recognizable political center or alliance network in the Troad.

Identification with Troy is the prevailing view among scholars. The geographic references, the similarity of the name, and the broader cultural context support equating Wilusa with Ilios/Ilion in the western Anatolian coast. Some scholars, however, have proposed that Wilusa could refer to a broader region rather than a single city, leading to cautious formulations about its exact political scope. Despite these debates, the consensus identifies Wilusa with the Troy of classical memory, at least as a major western polis known to the Hittites.

Wilusa's mentions contribute to understanding Bronze Age diplomacy between the Hittite Empire and western Anatolian/Mycenaean circles and illuminate early知 relations that would echo in later traditions about Troy. See also Troy, Hittite Empire, Ahhiyawa.