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Awarikus () or Warikas () was a king of the Neo-Hittite kingdom of Ḫiyawa in Cilicia who reigned during the mid to late 8th century BCE, from around to 709 BCE.
The scholars Stephen Durnford and Max Gander consider Awarikus/Warikas to be different from the king of the Cebelireis Daǧı inscription, whom they identify as a later ruler who reigned in the 7th century BCE, while Mirko Novák and Andreas Fuchs consider the king of the Cebelireis Daǧı inscription to have been identical with Awarikus/Warikas.
Awarikus remained loyal to the Neo-Assyrian Empire during conflicts opposing it to Arpad, Gurgum, Kummuh, Samʾal and Urartu, in exchange of which Tiglath-pileser III rewarded him with lands belonging to Arpad, Samʾal and Gurgum.
Awarikus seems to have remained a loyal vassal of the Neo-Assyrian Empire throughout most of his reign, thanks to which he was able to reign in Ḫiyawa for a very long period until throughout the rules of Tiglath-pileser III and his successor Shalmaneser V, and was still reigning when Sargon II became the king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire.
Ḫiyawa under Awarikus likely cooperated with the Neo-Assyrian forces during Tiglath-pileser III's campaign in the Tabalian region in 729 BCE.
In his inscription from his later reign, Awarikus claimed to have enjoyed good relations with his overlord, the Neo-Assyrian king Sargon II, with Awarikus's relation with Sargon II appearing to have been an alliance or partnership through a treaty according to which Sargon II was the protector and suzerain of Awarikus. According to this inscription, Awarikus had a very close relationship with Sargon II, and he declared that Sargon II himself and the Neo-Assyrian royal dynasty had become "a mother and father" to him and that the peoples of Ḫiyawa and Assyria had "become one house."
According to this same inscription, Awarikus had built 15 fortresses in the west and east of Ḫiyawa.
Assuming the king of the Cebelires Daǧı inscription was the same as Awarikus of Ḫiyawa, his kingdom might have extended to the western limits of Rough Cilicia and nearly reached Pamphylia, and would thus have included Ḫilakku.
At one point during his reign, Awarikus promoted a certain Azzattiwadas to a position of authority subordinate to the crown, although exact details of Azzattiwadas's exact rank have so far not survived. According to Azzattiwadas's own inscriptions, he was a servant of Baʿal and the King, and he was "father and mother," that is the de facto ruler, of the whole kingdom of Ḫiyawa.
Other monuments of Awarikus include a stela from İncirli and a border stone from Hasanbeyli.
As part of his reorganisation of the Anatolian possessions of the Neo-Assyrian Empire after the annexation of Bīt-Burutaš, in 713 BCE itself Sargon II imposed a Neo-Assyrian governor on Ḫiyawa who also had authority on Bīt-Burutaš, as well as on the nearby kingdoms of Ḫilakku and Tuwana.
Under this arrangement, Awarikus became subordinate to Aššur-šarru-uṣur, who was the first governor of Que, as Ḫiyawa was called in the Neo-Assyrian Akkadian language. Thus, Awarikus was either reduced to the status of a token king or deposed and demoted to a lower position such as an advisor of the governor, while Aššur-šarru-uṣur held all the effective power although the Neo-Assyrian administration sought to preserve, for diplomatic purposes, the illusion that Awarikus was still the ruler of Ḫiyawa in partnership with Aššur-šarru-uṣur.
Thus Ḫiyawa and other nearby Anatolian kingdoms were placed the authority of Aššur-šarru-uṣur. Following the appointment of Aššur-šarru-uṣur, Awarikus of Ḫiyawa and Warpalawas II of Tuwana became largely symbolic rulers although they might have still held the power to manage their kingdoms locally.
The reason for these changes was due to the fact that, although Awarikus and Warpalawas II had been loyal Neo-Assyrian vassals, Sargon II considered them as being too elderly to be able to efficiently uphold Neo-Assyrian authority in southeastern Anatolia, where the situation had become volatile because of encroachment by the then growing power of Phrygia.
This embassy was however intercepted by the king Midas of Phrygia, who was seeking a rapprochement with the Neo-Assyrian Empire and therefore handed it over to Aššur-šarru-uṣur.
Awarikus was consequently deposed, and possibly executed, by the Neo-Assyrian Empire for attempting to revolt, after which Ḫiyawa was annexed into the Neo-Assyrian Empire as the province of Que, and Aššur-šarru-uṣur was given full control of Que, which merely formalised the powers that he had already held.
The exact fate of Awarikus is however unknown, and he might already have been dead by the time that Midas handed over his delegation to Assur-sarru-usur, hence why no mention of punishing him appears in the Neo-Assyrian records.
Alternatively, Awarikus's conspiracy with Urartu had already been uncovered sometime between 727 and 722 BCE and he was deposed and executed during the reign of Shalmaneser V itself, while his emissaries fled to the court of Midas in Phrygia and remained there in exile for some years, until they were delivered into Neo-Assyrian hands only after Midas had aligned with the Neo-Assyrian Empire in 710/709 BCE.
Among the territories which were destabilised in the aftermath of Sargon II's death in battle was Ḫiyawa, where Awarikus's subordinate Azzattiwadas organised a significant military force to restore authority throughout the kingdom by expelling possible Cimmerian or Phrygian invaders. As part of his efforts to protect Ḫiyawa, Azzattiwadas built a series of fortifications throughout the kingdom similar to how his overlord had done, one of which was Karatepe named Azzattiwadaya (; ) after himself. Azzattiwadas also claimed to have expanded the territory of Ḫiyawa, to which he declared having brought prosperity, as well as filled the granaries of the city of Paḫar and replenished the grazing lands with sheep and goats.
These actions of Azzattiwadas were done in the name of the House of Muksas, which he restored to power by placing Awarikus's son on the throne of Ḫiyawa.
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