Alashiya, also spelled Alasiya, also known as the Kingdom of Alashiya, was a state which existed in the Middle and Late Bronze Ages, and was situated somewhere in the Eastern Mediterranean. It was a major source of goods, especially copper, for ancient Egypt and other states in the Ancient Near East. It is referred to in a number of the surviving texts and is now thought to be the ancient name of Cyprus, or an area of Cyprus. This was confirmed by the scientific analysis performed in Tel Aviv University of the clay tablets which were sent from Alashiya to other rulers.
One of the Amarna letters. Correspondence between a king of Alashiya and Amenhotep III of Egypt. Circa 1380 BCE. From Tell el-Amarna, Egypt. Vorderasiatisches Museum, Berlin
Amarna letter. "Message from the king of Alashiya, your brother" to the Pharaoh of Egypt, possibly Akhenaten. Circa 1350 BCE. From Tell el-Amarna, Egypt. British Museum
The Bronze Age is a historical period lasting from approximately 3300 to 1200 BC. It is characterized by the use of bronze, the use of writing in some areas, and other features of early urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of the three-age system, between the Stone and Iron Ages. This system was proposed in 1836 by Christian Jürgensen Thomsen for classifying and studying ancient societies and history. Worldwide, the Bronze Age generally followed the Neolithic period, with the Chalcolithic serving as a transition.
One of the Alaca Höyük bronze standards from a pre-Hittite tomb dating to the third millennium BC, from the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations, Ankara
Hittite bronze tablet from Çorum-Boğazköy dating from 1235 BC, Museum of Anatolian Civilizations, Ankara
Sphinx-lion of Thutmose III 1479–1425 BC
Late 3rd Millennium BC silver cup from Marvdasht, Fars, with linear-Elamite inscription