Editing Manisa (section)

=== Luwians, Hittites, Phrygians and Lydians ===
Central and southern parts of western Anatolia entered history with the still obscure [[Luwians|Luwian]] kingdom of [[Arzawa]], probably offshoots, as well as neighbors and, after around 1320 BCE, [[vassal]]s of the [[Hittite Empire]]. [[Cybele]] monument located at Akpınar on the northern flank of Mount Sipylus, at a distance of {{convert|7|km|mi|0|abbr=on}} from Manisa on the road to [[Turgutlu]] is, along with the [[Kingdom of Mira|King of Mira]] rock relief at [[Mount Nif]] near [[Kemalpaşa]] and a number of [[cuneiform]] tablet records are among the principal evidence of extension of Hittite control and influence in western Anatolia based on local principalities. Cybele monument by itself represents a step of innovation in Hittite art where full-faced figures in high relief are rare. 
The first millennium BC saw the emergence in the region of "[[Phrygians]]" and "[[Maeonians]]", the accounts concerning which are still blended with myths,{{efn |1=While some sources claim that "Meonian" was an earlier name for a "Lydian", another theory holds that Meonians may have preceded Lydians in the region and would have continued their existence as a [[Substrata (linguistics)|substratum]] within the Lydian society, neighboring theirs especially in the mountainous region to the south. While most of what the Lydians could tell about themselves is lost and historians have to rely on secondary sources, a village locally still called "Menye" (''officially Gökçeören'') exists between the district centers of [[Kula, Manisa|Kula]] and Salihli. Ancient traces rich in quantity are visible to the naked eye around the village and preliminary surface explorations have only recently started.}} and finally of [[Lydians]]. Such semi-legendary figures like the local ruler [[Tantalus]], his son [[Pelops]], his daughter [[Niobe]], the departure of a sizable part of the region's population from their shores to found, according to one account, the future [[Etruscan civilization]] in present-day Italy, are all centered around Mount Sipylus, where the first urban settlement was probably located, and date from the period prior to the emergence of the Lydian [[Mermnad dynasty]]. It has also been suggested that the mountain could be the geographical setting for [[Baucis and Philemon]] tale as well, while most sources still usually associate it with [[Tyana]] (Hittite ''Tuwanuwa'') in modern-day [[Kemerhisar]] near [[Niğde]].<ref>{{cite journal|jstor = 311324 | journal=Harvard Studies in Classical Philology | volume=96 | year=1994 | pages=203–223+I–IV|title = A Geographical Setting for the Baucis and Philemon Legend (Ovid Metamorphoses 8.611-724)| author=C.P.Jones| doi=10.2307/311324}}</ref>

In the early 7th century BC, the Lydians under the newly established Mermnad dynasty, with the present-day Manisa region as their heartland expanded their control over a large part of [[Anatolia]], ruling from their capital "[[Sardis|Sfard]]" (''[[Sard]], [[Sardes]], [[Sardis]]'') situated more inland at a distance of {{convert|62|km|mi|0|abbr=on}} from Manisa. The vestiges from their capital which reached our day bring together remains from several successive civilizations.