Tugdamme


Tugdamme was a Cimmerian king of the mid-seventh century BC.
Tugdamme's legacy began sometime around 660 BCE. It seems that his first known attacks were against the Greek coastal cities in Asia Minor. In 653 BCE he began to push at the mighty Assyrian Empire during the reign of Ashurbanipal. The Assyrian inscriptions speak of Tugdamme as being the "King of the Saka and Qutium" but the Assyrian inscriptions also call him by the title "Sar Kissati" which means "King of Kish" or "King of the world" which suggests that Tugdamme ruled a vast area of land. Tugdamme would eventually be defeated around 641-640 BCE, but it remains unknown as to who defeated and killed him. The historian Strabo suggest that Madys killed Tugdamme and defeated his forces. Ashurbanipal says Marduk defeated Tugdamme, which may suggest that an outside element had defeated Tugdamme and not the Assyrians; this outside element may have been Madys.
According to Fritz Hommel, Tugdamme must have been an ancestor of Sandakhshatra and his son Ishtivegu, implying identification of Tugdamme with Phraortes.