‘Thus Tudhaliya, Great King: I have become king, and you, eunuchs, have to swear on the person of His Majesty: “We will protect His Majesty for kingship, and then we will protect the sons of His Majesty and (his) royal line!” To you, who are eunuchs, and the men equal to you: His Majesty is in your hands; protect His Majesty and then protect the royal line of His Majesty! His Majesty has many brothers, the sons of his ancestors are numerous, and Hattusa is full of the royal line: within Hattusa there are many descendants of Suppiluliuma, descendants of Mursili, descendants of Muwatalli, descendants of Hattusili. Do not look for another man for kingship! For the future kingship protect only the royal line of Tudhaliya! If something evil ever happened to His Majesty — and His Majesty has many brothers — and you are more or less responsible for this, and you approach someone else saying: “Is he whom we select ourselves not the son of our lord as well?”, that is unacceptable! With respect to future kingship, you must only protect the royal line of His Majesty! Do not approach anyone else, protect the kingship of His Majesty and the descendants of His Majesty! . . . Or, if a disgrace (were to threaten) the life of His Majesty, you find out about it and throw him a bridge, saying: “On this day, I have not been assigned to any service, thus it is not my sin”: may this be sworn through a divine oath! Or, since I will often send you, eunuchs, as envoys together with princes and lords in the lands of a neighbouring (king), do not change the words of His Majesty: may this be sworn through a divine oath! Or, if someone is favourable towards His Majesty, but an enemy of His Majesty takes you aside (saying): “Make that man fall into disgrace in front of His Majesty!” and you make him fall into disgrace; or, someone is your enemy, but he has His Majesty’s favour, and you deliberately make him fall into disgrace and harm him in some way: may these gods destroy you! To you, eunuchs, who have immediately come here, I, His Majesty, have made you swear: “If you hear from someone something evil or suspicious regarding His Majesty, inform His Majesty!”, but if you do not inform His Majesty as soon as you hear it: may this be sworn through a divine oath! Now, to you who have not been here and have sworn individually; if you hear from someone something evil regarding His Majesty, do not hide it: may this be sworn through a divine oath! His Majesty has many brothers (that is, the kings of equal status): my brothers are many and there are many neighbouring kings. If I send one of you, eunuchs, to someone, and the latter gains his favour and he opens his mouth and reveals the things of the king: may this be sworn through a divine oath! Or if he sees something suspicious from him and hides it: may this be sworn through a divine oath! Or, as it is customary among the Hittites, instead of the kingship of His Majesty, they secretly prefer the kingship of another man: may this be sworn through a divine oath! Or, if a friend hears from a friend something evil about His Majesty, and does not disagree: may this be sworn through a divine oath! . . .’
The king’s activities and movements throughout the empire were another important element for internal cohesion. One gets the impression that in some periods of Hittite history the king was often far from the Hittite capital. First, this was because of the typical practice of celebrating religious festivals in all sanctuaries of Hatti. Many of these were important and prestigious cultic centres on a regional level, and therefore required the presence of the king. Second, there were the king’s military duties. The king was not only involved in the most important campaigns, able to provide him with international fame and opportunities to celebrate his feats, but also in more modest expeditions against the elusive mountain tribes.
The king’s cultic responsibilities throughout Hatti derive from an ancient tradition. They were also closely linked to the early unification of the land. The king’s itinerant cultic responsibility was partly solved through the concentration of a variety of temples and cults in Hattusa. However, it still required the constant peregrination of the king and queen (who also held a crucial role in Hittite cults) to the sanctuaries of the land. On the other hand, military responsibilities were closely linked to the heroic image of kingship in the mid-second millennium bc. In this period, the king effectively belonged to the military aristocracy and had to prove his extraordinary prowess and valiance to both his people and rivals. This military and cultic movement of the king was a clear reflection of the fragmented nature of Anatolia and the decentralised position of the Hittite capital. In more practical terms, had the king remained permanently in the capital it would have isolated him from the rest of the land.
If kingship in the Hittite empire had lost its original features and was partly influenced by other kingship ideologies of the time, it still continued to be more personal compared to the Egyptian and Mesopotamian traditions. The ‘great ones’ and the ‘king’s sons’ constituted a key resource used by the king to choose his administrative, cultic and military collaborators. These did not need to have a particular expertise. As a result, some titles that clearly originated in the Hittite court, such as ‘cupbearer’ or ‘steward’, did not correspond to their initial functions anymore, but became purely formal titles. Therefore, specific duties were bestowed on individuals specifically chosen by the king, without the need of bureaucratic protocol or a political career.
The periphery still maintained a residual system inherited from its former independence, with palaces, storehouses (the so-called ‘houses of the seal’), local cultic centres and local legal and administrative practices. The management of centres located in the periphery was left in the hands of a ‘mayor’ (hazanu), a ‘provincial governor’ (bel madgalti), and the ‘elders’. The mayor was responsible for civic duties, while the governor focused on military concerns. The elders dealt with legal issues and represented the local community. The instruction texts sent by the king to mayors and provincial governors were typically strict on their guidance over the management of the area and the issue of security from external threats. However, they were quite flexible on legal measures to be taken, allowing their delegates to follow local practices.
The Hittite state applied the same principles and means at the heart of its internal organisation to foreign relations. Personal oaths linking the ‘small king’ to the ‘great king’, and vice versa, were expressed through written oaths ofloyalty with specific clauses (Text 18.3). The Hittite king thus promised to protect the throne of the small king and to transmit it to the latter’s designated heir. In turn, the small king agreed to pay a tribute, provide military contingents and return fugitives (usually a one-sided aspect of the agreement). Moreover, the vassal had to provide key information, support in case of internal revolts, and so on.
World History
