Great King of Mittani. It was a title in name only. Shattiwaza was
no more than a puppet ruler subject to the Hittite Great King.
SUPPILULIUMA’S LEGACY
An account of Suppiluliuma’s operations against Mittani must have
been the highlight of his biography, written by his son Mursili. But
unfortunately, this part of the biography is almost entirely lost to
us. Our knowledge of what happened is based largely on a small
number of other texts. Notable among these are two treaties
(particularly their historical preambles) concluded between
Suppiluliuma and Shattiwaza.^4 Though they constitute a single
diplomatic agreement, the treaties are presented as if Suppiluliuma
was the author of one and Shattiwaza the other–to preserve for
Shattiwaza thefiction of diplomatic independence.^5 It hardly needs
saying that we must allow for some degree of exaggeration and
‘selective reporting’in what these Hittite-biased documents tell us.
They are not objective historical accounts, but purpose-designed to
present Suppiluliuma’s conflict with Mittani in the light most
favourable to the Hittite cause.
So what really was Suppiluliuma’s legacy, to his successors
in particular and to the Hittite world in general? Undoubtedly he
was a brilliant military commander who was largely responsible
for bringing his kingdom from the brink of extinction to its peak as
the most powerful Great Kingdom in the Near Eastern world.
In the process, he had destroyed the Hittites’ long-standing
and most formidable enemy, the kingdom of Mittani. He had also
firmly consolidated the foundations of empire by his development
of the vassal state system whereby the rulers of local kingdoms
were bound to him as their overlord by formal agreements called
treaties. And he had established, for thefirst time, direct rule over
important parts of the Hittite world far removed from the
homeland–by installing viceregal seats at Carchemish and Aleppo.
Henceforth, these remained centres of direct Hittite power in Syria
until the end of the Hittite empire.
On the downside of things, Suppiluliuma’s elimination of the
Mittanian empire had paved the way for the resurgence of Assyria,
90 WARRIORS OF ANATOLIA