responsibilities and commitments must have led to frequent
delegation of this role to another member of his family or to
someone else high in authority in the kingdom’s elite ruling class.
The important point is that even the lowliest of the king’s subjects
had recourse to the highest authorities to settle their grievances by
judicial process.
THE‘GREATFAMILY’
When he was not off travelling on military campaigns or religious
pilgrimages, the king lived in heavily fortified and isolated
splendour in his palace on Hattusa’s acropolis, today known as
Büyükkale (‘Big Castle’). But mere bricks and mortar, even when
coupled with assurances of divine protection, were not in
themselves sufficient to ensure the safety of His Majesty’s person,
from conspiracies and coups at home, and against his enemies
abroad. A lot of human backup was needed as well. This no doubt
came in many layers. But the innermost core of it was an elite,
highly trained spear-bearing bodyguard called the MESHEDI.
Comparable in some respects to Rome’s praetorian guard (though
their numbers were much smaller), theMESHEDIprovided an
immediatefirst-line barrier between the king and his subjects and
enemies, whether he was on tour (he had royal residences along his
tour routes), on campaign, or at home. Their commander, the
GAL.MESHEDI, was one of the most powerful and influential men
in the kingdom. Generally, if not always, he was a close relative of
the king, often his brother or son. Thus the future king Hattusili III
held this post while his brother Muwattalli occupied the throne,
and when Hattusili himself was king, he appointed his son and heir
Tudhaliya to it.
Among other members of the‘Great Family’, and arguably at
times the most powerfiul of them all, was the king’s chief wife,
traditionally called the Tawananna. We shall deal with her
separately inChapter 20.The king also acquired one or more
concubines (no doubt to ensure a suitably large pool of royal
offspring for marriage alliances, diplomatic posts, potential heirs to
the throne etc.), arranged in a kind of pecking order. As we know
98 WARRIORS OF ANATOLIA