CHAPTER 12

King by Default

A‘MERE CHILD’ON THE THRONE

T

he problems confronting Suppiluliuma’s son and second
successor Mursili II could hardly have been more serious–
and they came in droves. Once more in hisfinal years,
Suppiluliuma’s preoccupation with mopping up the remnants of
the Mittanian empire prompted the Kaska tribes to launch new
waves of attacks on the Hittite homeland, destroying some parts of
it and occupying others. The king’s sudden deathc.1322 left the
new Kaska crisis unresolved. Fortunately, so it seemed, the Hittite
throne remained in good hands. The succession now passed to
Suppiluliuma’s son Arnuwanda II, a battle-hardened, able warrior-
leader who had been well groomed for taking on the powers of
kingship. But then tragedy struck again. Within just a year or so of
his accession Arnuwanda fell ill and died. Both father and son were
probably victims of the plague which prisoners-of-war had brought
back to Hatti following Suppiluliuma’s sack of Egyptian subject-
territory, in revenge for the death of his son Zannanza.
News that the new king Arnuwanda was terminally ill spread
rapidly through the kingdom. On his death, widespread uprisings
broke out among Hatti’s subject-territories, and Hatti’s enemies
mustered their forces for fresh invasions. All of them, enemies and
defecting allies alike, were the more encouraged to move in for the
kill when they heard who the new king was. Suppiluliuma’s heirs
were running out. Zannanza had allegedly been killed on the way to
Egypt, Arnuwanda had just died, and two of the three surviving