restock the homeland’s population–always a matter of pressing
importance. Of course, the logistics of these deportations must have
been enormous. They’re something we’ll consider later.
RENEWED PRESSURES FROM OTHER DIRECTIONS
Mursili’s western campaigns were highly successful, not only
because of the king’s military victories in the region, but more
importantly because of the stability which his campaigns left in
their wake. But the king had little time to rest on his laurels, for
there were further outbreaks of aggression to the north and
northeast of his kingdom. Predictably, the Kaska people were
prominent among the aggressors. Ruthless, retaliatory action by
Mursili failed to subdue them for long. Hostilities oftenflared
afresh in their lands shortly after they had been ravaged by the
king’s forces, sometimes within a couple of years.
But that was not the worst of Mursili’s problems. Early in his
seventh regnal year, trouble once moreflared in Syria. This centred
on the kingdom called Nuhashshi, whose ruler Tette had broken
from his Hittite allegiance and called upon the pharaoh, then
Horemheb, for support. Reinforcements for the rebel duly arrived
from Egypt. Responsibility for crushing the rebellion was delegated
by the king to his brother Sharri-Kushuh, viceroy in Carchemish.
This left Mursili free to continue with his northern campaigns,
and the utterly reliable Sharri-Kushuh succeeded in driving the
Egyptian force out of Hittite territory and quashing the rebellion.
For the time being.
But Mursili’s problems were far from over. In the following two
years, he was obliged to conduct further military operations against
countries which threatened his northern frontiers. There were even
more pressing concerns elsewhere. During his ninth year on the
throne, Mursili left the management of his campaigns in the hands
of deputies, while he himself travelled south to the city of
Kummanni in Kizzuwatna. Kummanni was an important cult-
centre and Mursili went there as a matter of urgency to celebrate an
important religious festival, neglected by his father. But his stay in
Kummanni served another purpose as well. For while there, he sent
KING BY DEFAULT 111