an urgent summons to his brother Sharri-Kushuh to meet him in
the city.
We aren’t told the purpose of the meeting, but it almost
certainly had to do with a looming new crisis developing in Syria.
This was due in part to the recent death of Telipinu, brother of
Mursili and Sharri-Kushuh and Hittite viceroy at Aleppo.
Telipinu’s son Talmi-Sharrumma was ready to take his place,
and may already have done so. But it was essential that the new
viceroy be given every possible support by his uncles, to ensure that
the change in leadership in Aleppo in no way signalled a weakening
of Hittite authority in this vitally important part of the empire.
How he could best be supported was very likely one of the major
items of discussion in the meeting at Kummanni. Or was intended
to be. But then an even greater blow fell.
While at Kummanni, Sharri-Kushuh suddenly fell ill and died.
There is nothing in our records to suggest that foul play was
involved, but we cannot rule it out. Sharri-Kushuh must have been a
high priority target for disgruntled local Syrian rulers as well as for
Hatti’s foreign enemies. Both Assyria and Egypt had much to gain if
this experienced and highly effective champion of Hittite interests in
the region were eliminated. An agent acting on behalf of a local ruler,
or the Egyptian or Assyrian king, could have abruptly ended the
viceroy’s career with the blade of a dagger or a poisoned chalice.
Could Telipinu’s death have been caused in the same way? The
deaths of both viceroys probably within a few months, or even weeks,
of each other, may well have been more than mere coincidence.
In any case, the passing of one so soon after the other seriously
imperilled Hittite authority in Syria. Nuhashshi again rose up in
revolt, and the city-state of Qadesh, where Suppiluliuma had
appointed a vassal ruler, declared its independence. Worse still, the
Assyrians fully exploited the Hittite crisis by crossing the Euphrates
and capturing the viceregal kingdom of Carchemish. And to the
northeast of the homeland the large and troublesome kingdom
Azzi-Hayasa threw off its Hittite vassalhood and began attacking
other Hittite subject-territories in the region called the Upper Land
in Hittite texts. No doubt it was intent on carving out an even larger
kingdom for itself in this region.
112 WARRIORS OF ANATOLIA