the effectiveness of his rule. (We’ll refer to some of them elsewhere
in this book.) Yet in spite of all, he passed on to his successor a
kingdom in far better shape than the one he had inherited from his
predecessors, when he became king by default.
But let’s move on. My discussion of plague in this chapter
prompts me to devote the next chapter to a more broadly based
account of health and illness in Hittite society. What physical and
psychological disorders did the Hittites suffer from? Who treated
these disorders, and how?
KING BY DEFAULT 117