For all that our texts tell us about what Hittite soldiers did in the
performance of their duties, they say almost nothing about what
they did in their time off. But it doesn’t take much imagination to
work this out. Drinking, eating, singing and patronising the world’s
oldest profession must have played a large part in a Hittite soldier’s
R & R leave. And where lots of soldiers are gathered together,
taverns and inns and brothels quickly spring up. One of the Hittite
texts refers to‘hostels’in towns in the frontier zone with the Kaska
lands. Very likely these were commercial establishments like
taverns and inns which served both the local populace and Hittite
troops stationed in the area. But with no further information about
them, we can’t be sure.
So what about thearzana-houses–places of eating, drinking,
music and merriment and‘overnight lodgings’? One of them is
associated with a group of women designated by the logogram
KAR.KID. This term crops up also in the Laws and was long
believed to refer to prostitutes. In the text which refers to this
particular arzana-house, the crown prince is present, and he
features in a curious ritual. He has a meal of bread, cakes, porridge,
milk and beer, and a drink called marnuwan. His dinner
companions are 12 KAR.KID women. Later that night, he lies
down, and priests place loaves of bread on either side of his head
and feet and pour beer in a circle around his body. Then the KAR.
KID women are brought in. Do they now initiate the prince into the
delights of puberty, as once suggested? Unfortunately, thefirst
tablet of the text which contains the relevant information ends here,
and its sequel has not yet been found. So what did happen next?
Firstly, KAR.KID women were almost certainly not prostitutes.
Rather, says the Hittite scholar Bille Jean Collins, the term was used
for single women who were not under the guardianship of a father
or husband. Indeed, as Collins and other scholars have pointed
out, the whole notion of sacred prostitution in the Near East has
been discredited. The other thing is that it’s unlikely thatarzana-
houses were taverns or brothels or drinking-houses. Rather, what
we know about them suggests that they were cultic establishments,
associated with sacred rituals and festivals. And that has prompted
the suggestion that the ritual for the prince in thearzana-house
142 WARRIORS OF ANATOLIA