made–to shift the seat of his empire to a new location several
hundred kilometres to the south of Hattusa. It was called
Tarhuntassa.^2 Virtually unknown until then, Tarhuntassa lay
somewhere in the western part of the region which the Greeks and
Romans called Cilicia. You’ll recall that once before a Hittite king
had left Hattusa and set up his administration in another place,
probably the city called Samuha located to the east, or in the
eastern part, of the homeland. But this was done under duress
and was intended to be no more than a temporary move. Almost
certainly Muwattalli’s new royal seat was to become the
permanent new capital of the empire. The fact that Hattusa’s
gods and ancestral spirits were transferred there from Hattusa is
seen as a clear indication of this.
Why precisely Muwattalli decided to take such a radical step
has led to much debate. One suggestion is that Hattusa was simply
too vulnerable as a royal capital, especially if Muwattalli planned
to move a large part of his military forces to Syria. But there may
well have been a number of reasons for the move, both practical
and strategic, which we’re unaware of. And there was no intention
on Muwattalli’sparttoleavethenorthernpartofhiskingdomto
fend for itself. The former capital Hattusa continued to function
as a regional centre of the kingdom under the administration of a
chief bureaucrat appointed by Muwattalli. And to secure all the
homeland’s territories to its northern frontier, Muwattalli converted
it into a largely autonomous kingdom within the empire, and
placed it under the command of his brother Hattusili (later to
become Hattusili III).
Hatti thus became essentially a diarchy, with sovereignty over
its northern regions conferred upon Hattusili who bore the title
LUGAL‘king’.^3 Most importantly, Hattusili was charged with the
responsibility of repopulating abandoned or sparsely inhabited
areas within his kingdom, resurrecting ghost towns and resettling
areas which had been largely occupied by the Kaskans. It’s likely
that many of these settlers were drawn from the substantial pool of
deportees brought back in their thousands from lands conquered
by Mursili. This was one of the most tangible legacies Mursili left to
his successor.
WAR WITH EGYPT 161