simultaneously or when campaigns of a relatively minor nature
were undertaken. When the king himself led a campaign force, the
crown prince and other able-bodied royal males often served as
divisional leaders under His Majesty’s supreme command. In battle
as in daily life, the king was protected by an elite bodyguard of
spearmen known as theMESHEDI, led by another member of the
royal family, called the GAL.MESHEDI, one of the most prestigious
appointments in the imperial administration.
Next in the military hierarchy came a cadre of officers drawn
from the aristocracy. Land-owning barons and other dignitaries
provided the officer class. But for them as for all other Hittite
warriors,fighting was a part-time occupation. Most of it was carried
out during a campaigning season which generally extended between
spring and early autumn, as we’ve noted. Whenever possible, it was
important to get thefighting over in time for the army to return
home before the winter snows set in. The part-time officer class was
made up predominantly of the owners of large grazing and farming
estates, often bestowed on them as royal land-grants. In return, they
were obliged to render military service to the king during the
campaigning season, and were further rewarded for this by the king
who allocated a portion of the spoils of military victories to them, in
the form of deportees, or prisoners-of-war, and cattle and sheep. The
deportees boosted their owner’s agricultural workforce, the cattle
and sheep his herds andflocks. Very likely when called upon for a
military campaign, the land-owning officer was obliged to bring
many of his male farm labourers with him to swell the army’s
infantry ranks. It was a double quid-pro-quo system.
On most campaigns, infantry probably made up at least 90 per
cent of the army’s total force. The remaining 10 per cent consisted
almost entirely of an elite chariot corps, drawn primarily from the
officer class. (The chariotry at Qadesh apparently formed a much
greater percentage of the overall Hittite force.)
WEAPONS AND BATTLE DRESS
We have a fairly clear picture of how a Hittite infantryman was
armed and equipped from the famous relief of a warrior-god,
170 WARRIORS OF ANATOLIA