CHAPTER 19

The Man Who

Would Be King

THE PATHWAY TOGREATKINGSHIP

H

e was a sickly child, with only a few years of life left to
him. That was the prognosis for this the fourth son of
King Mursili. But then came the good news. While the
king slept, his oldest son, the future king Muwattalli, came to him
in a dream with a message from the goddess Ishtar: If the king
dedicated his ailing son to Ishtar’s service, he would live. And so it
came to pass. Not only did this sickly child, another Hattusili,
survive his childhood, but he went on to live to a ripe old age,
and in the process became the most important man in the Hittite
kingdom.
All this we learn from a document commonly referred to as
TheApology.^1 The term‘Apology’is not used as an expression of
regret or repentance, but rather as a justification for what Hattusili
achieved and a defence of the way in which he rose to the highest
office in the land. For Hattusili eventually became the Great King of
Hatti, not through the normal process of succession, but by seizing
the throne from the prince who had occupied it after his father’s
death–Urhi-Teshub, son of his brother Muwattalli.
But that was some years in the future. In his early adulthood and
with his health apparently restored, Hattusili proved to be one of
his brother’s most able and loyal supporters. His abilities, both
military and administrative, came early to the fore when Muwattalli