Urhi-Teshub (we’ll retain his birth-name to avoid any confusion)
may have served as a catalyst to change all this. Some 20 years after
his father had relocated the royal capital in Tarhuntassa, Urhi-
Teshub decided to shift it back to Hattusa. Tarhuntassa was not
abandoned. In fact, it became one of the most important regional
centres of the Great Kingdom, under the immediate authority of a
ruler of high rank, perhaps always a member of the royal family,
with a status virtually equivalent to that of the Syrian viceroys.
There were other changes as well made by Urhi-Teshub which
ran counter to his father’s actions. For the most part, Hattusili
seems to have gone along with these, and in some cases actively
supported or even instigated them. But then tensions arose
between the pair when Urhi-Teshub started stripping his uncle of
the substantial powers bestowed upon him by Muwattalli –
particularly his sovereignty over the northern part of the
kingdom. Hattusili had continued to be an effective ruler of this
region after his brother’s death. Indeed, one of his crowning
achievements in the early days of his nephew’sreignwashis
recapture and rebuilding of Nerik, one of the holiest cities of the
Hittite realm. Two centuries or more earlier, it had been sacked by
the Kaskans and left in a ruined state. Its reoccupation and
restoration was without doubt a major feather in Hattusili’scap.
But the unprecedented power he wielded in the kingdom made
Urhi-Teshub increasingly uneasy. And quite apart from this, Urhi-
Teshub might well have believed that his return to Hattusa reduced
significantly the justification for having a de facto co-regent ruling
regions north of the restored capital. Increasingly, Urhi-Teshub
began acting independently of his uncle and ignoring his
advice. But when he started stripping him of the powers Muwattalli
had bestowed upon him, the relationship between the pair was
irretrievably broken. According to Hattusili, he initially resigned
himself to his reduced status–because of his own sense of right
conduct and out of respect for and loyalty to his brother’s memory.
But thefinal straw came when Urhi-Teshub tried to take away from
him his most prized possessions – Hakpis, his administrative
centre, and Nerik, which was very close to his heart after his
repossession of the holy city.
THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING 187