how critical the king’s meeting is with the chief dignitaries of his
land. For they are called upon not only to endorse (yet another)
successor to the throne, but one who could not effectively rule what
is still a highly unstable kingdom for some years to come–if his
grandfather is in fact close to death.
As yet there are no established rules of royal succession. To be
sure, there seems to have been no question that the next king would
come from the same family group as his predecessors. But within
this family, the job was up for grabs, depending on which family
member succeeded in building sufficient factional support for
himself and disposing of his rivals and enemies. And the kingdom
itself would suffer severe damage in the process. This is why the
hastily convened assembly’s support for the ailing king’s choice can
be seen as vital to the kingdom’s stability and security. But it is not
only their agreement that Hattusili seeks. Although a regent may
have been appointed during the new king’s minority, the chief
responsibility for protecting the youth and training him to assume
the full powers of kingship, both as an administrator and as a
warrior, is to lie with those now assembled around Hattusili’s
bedside–ifthey consent to do their king’s bidding.
Apart from a few explanatory notes inserted by the scribe, the
Testament is almost certainlya verbatim record of what the king
actually said–not a later tidied-up and edited version of it, like
most official documents of the kingdom. Let’s not miss the
significance of this. These are the veryfirst preserved spoken words
in an Indo-European language. A king talks directly to us across a
time-gap of more than three-and-a-half millennia.
As it stands, the speech is something of a mish-mash. Parts of it are
quite formal, rational and directly to the point when the king
addresses the assembly on the matter of the succession, and gives his
child-successor advice on how he should behave as he prepares for the
onerous duties of kingship. But other parts of the speech are laden
with bitter personal accusationsagainst those who have allegedly
betrayed the king–particularly his sister,‘the serpent who bellowed
like an ox’. She above all is responsible for what her son has become.
Yet despite their grievous offences, the king has shown
exemplary mercy to those who have betrayed him. The rebellious
36 WARRIORS OF ANATOLIA