or a concubine, then the husband of one of his daughters becomes
eligible. Anantiyant-husband is a son-in-law who formally‘enters
into’his wife’s family and is adopted by her father as his son. In this
way, the possibilities for a‘son of the king’becoming the next king
are extended. Indeed, there were several occasions in the kingdom’s
history when a king’s son-in-law, or adoptive son, did become the
next king.
DID THE NEW RULES WORK?
Of course, all this raises an important question. Who is going to
ensure that these mere words will end the succession struggles that
had been so destructive in the past? Responsibility must liefirstly
with the king’s own family and the kingdom’s most powerful
officials. Butquis custodiet ipsos custodes?‘Who will guard the
guardians themselves?’(to borrow a phrase from the Roman poet
Juvenal). Telipinu had thought of that. Enforcement of the rules of
succession is be assigned to an assembly called thepanku. Basically a
Hittite adjective meaning‘all, entire’,pankucrops up occasionally in
early Hittite history as a term for some sort of assembly with
supervisory and judicial powers. Its precise composition is unclear.
Indeed it may have varied, depending on what functions it was
required to perform. In this case, Telipinu calls upon a specificgroup
of officials and palace functionaries to supervise the new succession
rules and take action if they are breached. This action includes a
process of trying those charged with plotting against a reigning king.
If found guilty they are to be executed–even if they are members of
the royal family! The king’s person is thus made sacrosanct.
How successful were the new rules? The results were mixed.
Telipinu, like Hantili, probably died of natural causes. But he was
followed by a series of generally weak and ineffective rulers, often
via the familiar path of intrigue, assassination and usurpation. Even
though these kings seemed to maintain control over most of the
kingdom’s subject-territories, they could no longer claim the status
and power their kingdom had enjoyed during the reigns of
Hattusili and Mursili. Indeed the kingdom’s very existence was
under constant threat from its traditional enemy the Hurrians.
‘NOW BLOODSHED HAS BECOME COMMON’ 43