homeland; here was located the capital Hattusa and many of the
empire’s major cult and administrative centres; (ii) a number of
vassal states spread over many parts of Anatolia and northern Syria
and (iii) from the second half of the fourteenth century, two
viceregal kingdoms in northern Syria, one at Carchemish, the other
at Aleppo; these were ruled by close members of the king’s family,
generally his sons, who between them shared most of the Great
King’s responsibilities for the administration of Hatti’s Syrian
territories. In the mid thirteenth century, a third viceregal kingdom
ruled by another member of the royal family was established in
southeastern Anatolia, in the city of Tarhuntassa. The vassal states
were administered by local rulers, bound by treaties to the Great
King. Most of these components of empire are marked on the map,
along with the regions where Hittite influencefluctuated over the
centuries.
Let’s turn our attention now to the historical developments
that led to Hatti’s becoming one of the greatest of all the ancient
Near Eastern kingdoms, with subject-territories spread across the
Anatolian peninsula to the Euphrates in the east, and southwards
through Syria to the frontiers of Damascus. We’ll take up our
story where we left it inChapter 5,with the accession of a king
called Tudhaliya, and the beginning of what I have called the
New Kingdom.
56 WARRIORS OF ANATOLIA