(alternatively called Hanigalbat in the text). The Mittanian king
certainly survived any confrontations he may have had with
Tudhaliya. And Tudhaliya’s campaign across the Taurus provoked
just one of a series of conflicts between Mittani and Hatti. Many
more decades would pass before one of the contestantsfinally
emerged triumphant.
As yet, there is no indication that Tudhaliya or indeed his
immediate successors sought to establish permanent control over
the Syrian territories where the Hittites had campaigned
successfully. But it became increasingly clear that some form of
lasting authority or influence over the crossroads of the ancient
Near East was important if not vital to Hatti’s development as an
imperial power. And not just for military or political reasons. Many
of the routes that passed through Syria, either eastwards through
Mesopotamia and the lands beyond, or southwards to Egypt, or
northwestwards to Anatolia, carried trade items important for the
maintenance of a kingdom unable to produce these items itself.
They included commodity metals like tin, which was alloyed with
copper to produce bronze. So far, we have no evidence that tin was
mined in Anatolia in this period, or at least in sufficient quantities
to sustain bronze-making industries, though there were many
sources of copper in the region. Since tin had probably to be
imported into Hatti from sources as far distant as Afghanistan, it
was essential that the supply-routes which brought it, along with
other trade items, into the Hittite kingdom were kept secure against
enemy attacks and raids by local brigands.
THE KING HEADS WEST
It might seem extraordinary, then, that with their external interests
sofirmly oriented to the lands lying to their southeast, the Hittites
should also commit their resources to campaigns in the west,
perhaps all the way to the Aegean Sea. These campaigns are
reported in what remains of the so-called Annals of a King
Tudhaliya. We can’t be absolutely sure that he was the same
Tudhaliya who campaigned in Syria, or another king so called (and
if he was the same king whether his western enterprises preceded or
BUILDING AN EMPIRE 61