CHAPTER 8

Lion or Pussycat?

B

uilding a large kingdom or empire involves a catch-22
situation. If your kingdom remains small, you will almost
certainly be absorbed by a more powerful neighbour.
But the more you grow your kingdom, the larger its boundaries
become, and the more you expose your territories to attacks by
external forces. Hittite kings simply could not leave the west to its
own resources. If they did, an alliance of states from the region
could pose as serious a threat to the security of Hatti’s lands as an
eastern alliance under Mittanian leadership. Reluctant as they were
to commit to campaigns in the west, the Hittites undertook them
essentially for defensive purposes–sometimes only after the failure
of repeated attempts to resolve contentious issues with problematic
western countries by peaceful means. The lion of ancient Anatolia
often sought to play the role of a pussycat.

THE CONSTANT FUGITIVE

This becomes evident in a fascinating document composed by
Tudhaliya’s successor Arnuwanda, initially his co-regent and
probably his adopted son. The document is commonly called the
Indictment of Madduwatta.^1 It’s in the form of a long letter of
complaint written by King Arnuwanda to someone called
Madduwatta. Tudhaliya had appointed Madduwatta subject-ruler
of a rugged land called Zippasla which probably lay somewhere on
the southwestern or western fringe of Hittite subject-territory, not far
from the eastern edge of the Arzawa lands. He hadfled as a refugee