clearer we find him increasing the territory governed by his
treacherous vassal. This enabled Madduwatta to extend his own power
further into western Anatolia, adding large slices of Arzawan territory
to his now rapidly expanding kingdom. All the time he claimed he was
merely acting as the agent of Hittite interests in the region.
The Madduwatta problem continued to plague Tudhaliya’s
successor Arnuwanda through his co-regency down into his sole
rule. Madduwatta added more and more territory to his de facto
kingdom in the southwest, including the land of Hapalla (which
Arnuwanda protested was now Hittite territory) and probably
the region called the Lukka Lands, which would have extended
their conqueror’s sway to Anatolia’s southwestern coast. Pirates
operating from Lukka later attacked coastal cities of the land
Alasiya (Cyprus) as well as cities lying on the coast of Egypt. Very
likely Lukka ships formed thefleet with which Madduwatta now
attacked Alasiya. Again Arnuwanda protested. The people of
Alasiya were Hittite tributaries! But what made Madduwatta’s
attack on their land intolerable above all else was that he carried it
out in collaboration with his former enemy Attarissiya–the man
from whom he hadfled to Arnuwanda’s father!
Here endeth thefirst tablet of the tale of Madduwatta. The story
must have continued on a second tablet, now lost to us, and maybe the
treacherous refugee-ruler got his come-uppance in the end. But that’s
mere speculation. The part of the story we do have presents us with an
intriguing game of brinkmanship by Madduwatta. The Hittite lion
who had rampaged through the cities and kingdoms of Syria in
Hattusili’s and Mursili’s reigns seems now to have become a mere
pussycat toyed with by a cunning rat. Madduwatta is portrayed as a
treacherous, unscrupulous villain who consistently abused the trust
placed in him both by the king who had granted him asylum in the
first place and his successor who allowed him to build his own‘mini-
empire’, with virtually no retaliation beyond a few slaps on the wrist.
AN EXAMPLE OF DIPLOMATIC SPIN?
At least that is the way it appears to us. We must keep in mind
when reading this document that it presents a purely Hittite
LION OR PUSSYCAT? 69