viewpoint of the whole matter, which may be far from a balanced
one. What would Madduwatta’s own response have been to the
string of accusations made against him? The words put in his
mouth by the document’s author may well provide a distorted and
incomplete version of what the accused may actually have argued
in defence of his actions. In any case, we don’t know what the main
purpose of the‘Indictment’was. On the surface, it seems to portray
thefirst kings of what I have called the New Kingdom as weak and
gullible, particularly in their dealings with the west. James Mellaart
was prompted to comment that at this time Hittite power in the
west counted for nothing.
Yet what emerges most strongly from the Indictment is the
Hittites’ extreme reluctance to get themselves directly and
permanently involved in western Anatolian affairs. Let me stress
again that Hatti’s political and military interests lay primarily in
asserting its influence in the southeast, and keeping at bay its
enemies to the north, east and southeast of the homeland. Threats
from the western lands were an annoying but unavoidable and
dangerous distraction. If a few military campaigns in the region
were sufficient to deter these threats, then so much the better.
At this stage in their history, the Hittites were not interested in
establishing permanent control over the lands they conquered in
the west. With the exception of Hapalla, the western lands retained
their independence after Tudhaliya’s campaigns. And despite what
the Indictment says, Madduwatta may have been given considerable
leeway by his overlords in fulfilling his own territorial ambitions in
the west when he extended his military enterprises into western
lands like Arzawa and probably Lukka.
But there were times when he risked taking his ambitions too
far. He did so when he invaded Hapalla and Alasiya, lands claimed
by Arnuwanda as Hittite possessions or tributaries. In these cases,
he had the good sense to pull back, after testing the limits of Hittite
tolerance. His skill lay in keeping open the communications with
his overlords and continuing to acknowledge or pay lip service to
their supremacy–convincingly enough to enable him to pursue
his own goals. And his overlords let him do so, as long as he helped
buffer the Hittite frontiers against threats from the west, by taking
70 WARRIORS OF ANATOLIA