Warriors of Anatolia. A Concise History of the Hittites - Trevor Bryce

In earlier days the Hatti lands were sacked by its enemies.

The Kaskan enemy came and sacked the Hatti lands and he

made Nenassa his frontier. From the Lower Land came the

Arzawan enemy, and he too sacked the Hatti lands, and he

made Tuwanuwa and Uda his frontier. From afar, the

Arawannan enemy came and sacked the whole of the Land

of Gassiya. From afar, the Azzian enemy came and sacked all

the Upper Lands and he made Samuha his frontier. The

Isuwan enemy came and sacked the Land of Tegarama.

From afar, the Armatanan enemy came, and he too sacked

the Hatti lands. And he made Kizzuwatna, the city, his

frontier. And Hattusa, the city, was burned down.^2

This text gives the impression of a massive simultaneous attack
on Hittite territories from many directions. Hence the term
‘Concentric Invasions’ commonly used to describe the events
narrated. That would imply close co-ordination among the
invaders. But such a high level of planning seems unlikely among
such widely diverse enemies. The attacks recounted in the passage
may well have occurred, though possibly over an extended period
of time. And while their impact on Hittite territory may indeed
have been devastating, they could hardly have left the entire land of
Hatti in ruins and under enemy occupation as the text’s author
would have us believe. Otherwise, the Hittite kingdom would
simply have been wiped off the map. Tudhaliya did eventually
regain his lost territories – which means he must have had a
reasonably large base from which he organised hisfight back. And,
contrary to the impression given by the text, it is possible that there
was some ebbing andflowing in Hatti’s fortunes during this period,
with some of the lost territories being recovered before other parts
of the kingdom were invaded.
It may well be that the Hittite capital was captured and
destroyed in this period. But before then, the king had time to shift
his royal court to an alternative secure location. This would in fact
have been thefirst of probably three occasions when the royal seat
of the kingdom was shifted elsewhere–for different reasons in
each case. Where did the king go, and whom did he take with him?

76 WARRIORS OF ANATOLIA