outside Carchemish and establishing there a winter camp, a fortified
settlement called Murmuriga. From here he could renew his
operations the following spring. But the city of Carchemish itself
remained unsubdued, and the Hittite camp was placed under siege
by Tushratta’sforces.
Alarmed at the dire consequences that could follow from a
Mittanian victory and the capture of his army, Telipinu sought an
urgent meeting with his father who was in southern Anatolia at the
time. The briefing from his son left Suppiluliuma in no doubt that
he had to return to Syria at the earliest possible opportunity, and
with all the forces he could muster. It was a make or break situation
for the Hittites. Decisive and prompt action from the king was
essential. As soon as the winter had passed, he prepared for his
return to a Syrian theatre of war. Pausing briefly on the way at a
place called Tegarama, he carried out a full review of all his troops
and chariotry. And from them, he formed an expeditionary force
under the command of his son, the crown prince Arnuwanda. The
expeditionary force was sent ahead of the main army to carry out
preliminary operations in the Syrian region and pave the way for
the arrival of the main military force, under the command of the
king himself.
Capturing Carchemish, Mittani’s last major stronghold, became
Suppiluliuma’s prime military objective. Its conquest would strike
his enemy a lethal blow and virtually rule out all possibility that
the Syrian states would ever again have a Mittanian overlord.
Carchemish was placed under siege by Hittite forces under the
king’s personal command.
APPEAL FROM ANEGYPTIAN ROYAL WIDOW
It was during preparations for the siege that a letter was brought to
the king from the queen of Egypt.^3 When its contents were read out
to him, Suppiluliuma stared in amazement at the messenger.‘Such
a thing has never happened to me in all my life,’he declared. The
letter announced the sudden death of the queen’s husband,
pharaoh of Egypt. But the cause of Suppiluliuma’s amazement was
the request the royal widow had made of him: that he provide one
86 WARRIORS OF ANATOLIA