have begun as early as 1750 BC. Some fragmentary texts mentioning Anum-herwa
of Mama (Mama seems to have been a city not far from, and in competition with,
Kanesh) also mention “foot-soldiers and charioteers,” and Anum-herwa came to
power in the fifth year of Zimri-Lim (1770 BC). It is not clear, however, whether
the texts date to Anum-herwa’s own time or whether they are much later and belong
in the category of “Sacred Lore Literature.”^16
More certain evidence comes from the “Anitta text,” a text that originally stood
in a three-part display inscription at the city first called Kanesh, then Nesha, and
now the site of Kültepe (“ash mound” in Turkish). In the eighteenth century BC
Kanesh was easily the largest city in Anatolia, and the seat of a Great Kingdom.
In the text Anitta declares (§9, Beckman) that he set up his inscription at the city’s
main gate. Anitta is mentioned in several Akkadian tablets from the karumof Period
1b at Kültepe, and his name is incised on a bronze spearhead from the same stratum.
The 1b karumwas burned ca. 1740 BC, indicating that Anitta was a contemporary
of Ishme-Dagan, son of Shamshi-Adad I, and active ca. 1750 BC.^17
Anitta’s proclamation may have been the first inscription ever set up in the
“Hittite” language (more correctly, “the language of Kanesh”). Anitta was a
Great King, and although his roots were in the small city of Kuššara, his father
had captured Kanesh and had made it his capital. Anitta enlarged his father’s realm.
Toward the beginning of his inscription he boasts that he had conquered Hatti
and destroyed the city of Hattusha, cursing anyone who dared to rebuild the city
(either Labarna or Hattushili rebuilt it with impunity). The “Anitta text” became
a classic for Hittite scribes (it was very likely the oldest Hittite text they had),
and we have three copies of it on clay tablets, one copy made in the sixteenth
century BCand the other two in the thirteenth. Gary Beckman has provided a new
translation of this important text,^18 and below is his translation of four sections
of Inscription C:
§15 (A 57–8) I furnished the temple of H
̆almašuitt, the temple of the storm-
god, my lord, and the temple of our deity with the goods I brought back from
campaign.
§16 (A59–63) I made a vow, and I [went] hunting. In a single day I brought
to my city Neša 2 lions, 70 swine, 60 wild boars, and 120 (other) beasts—
leopards, lions, deer, gazelle, and [wild goats].
§17 (A 64–67) In the same year I went to war against [Šalatiwara]. The ruler
of Šalatiwara set out together with his sons and came [against me]. Leaving
his land and his city, he took up a position on the H
̆ulanna River.
§18 (A 68–72) [But the army] of Neša went off behind [him], set fire to his
fortifications, and [.. .] them. The besiegers of the city (Šalatiwara) were 1,400
infantry and 40 horse-drawn [chariots]. He (the ruler of Šalatiwara) gathered
up [his treasure] and departed.We can be fairly sure that Anitta had chariots that carried skilled archers. The
Great King boasts that he went out on a hunt and in a single day brought back
116 Chariot warfare and militarism