Mounting tensions between nephew and uncle erupted into
civil war. In hisApology, Hattusili does his best to convince us that
this conflict should not be seen as a rebellion by him against his
rightful king. Rather, it was a just and legitimate contest which
would be decided by divine judgment.‘Come! Ishtar of Samuha and
the Storm God of Nerik shall decide the case for us!’Of course,
claims by war-leaders that they have their god or gods on their side
in their‘righteous’wars against their enemies is a commonplace of
history. And despite all Hattusili’s protestations, he had absolutely
no legitimate basis for going to war against Hatti’s duly appointed
Great King. There is no reason for believing that Urhi-Teshub was
not an able and conscientious ruler in his brief tenure–about seven
years–on the throne, and that the war provoked by his uncle (who
tried to downplay Urhi-Teshub’s legitimacy by never referring to
him by his throne-name Mursili) was simply a power struggle
between two men – one the rightful king, the other a potential
usurper. The struggle was a brief and bitter one, with support for
both contenders extending from the homeland through to the
western Anatolian states. It ended when Hattusili gained the upper
hand, captured Urhi-Teshub, sent him into exile and put himself on
the Hittite throne in his place.
THE USURPER SEEKS ENDORSEMENT BOTH AT HOME AND ABROAD
Then came one of the biggest challenges of his career. He had to
convince both his own subjects and his foreign peers that he was
now truly the rightful Great King of Hatti. It was no easy task.
Acknowledging that the conflict had divided the population of
Hatti (there may even have been rioting in the capital), Hattusili
sought to reunite all his subjects under his rule by attempting to
justify to them his seizure of power, and by promising there would
be no retribution against those who had supported Urhi-Teshub.
At least as great a task was winning endorsement from his
international Royal Brothers. If they were prepared to acknowledge
him as Great King of Hatti, this might help him win acceptance
from his own subjects. But the exiled Urhi-Teshub remained a
serious obstacle. He had been banished to Nuhashshi in Syria and
188 WARRIORS OF ANATOLIA