cliff-face called Nişantaşin Hattusa was a public record of his
achievements, one in which his victorious southern campaign no
doubtfigured prominently.
That’s scenario 1. A second, and quite different scenario is that
far from rebelling against the Hattusa regime, Kurunta and
Hartapu collaborated with it. In an attempt to arrest the
disintegration of the empire, Suppiluliuma, and perhaps already
his father Tudhaliya, had assigned virtual sovereignty of
Tarhuntassa, and perhaps large swathes of neighbouring lands in
southern Anatolia, to Kurunta and his successors, just as
Muwattalli had earlier assigned sovereignty over a large part of
northern Anatolia to his brother Hattusili. The viceroys in Syria, at
Carchemish and Aleppo, had exercised a similar sway since
Suppiluliuma I appointed his sons as thefirst of these viceroys. So is
what we havenota conflict between two branches of the royal
family, but an apportionment among them of rule over different
parts of the empire?
My main reservation about scenario 2 is the use of the title
‘Great King’by Kurunta and Hartapu. The title LUGAL‘King’is
OK. The Syrian viceroys were so called, as was Hattusili when
Muwattalli appointed him ruler of the northern part of the
kingdom. But even in a power-sharing arrangement, would the last
occupants of the throne in Hattusa have ever allowed anyone else,
no matter how exalted their status, to assume the title‘Great King’
(LUGAL.GAL), which would indicate equality of status with the
Hattusa regime?
KEEPING ALIVE THE LAND OFHATTI
Suppiluliuma’s reasons for entering Tarhuntassa can perhaps be
linked with another major event in his career. Following several
successful sea battles which his forces fought against enemy ships
off the coast of Alasiya (Cyprus) (these are the only recorded sea
battles in Hittite history), Suppiluliuma invaded the island, as his
father Tudhaliya had done, and presumably reclaimed it as Hittite
subject-territory. Tudhaliya had apparently failed to establish any
more than temporary control over the island, or even a part of it.
258 WARRIORS OF ANATOLIA