Political organization of the kingdom hittite

The kingdom hittite is the principal political power of the Anatolia of the end of the Bronze Age (c.1600- 1150 av. J. - C.). The organization of this large kingdom at its beginnings remains rather obscure, since one has relatively little direct sources on the phases old and the average kingdom. It is with the assertion of the power hittite, and the constitution of a true empire after the reign of Suppiluliuma Ier that our knowledge of the organization of the kingdom of Hittites is the best, thanks to the found files with Hattusha (Boğazkoi), the capital, like in cities dominated by the Hatti (Ugarit, Emar).

Like any State of the the old Middle East, the kingdom hittite rests above all on the royal figure, true bridge between the world of the Men and that of the Gods. This one is helped in its duty by a whole of dignitaries, called " wire of the roi" , which controls the administration of the kingdom. During XIVè-XIIIè centuries, the kingdom hittite is a true empire, which dominates a myriad of vassal kingdoms, in particular in Syria, and the organization of their domination is well-known by various texts, in particular the many treaties of vassalage imposed by the chancellery hittite on the subjected kingdoms.

The king

The principal character of the kingdom hittite is his sovereign. Its title more the current is Labarna , undoubtedly the name of the sovereign founder of the kingdom, taken again to indicate the royal function thereafter. The king hittite always designates himself as “Large king”, meaning his membership of the very closed circle of the “superpuissances” of his time, at the sides of Babylon, the Assyrie, the Mitanni and the Egypt. A very current epithet to appoint the king hittite is “My Sun” (dUTU- ši ).

According to an ideology which one finds in the other areas of the old Middle East, they are the gods the true Masters of the kingdom, the king being only their terrestrial delegate. The large gods of the kingdom hittite are the god of the Storm, and especially the goddess-sun of Arinna. The king has of this fact of the particular bonds with the divine world. He is an intermediary between the gods and the human ones, and is responsible in front of the gods for the actions of the men. That also induces that the king has religious functions, that he exerts in particular during ritual monks.

The king hittite is also a legislator, and it is the principal judge of its country, with which one makes call in very serious cases. He is also the Master of the internal administration of the kingdom, and his diplomacy, as well as his army.

The succession on the throne hittite is governed in a precise way starting from the reign of Telebinu, which proclaims an edict dictating the successional rule to follow to designate the heir to the throne ( tuhkanti ): it must be before a whole son born of a union with a principal wife. If there is not, it is the son of the king and a concubine, and if it there of has not either (case which was never presented), it is the husband of a princess who goes up on the throne.

Entourage of the king

Wives and the harem

The king hittite has only one wife of first rank, which carries the title of Tawananna . They are his/her children who are the priority heirs to the crown hittite. It can exert an important political role, as in the case - extreme - of Puduhepa, wife of Hattushili III. Its function also seems to have been nun. It also deals with the administration of the royal harem. This one shelters the other legitimate wives of the king, his concubines, and their children in low-age.

“Wire of the king”

The title “wire of the king” is used to designate at the court hittite the high-ranking dignitaries of the kingdom. They are not the wire of the sovereign strictly speaking, but those which constitute its entourage nearest. It is about the nobility hittite, made up families bound by blood to that of the king, when it is not a question of collateral branches of the latter. They are its members who exert the principal administrative offices, religious, diplomatic and soldiers of the kingdom hittite.

The assembly ( panku / tuliya )

The political body which takes the shape of assembly appearing in several texts hittites is the subject many discussions. It bears two names: tuliya and panku . The first term could be used to designate the assembly as a group of people, therefore physical, whereas the second would indicate the institutional role rather, the function. One is not ensured of his composition than of his function: is this a regrouping of the royal family? of the nobility? important administration? or people? And is its role advisory, or a formal body? Some think that it is about a one time old residue when the monarchy hittite was moderated, which would have lost of its capacity as the royal capacity would have continued. But that remains purely hypothetical, because it is unverifiable, the sources not being sufficiently many and explicit on this assembly.

Central administration

The king directs his empire since his capital, generally Hattusha, where seat an important administration, the “House of the kings” (reference to the royal palace). Each member of this one lend oath to respect the king. The various functions of the central administration hittite are especially known by their title, but little by their concrete exercise, which makes their knowledge difficult. It is with the royal palace that the taxes collected in provinces arrived, and that they were then redistributed. The royal field was also managed at this place.

Provincial administration

The provinces of the kingdom hittite were directed by governors, often family members close to the king (wire, brothers, uncles). Certain areas had become vassal kingdoms with whole share, since the family members royal who had there was placed had been able to transmit it to their descendants. It is the case at various periods of Karkemish, Alep and Tarhuntassa. An administrative division of the kingdom hittite is the “district” ( telipuri ), directed by a “intendant” ( agrig ), responsible in particular for the collection of the taxes. The border regions were entrusted to governors having more affirmed warhead, the “chiefs of turn of guet” (hittite auriyaš išaš , akkadien bēl madagti ), as the documentation found in the frontier city of Tappika attests it (Maşat Höyük).

Administration of the empire

The kings hittites constituted themselves with the liking of their conquests a whole of vassal kingdoms, in Anatolia Western (close Arzawa and kingdoms), Eastern (Ishuwa), and in Syria (Karkemish, Alep, Alalakh, Ugarit, Emar, Qadesh, the Amurru, the Mitanni, etc). They had as a practice to govern their relations with those by treaties of vassalages carried in writing, possibly supplemented by edicts specifying of the particular points. Certain kingdoms, the Kizzuwatna, Arzawa and Mitanni/Hanigalbat could have at certain moments of the statute vassal privileged ( kuirwana ). Generally, the clauses of the found treaties of vassalage mention the obligation of honesty to the king hittite, the military aid, the extradition of refugees of the Hatti, settle frontier questions or the relations between vassal, as well as other points specific to certain cases. One found there also a point important, the payment of the tribute of to the king hittite. From XIVè century, the kings of the dynasty hittite installed in Karkemish were made the relays between the vassal Syrians and the central administration hittite, reducing the latter of a heavy task.

Random links: