Preserving the Word of the King and the Word of the Father: New Joins to the Political Counsel of Mursili I

Abstract

Several joins among well-known Hittite texts and fragments from Ḫattusa / Boğazköy reveal that the composition hitherto known as The Edict of Ḫattusili I (KBo 3.27) and a text variously regarded as a fragment of the Palace Anecdotes or as an edict of Mursili I (KBo 3.28) in fact belong to a single tablet containing what one might now call the Political Counsel of Mursili I. The primary purpose of the Political Counsel is to underline Mursili’s authority and legitimacy, in large part through a repeated emphasis of the necessity of observing the ‘word(s) of the father’ or the ‘word(s) of the king’, invariably referring to traditions and precedents established by the author’s (adoptive) father and predecessor, Ḫattusili I. Most of the events narrated in the text thus occurred during the reign of Ḫattusili and are told in retrospect, partly from the vantage point of Mursili’s day, partly as if narrated by Ḫattusili himself. While many details of philology and history must remain open for discussion, the newly reconstructed text sheds light on a number of issues of early Hittite history. It is seen, inter alia, that there is no need to posit any Tawannanna in the Old Kingdom other than the queen of Labarna I, the aunt of Ḫattusili I. The succession to the throne of Ḫattusili I is likely to have been the result of a coup d’état rather than the desire of Labarna and Tawannanna, whose sons Ḫattusili apparently eliminated or outmaneuvered. And the so-called Purusḫanda Episode referred to here and in KBo 3.46+ can likely be placed in the reign of Ḫattusili I and may well reflect one episode of the disenfranchisement of Labarna’s and Tawannanna’s lineage.