Information about the Hittites

Succession Proclamation

The Succession Proclamation of Ḫattušili I

(Ḫattušili I's Proclamation of the Young Muršili I as his Successor)

Sommer, Ferdinand, and Adam Falkenstein, Die hethitisch-akkadische Bilingue des Ḫattušili I. (Labarna II.), Verlag Dr. H.A. Gerstenberg, 1974.

At the end of his reign, Ḫattušili I was mortally wounded during a campaign against Ḫalap (Aleppo). He returned to Anatolia and was able to reach the city of Kuššar, which was located somewhere near Kaniš. There he made a declaration before his high officials in which he announced his chosen successor, Muršili (I). Muršili seems to have been Ḫattušili's grandson. Muršili's mother seems to have been a woman by the name of Ḫaštayar (Presumed to be the Ḫištayara of vs. II §1 of the Palace Chronicles), whom, at the end of this text, Ḫattušili enjoined to take care of his body after he died. His somewhat mysterious words may be an instruction to cremate his body.

At the time of Ḫattušili's proclamation, Muršili was still only a youth. Other texts reveal that a man named Pimpira served as Muršili's regent. An instruction text that Pimpira had written for Muršili has survived. In this way perhaps Pimpira was fulfilling the obligation Ḫattušili placed on the Great Men to instruct the young king as stipulated by Ḫattušili in this text.

Ḫattušili's death was avenged by Muršili when he attacked and defeated Ḫalap during his reign.

(Col. I and Col. IV make up the Akkadian version of this bilingual document. Only Col. II and Col. III, the Hittite columns, are given here.)

§1
The Great King, the Tabarna, to the totality of the high military officials and to the DUGUD-officials, said: I have now become ill. (Previously) as a son I declared Labarna for you, (saying) "May he sit upon the throne!" I, the king, called him my son. I continually instructed him, and I kept running behind him. But he showed himself to be a son not worth seeing: he did not shed tears, he did not show mercy. He is cold! He is not merciful!

§2
I, the king, took him and I advanced him in my wisdom. What now? From now on, no one will (ever) raise his sister's son! For the word of the king he did not take. He kept taking that which is the word of his mother, the snake! The brother's and sister's kept bringing cold words to him, and their words he kept listening to. But I, the king, heard, and I argued an argument.

§3
Enough of that! He is not my son! Then his mother kept bellowing like a cow, (saying) "They separated the living bull-calf from me! And they deposed him! And for what?" Did I, the king, treat him badly in any way? Did I not make him a priest? Do I not keep pulling him forth in goodness? He did not show mercy for the will of the king, how could he show mercy on his own for the welfare of Ḫatti?

§4
His mother is a snake! Henceforth the word of his mother, his brothers, and his sisters he will hear. (If) he draws near, he will draw near for vengence! Concerning the troops, the dignataries, and my servants, those who are near the king, they are ready to die for the king. So he will set about destroying them, and bloodshed he will begin to accomplish. He does not fear!

§5
He will set about killing the citizens of Ḫatti. In this way he will approach. He will draw near to carry off the oxen and the sheep of each of them. The foreign enemies malatti, and I was able...^?and my land I have pacified. So in the future may he not set about stirring up my land!

§6
Now may he by no means ever go down on his own will! I have now given an estate to my son, Labarna. I gave much land to him. I gave much cattle to him. I gave many sheep to him. So may he keep eating (and) drinking! When he is good, he may come up. But when he approaches for trouble or some slander or some rebellion, then may he stop coming up! He must stay on his estate!

§7
So now Muršili is my son! You (pl.) must recognize him! You (pl.) must install him! Truly, much courage is given to him by the gods. The god will install only a lion in place of the lion! At what time the word of the camp goes forth, or perhaps a word of rebellion is stirred up, you, my servants and chief officers, must be helpers for my son!

§8
After three years he may go on campaign. For now a heroic king I will make him. When he is not yet... To you he is the seed of your (emperor), My Sun. You must raise him as a heroic king. If you take him on campaign, you must bring him back healthy! May your clan be one like the wetna-animal's! Let it (be)... His servants are born by one mother.

§9
As one liver, one lung, one ear, you are joined. Do not rise against each other! May no one be hostile! May no one transgress the word! This deed of the cities of Šinaḫuwa and Ubariya (who fought against each other) you must not do! Slander must truly not exist! Henceforth my son is going to do that of my will.

§10
If someone says, "The king secretly does that of his own heart (saying), 'I will exhonerate it whether it is or whether it is not (true)!'" That is slander! It must not ever exist as true! As you now recognize my command and my wisdom, so must you instruct my son!

§11
May this one stop pushing that one behind, and may that one stop pushing this one in front! May the Elders stop speaking words! May no one call my son for (their own) good! May the Elders stop speaking to you in Ḫatti! May no one - neither the Man of Kuššar, nor the Man of Ḫemmuwa, nor the Man of Tamalkiya, nor the Man of Zalpa, nor even some land speak to you (for their own good)!

§12
See my son, Ḫuzziya! I, the king, made him the lord for Tappaššanda. But they took him and they kept slandering to him, and they caused him to become hostile to me, (saying), "Rebel against the person of your father! The Great Houses of Tappaššanda which he did not exempt, you will make the exemption!"

§13
But I, the king, deposed Ḫuzziya. Then the citizens of Ḫatti, even in Ḫattuša, became hostile. Further, they seized a daughter. And because she had a son(?), they made hostilities against me, (saying), "For the throne of your father a son does not exist. A servant will sit down on it! A servant will become king!" And then Ḫattuša and the Great House she overturned, and the Chiefs and the Sons of the Palace became hostile to me. She stirred up the whole land!

§14
The citizens of Ḫattuša she visciously^? killed. These ones she ...-ed in the heart. The citizens of Ḫatti she killed. This one's ox is taken, another one's sheep is taken, the vineyard and the field are taken. The threshing floor and servants... They are hitched to his ox, and this one...

(text breaks)

§15
1 ...these...
2 these... ...servants of the king...
3 and them the ILKU-men... ...the ^GIŠTUKUL-men...
4 and their fields they took. In this(?) "These are his and these are mine!" (?)
5 I know nothing (about it)!

§16
When I heard... she killed the sons of Ḫatti, their/your tears I sought. If I had not sought them, you would have seized me top to bottom with the tongue ! ...you let. The king, knows nothing... ..."Why to me this small thing did you give?" If I did not give a little, if I gave many oxen, if I gave many sheep, then the blood of the land I would have drunk!

§17
The daughter disgraced me and my name. So I, the king, took the daughter and I brought her down here from Ḫattuša. Land in place of land, cattle in place of cattle I put. She cast off the word of the father and she drank blood from the citizens of Ḫatti. Now she is sent down from the city. If she comes to my house, my house she will upset. If she comes to Ḫattuša she will overturn it again. In the land for her and estate is built, so may she keep eating and drinking!

§18

But you (pl.) must not do her harm! She did evil, but I will not do evil in return! She did not call me 'father', so I will not call her my daughter!

§19
(Until) now no one of my family took my wishes. But you, Muršili, you take it! And you will keep the word of the father. If you keep the word of the father, you will eat bread and drink water! When the vigor of youth is in your heart, then eat two or three times a day! And be attentive! But when old age is in your heart, then get drunk and cast away the word of your father!

§20
You are my foremost servants! My, the king's, word you must keep! You will eat bread and drink water, and Ḫattuša also will rise up, and my land will be at peace. But if you do not keep the word of the king, then you will not live into the future. You will die! Whoever splits(?) the word of the king, he will promptly die. May he not be my MAŠKIM-official! May he not be a foremost servant! May they slit his throat! That is of my grandfather(s?) PU-Šarruma(?), his word. Did not his sons turn to the other side? My grandfather marked Labarna as his son in Šanaḫuitta. But afterwards his servants and chiefs frustrated his command, and they sat Papaḫdilmaḫ (on the throne). But how many years went by? How many escaped? Where are the houses of the Chiefs? Did they not die?

§21
You (pl.) keep the word of me, the Labarna, the Great King! If you keep it, Ḫattuša will rise high, and your land you will keep in peace. Eat bread and drink water. If you do not keep (the word), your land will become foreign. You must be fearful towards the word of the gods! (Their) thick breads, their libation(s) and their stew, and their groats must continue to be available (to them). And you must not postpone (them), and you must not fall behind! (If) in some way you postponed them, it would be a sin, as previously(?). Let it be exactly so!

§22

The Great King, the Labarna, to Muršili, his son, began to speak: I gave my word to you. And this tablet let them keep reading aloud before you month by month. You will press my words and my wisdom into your heart. You will rule my servants and the Chiefs mercifully. (If) you see anyone's sin, whether someone sins before a god, or someone says some word, then afterwards ask the assembly! So may the (evil) tongue be abolished in that very assembly! Oh son, what is in your heart, do it!

§23
The Great King, the Labarna, to Ms. Ḫaštayar says: Do not reject me! May the king not speak thusly about her, so that the king thusly says, "The Sons of the Palace say, 'Now she is consulting the Old Women.'" The king (should) speak thusly about her, "Now (whether) still the Old Women she is consulting, I don't know." Again, do not reject me! Don't! Keep consulting those behind me, and I will reveal my word to you. Wash me well! Hold me at your breast, and at your breast protect me from the earth!

Colophone
The tablet of the Tabarna, the Great King, when the Great King, the Tabarna, fell ill in Kuššar and (his) son, Muršili, he instructed for the kingship.

					Why?
	Succession Proclamation The Succession Proclamation of Ḫattušili I (Ḫattušili I's Proclamation of the Young Muršili I as his Successor) Sommer, Ferdinand, and Adam Falkenstein, Die hethitisch-akkadische Bilingue des Ḫattušili I. (Labarna II.), Verlag Dr. H.A. Gerstenberg, 1974. At the end of his reign, Ḫattušili I was mortally wounded during a campaign against Ḫalap (Aleppo). He returned to Anatolia and was able to reach the city of Kuššar, which was located somewhere near Kaniš. There he made a declaration before his high officials in which he announced his chosen successor, Muršili (I). Muršili seems to have been Ḫattušili's grandson. Muršili's mother seems to have been a woman by the name of Ḫaštayar (Presumed to be the Ḫištayara of vs. II §1 of the Palace Chronicles), whom, at the end of this text, Ḫattušili enjoined to take care of his body after he died. His somewhat mysterious words may be an instruction to cremate his body. At the time of Ḫattušili's proclamation, Muršili was still only a youth. Other texts reveal that a man named Pimpira served as Muršili's regent. An instruction text that Pimpira had written for Muršili has survived. In this way perhaps Pimpira was fulfilling the obligation Ḫattušili placed on the Great Men to instruct the young king as stipulated by Ḫattušili in this text. Ḫattušili's death was avenged by Muršili when he attacked and defeated Ḫalap during his reign. (Col. I and Col. IV make up the Akkadian version of this bilingual document. Only Col. II and Col. III, the Hittite columns, are given here.) §1 The Great King, the Tabarna, to the totality of the high military officials and to the DUGUD-officials, said: I have now become ill. (Previously) as a son I declared Labarna for you, (saying) "May he sit upon the throne!" I, the king, called him my son. I continually instructed him, and I kept running behind him. But he showed himself to be a son not worth seeing: he did not shed tears, he did not show mercy. He is cold! He is not merciful! §2 I, the king, took him and I advanced him in my wisdom. What now? From now on, no one will (ever) raise his sister's son! For the word of the king he did not take. He kept taking that which is the word of his mother, the snake! The brother's and sister's kept bringing cold words to him, and their words he kept listening to. But I, the king, heard, and I argued an argument. §3 Enough of that! He is not my son! Then his mother kept bellowing like a cow, (saying) "They separated the living bull-calf from me! And they deposed him! And for what?" Did I, the king, treat him badly in any way? Did I not make him a priest? Do I not keep pulling him forth in goodness? He did not show mercy for the will of the king, how could he show mercy on his own for the welfare of Ḫatti? §4 His mother is a snake! Henceforth the word of his mother, his brothers, and his sisters he will hear. (If) he draws near, he will draw near for vengence! Concerning the troops, the dignataries, and my servants, those who are near the king, they are ready to die for the king. So he will set about destroying them, and bloodshed he will begin to accomplish. He does not fear! §5 He will set about killing the citizens of Ḫatti. In this way he will approach. He will draw near to carry off the oxen and the sheep of each of them. The foreign enemies malatti, and I was able...^?and my land I have pacified. So in the future may he not set about stirring up my land! §6 Now may he by no means ever go down on his own will! I have now given an estate to my son, Labarna. I gave much land to him. I gave much cattle to him. I gave many sheep to him. So may he keep eating (and) drinking! When he is good, he may come up. But when he approaches for trouble or some slander or some rebellion, then may he stop coming up! He must stay on his estate! §7 So now Muršili is my son! You (pl.) must recognize him! You (pl.) must install him! Truly, much courage is given to him by the gods. The god will install only a lion in place of the lion! At what time the word of the camp goes forth, or perhaps a word of rebellion is stirred up, you, my servants and chief officers, must be helpers for my son! §8 After three years he may go on campaign. For now a heroic king I will make him. When he is not yet... To you he is the seed of your (emperor), My Sun. You must raise him as a heroic king. If you take him on campaign, you must bring him back healthy! May your clan be one like the wetna-animal's! Let it (be)... His servants are born by one mother. §9 As one liver, one lung, one ear, you are joined. Do not rise against each other! May no one be hostile! May no one transgress the word! This deed of the cities of Šinaḫuwa and Ubariya (who fought against each other) you must not do! Slander must truly not exist! Henceforth my son is going to do that of my will. §10 If someone says, "The king secretly does that of his own heart (saying), 'I will exhonerate it whether it is or whether it is not (true)!'" That is slander! It must not ever exist as true! As you now recognize my command and my wisdom, so must you instruct my son! §11 May this one stop pushing that one behind, and may that one stop pushing this one in front! May the Elders stop speaking words! May no one call my son for (their own) good! May the Elders stop speaking to you in Ḫatti! May no one - neither the Man of Kuššar, nor the Man of Ḫemmuwa, nor the Man of Tamalkiya, nor the Man of Zalpa, nor even some land speak to you (for their own good)! §12 See my son, Ḫuzziya! I, the king, made him the lord for Tappaššanda. But they took him and they kept slandering to him, and they caused him to become hostile to me, (saying), "Rebel against the person of your father! The Great Houses of Tappaššanda which he did not exempt, you will make the exemption!" §13 But I, the king, deposed Ḫuzziya. Then the citizens of Ḫatti, even in Ḫattuša, became hostile. Further, they seized a daughter. And because she had a son(?), they made hostilities against me, (saying), "For the throne of your father a son does not exist. A servant will sit down on it! A servant will become king!" And then Ḫattuša and the Great House she overturned, and the Chiefs and the Sons of the Palace became hostile to me. She stirred up the whole land! §14 The citizens of Ḫattuša she visciously^? killed. These ones she ...-ed in the heart. The citizens of Ḫatti she killed. This one's ox is taken, another one's sheep is taken, the vineyard and the field are taken. The threshing floor and servants... They are hitched to his ox, and this one... (text breaks) §15 1 ...these... 2 these... ...servants of the king... 3 and them the ILKU-men... ...the ^GIŠTUKUL-men... 4 and their fields they took. In this(?) "These are his and these are mine!" (?) 5 I know nothing (about it)! §16 When I heard... she killed the sons of Ḫatti, their/your tears I sought. If I had not sought them, you would have seized me top to bottom with the tongue ! ...you let. The king, knows nothing... ..."Why to me this small thing did you give?" If I did not give a little, if I gave many oxen, if I gave many sheep, then the blood of the land I would have drunk! §17 The daughter disgraced me and my name. So I, the king, took the daughter and I brought her down here from Ḫattuša. Land in place of land, cattle in place of cattle I put. She cast off the word of the father and she drank blood from the citizens of Ḫatti. Now she is sent down from the city. If she comes to my house, my house she will upset. If she comes to Ḫattuša she will overturn it again. In the land for her and estate is built, so may she keep eating and drinking! §18 But you (pl.) must not do her harm! She did evil, but I will not do evil in return! She did not call me 'father', so I will not call her my daughter! §19 (Until) now no one of my family took my wishes. But you, Muršili, you take it! And you will keep the word of the father. If you keep the word of the father, you will eat bread and drink water! When the vigor of youth is in your heart, then eat two or three times a day! And be attentive! But when old age is in your heart, then get drunk and cast away the word of your father! §20 You are my foremost servants! My, the king's, word you must keep! You will eat bread and drink water, and Ḫattuša also will rise up, and my land will be at peace. But if you do not keep the word of the king, then you will not live into the future. You will die! Whoever splits(?) the word of the king, he will promptly die. May he not be my MAŠKIM-official! May he not be a foremost servant! May they slit his throat! That is of my grandfather(s?) PU-Šarruma(?), his word. Did not his sons turn to the other side? My grandfather marked Labarna as his son in Šanaḫuitta. But afterwards his servants and chiefs frustrated his command, and they sat Papaḫdilmaḫ (on the throne). But how many years went by? How many escaped? Where are the houses of the Chiefs? Did they not die? §21 You (pl.) keep the word of me, the Labarna, the Great King! If you keep it, Ḫattuša will rise high, and your land you will keep in peace. Eat bread and drink water. If you do not keep (the word), your land will become foreign. You must be fearful towards the word of the gods! (Their) thick breads, their libation(s) and their stew, and their groats must continue to be available (to them). And you must not postpone (them), and you must not fall behind! (If) in some way you postponed them, it would be a sin, as previously(?). Let it be exactly so! §22 The Great King, the Labarna, to Muršili, his son, began to speak: I gave my word to you. And this tablet let them keep reading aloud before you month by month. You will press my words and my wisdom into your heart. You will rule my servants and the Chiefs mercifully. (If) you see anyone's sin, whether someone sins before a god, or someone says some word, then afterwards ask the assembly! So may the (evil) tongue be abolished in that very assembly! Oh son, what is in your heart, do it! §23 The Great King, the Labarna, to Ms. Ḫaštayar says: Do not reject me! May the king not speak thusly about her, so that the king thusly says, "The Sons of the Palace say, 'Now she is consulting the Old Women.'" The king (should) speak thusly about her, "Now (whether) still the Old Women she is consulting, I don't know." Again, do not reject me! Don't! Keep consulting those behind me, and I will reveal my word to you. Wash me well! Hold me at your breast, and at your breast protect me from the earth! Colophone The tablet of the Tabarna, the Great King, when the Great King, the Tabarna, fell ill in Kuššar and (his) son, Muršili, he instructed for the kingship.