I, the Sun

by Morris, Janet

  “He could come to feel that he is of use to you, and that would do his heart more good than the Sun might imagine. As for me, I still doctor broken wings and split hooves…”

  “There must be more to this.”

  “Not that I would divulge. Why not seek out his mother, or peruse the archives in the matter of who has recently supplicated the Sun God? Then the truth will be made known to you in that matter."

  Since Hattu-ziti was like an ass with ears flattened to his head upon the subject, I dismissed him, then sent down to the archives to see if anything Kantuzilis had said to the Sun God was recorded there.

  And back came Pikku my little scribe to me with a copy of Kantuzilis' supplication. I will not repeat it all, only this;

  “Life is bound up with death, and death is bound up with life. Man cannot live forever; the days of his life are numbered. Were man to live forever, it would not concern him greatly even if he had to endure grievous sickness.

  “O god, ever since my mother gave birth to me, thou, my god, hast reared me. Thou, my god, brought me together with good men. Thou, my god, did show me what to do in time of distress. My god did call me, Kantuzilis, thy favorite servant…. Much as I wearied myself pleading before my god, yet it is of no avail. No sooner did thou scrape one evil thing off me, than thou brought back another in its stead…. Through sickness my house has become a house of misery. Through misery my soul longs for another place. As one who has been sick on the day of New Year, so have I become. Sickness and misery have now become oppressive to me that I must declare to thee, my god. At night sweet slumber does not overtake me on my bed. While I lie there, good tidings do not come to me…. How thou could have ordained this sickness for me from my mother's womb on, that I have never asked the seeress. Now I cry for mercy in the presence of my god! O god, do not make me a man who is unwelcome at the king's court! Do not make my condition an offense to mankind! Those to whom I did good, none of them wishes me long life. Thou, my god, art father and mother to me; beside thee there is no father or mother for me….

  And I recalled how many times I had passed him over for another more hale, or more well-born, or more pleasing to look upon. And that I had at times turned my face from him because of the awkwardness of his gait and the scaly pallor of his skin, or the angry pustules that made a mountain range of his face. And I remembered how close Kantuzilis had been to Telipinus, bobbling always behind like a shadow, being increased by Telipinus’ manly beauty and brotherly love. But when I had made Telipinus priest in Kumanni, I had not done anything about Kantuzilis. And when he went east, the Priest did not ask to have Kantuzilis, then in the Meshedi, assigned to him.

  Once, in former times I had gone to the mountain and prayed to the Storm God for aid in the matter of Titai and my Queen Daduhepa. Then there was no mother or father for me but my god.

  And I felt my failure laid upon me by everything this lesser son had said; but I had just not had the time for him: sons of the Sun are many; only in the cases of my royal princes had I bestirred myself, and that less than I might, for kings may be fathers to the get of their loins only to the extent that time allows: I have a whole land full of sons, all the Hattian people; every head among them is my concern.

  But in my grasp there was the tablet, and in my heart the matter of my guilt on the subject of my children in general, and I resolved to investigate the matter and put it right.

  So I called Takkuri's sister to audience, and when I told her the nature of my concern her surprise was unconcealed: “I had thought it something about the twins… my lord. I hope he did not importune…" She turned her eyes downward, and I felt then even worse, though I had paid the woman handsomely for bearing me one child and maintaining friendly relations in the matter of my Hattusas nobility. All these years I had kept her, albeit she was no longer necessary as a throttle-hold on Takkuri her brother. Not for her beauty, which had long since faded, not for anything except mothering children of other women and keeping the concubines in their places had I made use of her.

  The emptiness of the life of Takkuri's sister was revealed to me, and that it was I who had done it. I said:

  “I called you in the matter of the child of your womb: I am sending him to Egypt with Hattu-ziti, as his first duty in his new position as assistant to the Chamberlain. Tell him for me that I am confident that he can make himself great in my service, and that whatsoever post he craves among the palace officials will be open to him when he has finished his apprenticeship at Hattu-ziti's knee.”

  And since Takkuri's sister was tearful and gushing praises which only made me feel worse, I growled at her that I would be taking the twins out driving in the morning, and dismissed her to seek out her own son and tell him what I had said.

  At last count, I have acquired twenty-eight children of various degrees of relationship which I recognize. As my empire grew, so did my family. And but for the aforementioned exceptions, I have done well by all of them continuously. Sometimes, as in the case of Kantuzilis, whom his mother should have known better than to name after Pale One, repository of evil, I have not entirely succeeded. Sometimes, as in the case of the twins, my most strenuous efforts came to naught. But I have done my best, and there is no more a man can do about any matter than that. Things there are that attract disaster like a waterhole a thirsty horse. Lives there are that are tragic from first scream to last, (as in the case of Naphuria Akhenaten's), out of which only vile despair and despite issue forth continually.

  So it was that Kantuzilis came to accompany Hattu-ziti to Egypt, while all my princes I called into Hattusas and assigned each a part in the greatest undertaking of my career: the destruction of the kingdom of Mitanni.

  CHAPTER 28

  “I, the Sun, Suppiluliumas, Great King, King of Hatti, the Hero, went to war for the second time against Tushratta.

  “I crossed the Mala, conquered Isuwa a second time, brought all the surrounding lands back into the Hatti land. I left the lands free, and the people became people of the Hatti land. I brought back sheep, cattle, namra into the Hatti land.

  “I reached Alshe. Kutmar, the provincial center I captured, and became its lord. To Anartali of Alshe I presented it as a gift. I proceeded to Suta and ransacked it. And I reached Washuganni for plunder. From Suta I brought its inhabitants, together with all that they owned. But Tushratta the king escaped. He did not come to meet me in battle. So I turned and recrossed the Mala. Halap and Mukis I subdued. Takuwa, king of Ni’i came against me, and behind him Akit-Teshub, his brother, caused Ni’i to revolt. Also Akiya of Arahti revolted, saying, ‘We will fight.’ I, Great King, became lord of Arahti. Akit-Teshub, brother of Takuwa, Akiya, king of Arahti, and their lords I took prisoner with all their goods and brought them to the Hatti land. Then to Abuzya I proceeded. I took all the lands on account of Tushratta. Then I went onward. Qatna with its goods and possessions I took. When I went to the land of Nuhasse, I took possession of all its lands. Sarrupsi was murdered; his mother, brothers, sons I took prisoner and sent off to Hatti. Takib-sarri, servant of Sarrupsi, I made king over Ukulzat. Then I went to the land of Apina. But I did not think of fighting the land of Kinza. But Shutatarra with Aitakama, his sons, and his chariotry came against me. I defeated him, and they threw themselves into the city of Abuzya. But I sealed them in the city of Abuzya. Shutatarra, with his sons, his warriors, his brothers and his goods, I captured, and sent them off to Hatti. Then I went to Apina. And I defeated its king and his nobles… all of them with their lands and goods sent off to Hatti. On account of the overweening of Tushratta the King, in one year all these lands I plundered, and sent to Hatti. From the Niblani mountains, and from that side of the Mala on, I brought them into my power.”

  Thus have I written of that year. But it was not so simple as that, nor was that all that occurred. Nor, I am afraid, was I fulfilled by even those triumphs chronicled above.

  I had not the blubber of Tushratta of Mitanni with which to grease the wheels of my chariot.

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p; And I had not gotten Piyassilis the dream of his heart: did not acquire Carchernish; you will note that I have left it out. I besieged it, but it was a city strongly fortified, and I did not want to spend the whole year splashing about in the Mala while I tried to starve them out, although it should have been easy, since the drought yet raged in Mitanni. While we were slipping and sliding in the diminished Mala’s mud, I wrote to Tushratta, saying: “Come, let us fight.”‘

  But not even when he heard that I was ravishing that queen among concubines, Carchemish, did Tushratta come out from Washuganni and join battle.

  So, as I have said, I proceeded to where he lay in his lair. Deep into Mitanni to Washuganni I led the Hattian armies, and sent word to him that I was on my way, that he might come and fight with me.

  But out from Washuganni Tushratta did not come; he did not answer; he pretended he knew me not. When I went into his capital after him, he was not there any longer. He had slipped through my fingers. Some captives revealed that he had retired eastward.

  Since eastward lay the rival claimant for the now vacant throne of Mitanni, I let him go: seemingly he was running toward his death. I took the gilded chariots; the utensils of the gods; the doors of silver and gold, and ground my teeth together that I had ever been so foolish as to make an agreement with Artatama of Hurri that forbade me to chase into Hurri after my enemy, Tushratta.

  Then I recrossed the Mala, only having sacked the city Washuganni and removed its wealth and its people and all that they owned. I did not occupy the city: that, too, was part of my agreement with the Hurri king Artatama, Tushratta’s brother.

  That was when I heard of the death of my ally Sarrupsi in Nuhasse, and so I struck southwest toward my embattled country through a grey and yellow sky that rained cinders upon us from all the pillaging that had been going on in the lands.

  Now, Halap is a choice grape among choice grapes, and no better opportunity could have presented itself to me to pluck it, so I took it and from its northern vantage presided over the investment of Nuhasse for the second time.

  It angered me greatly that this poor little Sarrupsi had been murdered by his own family. And even more wroth was I when I heard that the man who usurped his throne had called Egypt to his aid against me.

  I had no way of knowing whether Hattu-ziti was even back from Egypt and I worried over my Chamberlain’s safety, and that of my boy Kantuzilis who was with him.

  But I continued my investment of the countries now making common cause against me. From within Halap, in the country of Mukis, I fought the rebel usurper in Nuhasse, and his cohorts, the kings of Mukis and Ni’i.

  And it was near the end of spring by then, and I was not at all sure that I could make good my boast and be in Alalakh by the first day of summer to receive my Babylonian queen. But I had not given it up; in fact, I was preparing to take the city, which I could almost spit upon from my vantage in Halap.

  Also while in Halap I wrote a gentle but firm letter to Niqmad king of the great seaboard city, Ugarit, inviting him to become my ally against the hostile kings of Mukis, Nuhasse, Nil, and whomever else we should have as common enemies. This I did knowing full well that Aziru might not be pressing Ugarit as I had wanted him to do. But the ferment to Niqmad’s rear, and my very presence so close to his land, I thought, might be sufficient.

  I threw all my might into the investment of Mukis, even while my scouts brought me a prisoner who carried on his person a bid from the kings of Nuhasse, Nil and Mukis that Niqmad of Ugarit join them in common cause against me.

  Now again I wrote to Ugarit’s king, and I told him this:

  “Since the lands of Nuhasse and Mukis are at war with me, you, Niqmad, do not fear them; have confidence in yourself. Just as in former times your fathers were friends and not enemies of Hatti, now you, Niqmad, be likewise enemy of my enemy and friend of my friend. If you, Niqmad, hear these words of the Great King, your lord, and you are faithful, you will know as king the favor with which the Great King, your lord, will favor you.

  “So, Niqmad, be faithful to the treaty of friendship with Hatti, and you will see: the kings of Nuhasse and Mukis who have dropped the treaty of friendship with Hatti, how the Great King will treat them. And you, Niqmad, in the days to come, will trust the word of the Great King, your lord.

  “If then these kings send soldiers to attack your country, Niqmad, do not fear them; send immediately a messenger of yours to me.

  “But if you, Niqmad, by your own arms meet and attack the soldiers of Nuhasse or of Mukis, let no one take them from your hands. If it happens that cities of your borders become your enemies, and in fighting them in the days to come you conquer them, let no one take them from your hands. And if it happens in the days to come that the Great King conquers these kings, the Great King will give you a sealed tablet of agreement.”

  So did I write to Niqmad, bringing to his mind treaties that had existed in former times between our lands, and acting as if indeed these friendly relations were presently established. It was a generous offer, I thought.

  At the time I wrote it, the king of Ni’i was under my very roof, clandestinely trying to establish a similar relationship with me. But while we were yet going over the terms, his brother rose up and claimed the country of Ni’i and threw in his lot with my enemies, thus it remained for me to regain his country for him before I could take his submission as its ruler. And as anything less, I had no need of him.

  So I sent him out with Piyassilis to ride in the point chariot while we were attacking his own country, while I myself concentrated on ending the rule of the king of Mukis by installing myself in its capital, so that I could receive my wife there, as promised, if indeed she was sent safely.

  Never can I remember such anxiousness over any campaign, not even against Tushratta, as that I felt while the first day of summer drew nearer and still I was not sitting in Alalakh on its throne.

  But I received a messenger from Niqmad of Ugarit, saying to me what I already knew: that the hostile coalition of Mukis and Nuhasse and the usurper of Ni’i had sent a message to the king of Ugarit. And this is what they said to him: ‘‘Why are you not at war along with us, separating from the Sun?” And the messenger assured me that Niqmad, his master, did not wish to be at war with me, and instead was requesting troops. So I sent back with his messenger chariotry, and troops under Telipinus and Tarkhunta-zalma.

  And I was pleased: the hostile kings of Mukis and Ni’i and Nuhasse now were placed between my battle on the east from out of Halap, and Niqmad’s from out of the west. And when I sent my sons and nobles and Hattian soldiers to Niqmad’s aid, I had put Ugarit officially under the protection of the Sun: even tribute schedules did I write out there in Halap and give to the high official of Ugarit to take back to his master.

  As for the kings embattled between us, they were like fruit from which the juice was ready to be squeezed.

  But was the Sun triumphant? Not just then, I was not: I had interrupted one enemy messenger’s journey to Egypt to beg help for embattled Nuhasse; surely there had been others. And I was not yet installed in Alalakh.

  Just as I was finishing the sack of Mukis, we heard that Aziru of Amurru had requested troops from Egypt, in case I attacked him.

  This troubled me, both that he would do the deed, and that he himself would inform me of it. I thought about the matter for two days, and just as the Hattian army crossed the moat into Alalakh, capital of Mukis, I decided that the Sun’s armies would take no punitive measures in the case of Aziru’s proclaimed defection, for I had sniffed out a motive in his seeming madness: since he himself wrote to me of his plans. I was assuming that there was laughter between the lines.

  Three days before I had promised Burnaburiash, king of Babylon that I would be ensconced upon the throne in Alalakh, I was sitting there, with all my victorious soldiers turned loose against the rebellious town. The king of Mukis had fled and given up his country. The back of the rebel coalition was broken, so I presumed to think. Ni’
i was in my hands. The Sun’s son Telipinus and my most able young general Tarkhunta-zalma, with the soldiers and chariots I had sent down to Ugarit had driven the enemy soldiers out of Niqmad’s country. All the displaced persons my army had taken, they offered up to Niqmad, and Niqmad the king of Ugarit did great homage to my son and the Great Ones: silver, gold and copper and other fine gifts he offered them, and even said that he was coming to Alalakh to fall at the feet of the Sun.

  So it was that while the citizens of Mukis were dying and crying in the smoldering streets, I was sitting in the plunder-heaped throne room with Niqmad the king of Ugarit, his brown nose pressed to the alabaster, doing homage at my feet.

  To this bewigged and most servile king I showed favor, raising him up, saying that I acknowledged his loyalty, and that whatever belonged to Ugarit, even the smallest blade of grass, I would not touch.

  Now while Niqmad was agreeing to this term and to that, and affirming to me his past demonstrations of loyalty, saying: “Behold, by hostile words against the Sun, my master, Niqmad did not let himself be reduced,” I the Sun was thinking that the Egyptian manners this vassal-king had learned made him too comfortable on his knees. There is a difference in the way I and my brother, the Great King of Egypt, hold vassals: the Sun’s strength is not built upon the fear of mutilation. We do not cut off the hands of our enemies and trundle piles of them back to Hatti; we do not say: the Sun is a God; bow down to him. The Haitian army is not gentle – do not think that – but it is civilized. I have no wild legions of Nubians or Ethiopians. Though later I used more Hapiru, who kill slowly, then I was not using many of them. If a Haitian soldier is pillaging in a town, he may thrust the lame and halt into the flames, but children he does not rape, kings he does not flay alive, princes he does not unman for all to see. That was what brought me Ugarit out from under Egypt’s stool: that we are men, not beasts, and treat our vassals as our own people are treated. Thus, the king of Ugarit, groveling at my feet in a manner that would have caused a Hattian noble to seek death as relief from the shame of such behavior, remarked: