I, the Sun

by Morris, Janet

  “Praised be the Sun, who has shown me great favor; I am the footstool under your shoes; you have raised me up and treated me as a brother. I am the enemy of your enemy, friend of your friend. To the Sun, Great King, my master, I am devoted, you have delivered me from the hands of my enemies –”

  And after a while I tired of the novelty and silenced him, lest the very station of kingship be devalued by the king of Ugarit’s Egyptian servility.

  And I signaled Pikku – who was writing down the terms of the treaty to be attested by this Niqmad in my presence – to bring forth the tablet. And to Niqmad I said:

  “I am your master, your majesty, your overlord, to all my terms you have agreed. When you affix your seal to this document, all the gods will know it. You are a king within my sphere of influence. When you were pressed you agreed to tribute in specific terms. Do you still so agree?”

  “Yes.” His wig was jeweled in the Egyptian manner; he wore pectorals and cuffs of gold. Yet his dress was Ugaritic, a long wrapped tunic over an undergarment with sleeves to his wrist. And his face, which was brown as an Egyptian’s but regal-nosed, was pinched and drawn.

  “Ah, then, let us affix our seals. Pikku!” And the scribe scuttled forward and presented the agreement, and all my generals and commanders fell silent, and before them Ugarit became a Hittite country: all her quays and ships; all her ivory-latticed palace grounds; all her wondrous streets with their Egyptian colossi presiding thereupon from eyes of granite, were ours.

  There was a shouting from my lords, and a thrusting up of clenched fists, and loud praises from the one to the other when the deed was done.

  The seal that I had used was the one I had had made to celebrate my wedding: within the inner ring, beneath my name and titles, were the dignities of rank I expected to bestow upon my new wife. And that alone marred my joy, that she was not yet in my hands.

  So as Telipinus and Piyassilis were congratulating Niqmad, who looked near to fainting and whose smile was weak as his slippery grip had been when I took his hand, I called close Pikku and told him not to fire or copy the tablet until I told him otherwise.

  “What shall I tell the scribe from Ugarit?”

  “That it is the will of the Sun. On the day of his master’s departure, he will have it. Not before.”

  With expressionless face, Pikku bowed back from me.

  Now, I have not much spoken of the chaos all about us, of the moaning of the Hattian wounded and the sobbing of the namra penned in the dungeons below; nor of the smoke-blackened riches and tattered glory being pounded into the mud of Mukis by my triumphant host. But it was so; war is always war. And as we walked the halls the king of Ugarit, who had visited before in Alalakh, would sigh and his mouth would twitch, or he would squeeze shut his eyes as he looked away from this gory sight or that splintered artifact.

  “Half of Ugarit, I have heard, was destroyed by fire. Would you start soon on rebuilding it?” I ordered him most delicately.

  “Can the Sun loan me some men to undo what they have done?”

  “What did you say?”

  “I said, my very own men will soon be undoing what has been done, my master.”

  “Good. I have heard it is pig upon the table. I have not had pig since the New Year.”

  While he was smiling and trying in his delicate fashion to make his Egyptian manners work with me and I was thinking that if I puffed his way, he would flutter like a feather, a commotion behind us caused me to touch his shoulder. He flinched, stopped, and then a messenger stood before us, breathing hard, his eyes switching back and forth between the king of Ugarit and me.

  “Pass on in, Niqmad. Piyassilis, take our guest and seat him at the victory board. Now, man what is it?”

  As my own filed passed me, the messenger said: “Ni’i is ours, my lord! The usurper has been ousted, but not taken. He has gone over to the king of Arahti, taking six lords with him. But the country is secure.”

  “Tarkhunta-zalma, if you would keep your ears, take them elsewhere!” I spoke harshly, but I was not angry at the young general who loitered at the doorpost. “And what else, man?” I demanded of the messenger, who yet remained. Over my shoulder, the messenger’s eyes followed something, doubtless the eager young officer whom I had caught eavesdropping.

  “My lord Tabarna,” said the man very softly, his nervous fingers twirling the ends of his hair, “I have news that may not be good… I have just come from the gatepost, where waits a man of Amurru, who sends his master’s greetings and the message that his men are escorting the Babylonian retinue that escorts your wife hither, and that the Sun should wait calmly, assured that all is well.”

  “I see,” I said. “And what else?”

  “That is all.”

  “Go to our guest Takuwa, the would-be king of Ni’i, and tell him that the Hattian armies by my will have regained his land for him, and that he should meet with Arnuwandas when the moon rises to go over the terms of his submission. Then go to the gate-post and get this Amurrite messenger and escort him back to me at table. Then go and inform my thirty that they must be ready to drive on a moment’s notice, and after that; if you will, come eat at my board and await dismissal of the Amurrite.”

  And he departed to his tasks and I to mine.

  I brushed my lips to Arnuwandas’ ear and assigned him the task of readying the king of Ni’i for formal submission as I was seating myself. Then I informed all present that Lupakki had completed what Piyassilis, and the king of Ni’i while he was being usurped, had started. Piyassilis looked disappointed that he had not made it back to the front in time to take his share of glory, but aside from him, all the men began to celebrate in earnest. Even the king of Ugarit seemed cheered, seeing that peace for which he yearned was now close to becoming a reality.

  When the conversations around me permitted, I sat back and sipped wine, and pondered the messenger’s news. Aziru, what had he in his mind? He was escorting my wife hither? The implied insult, that I could not myself assure her safety, could not be denied. And yet, did he truly bring her safely to me without attaching any overweening significance to the deed, then it was a plea to be treated as an equal, (or at least a useful adherent) which he might not know any other way to make.

  But I had no intention of recognizing Aziru of Amurru just then, else my new vassal king Niqmad die of terror. He had already asked me to protect him from the Amurrite, and I had had to say to him that Amurru was a state of Egypt’s, and other than sending Niqmad troops on request to maintain Ugarit’s borders I would not mix in. What troubles he had with Amurru I advised him to settle between himself and Aziru by negotiation. And he had begged my indulgence, that I at least say to the Amurrite that he must not plunder Ugarit’s ships and merchants’ caravans, pointing out to me that his loss was my loss, and his people my children, and were it Hatti being plundered, I would take a hand.

  Just as the messenger and the Amurrite in his purple- brown mantle came into the chamber, I called Tarkhunta-zalma to me and bade Arnuwandas switch seats with him.

  As the Amurrite crossed the floor and bowed down before me, disappearing from view beneath the heaped viands on the table, total silence fell. Even the palace women who had been playing soft music in the corner left off.

  I raised him up and bade him speak, and he told me what my own messenger had told me.

  “And how far is my wife-to-be’s party from here?”

  “They will be at your borders in the morning; I have spent most of my time explaining to Hattian officers my mission so that they would pass me through.”

  “And is your master with them?”

  The young Amurrite tossed his massive head, and his bushy hair whipped about his shoulders, and he stared me in the eye and said: “My master has been summoned to Egypt. He wishes you to know this, and that he is not going to go. My lord, Great King, might I speak privately with you on my master’s behalf?”

  I looked around me at the attentive faces: Piyassilis; Arnuwandas; Telipinus;
Kuwatna-ziti’s protégé Tarkhunta-zalma; my Master of Horses, Hannutti; Teshub-zalma the young commander; Zidanza my adopted son; and twelve other Hattian lords’ who were in attendance.

  “Tarkhunta-zalma, come with me.” The young general rose, came to stand behind my chair.

  “You others, I have a desire to acquire the country of Arahti, whose king Akiya has given asylum to our enemy, the usurper of Ni’i. Who would like the task?”

  So I chose the Priest to command the troops, and Hannutti to accompany my son. Telipinus chose Teshub-zalma and Zidanza, and all excused themselves to set the thing in motion.

  To the aforementioned, the king of Ugarit had listened in silence. When I got up to go out with the messenger of Amurru, he leaned forward and opened his mouth, but Arnuwandas must have dissuaded him, for he sat back with his hands folded over his belly.

  Close to the great hall in the palace was a small, intimate chamber.

  Within it, I asked of the Amurrite what it was he could not say before my lords, while Tarkhunta-zalma stood, arms folded and legs spread wide, before the door.

  “Great King, my master seeks your aid.”

  “In what way? He writes to Egypt begging them to send troops against me! He even tells me this is so. Let him come himself, and fall down at the feet of the Sun, and I will succor him like any other vassal.”

  “Great King, he bade me tell you he is sorely beset. Akhenaten has commanded his presence in Egypt; worse, the Egyptian has set Hatib the Vile upon my master, and Aziru fears that he will soon have his wrists in a shackle whose rope, after being wound around his neck, is in Hatib’s hands. So my master wrote to Pharaoh, saying: ‘Hatib and I will come. But, my lord, the King of Hatti has come to Nuhasse! Therefore I cannot come. May the King of Hatti depart! Then Hatib and I will come!’ But, Great King, my father Aziru begs you: stay in Nuhasse. Do not remove your troops from the land, else my beloved master will be as a fettered slave switched by Hatib all the way to Akhenaten’s court!”

  And what does Aziru wish me to think of his brash protestations of loyalty to the Egyptian?”

  “My lord, my father Aziru has placed his neck upon your plow. He bade me tell you he has gone to Tunib, and that he will reside there seven times seven days, though into your territory he dares not come. And to say to you, lest you find it out and think ill of him, that he has written further to Akhenaten, saying: The King of Hatti dwells in Nuhasse, and I am afraid of him lest he comes to Amurru…. He dwells in Nuhasse, two days journey to Tunib, and I am afraid he will oppress Tunib, but to you, the Sun, he offers Tunib up with open hands, only wishing that you save him from Hatib, Pharaoh’s fearsome servant, who is at all times overseeing him.”

  “I can hardly believe this candor. But I will take a chance. I will give you safe-passage. Go you to Tunib and tell Aziru that though I will depart, my troops will stay in Nuhasse; that I am going to Arahti, and when I have conquered it, I am going on to Qatna. And say that if he, Aziru, comes out to aid me against Qatna, I will consider it an act of submission upon his part, and I will leave Tunib alone, so he can play his game with Egypt out to its ending. But in that I will not aid him, except to say that Hatib’s blood is the color of gold, and some of that gold is Hittite gold, and should Hatib hear that the king of Hatti wishes to see his face in Qatna, there his person will surely be. Now, depart.”

  But even as I was saying that, a knock sounded upon the doors.

  Tarkhunta-zalma, without moving away from the doors upon which he leaned, growled that the Sun was in conference within.

  From without came an answer, while I was watching the young messenger from Amurru, whose jaw, though out-thrust, was quivering, and who was blinking far too rapidly. “Are you a son of Aziru’s by blood, or merely by the soldier’s oath?” I demanded of the clean-shaven youth, while Tarkhunta-zalma pushed himself uncertainly away from the door, gesturing for my attention. “What is it, general?”

  “Piyassilis desires admittance.”

  “Admit him, then. You, messenger, speak when the Sun speaks to you!”

  And the Amurrite youth said quietly that indeed Aziru was his sire. And I was thinking that I should have known that: on such a mission of treachery, less than a blood relation even I would have been hesitant to send. And, too, Aziru’s axe-face looked out at me from beneath the bushy hair of the youngster, who could be no more than fifteen or sixteen at the most.

  As I presented the prince of Amurru to Piyassilis, I was adjudging my son’s face, he who loved Amurru’s king Aziru like a brother, and who greeted the youth of Amurru as a peer.

  It was not only myself who was scowling at that, but also Tarkhunta-zalma, who a moment ago had been smiling, and the general was once again leaning his weight against the door, gold-banded arms crossed over his chest, naked displeasure upon his face.

  I had no more time than that to note the brown-haired one’s demeanor, he who was Piyassilis’ closet companion, who had recognized his voice when I did not, and then Piyassilis was speaking:

  “Tell your father Aziru that my heart is with him, and that I have laid a sacrifice upon his behalf. Abuya –”

  “Who sent you in here and with what message?” I snapped.

  Recollecting himself at my rebuke, my son said: “My Sun, the king of Ugarit wished me to come and express his desire to open negotiations leading to friendly relationship with Amurru. He would –”

  “The friendly relationship he will get from us is that he develops with the oar he will soon be pulling on one of my father’s war galleys,” spat the youth, and I saw the brown-haired Tarkhunta-zalma raise an eyebrow.

  “Princes do not make policy decisions in those matters in Hatti. Niqmad of Ugarit is my guest and my vassal”

  At that the youth seemed to recollect where he stood. His glance went from Piyassilis, pulling his lip in irritation, to myself, and to the youthful general at the door, then returned to me. He squared his shoulders: “Great King, I came here to plead your aid for my father’s sake, and you have refused me. His death will likely come of it: I cannot imagine he will be too concerned about your relationship with Egypt’s Ugaritic cattle.”

  I was not sure I had heard him correctly, but Piyassilis, aghast at such bravado, put himself between the youth and myself,

  “My father,” pleaded my son softly, “he is but a boy, and sorely pressed.”

  “Step out of the way. Boy! If you are not capable of understanding the message I have given you for your father, then at least be capable of transmitting it. Repeat to me what I have told you.”

  And as he did, Piyassilis listened closely, and nodded, and when the boy fell silent, Piyassilis offered himself as an honor guard to accompany the son of Aziru to his father in Tunib.

  “Piyassilis, I am disappointed. I have troops yet in Nuhasse; we are sending a force into Arahti in the morning; Alalakh must be held; my wife must be transported here. Have you your own troops, to suggest such a thing? Are you separating from the Sun and going over to Aziru?”

  While Tarkhunta-zalma battled his smile, Piyassilis stuttered that he had meant no such thing, only was he trying to be of help.

  “Be of help, then: explain to this small-minded child what the message he carries means. Not here! Go take him to the stables, get him fresh horses, provisions, whatsoever he needs. Give him a safe-passage through the country, but send no one with him. I have done all that I am going to do in this matter. I will hear no more about it. As for Ugarit’s negotiations with Amurru, I am too busy to concern myself just now. And so,” I added, as Piyassilis opened his mouth to protest, “are you. Now, depart, the both, before I lose my temper.”

  Tarkhunta-zalma spoke soft words to Piyassilis at the door, and then it was just the son of the Shepherd and myself in the conference chamber.

  “Weil, sit down, Tarkhunta-zalma. Tell me what thoughts you have on all this.”

  Suddenly clumsy, awkward and shy, he took a stool and sat gingerly upon it. “My lord, I was thinking that there
might be trouble at the border checkpoint when the Babylonian’s honor-guard’s nationality is detected.”

  “Very good; they will all likely be detained, which is why you are going from here to ready my thirty: we leave upon the moment.” He started to rise. “Wait. You know Piyassilis better than any.” He flushed, lowered his eyes, and muttered something. I did not have time to consider what that reaction might mean. “What is it with him and the Amurrites?”

  Up slowly came Tarkhunta-zalma’s head, and his eyes were frank and appraising, long slits in his head: “My lord, Great King, does the Sun not know how Piyassilis loves thee? You have shown favor to the Amurrite; Piyassilis wants above all things to be a satisfaction to you; he seeks your approval by his manner – not only in this, but in all things…. As you say, I am often with him. I was with him when he dredged from Lupakki every tale of your youth. I was with him when we rode into battle, in former times, behind the Sun’s chariot, and in all things he endeavored to make himself like you. Twice he almost lost his life fighting, for he would be watching you and exclaiming your prowess while he should have been watching out about him. He has mastered every refinement of wrestling and horsemanship Arnuwandas learned at your knee… every woman you have cast aside he has taken up… it is perhaps not too healthy, but it is the truth… there is none who love you as your second son in the whole of the armies, and not any other, including Arnuwandas, (though you may fault me for speaking out) who has studied your kingship so closely or who strives as indefatigably to emulate your hero’s ways.”

  Then, it was I who studied my sandals, and could not think of anything to say. At length I thanked him, and set him to forming up my chariotry for a nightlong drive toward the south.

  I sat there in the blessed solitude of Alalakh’s palace a long time. Though a multitude of matters crowded in upon my meditation, crying for my attention, I solved no problems, I came to no decisions. And when I left that chamber the matter of my wife-to-be and how my sons would accept her, and indeed whether she would be acceptable, still dominated my attention.