A proxy war waged by vassal states and a campaign of diplomacy and intrigue had already set the stage for armed conflict between the Great Kingdoms of the Late Bronze Age. The Hittites had removed Kizzuwanda, in southeast Anatolia, from the Mitanni realm of influence and they were also plundering other Mitanni vassal states, or so the King of the Mittani complained.
The Hittite King, Suppiluliuma, and Tushratta, King of Mitanni, wrote each other in a series of letters that, if we are to believe the record, would eventually cause Suppiluliuma to call the Mitanni king out to battle; a call which, the Mittani king would refuse.
Unrest in Syria
Suppiluliuma’s ongoing dilpomatic efforts in Syria had produced results in the way of a pledge of loyalty from Sharrupshi, one of several Kings of Nuhashshi. Also, in a confusing bit of intrigue, Suppiluliuma wrote letters to Niqmaddu II, the newly seated King of Ugarit, encouraging him to expand his territory at the expense of his Mitanni vassal neighbors.
This activity by Suppiluliuma, coupled with the weakness of the other regional power, Egypt, which was dealing with the illness and death of Amenhotep IIII, destabilized the region. Anarchy took hold in Syria as the neighbors of the wealthy city state of Ugarit, Itur-Addu, king of the land of Mukish, Addu-nirari, king of the land of Nuhashshi, and Aki-Teshshup, king of Niya began to raid its lands.
These raids would eventually force the resource rich Ugarit to seek the protection of Hatti, which Suppiluliuma was inclined to grant for a substantial yearly indemnity. However, for the Hittite king to reap such rewards he would first have to aid his new ally Sharrupshi, because the Mittani king was now bent on punishing this wayward vassal.
In readiness for an offensive, Suppiluliuma probably spent the winter of 1351 BCE, with about half of his army, maybe five thousand hardened soldiers, in Samuha, ready to launch an attack as soon as the weather allowed. Before Suppiluliuma set out to secure western Syria between the Euphrates and the Lebanon Mountains, he marched across the Euphrates to strike at the northern extreme of Mittani control. At the same time, the other half of the Hittite field army, under the command of Suppililiuma’s son, Crown Prince Arnuwanda and Suppiliiuama’s brother, Zida, moved, from their base in Kizzuwanda, to support Sharrupshi.
The Invasion Of Ishuwa
Across the Euphrates River in Isuwa was a group of fifteen different rebel bands which had fled the recent consolidation of the Hittite Kingdom and now, as the Hittites saw it, lurked in the land of the enemy. A recent campaign had failed to bring them to justice and had brought the Hittites into direct conflict with Mittani troops.
This area, near the region that the Hittites called the Upperlands, was at the edge of the northernmost trade routes in the “Old Assyrian” network. These routes were important in allowing the Hittites some easterly trade that went around the Mitanni realm of influence. Suppiluliuma could therefore appreciate the need to secure his northern flank before expanding his southern one.
While Tushratta was likely watching the foothills of western Syria where Arnuwanda and Zida were maneuvering their troops to the aid of Sharrupshi of Nuhashshi and Niqmaddu of Ugarit, Suppiluliuma was slipping across the Euphrates to conduct one of the most prolific raids in history. So it was, having initiated events to the south, that Suppiluliuma, during the later part of winter, invaded Ishuwa and overwhelmed the diverse groups that had been fugitive there.
Whatever the reality of that Hittite incursion over the Euphrates, Suppiluliuma certainly sought to paint the episode as a righteous campaign for the cause of Justice. A later Treaty between Suppiluliuma and Tushratta’s son, Shattiwaza, records that,
“These troops and those lands I overpowered and returned to Hatti. I freed the lands which I captured; they dwelt in their places. All of the people whom I released rejoined their peoples, and Hatti incorporated their territories.”
From these claims it is clear that Suppiluliuma wanted to be seen as a liberating power.
The Land Of Alshe
After Suppiluliuma had marched his troops across the highlands of Isuwa, he reached the border of Alshe. There Suppiluliuma took out the last hold of resistance in the north at a place called Kutmar. This district lay on the border with the Mittani vassal Alshe, which had either seized upon this moment to declare independence from Mittani, or had already done so. Once conquered, Suppiluliuma had no interest in garrisoning this frontier, so he “gave it as a gift to [King] Antaratli of the land of Alshe.”
Suppiluliuma had now secured what had long been a troublesome stretch of border by first destroying all hostile forces, and then returning property to the civilians who remained. As the Hittite army rolled south from the border of Alshe, they did not leave behind any imperial bureaucracy, and there is no record of any garrison being posted. To what extent Suppiluliuma trusted Antaratli, or the Isuwan people, to be loyal subjects can only be guessed. He did however feel secure enough to turn south with his forces. From there he marched straight towards the center of the Mittani kingdom, which lay seemingly unguarded before him.
Sources
Bryce, Trevor, Kingdom of the Hittites, (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2005)
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