Marta Pallavidini

It is common in the scholar community to define specific times in the history of a culture as times of crisis. Yet sometimes our perception of these times of crisis as scholars does not coincide with the perception of the culture who was going through those times. Also, the opposite statement holds true: the textual and/or archaeological documentation may not provide evident signs of what can be defined as a crisis though it was perceived as such by the culture itself.

Starting with these premises, the aim of my talk is to show three case study from the Hittite culture (Anatolia, 17th to 12th Century BCE): the transition between the Old and the Middle Kingdom, the transfer of the Hittite capital from Hattusa to Tarhuntassa (and back), and the transition to the Iron Age with the end of the Hittite civilization.

Furthermore, I will show how not all these three periods - usually described as times of crisis - can indeed be defined as such, so that a specific asynchronicity in the perception of the Hittite and that of the historians will be stressed out.

From the Middle-Hittite Period onward, and in particular from the reign of Šuppiluliuma I until the end of the Hittite Empire, the Hittite kings made large use of several diplomatic instruments to build and define their relations with the other rulers of the Near East.
In particular, diplomacy was based on the issuing of three textual categories: treaties, international decrees and verdicts, and international correspondence.
In all these textual categories, several topics related to the political discourse are expressed by metaphors. In particular: phases of political life, relations between kings, the concepts of alliance and enmity, characteristics of the Hittite king, and finally politically relevant events.
These topics are closely related to one another from what can be called patterns or networks of metaphors.
Metaphor is not here intended traditionally as figure of speech but, according to the so-called Conceptual Metaphor Theory developed by G. Lakoff and M. Johnson (see Metaphors we live by, 1980), as the result of a cognitive process. Metaphor is thus “pervasive in everyday life, not just in language but in thought and action” (Lakoff – Johnson 1980, 3). In this paper, in particular, I intend to discuss the metaphors employed in the three textual categories of treaties, international decrees and verdicts, and international correspondence in the aforementioned topics in order to answer the following research questions:
- can networks of metaphors be found in a single category and/or in all of them?
- what is the function of these networks for the specific textual category and, more in general, for Hittite diplomacy?
- do these networks show changes depending on the dating of the text or on the language (Hittite vs Akkadian)?
The answer to these questions intend to underline the complexity of the Hittite diplomatic apparatus on the textual and on the conceptual level.

Among the treaties issued by the Hittite kings, only two can be attributed to Šuppiluliuma II. * Even though Hittite treaties show a standardised structure, nonetheless, some documents, particularly the two treaties for Tarḫuntašša (CTH 1 106.II.2 and the Bronze Tablet), have some characteristics that allow them to be identified as particular forms (Sonderformen). Since the reign of Šuppiluliuma II faced 'problems like food shortages and massive movements of peoples 2 that would lead to the end of the Hittite Empire, it is interesting to analyse the treaties issued by this king. The purpose of the analysis is to established whether the treaty as a juridical medium of diplomacy and subordination is still enforced and, if so, to what extent the texts issued by Šuppiluliuma II are similar to earlier treaties.

Summary The Bronze Tablet, issued by Tutḫaliya IV for Kurunta, the king of Tarḫuntassa, contains one of the best preserved and most studied Hittite treaty texts. The treaty represents one of the most important sources for the reconstruction of the political relations between Ḫatti and Tarḫuntassa. In comparison to other Hittite treaties, the text presents a number of pecu­liarities, both with regard to its content and its structure. This paper analyses the use in the Bronze Tablet of the terminology of “bond” (TUPPU RIKILTI, isḫiulas TUPPU, isḫiul-) and “oath” (lingai-Zlinkiya-, MĀMĪTU), i.e., the terminology that indicates the constitutive parts of a Hittite treaty. The study argues that the distinct use of these technical terms is partly to be explained as due to the compilatory process involved in the composition of the text and partly reflects specific juridical and political ideas and goals that the composers of the text wished to express.

Research topic: In the Hittite historiographic and diplomatic texts some concepts are formulated metaphorically. In particular, we can find metaphors based on expressions of motion; involving body parts; recalling the comparison between a person and an animal; describing the concepts of life and death; concerning the lexicon of the family and relatives. Theoretical approach: These metaphors are to be considered as expressions of a system of thinking, i.e. as conceptual metaphors (Lakoff – Johnson 1980). Research questions: Which metaphors are attested? How are they structured? How do they dependent on context, language, and/or genre? Which metaphors are of Hittite origin? Which functions do they have? Research goals: Identification, classification and description of the metaphors; analysis of their functions; description of the changes in their use in relation to the genre and through time. Method: the Metaphor Identification Procedure (MIP) of the Praggelejaz Group.

Diplomatic language always follows specific rules in order to be effective. In the Late Bronze Age, Near Eastern countries developed a web of intense diplomatic relations that were kept alive by the exchange of messages, goods, and people. In the exchange of messages, language plays a key role. This contribution analyses how conceptual metaphors in the
Hittite diplomatic texts shaped the diplomatic language and, as a result, the making of diplomacy itself.

Journal of Ancient Civilizations 32/1, pp. 1-11

The meaning of the Hittite word kuriwana-/kuierwana- has not been yet established with certainty. Some scholars translate it with “independent” while others favor the exactly opposite meaning “dependent.” Since the word is attested in a limited number of documents, it is possible to re-examine all the occurrences and the related contexts, and to propose a new assessment of the meaning of the word. In particular, I will suggest the meaning “juridically equal.”

Research topic: In the Hittite historiographic and diplomatic texts some concepts are formulated metaphorically. In particular, we can find metaphors based on expressions of motion; involving body parts; recalling the comparison between a person and an animal; describing the concepts of life and death; concerning the lexicon of the family and relatives.

Theoretical approach: These metaphors are to be considered as expressions of a system of thinking, i.e. as conceptual metaphors (Lakoff – Johnson 1980).

Research questions: Which metaphors are attested? How are they structured? How do they dependent on context, language, and/or genre? Which metaphors are of Hittite origin? Which functions do they have?

Research goals: Identification, classification and description of the metaphors; analysis of their functions; description of the changes in their use in relation to the genre and through time.

Method: the Metaphor Identification Procedure (MIP) of the Praggelejaz Group.

The present contribution proposes a classification of the documents issued by the Hittite kings from Šuppiluliuma I to Tutḫaliya IV that have been found in the palace archives at Ugarit. The new proposal of classification is due to the fact that some of those documents are assigned by different scholars to different textual categories. Two criteria are taken into consideration for the classification : the terminology attested in the documents and the structure of the texts.