User:MaggieMaeve/Political Organization of the Hittite Kingdom

The Hittite Kingdom was the principal political power in Anatolia towards the end of the bronze age (c. 1600-1150 B.C.E.). The structure of this great kingdom at its beginnings remains somewhat obscure, since scholars have access to relatively few primary sources from the ancient and middle kingdoms. It was with the confirmation of Hittite power, and the establishment of a true empire after the reign of Suppiluliuma I, that our knowledge of the kingdom is deepest, thanks to archives found at Hattusa, the capital, as well as in towns controlled by the Hittites (Ugarit, Emar).

Like all states of the ancient Near East, the Hittite Kingdom was vested above all in the royal figure, a bridge between the mundane and divine worlds. He was aided by a group of high dignitaries, called "sons of the king," who controlled the administration of the kingdom. During the 14th-13th centuries, the Hittite Kingdom was a true empire, which dominated many vassal kingdoms, notably in Syria, and the structure of its dominion is well known through diverse texts, in particular many of the vassalage treaties imposed by the Hittite chancellery onto subjugated kingdoms.

The King
The principle personage of the Hittite kingdom was the sovereign. His most common title was Labarna, undoubtedly the name of the first Hittite king, used to designate the royal function by his successors (see: Caesar).