The Purity of Kingship: An Edition of Cht 569 and Related Hittite Oracle Inquiries of Tuth̬aliya IV (Documenta Et Monumenta Orientis Antiqui) - Hardcover

Van Den Hout, Theo

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 9004109862 ISBN 13: 9789004109865

Publisher: Brill, 1998

Synopsis

Confronted with an illness and other disconcerting signs shortly before his royal inauguration, the Hittite Great King Tuth̬aliya IV (ca. 1240-1210 B.C.) looks for past affairs of rebellion within the royal family. Members of the ruling dynasty up to three generations back have taken recourse to black magic in their search for power. Their curses are felt to be still effective and have contaminated the institution of Kingship.
The King conducts an extensive series of oracle inquiries in order to find ways to reconcile the (for the most part deceased) family members and to render their curses ineffective. The texts of these inquiries shed light on daily life in the Hittite empire, and, in this case, daily life of the King of the Hittites.
The reconstruction of these oracle inquiries forms the subject of the underlying volume. The author offers not only a full edition of the texts (now first brought together), but also introductory chapters on topics of wider importance such as text constitution, techniques for recording oracles, and the persons involved and historical setting of the composite text.

About this title

About the Author

Theo P.J. van den Hout is Professor of Anatolian Languages and History of the preclassical period at the University of Amsterdam. His books include Der Ulmitesub-Vertrag. Eine prosopographische Untersuchung (Wiesbaden 1995) and, together with H.G. Güterbock, The Hittite Instruction for the Royal Bodyguard (Chicago, 1991).

Review

'Van den Hout has prepared an exemplary edition of this material, elucidating its philological difficulties, and drawing from it important historical data for a crucial period of Hittite history...This study will be of great interest to all Hittitilogists and to many ancient historians as well.'
Gary Beckman, Journal of the American Oriental Society, 1999.

Edition details

• Publisher: Brill
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 9004109862
• ISBN 13: 9789004109865
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 372