Letters of the Great Kings of the Ancient Near East by Bryce Trevor

Author:Bryce, Trevor
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-134-57585-5
Publisher: Taylor & Francis (CAM)

Babylonian physicians at the Hittite court

We learn of two such instances from Hattusili’s letter to the Babylonian king Kadashman-Enlil. Two doctors had been sent on temporary loan from Babylon to Hattusa, one during Muwatalli’s reign, along with an incantation priest, the other in Hattusili’s own reign. Neither the doctors nor the incantation priest had returned home. Kadashman-Enlil had protested, claiming that they were being illegally detained in Hatti. Hattusili wrote back, denying any responsibility. As far as the first pair were concerned, he blamed Muwatalli for their failure to return home, and declared that he had taken his brother to task for keeping them in Hatti: ‘When during the reign of my brother Muwatalli they received an incantation priest and a doctor and detained them in Hatti, I argued with him, saying: “Why are you detaining them? Detaining a doctor is not right!”’17

So what had become of the detainees? Hattusili maintained that he had no idea of the priest’s whereabouts. Nor was he particularly bothered. ‘Perhaps he died’ was the best explanation he could offer. But he did have specific news about the doctor. He was alive and doing very well, he assured his royal brother. ‘In fact he’s the owner of a fine household here, and is married to a woman who is a relative of mine.’ Then he added, somewhat disingenuously: ‘If he says: “I want to return to my own country,” he shall return to his country. Would I have detained Dr. Raba-sha-Marduk?’18 The implication is clear. The Babylonian was not being held against his will in Hatti, but had been offered a substantial inducement to stay there—a fine mansion and marriage to a member of the Hittite royal family! Of course the decision as to whether or not he returned home was, strictly, not his to make. There can be no doubt that in keeping him in Hatti, with or without his consent, Hattusili as well as his brother Muwatalli had simply ignored the terms by which their royal brother in Babylon had lent his medical experts to the Hittite court.19

It is somewhat surprising, then, that at Hattusili’s request Kadashman-Enlil agreed to send to Hattusa yet another doctor—on the clear understanding that he was only on temporary loan. And Hattusili may have genuinely intended to send him back. But any such good intentions were frustrated when the doctor had the misfortune to die in his host’s kingdom. Given the protests from Babylon on the previous occasion when a doctor was sent and not returned, his death must have been acutely embarrassing to Hattusili—at a time when he was extremely anxious to secure his Babylonian brother’s goodwill. He first tried to assure Kadashman-Enlil that there had been no hostility towards the doctor. Quite the contrary: ‘When they received the doctor, he accomplished many good things.’20 And when he had taken ill, everything possible was done for him—to no avail: ‘When he became ill, I spared no effort on his behalf. I performed many extispicies for him, but when his time… came, he died.

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