Who was "The man of Asur who does not Pay Tribute"? Initial Passages of CTH 52 and Reconstructions of the History and Chronology of Amarna Age
Nemirovsky Alexandr A.
The initial passage of CTH 52 (the first treaty between Suppiluliuma of Hatti and Shattiwazza of Mitanni) contains invectives against Shattiwazza’s rivals in Mitanni, Artatama II and his son Shuttarna «III», including the statement that one of them was friendly to «the man of Ashur, his father’s slave, who does not pay tribute» (l. 6 f.). The common opinion is that the object of this invective (grammatical subject in ll. 5–7) is Shuttarna «III», his father mentioned in l. 6 is consequently Artatama and the man of Ashur, this father’s slave, is to be identified as Ashur-uballit I (1353–1318 BC). Contrary to this we tried to prove that the object of the said invective is Artatama. The «father» in question will then be Shuttarna II, and it means that Tushratta came to power and lost his life the same ruler of Ashur who began as Suttarna II’ «slave» and later dealt with Artatama II as an independent ruler. For certain chronolological reasons (derived from the chronology of Tushratta’s relations with Amenophis III and absolute chronology of New Kingdom in all its variants) this «man of Ashur» cannot be Ashur-uballit, but only Eriba-Adad I (1380–1354 BC). Thus, all Tushratta’s reign must be placed in between 1380 and 1354 BC, which fact, in its own turn, would fit only the «Middle» chronology of the New Kingdom.