The Obligations to Vassals in the Treaties between the Hittite State and Their Vassals

The Hittites, who lived in the region formed by the K？z？l？rmak River in Anatolia in the second Millennium BC, established one of the biggest empires of the Ancient Near Eastern and managed to keep this empire alive for 450 years. Hattu？ili I (1650-1620) is accepted as the founder of the Hittite Kingdom. Hattusa (Bo？azk？y), which is 82 km away from ？orum city center today, had been chosen as the capital by Hattu？ili. When the Hittite administrative system is examined with its general structure, it is understood that there are two different structures: the regions connected to the Kingdom with the vassal status, and regions directly connected to the center. The regions connected to the Kingdom with the vassal status were ruled by a vassal king who was appointed by the Hittite King. The vassal king would be one of the trustworthy dynasty members who were wholly loyal to the King, or one of the notables of nearby regions. It is seen that vassal state structure was formed by ？uppiluliuma I and improved by Mur？ili II. Among the signed 21 vassal treaties, 6 of them were made by ？uppiluliuma I, 6 of them by Mur？ili II, 3 of them by Hattu？ili III, 2 each with Muwatalli II and Tuthaliya IV and 1 each with Tuthaliya II and ？uppiluliuma II. This article was prepared to examine the contents of all treaties between vassals and the Hittite kings, and to present similarities and differences of the obligations, given to vassals by these treaties