Abstract:

The Hittites, who lived in the region formed by the Red River in Anatolia in the second Millennium BC, established one of the largest empires of the Ancient Near Eastern and managed to keep this empire alive for 450 years. Hattušili I (1650-1620) is accepted as the founder of the Hittite Kingdom. Hattusa (Boğazköy), which is 82 km away from Çorum city center today, had been chosen as the capital by Hattušili. 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 the vassal state structure was formed by Šuppiluliuma I and improved by Muršili II. Among the signed 21 vassal treaties, 6 of them were made by Šuppiluliuma I, 6 of them by Muršili II, 3 of them by Hattušili III, 2 each with Muwatalli II and Tuthaliya IV and 1 each with Tuthaliya II and Šuppiluliuma 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.

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