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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 September 2009
The so-called Testament of Hattusili is a Hittite–Akkadian bilingual inscription which contains Hattusili's address to the Hittite nobles at the end of his reign. The passage concerning the royal succession runs as follows:
The young Labarna I proclaimed to you (nu-us-ma-as TUR-la-an la-ba-ar-na-an te-nu-un), saying ‘He shall sit upon the throne’; I called him my son (DUMU-la-ma-an), embraced (?) him, and cared for him continually. But he showed himself a youth not fit to be seen … The word of the king he has not laid to the heart, but the word of his mother, the serpent, he has laid to heart … Enough! He is my son no more … Then his mother bellowed like an ox: ‘They have torn asunder the womb in my living body! They have ruined him and you will kill him!’ Have I, the king, done him any evil? … Behold, I have given my son Labarna a house, I have given him [arable land] in plenty, [sheep in] plenty I have given him. Let him now eat and drink. [So long as he is good] he may come up to the city. [But] if he stand forward (?) as [a trouble-maker(?) … then he shall not come up, but shall remain [in his house].
Behold, Mursili is now my son … [When] three years have elapsed, he shall go on a campaign … [The daughter has disgraced my person] and my name … A father's word she has cast aside … Now she [is banished from the city] … In the country [a house has been assig]ned to her; she may eat and drink, [but you] must not do [her harm]. She has done wrong; I will not do [wrong in return]. She [has not called] me father, I will not call her my daughter …
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