“Kurunt(iy)a’s Rock Relief of Hatip and his Use of the Title MAGNUS.REX”

Abstract

In the Hittite Empire, the king was authorised by the gods to administer the country in their name. Deriving from this responsibility, he occupied the highest positions in every aspect of government: religious, military, administrative, and judicial. This status at the top of the administration was expressed by the titles he used, including La/Tabarna (la/tabarna-, IUDEX.LA) and Great King (MAGNUS.REX, LUGAL.GAL). The latter, in its cuneiform form, was also used by other ancient Near Eastern kings of the most significant countries of the time, such as Babylon and Egypt. They referred to each other with this title as a reciprocal political recognition. Kurunt(iy)a, who was king in the Hittite region of Tarḫuntašša, bears the title MAGNUS.REX in the Hatip relief, but he was not king of Ḫatti. Or was he? This paper revisits previous literature on the topic both to seek to answer this question and to explain Kurunt(iy)a’s use of this title.