(Elites, Networks of Sociability, and Power: The Case of the Hittite Royal Family during the Late Bronze Age)

Abstract

The article examined the Hittite royalty as a ruling family composed of a network of elites where sociability and power were part of a complex web of political, religious, and familial practices. To do so, the study focused on the Late Bronze Age, during a period marked by imperial practices, geographically centered in the region of Western Asia.
The research scope covered the reigns of Šuppiluliuma I and Muršili II, along with their royal wives and children, both in Hattusa and in the “contested borderlands” (Gestoso Singer, 2006). The purpose was to investigate the Hittite royalty as a power network through certain historical documents and reconstruct the ties and relationships between these two kings and their ruling family, thereby unravelling a possible “genealogy of power” where kinship, political and cultural practices, and specific knowledge, notably military and religious, could be studied as central nodes.
The objectives were to present the complex relational nature of Hittite royalty with its imperial practices, contrasting the traditional view of male warrior kingship, and to propose an interpretation of Hittite royalty as a network of interconnected families within palace contexts. The research questions were: How did the Hittite ruling elite structure and influence social networks and power relationships within the palace and between royal families? And how were these networks and power relationships represented in their documents?
Methodologically, the study incorporated social network analysis through a historical anthropology approach, combined with the evidential paradigm, to examine and disentangle ancient historical documents that were not genealogies or king lists but Military Feats and inter-royal Treaties. The chosen key categories were elite, networks of sociability, and power.