Hittite Warrior by Joanne Williamson

Uriah-Tarhund, son of Arnandash is a Hittite who lives in the Hittite province of Arzawa with his father and mother, and his sister Annitis. On his thirteenth birthday, Uriah learns from his father that he must give up their great horse Labarnash whom Uriah has groomed and trained. Uriah's father, a horse breeder, tells him that as a loyal vassal to the king, they must offer as tribute, the best they have and that is Labarnash. So now to prove their loyalty, they will travel to Haballa and then travel by caravan to Hattusas. This prospect is exciting for Uriah as he has never been to the great city of Hattusas.

His father also speaks about the rumours of trouble from the north. When Uriah's father was a child, a Hittite traitor named Maduwattas had formed an alliance with the Achaean warrior, Atreus. The Hittites refer to the Achaeans as the sea people. They were from Crete and had a great city called Mycenae on the mainland. Maduwattas was joined by some of the old Arzawans who hated the Hittite masters. Now the rumours tell of the sea people possibly returning.

 

Before they leave, Uriah's father arranges to have their servants guard the house and their land, especially Uriah's mother and sister who will be left behind. Uriah believes the gods will protect all of them.

After a long journey through grassland, hills and valleys, they arrive at Hattusas with its great rock wall. There Labarnash is led away as part of their tribute. Uriah and his father are allowed to attend the celebration in honor of the thirteenth year of the reign of the king. At the feast, Uriah sees the Dardanian chief, Paris Aleksandus of Troy as well as Egyptian ambassadors. As they are leaving for home, a man runs through the temple square yelling about Midas. Uriah's father reveals that there are stories that Midas the Phrygian, a barbarian chief of the sea people is laying waste to cities and towns in the north.

On their way home, Uriah and his father leave the Babylonian caravan they are travelling with, to investigate the smoke and strange smell coming from a valley far away.  In one of the villages, they learn from a survivor that the sea people have returned to the area including Arzawa. Uriah and his father race home, only to find their village and land destroyed, their servants slain along with Uriah's mother and his sister Annitis. For the next three years Uriah and his father live in the ruins of their home, eking out a living with their bees and remnants of their orchards. A year later, Hattusas is destroyed by armies from the north and the west.

When Uriah turns sixteen, a captain of the sea people arrives at their farm, ordering them to give all their harvest to their chief in Haballa. But Uriah's father refuses and he is beaten by the captain and his soldier. Before he dies, Uriah's father makes him promise to travel south to the land of Canaan, to a town called Harosheth. There Uriah is to find a man named Sisera.

After completing the required thirteen days of mourning, Uriah leaves for Haballa. He has no money and little food, but he manages to get himself accepted into a caravan by helping save the life of one of the young children. Uriah's journey turns into an odyssey that leads him first to Tyre, and then to the Hebrews. His arrival in Harosheth leads him to the Battle of Esdraleon where he begins to question his beliefs.

Discussion

Hittite Warrior presents readers with an exciting adventure story of a young Hittite boy who flees his home after it has been conquered by the Achaeans (the Greeks). The story is based on an episode in the book of Judges about 1200 B.C., in which an army of ten thousand Israelites battled and defeated the much better equipped army of Sisera. It is told by the now elderly Hittite warrior, Uriah-Tarhund.

Sisera, was commander of the Canaanite army of King Jabin who had been persecuting the Israelite tribes living in the mountains. The Hebrew prophetess Deborah sent Barak to lead the Israelites to attack the Canaanites. He was reluctant to do so unless Deborah accompanied him, which she agrees to do. However, she prophesized that he will not obtain glory from the battle. Instead, Sisera will be defeated by a woman. 

Sisera with his nine hundred iron chariots, met Barak and the Israelites at the base of Mount Tabor, on the plain of Esdraelon. His army was soundly defeated with many being drowned in the river Kishon as they retreated. Sisera fled the battle field and sought refuge in what he thought was the safe tent of Heber the Kenite who was a friend of King Jabin. It was here that he was offered milk and curds by Heber's wife, Jael. When he fell into an exhausted sleep he was killed by Jael who drove a tent peg into his temple.

The battle of Esdraelon forms the climax of the novel and marks a significant change in Uriah's life.  Uriah's journey to find Sisera begins with a stop in Tyre where he learns about the human sacrifice of first born boys to the god, Moloch, the lord of wrath. Children are sacrificed to Moloch "...in case a time of trouble should come upon the city. A fire is kindled in the lap of the god and the child is laid in his arms to die." This custom horrifies Uriah, even though as a Hittite he worships in all gods.

When Jotham rescues the child, Jabin from such a sacrifice, Uriah helps him flee Tyre into the hills where they are taken in by the Hebrew, Hushai ben Aaron. From Jotham, a Hebrew, Uriah learns about their God, Jahvey. Eventually Uriah comes to Harosheth, as a captive and meets Sisera, the man Uriah's father had told him to seek out. However, Uriah finds that Sisera is not interested in helping Uriah and in fact threatens him with death if he doesn't reveal the plans of the Hebrews. Uriah decides to join the Canaanite army in its battle against the Hebrews but before doing so, he watches as his friend Hannibal makes a sacrifice of wax and mutton fat to the gods. This leads Uriah to suddenly not believe any of it. "Wax and mutton fat!....What kind of gods would have anything to do with that? What kind of gods would devour children and make war against each other? What kind of gods would keep men in fear from the day they were born? Shall I tell you what I believe? I don't believe there are any gods!"

After surviving the battle, Uriah eventually returns to Harosheth to find the Israelites have conquered the city. He has come to a crossroads in his life. He is searching for meaning and trying to determine which god or gods to worship. None of the gods he believed in have protected his family, nor those he fought with. When asked by Barak what gods he worships, Uriah truthfully claims he doesn't know. He wants to see the God of Israel, housed in the Ark of the Covenant. But when he goes to the tent, the priest tells him that "The Ark of the Covenant holds relics sacred to our God. Some say they are the tablets with the laws that He gave to our great leader, Moses. No one knows."  When Uriah asks if there is an image of their God, the priest tells him that no one could make such an image. This creates great disappointment in Uriah who had hoped for a sign from this God. But then Uriah has a realization that it would be impossible to make an image of the God who had created the sun and moon and the rivers and the sea. Eventually Uriah comes to believe in the one God who he believes "...is the one God and the God of all men." Uriah eventually finds peace and stability within the Hebrew nation as a scribe, a husband and a father.

Williamson had a unique gift for writing historical fiction. She was able to realistically portray culture and customs from long ago in a way that engaged her readers. In Hittite Warrior the brutality of life in a pagan culture is clearly evident from the horror of child sacrifice to Moloch to the brutal practice of blinding the strongest slaves so they could pull the grindstones that created the purple dye used by the wealthy. Her novel also captures the horror of war and the plight of refugees, who like their modern counterparts, fled destroyed homelands. We see the plight of women and children who were often captured and sold into slavery or forced against their will into marriages. 

 

Williamson also makes those important connections between the various civilizations that existed at the time of this story: those of Egypt, Greece (the Achaeans), Hittite, Mitanni and the Hebrews. These peoples did not live in isolation from one another but lived together, fought against one another and even intermarried.

A map of the region the story is set in, is included in the front of the novel. A list of characters might have also been helpful for younger readers. But overall, Hittite Warrior with its authentic setting, realistic characters, and exciting storyline is a wonderfully crafted novel.

Book Details:

 

Hittite Warrior by Joanne Williamson
Warsaw North Dakota: Bethlehem Books     1999
237 pp.