Capturing Birds for the King: On Fauna in a Hittite Letter from Tapikka (HKM 48)

This article presents a new edition and commentary of the Hittite letter HKM 48, from the ancient town of Tapikka (Maşat Höyük), dating approximately to the early fourteenth century BCE. In this letter, two subordinates of the Hittite king, Mariya and Ḫapiri, write to their lord with news on a task they were assigned: the capture of birds and, perhaps, other animals. The second part of the article discusses various aspects of interest within the letter’s content. In particular, a novel understanding of the primary concerns of the text and of the logic within the epistolary exchange is proposed, primarily centered on a new identification of the animals mentioned in a passage difficult to interpret.