I,
THE SUN
Author: Janet Morris
Pages: 558
Genre : Biographical
I,the Sun is a magnificent literary remake of the mighty king Suppiluliuma’s
prosperous and powerful Hittite
kingdom of the 2nd millennium BC(1344-22 to be exact) between
the 558 precious pages. The book is in
1st person narration – as dictated by the king himself. This should
be noted as an important feature, a cleverly added one to be exact. Applauses for
the author’s genius- for, the reader actually starts to savor the whole story
through the senses of the king himself, that he/she will eventually develop a
particular liking for the king- whom history labels as arrogant and violent(Not
to mention his treatment of women). Because the reader is so close to the king
as he perceives the whole tale through the King’s eyes. So that deep inside
he/she starts to acknowledge the circumstances or environments in which King Suppiluliuma had to act as such; as
arrogant, violent and cruel. The reader involuntarily arrives at the agreement that
it was all for the sake of an empire! For the Hittite empire, for its people,
for its progress and prosperity. The historic observation that the Hittite
empire reached the peak of prosperity and power under king Suppiluliuma strengthen this. Referring to this I, The Sun could be
described as a brilliantly written book on the Hittite empire(among the other
few) in an entirely different perspective. The literary strategy of choose king
Suppiluliuma as the protagonist and
leading the story through him, has its distant resonation to the introduction
of “anti-hero” by Fyodor Dostoevsky (for example the axe murderer’s
portrait in Crime and Punishment), “Randamoozham*”
by Malayalam writer M.T.
Vasudevan Nair*- where the whole story of Mahabharata is retold through Bhima’s perspective ,”Ini njan urangatte”* by P.V.Balakrishnan*-the
story of Mahabharatha through Karna’s perspective, Asura, the tale of the
Vanquished* by Anand Neelakandan*- “Ramayana” through the villain Ravana’s perspective. The magic that
these exceptional works bring about is that they completely redraw the mental
image of a historic/ epic figure that history and society had for long made.
The impression gets replaced with a new , more compassionate one.
With a thorough
reference to the Hittite history one can understand that every account in “I,
the Sun” really happened in the life of Supilulimas.
This enlightment (better to someone who had not heard about the Hittites before
and is referring for the first time) leaves the reader in absolute thrill. At
this point it is impossible for one to do away with appreciating the dexterity
and brilliance with witch the author had created the novel, enjoyable and intriguing,
yet with good justice to the historical accounts- for it could have ended
simply as a boring history lesson if it was just history and history alone. There
is romance, rage, bloody battles, defeats & victory, like a colorful action
cinema, I must say.
The only negative
point that caught my attention is the confusing title “I, the Sun”, but that
too for a person with good knowledge of the Hittite culture and ways will
appear as the “most appropriate”. I had to do a little study of the topic to
know the deep meaning and relation of the usage. I could find that the name is
connected to the “Hittite way” of calling the king by the title “Mu sun”. to
readers who had marked this Janet Morris masterpiece as “to be read” my advice
is to do a slight study of the Hittite period that you can enjoy it better,
like it will be an entirely different experience , even if the book itself
tells the whole history. I mean, it will be more enjoyable to a reader with
some knowledge of the Hittite.
Story
King supillulima was the king of the Hittite
kingdom who had fame as a fierce worrier and a successful ruler. He acquired his
throne by force and consolidated his power suppressing all domestic
oppositions. Suppiluliuma then bean
to channel all his efforts in rebuilding (and in that way strengthening) the
Hittite kingdom. Supilulima I
eventually amazed a strong army and an indomitably loyal intelligence network. With
his forces he manages to annihilate all the enemies of the Hittites and widens
the borders of his kingdom successfully nullifying his enemies like the Mitanni. At the height of his power, he
is met with the tragedy of his son Zannanza’s
murder at the hands of Horemheb’s forces. It drags the king to
utter remorse and anger as his son was travelling to Egypt to marry the young
widow of Tutankhamun in response of a
letter sent to Hittite King by Tutankhamun’s
wodow pleading to have her married to the Hittite king’s son. Raged by his son’s
death king Suppiluliuma wages war against all territories of Egypt and
ultimately turns victorious. But quite unfortunately they become defenseless against
the devastating disease of “plague” that the Egyptian prisoners bestowed. The disease
kills King Suppiluliuma and his
eldest son Arnuwanda II.
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M._T._Vasudevan_Nair/
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