“Šawoška of Šamuḫa, My Lady, caught him like a fish with a net”: Usurping the Throne and writing about it

Ḫattušili’s coup d’état , deposing his nephew, great king Urḫi-Tešub (Muršili III) from the Hittite throne is certainly the most momentous event depicted in his so-called Autobiography (CTH 81). In this chapter, I will explore in detail different accounts of Urḫi-Tešub’s capture at the town of Šamuḫa as it is depicted in Ḫattušili’s Autobiography and in the so-called parallel texts. It will be shown that the function of these depictions was to conceal rather than to reveal what really happened in Šamuḫa. It will be argued that even if not propagandistic in nature, the Autobiography is abundant in hidden ideological undercurrents which are highly illuminative once explored.