Corruption in the Hittite Administration

Abstract

Given the paucity of judicial records in the archives of Ḫatti, examination of administrative malfeasance and abuse of office by members of the Hittite bureaucracy entails consultation of other types of texts—particularly of instructions for office holders and of inventories of the furnishings of cultic institutions. I will present a typology of self-dealing among Hittite officials and consider the Hittite vocabulary for fraud or treachery as well as the problematics of recognizing corruption in an ancient society.