Tarhunazi

In 719 BCE, King Gunzinanu of Kammanu was deposed from the Kammanean throne by the Assyrians. Tarḫunazi, possibly son of Gunzinanu,^[4] swiftly took control of the power vacuum, claiming the throne of Kammanu, with his capital at Melid. The same year, Sargon II appointed Tarḫunazi as his vassal.^[2] Giving an oath of loyalty to the King of Assyria, Tarḫunazi became a tributary of the Neo-Assyrian Empire.

Discontent at being relegated to a dependent of Assyria, Tarḫunazi eventually (c. 713 BCE) decided to rebel against Assyria. At this time, Tarḫunazi held correspondence with Mita, the ruler of Mushki and an enemy of Assyria.^{[Notes 1]} Possibly, Mita pressured Tarḫunazi to join the growing Mushki sphere of influence across Anatolia, as he had done with Ambaris, who was the king of Kammanu's neighbor Tabal, and a former ally of Assyria,^{[Notes 2]} and was also at the moment corresponding with the Mushki king.^[4] Word soon reached Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, of Tarḫunazi's overturning of his oath of loyalty.

In the tenth year of the reign of Sargon II (712 BCE), the Assyrian king decided to punish Tarḫunazi for his disloyalty. He overran Kammanu with the force of a mercenary army of Suteans,^{[Notes 3]} and laid a heavy siege upon Melid, the capital. Consequently, Tarḫunazi hastily exited the city of Melid, and fled to the fortress of Til Garimmu, near the border with Tabal. Til Garimmu had previously been a Hittite fortress, by the name of Tegarama. At Til Garimmu he sought refuge and was taken into the fortress, but this did not protect him from Sargon, who captured the fortress and transported Tarḫunazi and family to Nineveh,^[5] where he likely served his punishment for defying the king of Assyria. In place of Tarḫunazi, another Hittite named Mutallu, an Assyrian vassal who had already held rule over the neighboring kingdom of Kummuh, was placed on the Kammanean throne.^[4]