The Hittite king Mursili II came to the throne in the latter half of the fourteenth century B.C.E., after his brother Supiluliuma I died in a plague brought back from the Levant by his soldiers. Confronted with widespread disease and revolt, the young king seems to have lost his voice. In modern terms, this physical symptom could be seen as an obvious manifestation of emotional stress, but the Hittites consulted an oracle, which attributed the king's malady to the displeasure of the storm god in Kummanni, a city in a southern province of the Hittite Empire:

Thus says His Majesty Mursili, Great King: I was driving to the ruined town (belonging to Kunnu) when a storm came up. On top of this, the storm-god repeatedly thundered frightfully so that I became afraid. Speech became small in my mouth and...