Šuppiluliuma I

Generalship

According to the Deeds of Šuppiluliuma composed by his son and second successor Muršili II, Šuppiluliuma served as the adviser and chief military commander to his predecessor Tudḫaliya III, helping effect the king's recovery of his lands from Šamuḫa, where the court had established itself for greater security from enemy attack.

Tudḫaliya and Šuppiluliuma waged a successful campaign against the Kaška in the north, then intervened to recover control over and protect the regions of Kaššiya and the Ḫulana River Land to the west and southwest, striking back at their invaders. After dealing with a new threat from the Kaška under Piyapili, Tudḫaliya and Šuppiluliuma, had to fight King Karanni (or Lanni) of Azzi-Ḫayaša in the northeast. Karanni had invaded Hittite territory and even threatened Šamuḫa, but was defeated, Tudḫaliya and Šuppiluliuma invading Azzi-Ḫayaša in turn. A battle at Kummaḫa (probably Kemah) seems to have resulted in a Hittite victory, as Azzi-Ḫayaša is later found as a Hittite vassal.

After these successes in the north, Tudḫaliya seems to have been able to return to the Hittite capital, Ḫattuša. He sent Šuppiluliuma southwest against the Arzawa confederacy, and Šuppiluliuma was victorious in several battles, recovering the city of Tuwanuwa (probably Tyana), which had been occupied by the enemy.

The Hittite Kingdom had recovered much lost ground, but Arzawa remained a dangerous enemy, and Muršili II would relate that it took Šuppiluliuma some 20 years (presumably extending into his own reign) to settle affairs in the west. The recovery had clearly begun before the end of Tudḫaliya III’s reign, but credit for much of it was given to Šuppiluliuma.

Accession to the throne

When Tudḫaliya III died, the throne should have been inherited by his son Tudḫaliya the Younger, to whom Šuppiluliuma and other members of the Hittite elite had sworn oaths of loyalty. It is not clear whether or not Tudḫaliya the Younger actually ascended the throne, before he was murdered, together with some of his brothers, by the supporters of Šuppiluliuma. Long associated with Tudḫaliya as his chief military commander, Šuppiluliuma I now became king. The murder of Tudḫaliya the Younger was later identified by an oracle as a cause for the outbreak of plague that ravaged the Hittite kingdom for two decades, into the reign of Šuppiluliuma's son and second successor Muršili II. In accordance with tradition, the widow of the preceding king, Dadu-Ḫeba, continued to enjoy the title of chief queen, Tawananna, until her death.

Family

Queen Ḫenti

Šuppiluliuma's first wife was Ḫenti, apparently the daughter of Tudḫaliya III. After the death of her mother or stepmother Dadu-Ḫeba, Ḫenti became the Tawananna. She is believed to have been the mother of all of Šuppiluliuma's "legitimate" sons:

• Arnuwanda II, who was Šuppiluliuma's designated heir (tuḫkanti) and eventual successor.
• Telipinu, who was appointed priest (and governor) of Kizzuwatna and later became vassal king of Aleppo in Syria.
• Piyaššili, also called Šarri-Kušuḫ, who became vassal king of Carchemish as master of the formerly Mittanian lands west of the Euphrates.
• Zannanza, who disappeared en route to Egypt to marry a widowed Egyptian queen, possibly Ankhesenamun.
• Muršili II, who became king of the Hittites after his older brother, Arnuwanda II.

Šuppiluliuma also had daughters, of whom Muwatti was married to Mašḫuiluwa, the king of Mira-Kuwaliya in Arzawa, while another daughter, name unknown, was married to Šattiwaza, the king of Mittani.

Additionally, Šuppiluliuma's sister, name unknown, was married to Huqqana, the king of Azzi-Ḫayaša. Šuppiluliuma's brother Zida (or Zidana) was appointed Commander of the Guard.

A badly damaged text from the reign of her son Muršili II implies that Ḫenti may have been banished by her husband to the land of Aḫḫiyawa. The motivation for this decision remains unclear. Suggested possibilities include the desirability of a marriage alliance with the Kassite king of Babylon, or conflict between Ḫenti and Šuppiluliuma's new Babylonian wife after that marriage alliance was concluded.

Malnigal

Šuppiluliuma's last queen was a Babylonian princess possibly named Malnigal, who apparently assumed the title of Tawananna in place of her original name. She was the daughter of a Babylonian king, probably Burna-Buriaš II. The Babylonian Tawananna would survive a decade into the reign of Šuppiluliuma's son and second successor Muršili II, who would demote and banish her after an oracle confirmed that she was guilty of causing the death of the king's wife Gaššulawiya.

Reign

Anatolia

Šuppiluliuma continued his efforts to establish a Hittite supremacy in western Anatolia, providing asylum to the expelled heir to the throne of Mira-Kuwaliya, Mašḫuiluwa. Having married his daughter Muwatti to Mašḫuiluwa, Šuppiluliuma proceeded to make his new son-in-law the vassal king of Mira-Kuwaliya. When the young Manapa-Tarḫunta of the Šeḫa River Land was expelled by his brothers and fled to Karkiša, Šuppiluliuma ensured his safety by sending presents to the ruler of Karkiša and the exile was eventually restored to his throne by Šuppiluliuma’s son Muršili II. The defeat of the Hittite commander Ḫimuili by the Arzawan leader Anzapaḫḫaddu, who had refused the demands to release Hittite captives, forced Šuppiluliuma to intervene personally and enforce the demands. Šuppiluliuma established his lieutenant Ḫanutti as governor of the region, and the latter secured the submission of Lalanda and the pillage of Ḫapalla.

At some point late in his reign, perhaps not long before the Zannanza Affair, Šuppiluliuma waged a war against the Kaška in the north, temporarily subjugating and pacifying a portion of their land and establishing Hittite outposts there. This was followed by a Kaška revolt, in which many Hittites were slain and the Hittite fortresses came under attack. Šuppiluliuma and two of his generals struck back, invading and pillaging enemy territory, and restoring Hittite control over the northwestern land of Tummana (classical Domanitis?). The northern front remained unstable, and at the very end of his reign Šuppiluliuma is found campaigning against the Kaška again. He met with ostensible success, but it was impossible to consolidate these gains.

Apparently seeking to secure his northeastern frontier before pursuing his ambitions to the southeast, Šuppiluliuma arranged a marriage between his sister and Huqqana, supposedly making the latter king of his homeland, Azzi-Ḫayaša. In addition to the usual content of such treaties with vassal kings, this one featured extensive morality clauses. This treaty was probably concluded early in Šuppiluliuma’s reign.

Syria and Mesopotamia

Apart from consolidating his position in the northeast and west, Šuppiluliuma sought to recover control over Kizzuwatna and Tegarama, areas to the south and east, which had come under the indirect control of the Kingdom of Mittani centered on Upper Mesopotamia. An initial Hittite strike against Mittani failed, its king Tušratta claiming victory in a letter sent to Amenhotep III of Egypt, along with a representative share of the booty. Learning from his failure, Šuppiluliuma apparently made an alliance with a rival Mittanian royal, Artatama II and may have sought to keep Egypt, at this point a Mittanian ally, out of any following conflict by maintaining friendly diplomatic relations with it. Šuppiluliuma also established an alliance with Kassite Babylonia, and at some point married a Babylonian princess, his last queen.

One-Year War

Apparently after lengthy preparations, Šuppiluliuma attacked Mittani again in the so-called One-Year War. Responding to an appeal for help against Mittani from a petty king of Nuḫašši, Šarrupši, Šuppiluliuma launched a direct assault on Mittani, overrunning its vassal Išuwa, before capturing and plundering the Mittanian capital Waššukanni. Tušratta, unable to resist, fled to rally elsewhere. At this point, Šuppiluliuma created a certain Antaratli the vassal king of Alši in the northernmost part of Mesopotamia.

Šuppiluliuma then crossed the Euphrates into Syria, conquering the smaller kingdoms that had recognized Mittanian suzerainty there, including Aleppo, Mukiš (centered on Alalaḫ), Niya, Araḫtu, Qatna, and Nuḫašši. Carchemish, however, remained firmly under Mittanian control. Šuppiluliuma enticed the small but wealthy kingdom of Ugarit, which had loose ties to Egypt, into becoming an ally through common hostility to Mukiš and Nuḫašši, King Niqmaddu II of Ugarit eventually recognizing Šuppiluliuma's suzerainty; having conquered these, Šuppiluliuma rewarded Ugarit with some of their lands. Šarrupši of Nuḫašši, who had betrayed his Hittite alliance, was driven from his throne, but later his grandson Tette was installed as a vassal king by Šuppiluliuma.

Although he had intended to bypass Kadesh, an Egyptian dependency, Šuppiluliuma was provoked into battle by its king Šutatarra. The Hittites were victorious, and the king and his family were carried off into captivity. Later, Šuppiluliuma allowed the return of Šutatarra’s son Aitakkama to rule Kadesh as a Hittite vassal. For the time being, Egypt apparently did not respond to the provocation (Šuppiluliuma would later claim that he took Kadesh from Mittani), and Šuppiluliuma could take great satisfaction in all he had achieved in single year of war.

Six-Year War

Late in his reign, Šuppiluliuma sought to consolidate his gains and expand farther at the expense of Mittani or eliminate it altogether, as Tušratta was defeated but unconquered. This led to the so-called Six-Year War. It was conducted mostly by Šuppiluluma's deputies, especially his son Telipinu, the priest of Kizzuwatna, who had been made vassal king of Aleppo by his father. Telipinu succeeded in defeating an attack launched across the Euphrates by the Mittanians. However, while Telipinu was recalled for a meeting with his father at Uda (probably Hydē), the Mittanians renewed their attack, while an Egyptian force attacked the Hittite dependency of Kadesh. Sending his eldest son Arnuwanda and his Commander of the Guard Zida ahead, Šuppiluliuma gathered additional forces and headed to Syria. Meeting with success, he besieged of Carchemish and finally captured it, installing his son Piyaššili, also known as Šarri-Kušuḫ as its vassal king. The murder of Tušratta by one of his younger sons led to further conflict within Mittani, allowing the Hittites to consolidate their gains in Syria and on the Euphrates.

The weakening of Mittani was quickly exploited by its former vassals, Assyria and Alši, while Tušratta’s son Šattiwaza aimed to recover his father's throne from Artatama II and the latter's son Šuttarna III. Šattiwaza was forced to seek refuge first in Kassite Babylonia, then with his father's former enemy Šuppiluliuma in Ḫatti. Šuppiluliuma married one of his daughters to Šattiwaza, bound him with an oath, and dispatched him to recover his father's kingdom with the help of a Hittite army led by Piyaššili (Šarri-Kušuḫ). The treaty concluded between Šuppiluliuma and Šattiwaza reads, in part:

Šuttarna, together with the chariot warriors, sought to kill Prince Šattiwaza. However, he escaped and came into the presence of My Majesty, Šuppiluliuma, King of Ḫatti, Hero, Beloved of the Storm-god. I, Geat King, spoke thus: "The Storm-god has decided his legal case. As I have taken up Šattiwaza, son of King Tušratta, in my hand, I will seat him upon the throne of his father, so that the land of Mittani, the great land, does not go to ruin. I, Great King, King of Ḫatti, have given life to the land of Mittani for the sake of my daughter. I took up Šattiwaza, son of Tušratta, in my hand, and I gave him a daughter in marriage."

Šattiwaza and Piyaššili were successful, and Šattiwaza was established as king of what was left of Mittani (which was called Ḫanigalbat by the Assyrians). Although it was meant to be a great kingdom, the country was effectively reduced to becoming alternately the dependency of the Hittites and the Assyrians, until its final annexation by the Assyrian king Shalmaneser I (1265–1235 BC). Much of Mittani's earlier territory, and that of its dependencies, was now reorganized under Hittite control, such as the vassal kingdom of Aštata, centered on Emar. The Hittite vassals in Syria were left under the management of the Hittite princes ruling at Carchemish and Aleppo, who served effectively as the viceroys of the Hittite great king in the area.

Relations with Egypt

After the earlier amicable relations with Egypt, conflict eventually ensued over the petty kingdom of Amurru. Supported by troops from nomadic bands (Ḫabiru), its king ʿAbdi-Aširta had preyed upon his neighbors until finally being captured by a belated Egyptian military action. His son Aziru renewed the depredations on his neighbors, while protesting his innocence to their common overlord, the king of Egypt, whom he solicited for chariots and troops against possible Hittite aggression. Aziru was summoned to and detained in Egypt, until released to deal with Hittite incursions in the area. After briefly staying loyal to Egypt, Aziru built up alliances with the Hittite vassals Niqmaddu II of Ugarit and Aitakkama of Kadesh, and finally openly defied Egypt and became a vassal of Šuppiluliuma. The new Hittite vassals preyed upon the neighboring dependencies of Egypt even more eagerly than before.

The Egyptian attack on Kadesh during the absence of Šuppiluliuma and Telipinu from Syria appears to have been an attempt to redress or avenge the Hittite advance into the Egyptian sphere of influence. When Šuppiliuliuma returned to Syria to besiege Carchemish, he dispatched two of his generals to raid and pillage the Egyptian dependency Amka in the region of Damascus in retribution.

Zannanza affair

Still at the siege of Carchemish and expecting another Egyptian attack in response, Šuppiluliuma was surprised to receive an unusual marriage proposal instead. It came from an envoy of a sonless Egyptian queen designated in the Hittite sources Daḫamunzu, which is not a name, but actually a rendition of Egyptian tȝ-ḥmt-nsw, "the king’s wife". This woman who was the widow of a king called Nipḫururia, a rendition of the throne name of either Akhenaten (Neferkheprure), or Tutankhamun (Nebkheprure). Although there is plenty of debate over which pharaoh's widow was involved, most scholars tend to identify her as Ankhesenamun, the widow and possibly sister of Tutankhamun. This identification is assumed to be correct in the treatment below; the leading alternative for the widowed queen is Akhenaten's widow Nefernefruaten-Nefertiti, who reigned as queen regnant after her husband's death. Egyptologists Colleen Manassa and John Darnell stated:

The identification of the king in the letter as Tutankhamun, the only logical alternative, implies that the widow is Ankheseneamun, and all other available evidence supports such a conclusion.

Having no sons and unwilling to take one of her subjects as husband (the most prominent options might have been Viceroy of Kush Huy, vizier Ay and generalissimo Horemheb, the two latter became kings subsequently), the widowed queen, here assumed to be Ankhesenamun, asked the Hittite great king Šuppiluliuma to send one of his sons to Egypt to become her husband and king. The relevant exchanges are recorded in the Deeds of Šuppiluliuma, composed by Šuppiluliuma's son and second successor, Muršili II. Ankhesenamun initiated the exchange by sending a letter expressing her distress and making her request:

My husband has died and I have no son. They say about you that you have many sons. You might give me one of your sons to become my husband. I would not wish to take one of my subjects as a husband... I am afraid.

Upon hearing Ankhesenamun's request, Šuppiluliuma exclaimed:

Nothing like this has happened to me in my entire life!... Go and bring thou the true word back to me! Maybe they deceive me! Maybe in fact they do have a son of their lord!

Šuppiluliuma consulted with his council and dispatched his chamberlain Ḫattuša-ziti to Egypt to ascertain the facts. Upon realizing Šuppiluliuma's wariness of her intentions, Ankhesenamun replied, by way of Ḫattuša-ziti and an Egyptian envoy named Ḫani:

Why didst thou say "they deceive me" in that way? Had I a son, would I have written about my own and my country's shame to a foreign land? Thou didst not believe me and hast even spoke thus to me! He who was my husband has died. A son I have not! Never shall I take a servant of mine and make him my husband! I have written to no other country, only to thee have I written! They say thy sons are many: so give me one son of thine! To me he will be husband, but to Egypt he will be king.

After Šuppiluliuma heard Ankhesenamun's angry response, he remained skeptical and wary. He expressed this to the Egyptian envoy Ḫani, accusing Ankhesenamun of having ulterior motives:

...You keep asking me for a son of mine as if it were my duty. He will in some way become a hostage, but king you will not make him!

After further assurances from the Egyptian envoy Ḫani, Šuppiluliuma eventually agreed to Ankhesenamun's proposal. He selected his son Zannanza as Ankhesenamun's husband and Egypt's would-be king, and Zannanza was duly sent off to Egypt. According to Muršili II, Šuppiluliuma eventually learned that his son had been killed en route to Egypt:

They brought this tablet, they spoke thus: "... killed Zannanza," and brought word: "Zannanza died." And when my father heard of the slaying of Zannanza, he began to lament for Zannanza.

While the text is broken where it would have indicated the murderers of Zannanza, Šuppiluliuma clearly considered the Egyptians responsible, addressing the gods:

Oh gods! I did no evil, yet the people of Egypt did this to me, and they also attacked the frontier of my country.

Assuming that Šuppiluliuma's prospective daughter-in-law was indeed Tutankhamun's widow Ankhesenamun, suspicion might naturally attach to Tutankhamun's successor, Ay, who seems to have ascended the Egyptian throne before the completion of negotiations between Šuppiluliuma and Ḫani, unbeknownst to them, and likely would have been threatened by the appearance of the would-be king Zannanza on the scene. Anticipating retaliation from the Hittites, the new pharaoh apparently denied all responsibility for the murder in a conciliatory missive to Šuppiluliuma, but the Hittite king rejected his excuses and threatened war in a draft reply found at Ḫattuša. The very fragmentary and heavily restored text reads, in part:

But now you always write as king of Egypt... When I was asked to provide a son for a husband... I did not know. I was prepared to send my son for the kingship, but I did not know that you were already on the throne... Regarding your writing to me, saying: "Your son died, but I did him no harm," that... you say every time... When the Queen of Egypt kept writing to me, you were not... But if you had taken the throne in the meantime, you could have sent my son home! ... your servant Ḫani held us responsible... What have you done with my son? ... Then perhaps you have killed my son! You continually praise your troops and charioteers, but I will mobilize my troops and charioteers, whatever army I have. For me the Stormgod, my Lord, is the king of all lands, and the Sungoddess of Arinna, my Mistress, the queen of all lands. They will come and the Storm God, my Lord, and the Sungoddess of Arinna, my Mistress, will pass judgement!

Adding to Šuppiluliuma's fury, the Egyptian messenger, Ḫani, had apparently attempted to deflect some of the responsibility for Zannanza's death, perhaps pointing to the previous Hittite attacks on Egyptian territory. Šuppiluliuma's draft letter addresses the new pharaoh's attempts to intimidate the Hittites away from a military response:

Regarding your writing to me: "If you lust for vengeance, I shall take away that lust for vengeance from you!" But it is not me from whom you must take away that lust for revenge, you must take it from the Stormgod, my Lord! ... Those who denied him (Zannanza) the rule, they should ... Regarding your writing to me: "If you write to me in brotherhood, then I will make friendship with you," ... why should I write about brotherhood?

The Plague Prayers of Muršili II complete the story:

And although the Hittites and the Egyptians had been put under the oath by the Storm-god of Ḫatti, the Hittites came to repudiate (the agreement), and suddenly the Hittites transgressed the oath. My father sent infantry an chariotry, and they attacked the border region of Egyptian territory in the land of Amka. He sent (them) again, and they attacked again. When the Egyptians became frightened, they came and actually asked my father for his son for kingship. When my father gave them his son, and when they took him off, they killed him. My father became hostile, went to Egyptian territory, and attacked Egyptian territory. He killed the infantry and chariotry of Egypt.

And at that time the Storm-god of Ḫatti, my Lord, gave my father the upper hand in the lawsuit (manifest in the armed conflict), so that he defeated the infantry and chariotry of Egypt. He killed them. When prisoners of war who had been captured were brought back to Ḫatti, the plague broke out among the prisoners of war and they [began] to die in great numbers. When the prisoners of war were carried off to Ḫatti, the prisoners of war introduced the plague into Ḫatti, and from that time people have been dying in Ḫatti. When I found the tablet mentioned earlier dealing with Egypt, I made an oracular inquiry of a god about it: "Has this matter discussed earlier been brought about the Storm-god of Ḫatti because the Egyptians and the Hittites had been put under oath by the Storm-god of Ḫatti?"

Thus, along with Šuppiluliuma's murder of Tudḫaliya the Younger and other sins, Muršili II determined that Šuppiluliuma's attacks on Egypt, despite the belief that the Egyptians had murdered Zannanza, were a cause for the outbreak of the plague (rabbit fever?) in the Hittite Kingdom. The plague is often considered the cause of death of Šuppiluliuma and of his eldest son and initial successor, Arnuwanda I.

In fiction

Šuppiluliuma I appears in Mika Waltari's historical novel The Egyptian, in which he is presented as the ultimate villain, a ruthless conqueror and utterly tyrannical ruler. Popular culture researcher Abe Brown notes that "As Waltari's book was written during the Second World War, Šuppiluliuma's depiction is likely to be at least in part inspired by Hitler, rather than by historical facts. Unlike quite a few other historical figures of many times and places who got cast in the role of Hitler, Šuppiluliuma has not yet attracted the attention of any historical novelist to write a bit more nuanced popular account—though his life certainly offers rich untapped material".

Janet Morris wrote a detailed biographical novel, I, the Sun, whose subject was Šuppiluliuma I, in which all characters are from the historical record, about which O.M. Gurney, Hittite scholar and author of The Hittites, commented that "the author is familiar with every aspect of Hittite culture".

Šuppiluliuma appears in a minor role in the novel The Shadow Prince by Philip Armstrong, as the grandfather of the hero, Tupiluliuma, in which he is Tudḫaliya's nephew and adopted son. It is explained that he was reluctantly forced to take the throne and exclude his adoptive brother, Tudḫaliya the Younger, as a result of his predecessor's descent into madness. He is regarded as one of the greatest of the Great Kings of Hatti, but is not a man to be crossed lightly.

Šuppiluliuma is a character in the historical fiction manga Red River, introduced as an old man who has retired from warfare. He dies shortly after the start of the story.

Šuppiluliuma may be depicted in the 'Nantucket' novels of S.M. Stirling, but under an alternative name, with a son called Kalkash.

Šuppiluliuma is a character in Turkish author Hüseyin Nihal Atsız's satirical novel Dalkavuklar Gecesi (The Night of the Sycophants), set in the Hittite kingdom.