Šuppiluliuma I (died c. 1322 BC), also Suppiluliuma () or Suppiluliumas (), was an ancient Hittite king (r. –1322 BC).Bryce 2005: xv, 154; Freu 2007b: 311 dates the reign to c. 1350–c. 1319 BC; Kuhrt 1995: 230 dates him within the range 1370–1322 BC.
Even before assuming the throne, Šuppiluliuma distinguished himself as a military commander by protecting and reclaiming Hittite territories after a period of foreign attacks. Once becoming king he continued his program of consolidation and expansion, both in Anatolia and Syria, with a great deal of success. Victories over a major rival, the Upper-Mesopotamian kingdom of Mittani, led to the extension of Hittite authority over a bevy of petty kingdoms in northern Syria, the installation of the Hittite king's younger sons as local viceroys at Aleppo and Carchemish, and the rump of the Mittanian state becoming, effectively, a dependency of the Hittite Kingdom.
Relations with Egypt vacillated between friendship and hostility, eventually culminating in the Zannanza Affair in which Šuppiluliuma was persuaded to send one of his sons to marry the widowed queen of Egypt and assume its throne. However, the murder of this Hittite prince resulted in a long period of Hittite-Egyptian hostility, and captives that Šuppiluliuma had taken caused an outbreak of plague which ravaged Hittite society for at least two decades. Despite all his successes, Šuppiluliuma's son, Muršili II, blamed the Hittite's misfortune as being the result of his father's cruelty.
Origins Šuppiluliuma's origins are unclear. A statement in the genealogy of his grandson Ḫattušili III was long taken to indicate that Šuppiluliuma’s father, and Ḫattušili III's great-grandfather, was Ḫattušili II.Güterbock 1973: 101-104. However, the terminology involved (which when taken literally would indicate that Ḫattušili III was the great-grandson of Ḫattušili II) might have indicated more distant descent, and the Ḫattušili in question might have been the famous Ḫattušili I at the dawn of Hittite power in the late 17th century BC.Astour 1989: 49. The discovery of seal impressions naming Šuppiluliuma as the son of Tudḫaliya III (sometimes called II) led to the discarding of the previous hypothesis by most scholars.Klengel 1999: 129-130, 135, 137; Bryce 2005: 431 n. 101. Most scholars now concluded that Šuppiluliuma was the son of his predecessor, Tudḫaliya III, whom he had long served as a military commander.Klengel 1999: 127-129, 137; Bryce 2005: 148-155; Weeden 2022: 573. However, the description of Šuppiluliuma's first wife Ḫenti as the "great queen, daughter of the great king, the hero," has resulted in her identification as the daughter of Tudḫaliya III,Freu 2007b: 199-201; Stavi 2011: 228-230, 236; Taracha 2016: 492-493; Bilgin 2018: 26 n. 72. making Šuppiluliuma the son-in-law and possibly adopted son of that king.Freu 2007b: 198-201; Stavi 2011: 228-230, 236; Taracha 2016: 492-493; Bilgin 2018: 26 n. 72.
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.Bryce 2005: 148-149; Weeden 2022: 574.
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.Bryce 2005: 149. 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.Bryce 2005: 149-150; Freu 2007b: 203-206; Weeden 2022: 574.
After these successes in the north, Tudḫaliya seems to have been able to return to the Hittite capital, Ḫattuša.Freu 2007b: 208. 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.Bryce 2005: 150-151; Freu 2007b: 212 places these events after Šuppiluliuma's accession; Weeden 2022: 574.
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.Bryce 2005: 151-153.
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.Beckman 1997: 156-157. It is not clear whether or not Tudḫaliya the Younger actually ascended the throne,For: Astour 1989: 73-74; against: Beckman 2000: 24; Bryce 2005: 154-155; Carruba 2005: 247, n. 1; Freu 2007b: 199-200; uncertain: Wilhelm 2004: 75-76; Stavi 2011: 227 n. 10; Bilgin 2018: 29 n. 87; Klengel 1999: 148 n. 27 wonders if Tudḫaliya the Younger was associated on the throne with his ailing father. 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.Bryce 2005: 154-155; Freu 2007b: 199-200; Taracha 2016: 490; Bilgin 2018: 29 n. 87. 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.Bryce 2005: 154-155, 205-206; Weeden 2022: 575. In accordance with tradition, the widow of the preceding king, Dadu-Ḫeba, continued to enjoy the title of chief queen, Tawananna, until her death.Klengel 1999: 137, n. 4; Bryce 2005: 159; Freu 2007b: 209.
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.Bryce 2005: 159; Freu 2007b: 210-211. She is believed to have been the mother of all of Šuppiluliuma's "legitimate" sons:Bryce 2005: 160; Burney 2004: 258; Freu 2007b: 200. Arnuwanda II, who was Šuppiluliuma's designated heir (tuḫkanti) and eventual successor.Bryce 2005: 160, 190; Freu 2007b: 211; Freu 2008: 17. Telipinu, who was appointed priest (and governor) of Kizzuwatna and later became vassal king of Aleppo in Syria.Bryce 2005: 159-160, 176; Freu 2007b: 210-211. Piyaššili, also called Šarri-Kušuḫ, who became vassal king of Carchemish as master of the formerly Mittanian lands west of the Euphrates.Bryce 2005: 179-180. 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.Bryce 2005: 191; Freu 2008: 19.
Šuppiluliuma also had daughters, of whom Muwatti was married to Mašḫuiluwa, the king of Mira-Kuwaliya in Arzawa,Bryce 2005: 213. while another daughter, name unknown, was married to Šattiwaza, the king of Mittani.Bryce 2005: 184-185.
Additionally, Šuppiluliuma's sister, name unknown, was married to Huqqana, the king of Azzi-Ḫayaša.Bryce 2005: 150. Šuppiluliuma's brother Zida (or Zidana) was appointed Commander of the Guard.Bryce 2005: 160; Freu 2007b: 210-211.
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.Bryce 2005: 160; Freu 2007b: 201, 210, 257. The motivation for this decision remains unclear. Suggested possibilities include the desirability of a marriage alliance with the Kassite king of Babylon,Bryce 2005: 160; Freu 2007b: 257. or conflict between Ḫenti and Šuppiluliuma's new Babylonian wife after that marriage alliance was concluded.Bilgin 2018: 24 n. 55.
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.Klengel 1999: 137, n. 3; Bryce 2005: 159, 433 n. 24; Freu 2007b: 257. 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.Bryce 2005: 207-210.
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.Freu 2007b: 215-216. 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.Bryce 2005: 151 places these events before Šuppiluliuma's accession; Freu 2007b: 207, 212-215 places these events after Šuppiluliuma's accession, as does Weeden 2022: 575-576.
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?).Freu 2007b: 269-270. 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.Freu 2007b: 295-298.
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.Freu 2007b: 216-218; the treaty is translated by Beckman 1996: 22-30.
Syria and Mesopotamia