Ašmu-nikal or Ašmu-Nikkal was a Queen consort of the Hittite empire.
Biography Ašmu-Nikkal was born as a princess, the daughter of the Hittite great king Tudḫaliya II (also called Tudḫaliya I/II) and Queen Nikkal-mati.Klengel 1999: 121, n. 165; Bryce 2005: 128-129; Freu 2007b: 98, 102, 117-118; Weeden 2022: 569. She married a man called Arnuwanda, who became Tudḫaliya II's heir, co-ruler, and eventual successor.Bryce 2005: 128; Freu 2007b: 98, 102-103, 117; Weeden 2022: 569. The nature of the relationship between Ašmu-Nikkal and her husband Arnuwanda was long controversial, since both are described as children of Tudḫaliya II on their respective seals,Beal 1983: 116. ostensibly implying that they were siblings or at least half-siblings.Astour 1989: 68. This, however, was clearly forbidden by Hittite custom and law,Beal 1982: 116-117. and it is now generally agreed that while Ašmu-Nikkal was indeed the daughter of Tudḫaliya II, Arnuwanda was only his son-in-law and possibly adoptive son, as the daughter's antiyant husband, an acceptable heir in the absence of a son.Beal 1983: 117-119; Bryce 2005: 128; Freu 2007b: 98, 102-103, 117; Weeden 2022: 569.
Ašmu-Nikkal and Arnuwanda I appear to have had several sons: Ašmi-Šarruma, Mannini, Pariyawatra, Kantuzzili, Tulpi-Teššub, and the future king Tudḫaliya III.Bryce 2005: 145; Freu 2007b: 148-151; De Martino 2010: 132. Through her son Tudḫaliya III, she was the grandmother of Tudhaliya the Younger and of Ḫenti, the wife of Šuppiluliuma I.Freu 2007b: 198-201; Stavi 2011: 228-230; Taracha 2016: 492-493.
Ašmu-Nikkal, great queen of Hatti, seems to have actively participated in the government of her husband Arnuwanda I, and is cited with him in administrative documents and oaths.Freu 2007b: 137, 145. Together with Arnuwanda, she offered up prayers to the gods to alleviate the Kaška invasion of the northern portions of the Hittite kingdom.Bryce 2005: 142; Freu 2007b: 138-141 and (Mazoyer) 325-329 with French translation. Some instructions and decrees, for example those regarding the rights and entitlements of the "mausoleum guardians," were issued in the queen's name alone.Freu 2007b: 118. It is possible that Ašmu-Nikkal survived her husband.Freu 2007b: 118.
Gallery
References
Bibliography Astour, Michael C. (1989), Hittite History and the Absolute Chronology of the Bronze Age, Partille. Beal, Richard R. (1983), "Studies in Hittite History," Journal of Cuneiform Studies 35 (1983) 115-126. Bryce, Trevor (2005), The Kingdom of the Hittites, Oxford. De Martino, Stefano (2010), "Nomi di persona hurriti nella prima età imperiale ittita," Orientalia 79 (2010) 130-139. Freu, Jacques, and Michel Mazoyer (2007b), Les débuts du nouvel empire hittite, Paris. Klengel, Horst (1999), Geschichte des Hethitischen Reiches, Leiden. Stavi, Boaz (2011), "The Genealogy of Suppiluliuma I," Altorientalische Forschungen 38 (2011) 226–239. online Taracha, Piotr (2016), "Tudhaliya III's Queens, Šuppiluliuma's Accession and Related Issues," in Sedat Erkut and Özlem Sir Gavaz (eds.), Studies in Honour of Ahmet Ünal Armağanı, Istanbul: 489-498. Weeden, Mark (2022), "The Hittite Empire," in Karen Radner et al. (eds.), The Oxford History of the Ancient Near East, vol. 3 (From the * Hyksos to the Late Second Millennium BC), Oxford: 529-622.
External links Reigns of Tudhaliya II and Arnuwanda I