Throughout the Late Bronze Age, the Kingdom of the Hittites was a dominant power in Anatolia and the Near East. By the height of Egypt’s Amarna Age, the Hittite people had already seen their fortunes rise and fall more than once. Now, in the middle of the fourteenth century B.C.E., the stage was set for the Hittites, under the leadership of their newly enthroned king, Suppililiuma, to become the greatest power of the age.
Suppililiuma’s Early Reign
Most of what we know about King Suppililiuma, (ca 1350-1322 B.C.E.), comes from documents found in the ruins of the ancient Hittite capital, Hattusha. Two of these ancient text, “The Deeds of Suppililiuma” and the “Plague Prayers of Mursili II”, are of the greatest significance when trying to piece together the story of this Bronze Age kings reign.
Historians portray the beginning of Suppililiuma’s reign with some variety, estimating that the young king spent anywhere from one to twenty years reclaiming lost Hittite territories in Anatolia. Far in the west, Suppililiuma had to deal with incursions into Hittite territory by the Kingdom of Arzawa. In the north, he had to suppress the rebellious Kaskan people, while in the east he ended a conflict with Hayaza by sending his daughter to wed their king. Finally, to the south, Suppililiuma reestablished Hittite dominance in Kizzuwanda and punished the rebels who had fled to the Mittani vassal state of Isuwa.
The Hittites Conquer Mittani
In a very strategic move designed to effectively isolate the Hittites main rival, the Hurrian Kingdom of Mittani, the Suppililiuma also arranged to marry the daughter of the Babylonian King, forging a diplomatic marriage alliance with Kassite Babylonia. Suppililiuma also made an alliance with the rival to the Mittani King, a younger brother who enjoyed the backing of Mittani’s wayward vassal, Assyria. This left Mittani fully ensnared in a web of Hittite diplomacy and military might.
With this diplomatic foundation, Suppililiuma launched a series of campaigns into Syria designed to crush Mittani once and for all. The most successful of theses invasions is dubbed the “Great Syrian War” and ended with Mittani having lost all of its possessions west of the Euphrates. This show of force also caused numerous kings to offer their allegiance to Suppililiuma, including the King of Ugarit, whose city-state would provide the Hittite Empire with a large income for decades to come.
Although the record indicates that Suppililiuma chose to avoid conflict with Egypt, with whom there was a treaty arrangement, Egyptian vassals where drawn into the fray. Suppililiuma seized the crucial city of Qadesh after its king, a vassal to the Pharaoh, rode against him in battle. This cities strategic importance cannot be overstated as, from Qadesh, Suppililiuma would hold Egyptian counterattacks at bay.
Egypt made attempts to stabilize the situation, causing Suppililiuma to launch another campaign in response to a coordinated counterattack made by Egypt and Mittani. The result was the capture of the key Mittani stronghold on the Euphrates, Karkemesh. It was while camped before the walls of Karkemesh, deep into Egyptian territory, that Suppililiuma received word of the death of an Egyptian Pharaoh who is usually recognized as Tutankhamun (ca. 1336-1322 B.C.E.).
The Egyptian Queen Asks For A Husband
Suppililiuma had installed two of his sons as sovereigns in Aleppo and Karkemesh and had married one of his daughters to the new King of Mittani, creating a new vassal for Hatti. A messenger from the newly widowed Egyptian Queen approached Suppililiuma and, in one of histories great twists, asked for one of his many sons to marry her and become Pharaoh. At first Suppililiuma was suspect, and sent his own emissary to Egypt, but when he learned that the request was genuine, he sent his youngest son to wed the Queen.
Now that his youngest son was about to take control of Egypt, Suppililiuma would be the unquestioned master of the Near East. However, tragedy struck. Assailants, presumably Egyptians who did not wish a Hittite Pharaoh, murdered the young prince while he was en route to Egypt.
Suppililiuma was understandably outraged. The new Egyptian Pharaoh, Ay, (ca. 1322-1320 B.C.E.), sent a letter protesting his innocence, but the Hittite King was not placated. Suppililiuma demanded vengeance and sent his armies to attack Egyptian territory. Once again, the Hittites were successful. They came home with Egyptian prisoners as proof of their victory.
Unfortunately, these Egyptian prisoners would carry a plague with them that would devastate the kingdom and eventually take the life of its king. Suppililiuma’s eldest son and heir would also die from the plague. Yet even with a series of disasters that led to the eventual abandonment of the Hittite homeland of Hatti, the descendants of Suppililiuma would continue to rule in Syria for another 500 years.
Sources:
Bryce, Trevor. The Kingdom of the Hittites ( Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2005 )
Ceram, C.W. The Secret of the Hittites ( London, Phoenix Press, 1956 )
Sayce, Archibald H. The Hittites; Story of a Forgotten Empire ( London, Religious Tract Society, 1903 )
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