Henti

Ḫenti (or Ḫinti) was a Hittite queen, the first wife of the great king Šuppiluliuma I.

Biography

Ḫenti is described on her seal as the "great queen, daughter of the great king, the hero," making her the daughter of the great king Tudḫaliya III (sometimes called Tudḫaliya II). Šuppiluliuma, long considered the son of his predecessor, was therefore his son-in-law and possibly adopted son. Šuppiluliuma, long closely associated with Tudḫaliya III, seized the throne by eliminating Tudḫaliya's possibly underage son and heir, Tudḫaliya the Younger, who would have been a brother or half-brother of Ḫenti.

At the very beginning of Šuppiluliuma's reign the title of Tawananna was retained by Dadu-Ḫeba, his mother-in-law, the widow of Tudḫaliya III and possibly mother of Tudḫaliya the Younger and perhaps Ḫenti. Following the death of Dadu-Ḫeba, the title of Tawananna passed to Ḫenti, and she is attested by this title in the text of the decree appointing her son Telipinu priest in Kizzuwatna. Ḫenti's tenure as Tawananna is sometimes said to have been relatively short, as the title was next assumed by Šuppiluliuma's Babylonian wife, known simply as Tawananna (her personal name was perhaps Malnigal). In fact, there are relatively numerous attestations of Šuppiluliuma and Ḫenti as the royal couple on seals, and Ḫenti might have lasted as Tawananna for a good while, Šuppiluliuma perhaps marrying his Babylonian wife later in his reign.

A fragmentary text from the reign of Ḫenti's son Muršili II makes reference to his father, mother, and a banishment of someone to the land of Aḫḫiyawa. A common interpretation of the text is that it was Ḫenti who was banished into exile. If it was her, the reasons for her exile are unclear, although one possibility is the desirability of a marriage alliance with the Kassite king of Babylon (probably Burna-Buriaš II), or conflict between Ḫenti and Šuppiluliuma's new Babylonian wife.

Ḫenti is believed to have been the mother of Šuppiluliuma's sons Arnuwanda II, Telipinu, Piyaššili, Muršili II, and Zannanza.

In fiction

Queen Henti is a character in the historical fiction manga Red River.

References

Bibliography

• Bilgin, Tayfun (2018), Official and Administration in the Hittite World, Berlin.
• Bryce, Trevor (1989), "Some Observations on the Chronology of Å uppiluliuma's Reign," Anatolian Studies 39 (1989) 9-30.
• Bryce, Trevor (2005), The Kingdom of the Hittites, Oxford.
• Burney, Charles (2004), Historical Dictionary of the Hittites, Lanham.
• 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, Å uppiluliuma's Accession and Related Issues," in Sedat Erkut and Özlem Sir Gavaz (eds.), Studies in Honour of Ahmet Ünal Armağanı, Istanbul: 489–498.