à  uppiluliuma I (died c. 1322 BC), also Suppiluliuma () or Suppiluliumas () was an ancient Hittite king (r. âÂÂ1322 BC).
Even before assuming the throne, Ã Â uppiluliuma distinguished himself as a military commander protecting and reclaiming Hittite territories after a period of foreign attacks. Once king, he continued this program of consolidation and expansion, both in Anatolia and in 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 itself became effectively a dependency of the Hittite Kingdom.
Relations with Egypt vacillated between friendship and hostility, culminating in the so-called Zannanza Affair, in which à  uppiluliuma was persuaded to send one of his sons to marry the widowed queen of Egypt and assume its throne. The murder of the Hittite prince resulted in a long period of Hittite-Egyptian hostility, and à  uppiluliuma's captives causing an outbreak of plague that ravaged Hittite society for at least two decades. For all his successes, à  uppiluliuma's ruthlessness was blamed for this evil by his own son, Murà ¡ili II.
à  uppiluliuma's origins are unclear. A statement in the genealogy of his grandson Ḫattuà ¡ili III was long taken to indicate that à  uppiluliumaâÂÂs father and Ḫattuà ¡ili III's great-grandfather was Ḫattuà ¡ili II. However, the terminology involved (which, taken literally, would indicate that Ḫattuà ¡ili III was the great-grandson of Ḫattuà ¡ili II) might have indicated more distant descent, and the Ḫattuà ¡ili in question might have been the famous Ḫattuà ¡ili I at the dawn of Hittite power in the late 17th century BC. The discovery of seal impressions naming à  uppiluliuma as the son of Tudḫaliya III (sometimes called II) led to the discarding of the previous hypothesis by most scholars. Most scholars now concluded that à  uppiluliuma was the son of his predecessor, Tudḫaliya III, whom he had long served as a military commander. However, the description of à  uppiluliuma'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, making à  uppiluliuma the son-in-law and possibly adopted son of that king.
According to the Deeds of à  uppiluliuma composed by his son and second successor Murà ¡ili II, à  uppiluliuma served as the adviser and chief military commander to his predecessor Tudḫaliya III, helping effect the king's recovery of his lands from à  amuḫa, where the court had established itself for greater security from enemy attack.
Tudḫaliya and à  uppiluliuma waged a successful campaign against the Kaà ¡ka in the north, then intervened to recover control over and protect the regions of Kaà ¡à ¡iya and the Ḫulana River Land to the west and southwest, striking back at their invaders. After dealing with a new threat from the Kaà ¡ka under Piyapili, Tudḫaliya and à  uppiluliuma, had to fight King Karanni (or Lanni) of Azzi-Ḫayaà ¡a in the northeast. Karanni had invaded Hittite territory and even threatened à  amuḫa, but was defeated, Tudḫaliya and à  uppiluliuma invading Azzi-Ḫayaà ¡a in turn. A battle at Kummaḫa (probably Kemah) seems to have resulted in a Hittite victory, as Azzi-Ḫayaà ¡a 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, Ḫattuà ¡a. He sent à  uppiluliuma southwest against the Arzawa confederacy, and à  uppiluliuma 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 Murà ¡ili II would relate that it took à  uppiluliuma 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 IIIâÂÂs reign, but credit for much of it was given to à  uppiluliuma.
When Tudḫaliya III died, the throne should have been inherited by his son Tudḫaliya the Younger, to whom à  uppiluliuma 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 à  uppiluliuma. Long associated with Tudḫaliya as his chief military commander, à  uppiluliuma 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 à  uppiluliuma's son and second successor Murà ¡ili 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.
à  uppiluliuma'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 à  uppiluliuma's "legitimate" sons:
à  uppiluliuma also had daughters, of whom Muwatti was married to Maà ¡á¸«uiluwa, the king of Mira-Kuwaliya in Arzawa, while another daughter, name unknown, was married to à  attiwaza, the king of Mittani.
Additionally, à  uppiluliuma's sister, name unknown, was married to Huqqana, the king of Azzi-Ḫayaà ¡a. à  uppiluliuma's brother Zida (or Zidana) was appointed Commander of the Guard.
A badly damaged text from the reign of her son Murà ¡ili 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 à  uppiluliuma's new Babylonian wife after that marriage alliance was concluded.
à  uppiluliuma'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-Buriaà ¡ II. The Babylonian Tawananna would survive a decade into the reign of à  uppiluliuma's son and second successor Murà ¡ili II, who would demote and banish her after an oracle confirmed that she was guilty of causing the death of the king's wife Gaà ¡à ¡ulawiya.
à  uppiluliuma continued his efforts to establish a Hittite supremacy in western Anatolia, providing asylum to the expelled heir to the throne of Mira-Kuwaliya, Maà ¡á¸«uiluwa. Having married his daughter Muwatti to Maà ¡á¸«uiluwa, à  uppiluliuma proceeded to make his new son-in-law the vassal king of Mira-Kuwaliya. When the young Manapa-Tarḫunta of the à  eḫa River Land was expelled by his brothers and fled to Karkià ¡a, à  uppiluliuma ensured his safety by sending presents to the ruler of Karkià ¡a and the exile was eventually restored to his throne by à  uppiluliumaâÂÂs son Murà ¡ili II. The defeat of the Hittite commander Ḫimuili by the Arzawan leader Anzapaḫḫaddu, who had refused the demands to release Hittite captives, forced à  uppiluliuma to intervene personally and enforce the demands. à  uppiluliuma 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, à  uppiluliuma waged a war against the Kaà ¡ka in the north, temporarily subjugating and pacifying a portion of their land and establishing Hittite outposts there. This was followed by a Kaà ¡ka revolt, in which many Hittites were slain and the Hittite fortresses came under attack. à  uppiluliuma 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 à  uppiluliuma is found campaigning against the Kaà ¡ka 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, à  uppiluliuma arranged a marriage between his sister and Huqqana, supposedly making the latter king of his homeland, Azzi-Ḫayaà ¡a. 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 à  uppiluliumaâÂÂs reign.
Apart from consolidating his position in the northeast and west, à  uppiluliuma 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 Tuà ¡ratta claiming victory in a letter sent to Amenhotep III of Egypt, along with a representative share of the booty. Learning from his failure, à  uppiluliuma 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. à  uppiluliuma also established an alliance with Kassite Babylonia, and at some point married a Babylonian princess, his last queen.
Apparently after lengthy preparations, à  uppiluliuma attacked Mittani again in the so-called One-Year War. Responding to an appeal for help against Mittani from a petty king of Nuḫaà ¡à ¡i, à  arrupà ¡i, à  uppiluliuma launched a direct assault on Mittani, overrunning its vassal Ià ¡uwa, before capturing and plundering the Mittanian capital Waà ¡à ¡ukanni. Tuà ¡ratta, unable to resist, fled to rally elsewhere. At this point, à  uppiluliuma created a certain Antaratli the vassal king of Alà ¡i in the northernmost part of Mesopotamia.
à  uppiluliuma then crossed the Euphrates into Syria, conquering the smaller kingdoms that had recognized Mittanian suzerainty there, including Aleppo, Mukià ¡ (centered on Alalaḫ), Niya, Araḫtu, Qatna, and Nuḫaà ¡à ¡i. Carchemish, however, remained firmly under Mittanian control. à  uppiluliuma enticed the small but wealthy kingdom of Ugarit, which had loose ties to Egypt, into becoming an ally through common hostility to Mukià ¡ and Nuḫaà ¡à ¡i, King Niqmaddu II of Ugarit eventually recognizing à  uppiluliuma's suzerainty; having conquered these, à  uppiluliuma rewarded Ugarit with some of their lands. à  arrupà ¡i of Nuḫaà ¡à ¡i, who had betrayed his Hittite alliance, was driven from his throne, but later his grandson Tette was installed as a vassal king by à  uppiluliuma.
Although he had intended to bypass Kadesh, an Egyptian dependency, à  uppiluliuma was provoked into battle by its king à  utatarra. The Hittites were victorious, and the king and his family were carried off into captivity. Later, à  uppiluliuma allowed the return of à  utatarraâÂÂs son Aitakkama to rule Kadesh as a Hittite vassal. For the time being, Egypt apparently did not respond to the provocation (à  uppiluliuma would later claim that he took Kadesh from Mittani), and à  uppiluliuma could take great satisfaction in all he had achieved in single year of war.
Late in his reign, à  uppiluliuma sought to consolidate his gains and expand farther at the expense of Mittani or eliminate it altogether, as Tuà ¡ratta was defeated but unconquered. This led to the so-called Six-Year War. It was conducted mostly by à  uppiluluma'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 HydÃÂ), 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, à  uppiluliuma gathered additional forces and headed to Syria. Meeting with success, he besieged of Carchemish and finally captured it, installing his son Piyaà ¡à ¡ili, also known as à  arri-Kuà ¡uḫ as its vassal king. The murder of Tuà ¡ratta 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 Alà ¡i, while Tuà ¡rattaâÂÂs son à  attiwaza aimed to recover his father's throne from Artatama II and the latter's son à  uttarna III. à  attiwaza was forced to seek refuge first in Kassite Babylonia, then with his father's former enemy à  uppiluliuma in Ḫatti. à  uppiluliuma married one of his daughters to à  attiwaza, bound him with an oath, and dispatched him to recover his father's kingdom with the help of a Hittite army led by Piyaà ¡à ¡ili (à  arri-Kuà ¡uḫ). The treaty concluded between à  uppiluliuma and à  attiwaza reads, in part:
à  attiwaza and Piyaà ¡à ¡ili were successful, and à  attiwaza 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 (1265âÂÂ1235 BC). Much of Mittani's earlier territory, and that of its dependencies, was now reorganized under Hittite control, such as the vassal kingdom of Aà ¡tata, 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.
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 ÿAbdi-Aà ¡irta 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 à  uppiluliuma. 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 à  uppiluliuma and Telipinu from Syria appears to have been an attempt to redress or avenge the Hittite advance into the Egyptian sphere of influence. When à  uppiliuliuma 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.
Still at the siege of Carchemish and expecting another Egyptian attack in response, à  uppiluliuma 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 tÃÂ-ḥmt-nsw, "the kingâÂÂs 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:
<blockquote> 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. </blockquote>
Having no sons and unwilling to take one of her subjects as husband (the most prominent options might have been Ay and Horemheb, both of whom became kings subsequently), the widowed queen, here assumed to be Ankhesenamun, asked the Hittite great king à  uppiluliuma to send one of his sons to Egypt to become her husband and king. The relevant exchanges are recorded in the Deeds of à  uppiluliuma, composed by à  uppiluliuma's son and second successor, Murà ¡ili II. Ankhesenamun initiated the exchange by sending a letter expressing her distress and making her request: <blockquote>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.</blockquote>
Upon hearing Ankhesenamun's request, Ã Â uppiluliuma exclaimed: <blockquote>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!</blockquote>
à  uppiluliuma consulted with his council and dispatched his chamberlain Ḫattuà ¡a-ziti to Egypt to ascertain the facts. Upon realizing à  uppiluliuma's wariness of her intentions, Ankhesenamun replied, by way of Ḫattuà ¡a-ziti and an Egyptian envoy named Ḫani: <blockquote>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.</blockquote>
After à  uppiluliuma heard Ankhesenamun's angry response, he remained skeptical and wary. He expressed this to the Egyptian envoy Ḫani, accusing Ankhesenamun of having ulterior motives: <blockquote>...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!</blockquote>
After further assurances from the Egyptian envoy Ḫani, à  uppiluliuma 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 Murà ¡ili II, à  uppiluliuma eventually learned that his son had been killed en route to Egypt: <blockquote>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.</blockquote>
While the text is broken where it would have indicated the murderers of Zannanza, Ã Â uppiluliuma clearly considered the Egyptians responsible, addressing the gods: <blockquote>Oh gods! I did no evil, yet the people of Egypt did this to me, and they also attacked the frontier of my country.</blockquote>
Assuming that à  uppiluliuma'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 à  uppiluliuma 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 à  uppiluliuma, but the Hittite king rejected his excuses and threatened war in a draft reply found at Ḫattuà ¡a. The very fragmentary and heavily restored text reads, in part: <blockquote>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!</blockquote>
Adding to à  uppiluliuma'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. à  uppiluliuma's draft letter addresses the new pharaoh's attempts to intimidate the Hittites away from a military response: <blockquote>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?</blockquote>
The Plague Prayers of Murà ¡ili II complete the story:
Thus, along with à  uppiluliuma's murder of Tudḫaliya the Younger and other sins, Murà ¡ili II determined that à  uppiluliuma'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 à  uppiluliuma and of his eldest son and initial successor, Arnuwanda I.
à  uppiluliuma 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, à  uppiluliuma'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, à  uppiluliuma has not yet attracted the attention of any historical novelist to write a bit more nuanced popular accountâÂÂthough his life certainly offers rich untapped material".
Janet Morris wrote a detailed biographical novel, I, the Sun, whose subject was à  uppiluliuma 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".
à  uppiluliuma 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.
à  uppiluliuma 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.
à  uppiluliuma may be depicted in the 'Nantucket' novels of S.M. Stirling, but under an alternative name, with a son called Kalkash.
à  uppiluliuma is a character in Turkish author Hüseyin Nihal Atsñz's satirical novel Dalkavuklar Gecesi (The Night of the Sycophants), set in the Hittite kingdom.