Telipinu (or Telepinu) Proclamation is a

Hittite Hittite may refer to: * Hittites, ancient Anatolian people ** Hittite language, the earliest-attested Indo-European language ** Hittite grammar ** Hittite phonology ** Hittite cuneiform ** Hittite inscriptions ** Hittite laws ** Hittite religion * ...

edict An edict is a decree or announcement of a law, often associated with monarchism, but it can be under any official authority. Synonyms include "dictum" and "pronouncement". ''Edict'' derives from the Latin edictum. Notable edicts * Telepinu Pr ...

, written during the reign of King

Telipinu Telipinu was the last king of the Hittites Old Kingdom, living in 16th century BC, reigned c. 1525-1500 BC in middle chronology. At the beginning of his reign, the Hittite Empire had contracted to its core territories, having long since lost all ...

, c. 1525-1500 BCE. The text is classified as CTH 19 in the Catalogue of Hittite Texts. The edict is significant because it made possible to reconstruct a succession of Hittite Kings. It also recounts some important events like

Mursili I Mursili I (also known as Mursilis; sometimes transcribed as Murshili) was a king of the Hittites 1620-1590 BC, as per the middle chronology, the most accepted chronology in our times, (or alternatively c. 1556–1526 BC, short chronology), and wa ...

's conquest of Babylon of which no other Hittite document exists. Little more than the names of the successors of Telipinu is known for a period of about 80 years. Van Seter argues that the edict is a legal, rather than a historical text, laying out rules for royal succession in the Hittite Kingdom. Lawson criticizes this approach by saying that a quasi-legal text may also be a historical one. Mario Liverani observes that the edict should be interpreted carefully, for it is a lot more useful in understanding the situation at the time it was written than in reconstructing the past history.Liverani, Mario ''Myth And Politics In Ancient Near Eastern Historiography'', Cornell University Press, 2007 {{ISBN, 0801473586

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External links

Telipinu Proclamation
16th-century BC literature Edicts Hittite texts First Babylonian Empire