Tudhaliya I (sometimes Tudhaliya II or Tudhaliya I/II) was a king of the

Hittite Empire The Hittites () were an Anatolian people who played an important role in establishing first a kingdom in Kussara (before 1750 BC), then the Kanesh or Nesha kingdom (c. 1750–1650 BC), and next an empire centered on Hattusa in north-centra ...

(New Kingdom) in c. the early 14th century BC.

Identity

Proper numbering of the Hittite rulers who bore the name

Tudhaliya Tudhaliya is the name of several Hittite kings: *Tudhaliya (also Tudhaliya I) is a hypothetic pre-Empire king of the Hittites. He would have reigned in the late 17th century BC (short chronology). Forlanini (1993) conjectures that this king corresp ...

is problematic. There was a Hattian era figure who bore the name Tudhaliya who may or may not have ruled as king. Other reconstructions insert a Tudhaliya directly after

Muwatalli I :''See also Muwatalli II'' Muwatalli I was a king of the Hittites. Biography Muwatalli killed his predecessor Huzziya II. He was the Chief of the Royal Bodyguard of Huzziya, but later he killed him. He may have been Huzziya's younger brother. M ...

, but before the Tudhaliya discussed here. Some scholars call Tudhaliya I the first king of the New Kingdom, or Empire. Others give this honor to Suppiluliuma I. Tudhaliya may have been the grandson of the Middle Kingdom ruler

Huzziya II Huzziya II was a king of the Hittites. He was killed by Muwatalli I, who seized the throne A throne is the seat of state of a potentate or dignitary, especially the seat occupied by a sovereign on state occasions; or the seat occupied by a p ...

. He may have been the direct successor of

, having overthrown him. The exact sequence of succession at the beginning of the New Kingdom is uncertain, however, because of the difficulty of placing

Hattusili II Ḫattušili (''Ḫattušiliš'' in the inflected nominative case) was the regnal name of three Hittite kings: * Ḫattušili I (Labarna II) *Ḫattušili II *Ḫattušili III It was also the name of two Neo-Hittite kings: * Ḫattušili I (Labarn ...

. Tudhaliya I's reign includes a period of co-regency with

Arnuwanda I Arnuwanda I was a king of the Hittite Empire. He became a ruler by marriage and was very religious. He ruled c. 1390–1380 BC (middle chronology). Biography Arnuwanda became a king by marriage. His wife was Ašmu-nikal, daughter of king Tudha ...

, his son-in-law and adopted son.

Biography

The most famous event of Tudhaliya's reign was his conquest of the land

Assuwa Assuwa ( hit, 𒀸𒋗𒉿, translit=aš-šu-wa, link=yes; gmy, 𐀀𐀯𐀹𐀊, translit=a-si-wi-ja, link=yes) was a confederation of 22 states in western Anatolia around 1400 BC. The confederation formed to oppose the Hittite Empire, but was def ...

. Assuwa's name is believed by some scholars to be the origin of the modern place name

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

, although this is not beyond dispute. Further, there were many component territories within Assuwa, including the lands ''Taruisa'' and ''Wilusiya'', which are now generally accepted to be references to Troy/Ilios, although there is not enough evidence at this time to explain how these two lands came to apply to a single location.

Family

Tudhaliya's wife was

Nikal-mati Nikal-mati (14th century BC) was a queen of the Hittite empire, the wife of king Tudhaliya I. She was a mother of queen Ašmu-nikal and grandmother of King Tudhaliya II Tudhaliya II (also Tudhaliya III; Hurrian name ''Tasmi-Sarri'') was a king ...

. He had a daughter

Ašmu-nikal Ašmu-nikal was a Queen consort of Hittite empire. Biography Ašmu-nikal was born as a princess, the daughter of King Tudhaliya I and Queen Nikal-mati. She married a man called Arnuwanda, who later became a king. She had two sons with him: Pr ...

who married Arnuwanda.

In the Bible

A number of modern

biblical scholars Biblical studies is the academic application of a set of diverse disciplines to the study of the Bible (the Old Testament and New Testament).''Introduction to Biblical Studies, Second Edition'' by Steve Moyise (Oct 27, 2004) pages 11–12 For ...

believe that either Tudhaliya I, or the proto-Hittite

, was the same individual as ''Tidal, king of Nations'', who is mentioned in the

Book of Genesis The Book of Genesis (from Greek ; Hebrew: בְּרֵאשִׁית ''Bəreʾšīt'', "In hebeginning") is the first book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. Its Hebrew name is the same as its first word, ( "In the beginning") ...

as having joined

Chedorlaomer Chedorlaomer, also spelled Kedorlaomer (; Hebrew: כְּדָרְלָעֹמֶר, Tiberian: ''Kəḏorlā'ōmer''; Vat. Χοδολλογομορ), is a king of Elam mentioned in Genesis 14. Genesis portrays him as allied with three other kings, camp ...

in attacking rebels in

Canaan Canaan (; Phoenician: 𐤊𐤍𐤏𐤍 – ; he, כְּנַעַן – , in pausa – ; grc-bib, Χανααν – ;The current scholarly edition of the Greek Old Testament spells the word without any accents, cf. Septuaginta : id est Vetus T ...

.'' Peake's commentary on the Bible''

Notes

External links

Reign of Tudhaliya I (listed as Tudhaliya II at this link)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tudhaliya 01 Hittite kings 14th-century BC people