Suppiluliuma II, the son of

Tudḫaliya IV Tudhaliya IV was a king of the Hittite Empire (New kingdom), and the younger son of Hattusili III. He reigned c. 1245–1215 BC (middle chronology) or c. 1237–1209 BC (short chronology). His mother was the great queen, Puduhepa. Biography ...

, was the last known king of the New Kingdom 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 ...

, ruling –1178 BC (

short chronology The chronology of the ancient Near East is a framework of dates for various events, rulers and dynasties. Historical inscriptions and texts customarily record events in terms of a succession of officials or rulers: "in the year X of king Y". Com ...

), contemporary with

Tukulti-Ninurta I Tukulti-Ninurta I (meaning: "my trust is in he warrior god Ninurta"; reigned 1243–1207 BC) was a king of Assyria during the Middle Assyrian Empire. He is known as the first king to use the title "King of Kings". Biography Tukulti-Ninurta I s ...

of the

Middle Assyrian Empire The Middle Assyrian Empire was the third stage of Assyrian history, covering the history of Assyria from the accession of Ashur-uballit I 1363 BC and the rise of Assyria as a territorial kingdom to the death of Ashur-dan II in 912 BC. ...

Life and reign

In 1210 BC, a fleet under his command defeated the Cypriots, the first recorded naval battle in history. According to some historians (

Claude Schaeffer Claude may refer to: __NOTOC__ People and fictional characters * Claude (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Claude (surname), a list of people * Claude Lorrain (c. 1600–1682), French landscape painter, draughtsman and etch ...

, Horst Nowacki, Wolfgang Lefèvre), this and following two victories against Cypriots were probably won by using

Ugarit ) , image =Ugarit Corbel.jpg , image_size=300 , alt = , caption = Entrance to the Royal Palace of Ugarit , map_type = Near East#Syria , map_alt = , map_size = 300 , relief=yes , location = Latakia Governorate, Syria , region = F ...

ic ships.Horst Nowacki, Wolfgang Lefèvre ''Creating Shapes in Civil and Naval Architecture: A Cross-Disciplinary Comparison'' BRILL, 2009 He is known from two inscriptions in

Hieroglyphic Luwian Hieroglyphic Luwian (''luwili'') is a variant of the Luwian language, recorded in official and royal seals and a small number of monumental inscriptions. It is written in a hieroglyphic script known as Anatolian hieroglyphs. A decipherment was pr ...

. They record wars against former vassal Tarhuntassa, and against

Alasiya Alashiya ( akk, 𒀀𒆷𒅆𒅀 ''Alašiya'' -la-ši-ia uga, 𐎀𐎍𐎘𐎊 ''ẢLṮY''; Linear B: 𐀀𐀨𐀯𐀍 ''Alasios'' -ra-si-jo, also spelled Alasiya, also known as the Kingdom of Alashiya, was a state which existed in the Middle ...

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...

. One inscription is found at the base of Nisantepe in the Upper City of

Hattusa Hattusa (also Ḫattuša or Hattusas ; Hittite: URU''Ḫa-at-tu-ša'', Turkish: Hattuşaş , Hattic: Hattush) was the capital of the Hittite Empire in the late Bronze Age. Its ruins lie near modern Boğazkale, Turkey, within the great loop of t ...

; the other is on the northern corner of the East Pond (Pond 1), in what is known as Chamber 2. This served as a water reservoir for Hattusa. The chamber 2 reliefs are historically important since it records major political instability which plagued Hatti during Suppiluliuma's reign. It states that this ruler sacked the city of Tarhutassa which was a Hittite city and had briefly served as the Empire's political capital under the reign of

Muwatalli II :''See also Muwatalli I'' Muwatalli II (also Muwatallis, or Muwatallish) was a king of the New Kingdom of the Hittite empire c. 1295–1282 (middle chronology) and 1295–1272 BC in the short chronology. Biography He was the eldest son of Mursil ...

. The

Sea Peoples The Sea Peoples are a hypothesized seafaring confederation that attacked ancient Egypt and other regions in the East Mediterranean prior to and during the Late Bronze Age collapse (1200–900 BCE).. Quote: "First coined in 1881 by the Fren ...

had already begun their push down the Mediterranean coastline, starting from the Aegean, and continuing all the way to Canaan, founding the state of Philistia—taking Cilicia and Cyprus away from the Hittites en route and cutting off their coveted trade routes. Based on records in

, the threat originated in the west, and the Hittite king asked for assistance from Ugarit. : The enemy dvances(?)against us and there is no number .. Our number is pure(?) . .Whatever is available, look for it and send it to me. Suppiluliuma II was probably the ruler who abandoned the capital city of Hattusa, inducing the end of the Hittite empire. Some sources indicate Suppiluliuma II's end is unknown or he was simply "vanished", while some claim he was killed during the sack of Hattusa in 1190 BC. After Suppiluliuma's kingdom collapsed, the

Kaskians The Kaska (also Kaška, later Tabalian Kasku and Gasga,) were a loosely affiliated Bronze Age non-Indo-European tribal people, who spoke the unclassified Kaskian language and lived in mountainous East Pontic Anatolia, known from Hittite sources ...

possibly took over control of Hatti. Hattusa itself was destroyed by fire, its site only re-occupied by a Phrygian fortress some 500 years later.

Kuzi-Teshub Kuzi-Teshub (also read as Kunzi-Teshub) was a Neo-Hittite King of Carchemish, reigning in the early to mid-12th century BC, likely in 1180-1150 BC.Alessandra Gilibert: ''Syro-Hittite Monumental Art and the Archaeology of Performance''. Berlin 2011, ...

, a ruler of

Carchemish Carchemish ( Turkish: ''Karkamış''; or ), also spelled Karkemish ( hit, ; Hieroglyphic Luwian: , /; Akkadian: ; Egyptian: ; Hebrew: ) was an important ancient capital in the northern part of the region of Syria. At times during its ...

, would later assume the title of "Great King" since he was a direct descendant of Suppiluliuma I.

Trevor Bryce Trevor Robert Bryce (; born 1940) is an Australian Hittitologist specializing in ancient and classical Near-eastern history. He is semi-retired and lives in Brisbane. His book, ''The Kingdom of the Hittites'', is popular among English-speaking ...

, The Kingdom of the Hittites, Oxford University Press, 2005, p.345

Notes

References

*Astour, AJA 69 (1965). *Güterbock, JNES 26 (1967), 73-81.

External links

Reign of Suppiluliuma II
{{DEFAULTSORT:Suppiluliuma 02 Hittite kings 1170s BC deaths Year of birth unknown Late Bronze Age collapse