Arnuwanda II was a king of the
Hittite Empire (new kingdom) ca. 1330 BC (
middle chronology)
or 1322–1321 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 ...
). He succeeded his father
Suppiluliuma I, who succumbed to the plague which
Egyptian captives from his
Canaan campaign had brought with them to the Hittite heartland.
Biography
Later Hittite documents reveal that Arnuwanda had also caught this plague. His younger brother
Mursili helped him with
Hatti Hatti may refer to
*Hatti (; Assyrian ) in Bronze Age Anatolia:
**the area of Hattusa, roughly delimited by the Halys bend
**the Hattians of the 3rd and 2nd millennia BC
**the Hittites of ''ca'' 1400–1200 BC
**the areas to the west of the Euphrat ...
's ongoing struggles against the
Kaska and
Arzawa lands. In one such event, the brothers wrote to
Karkiya that they would provide asylum to
Manapa-Tarhunta
Manapa-Tarhunta was a king in western Anatolia during the Late Bronze Age. Manapa-Tarhunta is known through the archives of the kings of Hattusas.
He was a younger son of King Muwa-Walwis of the Seha River Land, born ca. the 1330s BC.
Exile
M ...
of
Seha River, who had been ousted in a coup. As a result, Manapa-Tarhunta was able to return to Seha River as its leader. (Unfortunately Manapa-Tarhunta proved faithless anyway a few years later.)
Arnuwanda eventually died of the plague and was succeeded by his brother Mursili. While Arnuwanda had long been groomed by
Suppiluliuma I to be the latter's successor and was respected by Hatti's enemies, Mursili is stated in the Hittite records to be relatively young and inexperienced upon his unexpected accession to the throne.
In fiction
*
Janet Morris wrote a detailed
biographical novel
The biographical novel is a genre of novel which provides a fictional account of a contemporary or historical person's life. Like other forms of biographical fiction, details are often trimmed or reimagined to meet the artistic needs of the fiction ...
, ''I, the Sun'', whose subject was Suppiluliuma I. Arnuwanda II is an important figure in this novel, in which all characters are from the historical record, which Dr. Jerry Pournelle called "a masterpiece of historical fiction" and about which O.M. Gurney, Hittite scholar and author of ''The Hittites'', commented that "the author is familiar with every aspect of Hittite culture".
[''I, the Sun'', Janet Morris, Dell, 1983] Morris' book was republished by The Perseid Press in April 2013.
* He is also a character in Chie Shinohara's historical manga ''
Red River'' or Anatolia Story. In this manga he is a frail-bodied man who appoints Yuri's boyfriend, his half-brother Mursili, as his successor. He is later murdered in very shady circumstances, and Yuri is falsely accused of killing him but her maid Ursula claims that she's the true murderer and is executed. The culprit isn't found until much later.
* Arnuwanda II also appears in the Historical novel, "Amarna Book I: Book of Ida" by Grea Alexander. In it, he is pitted against his brother, Mursili II, who is protecting Queen Ankhesenamun's emissary, Idaten, following the murder of their brother Prince Zannanza. This book was published by SeaMonkey Ink, LLC in 2012 and is the first of a three part trilogy.
See also
*
History of the Hittites
The Hittites () were an Anatolian peoples, Anatolian people who played an important role in establishing first a kingdom in Kussara (before 1750 BC), then the Kültepe , Kanesh or Nesha kingdom (c. 1750–1650 BC), and next an empire centere ...
*
Hittite plague
Hittite plague was an epidemic of tularemia (also known colloquially as rabbit fever) which occurred in the 14th century BC. The Hittite plague was also used in what is considered the first documented use of a disease as a biological weapon.
Bac ...
References
External links
Reign of Arnuwanda II
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arnuwanda Ii
1320s BC deaths
Hittite kings
Year of birth unknown
14th-century BC rulers