AÅ¡mu-nikal or AÅ¡mu-Nikkal was a
Queen consort
A queen consort is the wife of a reigning king, and usually shares her spouse's social Imperial, royal and noble ranks, rank and status. She holds the feminine equivalent of the king's monarchical titles and may be crowned and anointed, but hi ...
of the
Hittite empire
The Hittites () were an Anatolian peoples, Anatolian Proto-Indo-Europeans, Indo-European people who formed one of the first major civilizations of the Bronze Age in West Asia. Possibly originating from beyond the Black Sea, they settled in mo ...
.
Biography
AÅ¡mu-Nikkal was born as a princess, the daughter of the Hittite great king
Tudḫaliya II (also called Tudḫaliya I/II) and Queen
Nikkal-mati. She married a man called
Arnuwanda, who became Tudḫaliya II's heir, co-ruler, and eventual successor. The nature of the relationship between Ašmu-Nikkal and her husband Arnuwanda was long controversial, since both are described as children of Tudḫaliya II on their respective seals, ostensibly implying that they were siblings or at least half-siblings. This, however, was clearly forbidden by Hittite custom and law, and it is now generally agreed that while Ašmu-Nikkal was indeed the daughter of Tudḫaliya II, Arnuwanda was only his son-in-law and possibly adoptive son, as the daughter's ''antiyant'' husband, an acceptable heir in the absence of a son.
Ašmu-Nikkal and Arnuwanda I appear to have had several sons: Ašmi-Šarruma, Mannini, Pariyawatra, Kantuzzili, Tulpi-Teššub, and the future king
Tudḫaliya III. Through her son Tudḫaliya III, she was the grandmother of
Tudhaliya the Younger and of
Ḫenti, the wife of
Å uppiluliuma I
Šuppiluliuma I, also Suppiluliuma () or Suppiluliumas (died c. 1322 BC) () was an ancient Hittite king (r. –1322 BC).Bryce 2005: xv, 154; Freu 2007b: 311 dates the reign to c. 1350–c. 1319 BC; Kuhrt 1995: 230 dates him within the range 1370 ...
.
AÅ¡mu-Nikkal, great queen of Hatti, seems to have actively participated in the government of her husband Arnuwanda I, and is cited with him in administrative documents and oaths. Together with Arnuwanda, she offered up prayers to the gods to alleviate the
Kaška Kashka may refer to:
* Kaskians
The Kaska (also Kaška, later Tabal (state), 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 ...
invasion of the northern portions of the Hittite kingdom. Some instructions and decrees, for example those regarding the rights and entitlements of the "mausoleum guardians," were issued in the queen's name alone. It is possible that AÅ¡mu-Nikkal survived her husband.
[Freu 2007b: 118.]
Gallery
File:Prayers of Arnuwanda and Asmu-Nikkal, 14th century BC, from Hattusa, Istanbul Archaeological Museum.jpg, Prayers of Arnuwanda and Asmu-Nikkal, 14th century BC, from Hattusa, Istanbul Archaeological Museum
File:Gifts given by Arnuwanda and Asmu-Nikkal, 14th century BC, from Hattusa, Istanbul Archaeological Museum.jpg, Gifts given by Arnuwanda and Asmu-Nikkal, 14th century BC, from Hattusa, Istanbul Archaeological Museum
References
Bibliography
* Astour, Michael C. (1989), ''Hittite History and the Absolute Chronology of the Bronze Age'', Partille.
* Beal, Richard R. (1983), "Studies in Hittite History," ''Journal of Cuneiform Studies'' 35 (1983) 115-126.
* Bryce, Trevor (2005), ''The Kingdom of the Hittites'', Oxford.
* De Martino, Stefano (2010), "Nomi di persona hurriti nella prima età imperiale ittita," ''Orientalia'' 79 (2010) 130-139.
* Freu, Jacques, and Michel Mazoyer (2007b), ''Les débuts du nouvel empire hittite'', Paris.
* Klengel, Horst (1999), ''Geschichte des Hethitischen Reiches'', Leiden.
* Stavi, Boaz (2011), "The Genealogy of Suppiluliuma I," ''Altorientalische Forschungen'' 38 (2011) 226–239
online* Taracha, Piotr (2016), "Tudhaliya III's Queens, Šuppiluliuma's Accession and Related Issues," in Sedat Erkut and Özlem Sir Gavaz (eds.), ''Studies in Honour of Ahmet Ünal Armağanı'', Istanbul: 489-498.
* Weeden, Mark (2022), "The Hittite Empire," in Karen Radner et al. (eds.), ''The Oxford History of the Ancient Near East'', vol. 3 (From the * Hyksos to the Late Second Millennium BC), Oxford: 529-622.
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Asmu-nikal
Hittite queens
14th-century BC women
Ancient princesses
Daughters of kings