Suppiluliuma II

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Relief of Suppiluliuma II in Hattusa

Ancient Near East Portal

Suppiluliuma II, the son of Tudhaliya IV, was the last known king of the New Kingdom of the Hittite Empire, ruling ca. 1207 – 1178 BC (short chronology), contemporary with Tukulti-Ninurta I of Assyira.

He is known from two inscriptions in Hieroglyphic Luwian. They record wars against former vassal Tarhuntassa, and against Alasiya in Cyprus.

One inscription is found at the base of Nisantepe in the Upper City of Hattusa, the other at the northern corner of the East Pond, in Chamber 2.

The Hittite kingdom was destroyed by the invading Sea Peoples and Kaskians in the late 1170s BCE. Based on records in Ugarit, the threat originated in the west, and the Hittite king asked for assistance from Ugarit.

"The enemy [advances(?)] against us and there is no number [...]. Our number is pure(?) [. . .] Whatever is available, look for it and send it to me."^[1]

Ammurapi, an ally of Suppululiuma II and the last king of Ugarit wrote a letter outlining the threat posed by the invading Sea Peoples and pleaded for help from Eshuwara, the ruler of Alasiya (Cyprus):

"'My father, behold, the enemy's ships came (here); my cities(?) were burned, and they did evil things in my country. Does not my father know that all my troops and chariots(?) are in the Hittite country, and all my ships are in the land of Lukka? . . . Thus, the country is abandoned to itself. May my father know it: the seven ships of the enemy that came here inflicted much damage upon us.'"^[2]

After Suppiluliuma's kingdom collapsed, the Kaskian tribes were probably in control of Hatti. Hattusa itself was destroyed by fire, its site only re-occupied by a Phrygian fortress some 500 years later.

Kuzi-Teshub, a ruler of Carchemish, would assume the title of "Great King" since he was a direct descendent of Suppiluliuma I.^[3]

[edit] Notes

^ trans Astour, AJA 69 (1965), p.256
^ Jean Nougaryol et. al. (1968) Ugaritica V: 87-90 no.24
^ Trevor Bryce, The Kingdom of the Hittites, Oxford University Press, 1998. p.384