| Ḫattušili II | |
| Succession: | King of the Hittite Empire |
| Predecessor: | Tudḫaliya I ? |
| Successor: | Tudḫaliya II ? |
| Father: | Tudḫaliya I ? |
| Mother: | Kattešḫapi ? |
| Spouse: | Ašmu-Ḫeba ? |
| Issue: | Tudḫaliya II ? Ziplantawiya ? |
Ḫattušili II (Hittite: "[man] from Hattusa") was a possible Hittite great king during the 15th or 14th century BC, perhaps reigning c. 1440–c. 1425 BC.[1]
The existence of a king named Ḫattušili in this period of Hittite history is disputed among scholars, and considered unlikely by many.[2] Identification of such a king relies primarily on the historical introduction to the treaty between the Hittite great king Muršili II and his nephew Talmi-Šarruma, the king of Aleppo. Following references to the Hittite kings Ḫattušili I defeating, and Muršili I and Tudḫaliya destroying Aleppo, and preceding a reference to the intervention of the Hittite king Šuppiluliuma I, the relevant passage reads:
The king of Aleppo committed an offense [against] the king of Ḫanigalbat, but he also committed an offense against Ḫattušili, [King] of Ḫatti.
The people of Aštata and the people of Nuḫašši requested [cities] and border districts of the land of Aleppo [from] the king of Mittanni.
And the king of Mittanni [came] and gave [these] cities and border districts [to the people] of Aštata and the people of Nuḫašši [as] a benefaction for the sake of friendly relations.
And he wrote tablets for them
[When the people of Aštata] and [the people of] Nuḫašši [came] to Ḫattušili, King of Ḫatti, they requested the cities [and] the border districts of the land of Aleppo, [and the king of Ḫatti] came, and he gave the cities and the border districts of the land of Aleppo [… to the people of Aštata] and the people of Nuḫašši as a benefaction. [He wrote tablets concerning these cities and border districts] and he sealed them [with] his seal. They still have them in their possession.[3]
Additionally, Onofrio Carruba and Jacques Freu consider a Middle Hittite text fragment (KUB XXXVI 109), to be attributable to this Ḫattušili with certainty and believe it to relate the appointment of Ḫattušili as heir apparent (tuḫkanti). It reads, in part:
Now see: [Ḫattušili], who among the king’s sons was called to the kingship, may his brothers, his sisters, his [kinsmen], and all the population of Ḫattuša recognize him and, as king, show him respect. And if anyone among his brothers or sisters does not show him respect, let him veil his head from Ḫattušili. May he who is his enemy be banished![4]
Michael Astour, who devised an extreme compression of the generations of Hittite monarchs,[5] dismissed Ḫattušili II as "the most phantomatic" "of all the dubious Hittite kings."[6] Astour provides a useful overview of the various attempts at placing Ḫattušili II within the chronological and genealogical sequence of Hittite kings up to 1989, concluding that he "is an extraordinarily elusive character" and should be discarded.[7] While many of Astour’s conclusions are not accepted, this, and his identification of Tudḫaliya I and Tudḫaliya II as a single king, have remained very influential in historiography.[8]
Reading the historical introduction to the treaty between Muršili II and Talmi-Šarruma at face value, it would confirm the existence of a Ḫattušili II, reigning sometime between Tudḫaliya I and Šuppiluliuma I.[9] However, it has been argued that the reference to the interactions between this Ḫattušili and Aleppo in the text is in a non-chronological position, and functions as a flashback to Ḫattušili I, who defeated Aleppo in the early 16th century BC.[10] The demonstration that there are references to Ḫanigalbat, Aštata, and Nuḫḫaši sufficiently early to allow the geopolitical context described in the treaty to date to the time of Ḫattušili I,[11] is offset by the apparent natural flow of the narrative and the incompatibility between the roles of the ostensibly two Ḫattušilis in it.[12]
Possibly extraneous concerns have also influenced the acceptance or rejection of Ḫattušili II: his least problematic placement separates Tudḫaliya I from Tudḫaliya II, whom many scholars identify with each other,[13] or, assuming a single Tudḫaliya I/II, it is difficult to find place for a Ḫattušili II after him, given the apparently immediate and uninterrupted succession of subsequent kings.[14] The placement of Ḫattušili II, if he existed, has also been bedeviled by the debate of whether he should be identified as a great-grandfather (father of Šuppiluliuma I) or more distant ancestor in the genealogy of Ḫattušili III, or not at all.[15] Astour cited the discovery of seal impressions naming Šuppiluliuma I as the son of Tudḫaliya III as final proof of the non-existence of Ḫattušili II,[16] but this would only preclude the insertion of Ḫattušili II at this specific point in the chronological and genealogical sequence of monarchs. Moreover, recent studies indicate that Šuppiluliuma was actually the son-in-law and perhaps adopted son of Tudḫaliya III,[17] although that does not necessarily have any bearing on the existence and placement of Ḫattušili II.[18]
The seeming absence of Ḫattušili II from the surviving lists of offerings to Hittite royals,[19] has been addressed by Carruba and Freu, who not only note the jumbled and non-comprehensive nature of the lists, but also the possibility that Ḫattušili II might appear in them under a Hurrian name, PU-Šarruma, as the son of a Tudḫaliya.[20] The Middle Hittite character of the text apparently relating the appointment of a Ḫattušili as heir to the throne, is likewise considered suggestive for the existence of Ḫattušili II.[21]
Assuming and defending the existence of Ḫattušili II, Freu places him as the son of Tudḫaliya I and father of Tudḫaliya II.[22] Given the scarcity of evidence and the reference to Tudḫaliya II succeeding to his father’s throne at an early age, Freu posits a short reign, which he defines approximately as 1440–1425 BC.[23] This reign corresponded to a recession in the Egyptian involvement in northern Syria, allowing for Ḫattušili II’s intervention in the affairs of Aleppo, Aštata, and Nuḫḫaši, and possibly amicable relations with Egypt.[24]
In terms of family relations, Freu suggests that Ḫattušili II was the son of Tudḫaliya I by possibly Kattešḫapi,[25] the husband of a queen named Ašmu-Ḫeba,[26] and the father of Tudḫaliya II and his sister Ziplantawiya.[27]