SUPPILULIUMA
II
![](Hattusa.king.jpg)
Relief
of Suppiluliuma II in Hattusa
Preceded
by : Arnuwanda
III
Relatives : Nerikkaili (uncle), Hattusili
III (grandfather), Puduhepa (grandmother) and Suppiluliuma II (brother)
Regnal
titles of Suppiluliuma II : King of the Hittites
Suppiluliuma
II, the son of Tudhaliya IV, was the last known king of the New
Kingdom of the Hittite Empire, ruling c. 1207–1178 BC (short
chronology), contemporary with Tukulti-Ninurta I of the Middle Assyrian
Empire.
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, Horst Nowacki, Wolfgang Lefèvre), this
and following two victories against Cypriots were probably won by
using Ugaritic ships.
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 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.
![](Hattusa_reliefs1.jpg)
Chamber
2 built and inscribed by Suppiliuma II at 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.
The
Sea Peoples 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 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.
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 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,
a ruler of Carchemish, would later assume the title of "Great
King" since he was a direct descendant of Suppiluliuma I.
Source
:
https://en.wikipedia.org