List of Hittite kings

Tudḫaliya IV of the New Kingdom, r. c. 1245–1215 BC.[1]

The dating and sequence of Hittite kings is compiled by scholars from fragmentary records, supplemented by the finds in Ḫattuša and other administrative centers of cuneiform tablets and more than 3,500 seal impressions providing the names, titles, and sometimes ancestry of Hittite kings and officials. Given the nature of the source evidence, reconstructions vary among scholars, and the dating or even existence, relationships and sequence of some kings is disputed at several point within Hittite history. The list below indicates instances of such debates, with references.

All dates in the list below should be considered approximate. Hittite Chronology is almost completely dependent on synchronisms with other ancient Near Eastern countries.[2] Such synchronisms are few and usually open to interpretation. Muršili I is believed to have overthrown Samsu-ditāna, the last king of the Amorite dynasty of Babylon, but the dating of this event varies widely across chronological schemes based on interpretations of the records of observation of Venus during the reign of Samsu-ditāna's predecessor. These have resulted in several chronologies for Mesopotamia. In reference to the capture of Babylon by Muršili I, these are High (1651 BC), Middle (1595 BC), Low (1531 BC), and Ultra-Low (1499 BC),[3] with additional variants such as the lower Middle Chronology (1587 BC).[4] The distinction between these Mesopotamian chronological models disappears in the Late Bronze Age. Egyptian chronology is also subject to variant interpretations, resulting in three leading options, High (1304 BC), Middle (1290 BC), and Low (1279 BC), for the accession of Ramesses II, the contemporary of the Hittite kings Muwatalli II and Ḫattušili III.[5] Assuming the preferred Low Chronology for Egypt, Ramesses II fought Muwatalli II at Kadesh in 1274 BC (Year 5), concluded a peace treaty with Ḫattušili III in 1259 BC (Year 21), and married the latter's daughter Maathorneferure in 1246 BC (Year 34).[6]

On the Hittite side there are very few precise indicators. The "Apology" of Ḫattušili III indicates that his nephew and predecessor Muršili III reigned for 7 years.[7] A text of Muršili II records an omen of the sun at the beginning of the campaign season against Azzi-Ḫayaša, in Year 9 or 10 of the reign. It is often considered to have been a solar eclipse, with current scholarly opinion divided between one on 24 June 1312 BC (which was visible from central Anatolia but seemingly late in the year, apparently adopted in the chronologies of Amélie Kuhrt and Trevor Bryce) and one on 13 April 1308 BC (which was earlier in the year but marginally visible, from eastern Anatolia, apparently adopted in the chronology of Jacques Freu).[8]

The lists below use variations of the Mesopotamian Middle Chronology, the most generally accepted chronology of the Ancient Near East and the chronology that accords best with Hittite evidence.[9] The variants represented below derive from three comprehensive reconstructions of the chronological sequence of rulers, by Amélie Kuhrt (1995), Trevor Bryce (2005), and Jacques Freu (2007). All regnal dates remain approximations.

  1. ^ Kuhrt, Amélie (2020). The Ancient Near East: c.3000–330 BC, Volume One. Routledge. p. 230. ISBN 978-1-136-75548-4.
  2. ^ Kuhrt 1995: 229-231; Bryce 2005: 376-382.
  3. ^ Bryce 2005: 378.
  4. ^ De Jong & Foertmeyer 2010; for an overview vis-à-vis recent scientific dating, see Höglmayer & Manning 2022.
  5. ^ Kuhrt 1995: 205.
  6. ^ Bryce 2005: 234, 277, 282.
  7. ^ Bryce 2005: 261.
  8. ^ Beckman 2000: 22 in favor of 1312 BC; Huber 2001: 640-644 prefers an earlier eclipse in 1340 BC on purely astronomical grounds; Wilhelm 2004: 74, 76 considers both 1312 BC and 1308 BC; Gautschy 2017 considers the eclipse in 1308 BC both possible and preferable.
  9. ^ Steadman, Sharon R.; McMahon, Gregory (2011). The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Anatolia. Oxford University Press. p. 598. ISBN 978-0-19-970447-7.