Tudḫaliya the Younger

Tudḫaliya the Younger (sometimes designated Tudḫaliya III), possibly also the bearer of the Hurrian name Tulpi-Teššub,^[1] was a son of the Hittite great king Tudḫaliya III (sometimes designated Tudḫaliya II), who was murdered by Šuppiluliuma I in c. 1350 BC.^[2] It is uncertain and perhaps doubtful that Tudḫaliya the Younger reigned as great king of Ḫatti.

The main source of information on Tudḫaliya the Younger are the Plague Prayers of Šuppiluliuma I's son Muršili II:

O gods, [my] lords, a plague broke out in Ḫatti, and Ḫatti has been beaten down by the plague. It [has been] very much [oppressed]. This is the twentieth year. Because Ḫatti is (still) experiencing many deaths, the affair of Tudḫaliya the Younger, son of Tudḫaliya, began to haunt [me]. I inquired of a god through an oracle, [and] the affair of Tudḫaliya the Younger was ascertained by the god (as a source of our suffering). Because Tudḫaliya the Younger was lord of Ḫatti, the princes, the noblemen, the commanders of the thousands, the officers, [the subalterns(?)], and all [the infantry] and chariotry of Ḫattuša swore an oath to him. My father also swore an oath to him.

[But when my father] mistreated Tudḫaliya, all [the princes, the noblemen], the commanders of the thousands, and the officers of Ḫattuša [went over] to my [father]. Although they had sworn an oath (to him), [they seized] Tudḫaliya, and they killed [Tudḫaliya]. Furthermore, they killed those of his brothers [who stood by] him. [...] they sent to Alašiya (Cyprus). [Whatever] was their [...] they [...] in regard to him. [Thus the ...] and the lords transgressed the oath. …

But later you came, O gods, [my lords], and have now taken vengeance on my father for this affair of Tudḫaliya the Younger. My father [died] because of the blood of Tudḫaliya. And the princes, the noblemen, the commanders of the thousands, and the officers who went over [to my father] also died because of [this] affair. This same affair also affected the (entire) land of Ḫatti, and [Ḫatti] began to perish because of [this] affair. And Ḫatti [wasted(?)] away. Now the plague [has become] yet [worse]. Ḫatti has been [very much] oppressed by the plague and has become diminished. I, Muršili, [your servant], cannot [master] the turmoil [of my heart]. I cannot [master] the anguish of my body. …

[Because] my father [killed] this Tudḫaliya, my father therefore later [performed] a ritual of (expiation of) bloodshed. But Ḫattuša did not [perform] anything. etc.^[3]

With the Plague Prayers virtually our only source of information, Tudḫaliya the Younger remains obscure. He might have been underage or at least young and inexperienced at the time of his father's death.^[4] Šuppiluliuma's "crime," the murder of Tudḫaliya III's son and heir-apparent Tudḫaliya the Younger was later identified as the cause of divine wrath and the outbreak of plague by Muršili II. Based on the existence of seal impressions of Šuppiluliuma naming him the son of Tudḫaliya III, scholars have traditionally assumed that Šuppiluluiuma gained the throne by murdering his brother or half-brother Tudḫaliya the Younger.^[5] However, the context seems to exclude a sibling relationship between Tudḫaliya the Younger and Šuppiluliuma, and the discovery of the seal of Šuppiluliuma's first wife Ḫenti, naming her “great queen and daughter of the great king, the hero,” has led to the conclusion that Šuppiluliuma was a son-in-law (and at best adopted son) of Tudḫaliya III and therefore brother-in-law of Tudḫaliya the Younger.^[6] While some scholars have supposed that Tudḫaliya the Younger had become king,^[7] most assume that Tudḫaliya the Younger was eliminated before he could ascend the throne.^[8] Some scholars who identify Tudḫaliya, the son of Kantuzzili, with Tudḫaliya, the father-in-law of Arnuwanda I, renumber the kings and designate Tudḫaliya the Younger, whether they believe he reigned or not, as Tudḫaliya III, which allows them to keep the designation of Tudḫaliya IV for the son of Ḫattušili III (another king with traditional but possibly questionable numbering).^[9]

• History of the Hittites

• Astour, Michael C. (1989), Hittite History and the Absolute Chronology of the Bronze Age, Partille.
• Beckman, Gary (1997), "Plague Prayers of Muršili II (I.60)," in William H. Hallo and K. Lawson Younger Jr., eds., The Context of Scripture, vol. 1, Leiden.
• Beckman, Gary (2000), "Hittite Chronology," Akkadica 119-120 (2000) 19–32.
• Bryce, Trevor (2005), The Kingdom of the Hittites, Oxford.
• Carruba, Onofrio (2005), "Tuthalija 00I.* (und Hattusili II.)," Altorientalische Forschungen 32 (2005) 246-271.
• Freu, Jacques, and Michel Mazoyer (2007b), Les débuts du nouvel empire hittite, Paris.
• Klengel, Horst (1999), Geschichte des Hethitischen Reiches, Leiden.
• Mladjov, Ian (2016), "Ammuna, Ḫuzziya, and Telipinu reconsidered," NABU 2016/1: 21–24. online
• 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.
• Wilhelm, Gernot (2004), "Generation Count in Hittite Chronology," in Herman Hunger and Regine Pruzsinszky, eds., Mesopotamian Dark Age Revisited, Vienna, 71–79.

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