From Hattusa With Love Trivia Quiz

Answer: Hattusili I

The early history of the Hittites is a little foggy, partly because they were not yet the busy record keepers they later became. Still, most historians credit Hattusili I with transforming a loose regional power into what we now call the Old Hittite Kingdom sometime around the 17th century BCE. One of his most important moves was shifting the royal seat to Hattusa, a heavily fortified city in central Anatolia. Once he set up shop there, Hattusa became the political heart of the Hittite world for centuries. Good choice too - hills, walls, and a nice defensive layout. Good real estate. Intimidating to would-be enemies.

Hattusili I didn't hang out too much behind walls though, preferring a more active outdoor lifestyle, ideally one that meant killing enemies and gaining territory. Military campaigns pushed south into Syria and across much of Anatolia. These expeditions set the stage for more boundary-pushing expansion by future kings.

Hattusa itself grew into a sprawling capital filled with temples, archives, gates decorated with giant stone lions, and archaeologists are still sifting through all the leftover clay tablets. The city was abandoned and rebuilt more than once, but thanks to Hattusili I's decision to base his kingdom there, it became one of the most important capitals of the Near East during the Bronze Age. Well done, Hattusili.

Answer: He sacked the city of Babylon

Mursili I pulled off one of the most stunning bad-boy moves in the ancient world with a smash-and-grab operation directed squarely at Babylon. Yes, that Babylon. The big one.

Around 1595 BCE, he marched a Hittite army all the way from central Anatolia down into Mesopotamia and sacked the city. At the time it was the capital of a powerful kingdom founded by Hammurabi's dynasty, and it wasn't exactly next door. The expedition took place over hundreds of miles through hostile territory, which makes historians suspect the campaign had been planned with more than the typical ancient warfare strategy of yelling a lot and waving bronze weapons. This one smells very well planned indeed.

The Hittites did not stick around to rule Babylon, largely because it was too far from Anatolia. Instead, they cleaned the enemy blood off their clothes (a little seltzer water will take care of that), packed up, and headed back home.

That power vacuum helped bring the First Babylonian Dynasty to an end. Not long afterward, the Kassites moved in and eventually took control of the region.
With great battle success in Babylon under his belt, Mursili I returned home and was promptly assassinated by Hantili I, his brother-in-law.

Don't be Mursili. Never trust your in-laws.

Answer: He established clear rules of royal succession

By the time Telepinu came to the Hittite throne in the mid-16th century BCE, the royal family had developed a bad habit of solving political squabbles with daggers. Habits can be hard to break, especially when they bring so much joy.

Kings were being assassinated, relatives were staging coups, and the throne of Hattusa had become the most dangerous chair in the Near East. Telepinu's big idea was simple but surprisingly modern. "Let's write down rules for who gets to be king," he thought with great wisdom. His edict laid out a formal order of succession within the royal family and tried to prevent ambitious nobles from "helping" the process along.

The so-called Edict of Telepinu is one of the most important Hittite documents we have, if clay tablets count as "documents". Besides setting succession rules, it also reads a bit like a history lesson by a frustrated teacher. Telepinu actually lists earlier kings and describes the cycle of violence that followed them. Between the lines, you can pretty much hear the words of one ticked-off Hittite king. The message is basically, "Hey! Look what happened when we ignored orderly succession... maybe we could stop doing that."

Did it completely fix the problem? Well, no. Power-mad murderers aren't extremely deterred by memos. Still, the edict did help stabilize the kingdom and historians go wild over it for giving them an earnest look at early Hittite politics.

Answer: He defeated the Mitanni kingdom

When Suppiluliuma I came to power, he looked at the map of the Near East and said to himself, "Yeah, this needs a little work." During the 14th century BCE, he launched a series of campaigns that crushed the Mitanni kingdom, which had previously dominated northern Syria and parts of northern Mesopotamia. He defeated the Mitanni forces, installed friendly rulers in several key cities, and expanded Hittite influence across the region. Go, Suppiluliuma!

His victories had a domino effect. Syrian city-states that had once paid tribute to Mitanni suddenly found themselves under Hittite authority instead. This shift brought the Hittites into direct rivalry with Egypt, which also claimed influence in Syria. Suppiluliuma's campaigns therefore helped turn the Hittite Kingdom into one of the great powers of the Late Bronze Age, standing alongside Egypt, Assyria, and Babylonia.

And that whole thing with Egypt? We're just getting started.

Answer: He was killed on the journey to Egypt

Secret letters, a royal marriage proposal, a suspicious death, and an angry king with a very large army. Welcome to the weird story of the Hittite Prince who dreamed of becoming an Egyptian pharaoh.

So, after the death of the Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun (yes, that one) around 1323 BCE, his widow Ankhesenamun (Dakhamunzu to the Hittites) sent a message to King Suppiluliuma I with an interesting request. She claimed she had no suitable heir and asked him to send one of his sons to marry her and rule Egypt. A foreign prince becoming pharaoh? Suppiluliuma suspected something was up.

There's nothing quite like having some time to think to help you make the totally wrong decision. Yep, he decided the offer might be genuine and sent his son Zannanza south toward Egypt. Well, he never made it. Hittite sources report that the prince was killed during the journey, almost certainly as the result of a political plot. Egypt at the time was full of powerful figures who probably had zero interest in seeing a Hittite prince suddenly show up and claim the throne.

To say Suppiluliuma was a bit perturbed when the news reached him might be a tad understated. His son's death led to renewed conflict between the Hittites and Egypt, particularly in Syria.

Answer: Muwatalli II

The Battle of Kadesh in 1274 BCE is one of the most famous showdowns of the Bronze Age. In this corner, wearing the blue khepresh, the Anubis of Agony, the Pharaoh of Fiendishness, Ramesses! In the other corner, wearing the long robe with the cloak wrapped around it (because that's all the author can find about the attire of Hittite kings), it's the Hurricane of Hatti, your Hittite King, Muwatalliiiiiiii!

Ahem.

The battle took place near the city of Kadesh in modern-day Syria. It was a strategic location that both Egypt and the Hittite Empire had their eyes on. Muwatalli had gathered a large coalition army that included troops from across his empire and allied regions. He also brought one of the largest chariot forces ever assembled during the Bronze Age.

Ramesses II later described the battle in melodramatic inscriptions carved all over temple walls across Egypt. According to his version, he heroically fought off the overwhelming Hittite forces pretty much single-handedly. (The Egyptian Ministry of Propaganda was working hard those days.)

In reality, the battle was more of a big mess, leading to a stalemate.

The Hittites managed to surprise the Egyptian army early on, but neither side gained a decisive victory by the end of the fighting. So, yeah. The battle itself was inconclusive, but good things were on the horizon.

Answer: He moved the capital to Tarhuntassa

Imagine an American president suddenly deciding that Washington DC was nice and all, but the whole country should now run from Booger Hole, West Virginia, which is indeed a real place. You might find that kind of odd.

Well, that's kind of what people thought about Muwatalli II's big decision to move the royal capital away from the city of Hattusa, which had been the political heart of the Hittite state for centuries, and relocated it to Tarhuntassa in southern Anatolia. Packing up the royal court and shifting operations elsewhere was not exactly a minor bureaucratic or administrative tweak. This was part of the Hittite identity.

Historians still don't know exactly why Muwatalli packed up his toys and moved to Tarhuntassa. One theory is that the shift had some strategic purpose. During his reign the Hittite Empire was involved in tough conflicts in Syria, especially with-can you guess?-Egypt. Tarhuntassa was closer to those regions.
Another possibility involves religious changes. Muwatalli seems to have emphasized the storm god Tarhunt, and the new capital's name itself suggests a strong connection to that deity.

We're not totally sure whether the city even existed prior to the capital being moved there. (It's the Bronze Age, folks.) In any event, Hattusa did not disappear, but it lost its central status during Muwatalli's reign. Later rulers eventually restored it as the main capital of the empire.

Answer: He signed a peace treaty with Ramesses II of Egypt

Hattusili III is best known for helping bring an end to the long rivalry between the Hittite Empire and Egypt. Finally! Around 1259 BCE, he concluded a formal peace treaty with the Egyptian pharaoh Ramesses II. Yup, the same one from the Battle of Kadesh, fought during the reign of Hattusili's brother.

After years of fighting and posturing, neither empire had managed to completely dominate Syria, so eventually both sides decided that diplomacy might be cheaper, if not nearly as cool, than endless chariot battles.

The treaty itself is important because it is one of the earliest surviving international peace agreements. Copies of the treaty still exist, preserved in both Hittite cuneiform tablets and Egyptian hieroglyphic inscriptions... where Ramesses is no doubt depicted slaying several dragons and an army of Nubians on the way.

The relationship between the two powers got even chummier after the treaty. To strengthen the alliance, a Hittite princess later married Ramesses II, creating a diplomatic family tie between the former enemies that poor Prince Zannanza never got to know. Today the treaty is so famous that a replica of the Hittite version hangs at the United Nations headquarters in New York, perhaps as a reminder that peace in that whole region isn't unthinkable.

Answer: He left detailed written annals of his reign

The big reason historians know so much about the Hittite king Mursili II is that he left behind an unusually detailed set of written records describing his time as king. These texts are typically called the 'Annals of Mursili II', a salute to those people everywhere who dislike coming up with creative names. The annals systematically document each year's campaigns, political developments, along with rebellions, plagues, and anything else Mursili felt like pressing into a clay tablet.

In one famous set of texts known as the 'Plague Prayers', he pleads with the gods to end an epidemic that hit the Hittite Empire. He openly worries about divine anger and even ponders which past mistakes might have offended the gods.

Answer: Suppiluliuma II

You've been waiting for the Sea Peoples, haven't you? Sure, you have. The mysterious people with the funny name, who may or may not have directly or indirectly caused the Bronze Age collapse. Well, let's talk about Suppiluliuma II.

He holds the rather unenviable title of being the last known king of the Hittite Empire. He ruled in the late 13th and early 12th centuries BCE, right as the entire eastern Mediterranean world was starting to come apart at the seams. The Hittites had been one of the great powers of the Bronze Age for centuries, but by the time Suppiluliuma II was on the throne, the empire was facing mounting pressure from multiple directions. You know the drill: internal instability, economic problems, waves of migration and conflict.

One of the interesting things about Suppiluliuma II is that we still have inscriptions describing some of his military campaigns. He fought naval and coastal battles against Alashiya (likely Cyprus), a region often associated with the wider upheavals associated with the Sea Peoples. Go, Suppiluliuma!

These texts suggest he was still actively trying to defend and stabilize the empire, even as civilizations around him were collapsing. Not long after his reign, the Hittite capital of Hattusa was abandoned and the central government disappeared. Just another Bronze Age kingdom that didn't survive the mysterious and much debated Bronze Age Collapse. Neo-Hittite states would live on in Syria.