Mursili I

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Mursili I
TitleKing of the Hittites
SuccessorHantili I
SpouseKali[1][2]
ParentḪaštayara
RelativesḪarapšili (sister)

Mursili I (also known as Mursilis; sometimes transcribed as Murshili) was a king of the

Hattusili I. His sister was Ḫarapšili and his wife was queen Kali.[4][5]

Accession

Mursili came to the throne as a minor. Having reached adulthood, he renewed

Hattusili I's warfare in northern Syria.[6]

Conquest of Yamhad (Aleppo)

He conquered the kingdom of

Thera eruption decreased the Hittites' harvests.[7]

Sack of Babylon

The raid on Babylon could not have been intended to exercise sovereignty over the region; it was simply too far from

Amorite dynasty of Hammurabi and allowed the Kassites to take power, and so might have arisen from an alliance with the Kassites or an attempt to curry favor with them.[8] It might also be that Mursili undertook the long-distance attack for personal motives, namely as a way to outdo the military exploits of his predecessor, Hattusili I.[9]

Assassination

When Mursili returned to his kingdom, he was assassinated in a conspiracy led by his brother-in-law, Hantili I (who took the throne), and Hantili's son-in-law, Zidanta I.[10] His death inaugurated a period of social unrest and decay of central rule, followed by the loss of the conquests made in Syria.

In popular culture

Mursili I is a playable leader (as the

Latinized form "Mursilis") of the Hittite state in the 2001 video game Civilization III
.

See also

  • History of the Hittites

References

  1. ^ Gojko Barjamović, A Historical Geography of Anatolia in the Old Assyrian Colony Period.
  2. ^ Yoram Cohen, Amir Gilan and Jared L. Miller, Pax Hethitica: Studies on the Hittites and Their Neighbours in Honour of Itamar Singer.
  3. ^ Manning, Sturt W., et al. (2016). "Integrated Tree-Ring-Radiocarbon High-Resolution Timeframe to Resolve Earlier Second Millennium BCE Mesopotamian Chronology", in PLOS ONE, Published: July 13, 2016.
  4. ^ Shoshana R. Bin-Nun, The Tawananna in the Hittite kingdom. Online version.
  5. ^ Margalit Finkelberg, Greeks And Pre-Greeks: Aegean Prehistory And Greek Heroic Tradition.
  6. .
  7. ^ Broad, William J. "It Swallowed a Civilization. " New York Times, D1. 21 October 2003.
  8. ^ Bryce, The Kingdom of the Hittites, 99.
  9. ^ Bryce, "The Kingdom of the Hittites," 99–100.
  10. ^ The Hittites and their World
  • Reign of Mursili I
  • Trevor Bryce, The Kingdom of the Hittites, Oxford: University Press (1998)
Preceded by
Hattusili I
Hittite king

ca. 1620–1590 BC
Succeeded by