Tahurwaili was a

king King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

of the

Hittites The Hittites () were an Anatolian peoples, Anatolian Proto-Indo-Europeans, Indo-European people who formed one of the first major civilizations of the Bronze Age in West Asia. Possibly originating from beyond the Black Sea, they settled in mo ...

(Middle Kingdom), c. early 15th century BC (

middle chronology The chronology of the ancient Near East is a framework of dates for various events, rulers and dynasties. Historical inscriptions and texts customarily record events in terms of a succession of officials or rulers: "in the year X of king Y". Com ...

) or mid 15th century BC (

short chronology timeline The chronology of the ancient Near East is a framework of dates for various events, rulers and dynasties. Historical inscriptions and texts customarily record events in terms of a succession of officials or rulers: "in the year X of king Y". Com ...

). He was a cousin of the King Telipinu.

Family

As a

first cousin A cousin is a relative who is the child of a parent's sibling; this is more specifically referred to as a first cousin. A parent of a first cousin is an aunt or uncle. More generally, in the lineal kinship, kinship system used in the English-s ...

of Telipinu, must have been the son of one of Ammuna's brothers. This would have made him a direct male descendant of Zidanta I, so that his

royal blood A royal descent is a genealogical line of descent from a past or present monarch. Both geneticists and genealogists have attempted to estimate the percentage of living people with royal descent. From a genetic perspective, the number of unp ...

stemmed ultimately from Zidanta’s

wife A wife (: wives) is a woman in a marital relationship. A woman who has separated from her partner continues to be a wife until their marriage is legally dissolved with a divorce judgment; or until death, depending on the kind of marriage. On t ...

. It was tenuous, but the blood line was carried on.''The Kingdom of the Hittites'' by

Trevor Bryce Trevor Robert Bryce (; born 1940) is an Australian Hittitologist specializing in ancient and classical Near-eastern history. He is semi-retired and lives in Brisbane. His book, ''The Kingdom of the Hittites'', is popular among English-speaki ...

Reign

Tahurwaili is not mentioned in any of many "offering lists",Joost Blastweiler, Kings, Queens and princes of the Hittite Kingdom in the offering lists of the Royal ancestors, in "Anatolia in the Bronze Age", Arnem, NL, 2013 but his existence is confirmed by the seal impressions found in Hattussa.S.R.Bin-Nun. Who was Tahurwaili, the great king? Journal of Cuneiform Studies, vol. 26 No 2 April 1974 The lack of evidence of his reign indicate his reign was short and perhaps omitted from lists of later rulers.

Chronology

He ruled sometime between Telepinu and Zidanta II, but otherwise the placement of his rule in the sequence of kings is uncertain. Often he is put after Aluwamna and even Hantili II, based on the style of his seal (see, for example,

History of the Hittites The Hittites () were an Anatolian Indo-European people who formed one of the first major civilizations of the Bronze Age in West Asia. Possibly originating from beyond the Black Sea, they settled in modern-day Turkey in the early 2nd millen ...

), but such decision is speculative. Since he is mentioned in one of the Telepinu's letters (KUB 26:77) and is supposed to be Telepinu's cousin, it makes sense to assume that he ruled right after Telepinu. Here is the reasoning by Bin-Nun: we know that Aluwamna was exiled by Telepinu, so it would be difficult for him to come to the throne right after Telepinu's death. Therefore, it makes sense to assume that the usurper could come to power for a while. Putting Tahurwaili's reign after Hantili II (son of Aluwamna, who is son-in-law of Telepinu) means moving Tahurwaili at least two generations down the time line.

Treaty with Kizzuwatna

Tahurwaili is assumed to have made a parity treaty with Eheya of Kizzuwatna. Its terms were very similar to a treaty assumed to have been made by Hantili II and Paddatiššu of Kizzuwatna. These kings are usually assumed, because neither of the treaties name of a Hittite king.

References

External links