Abstract
This paper offers a historical reconstruction of the period between the end of Muwatalli II’s reign and the beginning of his successor’s. Such a reconstruction is based on the hypothesis of a coregency between Muwatalli II and Muršili III/Urḫi-Teššub. This version of events, the paper argues, follows from a non-forced interpretation of the text KUB 21.33, a fragment mentioning a number of events of “political” nature independent of one another but are linked to a person called Muršili. This text has been widely discussed by previous scholarship and it is here re-edited and thoroughly examined. The hypothesis of a coregency seems to fit in with the evidence provided by another enigmatic text, KUB 31.66(+), and could also shed some light on the bullae characterized by the so-called Doppelabdrücken from the Nişantepe archive. The main topics discussed are the removal of Šapili, king of Amurru, the lawsuit concerning queen Tanuḫepa, the political relations with Manapa-Tarḫunta, king of Seḫa River Land, and the marriage arrangement concerning Maššanauzzi. Remarks on the hittite kings’ “double name option” and on coregency in hittite history conclude the paper.
© by Akademie Verlag, Berlin, Germany
