Hattusili III

Hattusili
King of Hatti
Reign	c. 1267 – 1237 BCE
Predecessor	Mursili III
Successor	Tudhaliya IV
Consort	Puduhepa Babylonian Princess
Issue	Nerikkaili Tudhaliya IV Maathorneferure Kiluš-Ḫepa Gaššulawiya
Father	Mursili II
Mother	Gassulawiya
Religion	Hittite religion

Hattusili III (Hittite: "from Hattusa") was a king of the Hittite empire (New Kingdom or Late Empire) c. 1267–1237 BC (short chronology timeline).

Hattusili was the fourth and last son of Mursili II. His mother was Queen Gassulawiya and his brother was Muwatalli II.

Hattusili married Puduhepa, a priestess of Ishtar, who later became the Hittite queen.

Mursili appointed Hattusili as a priest of Sausga of Samuha, and Hattusili remained loyal to the Ishtar of Samuha to the end of his days.

His older brother Muwatalli moved his seat in Tarhuntassa and appointed him governor of Hattusa.

Hattusili was a commander of the Hittite forces during the famous Battle of Kadesh against Egypt in 1274 BC. Hattusili reconquered Nerik and became the high priest of its storm god. Hattusili named his eldest son and crown prince Nerikkaili in honor of this achievement.

His nephew Mursili III (or Urhi-Teshub) moved the capital back to Hattusa (KBo 21.15 i 11-12), rendering Hattusili’s governorship redundant. Mursili then deposed him from Nerik, triggering a civil war. Hattusili defeated and exiled his nephew. Hattusili renamed Urhi-Teshup’s sibling Ulmi-Teshup "Kurunta" and appointed Kurunta over Tarhuntassa in his place. After this, Hattusili elevated a junior son Tudhaliya IV as crown prince instead.

Hattusili and the Egyptian pharaoh Ramesses II sealed a written peace treaty based upon Hittite models which, due to Egyptian monumental copies of it, has become the earliest well-known treaty in history, establishing a long-lasting peace between the two rival empires. Ramesses married Hattusili’s daughter, and conferred upon her an Egyptian name, Maathorneferure. Years later he married another Hittite princess.

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