Suppiluliuma II, the son of Tudhaliya IV, was the last known king of the New Kingdom of the Hittite Empire, ruling c. 1207–1178 BC (short chronology), contemporary with Tukulti-Ninurta I of Assyria.
In 1210 BC, a fleet under his command defeated one manned by the Cypriots, the first recorded naval battle in history. According to some historians (Claude Schaeffer, Horst Nowacki, Wolfgang Lefèvre), this and following two victories against Cypriots were probably won by using Ugartic ships.
He is known from two inscriptions in Hieroglyphic Luwian. They record wars against former vassal Tarhuntassa, and against Alasiya in Cyprus. One inscription is found at the base of Nisantepe in the Upper City of Hattusa; the other is on the northern corner of the East Pond (Pond 1), in what is known as Chamber 2. This served as a water reservoir for Hattusa.
The chamber 2 reliefs are historically important since it records major political instability which plagued Hatti during Suppiluliuma's reign. It states that this ruler sacked the city of Tarhutassa which was a Hittite city and had briefly served as the Empire's political capital under the reign of Muwatalli II.
The Hittite kingdom was ultimately destroyed by the invading Sea Peoples and Kaskians in the late 1170s BCE. Based on records in Ugarit, the threat originated in the west, and the Hittite king asked for assistance from Ugarit.
Ammurapi, an ally of Suppululiuma II and the last king of Ugarit, wrote a letter outlining the threat posed by the invading Sea Peoples and pleaded for help from Eshuwara, the ruler of Alasiya (Cyprus):