Tudḫaliya I (sometimes considered identical with Tudḫaliya II and called Tudḫaliya I/II ^{[1] [2]}) was a Hittite great king in the 15th century BC, ruling perhaps c. 1465–c. 1440 BC ^[3]

The numbering of Hittite kings named Tudḫaliya (Hittite: 𒌅𒌓𒄩𒇷𒅀 Tūdḫaliya) varies between scholars because of debate over the identity (or not) between the first two bearers of the name. This Tudḫaliya, now attested as the son of a certain Kantuzzili, succeeded Muwatalli I, after the latter was murdered by the officials Ḫimuili and Kantuzzili (not necessarily identical to Tudḫaliya's father).^[4] The same or a distinct Tudḫaliya was the father-in-law and predecessor of Arnuwanda I.^[5] Because of uncertainty, scholars are divided in the interpretation of the evidence. Many scholars envision a single Tudḫaliya (I ^[6] or I/II ^[7]), while others consider two separate kings, Tudḫaliya I and Tudḫaliya II.^[8]

The rationale for maintaining a distinction between the two is presented by Jacques Freu, who notes, inter alia, that Tudḫaliya I was the son of the non-reigning Kantuzzili, while Tudḫaliya II writes that he ascended the throne as a youth after his father's death;^[9] similarly, his sister Ziplantawiya was the daughter of a king.^[10] Additionally, Freu posits that the Šunaššura Treaty between the Hittite Kingdom and Kizzuwatna reflects successive equal and unequal treaty arrangements under two different sets of kings on both sides,^[11] discerns three Tudḫaliyas as predecessors of Muršili II on his "cruciform seal," ^[12] and argues that the Tudḫaliyas who engaged in repeated military action in Syria and in western Anatolia should be distinguished from each other to avoid an overly long reign.^[13]

The treatment below tentatively follows Freu's distinction of two 15th-century BC Hittite great kings named Tudḫaliya.

Tudḫaliya I was the son of a certain Kantuzzili, who is not known to have reigned or to have descended from an earlier Hittite monarch.^[14] Most scholars readily assume that this Kantuzzili was identical to the Commander of the Golden Squires Kantuzzili, who (together with his apparent brother, the Chief Cupbearer Ḫimuili) murdered the preceding king, Muwatalli I, and also with the general Kantuzzili, who assisted Tudḫaliya I in repelling a Hurrian invasion in support of Muwatalli's Commander of the Guard Muwa.^[15] On the other hand, Jacques Freu opposes the identification of Tudḫaliya's father Kantuzilli with the regicide Kantuzilli on the grounds of consistent contextual incompatibility between their attestations in the sources, but allows for the possibility that he is identical to the general who fought the Hurrians.^[16] Prior to the publication of the seal impression naming Kantuzilli as Tudḫaliya's father, Stefano De Martino suggested that the regicides Ḫimuili and Kantuzzili were Tudḫaliya's sons, who had placed their father on the throne.^[17] Onofrio Carruba and Freu propose that Tudḫaliya's mother was Walanni, attested in the royal offerings lists, and who might have been a daughter of the earlier king Zidanta II.^[18] It is also sometimes conjectured that Tudḫaliya was a grandson of the earlier king Ḫuzziya.^[19] Freu suggested that Tudḫaliya I was married to the obscure great queen Kattešḫapi attested at about this time,^[20] and was the father of a short-lived Ḫattušili II and the grandfather of Tudḫaliya II.^[21]

If Tudḫaliya I and Tudḫaliya II were one and the same individual, his queen would have been Nikkal-mati, his daughter Ašmu-Nikkal, and his son-in-law and successor, Arnuwanda I.

Tudḫaliya I ascended the throne on the murder of his predecessor Muwatalli I, possibly in c. 1465 BC. Tudḫaliya appears to have pardoned and purified the regicides, the brothers Ḫimuili and Kantuzzili, although their relation to him remains obscure.^[22] Muwattali's Commander of the Guard, Muwa, may have murdered a queen in retribution, and then attempted to stage a revolution with the help of Hurrians led by Kartašura. King Tudḫaliya and his general Kantuzzili (the regicide? the king's father?) defeated the enemy.^[23]

Having secured his eastern flank, Tudḫaliya I apparently decided to assert himself in the south. According to Freu's reconstruction of the evidence, he was responsible for the earlier, equal treaty between a Hittite king and Šunaššura I of Kizzuwatna, which allowed the king of Kizzuwatna full freedom to support the Hittite king against his enemies or remain neutral; the Hittites's primary objective at this point might have been securing unimpeded passage into Syria.^[24] Partly on the basis of the Middle Hittite language of the text, Freu argues that during the subsequent southern assertion of Hittite power, the Hittite king concluded the so-called Kuruštama Treaty with Egypt, whose king at that time, Thutmose III (1479–1425 BC) had been active in northern Syria and at one time reached the Euphrates.^[25] Additionally, Freu believes that Tudḫaliya concluded unequal treaties with the petty rulers of Alalaḫ/Mukiš, Emar/Aštata, and Nuhašše, all now lost or very fragmentary, as in the case of his treaty with Tunip on the Orontes.^[26] A much later source, the treaty between the Hittite great king Muršili II and his nephew, Talmi-Šarruma of Aleppo, related Tudḫaliya's conclusion of a treaty with Aleppo. When Aleppo abandoned its alliance with Tudḫaliya in favor of Mittani, Tudḫaliya defeated Aleppo and its Mittanian allies and destroyed the city.^[27]

If Tudḫaliya I and Tudḫaliya II were one and the same individual, the wars of Tudḫaliya II in western and northern Anatolia would also pertain to this reign. See Tudḫaliya II.

A number of modern biblical scholars believe that either Tudhaliya I, or the proto-Hittite Tudhaliya, was the same individual as Tidal, king of Nations, who is mentioned in the Book of Genesis as having joined Chedorlaomer in attacking rebels in Canaan.^[28]

• Beckman, Gary (1996), Hittite Diplomatic Texts, Atlanta.
• Beckman, Gary (2000), "Hittite Chronology," Akkadica 119-120 (2000) 19-32.
• Bryce, Trevor (2005), The Kingdom of the Hittites, Oxford.
• Carruba, Onofrio (2005), "Tuthalija 00I.* (und Hattusili II.)," Altorientalische Forschungen 32 (2005) 246-271.
• De Martino, Stefano (1991) "Himuili, Kantuzzili e la presa del potere da parte di Tuthaliya," Eothen 4 (1991) 5-21.
• Freu, Jacques, and Michel Mazoyer (2007a), Des origins à la fin de l’ancien royaume hittite, Paris.
• Freu, Jacques, and Michel Mazoyer (2007b), Les débuts du nouvel empire hittite, Paris.
• Klengel, Horst (1999), Geschichte des Hethitischen Reiches, Leiden.
• Kuhrt, Amélie (1995), The Ancient Near East c. 3000–330 BC, vol. 1., London.
• Otten, Heinrich (2000), "Ein Siegelabdruck Dutḫalijaš I.(?)," Archäologischer Anzeiger 2000: 375-376.
• Weeden, Mark (2022), "The Hittite Empire," in Karen Radner et al. (eds.), The Oxford History of the Ancient Near East, vol. 3 (From the * Hyksos to the Late Second Millennium BC), Oxford: 529-622.
• Wilhelm, Gernot (2004), "Generation Count in Hittite Chronology," in Herman Hunger and Regine Pruzsinszky, eds., Mesopotamian Dark Age Revisited, Vienna, 71-79.

• Reign of Tudhaliya I (listed as Tudhaliya II at this link)