Eclipse of the Muršilis

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The solar eclipse of 1340
The solar eclipse of 1335
The solar eclipse of 1312
the solar eclipse of 1308

A solar eclipse , which is probably mentioned in a prayer ( KUB 14.4 = CTH 70 ) of the Hittite great king Muršili II , could be of great importance for the absolute chronology of the Hittite Empire within the chronology of the Ancient Orient . The text reports that in the tenth year of the Muršili reign "the sun gave a sign" ( istanus sakiyahta ), just as the king was about to start a campaign against the Azzi - Hajasa in northeastern Anatolia.

"[ Ma-a-an I-NA KUR A ] zi-ma i-ia-ah-at nu d UTU -us sa-ki-ya-ah-ta "

"[When] I moved [to country A] zzi, the sun god gave a sign."

- KUB 14.4, line 24

Muršili interpreted the celestial apparition as a warning against intrigues of his stepmother and Grand Queen Tawananna against him, whom he accused of various wrongdoings in the same prayer and accused her of killing his first wife (possibly Gaššulawiya ) through witchcraft.

Research history

The passage was first interpreted in 1926 by the ancient orientalist Emil Forrer as the description of a solar eclipse, which this occurred with the afternoon of March 13, 1335 BC. In Anatolia visible annular solar eclipse identified. Albrecht Götze rejected this, as he rejected a meaning of the verb šakijaḫ as "to darken ". Friedrich Cornelius considered Götze's objection to be justified, but did not attach great importance to it, since Götze's translation "Sonnen omen " was to be connected with a solar eclipse, as an event that Muršili - according to his interpretation - went through before the fall of the royal family His stepmother's intrigues should only be explained by a solar eclipse. After he long dated 1335 BC. Following the proposal of Forrer, he later held a total solar eclipse over Anatolia on January 8, 1340 BC. BC, which was already calculated by Paul Viktor Neugebauer , for the solar eclipse Mušilis and therefore dated his accession to the throne to 1350 BC. Today, however, usually the solar eclipse on June 24, 1312 BC. Favored, which was a total in the afternoon over northern Anatolia , since it harmonizes better with the abbreviated Egyptian chronology , especially what the date 1279 BC. As the beginning of the reign of Ramses II . In 1987, Gernot Wilhelm and Johannes Boese proposed the alternative date April 13, 1308 BC. BC at which a partial solar eclipse was visible. The mathematical statistician Peter J. Huber, on the other hand, favors the date January 8, 1340 BC. BC, as well as the solar eclipse on March 13, 1335 BC. Whereas the solar eclipse of June 24, 1312 BC. B.C. falls too late in the year in his opinion.

Chronology of the Ancient Orient and Ancient Egypt

In contrast to Egypt , Babylonia and Assyria, there are no ancient lists of kings with lengths of government of the respective rulers for the Hittite Empire . There is also a lack of documents - in contrast to Egypt in particular - from which z. B. shows in which year of a ruler an event took place or a building was inaugurated. The annals of Hittite rulers are an exception , of which only a few have survived, including those of Mursili II, who are largely known. Therefore the Hittite chronology is fraught with great uncertainties. Although there are some synchronisms with Egypt or Assyria, especially from the second quarter of the 13th century, there are no fixed points for the Hittite Empire for the 14th and early 13th centuries. For this reason a dating of the presumed solar eclipse observed in the 10th year of Muršilis II would have an important meaning.

Dahamunzu affair

Another fixed point in the second half of the 14th century could be a letter from an Egyptian pharaoh widow to Muršili's father Šuppiluliuma I , with whom the so-called Dahamunzu affair began. This reached Šuppiluliuma when he besieged the city of Karkemiš . In the letter, the king's widow asked a Hittite prince as a spouse, since she was childless and therefore there was no male heir to the throne. The marriage would have made the Hittite prince ruler of Egypt. Šuppiluliuma was suspicious of this surprising offer and only after a request and a second letter from the widow did he send his son, Prince Zazzana, to Egypt the next year , who, however, died there under unexplained circumstances. Since Suppiluliuma assumed an assassination at the Egyptian court, he started a campaign of revenge against Egypt. With prisoners of war who were deported to Anatolia, the plague apparently reached the Hittite Empire, which raged there for many years (see also plague prayers Muršilis II. ), And which Šuppiluliuma I also fell victim to. The Hittite name spellings are, however, imprecise, so that it is not clear which deceased Pharaoh is meant and who his widow was. "Dahamunzu" is the Hittite rendering of ta-hemet-nesu = "the king's wife", a title that may have been misinterpreted as a personal name. The name of the deceased Pharaoh appears in Hittite sources as Nibḫuria . For historical and philological considerations, he is mostly equated with Akhenaten (died around 1334 BC, throne name: Nfr-ḫprw-Rˁ) or Tutankhamun (died around 1323, throne name Nb-ḫprw-Rˁ). Dating the solar eclipse that Muršili observed in his 10th year of reign could clarify this question as well.

Today's classification of the proposed solar eclipses

While earlier research mainly focused on the solar eclipses of 1340 and 1335 BC. Were represented as the trigger for the omen of the sun at the time of Muršili, today the solar eclipse of 1312 BC is represented. BC, because the solar eclipses in the 1330s, after the Egyptian chronology of the New Kingdom has since been shortened, no longer coincides with the accession of Ramses II to the throne in 1279 BC, supported by astronomical data . Are compatible. This would also result in unrealistically long reigns for some (vassal) rulers of the Hittite Empire, e.g. B. for Kupanta-Kurunta , who was installed as a vassal king of Mira in the 12th year of the reign of Muršili and still around 1259 BC. BC (according to current Egyptian chronology) is certainly attested as King of Mira through an exchange of letters with Ramses II. Therefore, the solar eclipses of the 1330s are not discussed in detail below. However, there is also with regard to the solar eclipse of 1312 BC, which is preferred in research today. No consensus yet.

The solar eclipse of 1312 BC Chr.

The solar eclipse of 1312 BC BC was visible over northern Anatolia in the early afternoon of June 24th, and its effect would have been very spectacular for Muršili and his troops who were on a campaign against Azzi (in northeastern Anatolia):

June 24, 1312 BC, total solar eclipse, maximum at 10:44 CET, 38 ° 12 ′ 0 ″  N , 13 ° 42 ′ 0 ″  E ( Sicily )

The date 1312 BC. BC for the solar eclipse would show that Muršili II. 1322 or 1321 BC. BC ascended the throne. This would be close to the year of Tutankhamun's death , usually 1323 BC. Is set. Šuppiluliuma I would have died around the same time or only a little later, as his older son Arnuwanda II , who only ruled for a very short time, and only afterwards Mursili II ascended the throne of the Hittite Empire. The equation of Tutankhamun's widow with Dahamunzu would then be impossible, since there would be too many events between the first letter of the pharaoh's widow and the death of Suppiluliuma. Accordingly, a widow of Akhenaten, possibly also Semenchkares , would be equated with Dahamunzu. Peter J. Huber points out, however, that the solar eclipse occurred relatively late in the year, too late to mobilize the troops for a campaign against Azzi, which is why he rejects this date.

The solar eclipse of 1308 BC Chr.

The solar eclipse in 1308 BC Was partial and started very early in the morning over Arabia . It was only penumbral over Anatolia and Syria . It reached its climax over Central Asia ( Xinjiang ):

April 13, 1308 BC, annular solar eclipse (94.8%), maximum at 04:16 CET, 44 ° 54 ′ 0 ″  N , 85 ° 42 ′ 0 ″  E ( Tian Shan )

This equation of the observation of Mursili would offer more time for the assumption that the deceased Pharaoh, whose widow Suppiluliuma asked for one of his sons, was Tutankhamun. The beginning of the reign of Muršili II would not be until 1318/17 BC. To apply. Although the solar eclipse of 1312 BC is mostly mentioned in more recent publications. BC preferred and accordingly the accession to the throne in 1322/21 BC. B.C., but some publications also use it in 1318 B.C. Chr. However, the solar eclipse over Anatolia was only visible at sunrise in the early morning. Recent studies have shown that it should not have been visible over Anatolia.

Remarks

  1. ↑ see also Theo PJ Van Den Hout: The Purity of Kingship: An Edition of CTH 569 and Related Hittite Oracle Inquiries of Tutẖaliya. Brill, Leiden-Boston-Berlin 1998, p. 42f.
  2. ^ Emil Forrer: Research 2.1 "Astronomical definition of Soppiluljomas, Morsilis and Amenophis IV." Self-published, Berlin 1926, pp. 1–37, especially pp. 5–11.
  3. ↑ On this dispute s. Emil Forrer: Šakija (ḫ) = "darken"! In: Kleinasiatische Forschungen I , 1930, pp. 273–83; Albrecht Götze: Again šakiiaḫ (ḫ). In: Kleinasiatische Forschungen I , 1930, pp. 401-13. (Both quoted from Huber 2001, p. 644)
  4. ↑ Friedrich Cormelius: History of the Hittites. Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 1973, p. 193, especially note 54.
  5. ↑ see e.g. B. Friedrich Cornelius: The chronology of the Middle East in the 2nd millennium BC Chr. In: Archive for Orient Research Volume 17, 1954–1956, p. 309.
  6. ↑ Peter Viktor Neugebauer: Special canon of solar eclipses for the Middle East and Egypt. Astronomical treatise Erg.-Heft VIII, 4, 1931 (probably erroneously cited by Cornelius as "O. Neugebauer").
  7. ↑ Friedrich Cormelius: History of the Hittites. Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 1973, p. 193, especially note 54.
  8. ^ First by Edward Frank Wente , Charles C. Van Siclen: A Chronologie of the New Kingdom. In: Janet H. Johnson, Edward f. Wente (Ed.): Studies in Honor of George R. Hughes. Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization 39, Chicago 197, pp. 277f. suggested
  9. ↑ Klaas R. Veenhof : History of the Ancient Orient up to the time of Alexander the Great. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2001, p. 47f., 141, timetable p. 314.
  10. ↑ Gernot Wilhelm - Johannes Boese: Absolute Chronology and the Hittite History of the 15th and 14th centuries BC Chr. In: Paul Åström (Ed.): High, Middle or Low 1. Gotheburg 1987, p. 107 f.
  11. ↑ Peter J. Huber: The Solar Omen of Muršili II. Journal of the American Oriental Society Volume 121/4, pp. 640-644.
  12. ↑ CTH 166 - Elmar Edel : The Egyptian-Hittite correspondence from Boghazköy in Babylonian and Hittite language. Volume 1, Opladen 1977, pp. 74-77
  13. ^ Gernot Wilhelm: Šuppiluliuma I. and the chronology of the Amarna time. in: Rolf Hachmann (Ed.): Kāmid el-Lōz 20. The cuneiform letters and the horizon of El-Amarna (Saarbrücker Contributions to Alter-tumskunde 87). Bonn 2012, p. 256, note 97
  14. ↑ Peter J. Huber: The Solar Omen of Muršili II, Journal of the American Oriental Society 121, No. 4, October - December 2001, pp. 640, 644.
  15. ↑ z. B. Frank Starke : Ḫattusa. In: DNP Volume 5, Col. 191f. (Chronology table).
  16. ^ Gernot Wilhelm: Muršili's conflict with Egypt and Haremhab's accession to the throne. WdO 39, 2009, p. 114, note 34.

literature

  • Gernot Wilhelm - Johannes Boese: Absolute chronology and the Hittite history of the 15th and 14th centuries BC Chr. In: Paul Åström (Ed.): High, Middle or Low 1. Gotheburg 1987, pp. 74–117
  • Peter J. Huber : The Solar Omen of Muršili II, Journal of the American Oriental Society 121, No. 4, October - December 2001, pp. 640–644.
  • Gernot Wilhelm: Muršili's conflict with Egypt and Haremhab's accession to the throne. WdO 39, 2009, pp. 118-126.
  • Elena Devecchi - Jared Miller : Hittite-Egyptian Synchronisms and their Consequences for Ancient Near Eastern Chronology. In: Jana Mynářová (Ed.): Egypt and the Near East - The Crossroad. Proceedings of an International Conference on the Relations of Egypt and the Near East in the Bronze Age. Prague, September 1-3, 2010. Prague 2011, pp. 139-176.

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