Arnuwanda II
Encyclopedia
Arnuwanda II was a king of the Hittite Empire (new kingdom) ca. 1322–1321 BC (short chronology). He succeeded his father Suppiluliuma I
Suppiluliuma I
Suppiluliuma I was king of the Hittites . He achieved fame as a great warrior and statesman, successfully challenging the then-dominant Egyptian empire for control of the lands between the Mediterranean and the Euphrates....

, who succumbed to the plague which Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

ian captives from his Canaan
Canaan
Canaan is a historical region roughly corresponding to modern-day Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, and the western parts of Jordan...

 campaign had brought with them to the Hittite heartland.

Biography

Later Hittite documents reveal that Arnuwanda had also caught this plague. His younger brother Mursili
Mursili II
Mursili II was a king of the Hittite Empire ca. 1321–1295 BC .-Family:Mursili II was the younger son of Suppiluliuma I, one of the most powerful rulers of the Hittite Empire...

 helped him with Hatti's ongoing struggles against the Kaska and Arzawa
Arzawa
Arzawa in the second half of the second millennium BC was the name of a region and a political entity in Western Anatolia, the core area of which was centered on the Hermos and Maeander river valleys, corresponding with the Late Bronze Age kingdoms of the...

 lands. In one such event, the brothers wrote to Karkiya that they provide asylum to Manapa-Tarhunta
Manapa-Tarhunta
Manapa-Tarhunta was a king in western Anatolia during the Late Bronze Age. Manapa-Tarhunta is known through the archives of the kings of Hattusas.He was a younger son of King Muwa-Walwis of the Seha River Land, born ca. the 1330s BC....

 of Seha River, who had been ousted in a coup. As a result, Manapa-Tarhunta was able to return to Seha River as its leader. (Unfortunately Manapa-Tarhunta proved faithless anyway a few years later.)

Arnuwanda eventually died of the plague and was succeeded by his brother Mursili. While Arnuwanda had long been groomed by Suppiluliuma I
Suppiluliuma I
Suppiluliuma I was king of the Hittites . He achieved fame as a great warrior and statesman, successfully challenging the then-dominant Egyptian empire for control of the lands between the Mediterranean and the Euphrates....

, to be the latter's successor and was respected by Hatti's enemies, Mursili is stated in the Hittite records to be relatively young and inexperienced upon his unexpected accession to the throne.

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