| Hittite Plague/ Hand of Nergal | |
|---|---|
 Map of the Hittite Empire in the late 14th century BC | |
| Disease | Unknown, possibly Tularemia |
| Location | Near East |
| First outbreak | Hattusa or Alashiya |
| First reported | Mid-to-Late 14th century BC |
Territories | Hittite Empire, Alashiya (Cyprus), Levant/Canaan, Anatolia, possibly Egypt |
The Hittite Plague or Hand of Nergal was an epidemic, possibly of tularemia, which occurred in the mid-to-late 14th century BC.
The Hittite Empire stretched from Turkey to Syria. [1] The plague was likely an outbreak of Francisella tularensis which occurred along the Arwad-Euphrates trading route in the 14th century BC. Much of the ancient Near East suffered from outbreaks; however, Egypt and Assyria initiated a quarantine along their border, and they did not experience the epidemic. [2]
Tularemia is a bacterial infection which is still a threat. [1] It is also referred to as "rabbit fever" and it is a zoonotic disease which can easily pass from animals to humans. The most common way that it is spread is through various insects which hop between species, such as ticks. [3] The symptoms of an infection range from skin lesions to respiratory failure. Without treatment the mortality rate is 15% of those infected. [1] According to former microbiologist Siro Trevisanato, "Tularemia is rare in many countries today, but remains a problem in some countries including Bulgaria." [1]
According to author Philip Norrie (How Disease Affected the End of the Bronze Age), there are three diseases most likely to have caused a post-Bronze Age societal collapse: smallpox, bubonic plague and tularemia. The tularemia plague which struck the Hittites could have been spread by insects or infected dirt or plants, through open wounds, or by eating infected animals. [3]
Hittite texts from the mid-14th century BC refer to the plague causing disabilities and death. [1] Hittite King Muršili II wrote prayers seeking relief from the epidemic, which had lasted two decades and killed many of his subjects. The two kings who preceded him, Šuppiluliuma I and Šuppiluliuma's immediate heir, Arnuwanda II, had also succumbed to tularemia. [4] Muršili had ascended to the throne because he was the last surviving son of Šuppiluliuma. [5]
Muršili believed that the plague had been transmitted to the Hittites by Egyptian prisoners who had been paraded through the capital city, Hattusa. There is some evidence suggesting that the Egyptians suffered from tularemia in the years preceding 1322 BC. [4] The Hittites apparently also suspected zoonotic transmission, because they banned the use of donkeys in caravans. [1] Another theory of the plague's origin suggests that it originated with rams that the Hittites had taken as spoils of war, along with other animals, after the Hittites raided Simyra. Soon after the animals were brought into Hittite villages, the tularemia outbreak began. [1]
The plague is mentioned in Amarna letter EA 35, a letter written in Akkadian from the ruler of Alashiya (Cyprus) to the Pharaoh of Egypt during the Amarna Period. [6] It dates from between 1350 and 1325 BC. In it, the plague is specially named as The Hand of Nergal.
The disease was intentionally brought to western Anatolia in what is described as the "first known record of biological warfare". [2] Shortly after the Hittites experienced the outbreak of disease, the Arzawans from western Anatolia believed the Hittites were weakened and attacked them. The Arzawans claimed that rams suddenly appeared (1320 and 1318 BC) and the Arzawans brought them into their villages. It is thought that the Hittites had sent rams diseased with tularemia to infect their enemies. The Arzawans became so weakened by the plague that they failed in their attempt to conquer the Hittites. [1] [3]
The Hittites were an Anatolian Indo-European people who formed one of the first major civilizations of Bronze Age West Asia. Possibly originating from beyond the Black Sea, they settled in modern day Turkey in the early 2nd millennium BC. The Hittites formed a series of polities in north-central Anatolia, including the kingdom of Kussara, the Kanesh or Nesha kingdom, and an empire centered on Hattusa. Known in modern times as the Hittite Empire, it reached its height during the mid-14th century BC under Šuppiluliuma I, when it encompassed most of Anatolia and parts of the northern Levant and Upper Mesopotamia.
Mitanni, c. 1550–1260 BC, earlier called Ḫabigalbat in old Babylonian texts, c. 1600 BC; Hanigalbat or Hani-Rabbat in Assyrian records, or Naharin in Egyptian texts, was a Hurrian-speaking state in northern Syria and southeast Anatolia with Indo-Aryan linguistic and political influences. Since no histories, royal annals or chronicles have yet been found in its excavated sites, knowledge about Mitanni is sparse compared to the other powers in the area, and dependent on what its neighbours commented in their texts.
Tularemia, also known as rabbit fever, is an infectious disease caused by the bacterium Francisella tularensis. Symptoms may include fever, skin ulcers, and enlarged lymph nodes. Occasionally, a form that results in pneumonia or a throat infection may occur.
A vassal state is any state that has a mutual obligation to a superior state or empire, in a status similar to that of a vassal in the feudal system in medieval Europe. Vassal states were common among the empires of the Near East, dating back to the era of the Egyptian, Hittite and Mitanni conflict, as well as ancient China. The use of vassal states continued through the Middle Ages, with the last empire to use such states arguably being the Ottoman Empire, though some say that the British Empire had vassal states.
Arzawa was a region and a political entity in Western Anatolia during the Late Bronze Age. This name was used in contemporary Hittite records to refer either to a single "kingdom" or a federation of local powers. The core of Arzawa is believed to be along the Kaystros River, with its capital at Apasa, later known as Ephesus. When the Hittites conquered Arzawa, it was divided into three Hittite provinces: a southern province called Mira along the Maeander River; a northern province called the Seha River Land, along the Gediz River; and an eastern province called Hapalla.
Suppiluliuma I or Suppiluliumas 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.
Mursili II was a king of the Hittite Empire c. 1330–1295 BC or 1321–1295 BC.
Arnuwanda II was a king of the Hittite Empire ca. 1330 BC or 1322–1321 BC. He succeeded his father Suppiluliuma I, who succumbed to the plague which Egyptian captives from his Canaan campaign had brought with them to the Hittite heartland.
The Amarna Period was an era of Egyptian history during the later half of the Eighteenth Dynasty when the royal residence of the pharaoh and his queen was shifted to Akhetaten in what is now Amarna. It was marked by the reign of Amenhotep IV, who changed his name to Akhenaten in order to reflect the dramatic change of Egypt's polytheistic religion into one where the sun disc Aten was worshipped over all other gods. The Egyptian pantheon was restored under Akhenaten's successor, Tutankhamun.
Hayasa-Azzi or Azzi-Hayasa was a Late Bronze Age confederation in the Armenian Highlands and/or Pontic region of Asia Minor. The Hayasa-Azzi confederation was in conflict with the Hittite Empire in the 14th century BC, leading up to the collapse of Hatti around 1190 BC. It has long been thought that Hayasa-Azzi may have played a significant role in the ethnogenesis of Armenians.
Zannanza was a Hittite prince, son of Suppiluliuma I, king of the Hittites. He is best known for almost becoming the Pharaoh of Egypt, and because his death caused a diplomatic incident between the Hittite and Egyptian Empires, resulting in warfare.
The Kaska were a loosely affiliated Bronze Age non-Indo-European tribal people, who spoke the unclassified Kaskian language and lived in mountainous East Pontic Anatolia, known from Hittite sources. They lived in the mountainous region between the core Hittite region in eastern Anatolia and the Black Sea, and are cited as the reason that the later Hittite Empire never extended northward to that area. They are sometimes identified with the Caucones known from Greek records.
The possible solar eclipse mentioned in a text dating to the reign of Mursili II could be of great importance for the absolute chronology of the Hittite Empire within the chronology of the Ancient Near East. The text records that in the tenth year of Mursili's reign, "the Sun gave a sign", just as the king was about to launch a campaign against the Kingdom of Azzi-Hayasa in north-eastern Anatolia.
Tarḫuntašša was a Bronze Age city in south-central Anatolia mentioned in contemporary documents. Its location is unknown. The city was the capital of the Hittite Empire for a time and later became a regional power in its own right. The kingdom controlled by the city is known by the same name and its approximate borders are known from texts.
Dakhamunzu is the name of an Egyptian queen known from the Hittite annals The Deeds of Suppiluliuma, which were composed by Suppiluliuma I's son Mursili II. The identity of this queen has not yet been established with any degree of certainty and Dakhamunzu has variously been identified as either Nefertiti, Meritaten or Ankhesenamen. The identification of this queen is of importance both for Egyptian chronology and for the reconstruction of events during the late Eighteenth Dynasty.
Amarna letter EA 35, titled The Hand of Nergal, is a moderate length clay tablet letter from the king of Alashiya to the king (pharaoh) of Egypt. The letter has multiple short paragraphs, with scribed, single-lines showing the paragraphing. Paragraphs I-VII are on the letter's obverse; paragraph VIII starts at the bottom edge and continues, ending at Paragraph XIII on the clay tablet's reverse.
Mira, in the Late Bronze Age, was one of the semi-autonomous vassal state kingdoms that emerged in western Anatolia following the defeat and partition of the larger kingdom of Arzawa by the victorious Suppiluliuma I of the Hittite Empire. A significantly smaller Arzawa continued, centered on Apasa (Ephesus), with Mira to the east.
Hapalla, also written as Haballa, was a kingdom in central-western Anatolia around the middle of the 14th century BCE. Inhabited by speakers of the Luwian language, Hapalla was one of the Arzawa states, of which it was the easternmost. The kingdom of Hapalla existed until at least the end of the 13th century BCE. It remained a vassal to the Hittites for much of this time. The area was conquered by the Sea Peoples in 1180 BCE.
The Battle of Ganuvara was a battle fought between the Hittite Empire and the Hayasa-Azzi confederation during the reign of the Hittite king Mursili II. The Hayasa-Azzi had served as one of the Hittite’s most determined enemies for the past half century, however in a battle outside the city of Ganuvara they were decisively defeated by the Hittite general Nuvanza and would never be a threat to the Hittites again.