Artatama I Explained

Artatama I^[1] was a king of the Hurrian kingdom of Mitanni in the late fifteenth century BC. His reign coincided with the reigns of Egyptian pharaohs Amenhotep II and Thutmose IV. He is believed to be the son of earlier Mitanni king Shaushtatar.^[2]

A tablet of Artatama was found at Tall Bazi granting land.^[3] Tablets were also found at Alalakh.^[4] Artatama is referred to in the Amarna letters (EA 29) as the grandfather of Tushratta and father of Shuttarna II, who established an alliance with Thutmose IV of Ancient Egypt.^[5] Facing the perils of fighting a war on two fronts, the Hittites in the north and Egypt in the south, Artatama approached Amenhotep II with an offer of peaceful division of contested lands in Syria.^[6] A peaceful resolution of an old conflict could grow into a political and military alliance, but the Egyptians suspected foul play and denied definite answer for years. At one point during the reign of Thutmose IV they proposed a marriage between Thutmose and Artatama's daughter, but for unknown reasons Artatama rejected the offer.^[7] The Egyptians had to make seven consecutive marriage proposals before Artatama finally agreed. Thus, Artatama may have been the father of Queen Mutemwiya and the maternal grandfather of Amenhotep III. Artatama was succeeded by his son Shuttarna II.^{[8] [9]}

He is mentioned in the later Šattiwaza treaty between the Hittite king Šuppiluliuma I and Mitanni vassal king Šattiwaza, for example "When king Tušratta died, the Storm-god decided the legal case of Artatama: his son (= Šuttarna) brought the dead Artatama back to life.".^[10]

Notes and References

1. Book: The Ancient Near East: History, Society and Economy . Mario Liverani. Routledge. 2014. Text 16.1
2. Redford, Donald B. “A Gate Inscription from Karnak and Egyptian Involvement in Western Asia during the Early 18th Dynasty.” Journal of the American Oriental Society, vol. 99, no. 2, 1979, pp. 270–87
3. Torrecilla, Eduardo, and Yoram Cohen. “A MITTANI LETTER ORDER FROM AZU (HAD 8) AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR THE CHRONOLOGY AND HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE EUPHRATES REGION IN THE LATE BRONZE AGE.” Revue d’Assyriologie et d’archéologie Orientale, vol. 112, 2018, pp. 149–58
4. Dornemann, Rudolph H. “Tell Hadidi: A Bronze Age City on the Euphrates.” Archaeology, vol. 31, no. 6, 1978, pp. 20–26
5. Book: Moran, William L. . The Amarna Letters . Baltimore . Johns Hopkins University Press . 1992 . 0-8018-4251-4 . xiv .
6. Bryce, Trevor (2005). The kingdom of the Hittites. Oxford University Press. .
7. Miller, Jared L.. "3. Political Interactions between Kassite Babylonia and Assyria, Egypt and Ḫatti during the Amarna Age". Volume 1 Karduniaš. Babylonia under the Kassites 1, edited by Alexa Bartelmus and Katja Sternitzke, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 2017, pp. 93-111
8. Schulman, Alan R. “Diplomatic Marriage in the Egyptian New Kingdom.” Journal of Near Eastern Studies, vol. 38, no. 3, 1979, pp. 177–93
9. Munn-Rankin, J. M. “Diplomacy in Western Asia in the Early Second Millennium B.C.” Iraq, vol. 18, no. 1, 1956, pp. 68–110
10. Devecchi, Elena. “Details That Make the Difference: The Akkadian Manuscripts of the ‘Šattiwaza Treaties.’” Die Welt Des Orients, vol. 48, no. 1, 2018, pp. 72–95