Henti

{{distinguish|Hentai}} {{Infobox royalty | name = Ḫenti | image_size = | alt = | caption = | title = Queen of Hittite empire | spouse = Šuppiluliuma I | issue = Arnuwanda II<br/>Telipinu<br/>Piyaššili<br/>Muršili II<br/>Zannanza | father = Tudḫaliya III | mother = Dadu-Ḫeba ? }}

'''Ḫenti''' (or Ḫinti) was a Hittite queen, the first wife of the great king Šuppiluliuma I.<ref>Klengel 1999: 137; Bryce 2005: 159; Freu 2007b: 200.</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Stavi |first=Boaz |date=December 2011 |title=The Genealogy of Suppiluliuma I |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1524/aofo.2011.0015 |journal=Altorientalische Forschungen |volume=38 |issue=2 |pages=226–239 |doi=10.1524/aofo.2011.0015 |s2cid=163701676 |issn=0232-8461|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

==Biography== Ḫenti is described on her seal as the "great queen, daughter of the great king, the hero," making her the daughter of the great king Tudḫaliya III (sometimes called Tudḫaliya II).<ref>Freu 2007b: 199-201; Stavi 2011: 228-230, 236; Taracha 2016: 492-493; Bilgin 2018: 26 n. 72.</ref> Šuppiluliuma, long considered the son of his predecessor,<ref>Klengel 1999: 127-129, 137; Bryce 2005: 148-155.</ref> was therefore his son-in-law and possibly adopted son.<ref>Freu 2007b: 198-201; Stavi 2011: 228-230, 236; Taracha 2016: 492-493; Bilgin 2018: 26 n. 72.</ref> Šuppiluliuma, long closely associated with Tudḫaliya III, seized the throne by eliminating Tudḫaliya's possibly underage son and heir, Tudḫaliya the Younger, who would have been a brother or half-brother of Ḫenti.<ref>Freu 2007b: 199-200; Taracha 2016: 490.</ref>

At the very beginning of Šuppiluliuma's reign the title of Tawananna was retained by Dadu-Ḫeba,<ref>Klengel 1999: 137, n. 4; Bryce 2005: 159.</ref> his mother-in-law, the widow of Tudḫaliya III and possibly mother of Tudḫaliya the Younger and perhaps Ḫenti.<ref>Freu 2007b: 209, who believes she was identical to the queen named Šatandu-Ḫeba; Stavi 2011: 227.</ref> Following the death of Dadu-Ḫeba, the title of Tawananna passed to Ḫenti, and she is attested by this title in the text of the decree appointing her son Telipinu priest in Kizzuwatna.<ref>Klengel 1999: 165-167; Bryce 2005: 159; Freu 2007b: 210-211.</ref> Ḫenti's tenure as Tawananna is sometimes said to have been relatively short, as the title was next assumed by Šuppiluliuma's Babylonian wife, known simply as Tawananna (her personal name was perhaps Malnigal).<ref>Klengel 1999: 137, n. 3; Bryce 2005: 159, 433 n. 24; Freu 2007b: 257.</ref> In fact, there are relatively numerous attestations of Šuppiluliuma and Ḫenti as the royal couple on seals, and Ḫenti might have lasted as Tawananna for a good while, Šuppiluliuma perhaps marrying his Babylonian wife later in his reign.<ref>Freu 2007b: 210, 257.</ref>

A fragmentary text from the reign of Ḫenti's son Muršili II makes reference to his father, mother, and a banishment of someone to the land of Aḫḫiyawa. A common interpretation of the text is that it was Ḫenti who was banished into exile.<ref>Bryce 2005: 160; Burney 2004: 258; Freu 2007b: 201, 210, 257.</ref> If it was her, the reasons for her exile are unclear, although one possibility is the desirability of a marriage alliance with the Kassite king of Babylon (probably Burna-Buriaš II),<ref>Bryce 2005: 160; Freu 2007b: 257.</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.tawananna.com/archives/401|title=Tawananna » Queen Henti|website=www.tawananna.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141211170603/http://www.tawananna.com/archives/401|access-date=2016-05-15|archive-date=2014-12-11}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Historical Dictionary of the Hittites|first=Charles|last=Burney|page=258}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=van den Hout |first=Theo |date=2024-01-01 |title=''The Hittites: Lost Civilizations'' |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/728418 |journal=American Journal of Archaeology |volume=128 |issue=1 |pages=E1–E2 |doi=10.1086/728418 |s2cid=265082494 |issn=0002-9114|url-access=subscription }}</ref> or conflict between Ḫenti and Šuppiluliuma's new Babylonian wife.<ref>Bilgin 2018: 24 n. 55.</ref>

Ḫenti is believed to have been the mother of Šuppiluliuma's sons Arnuwanda II, Telipinu, Piyaššili, Muršili II, and Zannanza.<ref>Bryce 2005: 160; Burney 2004: 258; Freu 2007b: 200.</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bryce |first=Trevor R. |date=December 1989 |title=Some Observations on the Chronology of Šuppiluliuma's Reign |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/anatolian-studies/article/abs/some-observations-on-the-chronology-of-suppiluliumas-reign/6057DDDA858483E5D5E19E71F1793820 |journal=Anatolian Studies |language=en |volume=39 |pages=19–30 |doi=10.2307/3642809 |jstor=3642809 |s2cid=163090197 |issn=2048-0849|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

==In fiction== Queen Henti is a character in the historical fiction manga ''Red River''.

==References== {{reflist}}

==Bibliography== * Bilgin, Tayfun (2018), ''Official and Administration in the Hittite World'', Berlin. * Bryce, Trevor (1989), "Some Observations on the Chronology of Šuppiluliuma's Reign," ''Anatolian Studies'' 39 (1989) 9-30. * Bryce, Trevor (2005), ''The Kingdom of the Hittites'', Oxford. * Burney, Charles (2004), ''Historical Dictionary of the Hittites'', Lanham. * Freu, Jacques, and Michel Mazoyer (2007b), ''Les débuts du nouvel empire hittite'', Paris. * Klengel, Horst (1999), ''Geschichte des Hethitischen Reiches'', Leiden. * Stavi, Boaz (2011), "The Genealogy of Suppiluliuma I," ''Altorientalische Forschungen'' 38 (2011) 226–239. [https://www.academia.edu/5905056/Stavi_2011_The_Genealogy_of_Suppiluliuma_I online] * Taracha, Piotr (2016), "Tudhaliya III's Queens, Šuppiluliuma's Accession and Related Issues," in Sedat Erkut and Özlem Sir Gavaz (eds.), ''Studies in Honour of Ahmet Ünal Armağanı'', Istanbul: 489–498.

Category:Hittite queens Category:14th-century BC women