Hantili I was a king of the Hittites (Old Kingdom), ruling for 30 years, approximately 1590–1560 BC.

He was the Brother-in-Law of Muršili I

• Name Hattic, probably meaning "First" or "Foremost"

• Queen Harapšili, wife, sister of Muršili I. See The Proclamation of Telipinu

• Family [...]ša/ta, daughter. Married to Zidanta I. Pišeni, son. Killed by Zidanta.

Hantili I was a cupbearer during Muršili's reign and he married Muršili's sister, Harapšili. He conspired with Zidanta (I) and assassinated Muršili I, thereafter taking the throne. Once again the royal blood was preserved in the female line.

Having seized the throne through force, Hantili began to exhibit the paranoia of a guilty conscience. After all, if he could kill his predecessor, who was waiting to kill him? He began to fear for his life, saying, "Will I be protected? The gods protected him (i.e. Muršili), [. . .]" (The Proclamation of Telipinu §12)

In spite of his initial paranoia, he seems to have had a long reign, since he actually seems to have managed to die of old age. Of his achievements during his reign, his most notable is that he claimed to be the first king to put a wall around Hattuša. This is hardly supportable in light of the archaeological evidence. To play his advocate, we might suggest that he probably meant either that he was the first to do so since the city's destruction by Anitta, or that he simply expanded the city walls to encompass a larger area than they previously had.

The Return of Marduk

"When Marduk, lord of Esagila and Babylon, (and) the great gods ordered with their holy command his [ret]urn to Babylon, (and?) Marduk had set his face towards Babylon, [I prayed to?] Marduk, [...] my prayers. I carefully planned to fetch Marduk, and towards Babylon did I set his face. I went to the assistance of Marduk, who loves my reign.

"I asked of king Šamaš by divination(?), I sent to a far-off land, to the land of the Haneans, and Marduk and Sarpanitum, who love my reign, did I return to (the temple) Esagila and Babylon." (Foster (1996) 275)

In this way a first millennium B.C. document records that a man who called himself Agum-kakrime, "King of the Kassites and Akkadians" (among many other epithets) claimed to have brought back the idol of Marduk and his consort Sarpanitum to Babylon after their captivity among the Hittites. This ruler is not otherwise known, and his existence cannot be proven or disproven at this time. His reference to the land of the "Haneans" has been alternately interpreted as being a literary term for Hatti or that the idol had been left in Hana by the Hittites. Since Hittite control in Syria seems to have been unlikely, we may perhaps favor the prior.

With so much uncertainty - a document written long after the fact, in the name of a mysterious ruler, and the question of what is meant by "Hanaeans", it is difficult to know how much this document can be relied upon. There is only one other document which refers to the return of Marduk's idol. In the second document, presented as the words of Marduk himself, the god's embarrassing captivity in foreign lands is explained by describing Marduk as the one "who inspects, who goes back and forth through the mountains, the lofty one, inspector, who smites(?) lands, he who goes constantly back and forth in the lands from sunrise to sunset" (Foster (1996) 275). In other words, the deity's several absences from Babylon were apologized for as being the god's will. His sojourn in Hatti was no different;

"I gave the command that I go to Hatti, I put Hatti to the test, there I set up the throne of my supreme godhead. For twenty four years I dwelt there. I made it possible for Babylonians to send (commercial) expeditions there, and they {i.e. the Hittites?} marketed(?) its {i.e. Hatti's} [...] goods and property [in] Sippar, Nippur, [and Babylo]n.

"A king of Babylon arose [and] led [me in procession to] ... Babylon..." (Foster (1996) 302f.)

The two documents taken together portray a situation wherein an early Kassite king of Babylon - without evidence to the contrary we may call him Agum-kakrime - established commercial relations with his distant neighbors to his northwest. As a result of these friendly relations - perhaps even as a precondition of them - he was able to arrange for the return of his city's patron deity after a painful twenty four year absence. Given that Muršili's Babylonian campaign could easily have taken place early in his reign, and that Hantili's reign seems to have been stable and long, we may very tentatively suggest that Agum-kakrime retrieved Marduk's idol from Hantili.

Commercial relations between these two lands had been important since long before either the Kassites or the Hittites, and a break in such ties must have been awkward for both economies. The obscure ruler of a fledgling Kassite dynasty who recovered the city's patron deity and reestablished commercial relations with metal-rich Anatolia would have greatly strengthed his own position, and the restoration of commercial and cultural ties with the prestigious international power of Babylon would have likewise strengthened the position of an usurping ruler of Hatti. United by weakness, both powers would have become stronger. The fact that the kinglets of Hurri remained disunited, while not exactly a boon, would at least have made easier the passing of goods between Hatti and Babylon even though some of these rulers may have remained at war with the Hittites. A united and hostile Hurri would have presented grave difficulties.

Hostile Hurrians, as it turned out, were exactly what Hantili had to deal with anyway. It appears that Hurrian warriors began invading Hatti. This may have been what sent Hantili eastwards to the town of Tegarama, where his conscience continued to plague him, so that he declared,

"What is this that I have done? [Why] did I listen to [the words of] Zidanta, my(?) [son-in-law]?" (The Proclamation of Telipinu §13)

Indeed, Hantili's difficulties with the Hurrians was presented by the later king Telipinu as the gods' revenge for the murder of Muršili. For some time, it seems, the Hurrians were able to freely roam about Hatti, undoubtedly causing much havoc. It seems as if, however, ultimately Hantili was in fact able to push back the Hurrians from his borders.

The northern barbarians known as the Kaškans first appear (According to a text of Tudhaliya IV (1239-1209)). They destroyed the holy city of Nerik, located in northern Anatolia. This city would not be resettled for another 300 years (The U.S.A. is only 200 some years old) when finally Hattušili III did so.

Foreign Relations

Kaškans: According to a text of Tudhaliya IV, these northern barbarians first appear at this time.

Kizzuwatna: Still a Hittite possession.