Nikal-mati or Nikkal-mati () was a queen of Hittite, the wife of the great king Tudḫaliya II or Tudḫaliya I.Bryce 2005: 128.
Nikkal-mati is sometimes considered the first of a series of Hittite queens bearing Hurrian names, a sign of the increasing influence of Hurrian culture and religion among the Hittites.Freu 2007b: 96; Weeden 2022: 563. A preserved text containing a ritual against magic sought to protect Nikkal-mati, her husband and her children, from the witchcraft of her sister-in-law, Tudḫaliya’s sister Ziplantawiya.Freu 2007b: 96-98. An archaic ritual for the royal couple might also date to the reign of Tudḫaliya II and Nikkal-mati.Freu 2007b: 102. Tudḫaliya II and Nikkal-mati had sons who predeceased them, as well as a surviving daughter, Ašmu-Nikkal, who married Arnuwanda I.Bryce 2005: 128. Ašmu-Nikkal's royal seal specified her descent from both her parents.Beal 1983: 115; Freu 2007b: 102.
References
Bibliography Beal, Richard H. (1983), "Studies in Hittite History," Journal of Cuneiform Studies 35 (1983) 115-126. Bryce, Trevor (2005), The Kingdom of the Hittites, Oxford. Freu, Jacques, and Michel Mazoyer (2007b), Les débuts du nouvel empire hittite, Paris. Weeden, Mark (2022), "The Hittite Empire," in Karen Radner et al. (eds.), The Oxford History of the Ancient Near East, vol. 3 (From the Hyksos to the Late Second Millennium BC), Oxford: 529-622.
External links Hittites.info