Suppiluliuma I

The Hittite Empire at its greatest extent under Suppiluliuma I (c. 1350–1322 BC)Šuppiluliuma I (died c. 1322 BC), also Suppiluliuma (/ˌsʌpɪlʌliˈuːmə/) or Suppiluliumas (/-məs/) was an ancient Hittite king (r. c. 1350–1322 BC).

Even before assuming the throne, Šuppiluliuma distinguished himself as a military commander protecting and reclaiming Hittite territories after a period of foreign attacks. Once king, he continued this program of consolidation and expansion, both in Anatolia and in Syria, with a great deal of success. Victories over a major rival, the Upper-Mesopotamian kingdom of Mittani, led to the extension of Hittite authority over a bevy of petty kingdoms in northern Syria, the installation of the Hittite king's younger sons as local viceroys at Aleppo and Carchemish, and the rump of the Mittanian state itself became effectively a dependency of the Hittite Kingdom.