Akhat-milki (fl. 1265 bce)

Wife of Niqmepa, king of Canaanite Ugarit, who managed affairs of state as dowager queen for a short time after his death. Name variations: Ahat-milki, Ahatmilku, Sharelli. Born probably in mid-late 1200s bce in Amorite Amurru; date of death in Ugarit unknown; daughter of King DU-Teshub of Amurru; married King Niqmepa of Ugarit at an unknown date; children: Khishmi-Sharruma, ARAD-Sharruma, Ammishtamru II.

The small city-state of Ugarit (present-day Ras Shamra in Northern Syria) was located on the Mediterranean coast just opposite the northeastern tip of Cyprus. Founded in the 19th or 18th century bce, it fell repeatedly under the hegemony of the competitive empires of Egypt and Mesopotamia, but its excellent location at the juncture of commercial routes by land and sea seems to have ensured its relative peace, prosperity, and autonomy until its destruction in 1230 bce by a band of the marauding "Sea Peoples," the Biblical Philistines. In 1928, some of ancient Ugarit's tombs were accidentally uncovered by a Syrian farmer. Since then, excavation of the old port, city, and royal palace has been extensive. In addition to some fine artifacts and architectural remains, thousands of cuneiform tablets have been discovered, many in a hitherto unknown alphabetic script. Decipherment of this script has demonstrated that the language of Ugarit is a close cognate of Hebrew, and the various religious and mythological texts have advanced scholarly understanding of Biblical Hebrew and ancient Canaanite religion enormously.

Akhat-milki ("sister of the king") was the daughter of King DU-Teshub of Amurru, an Amorite kingdom to the east of Ugarit. She was married at some point in the late 1200s bce to King Niqmepa of Ugarit, probably to seal a political and military alliance between the two states. There is evidence to suggest that Niqmepa was placed forcibly on the throne by the city's Hittite overlord after his brother and predecessor participated in a Syrian revolt against Hittite control of the region. Nevertheless, he seems to have enjoyed a long and fairly peaceful reign of more than 60 years. Though his son and successor, Ammishtamru II, would have been in middle age at the time of Niqmepa's death in 1265, his accession to the throne was apparently not immediate, and Akhat-milki ruled briefly in his place.

Akhat-Milki's reign was probably marked by the plot of her sons Khishmi-Sharruma and ARAD-Sharruma against their mother and brother Ammishtamru. One of the Ugaritic tablets explains how the case was submitted to the arbitration of the king of Carchemish (a city-state on the Euphrates) and the Hittite court. The tablet shows that Akhat-milki then brought her errant sons to Cyprus, where they were made to swear before the goddess Ishtar that they would not ask anything of the king of Ugarit or his son. It is probable that the two lived thenceforth in exile, for Ammishtamru went on to rule Ugarit alone and chose his son as his successor. He had two unhappy marriages with princesses of Amurru, the first of whom was a grandniece of Akhat-milki.

It is not known when Akhat-milki died, but several of the tablets found in Ugarit indicate that she lived a life of luxury with the king and wielded some measure of power while he was alive. A tablet found in 1953 records the trousseau of Akhat-milki as consisting of various pieces of gold jewelry, vessels and boxes of precious metals, perfumes, cosmetics, and fine clothing. Several tablets comprise letters from dignitaries addressed to Akhat-milki asking for her intervention or intercession with the king in important matters. The apparent stature of this woman makes it highly desirable that we learn more about her. Given the relatively recent date of the excavation of Ugarit, and the even later date of the publication of the Ugaritic tablets, it may be reasonable to hope that more information will come to light in the future.

sources and suggested reading:

Catling, H.W. "The identification of Cyprus with Alashiya," and "Ugarit" by Margaret S. Drower in The Cambridge Ancient History. 3rd ed. Vol. 2, part 2, The Middle East and Aegean Region c. 1380-1000 B.C., edited by I.E.S. Edwards, C.J. Gadd, N.G.L. Hammond, and E. Sollberger, 201–205. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1975.

Curtis, Adrian. Ugarit (Ras Shamra): Cities of the Biblical World. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 1985.

Peter H. O'Brien , Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts