Plague Prayers of Mursili II

E722266

Hittite prayer text ancient Near Eastern religious text royal supplication

The Plague Prayers of Mursili II are a series of Hittite royal supplications in which King Mursili II appeals to the gods to end a devastating plague afflicting his kingdom, offering insight into Hittite religion, politics, and crisis response.

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All labels observed (3)

Label	Occurrences
Hittite plague prayers of Mursili II	1
Hittite royal prayers	1
Plague Prayers of Mursili II canonical	1

How this entity was disambiguated

This entity first appeared as the object of triple T8266145 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.

NED1 Entity disambiguation (via context triple) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: Plague Prayers of Mursili II
Context triple: [Mursili II, notableWork, Plague Prayers of Mursili II]

A. Anaphora of Addai and Mari
The Anaphora of Addai and Mari is one of the oldest Eucharistic prayers in continuous use in Eastern Christianity, particularly within the East Syriac liturgical tradition.
B. Ugaritic Baal Cycle
The Ugaritic Baal Cycle is a Late Bronze Age Northwest Semitic mythological epic from Ugarit that recounts the storm-god Baal’s battles, kingship, and relationships with other deities, including the warrior goddess Anat.
C. Annals of Shalmaneser III
The Annals of Shalmaneser III are a series of Assyrian royal inscriptions that record the military campaigns, building projects, and political achievements of the Neo-Assyrian king Shalmaneser III in the 9th century BCE.
D. Code of Lipit-Ishtar
The Code of Lipit-Ishtar is an early Old Babylonian legal code from around 1930 BCE, issued by the Sumerian king Lipit-Ishtar of Isin and written in Sumerian to regulate social, economic, and legal matters in Mesopotamia.
E. Prophets of Baal
The Prophets of Baal were pagan religious functionaries in the Hebrew Bible who promoted the worship of the Canaanite storm god Baal in opposition to the God of Israel.
F. None of above. chosen
G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.

NED2 Entity disambiguation (via description) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: Plague Prayers of Mursili II
Target entity description: The Plague Prayers of Mursili II are a series of Hittite royal supplications in which King Mursili II appeals to the gods to end a devastating plague afflicting his kingdom, offering insight into Hittite religion, politics, and crisis response.

A. Anaphora of Addai and Mari
The Anaphora of Addai and Mari is one of the oldest Eucharistic prayers in continuous use in Eastern Christianity, particularly within the East Syriac liturgical tradition.
B. Ugaritic Baal Cycle
The Ugaritic Baal Cycle is a Late Bronze Age Northwest Semitic mythological epic from Ugarit that recounts the storm-god Baal’s battles, kingship, and relationships with other deities, including the warrior goddess Anat.
C. Annals of Shalmaneser III
The Annals of Shalmaneser III are a series of Assyrian royal inscriptions that record the military campaigns, building projects, and political achievements of the Neo-Assyrian king Shalmaneser III in the 9th century BCE.
D. Code of Lipit-Ishtar
The Code of Lipit-Ishtar is an early Old Babylonian legal code from around 1930 BCE, issued by the Sumerian king Lipit-Ishtar of Isin and written in Sumerian to regulate social, economic, and legal matters in Mesopotamia.
E. Prophets of Baal
The Prophets of Baal were pagan religious functionaries in the Hebrew Bible who promoted the worship of the Canaanite storm god Baal in opposition to the God of Israel.
F. None of above. chosen

Statements (49)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	Hittite prayer text ⓘ ancient Near Eastern religious text ⓘ royal supplication ⓘ
addressedTo	Hittite gods ⓘ Storm-god of Hatti ⓘ Sun-goddess of Arinna ⓘ linked to: Sun goddess of Arinna
archaeologicalSite	Boğazköy ⓘ Hattusa tablet archives ⓘ linked to: Hittite archives
author	Mursili II ⓘ
causeOfPlagueExplainedAs	divine punishment ⓘ
causeOfPlagueLinkedTo	sins of the king and his predecessors ⓘ
commissionedBy	Mursili II ⓘ
contains	confession of guilt ⓘ historical retrospection ⓘ requests for mercy ⓘ vows of restitution ⓘ
culture	Hittite civilization ⓘ linked to: Hittites
dateWritten	14th century BCE ⓘ
genre	lament ⓘ prayer ⓘ royal inscription ⓘ
historicalContext	epidemic in Hittite Empire ⓘ reign of Mursili II ⓘ
language	Hittite language ⓘ
mainSubject	Hittite kingship ⓘ Hittite religion ⓘ linked to: Hittite mythology atonement ⓘ confession of sin ⓘ divine wrath ⓘ plague ⓘ royal piety ⓘ
placeOfOrigin	Hattusa ⓘ linked to: Boğazköy (Hattusa) Hittite Empire ⓘ
politicalFunction	legitimation of royal authority ⓘ royal responsibility for the kingdom ⓘ
preservedOn	clay tablets ⓘ
relatedTo	Hittite plague tradition ⓘ Mursili II ⓘ
relatedWork	Hittite royal prayers ⓘ linked to: Plague Prayers of Mursili II
religiousConcept	covenantal relationship between king and gods ⓘ
religiousFunction	appeasement of gods ⓘ ritual purification ⓘ
religiousPerspective	theodicy ⓘ
script	cuneiform ⓘ
significance	evidence for ancient epidemic response ⓘ key source for Hittite religion ⓘ key source for Hittite royal ideology ⓘ
studiedIn	Ancient Near Eastern studies ⓘ Hittitology ⓘ linked to: Anatolian studies

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (3)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Mursili II → notableWork → Plague Prayers of Mursili II ⓘ

Plague Prayers of Mursili II → relatedWork → Hittite royal prayers ⓘ

linked to: Plague Prayers of Mursili II

Arnuwanda II → historicalSource → Hittite plague prayers of Mursili II ⓘ