ABSTRACT
On the way home from his Syrian command the Hittite prince Hattusili, later King Hattusili III, passed through Lawazantiya, the well-known cult centre in the country of Kizzuwadna. Here he met his future wife Puduhepa, daughter of the Hurrian priest Pentipsharri. The goddess Ishtar told Hattusili in a dream that he was to marry Puduhepa: The goddess gave us the love of husband and wife,’ he declared, representing the marriage as one quite literally made in heaven. Hattusili may in fact have been smitten by Puduhepa’s charms the first time he set eyes upon her, with or without the goddess’s help. But love as an initial basis for marriage was a rare if not unique phenomenon in the world of ancient Near Eastern royalty.
