Tawananna (Mrs. Šuppiluliumas I.)

Tawananna (formerly also often called Malnigal ) is the name of a Hittite great queen . She was a Babylonian princess and after Hinti the second woman Suppiluliumas I. Presumably after marriage, by which it was Great queen, she took the name Tawawanna, who is also originally from Hatti is derived name for the Hittite queen.

Surname

In publications up to the beginning of the 21st century it was often referred to as “Malnigal”, as an imprint of a seal found in Ugarit reveals not only “Tawananna” but also characters that were long read as “Malnigal”. It was assumed that this was your actual (birth) name. As early as the 1990s, this reading was rejected by some scientists, at the turn of the millennium it was increasingly called Tawananna instead of Malnigal in research, until it was finally proven that the reading Malnigal is incorrect.

Life

Tawananna was a Babylonian king's daughter, probably the daughter of Burna-buriaš II. Suppiluliuma I may have married her in order to strengthen relations with the Kassite ruling family of Babylonia and to achieve support or at least neutrality of Babylon in its campaigns against the Mitanni kingdom. The marriage made Tawananna the Hittite Great Queen. However, it is not entirely clear what happened to the first wife of Šuppiluliumasl, Ḫinti , at that time. If she was still alive, she would have continued to be the rightful Grand Queen. In fact, in the time of Šuppiluliuma, Tawananna used differently inscribed seals. While she always bears the title of Great Queen on seal impressions that came to light in Ugarit and also on many in the so-called archive of Nişantepe , some found there bear the title “Daughter of the Great King”, which certainly relates to her ancestry. The conclusion is therefore that these seals are older and come from a time when she was already Šuppiluliuma's wife, but not yet the Great Queen. That would mean that Ḫinti continued to serve as the Great Queen for a while after Šuppiluliuma separated from her and married Tawananna. At the time the contract with Niqmaddu II was concluded, Tawananna was already sealed as the Great Queen.

Since a Hittite Great Queen usually kept her office after the death of her husband, Tawananna continued to perform official acts under the briefly reigning Arnuwanda II and the subsequent Mursili II , who was her stepson. Mursili II, who had more and more disagreements with Malnigal after he took office, however, deposed them in the course of the so-called Tawananna affair . Among other things, he accused her of being very wasteful and accused her of cursing the early death of his wife, which was either Gaššulawiya or an adopted first wife who was not known by name, as well as his language disorder, which Muršili suffered from for a long time . Especially the death of his first wife in his ninth year of reign (approx. 1313 BC) apparently affected Muršili very closely. B. complained in a prayer from his 10th year of reign (KUB 14.4) and blamed Tawananna. In addition, she is said to have introduced more and more foreign, probably Babylonian, cults and customs, allegedly even prostitution in the palace. Finally he tried the Great Queen, accusing her of witchcraft, the murder of his first wife and wastefulness. After the guilty verdict, Muršili II claimed that an oracle had allowed him to kill Malnigal. He left Malnigal alive, but deposed her as the Great Queen and presumably placed her under house arrest . The deposition of a great king was a monstrous process in Hittite history, which found its echo at least until the reign of Tudḫalija IV (approx. 1237–1215 / 09), from which an oracle request ( CTH 569) from the great king originates is reminded of this event. Ḫattušili III. asserted in a prayer around the middle of the 13th century that he was still a child when Tawananna was deposed, that he was not to blame for this injustice.

Even after her removal, Malnigal still had influence at court.

Remarks

1. ↑ Mirjo Salvini : Considerazioni su alcuni sigilli reali ittiti. Seferad 50/2, 1990, pp. 455-464 - [online] at Academia.edu ; Onofrio Carruba : Tawananna I. Babylonia Hieroglyphica. ZA Volume 88, Issue 1, 1998, pp. 114-126.
2. ↑ cf. z. B. Trevor R. Bryce : The Kingdom of the Hittites. Oxford University Press, 1998 edition, p. 173 and 2005 edition, p. 159 note 24.
3. ↑ Suzanne Herbordt , Daliah Bawanypeck, John David Hawkins : The seals of the great kings and great queens on clay bulls from the Nişantepe archive in Hattusa (Boğazköy-Ḫattuša, results of the excavations, Volume 23). Philipp von Zabern, Mainz 2011., p. 50.
4. ↑ so Trevor R. Bryce: The Kingdom of the Hittites. Oxford University Press (1998), Revised 2005, p. 159.
5. ↑ Daliah Bawanypeck: The Queens on the Seals. In: Alfonso Archi, Rita Francia (ed.): VI Congresso Internazionale di Ittitologia, Roma 5-9 September 2005. Studi Micenei ed Egeo-Anatolici 49/1, 2007, p. 56f.
6. ↑ This is what Horst Klengel thinks : History of the Hittite Empire (= Handbook of Oriental Studies. Dept. 1. Volume. 34. The Near and Middle East). Brill, Leiden-Boston-Cologne 1998, p. 201. for probable
7. ↑ Metin Alparslan tends towards this: Die Wattinnen Muršili II. A consideration of the current state of research. Studi Micenei ed Egeo-Anatoloici 69, 2007, pp. 31-37. - online at Academia.edu
8. ↑ Jörg Klinger: The Hittites. CH Beck, Munich 2007, p. 101.

literature

• Trevor R. Bryce: The Kingdom of the Hittites. Oxford University Press, revised edition 2005, p. 159; 207-210.

• Daliah Bawanypeck: The Queens on the Seals. In: Alfonso Archi, Rita Francia (ed.): VI Congresso Internazionale di Ittitologia, Roma 5-9 September 2005. Studi Micenei ed Egeo-Anatolici 49/1, 2007, pp. 49-58. ( online at Academia.edu )
• Jörg Klinger : Die Hittiter, Verlag CH Beck oHG, Munich 2007, page 101, ISBN 978-3-406-53625-0
• Metin Alparslan: The wives of Muršili II. A consideration of the current state of research. Studi Micenei ed Egeo-Anatoloici 69, 2007, pp. 31-37. ( online at Academia.edu )