Walwaziti

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Walwaziti ( Luwian : 'Lion Man') is one of the best attested scribes of the Hittite court. He was under the kings Ḫattušili III. and Tudḫaliya IV. "chief scribe" and was thus one of the most influential people in the Hittite court.

family

Walwaziti's father, Mittannamuwa, was appointed chief scribe ( Sumerogram : GAL.DUB.SAR, Heth . Tuppalanuri , chief scribe, upper board scribe) at the time of Mursili II . When Muwatalli II moved the court to Tarḫuntašša , Mittannamuwa was appointed administrator of Ḫattuša and his son Purandamuwa was appointed chief clerk. Apparently he died before the Hittite administration was moved back to Ḫattuša. At the pressure of Ḫattušili III. Purandamuwa's successor, who belonged to another family, was deposed and Walwaziti was made chief scribe. Of the other three Walwazitis brothers, Nanninzi and Aliḫešni were also scribes, the latter married Tarḫuntamanawa, the daughter of Šaḫurunuwa , who was the "chief wooden board scribe ". Her two sons, Tulpi-Tešub and Kuwalanaziti, were also scribes. Walwazitis' two sons, Ḫulanabi and Talmi-Tešub, were also scribes.

Features walwacitis

In addition to the supervision and management of the clerk's office and inspection of the warehouses in Ḫattuša, Walwaziti also laid oracles and rituals for the royal couple Ḫattušili III. and Puduḫepa . For example, based on a dream of the queen, he performed a stone oracle that promised the king the luck of war, and on behalf of the queen he donated a “breast” to the Ištar of Šamuḫa for the king's salvation. However, it is unclear whether he is identical to the tax collector of the same name in Ugarit . He may also be mentioned on a list of witnesses from Emar .

His importance is also shown in the fact that he is mentioned as a witness in the Ulmi-Teššub contract, as well as in the contract between Kurunta and Tudḫaliya IV written on a bronze plaque , as well as in the donation of land from Tudḫaliyas to Šaḫurunuwa, who among other high offices was also chief Was a wooden board scribe. In addition, a bronze lance tip from the Aegean region was found on which his name and title were written in Luwian hieroglyphic script (LEO.VIR-zi / a MAGNUS.SCRIBA-la). This lance tip, the location of which is unknown, belongs to the Kocabaş collection, which is in the Sadberk Hanım Museum in Istanbul .

Walwaziti was perhaps the writer of a Hattic -hethitischen Bilingue with the myth of the moon god , who fell from the sky. But mostly he is named as the overseer of other scribes. On behalf of Queen Puduḫepa, he was the editor of the texts of the ḫišuwa festival (CTH 628). Other writers under him were Ḫiliya, who wrote a text on Mondomina, Pariziti, author of a Hittite- Hurrian ritual, and Piḫaziti, who made a copy of the Illuyanka myth under the supervision of Walwaziti.

Modern reception

In the "novel from the land of the Hittites" The Victor of Kadesch by Birgit Brandau, who lived in Ḫattuša in 1265 BC. Plays, the scribe Walwaziti clears up three deaths.

literature

  • Shai Gordin: Scribal Families of Hattuša in the 13th Century BCE . Tel Aviv University 2008
  • Theo van den Hout: The Ulmitešub contract. A prosopographical investigation , studies on the Boğazköy texts, issue 38 (1995), Harrassowitz Verlag. ISBN 3-447-03473-4 . (especially pp. 172–178)
  • Remzi Tayfun Bilgin: Bureaucracy and Bureaucartic Change in Hittite Administration ; Dissertation University of Michigan, 2015.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Gordin: scribal Families of Hattuša , p 47
  2. ↑ Gordin: scribal Families of Hattuša , p 56
  3. ↑ Gordin: scribal Families of Hattuša , p 57
  4. ^ Doğan-Meltem Alparslan: Three Scribers, Two Kings , ICH 6 (2007), 247–257
  5. ↑ Bilgin: Bureaucracy and Bureaucartic Change in Hittite Administration , p 276
  6. ↑ Gordin: scribal Families of Hattuša , p 58
  7. ↑ Hout: The Ulmitešub contract , pp. 172-178
  8. ^ Heinrich Otten: The bronze plaque from Boğazköy: a state treaty by Tutḫalijas IV. Studies on the Boğazköy texts, Supplement 1, Harrassowitz Verlag, 1988. ISBN 3-447-02784-3
  9. ↑ Bilgin: Bureaucracy and Bureaucartic Change in Hittite Administration , S. 244f.
  10. ↑ Ali M. Dinçol: The Hieroglyphic Signs on the Spearhead , in: K. Emre et al .: Anatolia and the Ancient Near East: Studies in Honor of Tahsin Özgüç ; Türk Tarih Kurunu, Ankara 1989. p. 31
  11. ↑ Machteld J. Mellink: Archeology in Anatolia , in. American Journal of Archeology 95 (1991), 137
  12. ↑ Gordin: scribal Families of Hattuša , S. 63f.
  13. ↑ Gordin: scribal Families of Hattuša , p 65
  14. ↑ Gordin: scribal Families of Hattuša , p 91
  15. ↑ Birgit Brandau: Der Sieger von Kadesch Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag 2001, ISBN 3-423-24288-4
personal data
SURNAME Walwaziti
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Clerk of the Hittite court
DATE OF BIRTH around 13th century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH around 13th century BC Chr.