Hey, how are you? About the Hittite title of the Tawananna, how much power did she actually wield? The title was independent and she could be a regent of sorts when the monarch was away, but was she an actually powerful presence at court? Did it vary from queen to queen, or the title had some sort of intrinsic governing influence of it's own? Thank you very much, your blog is a blessing. Have a great week :D
This is an excellent question and one that merits a whole article, not just a Tumblr post. Bear in mind, as I answer, that a lot of research still needs to be done and the topic could be discussed a lot more in-depth.
As far as I’m aware, the Tawananna’s functions remained the same (or similar) throughout time. Her main role was priestess for the Gods: in a 14th century BC document her title is šiwanzanni-priestess, meaning priestess of the mother of the Gods. This role, while complementing the king’s role as priest, was independent from his. The Tawananna even kept her power after her husband died, and became the consort (but not the wife) of the new king.
The high amount of power and independence she possessed is evidenced by her role in Hittite festivals. As I mentioned, both the king (or Labarna/Tabarna) and the queen (or Tawananna) played an important role in the state cult, and every spring and autumn, they would travel around the country and take part in festivals. At several points during this busy programme, the king would go to one town and lead the festival there, while the Tawananna would go to a different town and lead its festival, and the two of them would meet up later. This shows the Tawananna had functions that didn’t depend on the king’s, and that were just as important as his in the official cult.
She may also have had a hand in royal matchmaking. Queen Puduḫepa, in a letter to Ramses II, seems fully responsible for organising the marriage between him and her daughter, and she also claims responsibility for the foreign princesses who were sent as brides to her own sons. Whether other Tawanannas had the same role, however, is a different question. In any case, they clearly held a great deal of power - maybe not the same type of power as the king (whose functions pertained to war and justice), but power nonetheless.
Three queens seem to have been particularly influential. Of course, without having detailed records of the reign of every Tawananna, it’s hard to prove whether they were the exception or the norm - but it’s clear they left a deep mark on the Hittite court.
The first of the three was a Babylonian princess possibly named Malnigal, who, after marrying Šuppiluliuma I in the mid-14th century BC, took the title Tawananna as her personal name. She kept her functions after her husband’s death, throughout the brief reign of her stepson Arnuwanda II, and into the reign of her other stepson Muršili II. In one of Muršili’s prayers, he states that she did the following things:
administer the palace and the land (unfortunately, he doesn’t specify how)
divert royal belongings to temples concerned with the funerary cult
send away royal belongings to Babylon
distribute royal belongings to the population of Ḫattuša
“shut up mouths” (possibly a reference to bribery)
As you can expect, Muršili was none too happy about this, but he didn’t curtail her power - until she was found guilty of cursing his wife and causing her to die. Then, finally, Muršili demoted her and banished her from the palace. Whether the Tawananna was actually responsible for Muršili’s wife’s death or not, and whether Muršili actually believed it or just used it as an excuse to get rid of her, she clearly had enough influence to be a nuisance - if not a threat - to him.
After the death of his wife, Muršili married a woman named Danuḫepa, who is our second Tawananna worth mentioning. Like her predecessor, she outlived her husband, and like her predecessor, she was banished by her stepson, the new king. In Danuḫepa’s case, however, the pretext for her banishment (that she had profaned the Gods) was particularly weak - a better explanation is that she was a threat to the king’s power. It could well be that she was trying to put one of her own sons on the throne. Muwatalli II, her stepson and the king who banished her, didn’t have a legitimate heir (the man who succeeded him was his son by a concubine), so he may have perceived Danuḫepa’s children, and Danuḫepa herself, as a threat.
Danuḫepa was allowed back to court under the reign of Muršili III (Urḫi-Tešub), Muwatalli’s son. Eventually, she died - but her influence didn’t stop there. A number of accounts mention her appearing in later kings and queens’ dreams, often requesting offerings to appease her spirit. It seems like she never got over being stripped of her power!
The last Tawananna worth mentioning is the wife of Muwatalli’s brother, Ḫattušili, who usurped the throne seven years into Muršili III’s reign. Her name was Puduḫepa, and she wasn’t Hittite but the daughter of a Hurrian priest. She left a deep mark on Hittite religion: under her influence, Hittite deities were syncretised with Hurrian deities, and many Hurrian religious practises were imported.
But she didn’t just stop there. As I mentioned above, she also kept up correspondence with Ramses II and his wife Nefertari, and she was responsible for royal marriages and the birth of royal children (she even states that she had extensive experience as a midwife). What’s more, since her husband Ḫattušili was often sick, she seems to have taken up some of his responsibilities too. One example is an edict concerning shipping losses in Ugarit: the text is written in the name of the king, but it was only sealed by Puduḫepa. She also dictated accounts of her dreams, as well as prayers for the health of her husband.
I could go on and on, but I’ll stop here. I hope I’ve answered your question adequately - in short, yes, the Tawananna fulfilled important functions of her own, and while some Tawanannas may have held less influence than others, there are still multiple examples of them acting independently and holding political sway, for the better or for the worse.
