{{Infobox person | name = Iltani | years_active = c. 1750 BC | spouse = [[Aqba-hammu]] }} '''Iltani''' ({{fl.|{{circa}} 1750 BC}}), was the wife of the ruler [[Aqba-hammu]]. She was the daughter of king Samu-Addu of Karana.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Cohen |first1=Noam |last2= |first2= |date=January 2024 |title=The Iltani Archive and the Messiness of Spousal Violence |url= |journal=Avar |volume=3 |issue=1 |publisher=Transnational Press London |pages=45-72 |doi=10.33182/aijls.v3i1.2838 |access-date=}}</ref> Her archive was discovered{{when?|date=January 2025}} in the palace of Karana (modern day [[Tell al-Rimah]]). The main group of tablets from the archive consisted of about 200 letters and administrative records, which directly concern the queen.<ref name="Dalley 2002">{{cite book|last=Dalley|first=Stephanie|authorlink=Stephanie Dalley|title=Mari and Karana : two old Babylonian cities|year=2002|publisher=Gorgias|location=NJ|isbn=1931956022|edition=2. publ}}</ref>
The letters tell us that Queen Iltani worked hard at running the palace industries, in particular the textiles and food, and had to meet her husband’s frequent, urgent demands for goods and personnel. She had to deal with many letters from individuals asking for help or resources, and she was concerned with her own health, querulous and indignant. Iltani’s work as overseer of the textile business in the palace of Rimah is well documented in the archive. The “department of Iltani,” as the business was called, employed 15 women and 10 men. Iltani was also involved in the metal trade; she personally received copper from her male subordinate.{{who?|date=January 2025}}{{citation needed|date=January 2025}}
[[Belassunu]] was either the sister or daughter of Iltani.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Eidem |first1=Jesper |last2= |first2= |date=1989 |title=Some Remarks on the Iltani Archive from Tell al Rimah |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4200296 |journal=Iraq |volume=51 |issue= |publisher=British Institute for Study of Iraq |pages=67-78 |doi=10.2307/4200296 |access-date=}}</ref>
==''Naditu'' priests named Iltani== There were at least three ''[[naditu]]'' priestesses named '''Iltani''': the sister of [[Hammurabi]], the daughter of [[Sin-Muballit|Sin-muballit]], and the sister of [[Ammi-Ditana]].<ref name="Tetlow 2004">{{cite book|last=Tetlow|first=Elisabeth Meier|title=Women, Crime and Punishment in Ancient Law and Society: Volume 1: The Ancient Near East|year=2004|publisher=Continuum|location=New York [u.a.]|isbn=0826416284}}</ref>
The city and cloister of [[Sippar]] are well documented{{where?|date=January 2025}} and serve as a microcosm of the lives of women, especially women priests, in the [[First Babylonian Dynasty|Old Babylonian period]].{{citation needed|date=January 2025}} The temple of [[Shamash]] was the most prominent building in Sippar. Women were just as active as men in the temple and cloister. Only women could become ''naditu'' priests. There were generally about two hundred celibate ''naditu'' priests of Shamash living in the cloister at a given time. Most were from royal or upper-class families. Iltani, the ''naditu'' sister of King Hammurabi, made offerings of date cakes at festivals.<ref>Harris, Rivkah (1975). ''Ancient Sippar : a demographic study of an old-Babylonian city, 1894-1595 B.C.'', Nederlands Historisch-Archaeologisch Instituut.</ref> She also leased her orchard for payment of back taxes{{whose?|date=January 2025}} and leased her field to a scribe.{{who?|date=January 2025}} (140){{what?|date=January 2025}}
==References== {{Reflist}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Iltani}} [[Category:18th-century BC women]] [[Category:Babylonian women]] [[Category:Babylonian people]] [[Category:Ancient queens consort]] [[Category:Sippar]] [[Category:2nd-millennium BC births]] [[Category:18th-century BC deaths]]