# Tawananna > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Tawananna > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Tawananna.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tawananna > Source revision: 1304480523 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|Title for the queen of the Hittites}} {{Portal|Asia}} [[File:Puduhepa.jpg | thumb | right | alt=Hittite relief from Firaktin, copy in the Museum of Kayseri: Puduhepa and Hepat. | Hittite relief from [Firaktin](/source/F%C4%B1rakt%C4%B1n_relief), copy in the [Museum of Kayseri](/source/Kayseri_Archaeology_Museum): Puduhepa (right) and [Ḫepat](/source/%E1%B8%AAepat) (left).]] '''Tawananna'''Also transliterated '''Tavannana''', is the title for the queen of the [Hittites](/source/Hittites), the king's consort, as long as she was living. Upon her death the title ''Tawananna'' passed to her daughter or the new king's consort, whichever was available to ascend. The Hittites were ruled by a [theocratic](/source/theocracy) [monarchy](/source/monarchy), in which the king's heir's wife did not succeed as ''Tawananna'' until the death of the reigning ''Tawananna''.This is the reconstruction, based on inscriptions, offered by [Margalit Finkelberg](/source/Margalit_Finkelberg), ''Greeks and Pre-Greeks: Aegean Prehistory and Greek Heroic Tradition'', (Cambridge) 2005, ch. 1. cf W.H. Stiebing, ''Ancient Near Eastern History and Culture'', p. 200. The ''Tawananna'' also had the duty of ruling when the King was away fighting in battle and was the High Priestess while the king was High Priest of the Hittite Empire. The main duties of Tawanannas were mainly religious. An example of a Hittite ''Tawananna'' was [Puduhepa](/source/Puduhepa), wife of [Hattusili III](/source/Hattusili_III). After the death of Hattusili III, Puduhepa took on the responsibility of communicating with the [Egyptian](/source/Ancient_Egypt) royal family and rulers of the Hittite vassal states. Because the title was reserved, it meant no ''Tawananna'' began the Ceremony of Enthronement to her king, until just after the previous Tawananna died. This often resulted in bitter rivalries between newly appointed queens and their stepchildren who would inherit the true power of the kingdom. Such an incident is noted in the translated version of a bilingual [Akkadian](/source/Akkadian_language)-Hittite cuneiform tablet, the ''Testament of [Hattusili](/source/Hattusili_I)''.A dynastic analysis of the ''Testament of Hattusili'' is an appendix to Finkelberg 2005:177ff. Tawananna is also a personal name of one queen. ==In fiction== * The Tawananna title becomes extremely important in the historical manga ''[Red River](/source/Red_River_(manga))'' by [Chie Shinohara](/source/Chie_Shinohara). The current Tawananna is the very manipulative and embittered Queen Nakia, who wants her son Juda to become the King at any costs; she summons the main protagonist, Yuri Suzuki, via magic to use her as a human sacrifice. However, Yuri turns out to be a very resourceful and caring young woman as well as a serious candidate to ascend to the Tawananna position after becoming the concubine and partner of Nakia's stepson and current heir, Kail Mursili; the rivalry between the ruthless Nakia and the kind-hearted Yuri becomes increasingly personal, and ultimately is one of the main drives of the plot as a whole. By the end Nakia is defeated and banished away, with Yuri taking the Tawananna title and reigning alongside Kail. * [Janet Morris](/source/Janet_Morris) wrote a detailed [biographical novel](/source/biographical_novel), ''I, the Sun'', whose subject was Suppiluliuma I. The Tawanannas Asmu-nikal, Daduhepa, Khinti and Malnigal are important figures in this novel, in which all characters are from the historical record, which Dr. Jerry Pournelle called "a masterpiece of historical fiction" and about which O.M. Gurney, Hittite scholar and author of ''The Hittites'',''The Hittites'', O.M. Gurney, Penguin, 1952 commented that "the author is familiar with every aspect of Hittite culture".''I, the Sun'', [Janet Morris](/source/Janet_Morris), Dell, 1983 Morris' book was republished by The Perseid Press in April 2013. ==Notes== {{Reflist}} ==External links== * [https://web.archive.org/web/20051230121322/http://www.atamanhotel.com/hattusilis.html "The Great Queen Puduhepa and the Great King Hattuşili III"] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20131212014413/http://www.hittites.info/history.aspx?text=history%2FEarly+Empire.htm Hittites.info webpage using the term] * [http://www.tawananna.com/articles Tawananna: Anatolian Queens] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161029053125/http://www.tawananna.com/articles |date=2016-10-29 }} * Category:Royal titles Category:Ancient queens consort Category:Ancient priestesses --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Tawananna](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tawananna) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tawananna?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.