the old Tawananna to die before she herself assumed the title and
became First Lady.
Under normal circumstances, that is. The anomalous position of
the Tawananna in an otherwise strongly patriarchal, male-oriented
society had the potential for causing much disruption within and
beyond the royal household. Especially if the bearer of the office
exceeded the bounds of her authority, or engaged in corrupt and
criminal practices. A couple of the Tawanannas allegedly did so. But
justice eventually caught up with them, as we shall see.
ARULER IN HER OWN RIGHT?
Thefirst historical reference we have to a Tawananna occurs in the
introductory words of Hattusili I’sAnnals.It was common practice
for a king to identify himself, at the beginning of important
documents or on his royal seals, by using his royal titles, and by
stating his relationship with one or more of his royal predecessors
(son of x, grandson of y etc.). Thus in hisAnnals, Hattusili
proclaims himself‘Great King, Tabarna, Hattusili, King of the Land
of Hatti, ruler of the city of Kussar’, and then adds that he was‘son
of the brother of Tawananna’.
These last words are unique in Hittite royal titulature, and there
have been many attempts to explain them. Do they, for example,
indicate some sort of avunculate system whereby the succession
passed from uncle (or aunt in this case) to nephew? Can you think of
other possibilities? Here’s an idea of my own. It is pure speculation,
and other scholars will disagree with it. I’m by no meansfirmly
wedded to it myself, but I don’t know of any argument that
categorically rules it out. So let me do a spot of limb-climbing.
I’ve already suggested that Tawananna was originally the personal
nameofthe highest-rankingfemalememberoftheroyalfamily. Aseal
in the shape of a Maltese cross, which records the genealogy of the late
fourteenth-century king Mursili (II) extending back at least eight
generations, names thefirst Labarna and a Tawananna as a royal
couple.^1 According to my own reconstruction of events, the coup in
Sanahuitta which overthrew and probably killed Labarna’s son and
likely successor, the new Labarna, may have left the king without a
PARTNERS IN POWER:THE GREAT QUEENS OF HATTI 197