CHAPTER 20

Partners in Power:

The Great Queens

of Hatti

A

unique feature of Hittite society was the position held
by its First Lady. As we have seen, she is sometimes
specifically designated by the term Tawananna. Perhaps
of Luwian or Hattian origin, this term may originally have been the
personal name of thefirst Hittite queen, the female equivalent to
Labarna. But subsequently it came to be used as a title for a number
of her successors. The Tawananna’s primary role was that of Chief
Priestess of the Hittite realm. This in itself bestowed considerable
power and authority on her, in a state where secular and religious
authority were closely intertwined. She was also manager of the
royal household. This role too brought with it great power and
influence, for it gave her authority over the king’s harem of
concubines and the numerous offspring resulting from it, as well as
responsibility for the day-to-day running of the palace’s domestic
operations. What made her position all the more powerful was that
she held it for life. She may have started off as the wife or chief
consort of the reigning king. But if her husband died before her, she
remained Tawananna until her own death. This meant that she
could have been both a king’s wife and a new king’s mother, or
occasionally his sister or aunt or some other female relative. And if
the new king had a wife of his own, she would have had to wait for