There is just one other reference to a Tawananna in Hattusili’s
reign. This one is the subject of a virulent decree:
In future let no-one speak the Tawananna’s name. Let no-
one speak the names of her sons or her daughters. If any of
the sons of Hatti speaks them they shall cut his throat and
hang him in his gate. If among my subjects anyone speaks
their names he shall no longer be my subject. They shall cut
his throat and hang him in his gate.^3Who was this person who so aroused the king’s wrath? Perhaps it
was the king’s wife, who may have been accorded the title after her
husband’s accession. If so, then it was her children, at least two of
whom had been disowned by their father for their treachery, who
were included in thedamnatio memoriae. But it’s possible that for
one reason or another the office of Tawananna had been held by
Hattusili’s sister. Her son had now been rejected as her brother’s
successor. And she herself, along with all her children, had
constantly set themselves against the king. Perhaps she and her
family were the objects of the decree.
THE WICKED STEPMOTHER
In any case, the office itself survived. Some of the later Tawanannas
may well have performed their duties loyally and inconspicuously–
so much so that we don’t even hear about them. But others
proved highly problematical. Most notorious among them was
the Babylonian wife of Suppiluliuma, who was accorded the title
Tawananna, and used it also as a personal name. The circumstances
of her marriage to Suppiluliuma remain uncertain. It appears,
however, that Suppiluliuma had put aside (perhaps banished?) his
former wife Henti, the mother of hisfive sons, to make way for
his new marriage. No doubt reasons of state were a prime motive for
his actions. In any case the Babylonian Tawananna outlived him,
and continued to enjoy all the privileges and powers of her office
through the brief reign of hisfirst successor Arnuwanda II and part
of the reign of Arnuwanda’s brother and successor Mursili II.
PARTNERS IN POWER:THE GREAT QUEENS OF HATTI 199