Tunna

Coordinates: 37°30′52″N 34°34′46″E / 37.5144°N 34.5794°E / 37.5144; 34.5794
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This article is about the ancient city. For Latvian god Trunna (sometimes Tunna), see Latvian mythology. For a name list, see Tunna (name).
Tunna
Tunna is located in Turkey
Tunna
Shown within Turkey
LocationTurkey
RegionNiğde Province
Coordinates37°30′52″N 34°34′46″E / 37.5144°N 34.5794°E / 37.5144; 34.5794

Tunna or Dunna (Hittite: 𒌷𒁺𒌦𒈾[1]) was an ancient Anatolian city located at the foothills of the Taurus Mountains, near the town of Ulukışla and the Cilician Gates in southern Cappadocia.[2][3][4]

In classical antiquity Tunna was known as Tynna,[5] and it is known in the present-day as Porsuk Höyük[6] or Zeyve Höyük.[7]

History[edit]

Bronze Age[edit]

Tunna might have been founded during the Hittite Old Kingdom by the sons of the king Ḫattušili I, some time during the late Middle and early Late Bronze Age.[8]

Beginning with the reign of the Hittite king Šuppiluliuma I, Tunna was referred to in state treaties of the Hittite Empire as the cult site of the goddess Ḫallara, who headed the local pantheon.[6][9][1]

According to a bronze tablet and the Ulmi-Teššub treaty, Tunna was a location in the region of Tarḫuntašša in the Ḫūlaya River Land where the hypostasis of the storm god Tarḫuntaš bearing the epithet of piḫaššaššiš (𒁉𒄩𒀸𒊭𒀸𒅆𒅖) was venerated,[9][5] with piḫaššaššiš Tarḫuntaš (𒀭𒌋𒁉𒄩𒀸𒊭𒀸𒅆𒅖) possibly meaning lit. 'Tarḫuntaš of Lightning'.[10]

Tunna was mentioned alongside Ḫupišna and Zallara in a Hittite local deity list, and a Chief of the Cooks was responsible for the cult inventory of the country of Tunna.[5]

The Hittite magician Tunnawi or Tunnawiya might have been a native of Tunna, as suggested by the meaning of her name, meaning lit. 'Woman from Tunna' or lit. 'the mountain-god Tunna has sent her'. Tunnawi appears to have lived in the early 14th century BC, and she was the author of a ritual against impurity, a taknaz da ritual for the royal couple, a birth ritual, and a ritual of the cattle.[11]

Due to its strategic location at the Cilician Gates, Tunna was located on one of the main routes which in ancient times connected the Anatolian Plateau to the Syro-Mesopotamian region.[2]

Tunna (?)
Common languagesLuwian
Religion
Luwian religion
King 
• 8th century BC
Tarḫunazzas
• 8th century BC
Masauraḫisas (?)
Vassal of Tuwana
Historical eraIron Age
Preceded by
Hittite empire
Today part ofTurkey

Iron Age[edit]

Identification[edit]

Atuna[edit]

Although Tunna has been suggested as a possible location for the capital of the kingdom Atuna,[12] this latter kingdom was instead likely located further north, in northern Cappadocia.[13][14][15]

Since Atuna later obtained the territory of the Tabalian kingdom of Šinuḫtu, it was likely in the region immediately south of the Halys river's southernmost bend, to the immediate north of Šinuḫtu, and to the west of the kingdom of Tabal proper[13][16][17] and around the site which the present-day village of Bohça,[18] which was possibly its capital and where the king Kurdis of Atuna had erected a stele.[13][19][14][20][21]

Phonetically, the name Tunna could not represent a variant of a possible form *Atunna, since the initial /a/ did not disappear in the Luwian language, which also suggests against identifying Tunna with Atuna.[22]

Tuna[edit]

The country around Tunna might have corresponded to the lands of Upper Tuna (Hieroglyphic Luwian: 𔔱𔖱𔗔𔑢𔐤𔗔‎, romanized: sarras Tunas[23][24][25]) and Lower Tuna (Hieroglyphic Luwian: 𔐓𔐤𔖹𔗦𔗷𔑢𔐤𔔂‎, romanized: annantarris Tunas[23][24][25]) referred to in an economic inventory from the kingdom of Tabal proper recording the transfer of goods.[26]

History[edit]

In the 9th century BC, Tunna was destroyed during the campaign of the Neo-Assyrian king Shalmaneser III in the Tabalian region in 837 BC.[27]

The "silver mountain," Tunni, visited by Shalmaneser III during this campaign might have been identical with the site of Tunna,[28] and the country of Tunna might also have been identical with the country of Tuna mentioned in lead strips from the kingdom of Tabal proper, although this identification is still uncertain.[29]

During the 8th century BC, Tunna was a Tabalian petty city-state ruled by a king named Tarḫunazzas, who was himself a vassal of the king Warpalawas II of Tuwana.[30] In an inscription at the site corresponding to present-day Bulgarmaden, Tarḫunazzas recorded that, in exchange for his services, his overlord Warpalawas II had offered to him the Mount Mudi.[31][32][33]

Mount Mudi was a rocky outcrop of the Taurus Mountains near the Cilician Gates,[34] and was likely identical with the "alabaster mountain," Mount Mulî, which the Neo-Assyrian king Shalmaneser III climbed and from where he extracted alabaster during his campaign in the Tabalian region in 837 BCE. The name Mulî (𒈬𒇷𒄿[35][36][37][38]) was the Akkadian form of a Luwian original name Mudi (𔑿𔑣‎)[39][40][28][41] which had experienced the Luwian sound shift from /d/ to /l/.[31][33][42]

Based on the close association of Mount Tunni with Mount Mulî in the Neo-Assyrian records, both of these mountains were located close to each other, in the northeastern end of the Bolkar and Taurus Mountains, where are presently located the silver mines of Bulgarmaden and the gypsum mine at Porsuk-Zeyve Höyük.[31][2][33][43]

New defensive structures were built at Tunna during the reign of Warpalawas II.[27]

Another petty-king of Tunna who was vassal of the kings of Tuwana might have been Masauraḫisas, who possibly reigned in the middle or late 8th century BC,[2] and who is known from an inscription by his general Parḫwiras.[27]

List of kings of Tunna[edit]

Classical Antiquity[edit]

During the Hellenistic period, Tunna became known as Tynna (Ancient Greek: Τυννα, romanized: Tunna; Latin: Tynna),[5][5][28]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Prechel 2016, p. 188.
  2. ^ a b c d Beyer 2012, p. 47.
  3. ^ Simon 2013, p. 279-280.
  4. ^ Prechel 2016, p. 188-189.
  5. ^ a b c d e Prechel 2016, p. 189.
  6. ^ a b Taracha 2009, p. 86.
  7. ^ Bryce 2009, p. 145.
  8. ^ Beyer 2012, p. 48.
  9. ^ a b Taracha 2009, p. 117.
  10. ^ Singer 2005, p. 559.
  11. ^ Hutter 2014, p. 189.
  12. ^ Aro 2013, p. 389.
  13. ^ a b c Bryce 2009, p. 93.
  14. ^ a b Bryce 2012, p. 145.
  15. ^ Weeden 2023, p. 1000.
  16. ^ Bryce 2012, p. 145-146.
  17. ^ Bryce 2012, p. 278-279.
  18. ^ Weeden 2017, p. 730.
  19. ^ Weeden 2010, p. 59.
  20. ^ Simon 2013, p. 280.
  21. ^ Simon 2013, p. 290.
  22. ^ Simon 2013, p. 281-282.
  23. ^ a b Hawkins 2000b, p. 506.
  24. ^ a b Hawkins 2000b, p. 512.
  25. ^ a b Hawkins 2000c, p. 503.
  26. ^ Simon 2013, p. 284-285.
  27. ^ a b c Barat et al. 2022, p. 76.
  28. ^ a b c Weeden 2017, p. 727.
  29. ^ Weeden 2017, p. 727-729.
  30. ^ Bryce 2009, p. 152.
  31. ^ a b c Hawkins 1997, p. 414.
  32. ^ Bryce 2009, p. 148-149.
  33. ^ a b c Simon 2013, p. 280-281.
  34. ^ Bryce 2012, p. 152.
  35. ^ "Mulu [1] (GN)". Ancient Records of Middle Eastern Polities. Open Richly Annotated Cuneiform Corpus. Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich.
  36. ^ "Muli [MOUNT MULI] (GN)". The Royal Inscriptions of Assyria online. Open Richly Annotated Cuneiform Corpus. Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich.
  37. ^ "Muli [MOUNT MULI] (GN)". Textual Sources of the Assyrian Empire. Open Richly Annotated Cuneiform Corpus. Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich.
  38. ^ "Muli [MOUNT MULI] (GN)". Textual Sources of the Assyrian Empire. Open Richly Annotated Cuneiform Corpus. Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich.
  39. ^ Hawkins 2000b, p. 523.
  40. ^ Hawkins 2000a, p. 521-525.
  41. ^ Yakubovich, Ilya; Arkhangelskiy, Timofey. "BULGARMADEN". Annotated Corpus of Luwian Texts. Retrieved 25 March 2023.
  42. ^ D'Alfonso 2012, p. 178.
  43. ^ Streck 2014, p. 189-190.
  44. ^ Hawkins 2000b, p. 522.
  45. ^ Hawkins 2000c, p. 521.
  46. ^ Adiego 2019, p. 153.
  47. ^ Hawkins 2000b, p. 528.
  48. ^ Hawkins 2000c, p. 527.

Bibliography[edit]

37°30′52″N 34°34′46″E / 37.5144°N 34.5794°E / 37.5144; 34.5794

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