Tunna, also Dunna or Atuna, was an ancient
Anatolia
Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The ...
n city. In
classical antiquity
Classical antiquity (also the classical era, classical period or classical age) is the period of cultural history between the 8th century BC and the 5th century AD centred on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ...
Tunna was known as
Tynna. Today it is known as
Porsuk Hüyük or
Zeyve Höyük.
Bronze Age
In
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second prin ...
, Tunna or Dunna was a city under
Hittite rule. The major deity of Tunna was the goddess Ḫallara. Additionally, the
storm god
A weather god or goddess, also frequently known as a storm god or goddess, is a deity in mythology associated with weather phenomena such as thunder, snow, lightning, rain, wind, storms, tornadoes, and hurricanes. Should they only be in charge of ...
with the
epitheton ''piḫaššašši'' was also venerated at Tunna.
Iron Age
In
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostl ...
, the city of Tunna was part of a city state called Atuna by the
Assyria
Assyria ( Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , romanized: ''māt Aššur''; syc, ܐܬܘܪ, ʾāthor) was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization which existed as a city-state at times controlling regional territories in the indigenous lands of the ...
ns. It is sometimes doubted Atuna really is identical with Tunna or if it lay far more north, right south of the
Halys river Halys may refer to:
* Health-adjusted life years (HALYs), a type of disability-adjusted life year which are used in attempts to quantify the burden of disease or disability in populations
* Halys River, a western name for the Kızılırmak River (T ...
. Doubtlessly, Atuna lay within the region called Tabal by the Assyrians, not to confuse with the state of
Tabal
Tabal (c.f. biblical ''Tubal''; Assyrian: 𒋫𒁄) was a Luwian speaking Neo-Hittite kingdom (and/or collection of kingdoms) of South Central Anatolia during the Iron Age. According to archaeologist Kurt Bittel, references to Tabal first appeare ...
which itself was located in the Tabal region and gave its name to the larger region. Three kings of Tunna are known: Ušḫitti, Ashwis(i), and Kurti.
Ušḫitti
Ušḫitti was a king of Tunna ruling ca. 740 BC. He is only known from Assyrian sources. Ušḫitti of Tunna was tributary to the Assyrian king
Tiglath-Pileser III
Tiglath-Pileser III ( Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , meaning "my trust belongs to the son of Ešarra"), was the king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from 745 BC to his death in 727. One of the most prominent and historically significant Assyrian kings, T ...
in 738 and 732 BC.
Ashwis(i)
Ashwisi is only mentioned in the
Hieroglyphic Luwian
Hieroglyphic Luwian (''luwili'') is a variant of the Luwian language, recorded in official and royal seals and a small number of monumental inscriptions. It is written in a hieroglyphic script known as Anatolian hieroglyphs.
A decipherment was pr ...
inscription of
Bohça, naming him the father of the succeeding king of Tunna, Kurti. It is not known if Ashwis(i) himself was king. However, based on the inscription of his son Kurti he can be dated to the 3rd quarter of the 8th century BC. Ashwis(i) may or may not be identical with Ušḫitti mentioned in Assyrian sources.
Kurti
Kurti was a king of Tunna mentioned in both Hieroglyphic Luwian and Assyrian sources. He ruled from 732 or at least 718 to 713 BC.
In 718 BC, the territory of Tunna was enlarged. The Assyrian king
Sargon II gave the Neo-Hittite state of Šinuḫtu to Kurti of Atuna after deporting Kiyakiya (Assyrian Kiakki), the king of Šinuḫtu, who withheld tribute from the Assyrians and conspired with king Mita of
Muški (
Midas
Midas (; grc-gre, Μίδας) was the name of a king in Phrygia with whom several myths became associated, as well as two later members of the Phrygian royal house.
The most famous King Midas is popularly remembered in Greek mythology for his ...
of
Phrygia).
In 713 BC, Kurti himself conspired with Mita of Muški but confronted with the fate of Ambaris, king of Tabal, who conspired with
Urartu
Urartu (; Assyrian: ',Eberhard Schrader, ''The Cuneiform inscriptions and the Old Testament'' (1885), p. 65. Babylonian: ''Urashtu'', he, אֲרָרָט ''Ararat'') is a geographical region and Iron Age kingdom also known as the Kingdom of V ...
and Muški and therefore was deported to Assyria by Sargon II, Kurti changed sides to Assyria again.
Kurti himself left a Hieroglyphic Luwian inscription in Bohça. The inscription informs about Kurti's hunting success and how he was favored by the storm god Tarḫunza and by the stag god
Runtiya __NOTOC__
Runtiya was the Luwian god of the hunt, who had a close connection with deer. He was among the most important gods of the Luwians.
Name
The name was written in the Luwian cuneiform of the Bronze Age as , which can be read as *Runtiya ...
, who gave territories and wild animals to him. The inscription of Bohça may or may not have been used as a mark of Kurti's hunting territory.
In 2017, Zsolt Simon argued that the
Luwian name Kurti (Kurtis) reflects the name ''Gordios'', and that this name was borrowed from
Phrygian language
The Phrygian language () was the Indo-European language of the Phrygians, spoken in Anatolia (modern Turkey), during classical antiquity (c. 8th century BC to 5th century AD).
Phrygian ethno-linguistic homogeneity is debatable. Ancient Greek aut ...
into the Luwian, and not the other way around, as proposed by other scholars. So Kurti may have belonged to the Phrygian ethnicity.
[Zsolt Simon (2017)]
Kurtis: A Phrygian Name in the Neo-Hittite World.
News from the Lands of the Hittites. Scientific Journal for Anatolian Research 1 (2017) 113-118
Literature
* Piotr Taracha: ''Religions of Second Millennium Anatolia''. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2009.
* Trevor Bryce: ''The World of the Neo-Hittite Kingdoms: A Political and Military History''. Oxford University Press: Oxford, New York 2012.
* Christian Marek, Peter Frei: ''Geschichte Kleinasiens in der Antike''. Verlag C.H.Beck, Munich 2010.
* Annick Payne: ''Iron Age Hieroglyphic Luwian Inscriptions''. Society of Biblical Literature, Atlanta 2012.
* Gwendolyn Leick: ''Who's Who in the Ancient Near East''. Routledge, London 1999, 2002.
References
{{coord, 37.5144, N, 34.5794, E, source:wikidata, display=title
Hittite cities
Syro-Hittite states