Tunna

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

Bronze Age

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 languages	Luwian
Religion	Luwian religion
King
• 8th century BC	Tarḫunazzas
• 8th century BC	Masauraḫisas (?)
Vassal of Tuwana
Historical era	Iron Age
Preceded by Hittite empire
Today part of	Turkey

Iron Age

Identification

Atuna

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

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

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

• Tarḫunazzas (Hieroglyphic Luwian: 𔓢𔕙𔐤𔖫𔐓𔖪𔗦𔗷‎;^[44][45] r. 8th century BC)
• Masauraḫisas^[46] ? (Hieroglyphic Luwian: 𔒅𔗔𔖙𔖱𔗒𔑷𔗦‎;^[47][48] r. unknown)

Classical Antiquity

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

References

Bibliography

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• t
• e

Syro-Hittite states and cities

Luwian states

Tabal	Tabal Tuwana Atuna Ḫubišna Šinuḫtu Ištuanda
Kammanu	Melid
Kummuh	Samsat
Quwê	Karatepe Adana
Hilakku
Gurgum	Marqas
Carchemish	Carchemish

Aramaean states

Palistin	Kinalua
Unqi-Pattina	Kinalua
Bit Gabbari	Sam'al
Bit Adini	Til Barsip
Bit Bahiani	Guzana
Bit Agusi	Arpad Nampigi Halab
Luhuti	Hatarikka Shuksi
Hamath	Hamath

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