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Tikunani

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Tikunani (or Tigunānum) was a small Hurrian city-state in Mesopotamia around the middle of the second millennium BC. The name refers to both the kingdom and its capital city.

Sources[edit]

All known sources are of unknown provenance. Three tablets and two prisms, one administrative and one the Tikunani Prism are held in a private collection and have been published.[1] Eleven tablets, five omen compendia, five administrative, and one lexical are held in the Schøyen Collection and have been published.[2][3] Fifteen omen tablets are held in Japan in the Hirayama collection, yet unpublished. Two tablets, one omen and one administrative are held in separate private collections and have been published.[4][5] It has been reported that about 400 further tablets are held in a private collection, of which 17 have been published.[6]

History[edit]

Tigunānum is the older form of the name, appearing in texts excavated from Mari around the 18th century BC.[7][8]

Hittite Influence[edit]

Tikunani is best known for a cuneiform document, the Tikunani Prism, from the reign of Tunip-Teššup (a Hurrian-named king, contemporaneous with Hattusili I of the Hittites, around 1620 BC) containing a list of names of Habiru soldiers.[9]

There is a tablet, in Akkadian, from a Hittite king named only by the title "tabarna" and written to a vassal king, Tuniya (possible the same as Tunip-Teššup), the ruler of Tikunani. In the letter the king extorts his vassal for support him in an attack against the city of Ḫaḫḫum who have been dealing with the Mitanni. The tablet is thought to date to the reign of Hittite ruler Hattusili I though that is not certain.[10][1] I has been suggested that this is a modern forgery.[11]

"... be a man with respect to the man of Hahhum. Devour his food rations like a dog! The oxen which you take shall be your own. The sheep and goats which you take shall be your own. Be a man with respect to him! I from this side, and you from that side. ..."[12]

Excavation History[edit]

Cuneiform tables from Tikunani were illegally excavated in the late 1980s, possibly in the area around Diyarbakir or Bismil, but more likely from the region of the Upper Ḫabūr river. These texts are largely unpublished and in private collections; they were studied by M. Salvini and by W. G. Lambert in the late 1990s. Lambert's research was not published, however it has been dealt with in partial form via the work of A. R. George, appearing as an appendix of his 2013 Babylonian Divinatory Texts Chiefly in the Schøyen Collection.[8]

Tikunani Prism[edit]

The Tikunani Prism is a clay artifact with an Akkadian cuneiform inscription listing the names of 438 Habiru soldiers of King Tunip-Teššup of Tikunani (a small North Mesopotamian kingdom).[13] This king was a contemporary of King Hattusili I of the Hittites (around 1620 BC).

The discovery of this text generated much excitement, for it provided much-needed fresh evidence about the nature of the Habiru (or Hapiru) and their possible connection to the Biblical Hebrews. However, the majority of Tunip-Tessup's Habiru soldiers recorded in the text had Hurrian names that could not be explained in any Canaanite language (the family which Hebrew belongs to) or any other Semitic language. The rest of the names are Semitic, except for one Kassite name.

The Prism is 8½ inches tall, with a square base roughly 2 by 2 inches.[14] It is held in a private collection of antiquities in England, and its provenance is unknown.[14][15]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Mirjo Salvini, "Una lettera di Hattušili I relativa alla spedizione contro Ḫaḫḫu", in Studi Micenei ed Egeo-Anatolici, vol. 34, pp.61–80, 1994
  2. ^ A. R. George, "Babylonian Divinatory Texts Chiefly in the Schøyen Collection. With an Appendix of Material from the Papers of W. G. Lambert", CUSAS 18 = MSCCT 7, Bethesda, CDLI Press, 2013 ISBN 978-1-934309-47-6
  3. ^ Civil, M., "The Lexical Texts in the Schøyen Collection" CUSAS 12, Winona Lake, 2010
  4. ^ Akdoğan, R. and Wilhelm, G., "Ein Täfelchen über Gerstenrationen aus Tigunanu(?)", AoF 37, pp. 159–62, 2010
  5. ^ De Zorzi, Nicla, "Another Teratomantic Tablet from Tigunānum", Wiener Zeitschrift Für Die Kunde Des Morgenlandes, vol. 107, pp. 11–18, 2017
  6. ^ [1]Weeden, Mark, "Hurrian in a Tablet from Tigunānum", talugaeš witteš. Ancient Near Eastern Studies Presented to Stefano de Martino on the Occasion of his 65th Birthday, hrsg. v. Cammarosano, Michele, Devecchi, Elena, Viano, Maurizio (Kasion 2), pp. 469-488, 2020
  7. ^ Nicla De Zorzi (2017) “Teratomancy at Tigunānum: Structure, Hermeneutics, and Weltanschauung of a Northern Mesopotamian Omen Corpus.” Journal of Cuneiform Studies, vol. 69, pp. 125–50
  8. ^ a b Justel, Josue J. (2018). "Remarkable Women from Tikunani - The Role of Women in Palatial Administration". In Budin, Stephanie Lynn (ed.). Gender and methodology in the ancient Near East - Approaches from Assyriology and Beyond. Universitat de Barcelona. pp. 117–128. ISBN 978-84-9168-073-4.
  9. ^ Mirjo Salvini: The Ḫabiru Prism of King Tunip-Teššup of Tikunani. Istituti editoriali e poligrafici internazionali, Rome 1996
  10. ^ Collins, Billie Jean, "Ḫattušili I, The Lion King", Journal of Cuneiform Studies, vol. 50, pp. 15–20, 1998
  11. ^ Ünal, Ahmet, "Word Play in Hittite Literature?", Hittite Studies in Honor of Harry A. Hoffner Jr. on the Occasion of His 65th Birthday, edited by Gary Beckman, Richard H. Beal and Gregory McMahon, University Park, USA: Penn State University Press, pp. 377-388, 2003
  12. ^ Cox, Rory, "Hatti: Ius in bello; Concepts and Practices", Origins of the Just War: Military Ethics and Culture in the Ancient Near East, Princeton: Princeton University Press, pp. 234-266, 2023
  13. ^ Robert D. Biggs, Review of Mirjo Salvini's The Habiru prism of King Tunip-Teššup of Tikunani. Journal of Near Eastern Studies volume 58 issue 4, October 1999, p. 294.
  14. ^ a b Jack Meinhardt, The Two Faces of the AIA: Why the Strongarm Tactics? Editorial, Archaeological Odyssey, Volume 04 Number 02, May/June 2001. Biblical Archaeology Society. Online version archived at coupdefoudre.com, accessed on 2009-06-29.
  15. ^ Bought on the Market. Archaeology Odyssey, Volume 02 Number 02, May/June 1999. Biblical Archaeology Society.

Further reading[edit]

  • Belmonte Marín, Juan Antonio, "El "horizonte geográfico" del Reino de Tigunānum (ca. 1620 a.C)" "Sentido de un empeño". Homenatge a Gregorio del Olmo Lete, hrsg. v. Lluís Feliu Mateu, Adelina Millet Albà, Jordi Vidal Palomino (Barcino. Monographica Orientalia 16)., pp. 83-116, 2021
  • Freydank, Helmut and Prechel, Doris, "Nochmals zum Brief des Labarna an Tunija von Tikunani" talugaeš witteš", Ancient Near Eastern Studies Presented to Stefano de Martino on the Occasion of his 65th Birthday, hrsg. v. Cammarosano, Michele, Devecchi, Elena, Viano, Maurizio (Kasion 2), pp. 193-202, 2020
  • Thomas Richter, "Anmerkungen zu den hurritischer Personennamen der hapiru-Prismas aus Tigunana", in General |Studies and Excavations at Nuzi, vol. 10/2, Studies on the Civilization and Culture of nuzi and the Hurrians, vol. 9 Bethseda, Maryland, pp. 125-134, 1998
  • Salvini, Mirjo, "Alcuni nuovi testi dell'archivio di Tikunani", Nomina in aqua scripta. Homenaje a Joaquín María Córdoba Zoilo, hrsg. v. Adolfo J. Domínguez Monedero, pp. 571-584, 2021

External links[edit]


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