Tikunani

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.

History[edit]

Middle Bronze[edit]

Mari Influence[edit]

Tigunānum is the older form of the name, appearing in texts excavated from Mari around the 18th century BC.^[1]^[2]^[3]

Hittite Influence[edit]

Tikunani is best known for a cuneiform document 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; see Tikunani Prism.^[4]

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.^[5]^[6] I has been suggested that this is a modern forgery.^[7]

"... 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. ..."^[8]

Late Bronze[edit]

Salvini assumes that Tikunani was a Hurrian-Akkadian state in northern Mesopotamia, which later merged into the Mittani Empire.

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 These texts are largely unpublished and in private collections; they were studied by M. Salvini and by W. G. Lambert in the late 1990s.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.^[3]^[9]

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).^[10] 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.^[11] It is held in a private collection of antiquities in England, and its provenance is unknown.^[11]^[12]

References[edit]

^ 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
^ De Zorzi, Nicla. “Another Teratomantic Tablet from Tigunānum.” Wiener Zeitschrift Für Die Kunde Des Morgenlandes, vol. 107, 2017, pp. 11–18
^ ^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.
^ Mirjo Salvini: The Ḫabiru Prism of King Tunip-Teššup of Tikunani. Istituti editoriali e poligrafici internazionali, Rome 1996
^ Collins, Billie Jean, "Ḫattušili I, The Lion King", Journal of Cuneiform Studies, vol. 50, pp. 15–20, 1998
^ Mirjo Salvini, "Una lettera di Hattušili I relativa alla spedizione contro Ḫaḫḫu", in Studi Micenei ed Egeo-Anatolici, vol. 34, pp.61–80, 1994
^ 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
^ 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
^ George, A. R. (2013). Babylonian Divinatory Texts Chiefly in the Schøyen Collection. Bethesda, Maryland: CDL Press. ISBN 978-1-934309-47-6.
^ 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.
^ ^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.
^ Bought on the Market. Archaeology Odyssey, Volume 02 Number 02, May/June 1999. Biblical Archaeology Society.

External links[edit]

Image of the Tikukani prism from Archaeological Odyssey archived at coupdefoudre.com. Accessed on 2017-10-12.
Tribes and Territories in transition^{[permanent dead link]} (PDF; the link doesn't work yet you can find the book on BnB, Amazon etc.)
"Wer findet Abraham?" (German)

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[1] 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

[2] De Zorzi, Nicla. “Another Teratomantic Tablet from Tigunānum.” Wiener Zeitschrift Für Die Kunde Des Morgenlandes, vol. 107, 2017, pp. 11–18

[Justel-3] 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.

[4] Mirjo Salvini: The Ḫabiru Prism of King Tunip-Teššup of Tikunani. Istituti editoriali e poligrafici internazionali, Rome 1996

[5] Collins, Billie Jean, "Ḫattušili I, The Lion King", Journal of Cuneiform Studies, vol. 50, pp. 15–20, 1998

[6] Mirjo Salvini, "Una lettera di Hattušili I relativa alla spedizione contro Ḫaḫḫu", in Studi Micenei ed Egeo-Anatolici, vol. 34, pp.61–80, 1994

[7] 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

[8] 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

[9] George, A. R. (2013). Babylonian Divinatory Texts Chiefly in the Schøyen Collection. Bethesda, Maryland: CDL Press. ISBN 978-1-934309-47-6.

[biggs-10] 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.

[JMedit-11] 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.

[bought-12] Bought on the Market. Archaeology Odyssey, Volume 02 Number 02, May/June 1999. Biblical Archaeology Society.

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