Mursili’s Accusations against Tawannanna

About the Poem

In column 1, Mursili states that when he assumed the throne he had not interfered in any way with his stepmother Tawannanna’s acknowledged authority.  In column 2, Mursili accuses her of seriously abusing her power and of cursing his wife (who, we learn elsewhere, died as a result).  In column 3, Mursili exculpates his deceased wife from slanders of conspiracy with the maidservant Annella.

column 1

GIM-anmaza ABUYA DINGIR-ish kishat tawannannanma arnuwandash SHESHYA ammukka UUL kuitki idalauwahhuuen tepnuminan UUL kuitkiWhen my father died, Arnuwanda, my brother, and I did not harm Tawannanna at all, nor did we curtail her power in any way.
ELUGAL U KUR hatti ANA PANI ABIYA mahhan taparta ANA PANI SHESHYA QATAMMA-pat tapartaAs she had governed the palace and the land of Hatti during the reign of my father, in that same way she governed them during the reign of my brother.
mahhanmaza SHESHYA-ya DINGIR-ish kishat tawannannanma ammukka UUL kuitki idalauwahhun tepnununan UUL kuitkiAnd when my brother died, I also did not harm Tawannanna at all, nor did I curtail her power in any way.
ELUGAL U KUR hatti ANA PANI ABIYA U ANA PANI SHESHYA mahhan taparta apiyayat QATAMMA-pat tapartaAs she governed the palace and the land of Hatti during the reign of my father and during the reign of my brother, likewise she governed them then.

column 2

nu shumeesh DINGIR UUL ushkatteeni E ABIYA-kan mahhan huuman INA E hekur LAMMA INA ENA DINGIR neyatDo you, O gods, not see how she has turned all my father’s estate over to the house of the Protective god, the Stone House of the gods?
apaatma shanharaz huuinut apaatma hattushi huumanti antuhshanni paraa peshta nukan EGIR-an UUL kuitki daalishtaThis she let come from Babylon, and that she handed over in Hatti to the entire population, and she left nothing.
nu DINGIR UUL ushkatteeniDo you gods not see?
nushshi apiyaya UUL kuitki memahhun apaddankan sher ashshuli hannanunEven then I did not say anything to her and therefore I set it aright.
apaashma KAXU-ush anda hamanaktaShe shut up mouths.
nu UUL-ya kuit iyan eeshta apaashmattakkan paraa peshtaEven that which was not yet done she gave away.
nukan E ABIYA harniktaShe destroyed my father’s estate.
nammash idalauwannipat EGIR-an tiieetFurthermore, she even supported evil.
nash UD-ti GE-tiya ANA PANI DINGIR artari nu DAMYA hurzakizziDay and night she stands before the gods and curses my wife.

column 3

nashmatza DINU kuitki iyat nu MUNUSLUGAL-kan hanneshni kuedanikki tittanutDid my wife make it into a lawsuit and involve the queen in some trial?
nuza DAMYA ANA MUNUSLUGAL ishiyahhishkattallash kishat nukan aashma DAMYA annellan SUHURLA ISHTU EGAL kattan uiyatRather, my wife became an informer for the queen and behold, she banished Annella, the maidservant, from the palace.
addu manmaza DAMYA ANA MUNUSLUGAL ishiyahhishkattallash kishat nu idaalu kuitki iyatFurther, if my wife had become an informer for the queen, had she thereby done any harm?
MUNUSLUGAL apuun memian ANA DAMYA EGIR-pa washtul kuwat iyatWhy did the queen turn that matter into a sin of my wife?

Listen to the Poem in Hittite

Read by Theo van den Hout

Listen to the Poem in English

Read by Michael Cai

Historical Information

The preceding Hittite prayer of Mursili II was uttered after the death of his wife Gassuliyawiya around the ninth year of his rule during the fourteenth century BCE.  This king of Hatti–ancient Turkey–sought mainly to incriminate his late father’s widow, whose commands the servants of the palace and the people of the country had to obey.  As the image below shows, the tablets are broken and defaced.  The text presented here is portions of the poem which are completely preserved or confidently reconstructed.

Sources

Transliterated Hittite based on Stefano de Martino, “Le accuse di Muršili II alla regina Tawananna secondo il testo KUB XIV 4,” Eothen 9 (1998): 19-48; English translation taken from Itamar Singer, Hittite Prayers,Writings from the Ancient World, vol. 11 (Boston: Brill, 2002), 73-77.  Both are used by permission.

Curated by Edwin Hostetter, Department of Religion, George Washington University

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