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Document Details : Title: On the Origin of the Royal Title Tabarna / Labarna Author(s): SOYSAL, Oğuz Journal: Anatolica Volume: 31 Date: 2005 Pages: 189-209 DOI: 10.2143/ANA.31.0.2011757 Abstract : Cuneiform documents mostly designate Hittite rulers with the ordinary sumerogram titles LUGAL 'king' and LUGAL.GAL 'great king', and once the sumero-akkadogram mixture LUGAL kiššati 'king of the world'. Beside these there are two more special royal titles, which have been debated to date, especially in regard to their lexical origin. One of them is dUTU-ŠI, again with a sumero-akkadogram mixture spelling for the Akkadian word šamŠī 'My Sun'. It is usually translated as 'majesty'. This title appears in an official document for the first time during the first half of the fifteenth century B.C., in the treaty of the early Middle Hittite King Zidanza II with Pilliya, the king of Kizzuwatna. It is still an unanswered question, if this title was a genuine Anatolian product or was influenced by neighbouring cultures like Egypt. The other special royal title is Tabarna / Labarna, which goes back much earlier. It was in use since the Old Hittite Kingdom in the early seventeenth century B.C., and was known as having been the personal name of the first two Hittite rulers, who were the founders of the dynasty. Almost all the Hittite kings to the end of the Empire bore the title Tabarna / Labarna. |
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