Kingship

From about the seventeenth to the early twelfth centuries BCE, the Hittite kingdom and empire were centered in central Anatolia and at times controlled territories in northern Syria. Kingship joined political rule to responsibilities within the state cult: the king made decisions for the realm and also served as its chief priest. Queens, royal relatives and officials could take part in administration, adjudication and diplomacy. This account concerns the Late Bronze Age kingdom, rather than the earlier Assyrian merchant colonies or the later Syro-Anatolian states.

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The Great King and the royal court

Hittite rulers used the title Great King. It expressed their standing as sovereigns, including in diplomacy with other powerful courts. In correspondence between Hatti and Egypt, the rulers addressed one another as brothers, a formal language of royal equality. Such diplomatic convention did not remove political rivalry, but it gave rulers a shared framework for treaties, letters and dynastic arrangements.

The king’s work involved more than issuing commands. Royal decisions appear in legal cases, official correspondence and documents authenticated by seals. The court also connected the royal family to military and administrative positions. In a letter to the Egyptian king Ramesses II, Puduḫepa described raising children in the royal household, including children who had been there before her marriage, and preparing some for military office. Her account presents the household as part of the machinery of rule, although it is also a queen’s own description of her role rather than a general record of appointments.

Royal relatives could therefore be political actors, not simply members of a private family. Their claims to the throne, court influence and marriages affected relations within the kingdom and with neighboring powers. The succession struggles recalled in the Proclamation of Telepinu show how disputes among royal kin could become a matter of state.

Succession and the Proclamation of Telepinu

Issued during Telepinu’s reign, in the sixteenth century BCE, the Proclamation of Telepinu combines a royal account of earlier events with rules for succession. Its narrative recalls conflicts over the throne, while its prescriptions set out a preferred order for choosing a ruler. The retrospective narrative uses earlier royal conflicts to explain the need for a succession settlement.

The succession passage is commonly understood to give priority to a son of the principal wife, followed, if there was no such son, by a son of secondary rank. If the king had no male heir, the husband of a daughter of the first rank could become king. The order sought to settle competing claims before a vacancy produced another struggle.

The proclamation gives the Pankus, an assembly at court, a role in confronting violence within the royal family. Royal relatives accused of wrongdoing were to be dealt with through stated procedures, and punishment was not to engulf an offender’s entire household indiscriminately. The text sought to restrain the cycles of revenge that had damaged earlier reigns.

The queen and the tawananna office

The tawananna was the reigning queen in a continuing office. A queen could retain it after her husband died, so the next king’s wife did not necessarily become the senior queen immediately. The incumbent’s position gave her religious authority and a place in the court alongside a new generation of rulers.

The queen’s role had religious and administrative dimensions. She served as a leading priestess in the state cult and oversaw aspects of palace life. Some accounts also associate queens with governing when the king was away. The Proclamation of Telepinu’s succession provisions and the queen’s religious office belonged to different aspects of royal authority: one addressed who could rule, while the other gave the queen her own continuing responsibilities.

Puduhepa’s title of Great Queen reflects this senior position. Her career shows a queen participating in cult, legal decisions and foreign relations while maintaining authority beyond her husband’s reign.

Puduḫepa and the politics of the thirteenth century BCE

Puduḫepa came from Lawazantiya in Kizzuwatna, south of the Hittite kingdom, where she served as a priestess of the goddess Shaushka. She married Hattusili III, who came to the throne after a civil conflict with his nephew, Urhi-Teshub, also known as Mursili III. Because the accession was politically contested, support within the court and recognition abroad mattered to Hattusili’s rule. Puduḫepa became an active partner in that setting, rather than a figure confined to ceremonial duties.

Evidence associates her with judicial affairs from early in her marriage. She took part with Hattusili in a prolonged case concerning his relative Arma-Tarhunda, and she was present as the king issued decisions. Puduḫepa had her own seal, managed aspects of the royal palaces and judged cases. After Hattusili’s death, she remained active during at least the early part of the reign of their son, Tudhaliya IV, including in legal matters involving Hittite dependents in Syria.

Puduhepa exchanged letters with Ramesses II and his queen Nefertari during the peace between Egypt and Hatti. Correspondence addressed royal marriages, gifts and the relationship between the courts. Her own seal and direct communication gave the queen a recognised voice in diplomacy rather than requiring every message to pass solely through the king.

Ritual duties and the work of rule

Religious service was a central responsibility of Hittite kingship. The king served as high priest, while the queen held a senior priestly role. These offices linked royal authority to the performance and organization of state worship. They were not separate from political life: the queen’s standing at court could support her involvement in administration and decisions, while the king’s priestly duties formed part of his obligations as ruler.

Puduḫepa’s career makes this combination especially clear. Before her marriage she was a priestess of Shaushka; as queen, she became closely involved in Hittite religious practice. Texts associate her with collecting and arranging festival writings and prayers, and with linking Hittite deities to Hurrian counterparts. Her religious work sat alongside her court judgments and diplomatic correspondence. Hittite kingship thus depended on a royal household in which political decisions, succession, foreign relations and ritual responsibilities were closely connected.

For the wider setting, see Hittite historical context.