Atuna (state)

Atuna or Tuna  was a Luwian-speaking Syro-Hittite state which existed in the region of Tabal in southeastern Anatolia in the Iron Age.

Location
The exact location of Atuna is still unknown due to a present lack of Luwian inscriptions from the kingdom's capital, and, while the site of Zeyve Höyük, corresponding to classical Tynna, has been suggested as a possible location for the capital of Atuna, Atuna was instead likely located further north, in northern Cappadocia.

Since Atuna later obtained the territory of the Tabalian kingdom of Šinuḫtu, it was likely in the region immediately south of the Halys river's southernmost bend, to the immediate north of Šinuḫtu, and to the west of the kingdom of Tabal proper and around the site which the present-day village of Bohça, which was possibly its capital and where the king Kurdis of Atuna had erected a stele.

Neighbours
To the north, Atuna directly bordered on the southeastern boundaries of Phrygia.

Bronze Age
The site that later became Atuna might have corresponded to the city which was known as Adunuwa during the Hittite Empire.

Kingdom of Atuna
The kingdom of Atuna might have come into existence during the early 1st millennium BCE, and one of the state's early kings might have been one of the 24 kings of the Tabalian region who offered tribute to the Neo-Assyrian king Shalmaneser III ((r. 859 – 824 BCE)) during his campaign there in 837 BCE.

During the century following the campaign of Shalmaneser III, the kingdom of Atuna had absorbed several of the nearby small states in the Tabalian region, growing territorially and in status, and becoming one of the region's six main kingdoms, with the others being Tabal, Tuwana, Ištuanda, Ḫubišna, and Šinuḫtu. Atuna was nonetheless of lesser size and status than the kingdom of Tabal itself.

Submission to the Neo-Assyrian Empire
By c. 738 BC, the Tabalian region, including Atuna, had become a tributary of the Neo-Assyrian king Tiglath-pileser III ((r. 745 – 727 BCE)), possibly after his conquest of Arpad over the course of 743 to 740 BC caused the states of the Tabalian region to submit to him, or possibly as a result of a campaign of Tiglath-pileser III in Tabal.

Consequently, during the middle of the 8th century BCE, Atuna was ruled by the king Ašḫiti or Ušḫitti, who was paying tribute to Tiglath-pileser III to prevent attacks against his kingdom by the Neo-Assyrian Empire, with two instances of payment being attested in 738 and 737 BCE.

In the late 8th century BCE, Atuna was ruled by the king Kurdis, who bore a Luwianised Phrygian name (from *Gordiyas), and whose father Ashwisis might have been identical with the Assyrian-attested Ašḫiti/Ušḫitti. Kurdis was himself initially loyal to the Neo-Assyrian Empire during the rules of Tiglath-pileser III, Shalmaneser V, and the early reign of Sargon II.

After Shalmaneser V had deported the king Ḫulliyas of Tabal proper, the power vacuum there benefited Atuna by allowing it to become a local power in the Tabalian region.

In the early 710s BCE, the king Kiyakiyas of Šinuḫtu had broken his oath of allegiance to the Neo-Assyrian Empire, in response to which the Neo-Assyrian king Sargon II ((r. 722 – 705 BC)) reacted through cautionary action meant to deter the other Tabalian kingdoms from rebelling by invading Šinuḫtu in 718 BCE and deposing Kiyakiyas, after which he handed over the territory of Šinuḫtu to Kurdis of Atuna to reward him for his loyalty and to secure his allegiance to the Neo-Assyrian Empire.

The transfer of the lands of Šinuḫtu to Kurdis appears to also have resulted in the incorporation into his kingdom of the territories once ruled by Wasusarmas of Tabal proper in the northwestern part of his kingdom corresponding to the region of present-day Suvasa, Topada and Göstesin. Compacted with the removal of the removal of Wasusarmas himself and of his ally Kiyakiyas, this benefited Kurdis's kingdom of Atuna and stimulated the growth of his power.

At one point, Kurdis had erected a stele near what is presently the village of Bohça, close to the south of the southernmost bend of the Halys, in which he mentioned his hunting expeditions in this region, which he claimed the gods Tarḫunzas and Runtiyas had offered him.

Since Atuna abutted Phrygia in the north, it was one of the Tabalian kingdoms which were the most vulnerable to possible Phrygian attacks or to diplomatic offers from Phrygia, and Kurdis himself came under pressure from Midas to renounce Neo-Assyrian suzerainty and accept that of Phrygia, likely under threat of a Phrygian attack if he refused.

Between Phrygia and Assyria
Kurdis soon rebelled against Neo-Assyrian rule and accepted the overlordship of the king Midas of Phrygia. But, Sargon II's invasion of Tabal, which had by then been reorganised as Bīt-Burutaš, and his deportation of its king, Ambaris the son of Ḫulliyas, convinced Kurdis to defect back to Neo-Assyrian overlordship, and he sent envoys to Sargon II in Media to re-pledge his allegiance and pay tribute to the Neo-Assyrian Empire. Sargon II pardoned Kurdis, likely because Neo-Assyrian power in northwestern Tabal was too weak to enable any action against Kurdis.

Regained independence and rise
Meanwhile, the power vacuum created in the Tabalian region by the removal of Wasusarmas of Tabal and Kiyakiyas further intensified due to Sargon II's failure to put in place reliable vassals there and the consequent deportation of Ambaris of Bīt-Burutaš: this power vacuum in turn led to the further growth of the power of the kingdom of Atuna. And, around c. 710 BCE, Atuna and the nearby Tabalian state of Ištuanda jointly attacked and occupied some of the cities of Bīt-Burutaš which Sargon II had handed over to his loyal vassal, the king Warpalawas II of Tuwana. It is unknown whether Kurdis was still the king of Atuna by then.

The scholar Mark Weeden has suggested that Kurdis of Atuna might possibly have been identical with Gurdî of Kulummu who killed Sargon II in battle in 705 BCE, although there is no evidence to confirm or deny this identification.

List of rulers

 * ᵐAšḫiti or ᵐUšḫitti ( and  ), (r. undefined – undefined)
 * Ashwisis (possibly identical with Ušḫitti/Ašḫiti), (r. undefined – undefined)
 * Kurdis, (r. undefined – undefined)