Puduḫepa

Puduhepa
The figure on the right is queen Puduḫepa
Other names	Tawananna
Title	Queen of the Hittites
Spouse(s)	King Hattusili III
Children	Tudhaliya IV Maathorneferure Kiluš-Ḫepa
Parent(s)	Bentepsharri

Puduḫepa (fl. 13th century BCE) was a Hittite queen married to the King Hattusili III. She has been referred to as "one of the most influential women known from the Ancient Near East."

Puduḫepa was born at the beginning of the 13th century BCE in the city of Lawazantiya in Kizzuwatna (i.e. Cilicia, a region south of the Hittite kingdom). Her father Bentepsharri was the head priest of the tutelary divinity of the city, Ishtar, and Puduḫepa grew up to exercise the function of priestess of this same goddess.

On his return from the Battle of Kadesh, the Hittite general Hattusili met Puduḫepa and, it was said, Ishtar instructed him to take her as his wife. She went with him then to the kingdom of Hapissa. When her spouse successfully rose to the Hittite throne by defeating his nephew Mursili III, Puduḫepa became a queen.

Puduḫepa had an important role to play in the Hittite court and international diplomacy of the period. She would appear constantly by the side of her husband as he made his rulings and decisions. It appears however that she was portrayed reigning hand in hand with her husband rather than subservient to the king.

She played an important role in diplomacy with Ancient Egypt. Puduḫepa communicated several times with the king of Egypt Ramesses II as he signed a peace treaty with Hattusili, in which Hattusili agrees that two of his daughters should go to Egypt to marry Ramesses.

A diplomatic marriage between King Kadashman-Enlil II of Babylonia may have been in the offing with Puduḫepa matchmaking Kadashman-Enlil’s betrothal to one of her daughters.