kingdom · Anatolia and the Levant

Tuwana

800 BCE – 700 BCE (approx.) · capital Tuwana

Tuwana, a Neo-Hittite kingdom around Tyana in southern Cappadocia, whose king Warpalawa is carved on the Ivriz rock relief.

Origins

Tuwana lay in the plain south of modern Niğde, in the region the Assyrians called Tabal. It emerged as a separate kingdom in the 8th century BCE around the old city of Tuwanuwa, later Greek Tyana.

Rule and society

King Warpalawa ruled with Luwian hieroglyphic inscriptions and is shown on the rock relief at Ivriz before the storm god Tarhunza, who holds grapes and ears of wheat, symbols of the land's fertility. He paid tribute to Tiglath-Pileser III of the Assyrian Empire in 738 BCE.

Decline and legacy

After Warpalawa, Tuwana fades from the record during the rise of Phrygia and the Cimmerian invasions of the 7th century BCE. Tyana remained an important city in Cappadocia.

Few sources survive for this state; details are uncertain.

Connections (1)

  • Tuwana was part of Tabal800 BCE – 700 BCE

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Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Tuwana. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/tuwana
MLA
“Tuwana.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/tuwana. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Tuwana.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/tuwana.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Tuwana’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/tuwana (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻