Samuḫa

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Location of Kayalıpınar / Šamuḫa during the kārum period

Šamuḫa was a Hittite city ​​and an important cult place of the Šawuška in eastern Anatolia . In addition, the city was de facto the capital of the Hittite Empire when it was on the verge of decline under Tudḫaliya II due to the Kaška incursions .

location

Presumably, Samuḫa is identical to the archaeological site Kayalıpınar , which is 45 km below Sivas on the Kızılırmak River . The location on a river that can be navigated by boats and the mention of a bridge at Šamu beia in ancient Assyrian texts from Kültepe speak for this . According to the archaeologist Andreas Müller-Karpe , the geographical location as well as the size of the city of 20 hectares and the proximity to the safely localized Šarišša speak for this identification. A clay tablet fragment found in Kayalıpınar names the goddess d GAŠAN, a Sumerographic spelling for the goddess Ištar, which can be read as Šaušga in the Hurrian context . With this, Müller-Karpe comes to the conclusion: "The majority of the evidence therefore speaks in favor of the localization of Samuḫa at this place."

Nevertheless, there is the possibility of locating Šamuḫa at another place on the upper Kızılırmak or at best on the upper Euphrates , John Garstang suggests a location west of the Euphrates between Pingan and Malatya , or in Malatya ( Melidu ) itself.

In the vicinity of Šamuḫa were the not yet localized places Battijariga and Arzija.

history

During the early Karum period , Samuḫa was a station (wabartum) of the ancient Assyrian traders, which eventually developed into a trading colony (kārum) . The place was on a river and controlled a bridge. A palace is also mentioned. In the Hittite Empire, Samuḫa was an administrative center and an important cult city during the Hittite Empire.

After the Kaškäer under Tutḫalija II. Ḫattuša burned down, Šamuḫa was temporarily the residence of the Hittites. Also Muwatalli II. Resided briefly in Samuha before Tarhuntassa certain the new capital of the Hittite Empire. Before Ḫattušili III. usurped the Hittite throne, he acted partially from Šamuḫa. His opponent Muršili III. after he was deposed, fled to Samuḫa and was arrested there.

Cult city

Tudḫaliya I. or Tudḫaliya II. Introduced the cult of the “goddess of the night” (DINGIR.GE 6 , formerly also read as “black goddess”) from Kizzuwatna . Muršili II renewed and rearranged the cults in Šamuḫa, and built a temple that became the most important Šauška sanctuary of the Young Hittite Empire. Both cult reforms resulted in Hurrian cults being introduced in the city. Ḫattušili III. chose Šauška of Šamuḫa as his personal goddess, which increased her cult in importance. In his apology, in which he justified the seizure of the throne, this goddess plays a decisive role as his protector and patron, and finally to legitimize the usurpation. The cult continued to be held in high esteem by his successors; his son Tudḫaliya IV. , As crown prince, was also a priest in Šamuḫa.

Pirinkir , an original Elamite goddess who became known to the Hittites through Babylonian and Hurrian mediation , was also worshiped in the temple of the “goddess of the night” . The relationship between Šauška of Šamuḫa, Pirnikir and the "goddess of the night" is not clear, since all three forms are of the Ištar, the latter two clearly representing the astral aspect of this goddess, while the Šauška of the field of Šamuḫa represents the warlike aspect .

An important festival was celebrated in Šamuḫa, which took place on the banks of the river and some of the rituals were spoken in Babylonian (pabilili) , which shows the foreign origin.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Gojko Barjamovic: A Historical Geography of Anatolia in the Old Assyrian Colony Period ; Copenhagen 2011, ISBN 978-87-635-3645-5 , pp. 151-154.
  2. ^ Müller-Karpe: Kayalıpınar in Eastern Cappadocia. 2000, p. 363.
  3. ^ Piotr Taracha : Religions of Second Millenium Anatolia ; Wiesbaden 2009, ISBN 978-3-447-05885-8 , p. 98.

See also

literature

  • John Garstang : Samuḫa and Malatia . In: Journal of Near Eastern Studies . 1/4, 1942, pp. 450-459.
  • John Garstang: Hittite military roads in Asia Minor: a study in Imperial strategy . In: American Journal of Archeology . 47, 1943, pp. 35-62.
  • John Garstang, Oliver R. Gurney : The geography of the Hittite empire . British Institute of Archeology at Ankara, London 1959. (Occasional publications of the British Institute of Archeology at Ankara 5)
  • René Lebrun: Samuha, foyer religieux de l'Empire hittite. (= Publications de l'Institut Orientaliste de Louvain Series Volume 11) , Peeters, Louvain 1976.
  • Andreas Müller-Karpe: Kayalıpınar in Eastern Cappadocia. A new Hittite clay tablet find place. In: Communications of the German Orient Society. 132, 2000.