Sarruma

Sarruma hugs Tudḫaliya, relief from Yazılıkaya

In West Hurric mythology, Šarruma is the son of the highest pair of Hurrian gods, the goddess Ḫebat and the weather god Teššub . He is often referred to as the "bull calf of Teššub" and "mountain king".

Surname

The original origin and meaning of the name are unknown. In Hittite and Hurrian texts his name was connected to the Akkadian šarri "king", which is why the name could be written with the Sumerogram for king as LUGAL -ma . In the hieroglyphic Luwian his sign became a pair of walking legs, which is transcribed with SARMA.

distribution

Šarruma was originally a bull-shaped mountain god in the Syro-Anatolian border region.

Earlier research assumed that Šarruma was originally the Paredros of the goddess Ḫepat and then, ousted by Teššup, became the couple's son. According to more recent findings, Ḫebat has always been the companion of the weather god of Ḫalba . The Ḫebat-Šarruma couple were conceived as mother-son.

Hittites

After the Hittite great king Šuppiluliuma I installed his son Telipinu as a priest in Ḫalba, the cult came to the Hittites. Great King Tudḫaliya IV chose him as his personal patron god, Puduḫepa , the wife of his father Ḫattušili III. he appeared in a dream, whereupon she vowed to set up twelve sacrificial sites for him in the mountains. The seals of Ḫattušili's predecessor Urḫi-Teššup as crown prince of the great king Muwattalli II. , His father, show Urḫi-Teššup in the embrace of the god Šarruma. In the procession of the Hittite deities in Yazılıkaya he stands behind his mother Ḫebat on a leopard and is also shown in chamber B as the protector of Tudḫaliyas. He is depicted in the shape of a bull on the rock relief of Hanyeri . As the double deity Šarrumanni, Šarruma appeared among the Hittites as mediator and helper in need.

Iron Age Luwians

His worship continued in Syria and southeastern Anatolia during the Iron Age. Wasu-Saruma , king of the land of Tabal, always called him in his hieroglyphic Luwian inscription of Topada in second place after the supreme god, the weather god Tarhunza .

literature

• Volkert Haas : History of the Hittite Religion . (= Handbook of Oriental Studies . Volume 15). Brill, Leiden 1994, ISBN 90-04-09799-6 .
• Volkert Haas , Heidemarie Koch : Religions of the ancient Orient: Hittites and Iran . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2011, ISBN 978-3-525-51695-9 .
• Piotr Taracha : Religions of Second Millennium Anatolia . Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2009, ISBN 978-3-447-05885-8 .
• Annick Payne: Iron Age Hieroglyphic Luwian Inscriptions . Society of Biblical Literature, Atlanta 2012, ISBN 978-1-58983-269-5 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ so z. B .: Volkert Haas: History of the Hittite religion . Brill 1994, ISBN 90-04-09799-6 .
2. ^ Marie-Claude Trémouille: ^d Ḫebat. Une divinité syro-anatolienne . In: Eothen. 7, 1997, pp. 189f.
3. ^ Volkert Haas: Handbook of Oriental Studies. Brill, 1994, ISBN 90-04-09799-6 , p. 390.
4. ^ Piotr Taracha: Religions of Second Millennium Anatolia . Wiesbaden 2009, p. 91.
5. ↑ Kay Kohlmeyer : Rock paintings of the Hittite empire period. In: Acta Praehistorica et Archaeologica. 15, 1983, p. 90.
6. ↑ Horst Ehringhaus: Gods, rulers, inscriptions. The rock reliefs of the Hittite Empire in Turkey. Zabern, Mainz 2005, ISBN 3-8053-3469-9 , p. 78.
7. ↑ Volkert Haas, Heidemarie Koch: Religions of the ancient Orient: Hittites and Iran. Göttingen 2011, p. 241.
8. ↑ Annick Payne: Iron Age Hieroglyphic Luwian Inscriptions . Atlanta 2012, pp. 54-59.