Šiwat
Šiwat (nominative: Šiwaz "day") was a Hittite god who personified the day. It was also written with the sumerogram d UD “Deity day” or more often d UD.SIG 5 “Deity auspicious day”, the latter was obviously a euphemism for the day of death; this is confirmed by Hittite cult acts.
Šiwat or the “favorable day” was invoked during funeral rituals together with the “soul of the deceased”, the ancestors ( Hittite ḫuḫḫeš ḫanneš , meaning “grandfather-grandmothers”). In the cult of the goddess Ḫuwaššanna he is invoked together with the goddesses of fate Gulšeš and Ḫarištašši . The latter belongs to the household and family deities, so that there is a cultic connection between birth, fate and the day of death. In the city of Tauriša , the “auspicious day” is invoked along with the “small place”, probably an expression for the grave, and the “time of separation”, the hour of death.
In hattischem environment Izzištanu, a word formation suits him from Hattic izzu ( "low, kind") and Estane ( "Sun, Day").
See also
- Išpanzašepa , Hittite goddess of the night
literature
- Amir Gilan: Šiwatt-. In: Michael P. Streck (ed.): Reallexikon der Assyriologie und Vorderasiatischen Aräologie . Volume 12, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / Boston 2009-2011, ISBN 978-3-11-020384-4 , pp. 560-561.