AN.TAḪ.ŠUM festival
The AN.TAḪ.ŠUM festival was probably the most important sacrificial festival of the Hittites . It took place in the spring and lasted between 35 and 40 days. The festival is named after a spring plant. Most of the celebrations were held in the Hittite capital Ḫattuša , but there were also cult trips lasting several days, visiting important cities in the vicinity of the capital, including the two holy cities of Arinna and Ziplanda . The texts relating to the festival are listed in the catalog of the Hittite text under nos. 604–621 and 625.
The AN.TAḪ.ŠUM plant
The AN.TAḪ.ŠUM plant was an onion plant, probably a species of crocus, but garlic and fennel are also suggested. It must be a spring plant that symbolized the spring awakening to new life. The plant was offered to the gods along with other foods on the first, 32nd and 33rd day of the festival. The cult inventory included a large AN.TAḪ.ŠUM plant made of gold, which weighed more than one mine (about 500 grams).
The AN.TAḪ.ŠUM festival
The AN.TAḪ.ŠUM festival has been attested since the Great Empire and originally lasted 35 days. It was later extended by 3 days and since Tudḫaliya IV it has lasted 40 days. Since the festival was quite elaborate, some researchers believe that it should not have been celebrated every year. The festival consisted of various local spring festivals, which were combined to form a national festival of sacrifice, in which the royal couple played an important role.
The festival is described in four overview panels, the oldest from the 14th century BC. The youngest of King Tudḫaliya IV, who rearranged the festival. His predecessor Šuppiluliuma I also reorganized the festival, and there are indications that Muwatalli II also made innovations at the festival.
Course of the festival
On the first day the king and queen traveled to Taḫurpa, where sacrifices were made to the sun goddess of Arinna and the local sun goddess Taḫurpištanu, the horse god Pirwa and the local oath goddess Amamma. The next day there was a race at Tippuna and the royal couple then returned to Ḫattuša and bathed there in the tarnu house.
On the third day the cult journey of the divine kurša , a kind of cultic fleece, the Zitḫariya began . It was first brought to Ḫattuša by Arinna, on the fourth day to Tawiniya . On that day, a sacrifice for Zababa took place in the capital . After spending the night in Ḫiyašna, the kurša returned to Ḫattuša, where the weather god of Ziplanda was worshiped. The kurša was brought to the temple of the grain goddess Ḫalki on the sixth day , whereupon the storage vessel next to the weather god of Ziplanda was opened. A three-day festival of sacrifice followed with cattle and sheep sacrifices; Earth was brought from the ḫeštu house (ossuary, mortuary temple).
On the eighth day the king drove to Arinna, visiting several sacred groves along the way. He stayed at Arinna while the queen slept in the Queen's Palace in Ḫattuša. On the ninth day the king laid down the AN.TAḪ.ŠUM plant in Arinna, and the queen did the same in the queen's palace. On the tenth day the king returned to attuša.
In the following days the celebrations took place in the capital. On the eleventh day, the year was carried into the ḫeštu house, followed by the king, and later horse races took place, with a copper sickle being awarded as the winner's prize. On the twelfth day, the multi-day festival began in the temple of Ziparwa . At the same time the large wheat storage jar of the weather god of Ḫatti was opened and the ḫadauri battle was celebrated with sheep sacrifices in the temple of the sun goddess of Arinna . On the following days, several celebrations, libations and sacrifices for various deities were carried out, in which the royal couple and the princes took part. The celebrated deities included the sun goddess of the earth , the Palai weather god Ziparwa, the war god Zababa and the otherwise unknown deity Ḫannu. Part of these celebrations were celebrated in the boxwood grove by the stele of the weather god. On the 18th day the king sacrificed in the Pure Temple to the weather god Piḫašašši and the queen in the ḫalentu house to the sun goddess of Arinna. On the 21st day sheep were sacrificed to several deities and on the 22nd day the royal couple celebrated in the temple of Aškašepa.
The multi-day festival for Šauška from Ḫattarina began on the 23rd day, followed by several garden festivals for various deities, including the patron god of Tauriša , the mountain Tapala, Ea, the mother goddess or the weather god of Ḫuršanašša.
On the 32nd day, a multi-day cult trip began. The royal couple entered the temple of the patron god of Tauriša early in the morning and then made a pilgrimage to Mount Piškurunuwa. The king slept in Ḫaitta. The next day the king and queen climbed the mountain and celebrated at the enclosure of the holy stag of the sun goddess of Arinna and donated a libation to him. On the 35th day the queen sacrificed in Ḫarranašša to the sun goddess of Arinna, at the same time sacrificial animals were driven to Ziplanda, where on the 36th day a festival of sacrifices was celebrated, and the holy mountain Taḫa there was also visited. On the 37th day the cult trip led to Ankuwa , where the rain festival was celebrated the next day .
During the whole time there were large gatherings in different locations.
See also
literature
- Hans G. Güterbock : An Outline of the Hittite AN.TAḪ.ŠUM Festival. In: Journal of Near Eastern Studies . Vol. 19, No. 2, 1960, pp. 80-89, doi : 10.1086 / 371569 .
- Volkert Haas : History of the Hittite Religion (= Handbook of Oriental Studies . Dept. 1, Vol. 15). Brill, Leiden et al. 1994, ISBN 90-04-09799-6 .
- Piotr Taracha : Religions of Second Millennium Anatolia (= Dresden contributions to Hethitology. Vol. 27). Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2009, ISBN 978-3-447-05885-8 .
- Christian Zinko: reflections on the AN.TAH.ŠUM festival. (Aspects of a Hittite festival ritual) (= Scientia. 8, ISSN 1010-612X ). Scientia-Vertrieb, Innsbruck 1987.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Chapter The AN.TAḪ.ŠUM festival ritual. In: Volkert Haas: History of the Hittite religion. 1994, pp. 772-826.