Ankuwa

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On the map, Alışar Höyük is equated with Ankuwa, Ziplanda with Çadır Höyük and Arinna with Alaca Höyük

Ankuwa ( Hathetic : Ḫanikku; Altassyr . Amkuwa) was a Hittite city ​​in central Anatolia . It was believed to be south of the holy city of Zippalanda . Solemn processions took place between Zippalanda and Ankuwa, which were probably associated with the cult of the mountain god Taḫa .

The city's location is controversial. According to a Hittite itinerary of cult servants, the journey from Ḫattuša to Ankuwa took three days on foot, with overnight stays in Imralla and Ḫupigašša. According to popular opinion, it is equated with Alışar Höyük , Zippalanda with Çadır Höyük, 15 kilometers north of it, and Mount Taḫa with Kerkenes Dağı . M. Popko, on the other hand, locates the place at Eskiyapar , 10 km southeast of Alaca Höyük , which after him is Zippalanda, where the Kalehısar is the Taḫa. However, the latter places are commonly equated with the holy city of Arinna and the mountain Ḫulla.

According to an ancient Assyrian text from Kültepe , Amkuwa was temporarily allied with Sinaḫuttum (perhaps Šanaḫuitta ) and Kapitra and rebelled against Ḫatti .

Ankuwa was an important cult city with old ancestral hattic cults. The main goddess was "Ankuwa Queen" (hatt. Ḫanikkun Kattaḫḫa, Heth . Ankuwaš Kattaḫḫa). It is often mentioned in treaty texts, often together with the weather god of Zippalanda . The worship of this goddess also spread to neighboring cities.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Maciej Popko : Zippalanda and Ankuwa once more . Journal of the American Oriental Society 120/3, 2000, 445-448.
  2. Ronald L. Gorny: Hittite imperialism and anti-imperial resistance as viewed from Alişar Höyük . Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 299/300, 1995, 71