Appu fairy tale

The Appu fairy tale is a Hurritian story about the hero Appu and his two sons "Bad" and "Righteous". The history is only partially preserved. The fragment of the fairy tale The Fisherman and the Cow is possibly a continuation of the Appu fairy tale.

The text of the Appu fairy tale ( CTH 360) was found in the archives of the Hittite capital Ḫattuša . It is a translation of the originally Hurrian fairy tale into Hittite . The story begins with a prologue that good people would be exalted, but bad people would be felled like wood. Then the sexual problems Appus with his wife are discussed and that he is therefore childless. Nevertheless, with the help of the sun god, he fathered two sons whom he called “bad” and “righteous” and who quarreled over the inheritance.

Web links

• Translation of the Hittite text by Hethport

literature

• Einar von Schuler : Asia Minor. The mythology of the Hittites and Hurrites. In: Hans Wilhelm Haussig , Dietz Otto Edzard (Hrsg.): Götter und Mythen im Vorderen Orient (= dictionary of mythology . Department 1: The ancient cultures. Volume 1). Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 1965.
• Jana Siegelová: Appu fairy tales and Ḫedammu myth (= studies on the Boǧazköy texts . Volume 14). Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1971, ISBN 3-447-01323-0 .
• Gary M. Beckman: Hittite Birth Rituals . Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1983, ISBN 3-447-02310-4 .