Hattic mythology

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The Hattic mythology deals with the myths and stories of the gods of the Hattier as they were handed down by the Hittites . They can be grasped quite well on the basis of the sources, in contrast to Hattic cults, rituals and religious ideas, which cannot be satisfactorily separated from Hittite and other elements.

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All sources on the Hattic religion and mythology come from the Hittite archives . The Hattier themselves did not leave their own written evidence. However, it is difficult to work out genuine Hittite cultural elements, as the Hittite culture constantly absorbed and transformed foreign elements.

In research, criteria such as texts with Hattic passages - which are still barely understood - apply to originally Hattic , then festivals and rituals that contain Hattic names and terms, as well as events in connection with the old Hattic cult places Arinna , Zippalanda , Nerik and Laḫzan .

The purulliya festival has a hattish name, but it is difficult to determine what was genuinely hattic about it and what was added later. This also applies in part to the illuyanka myth associated with it.

Deities

The hattic deities (hatt. Šḫap) are often honored with the title “king” (hatt. Katte) and “queen” (hatt. Kattaḫ ), which enables the gender of a deity to be determined.

A Hittite birth ritual names Hattic deities and their places of worship: “The gods are given districts. The sun goddess sat in Arinna , and Ḫalmašuit sat in Ḫarpiša, Ḫatepinu in Maliluḫa as well, the protective deity in Karaḫna , the terrible Telipinu sat in Tawiniya , Ḫuzziya in Ḫakmiš . But there was no place left for Ḫannaḫanna; for them the place was humanity. « .

Eštan kattaḫ ("sun"; Heth. Ištanu ) is the sun goddess and mother of gods, who is particularly closely associated with her daughter Mezulla. Her nickname was Wurunšemu ("mother of the country"?). The eagle is their messenger. The goddess was adopted by the Hittites as the sun goddess of Arinna and was then the highest deity of the empire. The city of Ištanuwa is named after Eštan . The Hattier obviously did not know a male sun god, unlike the Luwian Tiwaz .

Mezulla is the daughter of the sun goddess and the weather god. Another name was Tappinu ("her daughter"). Hittite sources also name Zintuḫi (hatt. Zintu "grandson") as the granddaughter of the sun goddess.

Kašku ("lamp") was the moon god. From him a myth "The moon fell from the sky" is passed down. He wasequatedwith the Hittite moon god Arma .

Taru katte (also Šaru; heth. Tarḫunna ) is the weather god and father of gods. He rules over rain, thunder and lightning and storm, his attributes are club, lightning and the bull. It also has a close relationship with sources and is summoned from its source in a ritual. His vizier is participation. The myths call the father of the weather god, but the name has not been passed down. His children are Mezulla, Telipinu and Waššizil. Taru merged with the Indo-European Tarḫunna of the Hittites, the similarity of the name is likely to be coincidental. The Hattic name is tentatively used with the Mediterranean word sem . ṯawr and gr . ταῦρος (tauros), lat . taurus "bull" associated. A connection with the Anatolian mountains Tauros is also being considered.

Waššizil katte was the name of Ziplanda's weather god , who was also called “lion”. He is the son of Wurunšemu and Taru.

Šulinkatte katte ("des šuli king") is a sword god who wasequatedwith the Mesopotamian sword god Nergal (NÈRI.GAL / U.GUR). He is considered the father of Nerak's weather god.

The weather god of Nerak (Heth. Weather god of Nerikka) played an extremely important role in the Hittite cult. His weapon is the lance and his animal the lion. Zaḫapuna is named as his wife and Tešimi as his lover . Similarly, the mistress of the weather god of Laḫzan Tašimi is called. A third source mentions the wife of the weather god Taḫatenuit, mother of the springs , and his lover Tašimmet.

Wurunkatte ("the country's king") is a god of war. He is identified with the Mesopotamian god of war Zababa (ZA.BA 4 .BA 4 ).

Talipinu katte ("Strong Son"; Heth. Telipinu ) was the fertility god and son of Eštan and Taru, which is why he can also be described as the weather god who brings rain and thunder. Its symbol is the oak. He played an important role in the cult of the Hittites and Luwians, who equated him with Warwalijaš.

Ḫatepinu ("daughter of the sea"?) Is the daughter of the sea and wife of Talipinu,only mentioned in Hittite texts.

Inar (Heth. Inara) fights against the serpent demon Illuyanka with the help of the human Ḫupašija. It has only come down to us in Hittite texts. In the Hittite period, Inar was the protective deity of Ḫattuša (hatt. Ḫattuš).

Tašimi is the mistress of the weather god.

Kataḫziwuri ("Queen of the Land") is a goddess who performs incantations and cleansing rituals. Her servant is Ḫapantali. The Hittites and Luwians equated her with their goddess Kamrušepa .

Lelwani is the god of the underworld. It was adopted by the Hittites, but laterregarded as a goddessbecause of its equation with the Mesopotamian EREŠ.KI.GAL .

Eštuštaya & Papaya were fate deities whositon the shores of the Black Sea and spin the years of life of the (Hittite) king. They should beequatedwith the Hittite Gulšeš ("writers" of fate) and mother goddesses as well as the Hurrian goddesses Ḫudena and Ḫudellura .

Ḫannaḫanna (from Heth. Ḫanna "grandmother") bears a Hittite name, but she appears primarily in Hittic myths as a wise mother goddess whose advice the weather god takes in times of need. Your messenger is the bee.

Ḫanwašuit kattaḫ (to hatt. Niwaš “to sit”; het. Ḫalmašuit ) is the goddess of the throne.

Myths

Hattic myths are partly preserved in Hittite bilingualism , but partly only in the Hittite language. There is also a Palai version of the Telipinu myth . Only the beginning of many myths has survived.

Telipinu disappears

The myth of Telipinus (hatt. Talipinu) disappearance has been passed down in several versions, which differ slightly from one another. However, no Hattic text makes reference to it.

The angry Telipinu withdraws, paralyzing the fire and altars and rendering plants, people and animals sterile. When the sun goddess invites the gods to a feast, they are neither full nor drunk and the weather god notices that his son is absent. All the gods go in search and the sun goddess sends the eagle out, but in vain. Now Ḫannaḫanna sends the bee, which finally finds the Telipinu in a forest clearing near Liḫzina (hatt. Laḫzan) and stings him. He wakes up but becomes even angrier. Soothing rituals of the goddess Kamrušepa (hatt. Kataḫziwuri) soothe Telipinu and the land becomes fertile again.

Telipinu and the daughter of the sea

The myth of vanished deities also includes the disappearance of the sun goddess. The unnamed daughter of the sea is Ḫatepinu.

The sun goddess and the great sea quarrel and the sea catches her and keeps her captive in its chambers. Darkness sweeps across the land. The weather god sends his son Telipinu off. The sea god is afraid of the mighty Telipinu and releases the sun goddess and his daughter as well. Telipinu brings both women to his father. Now the god of the sea demands bridal money for his daughter, whom the god of weather has taken as daughter-in-law. He consults with Ḫannaḫanna and a bride price is negotiated. Telipinu now demands a groom's present from the god of the sea.

The demon Ḫaḫḫima

A fragmentary tablet found in Yozgat contains a similar myth.

The sea daughter calls out to her father from heaven, whereupon he curses the sun goddess. Then he talks to his daughter, the sun goddess, the weather god and his sister. After a gap in the text, the demon Ḫaḫḫima appears , paralyzing the earth and drying up the waters. In addition, the sun goddess disappears. ZABABA (hatt. Wurunkatte), LAMA (hatt. Inar?) And Telipinu go on a search, but are bound by Ḫaḫḫima. Finally the brothers of Ḫaššamili are called.

Moon falls from the sky

This myth has been handed down in a Hittite-Hittite bilingualism, but only partially. It is part of a ritual that is performed by the “man of the weather god” “when the weather god thunders terribly”.

The moon god Kašku falls from heaven onto the KI.LAM (market ?, gate building?) Of Lazan. The weather god Taru sees him and chases after him rain and wind, so that Kašku is afraid. Ḫapantili summons Kataḫziwuri, whose servant he is, to perform purification rites.

The sun builds a house

This story of the gods is also preserved fragmentarily as bilingual.

The sun goddess Eštan builds a house in Laḫzan . Then Šaru (Taru) and Lelwani summon the goddess Kataḫziwuri, who controls house building. A strong blacksmith is also called in to drive iron stakes into the loosened earth with a copper hammer.

Illuyanka

The Illuyanka myth has only come down to us in the Hethic language, but since the names of the people involved are primarily hattic, it is considered a hattic myth. It has come down to us in two versions. The original Hattic myth cannot be determined. This myth is very similar to the ancient myth of Typhon .

In the older version, Illuyanka defeats the weather god at Kiškilušša. Inar takes Ḫupašiya from Ziggaratta as an assistant and prepares a festival for Illuyanka. He and his children get drunk and Ḫupašiya ties them up. Those bound in this way are slain by the weather god. As a reward for Ḫupašiya, Inar built a house in Tarukka where they both lived as lovers, but on the condition that he was never allowed to look out of the window. When he does this anyway, he sees his wife and children and longs for home and is killed by the angry Inar.

In the younger version Illuyanka robs the weather god's heart and eyes. The injured party then fathered a son with the daughter of a “poor man” who married Illuyanka's daughter. As a groom's gift, he demands the heart and eyes of the weather god, which he gives back. The weather god now goes to the sea and kills Illuyanka and his family.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Annelies Kammenhuber : Das Hattische ; In: Handbook of Oriental Studies . Dept. I, Vol. 2, Sections 1 & 2. Cologne, 1969
  2. ↑ Cuneiform documents from Boghazköi 30.20
  3. ^ Gary M. Beckmann: Hittite Birth Rituals ; StBoT 29; Harrassowitz 1983. ISBN 3-447-02310-4 . P. 22f.
  4. ↑ heth. Ištanu was previously incorrectly regarded as the name of the male sun god.
  5. ↑ Jörg Klinger: Investigations into the reconstruction of the hattic cult class . Studies on the Boǧazköy texts, Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1996, ISBN 3-447-03667-2
  6. ↑ Volkert Haas : History of the Hittite Religion , p. 322; In: Handbook of Oriental Studies
  7. ↑ Catalog des Text Hittites 322
  8. ^ A b Catalog des Text Hittites 727

literature

  • Jörg Klinger: Investigations into the reconstruction of the hattic cult class . Studies on the Boǧazköy texts, Issue 37, Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1996, ISBN 3-447-03667-2 .
  • Volkert Haas : History of the Hittite Religion. Brill, Leiden, New York, Cologne 1994, ISBN 90-04-09799-6 ( Handbook of Oriental Studies . Dept. 1, Vol. 15).
  • Einar von Schuler : Asia Minor. The mythology of the Hittites and Hurrites . In: Gods and Myths in the Middle East . Ernst Klett Verlag, Stuttgart 1965.
  • Piotr Taracha : Religions of Second Millennium Anatolia . Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2009, ISBN 978-3-447-05885-8