Deer hyton from the Norbert Schimmel collection

The deer hyton from the Norbert Schimmel collection is a Hittite animal vessel that was used in cult. It shows a scene of worship of two deities, who can be identified as the patron god of the hallway and his companion Ala on the basis of the iconography and the hieroglyphic Luwian inscriptions .

description

The silver rhyton comes from Anatolia and is used in the 15th to 13th centuries BC. Dated. Its height is 18 cm. It belongs to the Norbert Schimmel Collection in New York.

The rhyton has the shape of a lying deer, with the rear part omitted so that the opening for the sacrificial drink could be filled and emptied from openings in the chest. The deer is wearing a collar. A picture book with a scene of worship runs around the opening of the abdomen. Inside there are two inscriptions with golden signs of the hieroglyphic Luwian script, which name the deities represented.

The most dominant person in the scene is an enthroned goddess with a drinking bowl in her left hand and an eagle in her right hand. She wears a pointed hat and a robe that extends to the ground. The inscription between the head and the eagle probably names the goddess Ala: á-x (DEUS _x ) FILIA. The feet of the chair she is sitting on are shaped like deer claws. Next to the goddess is a smoking age. In front of her stands a beardless god on a stag with a crook in his left hand and an eagle in his right. He is unarmed and wears a short skirt and pointed shoes. The inscription names the patron god : (DEUS _x ) CERVUS _x . Two men approach the two deities, the one in front pours a libation on the floor, the second brings an offering cake. Behind it is a kneeling man with a libation cup. Two lances are set up behind the goddess Ala, with their tips turned downwards. Behind it is a tree that can be interpreted as an eya tree based on Hittite ritual texts . Underneath there is a stag, which may have been shot, and a quiver and a kurša hunting bag are hung above it . All objects were used in the worship of the patron god.

interpretation

The depicted cult objects behind the deities find a parallel in a Hittite ritual text (KBo 54.143; 13th century BC). After this, spears are placed in front of a deity and then a billy goat is sacrificed to the protective god ( ^d LAMMA) under the eya tree . This evergreen tree may be a yew tree. The kurša hunting bag was a leather sack that played an important role in the cult of various deities. A ritual text describes how the kurša hunting bags of the gods Zitḫariya and the protective deity of Ḫatenzuwa are exchanged. The Telipinu myth describes how a kurša hunting bag is filled with barley, grapes, fat, meat from sheep and beef as well as blessings and is hung on the eya tree.

literature

Sedat Alp : A few more comments on the deer hyton from the Norbert Schimmel collection. In: Fiorella Imparati (ed.): Studi di storia e di filologia anatolica. Dedicati a Giovanni Pugliese Carratelli. Elite, Florence 1988, pp. 17-23.
Natalia Bolatti Guzzo, Massimilianio Marazzi: Note di geroglifico anatolico. In: Jörg Klinger , Elisabeth Rieken , Christel Rüster (eds.): Investigationes Anatolicae. Commemorative publication for Erich Neu (= studies on the Boǧazköy texts . 52). Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2010, ISBN 978-3-447-06383-8 , pp. 11-28.
Hans Gustav Güterbock : A note on the frieze of the stag rhyton in the Schimmel Collection. In: Cevdet Bayburtluoğlu (ed.): Akurgal'a armagan (= Anadolu. 22, 1981/1983, ISSN 0570-0116 ). Ankara Üniversitesi - Dil ve Tarihcoǧrafya Fakanschesi Eski Önasyaakdeniz, Ankara 1989, pp. 1-5.
Hans Gustav Güterbock: Hittite course "Hunting Bag". In: Albert Leonard, Jr, Bruce Beyer Williams (Eds.): Essays in Ancient civilization. Presented to Helene J. Kantor (= Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization. 47). Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, Chicago IL 1989, ISBN 0-918986-57-5 . Pp. 113-123.

Web links

Deer Hyton in the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Individual evidence

^ ^A ^b John D. Hawkins: Tudhaliya the Hunter. In: Theo PJ van den Hout, Carolien H. van Zoest (ed.): The Life and Times of Ḫattušili III and Tutḫaliya IV. Proceedings of a Symposium held in Honor of J. de Roos, 12–13 December 2003, Leiden ( = Uitgaven van het Nederlands Instituut voor het Nabije Oosten te Leiden. 103). Nederlands Instituut voor het Nabije Oosten, Leiden 2006, ISBN 90-6258-314-8 , pp. 49-76, here p. 52.
^ Hans Gustav Güterbock: Hittite course "Hunting Bag". In: Albert Leonard, Jr, Bruce Beyer Williams (Eds.): Essays in Ancient civilization. Presented to Helene J. Kantor. 1989, pp. 113-123.
↑ Volkert Haas : History of the Hittite Religion (= Handbook of Oriental Studies . Sect. 1: The Near and Middle East. 15). Brill, Leiden 1994, ISBN 90-04-09799-6 , p. 455.
↑ Volkert Haas: History of the Hittite Religion (= Handbook of Oriental Studies. Sect. 1: The Near and Middle East. 15). Brill, Leiden 1994, ISBN 90-04-09799-6 , p. 456.

[Hawkins-1] A ^b John D. Hawkins: Tudhaliya the Hunter. In: Theo PJ van den Hout, Carolien H. van Zoest (ed.): The Life and Times of Ḫattušili III and Tutḫaliya IV. Proceedings of a Symposium held in Honor of J. de Roos, 12–13 December 2003, Leiden ( = Uitgaven van het Nederlands Instituut voor het Nabije Oosten te Leiden. 103). Nederlands Instituut voor het Nabije Oosten, Leiden 2006, ISBN 90-6258-314-8 , pp. 49-76, here p. 52.

[2] Hans Gustav Güterbock: Hittite course "Hunting Bag". In: Albert Leonard, Jr, Bruce Beyer Williams (Eds.): Essays in Ancient civilization. Presented to Helene J. Kantor. 1989, pp. 113-123.

[3] Volkert Haas : History of the Hittite Religion (= Handbook of Oriental Studies . Sect. 1: The Near and Middle East. 15). Brill, Leiden 1994, ISBN 90-04-09799-6 , p. 455.

[4] Volkert Haas: History of the Hittite Religion (= Handbook of Oriental Studies. Sect. 1: The Near and Middle East. 15). Brill, Leiden 1994, ISBN 90-04-09799-6 , p. 456.