Ištanuwa

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Ištanuwa was a Hittite cult city in Anatolia , the exact location of which is unknown. The traditional Ištanuwa texts are important for research into the language and religion of the Luwians . You can go back to the 16th century BC. To be dated.

Name and location

The name Ištanuwa is derived from the Hattic sun goddess Eštan . The alternative spelling Aštanuwa was the Hattic or Luwian form of the name.

The location of Ištanuwa is unknown. Since the river Šaḫiriya, which can be equated with the Sakarya , was venerated here , the city must have been located near it, perhaps in the region of ancient Gordion . It also fits that no Hurrian influences are noticeable, with the exception of the "Hurrian Inar" ( ḫurlaš d Inar ), which appears in one of the lists of gods.

language

Ištanuwisch ( Heth . Ištanumnili ), the language of the traditional cult songs , is a dialect of Luwian that has some special features in terms of vocabulary. The preservation of the laryngal in the imperative form parḫaddu "he drift! He chase!" Compared to cuneiform Luwish paraddu is considered archaism, as is the command form pāyu "he give!", Since the trunk piya- was consistently carried out in Luwian . In contrast, the use of the enclitic pronoun -mi “mir, mich” in the dative is an innovation compared to cuneiform Luwish -mu .

Cults

The city was a regional cult center. The festival of Ištanuwa, in which residents from neighboring Lullupiya also took part, lasted several days. In addition, the Hittite Great King and the Great Queen ( Tawananna ) made sacrifices at the festival, and other members of the royal family were able to take part in the festival.

Religious celebrations included chants in the local dialect. Although these played a central role, the texts expressly state that some chants are not important and do not have to be performed. The chants were sung alternately by a lead singer and a choir. The texts quote the beginning of the songs and sometimes the type: this is how thunder songs, atonement songs or dance songs are called. The thunder songs are sung alternately by a choir from Ištanuwa and one from Lullupiya, and priests accompany them with sounds.

A ritual that did not occur in Hittite cults was the cultic kiss, which is otherwise only known for the cults of the goddess Ḫuwaššanna in Ḫupišna , where the Luwian element also predominates.

Deities

The main deities of Ištanuwa were the weather god of Ištanuwa and the sun deity of Ištanuwa, who can probably be equated with the Luwian deities Tarḫunz and Tiwaz . Animals were sacrificed to them in the open in front of a stele .

Other known deities were the patron deity, probably Runtiya , the plague god Yarri and the garden goddess Maliya .

Some of the deities attested only to Ištanuwa can be interpreted based on their name: Warwaliya was a grain deity ( Luw .: warwal- "seed"), Winiyanda a wine deity, in whose cult wine jugs are mentioned. Tarwaliya, in whose worship drums were used, may have been a dance deity (Heth. Tarwai- "dance"). Immaršiya was probably a hall deity. The meaning of most of the deities is unknown.

Wiluša

The cult songs of Ištanuwa also play a role in the question of the city of Wiluša , which is associated with Troy . During the libation for the deity Šuwašuna, a Luwian song is sung, the first rhyming verse of which is:

aḫḫa = ta = tta alati: awita wilušati
When they come up from the steep Wiluša.

According to some researchers, this is the beginning of an epic song about Troy. However, the last word does not necessarily have to be a place name, the meaning "meadow" is also possible (cf. heth. Wellu- ).

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Frank Starke : The Istanuwa texts. In: The same: The cuneiform Luwian texts in transcription (= studies on the Boǧazköy texts . Volume 30). Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1985, ISBN 978-3-447-02349-8 , pp. 294-353, especially pp. 301 ff.
  2. ↑ Emmanuel Laroche : Toponymes et frontières linguistiques en Asie-Mineure. In: La toponymie antique. Actes du Colloque de Strasbourg, 12-14 June 1975 (= Travaux du Center de recherche sur le Proche-Orient et la Grèce antiques. Volume 4). Université des sciences humaines, Strasbourg 1975, pp. 205–217, here 212.
  3. ^ Horst Klengel : Ištanuwa. In: Dietz-Otto Edzard (Hrsg.): Reallexikon der Assyriologie und Vorderasiatischen Aräologie . Volume 5, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1976–1980, ISBN 3-11-007192-4 , p. 210.
  4. ^ Massimo Forlaninni: Toponyms antique d'origine hattie? In: Hethitica , Volume 8, 1987, pp. 105-122, here p. 115.
  5. ↑ Johann Tischler: Hittite Concise Dictionary . Innsbruck 2008. ISBN 978-3-85124-712-1
  6. ↑ Ilya Yakubovich: Sociolinguistics of the Luvian Language. Dissertation, Chicago 2008, p. 27. ( PDF; 2.2 MB )
  7. ^ H. Craig Melchert: Language ; in: H. Craig Melchert (Ed.): The Luwians (= Handbuch der Orientalistik. Volume 1.68). Brill, Leiden 2003, ISBN 90-04-13009-8 , pp. 170-210
  8. ↑ Ilya Yakubovich: Sociolinguistics of the Luvian Language. Dissertation, Chicago 2008. pp. 216f.
  9. ↑ Manfred Hutter : Aspects in Luwian Religion. In: H. Craig Melchert (Ed.): The Luwians (= Handbuch der Orientalistik. Volume 1.68). Brill, Leiden 2003, ISBN 90-04-13009-8 , pp. 244f.
  10. ↑ Manfred Hutter : Aspects in Luwian Religion. In: H. Craig Melchert (Ed.): The Luwians (= Handbuch der Orientalistik. Volume 1.68). Brill, Leiden 2003, ISBN 90-04-13009-8 , pp. 211-280, especially p. 240.
  11. ↑ CALCERT Watkins: The language of the Trojans. In: J. Lawrence Angel, Machteld J. Mellink (eds.): Troy and the Trojan War. A symposium held at Bryn Mawr College, October 1984. Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr 1984, ISBN 0-929524-59-4 , pp. 45-62, especially pp. 58 f. ( online ).
  12. ^ Johann Tischler: Hittitisches hand dictionary (= Innsbruck contributions to linguistics. Volume 128). 2nd edition, Institute for Languages ​​and Literatures, Linguistics Department, Innsbruck 2008, ISBN 978-3-85124-712-1 , p. 228.