KI.LAM festival

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Dancers and musicians on a vase from Hüseyindede . On the far left a dancer, then a man and a woman with cymbals , a lute player and on the far right two dancers with cymbals in their hands

The KI.LAM festival or "Festival of the Gate" was a Hittite festival that was celebrated in the capital Ḫattuša . It lasted three days during which the royal couple visited the gateways of various public buildings to make sacrifices. There are also indications that the festival was also celebrated in other cities. The Sumerographic spelling KI.LAM stands for the Hittite word ḫilammar "Torbau, Torhaus".

procedure

First day

Deer standard from Alaca Höyük . The animal standards of the KI.LAM festival are likely to have been of this type.

Before the festival, the king dresses in the palace. He wears a white Assyrian robe, a rough outer garment and a shepherd's coat and black shoes and gold earrings. The king leaves the palace and the ceremony is opened by dancing leopard men. The processional floats are ready in the palace gate, the foreheads of the cattle are adorned with golden crescent moons and their horns covered with gold. The king watches the procession seated and holding an iron lance in his hand. Then dancers come, a naked dancer turns once to the king. These are followed by two priests of the city goddess Inar and a hymn-singing boy and a crier. Behind it drives a car with statuettes of mountain gods and their lances, as well as twenty copper kurša hunting bags . The main part of the procession is made up of the “Animals of the Gods”, valuable animal statuettes kept in the temple of Inar: a leopard and a wolf, both made of silver, a golden lion, a boar made of silver and one made of lapis lazuli, and finally a silver bear. They are followed by dog men, then men of the city Anunuwa that Hattic singing songs, doing their lances another beating; then four gold and silver deer standards drawn on carts, one of them without antlers. The “Thousand Men of the Steppes”, who hold up ivory birds, conclude the tour.

At the end of the procession, the king exchanges his iron lance for an iron ax with the image of the weather god and mounts a carriage, the queen another. Both are driven to the temple of the grain goddess Ḫalki . There the king assesses the taxes intended for the festival. At the gate of the temple are first the taxes of the city of Ankuwa , then those of Nenašša and Tuwanuwa . At the “Square of the Tall Hawthorn” are the taxes from Ḫupišna . Then the king visits the ḫaniya city ​​gate, where there are more taxes. At the ašuša city ​​gate, when the royal couple arrives, a race starts and the priests of the holy cities Arinna and Zippalanda bow to the king. The procession leaves the city here and goes to the place of the ḫuwaši stele . There bread, flour and wine are offered, accompanied by a singing boy.

In a large drinking ceremony, sacrifices are made in several rounds to various Hattic deities, including the weather god Taru , Inar , Ḫapantali , Kattaḫḫi and Telipinu . At the end, the winner of the race receives the prize from the king. Then the animal procession passes by the temple of the Inar and a bowl of wine each is offered to the leopard and the boar. As soon as the kurša hunting bags appear, the dog men appear before the king and demand a present from him. Thus the first day of the festival ends.

Second day

The next day the royal couple drinks in turn for different deities, sometimes standing, sometimes sitting. Depending on the deity, usually of Hattic origin, the lyre or the flute is played, sometimes there is also singing or dancing, sometimes other sacrifices are donated, such as bread, sacrificial cake, barley porridge, beer or a partridge. In addition, people from different cities appear, such as Kaniš or Tawiniya . Wolf men from Ankuwa are remarkable when sacrificing for Kattaḫḫa .

third day

Location of Hittite cult sites. It should be noted that only the position of Ḫattuša is secured.

On the third day, the royal couple leaves the palace and sits on the throne at the sacrificial tables. This is followed by a complicated ritual with a golden lance and the silver zau cult object, which is otherwise only used in the cult of the holy city of Zippalanda . This also includes ritual hand washing of the royal couple and the breaking of bread for the lance of the Inar.

Now the “Great Assembly” begins. First the princes sit down opposite the king. Then the “pure priests” from Arinna and Zippalanda. Other cult personnel sit down in front of the grain goddess Ḫalki. Then there is drinking for several deities in turn. Various types of bread are broken and the oracle proclaims rain. The royal couple bows to the sun goddess of Arinna and her daughter Mezulla . Later a smoke offering is made. After a race involving ten men, bread is still broken and drunk for gods. Among other things, it is poured into a beef head vessel and finally offered to the goddesses Inar and Ḫapantali.

A procession follows, apparently in the same order as on the first day. The dog men receive the requested gift from the king. This is followed by more drink and bread offerings. The royal couple then goes to the temple of the sun goddess of Arinna, where the royal couple sits on the throne. The golden lance, the crook and a scarf are brought in, and finally the zau cult object. A complicated ritual follows, in which the king and queen ritually wash their hands. Furthermore, various deities are honored with drink and bread offerings. Finally, the "Great Assembly" is dissolved and the cult objects, such as the thrones, carried away.

A rain spell is performed outdoors. Three naked men sit in a vat full of water. The priest and the cult guardian of the deity Titiutti as well as the superior of the prostitutes walk around the vat three times, with the priest pouring beer three times over the back of the naked men. They get up and blow a horn three times to imitate thunder and then move away.

The king goes to the stele of the weather god, bows and makes an offering. Wreaths of flowers are then hung around the royal couple and the prince. The king drives with a carriage to the "stones", where the sphinxes are turned towards the king. He now visits various buildings in the city where he makes sacrifices, including the mortuary temple. Then the royal couple drives up to the palace, where sacrifices continue.

The festivities move to Arinna, where the "Great Assembly" meets in the temple of the sun goddess and a meticulously described, complicated ritual with sacrificial acts is carried out. The KI.LAM festival apparently ended in Zippalanda, where cattle and pigs were sacrificed. The sacrificial animals are then distributed to different participants. The chamberlain receives a bull penis and a pig, the incantation priest receives a bull testicle and a pig, and the deity's cupbearers receive the pig's heads. Back in Ḫattuša, sacrifices are made both in the palace and in the temple of the weather god.

Interpretations

The KI.LAM festival is obviously of Hats in origin, like the many Hats deities , the hymns sung on Hats and the Hats special expressions and exclamations like aḫa! or kaš! demonstrate. The oldest records come from the Old Ethite period, later a few Hurrian elements were added. The festival is to be interpreted as a fertility festival. This is clear from the important role that the temple of the corn goddess Ḫalki played. The "animals of the gods" as well as leopard and dog men should also promise successful hunting. The lance is also a symbol of the hunt. The ax, on the other hand, was a symbol of the weather god, from whom one expected the necessary rain for the fields, as well as the rain magic. Breaking bread and drinking a deity were typical Hittite sacrificial acts.

Modern reception

The "Novel from the Land of the Hittites" The Victor of Kadesch by Birgit Brandau is set in Ḫattuša in 1265 BC. BC, the first year of the reign of Ḫattušili III. Against the background of the festival, to which emissaries from Babylon, Assyria and Egypt, among others, appear, the scribe Walwaziti clears up three deaths.

See also

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Birgit Brandau: The winner of Kadesch. Roman from the land of the Hittites (= German. 24288). Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, Munich 2001, ISBN 3-423-24288-4 .