kurša hunting bag
The kurša hunting bag had an important place in the cult of gods in the Hittite religion. Of particular importance was the god Zitḫariya , who accompanied the king in the form of a kurša hunting bag as a talisman in the campaign. In addition, a patron god of the kurša hunting bag was worshiped.
The Hittite word KUŠ kurša- c. “Vlies, Jagdtasche” is a derivation from the verb ku (e) r- “to cut”. Some researchers of the Hittite religion use the word Askos , which in Greek meant a hose, instead of “Jagdtasche” (or “hunting bag”) .
The Kursa -Jagdtasche was how the determinative Kus shows manufactured from leather or fur, and, as is clear from Hittite texts from sheep, goats and cattle. After a ritual of renewal, two old kurša hunting bags are burned and replaced with new ones made by the “cattle herdsman” and the priest of the god of war Zababa , using six black and two white billy goat skins. According to another ritual, there are black, red and white fur. In the KI.LAM festival , linen and copper were also used. A kurša hunting bag is depicted on the deer hyton in the Norbert Schimmel collection .
In the Hittite capital Ḫattuša there was a temple of the deified kurša hunting bag; it is believed to be on the Büyükkale . and near it stood “silver trees” and a ḫuwaši stele of the weather god . Several protective deities were worshiped in this temple, most notably Zitḫariya. Pegs were driven in below the statuettes, on which kurša hunting bags were hung, which were replaced from time to time. Zitḫariya accompanied the king in the form of a kurša hunting bag on the campaign. On the AN.TAḪ.ŠUM spring nest a kurša hunting bag was carried from Arinna to Hattuša and on to Tawiniya and Ḫiyašna and from there back to Ḫattuša.
In the Telipinu myth, a kurša hunting bag is described in more detail: it is filled with barley and grapes, fat and meat from sheep and beef, and hung on an eya tree with blessings . This was obviously an evergreen tree and it is sometimes translated as "yew", sometimes also as "oak". This clearly shows the fertility aspect of the kurša hunting bag.
The many breasts of the Ephesian Artemis are possibly to be interpreted as kurša hunting bags, which went well with the nature of the goddess. It is also considered whether the aegis of Greek mythology has the same origin.
literature
- 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 .
- Piotr Taracha : Religions of Second Millennium Anatolia (= Dresden contributions to Hethitology. 27). Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2009, ISBN 978-3-447-05885-8 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Johann Tischler : Hittite Concise Dictionary. With the vocabulary of the neighboring languages (= Innsbruck contributions to linguistics. 128). 2nd, increased and improved edition. Institute for Languages and Literatures of the University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck 2008. ISBN 978-3-85124-712-1 .
- ↑ a b Volkert Haas: History of the Hittite religion. 1994, p. 454.
- ^ A b Piotr Taracha: Religions of Second Millennium Anatolia. 2009.
- ^ Sarah Morris: The prehistoric background of Artemis Ephesia: A solution to the enigma of her 'breasts'? In: Ulrike Muss (Hrsg.): The cosmos of Artemis of Ephesus (= Austrian Archaeological Institute. Special writings. 37). Austrian Archaeological Institute, Vienna 2001, ISBN 3-900305-36-6 , pp. 135–150.
- ^ Calvert Watkins: A distant Anatolien echo in Pindar: The Origin of the Aegis again. In: Harvard Studies in Classical Philology. Vol. 100, 2000, pp. 1-14, doi : 10.2307 / 3185205 .