Liḫzina

Hittite rhyta in bull shape. The weather god of Liḫzina could have been represented in a similar way.

Liḫzina ( Hatt Laḫzan;. Pal Liḫzina;. Heth Liḫzina, Liḫšina.) Was a major city of the cult Hattic Hethiter whose position can not be determined exactly. It was located in the north, near the Black Sea, neighboring the cities of Zalpa and Nerik , and belonged to the Hattic cultural class. Since Liḫzina the only surviving palaische is place name, it would close the country Pala have been lying. The Liḫšina mountain of the same name rose near the town.

Cult city

The city plays a special role in Hattic myths . The angry fertility god Telipinu retired to a grove near Liḫzina, where he was found by the goddess Ḫannaḫanna's bee . The myth of the moon god falls , which has only been handed down in fragments in a Hittite bilingual , tells that the moon god Kašku fell on the market in Liḫzina. If the king wanted to build a palace, a hattic building ritual was carried out, whereby it is mentioned that the sun goddess Eštan had built in Liḫzina without the mythological background being handed down. Another myth tells of the disappearance of the weather god of Liḫzina.

In a Hittite healing ritual, the weather god threatens to throw the city of Liḫzina in the face of magicians who wreak damaging spells. Another healing ritual refers to the fragmentary myth that the weather god destroyed the city of Liḫzina. He fought against the city for eight years. Finally he leveled them, grazed the cornfields and started a forest. Afterwards he met eight divine sons, to whom he reported his struggle.

Also known are ritual dances in the style of Liḫzina (Heth. Laḫšanili ). Queen Puduḫepa vowed to build a new temple in Liḫzina.

Pantheon

The pantheon of Lihezina , handed down to the weather god in the prayer of Muwatalli II, consisted of the weather god of Liḫzina and his lover Tašimi , the male and female deities, mountains and rivers of Liḫzina. The weather god of Liḫzina appears frequently in lists of oaths of the new empire. In the neighboring city of Tiliura, his cult image was a rhyton in the shape of a bull, standing on all fours.

"Weather god of Liḫzina in Tiliura: The image of the god is a bull vessel made of wood, standing on all fours, covered with silver, head and chest covered with gold, the height 1 half-cell, below it a base."

literature

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). Pp. 609-611.
Gabriella Frantz-Szabó: Liḫzina. In: Dietz Otto Edzard (Hrsg.): Reallexikon der Assyriologie und Vorderasiatischen Aräologie . Volume 7, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1987–1990, ISBN 3-11-010437-7 , pp. 18–19.

Individual evidence

^ Friedrich Cornelius : Geography of the Hittite Empire ; Orientalia 27 (1958), Fasc. 3; P. 247
↑ Titus translation of the myth of the destruction of Liḫzina by the weather god.
^ Volkert Haas: Materia Magica et Medica Hethitica ; De Gruyter, Berlin (2003). ISBN 3-11-017749-8
↑ Volkert Haas: Ruins in the Hittite and Akkadian literature ; in: The patriarchs in the biblical tradition ; De Gruyter, Berlin (2009). ISBN 978-3-11-020978-5 . P. 2f.
↑ Reallexikon der Assyriologie ; De Gruyter, Berlin (1987–1990); Vol. 7; P. 18f. ISBN 3-11-010437-7

[1] Friedrich Cornelius : Geography of the Hittite Empire ; Orientalia 27 (1958), Fasc. 3; P. 247

[2] Titus translation of the myth of the destruction of Liḫzina by the weather god.

[3] Volkert Haas: Materia Magica et Medica Hethitica ; De Gruyter, Berlin (2003). ISBN 3-11-017749-8

[4] Volkert Haas: Ruins in the Hittite and Akkadian literature ; in: The patriarchs in the biblical tradition ; De Gruyter, Berlin (2009). ISBN 978-3-11-020978-5 . P. 2f.

[5] Reallexikon der Assyriologie ; De Gruyter, Berlin (1987–1990); Vol. 7; P. 18f. ISBN 3-11-010437-7