Maliya

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Maliya is the Hittite garden goddess, who is often mentioned together with the horse god Pirwa and the goddess Kamrušepa . All of these deities are closely related to horses. She was originally worshiped in southeastern Anatolia around Kaniš and also in Kizzuwatna . It is possible that she was originally a Luwian goddess.

Maliya's being

Maliya, who received sacrifices along with rivers and mountains, was probably identical with the goddess of the river of the same name, whose cult statue was made of iron.

In a vineyard ritual, the weather god Tarḫunna is invoked for the royal vineyard to thrive. Long loaves and animals are sacrificed to various pairs of gods, Telipinu being offered together with "Maliya of the garden, mother of wine and grain". In the city of Ištanuwa , the "Maliya of the horn" was sacrificed, which could refer to a drinking horn.

In healing rituals, Maliya is named together with the divine conjurer Kamrušepa. In such a ritual she learns about an illness from Ištar and tells the pirwa about it. He reports it to Kamrušepa, who harnesses her horses to the wagon and drives to the "big river".

Maliya is one of the main deities of the nine-day ḫišuwa festival , which was originally celebrated in Kizzuwatna and ensured the welfare of the royal family, with most of the deities belonging to the Hurrian pantheon . In the courtyard of the temple of Maliya, the Hittite great king bows before the divine horse Erama and offers barley to him from sacrificial vessels.

Along with Pirwa and other deities, she also belongs to the circle of the Kaniš singer .

Maliyanni

The Maliyanni ("the little Maliya") form a pair of gods who were worshiped in vineyards. According to the ritual of the conjurer Anna von Kaplawiya to remedy the sterility of vineyards, a pit is dug in front of the Maliyanni and cakes are offered in it. A special feature is that this ritual contains a saying in an unknown language.

Maliya in name

Maliya also appears as part of Hittite place and person names. The oldest appear as early as the 18th century BC. In the ancient Assyrian documents of Kültepe , where the female name Maliawašḫi appears several times. The town of Malliyašši is remarkable in terms of place names, as it is formed in the same way as the place names Tarḫuntašša after the Luwian weather god Tarḫunz and Tiwatašša after the sun god Tiwaz.

Afterlife in ancient times

Maliya may have lived in various goddesses of similar names up to classical antiquity.

In Lycia the goddess Malija was worshiped, who was equated with the Greek goddess Athena . Her epithet hrixuwama is translated as "that of growing up", which points to a vegetation goddess. The lexicographer Hesychios also equates Malis (Μαλίς) with Athena and Theokritos names a nymph of the same name, while on the island of Lesbos Malis (Μᾶλις), like Athena, was a spinning goddess. According to Hellanikos , Malis (Μαλίς) was a slave of the Lydian queen Omphale and, through Heracles, mother of Akeles. Sophocles finally names the Maliad nymphs (Μαλιάδες).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ilyas Yakubovich: Sociolinguistics of the Luvian Language ; Chicago (2008). P. 269f.

literature