Nikarawa

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Nikarawa or Nikaruha is a Luwian deity known from hieroglyphic Luwian inscriptions from the Neo-Hittite period.

The first inscription that mentions Nikarawa, or rather the dogs of Nikarawa, is the inscription KARKAMIŠ A6 by the regent Yariri from Karkemiš . The dogs of Nikarawa are mentioned in the curse formula at the end of the inscription:

"If this seat were to be passed to a king who should take it as a writing surface, whether he should either take a stone away from these stones, or take away a stele for a stele, or who should erase my name, or who should take away from these children or these eunuchs, may the dogs of Nikarawa eat his head! "

The second inscription that Nikarawa mentions under the name form Nikaruha is the rock inscription of Bulgarian soldiers . This inscription was written by the ruler Tarhunaza, who in turn was ruled by Varpalawa II of Tuwana . Here, too, Nikarawa or Nikaruha is mentioned in the curse formula that concludes the inscription:

"But whoever should smash this record, may the weather god and the gods destroy this person, may the moon god smash him, may Nikaruha eat him, may Kubaba ...!"

An inscription from Kayseri could also name this deity, where "Marwawanisa-Nika [...]" is mentioned. So she could belong to the Marwainzi gods.

Equation with Ninkarrak

According to IJ Gelb, Nikarawa is possibly identical to the Mesopotamian goddess of healing Ninkarrak. On the one hand, this suggests phonetic similarities, which can be based on the conversion of the Sumerian name Ninkarrak into the Luwian name Nikarawa or Nikaruha. In addition, the goddess Ninkarrak also owns dogs, which are described in a cuneiform text as follows:

"O [Nin] karrak, hold your young dogs tight, put a muzzle on the jaws of your mighty dogs."

In addition, the dog is both the symbolic animal of the goddess Ninkarrak and other Mesopotamian healing goddesses, such as Nin-Isina and Gula , who were often equated with the Ninkarrak in Mesopotamia .

literature

  • IJ Yellow (1938): The Dogs of Nikarawas . In: The American Journal of Semitic Languages ​​and Literatures 55 (2), pp. 200-203.
  • Annick Payne: Iron Age Hieroglyphic Luwian Inscriptions . Society of Biblical Literature, Atlanta 2012, ISBN 978-1-58983-269-5

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Annick Payne: Iron Age Hieroglyphic Luwian Inscriptions . Atlanta 2012, p. 81.
  2. ↑ Annick Payne: Iron Age Hieroglyphic Luwian Inscriptions . Atlanta 2012, p. 84.
  3. ↑ Annick Payne: Iron Age Hieroglyphic Luwian Inscriptions . Atlanta 2012, p. 107.
  4. ↑ Annick Payne: Iron Age Hieroglyphic Luwian Inscriptions . Atlanta 2012, p. 108.
  5. ^ IJ Gelb (1938): The Dogs of Nikarawas . In: The American Journal of Semitic Languages ​​and Literatures 55 (2), p. 201.
  6. ^ IJ Gelb (1938): The Dogs of Nikarawas . In: The American Journal of Semitic Languages ​​and Literatures 55 (2), pp. 201 f.
  7. ^ IJ Gelb (1938): The Dogs of Nikarawas . In: The American Journal of Semitic Languages ​​and Literatures 55 (2), p. 202.
  8. ^ IJ Gelb (1938): The Dogs of Nikarawas . In: The American Journal of Semitic Languages ​​and Literatures 55 (2), p. 202.