Sun goddess of the earth

The sun goddess of the earth ( Heth . Taknaš ^d UTU, luw. Tiyamaššiš Tiwaz ) is the Hittite goddess of the underworld . Their Hurrian counterpart is Allani , their Sumerian-Akkadian counterpart Ereškigal , two goddesses who influenced Hittite ideas from an early age. In the late Hittite period, the originally Hattic underworld god Lelwani was also syncretized with her.

In Hittite texts she is referred to as the "Queen of the Underworld" who owned a palace with a vizier and servants. During the great empire she was considered the mother of two weather gods . The weather god of Nerik was the son of her and the hattic god Šulinkatte , but the weather god of Zippalanda was the son of her and the weather god of heaven. The sun goddess of the earth, embodiment of the chthonic aspect of the sun, had the task of opening the gates of the underworld. She also cleansed the earth from all evil, all impurity and all sickness.

In the Hurrian- Hittite “song of release” the sun goddess of the earth or the Hurrian Allani invites the gods Tarḫunna / Teššub and his brother Šuwaliyat / Tašmišu to a feast in the underworld and dances in front of them. Otherwise it is more likely to be mentioned in curses, oaths and cleansing rituals.

The sun goddess of the earth was worshiped in various places in the Hittite Empire , for example in Katapa , A (n) galiya near Karaḫna , Ankuwa , Nerik and Zippalanda . She was also admired in the land of Kizzuwatna .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Maciej Popko : On the Luwian component in the religions of ancient Anatolia. In: AoF . 34, 2007, pp. 63-69.
2. ^ Maciej Popko: Religions of Asia Minor. Warsaw 1995, ISBN 83-86483-18-0 , p. 118.
3. ^ Piotr Taracha: Religions of Second Millennium Anatolia . Wiesbaden 2009, p. 105.
4. ↑ Volkert Haas, Heidemarie Koch: Religions of the ancient Orient: Hittites and Iran . Göttingen 2011, p. 236.
5. ^ Piotr Taracha: Religions of Second Millennium Anatolia . Wiesbaden 2009, p. 109.

literature

• Volkert Haas : The Hittite literature. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 2006, ISBN 3-11-018877-5 , pp. 112, 178 ff., 227, 253.
• Manfred Krebernik: Gods and Myths of the Ancient Orient. Verlag CH Beck, Munich 2012, ISBN 978-3-406-60522-2 , pp. 68, 75.
• Volkert Haas , Heidemarie Koch : Religions of the ancient Orient: Hittites and Iran . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2011, ISBN 978-3-525-51695-9 .
• Piotr Taracha : Religions of Second Millennium Anatolia . Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2009, ISBN 978-3-447-05885-8 .