Zilipuri

Zilipuri is a Hittite domestic and protective deity who watches over the king's throne and palace. The close relationship with the house is reflected in the designation "Zilipuri of the hearth" and the fact that the Hittite queen worshiped Zilipuri in her bedroom. In the traditional building ritual for the royal palace, Zilipuri erected the throne. As the deity who watches over the palace, Zilipuri bears a resemblance to Šulinkatte and was able to do so in the 13th century BC. Can sometimes be identified with this.

Zilipuri accompanied the ruler both during his lifetime and after death and was venerated in Ḫattuša in the ḫešta house of the royal ancestors and therefore belongs to the circle of the dead goddess Lelwani . In purification rituals, Zilipuri was invoked together with the sun goddess of the earth .

A group called the Zilipuri men ( Hittite zilipuriyatalleš ) lived in the royal palace . They slept in the palace and were called to roll call in the morning when the palace gates were opened. Their function was cultic and they performed magical rituals in Hattic language in the vicinity of the king, whom they also accompanied for this purpose, such as at the nuntariyalla festival. During the KI.LAM festival they received eight sheep in the ḫešta house.

literature

• Volkert Haas : History of the Hittite religion (= Handbook of Oriental Studies . Volume 1.15). Brill, Leiden 1994, ISBN 978-9-004-09799-5 .
• Franca Pecchioli Daddi: ^LÚ zilipuriyalla an ^{LÚ / MUNUS} ḫuwaššannalla. In: Manfred Hutter : Official religion, local cults and individual religiosity. Ugarit-Verlag, Münster 2004, ISBN 3-934628-58-3 , p. 357.