The Religions around the Old Testament

The Religions around the Old Testament Edited by Brent A. Strawn, Richard Purcell, and Jeffrey G. Audirsch Eerdmans, forthcoming Hittite Deities and Religion Billie Jean Collins 1. Hittite Deities 1.1. Introduction In the course of the Late Bronze Age, Anatolia came increasingly under the control of the rulers of the Hittite kingdom (ca. 1650–1180 BCE), who administered their territories from their capital Hattuša, located on the high steppe of north-central Anatolia inside the bend of the Maraššanta River (mod. Kızıl Irmak). The cuneiform records maintained in their archives and libraries inform us of a linguistically and culturally diverse population inhabiting this area, before, during, and indeed after, Hittite rule. Early on, Palaic speakers occupied the region northwest of Ḫattuša until the language ceased to be spoken altogether. The Hattians were a non-Indo-European people who coexisted with Hittite speakers in central Anatolia during the centuries preceding the coalescence of Hittite power. Even though the language probably was no longer spoken by the middle of the second millennium, Hattian religious traditions would have a profound impact on those of the Hittite state. Luwian speakers, whose language was closely related to Hittite, too were widely present in the region from the beginning of the second millennium, particularly across the Maraššanta River to the south and west of the Hittite core area. By the end of the Bronze Age, Luwian was the most widely spoken language of the kingdom and Hittite-Luwian bilingualism was widespread. With the annexation of the territory of Kizzuwatna in southeastern Anatolia at the onset of the empire period (ca. 1400 BCE), Hurrian religious traditions were 1 imported wholesale to Ḫatti, though the Hurrian language itself never gained a footing in Anatolia proper except among certain elite circles. These cultural layers mingle in the various text genres, particularly those of a religious nature, from the very beginning of written records at Ḫattuša.1 The inclusion of incantations in multiple languages in the earliest religious literature, according to Ilya Yakubovich, was likely an intentional reflection of the multiethnic character of Hittite society, which was united by the common state cult.2 That is, the Hittites “embraced the mess,” making them, as Yakubovich put it, “among the first champions of ethnic diversity known to us through written sources.”3 Further, the divine realm was not static, but shifted and evolved over time as political realities and royal initiatives reshaped religious practice. Thus, attempts to isolate individual religious traditions can be dizzying, if not fruitless, as different traditions were woven together by Hittite functionaries for the benefit of the Hittite ruling house. To approach the realms of the divine in Hittite Anatolia then, one must navigate a shifting cultural gallimaufry. And when it comes to the gods, additional challenges arise stemming from the orthography that scribes employed in the literate production of religious texts. Generic logograms were used to indicate divine types—for example, U (10) for storm gods; UTU for solar deities; ZABABA for martial deities; KAL for patron deities. Thus, a plurality of distinct solar deities, for example, could be indicated by the generic appellation UTU, or by Ištanu, the Hittite name of the Sun God. Individual texts might even refer to both the male and female solar deities without any orthographic distinction, leaving the interpreter to sort out which is intended in a 1 Note, for example, the presence of the Luwian Sun Goddess of the Earth in a Hattian ritual (KUB 17.28), which is analyzed by Steitler as a case of interference; Charles W. Steitler, The Solar Deities of Bronze Age Anatolia. Studies in the Texts of the Early Hittite Kingdom, StBoT 62 (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz), 244–45. 2 Ilya Yakubovich, Sociolinguistics of the Luvian Language, BSIELL 2 (Leiden: Brill, 2010), 258. His notion that such manipulation of the rituals by the scribes was not grounded in actual observed religious performance is important to keep in mind when approaching the religious literature. 3 Yakubovich, 259. 2 given context.4 At the same time, classifying the gods according to their general profile in this way—storm gods, solar deities, patron deities, and so on—provided an organizational principle whereby a local hypostasis of the main deity of that type could be more closely identified by their cult center, such as Storm God of the city of Nerik or of Zippalanda. They might also be classified by aspectual assignments, that is, as hypostases with a particular narrow province— for example, the storm god of thunder, the storm god of the army, the sun god of the gatehouse, the patron deity of the implements, the moon god of divine providence, and so on.5 Such epithets allowed for a more targeted appeal, for example, when the sun god of the hand is invoked to combat sorcerous deeds or the sun god of blood is invoked as the source of the witchcraft directed against the ritual patient in an antiwitchcraft ritual.6 1.2. State and Local Panthea As one might glean from the preceding, not one but rather many panthea were operating throughout Anatolia at any given moment in time. When we talk about the Hittite pantheon, we usually mean the imperial pantheon recognized by the territorial state and connected to the ideology of the royal house. This pantheon was a religious construct that operated in accordance with political aims and royal ideology.7 It was accepting of and existed alongside traditional 4 For an example of this problem, see Steitler, Solar Deities, 164–65, 220 in reference to the gender of the solar deity invoked alongside the storm god in the Old Hittite Instruction for the King (CTH 438). 5 Additional examples may be found in, e.g., Steitler, Solar Deities, 50; Daniel Schwemer, “The Storm-Gods of the Ancient Near East: Summary, Synthesis, Recent Studies; Part II,” JANER 8 (2008):21. 6 CTH 443; Daniel Schwemer, Abwehrzauber und Behexung: Studien zum Schadenzauberglauben im alten Mesopotamien (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2007), 264 (Sun God of the Hand: “Das Epitheton bezieht sich unmittelbar auf den Ritualanlaß: die Hand steht für den Schadenzauber, die manipulativen Verrichtungen der Übeltäter, und die angerufene Sonnengottgestalt is diejenige, die für die Bekämpfung von Schadenzauber in besonderer Weise zuständig ist.”), 266 (Sun God of Blood: “Der Sonnengott des Blutes begegnet nur in vorliegendem Text und nimmt direkt auf den Schadenzauber Bezug, als dessen Ziel die Tötung der Behexten, also Bluttat, angesehen.”); Steitler, Solar Deities, 330–31 with n. 1051. 7 Daniel Schwemer, “Das hethitische Reichspantheon: Überlegungen zu Struktur und Genese,” Götterbilder, Gottesbilder, Weltbilder: Polytheismus und Monotheismus in der Welt der Antike, Bd. 1: Ägypten, Mesopotamien, Persien, Kleinasien, Syrien, Palästina, ed. Reinhard G. Kratz and Hermann Spieckermann, FAT 2. Reihe 17/18 (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2006), 241–42. 3 panthea of individual cities and towns within the territories governed by the Hittite kings. These traditional panthea could be quite different, as they retained their individual character under Hittite rule. Though the divine types—such as sun goddess and storm god—were present, many little-known or otherwise unknown deities can also be found, and the ranking of the gods might vary, as could their familial relationships.8 Alongside both the state and local panthea, one must consider the panthea of each of the cultures represented in the texts—Palaic, Hattian, Luwian, Hurrian. The impulse to reconstruct these, while irresistible as an academic exercise, is not likely to bring us closer to the realia of religious practice in the period of Hittite hegemony. In what follows, focus will remain on the pantheon shaped and promoted by the Hittite state. The Hittites referred to the panoply of gods collectively as “the thousand gods of Ḫatti,” an expression that reflects their pride in the pantheon’s inclusiveness. The thousand gods were invoked, for example, in well wishes in letters between colleagues or family members (“May the thousand gods keep you well”) and to introduce the host of divine witnesses in treaties (“We have summoned the thousand gods to assembly”). In addition to the gods included in the official pantheon, the Hittites acknowledged the existence of deities venerated outside of Ḫatti, in some cases recognizing them as hypostases of deities worshiped in Ḫatti.9 The state treaties that bound vassal kings to the Hittite authority were ratified by divine oath. The list of gods invoked by the king to witness the oath reflect the pantheon of imperial Ḫatti hierarchically arranged according to god types and represent a basic canon of deities that was already in place in the early-empire period (roughly the first half of the fourtheenth century). 8 Steitler, Solar Deities, 280; Giulia Torri, “Did the Storm God of Zippalanda Have a Mother or a Wife? Remarks about the Cults of Kataḫḫa and the Sun Goddess of the Earth in Zippalanda and Ankuwa,” Asia Anteriore Antica 1 (2019): 217–24. 9 Daniel Schwemer, “Religion and Power,” Handbook Hittite Empire: Power Structures, ed. Stefano de Martino (Berlin: de Gruyter, 2022), 363. Schwemer (“Reichspantheon,” 250) importantly points out the absence of an organized cult performed for all the deities of the land as a closed pantheon; indeed that a direct translation into cult performances was not required as the expansive pantheon was part of a political theology. 4 The lists vary in content and order, but generally they begin with the Sun God of Heaven, the Sun Goddess of Arinna, the Storm God of Heaven, and the Storm God of Ḫatti. These are followed by storm gods representing various cities or aspects. Then follows various patron gods, IŠTAR(Venus)-types, gods of war, and of the netherworld. Also appearing with varying placement in the lists are manifestations of Ḫebat, Telipinu, and the oath deities—that is, the moon god and Išḫara. These may be followed by city gods associated with important centers. Finally, the lists broaden out to encompass all the deities of Ḫatti, male and female; the primeval deities; the numinous places—mountains, rivers, springs, sea; and the cosmos—heaven and earth, winds and clouds. This core of the oath god lists is apparent already in the Annals of Tudḫaliya I (ca. 1400 BCE), which names the gods who helped him in battle:10 the Sun Goddess of Arinna, the Storm God of Heaven, the Stag God of Ḫatti, ZABABA, IŠTAR(Šawuška), the moon god, and Lelwani. Other text genres provide god lists arranged in a manner conceptually similar to the treaties. The prayers of Muršili II and Muwatalli in particular, contain invocations to the gods, organized in one instance like the treaty god lists and elsewhere according to geographical principles. Muwatalli’s model prayer to the assembly of gods contains an extensive list of the gods, wherein they are invoked according to their cities.11 In the context of the 38-day spring AN.DAḪ.ŠUM festival, sacrifices are arranged for all the gods of the land, who, as in Muwatalli’s prayer, are listed geographically. 10 Daisuka Yoshida, Untersuchungen zu den Sonnengottheiten bei den Hethitern: Schwurgötterliste, helfende Gottheit, Feste. THeth 22 (Heidelberg: Winter, 1996), 36; see also Schwemer, “Reichspantheon,” 250–51. Compare the similar list of oath deities in Tudḫaliya I’s treaty with Šunnaššura of Kizzuwatna, with the notable addition of the Storm God of Aleppo and Ḫebat, and concluding with all the gods of the lands of Ḫatti and Kizzuwatna, heaven and earth, mountains and rivers, bringing it closer to the empire-period treaty god lists. Online: Gernot Wilhelm, “Vertrag Tutḫaliyaš I. mit Šunaššura von Kizzuwatna,” https://www.hethport.uniwuerzburg.de/txhet_svh/intro.php?xst=CTH%2041.I.1&prgr=&lg=DE&ed=G.%20Wilhelm. 11 CTH 381; as noted by Torri, “Storm God of Zippalanda,” 221. 5 The Hurrian pantheon is known to us through kaluti-lists, which are registers of deities and their offerings. In the kalutis of Teššub and Ḫebat at Hattuša and Šapinuwa, the male deities form the circle of Teššub and the female that of Ḫebat. The rows of gods in relief decorating the rock walls of Chamber A at the Yazılıkaya open-air sanctuary, located adjacent to the capital city Ḫattuša, reflect this same pantheon. Once framed by man-made shrines on its periphery, the natural rock formations of Yazılıkaya created individual spaces or rooms. The largest of these, Chamber A, served as a cella for the Storm God,12 and as such would have been the focal point of rites and offerings. However, the reliefs were added late in the history of the sanctuary, probably by Tudḫaliya IV at the end of the thirteenth century—and do not represent the official state pantheon as we find it in the treaty god lists.13 1.3. Divine Nature (šiyuniyatar) The gods were conceived in human terms. They required sustenance, exhibited a range of emotions, and were negatively affected by the acts of other gods—if one failed to perform his divine duties, all suffered. In the cult, their statues or images were subjected to a schedule probably not unlike a royal personage: they lived in houses (i.e., temples), slept, arose, dressed, dined, enjoyed entertainments, and came together in assembly. They were organized into family groups, though which deities formed these families might vary from town to town.14 The gods were neither omniscient nor omnipotent but made mistakes and were capable of being deceived. Still, they possessed a wisdom and power that was far beyond that of humans. 12 Schwemer, “Reichspantheon,” 263 with literature; Steitler, Solar Deities, 326; Schwemer, “Religion and Power,” 369. On Chamber A as the ḫuwaši (standing stone) of the Storm God, see Michele Cammarosano, “Ḫuwaši: Cult Stelae and Stela Shrines in Hittite Anatolia,” Byzas 24 (2019): 321–23. 13 See the discussion in Schwemer, “Reichspantheon,” 264–65. 14 Torri, “Storm God of Zippalanda,” 221. 6 Like humans, the gods had a soul (ištanza-) as well as a body (tuekka-). The Hittites understood that the “soul,” or mind, of the gods and that of humans were not different in terms of their sensibilities. And although the thoughts and motivations of the gods were often a mystery to the humans in their charge, the source of their anger was discoverable through oracular investigation. They were also susceptible to reason and persuadable through prayer, supplication, and offerings. The gods could be in more than one place at a time. They could also reside in lands far distant from their temples in Ḫatti and had to be drawn back into their divine images through evocations so that they could attend the rites in their honor. Despite the ubiquitous sanctuaries with their divine images, the gods were remote figures, and the sheer weight of surviving religious texts may skew our view of their importance in everyday life. The instructions to the temple personnel warn of the danger of stealing the god’s food—that is, from his image in the temple—should one think one will not face retribution: “The will of the gods is strong. It does not hasten to seize, but at whatever time it does seize, it never again lets go. Be very much in awe of the will of the gods!”15 1.4. Celestial Deities The gods of heaven, representing the storm, sun, and moon, were at the top of the divine hierarchy. In agrarian Anatolia, the storm gods had a privileged place, and shared a general profile. Alongside them were a heterogeneous assortment of solar deities. Lunar deities occupied a less central place in the divine hierarchy, though they were prominent in certain cultic contexts. Astral bodies were also considered divine but have only an indistinct presence in the texts, with the important exception of the Venus star. 15 CTH 264; trans. modified slightly from Schwemer, “Religion and Power,” 266; for a full edition of the text, see Jared L. Miller, Royal Hittite Instructions and Related Administrative Texts, WAW 33 (Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2013), 253. 7 Storm Gods The Storm God of Heaven (Tarḫunta) and the Sun Goddess (Ištanu) stood at the head of the pantheon of the Hittite state. Together they bestowed the administration of the land upon the king. Numerous local manifestations of the storm god were worshiped in towns throughout the Hittite territories. The storm gods controlled the rain, tempests, and thunder storms. These local deities were understood to be the sons of the Storm God of Heaven.16 The various manifestations of the storm gods were differentiated not only geographically by the town that served as their cult center, but also, as noted above, aspectually—that is, with epithets, such as the storm god of lightning, of thunder, of the army, and so on.17 Thunder was dangerous, an expression of divine wrath, and had to be appeased via rituals. One Hattian ritual was performed “when the storm god thunders frightfully,” so frightfully in fact that the moon god fell from Heaven. A recitation of the myth describing this cosmic event, known as “The Moon Who Fell from the Sky,” was embedded within the ritual. Fear of thunder was not merely theoretical though. Historical texts attest to the very real illnesses suffered by kings after witnessing violent weather phenomena.18 The storm god’s gentler side was manifest in the beneficent rain that made the plants flourish in the spring. To maintain abundance and avoid draught, famine, and the cessation of fertility, the storm god was appeased by means of a regular schedule of celebrations. A rain ritual was celebrated for the Storm God in Ankuwa as part of the spring AN.DAḪ.ŠUM festival.19 The Illuyanka myths were recited as a part of the purulli festival that celebrated the first rains of spring and the return of bounty. The two versions of the myth recount the conflict between the 16 Schwemer, “Storm-Gods, Part II,” 31; Schwemer, “Wettergott(heiten). A. Philologisch,” RlA 15 (2016): 86. Schwemer, “Storm-Gods, Part II,” 21. 18 Schwemer, 23. 19 Schwemer, 23 with n. 61. 17 8 Storm God and the dragon Illuyanka, who embodied drought and stagnation. In both versions, a human is key to restoring the Storm God’s power so that he can defeat the serpent.20 As a celestial deity, the Storm God traveled through the sky in his chariot pulled by bulls (fig. 1).21 In Hurrian tradition, Teššub’s bulls were called Šerri and Ḫurri, and could be venerated in their own right.22 Storm gods were often depicted in bull form. A relief scene carved on the city wall of Alaca Höyük (ancient Arinna?) depicts the king and queen worshiping before the altar of the Storm God who is in the form of a bull (fig. 2).23 Sometimes storm gods were depicted standing on the bent backs of deified mountains, as was Teššub in the central scene of Chamber A at Yazılıkaya.24 Solar Deities Unlike the storm gods, the solar deities were a heterogeneous group—a function of the various cultural milieux from which they stemmed.25 The Hittite pantheon had not one but three major solar deities: a sun goddess of Hattian origin, a male sun god, and a chthonic sun goddess. The latter two were of Luwian origin. The Hattian sun goddess was called Eštan; she entered the Hittite pantheon as Ištanu, the highest-ranking goddess of the state pantheon and wife of the Storm God of Heaven, with whom she shared equal rank. Her prominence in the Hittite pantheon was due to Hittite adaptation of Hattian religion and its importance in the state cult.26 20 Schwemer, 24. A separate tradition of horses pulling his chariot may be found in the ritual of Uḫḫamuwa, which is associated with the region of Arzawa in western Anatolia (Hutter, Aspects, 222). Compare 2 Kgs 2:11, 6:17. 22 For Šeri and Ḫurri, see Daniel Schwemer, Die Wettergottgestalten Mesopotamiens und Nordsyriens im Zeitalter der Keilschriftkulturen: Materialien und Studien nach den schriftlichen Quellen (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2001), 479–83. 23 On the evolution of storm god iconography in the ancient Near East in general, and the bull in particular, see Schwemer, “Storm-Gods, Part II,” 31–36, and 32 n. 81 for additional references. See also Suzanne Herbordt, “Wettergott(heiten). C. Archäologisch. In Anatolien,” RlA 15 (2016): 100–108 on the iconography of Anatolian storm gods. 24 Schwemer, “Storm-Gods, Part II,” 36. 25 Steitler, Solar Deities, 4. 26 Steitler, 227. 21 9 As the supreme goddess of the land, she had a close relationship to the king. The Sun Goddess and Storm God were mother and father of the king.27 In the Old Kingdom Annals of Ḫattušili I, she is the king’s patroness, credited with assisting him to victory in battle.28 From the Middle Hittite period, she is referred to as the Sun Goddess of Arinna after the sacred city that was her main center of worship. She was displaced from her first position in the god lists from the Middle Hittite period owing to the interference of the Hurrian pantheon. Under Syro-Hurrian influence, the Sun Goddess of Arinna became partially syncretized with the Hurrian goddess Ḫebat.29 Unlike her solar counterparts, the Sun God of Heaven and the Sun Goddess of the Earth, the Sun Goddess of Arinna played only a minor role in magic rituals, and these are in the Hattian milieu.30 Hittite tradition appears to have lacked a male sun god of its own and appropriated Luwian Tiwad to its needs.31 His Palaic counterpart was Tiyat.32 In Hittite his name Ištanu is indistinguishable from that of the Sun Goddess, though he was usually referred to as the Sun God of Heaven. The male sun god was considered the son of the Storm God. In the god lists he has primacy of place, coming even before the Sun Goddess and the Storm God. The Sun God’s prominent role in myth and ritual centers on the concepts of justice, divination, and the ideology of kingship.33 He was the ultimate magical-juridical authority. Together with the Storm God he was a divine witness to a pledge to be made by an unwitting 27 See Schwemer Religion and Power, 356 with n. 3; “Storm-Gods, Part II,” 21. Steitler, Solar Deities, 159–61. 29 Steitler, 243. 30 Steitler, 152–53, 456. 31 Steitler, 57. 32 The evidence for whom, see Steitler, 403–7. 33 The tradition reflected in the Sun God prayers (CTH 372–374) comes from Mesopotamia and is distinct from that of the Anatolian magical rituals. For the prayers, see, e.g., Alexandra Daues and Elisabeth Rieken, Das persönliche Gebet bei den Hethitern: Einetextlinguistische Untersuchung, StBoT 63 (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2018); Daniel Schwemer, “Hittite Prayers to the Sun-god for Appeasing an Angry Personal God: A Critical Edition of CTH 372– 74,” in Margaret Jaques, Mon dieu qu’ai-je fait? Les digir-šà-dab-ba et le piété privée en Mésopotamie (Fribourg: Academic Press, 2015), 350–93. 28 10 violator of a field boundary in Hittite Law §169: “And he (the violator) will speak, ‘Oh Sun God and Storm God. No quarrel (was intended).’” His connection to justice is visible already in the Old Hittite Tale of Zalpa, wherein the townspeople make offerings to the Sun God and his daughter, the deified Earth, as compensation for their crime of incest. The Sun God was especially prominent in the Anatolian (Hittite-Luwian) mythological texts. When he absents himself, frost and infertility are the result. In mythological passages, it is the Sun God who convenes the divine assembly. In magical rituals he was invoked to reversing the effects of witchcraft against the plaintiff, who was often the king. He was a divine source of magical incantations and the one who implemented the desired effects of the magical rituals. In Mallidunna’s ritual the role of the Sun God as protector of country and kingship is especially in focus:34 “The eyes of the Sun God (are) three pairs: One pair [(are) his eyes] of watching; [he shall watch] king (and) queen. One pair (are) [his] eyes of pacification; king (and) queen shall be sati[sfied] in front of the Sun God. One pair (are) his eyes of the admi[nistration of the country] (and) of legal matters. He determines [the fate(?) of(?)] the Land H[attusa(?)] through oracle.”35 The close connection between the Sun God and the king is discussed below. Lunar Deities The moon god Arma and his wife Nikkal are protectors of the oath who put into effect the curses that result from breaking it. Arma is depicted with wings and a horizontal crescent that is attached to his horned cap at Yazilikaya, where he is identified as the Hurrian moon god Kušuḫ. The moon was the focus of monthly festivals and was associated with the months of pregnancy 34 Susanne Görke, “Mythological Passages in Hittite Rituals,” Religious Convergence in the Ancient Mediterranean, edited by Sandra Blakely and Billie Jean Collins, SAMR 2 (Atlanta: Lockwood, 2019), 167–68. 35 CTH 403.1 §4'; translation after Görke, 167–68; also see Susanne Görke, “Ein Ritual der Mallidunna für den Sonnengott (CTH 403.1),” § 4′ (online: https://www.hethport.uniwuerzburg.de/txhet_besrit/intro.php?xst=CTH%20403.1&prgr=&lg=DE&ed=S.%20G%C3%B6rke) for a transliteration and German translation. 11 in Luwian tradition and thus with the dangers of pregnancy and childbirth. As Hattian Kab, he features in the bilingual myth The Moon Who Falls from the Sky. The festival of the moon and thunder (CTH 630) was celebrated when thunder interrupted the festival of the moon.36 Astral Deities The stars were counted among the nocturnal powers. In rituals, materia magica were sometimes placed on the roof under the stars and moon overnight in order to be empowered prior to completion of the rites—a practice well known from Mesopotamia as well.37 The most important astral body, however, was the Venus star. The orientation of the temple in the city of Šarišša along an axis in relation to the rising and setting of Venus may have been connected to the cult of the Hattian Venus-type goddess Anzili in this city.38 The Venus-type was manifested most prominently in the figure of Šawuška. Unattested prior to the early-empire period (ca. 1400 BCE), Šawuška was imported from southern Anatolia, Syria, and Upper Mesopotamia. In the Hurrian pantheon, she was second in rank to her brother Teššub. Her main cult center was in Šamuḫa in central Anatolia and this manifestation of the goddess was the patron deity of Ḫattušili III. Her name was written with the Akkadogram dIŠTAR, and like Mesopotamian Ištar, she was envisioned as a young female with both sexual and martial qualities. As a goddess of war, she is sometimes depicted as a male or bearing weapons. In the reliefs at Yazılıkaya in Ḫattuša, she is represented twice in the procession of deities, once among the gods (winged and wearing a long 36 See Steitler, Solar Deities, 75 with n. 231, 131 n. 396 (“The Myth of the Moon that Fell from Heaven (CTH 727) is preceded by a ritual context that may refer to the occasion upon which CTH 630 was performed”). 37 Francesco G. Barsacchi, “‘The King Goes Up to the Roof’: Hittite Nocturnal Rites Performed during the New Moon,” Cult, Temple, Sacred Spaces: Cult Practices and Cult Spaces in Hittite Anatolia and Neighbouring Cultures. ed. Susanne Görke and Charles W. Steitler, StBoT 66 (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2020), 349. 38 Andreas Müller-Karpe, “Einige archäologische sowie archäoastronomische Aspekte hethitischer Sakralbauten,” Tempel im Alten Orient. 7. Internationales Colloquium der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft, 11.–13. Oktober 2009, München, ed. Kai Kaniuth, Anne Löhnert, Jared L. Miller, Adelheid Otto, Michael Roaf, and Walther Sallaberger (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2013), 343–44. 12 skirt) and once among the goddesses. Šawuška’s animals were the awiti—a winged, sphinx-like creature—and the dove. She is often attended by her divine lady’s maids Ninatta and Kulitta. 1.5. Deities of the Earth The Queen of the Underworld The Sun Goddess of the Earth was the nocturnal aspect of the solar goddess.39 She is rooted in the Luwian tradition, and is prominent in magical rituals from this milieu.40 Telipinu’s anger and wrath were said to “go the way of the Sun Goddess of the Earth.’”41 She was primarily called upon to restrain evils in the netherworld whence they could not escape and thus she was a positive force for humanity.42 Offerings to her were not to be neglected and were typically made via access points such as pits dug into the earth or other natural or manmade channels to the underworld. She did not reside alone in the underworld. In an early prayer addressed to her, members of her netherworldly entourage—her stag god, vizier, servants, her attendants Darawa and Paraya, the chief of the eunuchs, the chief of the barbers, and the deified courtyard—are implored to intercede with her on behalf of the king to disregard any slander directed at him.43 Like the Sun Goddess of the Earth, Hattian Lelwani was queen of the netherworld, but the two were distinct deities. Lelwani was the daughter of the Hattian Sun Goddess, Eštan.44 Her netherworldly contingent include Ištuštaya and Papaya, who spin the years of the king’s life. 39 The Sun Goddess of the Earth was daughter of the sun god in the Tale of Zalpa (CTH 3), if we can understand daganzipaš “of the earth” in this text as referring to this goddess; Steitler, Solar Deities, 220–21 with n. 718. Mother Earth is named as a pair with the Storm God in the festival text CTH 645; Steitler, Solar Deities, 76–83. 40 Steitler, 421–22. 41 Steitler, 243. 42 Ulrike Lorenz-Link, “Uralte Götter und Unterweltsgötter: Religionsgeschichtliche Betrachtungen zu der ‘Sonnengöttin der Erde’ und den ‘uralten Göttern’ bei den Hethitern” (PhD diss., Mainz: Universitätsbibliothek, 2016), 225. 43 CTH 371.1; Rieken et al., “Das Gebet an die Sonnengöttin der Erde,” online: https://www.hethport.uniwuerzburg.de/txhet_gebet/intro.php?xst=CTH%20371.1&prgr=&lg=DE&ed=E.%20Rieken%20et%20al. 44 Torri, Lelwani, 126–27, 132 (English summary). 13 The Hurrian goddess of the netherworld was Allani. In the Song of Release, a Hurrian-Hittite bilingual wisdom text, she holds a feast in her palace, at which Teššub is the guest of honor. She is sometimes translated as the Hittite Sun Goddess of the Earth. Her netherworldly companions are the “Ancient Gods” (see below). The Ancient Gods The netherworld in the Hurrian tradition was inhabited by the gods who were exiled there in primordial time. One ritual explains how they came to receive birds as their offering: “(The diviner) takes three birds; he offers two birds to the Ancient Gods; one bird, instead, he offers to the divine pit. He speaks as follows: ‘For you (there) is your ancient (offering): oxen or sheep are not placed before you. When the Storm God drove you down in the dark earth, he established for you this ritual offering.’”45 Their number varies. The core list in this ritual includes Aduntarri the diviner, Zulki the dream interpreter, Irpitiga, Nara, Namšara, Minki, Amunki, and the divinized ritual pit Āpi. The list sometimes includes Irpitiga “lord of judgment.” Alalu and Kumarbi also joined the Ancient Gods upon their removal from the kingship in heaven (see below). In the treaty lists of witnesses, the number is usually a standardized twelve deities and includes the major Mesopotamian deities Enlil, Ninlil, and Anu. Divine Hordes Of ambiguous nature are various groups of supernatural beings that are connected to a major deity. They may number seven, nine, or twelve. For the Sun God, the Ilaliyant gods act as his agents, afflicting humans as a reflection of the god’s anger. Šanta is accompanied by the Innarawanteš, the “formidable ones” who wear blood-soaked garments, while the god of pestilence Iyarri is associated with the malevolent “Seven” or “Dark Ones.” The Stag God 45 CTH 446 §34; trans. Andrea Trameri, Purifying a House from Blood: A Hittite Ritual for the Ancient Gods (CTH 446) (Columbus, GA: Lockwood, 2022), 76–77. 14 (Zitḫariya?) of the kurša (an animal-skin bag symbolizing abundance), might be accompanied by the Dark Ones as well as the equally menacing Šalawana beings, who were associated with gates as transitional spaces.46 Several major deities have an entourage of anonymous “male gods,” most notably the Sun Goddess of the Earth, for whom they appear to be netherworldly demonic companions, but they are also connected with the celestial Sun God and the Storm God. They are often the recipients of offerings alongside the major deity. 1.6. Deities of Nature Gods of Grain and Agriculture Telipinu was the son of the Storm God and a god of agriculture: “Go, and call Telipinu! He is my mighty son. He tills the soil, plows, diverts the water, and frees the grain from small stones […].”47 His role in Hittite religious thought revolved around the mythic tradition of the missing deities—gods who have abandoned their responsibilities, which inevitably resulted in environmental catastrophe. He figures in other myths as well: in Telipinu and the Daughter of the Sea, he marries the daughter of the Sea God in order to rescue the Sun God whom the Sea had kidnapped from the sky.48 A purulli- spring festival was celebrated locally for Telipinu, as well as a festival in his name.49 Though a secondary deity, his cult was widespread in central Anatolia. He was even the recipient of a daily prayer by King Muršili II, asking for health and prosperity for the royal family and the land of Ḫatti. 46 Steitler, Solar Deities, 378 suggests that the Šalawana deities of the city gate likely refer to an architectural element, that is a locus numinosus. 47 CTH 323.1 A i 29'–31'. Per Schwemer (“Religion and Power,” 375–76; “Storm-Gods, Part II,” 31), it was under the influence of Telipinu, though not himself a storm god, that the lesser storm gods came to be understood as sons of the Storm God. 48 See the detailed discussion of this myth in Steitler, Solar Deities, 207–10. 49 CTH 638. 15 Besides Telipinu, a goddess, Ḫalki, whose name meant simply “Grain” received worship during festivals, including the spring AN.DAḪ.ŠUM festival, and was celebrated in her own temples, which in one case at least, doubled as a grain storage facility.50 She is associated with other deities of fertility and the house, including Telipinu. Šuwaliyatt was a god similarly connected to prosperity. In Old Kingdom tradition he was a god of vegetation and agriculture, venerated alongside Ḫalki and other deities representing vegetation, and had a fixed installation within the temple of the Storm God where he received cultic attention. In Hurrian tradition, he was identified with Tašmišu, brother and vizier of the Storm God, and was part of his circle.51 Maliya appears as a prominent goddess in the second millennium BCE and her continued veneration in the first millennium BCE is attested in both Lydian and Lycian texts.52 Originally a numen of the river of the same name,53 Maliya’s worship goes back at least to the Old Assyrian period.54 Maliya “of the vineyard, mother of wine and grain” is among a list of divinities to receive offerings in an early-empire benediction for the king.55 The malliyanni-spirits—probably nine in number—are the numina who protect the vineyard in one ritual. Alfonso Archi, “Translation of Gods: Kumarpi, Enlil, Dagan/nisaba, Ḫalki,” Or 73 (2004): 330–36. On the unexpected Logographic spellings of his name with NIN.URTA and URAŠ, see Daniel Schwemer, “Šuwaliyatt: Name, Kult und Profil eines hethitischen Gottes.” Colloquium Anatolicum 10 (2011): 257 and M. P. Streck, “Ninurta/Ninĝirsu. A. I. In Mesopotamien,” RlA 9 (2001): 512–22. 52 In the first millennium she corresponds to Lycian Malija (Matilde Serangeli, “Heth. Maliya, lyk. Malija und griech. Athena,” 1. Grazer Symposium zur indogermanischen Altertumskunde“Der antike Mensch im Spannungsfeld zwischen Ritual und Magie” Graz, 14.–15. November 2013, ed. Christian Zinko and Michaela Zinko, Grazer Vergleichende Arbeiten 28 [Graz: Leykam, 2015], 376–88, esp. 382–85); Lydian Malis [Annick Payne, “Native Religious Traditions from a Lydian Perspective,” in Blakely and Collins, Religious Convergence, 241–42), and Greek Athena (Serangeli, “Heth. Maliya, ” 377–80). 53 The seeming description of a statue of the deified river Maliya in a cult inventory (KUB 38.33 obv. 5) has been called into question by N. İlgi Gerçek, “Rivers and River Cults in Hittite Anatolia,” in Cult, Temple, Sacred Spaces: Cult Practices and Cult Spaces in Hittite Anatolia and Neighbouring Cultures; Proceedings of the First International HFR Symposium, Mainz, 3–5 June 2019, ed. Susanne Görke and Charles Steitler, StBoT 66 (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2020), 267–68. For Maliya as patroness of leatherworkers, see Charles Steitler, “Hittite Professionals and Patron Deities,” Economy of Religions in Anatolia and Northern Syria: From the Early Second to the Middle of the First Millennium BCE, ed. Manfred Hutter and Sylvia Hutter-Braunsar, AOAT 467 (Münster: Ugarit-Verlag, 2019), 131–33 with literature. 54 Taracha, Religions of Second Millennium Anatolia, 115–17; Kurtuluş Kiymet, “Bir Anadolu Tanrıçası: Maliya,” ANTAHŠUMSAR “ÇİĞDEM”: Studies in Honour of Ahmet Ünal Armağanı, ed. Sedat Erkut and Özlem Sir Gavaz (Istanbul: Arkeoloji ve Sanat Yayınları, 2016), 317–32. 55 KUB 43.23 rev. 49–51 (CTH 820.3). 50 51 16 The Stag God Kuruntiya was the Luwian name of the Stag God; he was called Innara in Hittite. Predominantly a patron of wild nature, his iconography and the hieroglyphic writing of his name connect him with the stag (fig. 3). His name was usually written with the logographic sign for a patron deity, KAL, possibly owing to his patronage of the kingship.56 He was a prominent deity in the state cult, typically following the Storm God and Sun God in god lists. A Festival for All the Tutelary Deities, dating to the reign of Tudhaliya IV, contains a detailed list of 112 stag gods representing various aspects of the king’s physical and spiritual attributes, his possessions, and all aspects of his daily life; the list in essence provides an extended metaphor for the divine protection of the king’s person and the political state that he embodied.57 Mountains, Springs, and Rivers Rivers, mountains, springs, and the sea completed the Hittite cosmos that was encompassed by the phrase “heaven and earth.”58 These numinous natural features followed at the end of the lists of divine witnesses to the oath in state treaties. They were divine, though of lower rank relative to the rest of the pantheon, and were the loci of open-air worship. In ritual, the river is addressed as creator of humankind and carrier of positive values:59 “But you, O river, took purification, life force for progeny, (and) prosperity. If he (i.e., someone) says something to someone (and this) is too terrible (for him), he goes to you, the river, and the fate 56 Schwemer, “Religion and Power,” 377; Piotr Taracha, “Political Religion and Religious Policy: How the Hittite King Chose His Patron Gods,” AoF 40 (2013):381. 57 Billie Jean Collins, “Hero, Field Master, King: Animal Mastery in Hittite Texts and Iconography,” The Master of Animals in Old World Iconography, ed. Derek B. Counts and Bettina Arnold (Budapest: Archaeolingua Alapítvány, 2010), 70–71. 58 Gerçek, “Rivers and River Cults,” 257. On the significance of springs in Hittite religion, see Charles W. Steitler, “Sacred Springs, Spring Sanctuaries and Spring-Deities in Hittite Religion,” Natur und Kult in Anatolien, ed. Benjamin Engels, Sabine Huy, and Charles Steitler, BYZAS 24 (Istanbul: Ege, 2019):1–25. 59 So Francesco Fuscagni, “Ein Flussritual mit einem Mythologem über die Erschaffung der Menschen (CTH 434.1),” online: https://www.hethport.uniwuerzburg.de/txhet_besrit/intro.php?xst=CTH%20434.1&prgr=%C2%A7%201&lg=DE&ed=F.%20Fuscagni; see Görke, “Mythological Passages,” 167. 17 goddesses and mother goddesses of the riverbank, those who create human beings.”60 The most prominent river in Hittite geography and thus in Hittite theology was the Maraššanta, which cradled the cities of the Hittite heartland. A mythological passage describes how the Storm God of Heaven set the course of the river so that it would flow near Nerik, and charged it with ensuring that the Storm God of Nerik would never abandon his city for another river. 1.7. Motherhood, Magic, and War Mother Goddesses In a birth ritual, the midwife recites the following: “They give allotments to the gods. The Sungoddess takes her seat in Arinna. Ḫalmaššuit likewise in Ḫarpiša. Ḫatepi〈nu〉 likewise in Maliluḫa. The Stag-god 〈likewise〉 in Karaḫna. ‘Awesome’ Telipinu likewise in Tawiniya. [Ḫ]uzziya likewise in Ḫakmiš. But for Ḫannaḫanna, there was no place; so her place was (among) humanity.”61 This mythological narrative belonging to the Hattian milieu explains how Ḫannaḫanna obtained her special role as midwife and benefactress of humanity.62 Her name is hidden behind the Sumerogram DINGIR.MAḪ and to the extent that she is associated with birth and human creation, she resembles the Mesopotamian DINGIR.MAḪ. However, Ḫannaḫanna, whose sacred animal is the bee, is also associated with purification rituals and rivers, agricultural fertility, and wisdom.63 Closely connected to the mother goddesses who create human beings are the fate goddesses (written GUL-šeš, Hitt. kuwanšeš), who are responsible for allotting a person’s 60 Bo 3617 i 13'–17' (CTH 434.1); trans. adapted from Görke, 167. KUB 30.29 obv. 9–15, trans. Steitler, Solar Deities, 152. For the view that DINGIR.MAḪ, while read Ḫannaḫanna in Hittite, nevertheless referred by and large to the Mesopotamian mother goddess, see Piotr Taracha, “Anatolian Ḫannaḫanna and Mesopotamian DINGIR.MAḪ,” Investigationes Anatolicae: Gedenkschrift für Erich Neu, ed. Jörg Klinger et al. StBoT 52 (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2010), 301–10. 62 Görke, “Mythological Passages,” 166. 63 See Steitler, Solar Deities, 203 n. 644. 61 18 years of life. They are usually attested as a plurality and are associated with birth and the netherworld.64 Anzili was a minor Venus-type goddess in Hattian central Anatolia. She is associated with childbirth and connected with the mother goddesses and fate goddesses. She is often paired with the goddess Zukki, and the two may represent Venus in her dual appearance as the morning and evening star.65 Goddesses of Magic and Healing Kamrušepa originated in the Luwian stream of tradition and figures prominently in myth and ritual as the goddess of magic par excellence. She was credited with ritually restoring Telipinu to his position in the cosmos, and with him, fertility. In this capacity, she is associated with the Sun God. Both deities were responsible for magic rituals,66 as indicated, for example, in the ritual of Hantitaššu, wherein the ritualist says of the incantation that she has just spoken: “Are not my words the words of the Sun God and Kamrušepa? Let them become the incantation of a mortal!” They work together on a mythological plane in birth rituals, for example, and offerings are established for the two together in a fertility ritual for the royal vineyard.67 In one historiola embedded in a ritual designed to reconcile a sick (colicky?) child with its mother, the divine pair begin to argue while combing a flock of sheep. Kamrušepa performs rites on a lamb, which are 64 Written logographically as dGUL-šeš and corresponding to Hittite Kuwanšeš; see Willemijn Waal, “Changing Fate: Hittite GUL-š-, C. Luwian GUL-zāi-, H. Luwian REL-za and the Kuwanšeš-Deities,” in Proceedings of the Eighth International Congress of Hittitology. Warsaw, 5–9 September 2011, ed. Piotr Taracha (Warsaw: Agade, 2014), 1016 33 and “Fate Strikes Back: New Evidence for the Identification of the Hittite Fate Deities and Its Implications for Hieroglyphic Writing in Anatolia,” JCS 71 (2019): 121–32. 65 So Schwemer, “Religion and Power,” 374 n. 87; Daniel Schwemer, “Zukki,” RlA 15 (2017):343. 66 Giulia Torri (“‘The Great Sun God Made a Feast’: A Mythical Topos in Hittite Ritual Literature,” Festschrift für Gernot Wilhelm anläβlich seines 65. Geburtstages am 28. Januar 2010, ed., Jeanette Fincke [Dresden: ISLET, 2013], 390 n. 46 compares the pair to Marduk and Ea/Asarluhi and Enki in Mesopotamian tradition. 67 Birth incantations: KBo 12.89 (CTH 765.2; Steitler, Solar Deities, 387, 400), KBo 12.100 (CTH 765.3; Steitler, 202, 401), KUB 35.108 (CTH 764.II; Steitler, 202), KUB 35.90 (CTH 770; Steitler, 399 n. 1211); ritual for the royal vineyard: KUB 43.23 (CTH 820.3). See the discussion in Steitler, Solar Deities, 199–204. 19 then mirrored by those performed on the child, thereby restoring harmony on both the earthly and divine planes.68 Ḫapantali was a divine shepherdess, responsible for the Sun God’s flock in the Telipinu Myth. Also connected with magic, she was first on the scene when the Moon God fell from heaven, uttering a spell over him until Kamrušepa was able to step in and restore him.69 In the Old Hittite KI.LAM festival she is associated with Inar, a Hattian goddess of wild nature, and the two are perhaps a juxtapositioning of wild nature and husbandry. Gods of War and Plague While deities of healing and the magical arts are female, deities of war and pestilence are male. The Akkadigram ZABABA could be used to indicate a variety of war gods, including Hattian Wurunkatte, Hurrian Hešui, and Syro-Hurrian Aštabi. Their individual characters are not well attested. Their associated animal is the lion and they are depicted armed with mace and shield or sickle-shaped swords in relief at Yazılıkaya. They are included among the divine witnesses in Hittite treaties. Manifestations of the war god are followed in the divine witness lists by Yarri, who is armed with bow and arrow and accompanied by the Seven (the Dark Ones), in plague rituals. He uses his bow and arrow to symbolically shoot the pestilence into enemy territory. Foreign Deities The Hittites embraced deities from lands beyond their own territories, taking care to worship them according to their native customs.70 But only two foreign deities were fully integrated into 68 KUB 12.26 ii 1–17 (CTH 441.1 §§5'–7'). Alfonso Archi, “Kamrušepa and the Sheep of the Sun-God,” Or 62 (1993):404–9; Görke, “Mythological Passages,” 165–66; Steitler, Solar Deities, 201. 69 Alfonso Archi, “Ḫapantali,” Atti del II congresso internazionale di Hittitologia, ed. Onofrio Carruba et al. StMed 9 (Pavia: Iuculano, 1995), 17. 70 One interesting example of this is the Assyrian and Syro-Mesopotamian deities included among the local panthea of a variety of towns located in central Anatolia as witnessed in one cult inventory text, CTH 510. This phenomenon, it is suggested, is attributable to the former presence of Assyrian merchants in this region. See Michele Cammarosani, “Foreign Gods in Hatti, A New Edition of CTH 510,” Kaskal 12 (2015): 199–244; Daniel Schwemer, “Fremde Götter in Ḫatti. Die hethitische Religion im Spannungsfeld von Synkretismus und Abgrenzung,” Ḫattuša – Boğazköy. Das 20 the state pantheon: Šawuška (IŠTAR) of Nineveh and the Storm God of Aleppo. Both appear among the gods of the oath in state treaties. The Storm God of Aleppo held a prominent position in pantheons throughout Syria and Upper Mesopotamia. The temple of the Storm God, established on the citadel at Aleppo as early as Early Bronze Age, stood towering over the city when Šuppuliuma I (mid-fourteenth century) established a Hittite vice-regency there following his Syrian campaigns. The cult of this deity may have been imported to Ḫattuša as early as the reign of Ḫattušili I, and his cult became fully integrated into the pantheon from the time of Tudḫaliya I.71 He was the personal deity of Muršili III (fig. 1). He had his own temple in Ḫattuša and numerous festivals were celebrated in his honor. Šawuška of Nineveh was introduced into Ḫatti in the early empire period (early fourteenth century), imported along with other Hurrian religious traditions. The majority of the texts relating to her Anatolian cult come from this period and reflect the Hurrianized version of cult. She became established in over two dozen towns in Hittite territory that lay between the Hittite center and her original homeland, as well as in the Hittite capital itself. She was integrated into the pantheon and included in the lists of divine witnesses to the treaty oaths, though she never rose to the level of a major deity. Šawuška of Samuḫa, the personal deity of Ḫattušili III, was a hypostasis of this goddess, but her cult developed a very different character. Loci numinosi As we have seen, the natural world was fully imbued with the numinous. But objects and locations, both fixed and movable, within or connected to the gods and their sanctuaries also shared in their divinity. The altar, hearth, window, door bolt, and throne dais all received cultic Hethiterreich im Spannungsfeld des Alten Orients. 6. Internationales Colloquium der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft, 22.–24. März 2006, Würzburg, ed., Gernot Wilhelm (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2008), 137–17. 71 For Anatolian sanctuaries of the Storm God of Aleppo, see Schwemer, Wettergottgestalten, 490 n. 4003; for his cult at Ḫattuša, see pp. 494–502. 21 attention.72 Belonging to the earliest traditions, the Hattian goddess Ḫalmašuit, the deified throne dais, who had a key place in the royal ideology of the Old Kingdom (ca. 1650–1500 BCE), is attested receiving offerings in the cult festivals.73 1.8. The King and the Gods The Old Kingdom religious texts make it clear that the land of Ḫatti belonged solely to the Storm God and was entrusted to the Hittite king to administer by the Storm God and the Sun Goddess, whom the king calls his mother and father. The royal enthronement ceremony served to confirm the king’s investiture, however, his appointment to kingship appears to have been made on a human, rather than a divine, level.74 The deity most intimately tied to royal ideology was the Sun God. The Hittite king was the Sun God on earth, was often depicted in rock reliefs in the guise of the deity, bore the title “My Sun,” and shared his functions. Both the king and the Sun God were considered sons of the Storm God, and just as the Sun God was convenor of the divine assembly, so to the human king convened the assembly of gods as witnesses to treaties and in prayers. One mythological passage, cited above, stresses the Sun God’s role in ensuring that the royal couple administers the land successfully.75 In addition to receiving the support of the gods of the official pantheon, each of the kings of the late empire period (thirteenth century BCE) also enjoyed the protection of a personal, patron 72 On this phenomenon, particularly in connection with the AN.DAḪ.ŠUM festival, see Charles W. Steitler, “Offerings to the loci numinosi: Distinctive Features of Sacred Spaces and Cult Practices,” in Cult, Temple, Sacred Spaces: Cult Practices and Cult Spaces in Hittite Anatolia and Neighbouring Cultures. Proceedings of the First International HFR Symposium, Mainz, 3–5 June 2019, StBoT 66, ed. Susanne Görke and Charles Steitler (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2020), 317–343. 73 Schwemer, “Religion and Power,” 380. 74 On the enthronement of the Hittite king, see Amir Gilan and Alice Mouton “The Enthronement of the Hittite King,” Life, Death, and Coming of Age in Antiquity: Individual Rites of Passage in the Ancient Near East and Adjacent Regions, ed. Alice Mouton and Julie Patrier, PIHANS 124 (Leiden: Nederlands Instituut voor het Nabije Oosten, 2014), 97–115 with further literature. For more on Hittite kingship and the gods, see Schwemer, “Religion and Power,” 356–59. 75 Görke, “Mythological Passages,” 167–68. 22 deity who was not necessarily a top-tier deity him- or herself. In monumental reliefs as well as on seals, the personal deity is sometimes shown protectively embracing the king, as Šarruma embraces Tudḫaliya IV at Yazılıkaya (fig. 4).76 Muwatalli II’s prayer to his personal deity, the Storm God of Lightning, credits the deity with giving him refuge. Similarly, Ḫattušili III credits Šawuška of Šamuḫa with taking him by the hand and giving him kingship over the land: “Let me proclaim the divine guidance of Šawuška,” he declares in his Apology. 1.9. Maintaining the Human-Divine Relationship Maintaining the cults of a pantheon as expansive and complex as that of the Hittites involved a wide range of cultic performance, including festivals and ceremonies, rituals, and day-to-day maintenance of the temples and the deities residing in them in the form of cult images. Additionally, humans were able to access the gods through various means of communication. Outside the regularly maintained cult, magic rituals were performed in response to specific situations that threatened an individual’s or the community’s wellbeing. Cultic Activities The gods were celebrated both within and outside of sanctuaries built for them. Ḫattuša itself was populated with temples and even the smallest town would have had some form of shrine. Worship very often took place in open-air sanctuaries, where special stone stelae (ḫuwašis) or structures were located, as the case with the installation at Kızlarkayası complex at Ḫattuša or the ḫuwaši sanctuary on the mountainside outside the royal city of Šarišša.77 Festival celebrations were largely structured around natural cycles of the heavenly bodies and the changes of the seasons and required the services of numerous priests and support 76 For this motif, see Horst Klengel, “‘An der Hand der Gottheit’: Bemerkungen zur ‘Umarmungsszene’ in der hethitischen Tradition,” Silva Anatolica: Anatolian Studies Presented to Maciej Popko on the Occasion of His 65th Birthday, ed. Piotr Taracha (Warsaw: Agade, 2002), 205–10. 77 See Cammarosano, “Ḫuwaši,” and 318–20. 23 personnel. More than two hundred different religious festivals are attested in the Hittite texts. The king along with members of the royal family participated in the more important festivals, which could last days or even weeks and take place in multiple towns. Most of the voluminous records were maintained to ensure the correct execution of these activities and were related to festivals in which the king was a participant. However, local festivals are also well attested in reports concerned with ensuring the upkeep of the cults in cities within the Hittite orbit. In the temple cults, a cadre of priests and officials maintained the divine image and performed the regular sacrifices and offerings. Most important were the SANGA priests, the GUDU12 priests and the AMA.DINGIR priestesses. The god’s image was located in the cella, which, contrary to what one might expect from temples in the ancient Near East generally, included windows so that the gods housed inside could continue to maintain contact with the numinous natural world outside the temple. The Great Temple in Ḫattuša contained seven or eight cult rooms, each at the center of a cluster of rooms, perhaps to accommodate members of the divine first family.78 Outside of the conventional religious structures, the gods could be worshiped in open-air sanctuaries, such as at Yazılıkaya, the main chamber of which is believed to have served as the cult room of the Storm God. Ḫuwašis, or standing stones, were often set up to function as divine images and the focal point of cultic activity; their use was widespread in Hittite Anatolia. Communication The Hittite scribes developed a unique body of prayer literature by which to communicate royal appeals to the gods. Typically, these revolved around the wellbeing of the land, which might have suffered from enemy attack or from epidemics, but such prayers could also be exculpatory, as when Muršili II defends himself against any suggestion of wrongdoing in his handling of the 78 Andreas Schachner, “The Great Temple at Hattusa: Some Preliminary Interpretations,” Görke and Steitler, Cult, Temple, Sacred Paces, 105–58, esp. 141. 24 removal of the queen (his step mother) from her position. Prayers often included a promise of gifts for the deity in exchange for responding to the plea. Such vows are particularly well attested for Queen Puduḫepa who was concerned with the health of her husband Ḫattušili III. Notably, prayers often close with the expression “so be it,” uttered by the congregation; the equivalent to the liturgical response “amen” in the Abrahamic tradition. The gods communicated with humans through signs or oracles—markings on the entrails of animals, the movements of birds, the interaction of symbolic tokens (KIN), and more—that were investigated and interpreted by specialists in each type of divination and which allowed for informed decisions regarding matters of the cult, of combat, and so forth. Often multiple methods of inquiry might be used to confirm the outcome and achieve the most accurate result. In cases of inauspicious omens following an oracular investigation involving augury (the observation of birds), rituals are attested that could also be performed to mitigate the foreseen negative outcomes. The Hittite gods frequently communicated with humans by means of dreams and often such dreams were solicited by means of dream incubation. Magic Rituals Outside of the regular cult, private and royal individuals alike had recourse to magic rituals in the event of illness or misfortune most often perceived to be punishments meted out by angry gods, the influence of sorcery or slander, or demonic interference. Attested rituals address such specific issues as sexual dysfunction, curses, bloodshed, depression, familial discord, an unproductive orchard, and more. Rites of passage—birth, puberty, death—were also the occasion for ritual performances. Such rituals were frequently performed by a named female expert with the title “Old/Wise Woman.” Male augurs, diviners, and physicians are also attested for some types of rituals. Like the pantheon itself, these rituals reflect the ethnic diversity of Hittite 25 Anatolia, as they were collected from various polities throughout Anatolia, Kizzuwatna, and northern Syria. Part 2. Hittite Gods in Near Eastern Context Although individual kings favored the cults of select deities and vice versa, at no time in Hittite history can we detect any hints of a burgeoning monolatry, henotheism, or monotheism, as has been proposed for Mesopotoamia and Egypt.79 Nor is the Hittite king ever considered a god during his lifetime. In representations where he is in the embrace of his personal deity, the king is depicted in hierarchical proportion to the much larger deity. The king did, however, “become a god” upon his death and statues of the deceased kings and royal ancestors received offerings. The possible exception of Tudhaliya IV, who received offerings during his lifetime, may be an innovation influenced by Assyrian royal ideology.80 No single divinity embodied goodness, and, by the same token, neither was there a divinity that epitomized or explained the existence of evil. “Evil” as one half of a cosmic duality had no place in Hittite thought. Yet, the gods could at times be unforgiving and vengeful. The myths of the Old Kingdom period discussed above articulate this divine anger in the physical withdrawal of the deity from his or her place in the cosmos and the resulting loss of abundance and fertility of plants and animals. Through the concept of para ḫandandatar “divine providence/guidance” the gods showed not only their favor and their beneficence, but also, it seems, their intentions. When Ḫattušili II was still young, the goddess had sent a dream to Ḫattušili’s father, Muršili II, in which she said: 79 Also Schwemer, “Religion and Power,” 264 n. 39. For an exploration of possible Anatolian influences on Israelite religious traditions, see Billie Jean Collins, The Hittites and Their World, ABS 7 (Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2007). Here I limit myself to theological parallels. 80 See Theo P. J. van den Hout, “Tutḫalija IV. und die Ikonographie hethitischer Großkönige des 13. Jhs.,” BiOr 52 (1995):545–73. 26 “‘For Ḫattušili the years (are) short…. Hand him over to me, and let him be my priest, so he (will) live.’” The goddess’s plan for Ḫattušili III is spelled out in more than one dream sent to his queen Puduḫepa in which she promises him the kingship of Ḫatti. In this text, for the first time, we have a hint that a divine plan was at work in Hittite history. The Hurro-Hittite myths that comprise the Kumarbi Cycle feature a monster, Ḫedammu, who lives in the sea, as does the stone giant Ullikummi in the same cycle. One fragment also belonging to this cycle describes a fight between Kumarbi and the sea god, which results in the Storm God’s successful accession to the kingship in heaven.81 Other mythological fragments from Ḫattuša that belong to Syro-Hurrian tradition describe a conflict between Teššub and the sea.82 This tradition is similar to the Ugaritic myths about the battle between Baal and Yamm for kingship among the gods. Evidence of a similar Old Babylonian-era myth associated with Haddu of Aleppo and his victory over the sea goddess Têmtum is found in a letter.83 In both Aleppo and Ugarit, this mythologem is closely connected to royal ideology, as it no doubt was in Ḫatti as well. Even Egypt adapted the motif, assigning its god Seth to the role of the storm god.84 Anatolian examples of enmity between the storm god and the sea go beyond the Hurrian milieu. The Old Anatolian myth of Illuyanka took place near the sea, and the story of Telipinu and the Daughter of the Sea places the sea in opposition to the celestial gods, suggesting that the motif in Anatolia was not solely an adaptation from North Syrian traditions.85 The motif also finds its way into the imagery of Yahweh, who is victorious over the sea (Pss 18:8–19, 29:3–4, 89:8–11).86 81 KBo 26.105 (CTH 346.9); Schwemer, “Storm-Gods, Part II,” 25. Catalogued currently under CTH 350; Schwemer, “Storm-Gods, Part II,” 25; see also Schwemer, Wettergottgestalten, 232–34, 451–52 with n. 3736. 83 Schwemer, “Storm-Gods, Part II,” 24; Wettergottgestalten, 226–27. 84 Attested on the Aštarte Papyrus, for which, see Schwemer, Wettergottgestalten, 453–54; Thomas Schneider, “Texte über den syrischen Wettergott aus Ägypten,” UF 35 (2003): 605–27. 85 Schwemer, “Storm-Gods, Part II,” 26. 86 Schwemer, Wettergottgestalten, 236–37; for Yahweh as a storm god, see H.-P. Müller, “Zur Grammatik und zum religionsgeschichtlichen Hintergrund von Ps 68,5.” ZAW 117 (2005):206–16. 82 27 In the account of the competition between the priests of Baal and those of Yahweh, Elijah taunts the priests of Baal that their god must be sleeping and needs to be awakened (1 Kgs 18:27). A similar idea is found in a prayer to the Storm God of Nerik (CTH 671.1), where the god is invoked: “Let Nerik, the city, in your mind. You were sleeping sweet dreams on the knees of beloved Tešimi. Get up, Storm-god of Nerik. For you, Tešimi dangles like a sweet cluster of grapes.”87 Some prayers contain a passage wherein the supplicant points out to the deity that only in Ḫatti do the gods receive offerings and are their shrines maintained correctly. This “only in Ḫatti” formula parallels the exclusive bond between YHWH and Israel expressed in particular in the Book of Psalms.88 3. Glossary of Anatolian Deities of the Late Bronze Age This list is not exhaustive but rather focuses on some of the better documented deities. For a comprehensive catalog of the gods attested in the Hittite texts, see van Gessel’s Onomasticon of the Hittite Pantheon. The divine names or terms are followed by the cultural layer to which the name or deity belongs. Abbreviations: Hatt. = Hattian; Hitt. = Hittite; Hurr. = Hurrian; Luw. = Luwian; Mesop. = Mesopotamian; Syr. = Syrian. Ala (Luw.): wife of the stag god. Allani (Hurr.): Hurrian goddess of the netherworld. Anzili (Hatt.): the Venus star; written IŠTAR. Paired with Zukki. 87 Trans. Mary Bachvarova, “Sacrifice and Prayer to the Storm God of Nerik,” Prayer in the Ancient World, ed. Daniel Falk and Rodney Werline (Leiden: Brill, forthcoming). Tešimi, a Hattian spring goddess, is consort to the Storm God of Nerik. 88 As discussed in Paul Sanders, “Argumenta ad deum in the plague prayers of Mursili II and in the Book of Psalms,” Psalms and Prayers: Papers Read at the Joint Meeting of the Society for Old Testament Study and Het Oud Testamentisch Werkgezelschap in Nederland en België, Apeldoorn August 2006, ed. H. G. L. Peels and B. E. J. H. Becking (Leiden: Brill, 2007) 188–91; I am grateful to Mary Bachvarova for this reference. 28 Arma (Hitt./Luw.), Kab (Hatt.), Kušuḫ (Hurr.): moon god; husband of Nikkal. Daḫa (Hitt.): mountain deity with a cult center in Zippalanda. Ea (Mesop.): lord of the subterranean waters; patron deity of scribes. Eštan (Hatt.), Ištanu (Hitt.): the celestial sun goddess, supreme goddess of the pantheon; known primarily by the title Sun Goddess of Arinna; epithet: Ariniddu. Ḫalki (Hitt.) “Grain”; goddess of grain; often written logographically NISABA. Ḫalmašuit (Hatt.): the deified throne dais. Ḫannaḫanna (Hitt.): mother goddess who figures prominently in myth and ritual. Ḫapantali (Luw.): shepherdess of the Sun God. Ḫašammili (Hatt.): attested in the Hattian, Palaean, and Kanešian panthea; a god with chthonic associations, hecould be represented by an object of wood and may have been connected with cultic practices performed in sacred groves.89 Ḫatepinu (Hatt.): daughter of the Sea God and wife of Telipinu.90 Ḫazzi and Nanni (Syr.): sacred mountains in the court of the Storm God of Aleppo. Ḫebat (Hurr.): wife of Teššub; sometimes identified with the Sun Goddess of Arinna. The two are depicted in the central panel in Chamber A at Yazılıkaya facing one another at the front of the two rows of deities depicted on the face of rock on either side of the chamber. Ḫuwaššanna (Luw.): a goddess, the chief deity of the city of Ḫupišna. Ilaliyant-gods: agents (and possibly sons) of the Sun God in myth and ritual who afflict humanity as an expression of the god’s anger. Inar (Hatt.): daughter of Storm God in one version of the Illuyanka myth. Patron goddess of Ḫattuša; associated with wild animals and the hunt. 89 90 Steitler, Solar Deities, 143. Volkert Haas, Die hethitische Literatur: Texte, Stilistik, Motive (Berlin: de Gruyter, 2006), 115–16. 29 Innara (Hitt.) “strong”: Hittite name of the stag god; written KAL. Innarawanza (Hitt.), Annarumenzi (Luw.) “the formidable gods”: companions of the plague deity Šanda. Išhara: A Mesopotamian goddess, protectress of the oath, who entered the Hittite pantheon via the Hurrians. Ištanu (Hitt.): the Sun God of Heaven. Ištuštaya and Papaya (Hatt.): fate goddesses associated with the Hattian netherworld. Iyarri (Luw.): god of war and plague. Kab (Hatt.): moon god. See Arma. Kamrušepa (Luw.): quintessial goddess of magic and incantations; equated with Hattian Kataḫzipuri; closely connected to the sun god in Luwian tradition. Kataḫḫa (Hatt. “Queen”): a general appellation used for multiple goddesses of central Anatolia, one of whom was a local goddess worshipped in the cult center of Ankuwa, who may have been mother of the storm god of the nearby cult center of Zippalanda,91 himself a son of the Storm God of Heaven. Kataḫzipuri (Pal. but Hatt. name): Hattian goddess of magic; equated with Kamrušepa; wife of the storm god Zaparwa. Kurunta (Luw.): the stag god; written KAL. Kušuḫ (Hurr.): moon god. See Arma. Lelwani (Hatt.): Hattian goddess of the netherworld. Written ALLATUM. Maliya (Hitt./Luw.): a goddess of the vineyard and “mother of the vine and grain.” 91 Torri, “Storm God of Zippalanda.” 30 Mezzulla (Hitt.), Tappinu (Hatt.): a sun goddess; daughter of the Sun Goddess and Storm God and companion to the former. Nikkal (Sum. via Hurr.): oath deity; wife of the moon god Kušuh. Ninatta and Kulitta (Hurr.): divine lady’s maids to Šawuška. Pirwa (Hitt.): a member of the Kanešite pantheon; associated with horses, but his character is otherwise ambiguous. Šanda (Luw.): god of plague. Šarruma (Hurr.): son of Teššub and Ḫebat. Patron god of Tudḫaliya IV. He is depicted behind his mother on the central panel at Yazılıkaya, standing on a feline. Šawuška (Hurr. “Great Lady”): Venus goddess. Šawuška of Nineveh (Mesop.): Ninevite manifestation of Šawuška whose character and cult are distinct from other manifestations. Šeri and Ḫurri (Hurr.): the bulls who draw the wagon of Teššub. Šimige (Hurr.): sun god; a pan-Hurrian deity whose profile was largely subsumed under that of Mesopotamian Šamaš. Šiwatt (Hitt. “Day”): a solar god with chthonic associations. Storm God of Aleppo (Syr.): an international deity who was integrated early into the state pantheon of Ḫatti. Šulinkatte (Hatt.): war god; identfied with Mesopotamian Nergal; both names were written U.GUR. Sun Goddess of Arinna. See Eštan. Sun Goddess of the Earth (Luw.): the nocturnal aspect of solar goddess. Sun God of Heaven. See Ištanu. 31 Šuwaliyatt (Hitt.), Tašmišu (Hurr.): written dNIN.URTA and dURAŠ as well as syllabically; god of vegetation and agriculture. Taru (Hatt.), Tarḫunta (Hitt.), Tarhunt, Tarhunza (Luw.): storm god; name of the chief deity of the Hittite pantheon, the Storm God of Heaven. Telipinu (Hatt.) “great son”: son of the Storm God of Heaven; god of vegetation and agriculture. Teššub (Hurr.): storm god; husband of Ḫebat identified with the Storm God of Heaven. Tetešḫapi (Hatt.) “great goddess”: a goddess of wild animals and hunting. Tiwad (Luw.), Tiyat (Pal.): sun god; partner to Sun Goddess of the Earth in Luwian tradition and paired with Kamrušepa in magic rituals. Wašezzili (Hitt.): a storm god; the name of the Storm God of Zippalanda(?). Wurunkatte (Hatt.): storm god. Wurunšemu (Hatt.): Hattian name of the Sun Goddess of Arinna. Yarri (Luw.): war god and bringer of plague. ZABABA: war god. The Akkadogram can also indicate Wurunkatte (Hatt.) or Yarri (Luw.). Zaparwa (Pal.), Ziparwa (Hatt.): storm god and head of the Palaic pantheon. Zilipuri (Hatt.): a netherworld deity; associated with the hearth. Written U.GUR. Zintuḫi (Hitt.): a sun goddess; daughter of Mezzulla and granddaughter of the Sun Goddess and Storm God. Zitḫariya (Hatt.): written dKAL; a stag god of the countryside associated with the kurša-. Zukki. See Anzili. 32 Further Reading Overviews Beckman, Gary. “Pantheon. A. II. Bei den Hethitern,” RlA 10 (2004):308–316. ———. “Hittite Religion.” Pages 84–101 in The Cambridge History of Religions in the Ancient World, vol. 1. Edited by Michele Renee Salzman and Marvin A. Sweeney. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013. Collins, Billie Jean. The Hittites and Their World. ABS 7. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2007. Gessel, Ben H. L. van. Onomasticon of the Hittite Pantheon. 3 vols. HbOr 1/33. Leiden: Brill, 1998– 2001. Hundley, Michael. “The God Collectors: Hittite Conceptions of the Divine.” AoF 41 (2014): 176– 200. Hutter, Manfred. “Aspects of Luwian Religion.” Pages 211–80 in The Luwians. Edited by H. Craig Melchert. HdO I/68. Leiden: Brill, 2003. Popko, Maciej. Religions of Asia Minor. Warsaw: Dialog, 1995. Schwemer, Daniel. “The Cult of the Gods, Magic Rituals, and the Care of the Dead.” Pages 432– 49 in The Hittites: An Anatolian Empire. Edited by Metin Alparslan and Meltem DoğanAlparslan. Istanbul: Yapı Kredi, 2013. English and Turkish. ———. “Religion and Power.” Pages 355–418 in Handbook Hittite Empire: Power Structures. Edited by Stefano de Martino. Berlin: de Gruyter, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110661781009. Taracha, Piotr. Religions of Second Millennium Anatolia. DBH 27. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2009. 33 Studies of Individual Deities or Deity Types Archi, Alfonso. “The Anatolian Fate-Goddesses and Their Different Traditions.” Pages 1–26 in Diversity and Standardization: Perspectives on Social and Political Norms in the Ancient Near East. Edited by Eva Cancik-Kirschbaum, Jörg Klinger, and Gerfrid G. W. Müller. Berlin: Akademie, 2013. ———. “Ḫapantali.” Pages 13–18 in Atti del II congresso internazionale di Hittitologia. Edited by Onofrio Carruba et al. StMed 9. Pavia: Iuculano, 1995. ———. “The Heptad in Anatolia.” Hethitica 16 (2010): 21–34. Beckman, Gary. “Ištar of Nineveh Reconsidered.” JCS 50 (1998): 1–10. ———. “Šamaš among the Hittites.” In Theory and Practice of Knowledge Transfer: Studies in School Education in the Ancient Near East and Beyond, edited by W. S. van Egmond and W. H. van Soldt, 129–35. Publications de l’Institut historique-archéologique néerlandais de Stamboul 121. Leiden: Nederlands Instituut voor het Nabije Oosten, 2012. Lorenz, Ulrike. “Sonnengöttin der Erde - Ereškigal - Allani. Einige Bemerkungen zu den hethitischen Unterweltsgöttinnen in der Ritualliteratur.” SMEA 50 (2008): 501–11. ———. “Uralte Götter und Unterweltsgötter: Religionsgeschichtliche Betrachtungen zu der ‘Sonnengöttin der Erde’ und den ‘uralten Göttern’ bei den Hethitern.” Mainz: Universitätsbibliothek, 2009. Mazoyer, Michel. Télipinu, le dieu au marécage: Essai sur les mythes fondateurs du royaume hittite. KUBABA-SA 2. Paris: l’Harmattan, 2003. McMahon, Gregory. The Hittite State Cult of the Tutelary Deities. AS 25. Chicago: Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, 1991. Mouton, Alice, and Ian Rutherford. “The Sun Deity of the hilammar: An Unnoticed ‘pan-Luwian’ Deity?” BiOr 67 (2010):276–81. 34 Polvani, Anna Maria. “Il dio Šanta nell’Anatolia del II millennio.” Pages 645–652 in Anatolia Antica: Studi in memoria di Fiorella Imparati, Eothen 11. Edited by Stefano de Martino and Franca Pecchioli Daddi, Eothen 11. Florence: LoGisma, 2002. Prechel, Doris. Die Göttin Išḫara: Ein Beitrag zur altorientalischen Religionsgeschichte. Abhandlungen zur Literatur Alt-Syrien-Palästinas und Mesopotamiens 11. Münster: Ugarit, 1996. Schwemer, Daniel. “Religion and Power” ———. “Šuwaliyatt: Name, Kult und Profil eines hethitischen Gottes.” Colloquium Anatolicum 10 (2011): 249–60. ———. “The Storm-Gods of the Ancient Near East: Summary, Synthesis, Recent Studies; Part I.” JANER 8 (2008): 121–68. ———. “The Storm-Gods of the Ancient Near East: Summary, Synthesis, Recent Studies; Part II.” JANER 8 (2008): 1–44. ———. Die Wettergottgestalten Mesopotamiens und Nordsyriens im Zeitalter der Keilschriftkulturen. Materialien und Studien nach den schriftlichen Quellen. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2001. Steitler, Charles W. The Solar Deities of Bronze Age Anatolia: Studies in Texts of the Early Hittite Kingdom. StBoT 62. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2017. ———. “Sacred Springs, Spring Sanctuaries and Spring-Deities in Hittite Religion.” Pages 1–25 in Natur und Kult in Anatolien: Viertes Wissenschaftliches Netzwerk an der Abteilung Istanbul des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts. Edited by Banjamin Engels. Byzas 24. Istanbul: Ege, 2019. Taracha, Piotr. “Anatolian Ḫannaḫanna and Mesopotamian DINGIR.MAḪ.” Pages 301–10 in Investigationes Anatolicae: Gedenkschrift für Erich Neu, edited by Jörg Klinger et al. StBoT 52. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2010. 35 Torri, Giulia. Lelwani: Il culto di una dea ittita. Vicino Orientale, Quaderni 2. Rome: Università di Roma, 1999. Trémouille, Marie-Claude. dḪebat: Une divinité syro-anatolienne. Eothen 7. Florence: LoGisma, 1997. Yoshida, Daisuka. Untersuchungen zu den Sonnengottheiten bei den Hethitern: Schwurgötterliste, helfende Gottheit, Feste. THeth 22. Heidelberg: Winter, 1996. Additionally, the reader may consult the articles on individual divinities published in Reallexikon der Assyriologie und Vorderasiatischen Archäologie (Berlin: de Gruyter), now available online: https://publikationen.badw.de/en/rla/index. State Religion Gilan A., ““Now See How the Mighty Storm-God My Lord is Running Before Me:” Revelation of Divine Power in Hittite Historiography”, in: Anthonioz S. − Mouton A. − Petit D. 2019a 33-48. Schwemer, Daniel. “Das hethitische Reichspantheon: Überlegungen zu Struktur und Genese.” Pages 241–65 in Götterbilder, Gottesbilder, Weltbilder: Polytheismus und Monotheismus in der Welt der Antike, Bd. 1: Ägypten, Mesopotamien, Persien, Kleinasien, Syrien, Palästina. Edited by Reinhard G. Kratz and Hermann Spieckermann. Forschungen zum Alten Testament 2. Reihe 17/18. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2006. Taracha, Piotr. “Political Religion and Religious Policy: How the Hittite King Chose His Patron Gods.” AoF 40 (2013):373–84. List of figures Figure 1. The Storm God seal of Muršili III. From Peter Neve, Ḫattuša Stadt der Götter und Temple (Mainz: von Zabern, 1993). 36 Figure 2. The Hittite king and queen worshiping the storm god in the form of a bull. Photograph by the author. Figure 3. Rhyton in the shape of stag, with a relief depicting the stag god standing on a stag. Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Accession number 1989.281.10. Figure 4. Relief in Chamber B at Yazılıkaya depicting Tudhaliya IV in the embrace of his personal god Šarruma. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:H attusa,_capital_of_the_Hittite_Empire_38.jpg, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. 37