I Hittites Lecture Outline Illuyanka Myths and The Kumarbi Cycle a Indo European people European people that expanded all the way to India b entered Anatolia from northeast c 2300 BCE c Hattians indigenous pre Hittite people Disappeared from history absorbed by the Hittite people d Hittite Empire 1700 1200 BCE At it s height 1700 1200 BCE Collapses after this time period the city of Ugarit is destroyed Late Bronze Age e Hurrians Indo European there language is closely related to Indian Sanskrit In between Anatolia and Mesopotamia 1 people in northern Syria 2 empire named Mitanni II Hittite Mythology a Hittite capital Hattusas 1 cuneiform tablets 2 many mythological religious b over 600 gods 1 polytheism and syncretism Resisted syncretism for a long time and just kept adding on gods 2 Hattians Adopted gods from 3 Hurrians Adopted gods from 4 Mesopotamians c chief god 1 Storm God 2 name unknown 3 identified with Hurrians adopted gods from the Mesopotamians Hittites from the Hurrians Name we do not know a Hattian Storm God b Hurrian Tessub storm god III Illuyanka Myths a adopted from Hattians b texts c 1700 1500 BCE c Storm God vs serpent We do not know if the Hitties adapted the Hattian myths or kept them the same d Illuyanka Hattian or Hittite for serpent Serpent myths usually see a storm god battling a serpent dragon ect IV Illuyanka Myth Version 1 a assoc with Purulli festival in spring b Storm God defeated by Illuyanka c summons gods d Inara 1 daughter of Storm God 2 huntress 3 prepares feast e mortal man Hupasiya 1 helps prepare the feast for a price 2 but asks to sleep w Inara f Illuyanka 1 summoned to feast comes even though he just defeated the storm god 2 drunk whole purpose of the feast g tied up by Hupasiya killed by Storm God h triumph of Storm God return of spring V Illuyanka Myth Version 2 a Illuyanka 1 defeats Storm God 2 takes Storm God s heart and eyes weakened blind b Storm God 1 marries woman a mortal woman 2 has son 3 son marries Illuyanka s daughter c Storm God to son heart eyes get my heart and eyes back d battles Illuyanka 1 beside at sea ancient idea that connects serpents to the sea he is not the sea but is at the sea serpent 2 son to Storm God Don t spare me e kills Illuyanka son First the serpent defeated the Storm God So the Storm God killed both the serpent and his own son We are not told why the son is willing to die so the Storm God can kill Illuyanka VI Kumarbi Cycle a group of poems about Kumarbi b Hurrian literary works but written in Hittite Hittites adopted them we don t know how much is changed c texts c 1400 1200 BCE VII Song of Kumarbi a succession myth rise and fall of Kumarbi b Kumarbi Hurrian god assoc with underworld Does not rule the underworld but has connections to it c succession 1 Alalu king of gods father of Kumarbi 2 Anu Overthrows Alalu Alalu goes to the underworld 3 Kumarbi Overthrows Anu Anu goes up to the sky but before Anu can get away Kumarbi castrates him d castration of Anu 1 Kumarbi swallows genitals Bites them off Emasculates him Cannot reproduce 2 pregnant with gods Because Kumarbi swallows Anu s genitals 3 incl Tessub e Ea 1 serves as advisor midwife to king Kumarbi 2 Kumarbi thinks Tessub already born He wants to eat him 3 bites into stone Ea gives Kumarbi a stone instead of Tessub Kumarbi eats the stone and hurts his teeth He began to speak to Ea Kumarbi began to weep 4 tricked by Ea We do not know why Ea gives Kumarbi a stone f Tessub 1 born from good place Euphemism for penis 2 overthrows Kumarbi fragmentary We assume this because in all later poems Tessub is king of the gods g alternation between 1 underworld gods Alalu Kumarbi 2 sky gods Anu Tessub Alternation of sons overthrowing their fathers VIII Song of Ullikummi a Kumarbi tries to overthrow Tessub b wants to use child to storm heaven Kumarbi wants to birth a son so tall he can rain heaven over Tessub c impregnates rock Kumarbi is very associated with rocks bites into one d stone child named Ullikummi e Ullikummi placed on Ubelurri s sholder Kumarbi wants a safe place to keep Ullikummi 1 Ubelurri sky supporter Has earth and sky built on top of him and literally holds him up 2 cf Atlas f Istanu sun god 1 spots Ullikummi growing Rapidly Was below the sea bed with Ubelurri now has popped up above the sea Sun god up in the sky sees everything 2 tells Tessub He is growing so quickly he is going to storm heaven g Ea 1 advisor to king Tessub 2 goes to Ubelurri Figures out where Ullikummi is growing from Ea spoke to Ubelluri You are unaware of this swiftly rising god When they built heaven and earth upon me I don t know who this god is Ubelluri to Ea Ullikummi is so humongous that he is making Ubelluri s shoulder hurt When the earth was built on Ubelluri it did not bother him 3 cuts off Ullikummi with cutting tool Copper cutting tool used to cut Ullikummi off of Ubelurri s shoulder it makes him vulnerable h Tessub battles Ullikummi fragmentary Texts cuts off here we do not know what happens we assume Tessub wins Ullikummi is still connected to the sea because he grows there Idea that the storm god battles a monster from the sea
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