Puruli () was a
Hattian spring festival, held at
Nerik
Nerik ( Hittite: ''Nerik(ka)''"Nerik(ka)." ''Reallexikon der Assyriologie.'') was a Bronze Age settlement to the north of the Hittite capitals Hattusa and Sapinuwa, probably in the Pontic region. Since 2005–2009, the site of Nerik has been id ...
, dedicated to the earth goddess
Hannahanna, who is
married
Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...
to a new king.
The central ritual of the Puruli festival is dedicated to the destruction of the dragon
Illuyanka
In Hittite mythology, Illuyanka was a serpentine dragon slain by Tarḫunz (), the Hittite incarnation of the Hurrian god of sky and storm. It is known from Hittite cuneiform tablets found at Çorum-Boğazköy, the former Hittite capital Hat ...
by the storm god
Teshub
Teshub was the Hurrians, Hurrian weather god, as well as the head of the Hurrian pantheon. The etymology of his name is uncertain, though it is agreed it can be classified as linguistically Hurrian language, Hurrian. Both Phonetics, phonetic and L ...
. The corresponding Assyrian festival is the
Akitu
Akitu or Akitum
()
()
is a spring festival and New Year's celebration, held on the first day of the Assyrian and Babylonian Nisan in ancient Mesopotamia and in Assyrian communities around the world, to celebrate the sowing of barley. Akit ...
of the
Enuma Elish. Also compared are the Canaanite ''Poem of Baal'' and
Psalms
The Book of Psalms ( , ; ; ; ; , in Islam also called Zabur, ), also known as the Psalter, is the first book of the third section of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) called ('Writings'), and a book of the Old Testament.
The book is an anthology of B ...
93 and
29.
Biblical
Hannah has been suggested as a Hebrew version of Hannahanna.
Literature
*J. G. Macqueen, ''Hattian Mythology and Hittite Monarchy'', Anatolian Studies (1959).
*
Theodor H. Gaster, ''Psalm 29'', The Jewish Quarterly Review, University of Pennsylvania (1946)
Spring festivals
Hattian mythology
Hittite mythology
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