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The Sun goddess of Arinna, also sometimes identified as Arinniti or as Wuru(n)šemu, is the chief goddess and companion of the weather god
Tarḫunna Tarḫunna or Tarḫuna/i was the Hittite weather god. He was also referred to as the "Weather god of Heaven" or the "Lord of the Land of Hatti". Name Tarḫunna is a cognate of the Hittite verb ''tarḫu-zi'', "to prevail, conquer, be powe ...
in
Hittite mythology Hittite mythology and Hittite religion were the religious beliefs and practices of the Hittites, who created an empire centered in what is now Turkey from . Most of the narratives embodying Hittite mythology are lost, and the elements that wo ...
. She protected the Hittite kingdom and was called the "Queen of all lands." Her cult centre was the sacred city of
Arinna Arinna was the major cult center of the Hittite sun-goddess known as dUTU URU''Arinna'' or " Sun-Goddess of Arinna", who is also sometimes identified as ''Arinniti'' or as ''Wuru(n)šemu''. Arinna was located near Hattusa, the Hittite capital. ...
. In addition to the Sun goddess of Arinna, the Hittites also worshipped the
Sun goddess of the Earth The Sun goddess of the Earth ( Hittite: ''taknaš dUTU'', Luwian: tiyamaššiš Tiwaz) was the Hittite goddess of the underworld. Her Hurrian equivalent was Allani and her Sumerian/Akkadian equivalent was Ereshkigal, both of which had a marked ...
and the
Sun god of Heaven The Sun god of Heaven ( Hittite: nepišaš Ištanu) was a Hittite solar deity. He was the second-most worshipped solar deity of the Hittites, after the Sun goddess of Arinna. The Sun god of Heaven was identified with the Hurrian solar deity, Šimi ...
, while the
Luwians The Luwians were a group of Anatolian peoples who lived in central, western, and southern Anatolia, in present-day Turkey, during the Bronze Age and the Iron Age. They spoke the Luwian language, an Indo-European language of the Anatolian su ...
originally worshipped the old Proto-Indo-European Sun god Tiwaz. It appears that in the northern cultural sphere of the early Hittites, there was no male solar deity. Distinguishing the various solar deities in the texts is difficult since most are simply written with the
Sumerogram A Sumerogram is the use of a Sumerian cuneiform character or group of characters as an ideogram or logogram rather than a syllabogram in the graphic representation of a language other than Sumerian, such as Akkadian or Hittite. Sumerograms are n ...
dUTU (Solar deity). As a result, the interpretation of the solar deities remains a subject of debate.


Family and myths

The Sun goddess of Arinna and the weather god Tarḫunna formed a pair and together they occupied the highest position in the Hittite state's pantheon. The pair's daughter is
Mezulla Mezulla was a minor Hittite goddess. She and her daughter Zintuḫi were closely associated with the Sun goddess of Arinna; together they formed a triple deity. Mezulla had only local importance and is not mentioned in the oath lists of Hittite int ...
, by whom they had the granddaughter Zintuḫi. Their other children were the
Weather god of Nerik The Weather god of Nerik is a Hittite weather god, who was mainly worshipped in the Hittite city of Nerik, whose cult was relocated to Kaštama and Takupša for two hundred years after the Hittites lost Nerik to the Kaskians. He was also referred t ...
, the
Weather god of Zippalanda The Weather god of Zippalanda was a Hittite weather god, who was worshipped in the Hittite city of Zippalanda. The weather god of Zippalanda had several names, such as Ziplantil, Wašezzili,Piotr Taracha: ''Religions of Second Millennium Anatolia ...
, and the corn god
Telipinu Telipinu was the last king of the Hittites Old Kingdom, living in 16th century BC, reigned c. 1525-1500 BC in middle chronology. At the beginning of his reign, the Hittite Empire had contracted to its core territories, having long since lost all ...
. The eagle served as her messenger. In myths, she plays a minor role. A Hattian mythic fragment records the construction of her house in . Another myth fragment refers to her apple tree:


Origin and development

The Sun goddess of Arinna was originally of Hattian origin and was worshipped by the
Hattians The Hattians () were an ancient Bronze Age people that inhabited the land of ''Hatti'', in central Anatolia (modern Turkey). They spoke a distinctive Hattian language, which was neither Semitic nor Indo-European. Hattians are attested by arc ...
as Eštan. One of her Hattian
epithet An epithet (, ), also byname, is a descriptive term (word or phrase) known for accompanying or occurring in place of a name and having entered common usage. It has various shades of meaning when applied to seemingly real or fictitious people, di ...
s was Wurunšemu ("Mother of the land"?). From the
Hittite Old Kingdom The Hittites () were an Anatolian people who played an important role in establishing first a kingdom in Kussara (before 1750 BC), then the Kanesh or Nesha kingdom (c. 1750–1650 BC), and next an empire centered on Hattusa in north-centra ...
, she was the chief goddess of the Hittite state. The "Gods' city" of Arinna was the site of the coronation of the first Hittite kings and one of the empire's three holy cities. The Hattian name of the goddess was transcribed by the Hittites as Ištanu and Urunzimu. They also invoked her as Arinitti ("The Arinnian"). The epithet "of Arinna" only appears during the
Hittite Middle Kingdom The Hittites () were an Anatolian people who played an important role in establishing first a kingdom in Kussara (before 1750 BC), then the Kanesh or Nesha kingdom (c. 1750–1650 BC), and next an empire centered on Hattusa in north-centra ...
, to distinguish the Sun goddess from the male Sun god of Heaven, who had been adopted by the Hittites from interaction with the
Hurrians The Hurrians (; cuneiform: ; transliteration: ''Ḫu-ur-ri''; also called Hari, Khurrites, Hourri, Churri, Hurri or Hurriter) were a people of the Bronze Age Near East. They spoke a Hurrian language and lived in Anatolia, Syria and Northern Me ...
. During the
Hittite New Kingdom The Hittites () were an Anatolian people who played an important role in establishing first a kingdom in Kussara (before 1750 BC), then the Kanesh or Nesha kingdom (c. 1750–1650 BC), and next an empire centered on Hattusa in north-centr ...
, she was identified with the
Hurrian The Hurrians (; cuneiform: ; transliteration: ''Ḫu-ur-ri''; also called Hari, Khurrites, Hourri, Churri, Hurri or Hurriter) were a people of the Bronze Age Near East. They spoke a Hurrian language and lived in Anatolia, Syria and Northern Me ...
-Syrian goddess
Ḫepat Ḫebat ( xhu, 𒀭𒄭𒁁, ), also transcribed Khepat, was the mother goddess of the Hurrians, known as "the mother of all living". She was a popular deity, and her name appears in many Theophoric name, theophoric personal names. A king of Je ...
and the Hittite Queen
Puduḫepa Puduḫepa or Pudu-Kheba (fl. 13th century BC) was a Hittite queen, her companion being the King Hattusili III. She has been referred to as "one of the most influential women known from the Ancient Near East." Biography Early life and marriage ...
mentions her in her prayers using both names:


Royal ideology

From the Hittite Old Kingdom, the Sun goddess of Arinna legitimised the authority of the king, in conjunction with the weather god Tarḫunna. The land belonged to the two deities and they established the king, who would refer to the Sun goddess as "Mother". King
Ḫattušili I Hattusili I (''Ḫattušili'' I) was a king of the Hittite Old Kingdom. He reigned ca. 1650–1620 BCE as per middle chronology, the most accepted chronology nowadays, or alternatively ca. 1586–1556 BCE ( short chronology). Excavations in Zinci ...
was blessed with the privilege of placing the Sun goddess on his lap. Several queens dedicated cultic solar discs to the Sun goddess in the city of Taḫurpa. During the Hittite New Kingdom, the Sun goddess was said to watch over the king and his kingdom, with the king as her priest and the queen as her priestess. The Hittite king worshiped the Sun goddess with daily prayers at sun set. The Hittite texts preserve many prayers to the Sun goddess of Arinna: the oldest is from
Arnuwanda I Arnuwanda I was a king of the Hittite Empire. He became a ruler by marriage and was very religious. He ruled c. 1390–1380 BC ( middle chronology). Biography Arnuwanda became a king by marriage. His wife was Ašmu-nikal, daughter of king Tud ...
, while the best known is the prayer of Queen Puduḫepa, cited above.


Cult

The most important temple of the Sun goddess was in the city of Arinna; there was another on the citadel of
Ḫattuša Hattusa (also Ḫattuša or Hattusas ; Hittite: URU''Ḫa-at-tu-ša'', Turkish: Hattuşaş , Hattic: Hattush) was the capital of the Hittite Empire in the late Bronze Age. Its ruins lie near modern Boğazkale, Turkey, within the great loop of ...
. The goddess was depicted as a solar disc. In the city of Tarḫurpa, several such discs were venerated, which had been donated by the Hittite queens. King Ulmi-Teššup of Tarḫuntašša donated a Sun disc of gold, silver and copper to the goddess each year, along with a bull and three sheep. She was also often depicted as a woman and statuettes of a sitting goddess with a halo may also be depictions of her. The deer was sacred to the Sun goddess and Queen Puduḫepa promised to give her many deer in her prayers. Cultic vessels in the shape of a deer presumably were used for worship of the Sun goddess. It is also believed that the golden deer statuettes from the Early Bronze Age, which were found in the middle of the
Kızılırmak River The Kızılırmak (, Turkish for "Red River"), once known as the Halys River ( grc, Ἅλυς) and Alis River ( hy, Ալիս), is the longest river flowing entirely within Turkey. It is a source of hydroelectric power and is not used for navig ...
and belong to the Hattian cultural period, ere associated with the cult of the Sun goddess.


Ištanu

The name Ištanu is the Hittite form of the Hattian name Eštan and refers to the Sun goddess of Arinna. Earlier scholarship misunderstood Ištanu as the name of the male Sun god of the Heavens, but more recent scholarship has held that the name is only used to refer to the Sun goddess of Arinna.
Volkert Haas Volkert may refer to: People * Edward Charles Volkert (1871–1935), American painter * Georg Volkert (1945–2020), German footballer * Stephan Volkert (born 1971), German rower * Volkert Doeksen (born 1963), Dutch money manager * Volkert van der ...
, however, still prefers to distinguish between a male Ištanu representing the day-star and a female Wurunšemu who is the Sun goddess of Arinna and spends her nights in the underworld.


See also

*
List of solar deities A solar deity is a deity who represents the Sun, or an aspect of it, usually by its perceived power and strength. Solar deities and Sun worship can be found throughout most of recorded history in various forms. The following is a list of solar deit ...


References


Bibliography

*
Maciej Popko Maciej (Polish pronunciation: ) is a Polish given name, the etymological equivalent of Matthias. Its diminutive forms are Maciek, Maciuś. Namedays according to Polish calendar: 30 January, 24 February, 14 May Maciej may refer to: Arts and ente ...
: ''Arinna. Eine heilige Stadt der Hethiter''; Studien zu den Boğazköy-Texten Vol. 50, Wiesbaden 2009. . *
Volkert Haas Volkert may refer to: People * Edward Charles Volkert (1871–1935), American painter * Georg Volkert (1945–2020), German footballer * Stephan Volkert (born 1971), German rower * Volkert Doeksen (born 1963), Dutch money manager * Volkert van der ...
: ''Geschichte der hethitischen Religion''; Handbuch der Orientalistik, Part 1, Vol. 15; Brill 1994. {{ISBN, 90-04-09799-6. Hattian deities Hittite deities Solar goddesses