Arma was an Anatolian Moon god, worshipped by the

Hittites The Hittites () were an Anatolian peoples, Anatolian Proto-Indo-Europeans, Indo-European people who formed one of the first major civilizations of the Bronze Age in West Asia. Possibly originating from beyond the Black Sea, they settled in mo ...

and

Luwians The Luwians (also known as Luvians) were an ancient people in Anatolia who spoke the Luwian language. During the Bronze Age, Luwians formed part of the population of the Hittite Empire and adjoining states such as Kizzuwatna. During the Hittite ...

in the Bronze Age and early Iron Age.

Name

The name derives from the Proto-Anatolian ''*ʿOrmo-'' ("wanderer"). He is attested as the Moon god in Hittite and Luwian religion, with the name ''Arma-''. In Lycian he was called ''Erm̃ma-'', ''Arm̃ma-'', in Carian ''Armo'' (dative case), and in Lydian ''Arm-''. In

cuneiform Cuneiform is a Logogram, logo-Syllabary, syllabic writing system that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Near East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. Cuneiform script ...

texts, the name is written with the Sumerograms ^dEN.ZU or ^dXXX, in Hieroglyphic Luwian with a crescent Moon symbol, which is transliterated as (DEUS) LUNA.

Role

While the Hattian moon god, Kašku, was not worshipped, Hittite and Luwian religion involved extensive worship of Arma. For the Luwians in particular, the moon was associated with the months of pregnancy and Arma was therefore believed to protect pregnant women and to help women giving birth (note Hittite ''armaḫḫ-'' ("to impregnate") and ''armai-'' ("to be pregnant"). Thus the Moon god had an important role in family religion. He also served as an important guarantor of oaths in state treaties. His wife was Nikkal (the Mesopotamian goddess Ningal). The most well-known myth in which the Moon god is involved is of Hattian origin. In this story, the Moon god Kašku falls from heaven and lands in the marketplace or gatehouse of the city of . The angry weather god dropped a heavy downpour of rain on the Moon god, who became very afraid. The goddesses Ḫapantali and Kamrušepa eventually saved him using magic spells.

Equivalents

Arma was identified with the Hurrian Moon god Kušuḫ, as in Hittite sources which transmit the Hurrian "Song of Silver," in which the Moon god is defeated by the demon ("Silver") and is thrown out of heaven by him. In Syria he is assimilated to the cult of the Moon god of Harran, especially in the 1st millennium BC, which was among the most important deities of the city. It is theorized that the supreme deity of pre-Christian Georgian religion, Armazi, has heavy ties with Hittite Arma.

Legacy

It has been suggested that the name of the deity survived in Anatolia as part of the Galatian compound names Αρμεδυμνος ("Armedumnos") and Ερμεδυμνος ("Ermedumnos"), from Anatolian "Arma-" 'moon' and Galatian (a Celtic language) "-dumnos" 'world'.Freeman, Ph.. "Lycian/Galatian Αρμεδυμνος". In: ''Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie'' 55, no. 1 (2007): 56. https://doi.org/10.1515/ZCPH.2007.56

References

Bibliography