Subject: Canonical Compositions from the Biblical World; Hittite Canonical Compositions; Divine Focus; Myths Commentary The conflict between the Storm-god and the forces of chaos represented by the serpent (illuyanka- in Hittite) was the focus of two different tales known in second-millennium Anatolia, both of which served as etiological cult myths of the important Hittite festival called purulli, a term whose precise meaning remains unknown. The Storm-god and the Serpent (illuyanka) (1.56) Subject: Esth 4:7; 9:26 (A i 1–4) (This is) the text of the purulli (festival) for the […

Subject: Canonical Compositions from the Biblical World; Hittite Canonical Compositions; Divine Focus; Myths Commentary This text has been translated here as an independent story. According to Güterbock (1946), the text is continued in the tale of the Sun God, the Cow, and the Fisherman. Although the extant copies of the Appu story are New Hittite, archaic language indicates an archetype composed in the Old or Middle Hittite period. The story has a moral, which is stated in the proemium. The unnamed deity wh…

Subject: Canonical Compositions from the Biblical World; Hittite Canonical Compositions; Divine Focus; Prayers Commentary When he came to the throne, the Great King Muršili II was confronted with both the fragmentation of the Hittite empire and the raging of an epidemic of uncertain character which had carried off in short succession both his father Šuppiluliuma I and his brother Arnuwanda II. Innumerable ordinary Hittites had perished as well. While Muršili mastered the political situation within the firs…

Subject: Canonical Compositions from the Biblical World; Hittite Canonical Compositions; Individual Focus; Other Wisdom Literature Commentary The type of composition to which this small piece of a tablet belongs is uncertain. Fragment of A Wisdom Text (?) (1.81) [If a city is in ruins (?)], then [the builders] will build [it a second time]. If a rhyton [is cracked (?), then] the artisans [will cast] it a second time, [and] they will renew it a second time. [If someone damages] a plated horse chariot, then its owner [will repair] it [a second time]. [If] a flood carries off an orchard (!…

Subject: Canonical Compositions from the Biblical World; Hittite Canonical Compositions; Individual Focus; Instructions Commentary This text is preserved in at least eight copies, several of which have been reconstructed through multiple joins of tablet fragments. The tablets are to be found in both the Istanbul and Ankara tablet collections. The copies date to the Empire period, but the text itself seems to go back to the pre–New Hittite period, before the reign of Šuppiluliuma I. The main text is KUB 13.4, a large well preserved four column tablet with the tops of colu…

Subject: Canonical Compositions from the Biblical World; Hittite Canonical Compositions; Divine Focus; Myths Commentary In the Hittite view, the operation of the universe required that each deity and human conscientiously perform his or her proper function within the whole. Calamity manifested in some sector of the cosmos was an indication that the god or goddess responsible for it had become angry and had abandoned his or her post. The remedy for this evil situation was the performance by both human and divi…

Subject: Canonical Compositions from the Biblical World; Hittite Canonical Compositions; Royal Focus; Biography and Autobiography Commentary The so-called “Apology” of Ḫattušili III (1267-ca. 1240 BCE) is one of the major Hittite historical texts that have come down to us. At least eight different manuscripts must have existed among which were one-tablet and two-tablet versions, thus illustrating the relative importance the Hittites must have attached to it. All fragments have been found in the eastern storer…

Subject: Canonical Compositions from the Biblical World; Hittite Canonical Compositions; Divine Focus; Rituals Commentary The following is the second tablet1 of a two-tablet text of a military oath, known as the first soldiers’ oath. The language of the composition indicates that it was composed in the Middle Hittite period (late 15th century BCE), although the copies that survive were inscribed in the Empire period. The text is especially interesting for its parallels in the literature of other cultures, including Indian, Mesopotamian, Greek and Israelite. The First Soldiers’…

Subject: Canonical Compositions from the Biblical World; Hittite Canonical Compositions; Divine Focus; Myths The Sun God and the Cow (1.59) [Güterbock believes that this story is a continuation of Appu and his Two Sons. Beginning of the preserved portion is too broken for connected translation.] The cow thrived and … -ed. The Sun God looked down from the sky, and his desire leaped forward upon the cow. [He became] a young man, came down from the sky, and began to speak to the cow: “Who do you think you are, that you continually graze on o…

Subject: Canonical Compositions from the Biblical World; Hittite Canonical Compositions; Individual Focus; Other Wisdom Literature Commentary The recent discovery at Bogazköy/Ḫattuša of a multi-tablet composition in Hurrian with Hittite translation is very important for the study of the former language, which is still poorly understood. This text is also of significance because the genre of wisdom literature was previously only scantily represented at the Hittite capital. This translation is based primarily on the Hittite text. Excerpt From the Hurro-Hittite Bilingu…

Subject: Canonical Compositions from the Biblical World; Hittite Canonical Compositions; Divine Focus; Incantations Commentary This is a four column tablet composed in the period of the Hittite Empire. It is the first of two tablets.1 The second tablet is not preserved, although the first tablet has survived in four recensions. The main tablet describes the procedure for establishing a satellite temple for the Goddess of the Night. Her cult was centered in Kizzuwatna in southeastern Anatolia, and thus many Hurrian offering term…

Subject: Canonical Compositions from the Biblical World; Hittite Canonical Compositions; Individual Focus; Instructions Commentary The royal bodyguard of the Hittite court are denoted by the Akkadogram MEŠEDI. One extant tablet contains instructions for them, primarily detailing their duties as they assume responsibility for the king’s safety from the palace staff and as they escort him while he travels. Areas of responsibility are clearly delineated among the officials who see to guarding the palace and the…

Subject: Canonical Compositions from the Biblical World; Hittite Canonical Compositions; Divine Focus; Rituals Commentary This text is of New Hittite date and shows many developments from the older example translated above. Among other things, there are marked Hurrian influences.1 The Second Soldiers’ Oath (1.67) §1´ [… If you transgress these oaths …] may they […], may they […], may they […]. §2´ But [if you keep them], for you (pl.). […] he says: […] §3´ [He] h[olds] out torches [to them, and says,] “[…] these torches […], if [you transgress] these [words,] may Umpa2 and Šarruma3 […

Subject: Canonical Compositions from the Biblical World; Hittite Canonical Compositions; Divine Focus; Incantations Commentary This is a mythological text belonging to the group of Anatolian myths known as the missing deity myths. The original composition dates to the period of the Hittite Old Kingdom. The supreme Storm God is the deity whose absence is the focus of this particular narrative. Presumably the Storm God absented himself in the first column of the tablet, after which chaos ensued for man and live…

Subject: Canonical Compositions from the Biblical World; Hittite Canonical Compositions; Divine Focus; Myths Commentary Although the particular events of this tale are not known from the mythological tablets recovered at Ugarit, the story certainly belongs to the corpus of northern Syrian myths which they represent. This composition has come down to us in a number of fragments which originally belonged to two or three separate manuscripts, but only two portions of the text are well-enough preserved for connec…

Subject: Canonical Compositions from the Biblical World; Hittite Canonical Compositions; Royal Focus; Historiography Commentary Among the Hittite kings Šuppiluliuma I was the greatest conqueror. To him was due the destruction of the great and powerful rival kingdom of Mitanni and the eastward expansion of the Hittite state into North Syria during the first half of the 14th Century bce. The story of his reign has often been told. Among the more recent attempts Güterbock 1960, Kitchen 1962, Bryce 1989, and Kempinski 1993 may be named. Letters from Šup…

Subject: Canonical Compositions from the Biblical World; Hittite Canonical Compositions; Divine Focus; Rituals Uḫḫamuwa’s Ritual Against Plague (1.63)  a  Subject: Lev 16 §1 Thus says Uḫḫamūwa, man of Arzawa. If in the land there is continual dying and if some god of the enemy has caused it, then I do as follows: §2 They bring in one wether and they combine blue wool, red wool, yellow–green wool, black wool and white wool and they make it into a wreath and they wreathe the one wether and they drive the wether forth on t…

Subject: Canonical Compositions from the Biblical World; Hittite Canonical Compositions; Divine Focus; Rituals Commentary The Ritual of Zarpiya  a is the second of three scapegoat rituals contained on a single Sammeltafel. The author of the text is from Kizzuwatna and as a result the text is laden with Luwian words and incantations, often rendering translation difficult. The first half of the ritual involves an oath–taking on the part of the participants; the second half is a scapegoat ritual of sorts. The human …

Subject: Canonical Compositions from the Biblical World; Hittite Canonical Compositions; Divine Focus; Rituals Commentary The beginning of this text, containing a ritual for the goddess, is broken. In §4, where the text becomes legible, the officiant is reciting an invocation. Ritual and Prayer to Ishtar of Nineveh (1.65) Subject: Deut 18:9–12; 22:5; 1 Sam 28:8–15; Isa 8:19; 29:4 §3 […] they cover [her?] with a cloth […] all the singers play [the … –instruments] and sin[g]. […] outside on seven paths […] they go to […] and […]. The diviner [sets (?)] do…

Subject: Canonical Compositions from the Biblical World; Hittite Canonical Compositions; Royal Focus; Historiography Crossing of the Taurus (1.73) Subject: Num 16:15; 1 Sam 12:3; Gen 27:40; Lev 26:13; Deut 28:48; 1 Kgs 12:4–14; Isa 14:25; Jer 27:8; Jer 5:22; Deut 33:17; Pss 22:22; 92:11 §1 Thus (says) Puḫanu, the servant of Šarmaššu […] A person to him […] is dressed in a colorful tunic/garment. On his head a basket1 has been placed. He holds his bow (variant: a bow). He has called for help, (saying:) “What have I done? What?” §2 “I haven’t taken anything from anyone. I haven’t t…