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[German version] I. General Literary communication is communication by means of texts - stabilized, coherent and substantial statements. These may be written or eventually put down in writing, but they may also remain oral ( Literacy). Since for earlier societies as a rule only written texts can be studied, the term ‘literature’ focusses on such sedimented media of literary communication. Nevertheless, particularly for ancient societies the mainly oral character of literary communication must be emp…

I. Theory of myth [German version] A. Definition Despite many attempts, it has proven impossible to arrive at a definition of myth (Gr. μῦθος/ mýthos; Lat. mythos) that would satisfy all disciplines. The most satisfactory one refers to G.S. Kirk and W. Burkert who described myth as a ‘traditional narrative of collective significance’ [1; 2]. Still, this definition fails to fully represent the function of myth in the time after Classical Antiquity, when we find myths in entertaining narratives such as Ovidius's ‘Metamorphoses or Nonnus's Dionysiaká. The term ‘traditional’ implies…

Hazenbos, Joost (Leipzig) [German version] A. Name, Field of Work (CT) The discipline of Hittite Studies (HS) in the narrow sense deals with the language, history and culture of the Hittites--the people who built a great empire in Anatolia and Syria in the course of the 2nd millennium BC, originating from a homeland in central Anatolia. In the broadest sense, however, the field of work of HS also includes the languages of the other Indo-European (Palaic, Cuneiform Luwian) and non Indo-European languages  (…