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24-535: It was occupied in the Middle Bronze and Late Bronze. The Hittites held it as sacred to a Storm-god who was the son of Wurušemu , Sun-goddess of Arinna . The weather god is associated or identified with Mount Zaliyanu near Nerik, responsible for bestowing rain on the city. Nerik was founded by Hattic language speakers as Narak ; in the Hattusa archive, tablet CTH 737 records a Hattic incantation for

48-673: A battle axe in the form of an adze. The god had cognates in most other ancient Anatolian languages. In Hattian (a non-Indo-European language), he was called Taru ; in Luwian , Tarḫunz (Cuneiform: Tarḫu(wa)nt(a)- , Hieroglyphic: DEUS TONITRUS); in Palaic , Zaparwa ; in Lycian , Trqqas/Trqqiz; and in Carian , Trquδe (dat.). In the wider Mesopotamian sphere, he was associated with Hadad and Teššup . The Luwian god Tarḫunz worshipped by

72-628: A festival there. Under Hattusili I , the Nesite -speaking Hittites took over Nerik. They maintained a spring festival called " Puruli " in honor of the Storm-god of Nerik. In it, the celebrants recited the myth of the slaying of Illuyanka . Under Hantili , Nerik was ruined and the Hittites had to relocate the Puruli festival to Hattusa. As of the reign of Tudhaliya I , Nerik's site was occupied by

96-602: A well and is covered all over with a blood-red colour. The Sun goddess of Arinna saw (it) and she decorated (it) with her shining wand. The Sun goddess of Arinna was originally of Hattian origin and was worshipped by the Hattians as Eštan. One of her Hattian epithets was Wurunšemu ("Mother of the land"?). From the Hittite Old Kingdom , she was the chief goddess of the Hittite state. The "Gods' city" of Arinna

120-609: 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 and belong to

144-523: Is Mezulla , by whom they had the granddaughter Zintuḫi. Their other children were the Weather god of Nerik , the Weather god of Zippalanda , and the corn god Telipinu . The eagle served as her messenger. In myths, she plays a minor role. A Hattian mythic fragment records the construction of her house in Liḫzina  [ de ] . Another myth fragment refers to her apple tree: An apple tree stands at

168-579: Is the weather god Tarḫunna . She protected the Hittite kingdom and was called the "Queen of all lands." Her cult centre was the sacred city of Arinna . In addition to the Sun goddess of Arinna, the Hittites also worshipped the Sun goddess of the Earth and the Sun god of Heaven , while the Luwians originally worshipped the old Proto-Indo-European Sun god Tiwaz . It appears that in the northern cultural sphere of

192-506: The Iron Age Neo-Hittite states was closely related to Tarḫunna, Personal names referring to Tarḫunz, like "Trokondas", are attested into Roman times. Tarhunna has also been identified with the later Armenian and Roman god, Jupiter Dolichenus . Sun goddess of Arinna The Sun goddess of Arinna , also sometimes identified as Arinniti or as Wuru(n)šemu, is the chief Goddess of Hittite mythology . Her companion

216-526: The Proto-Anatolian weather god *Tṛḫu-ent-, "conquering"; ultimately from PIE *terh₂- , "to cross over, pass through, overcome". The same name was used in almost all Anatolian languages : Luwian Tarḫunz- ; Carian Trquδ- ; Milyan Trqqñt- , and Lycian : Trqqas (A), Trqqiz (B). Norbert Oettinger has argued that the functions of the Anatolian weather god ultimately come from

240-559: The Proto-Indo-European god Perk unos , but that they did not preserve the old name to coin instead the new epithet Tṛḫu-ent- ("conquering"), which sounded close to the name of the Hattian Storm-god Taru . As weather god, Tarḫunna was responsible for the various manifestations of the weather, especially thunder, lightning, rain, clouds, and storms. He ruled over the heavens and the mountains. Thus it

264-532: The Sun goddess of Arinna . Their children are the gods Telipinu and Kammamma , the goddesses Mezulla and Inara , the Weather god of Zippalanda and the Weather god of Nerik . As a result of his identification with the Hurrian god Teššup , Tarḫunna is also the partner of Ḫepat (who is syncretised with the Sun goddess of Arinna) and the father of the god Šarruma and the goddesses Allanzu and Kunzišalli. His siblings are Šuwaliyat (identified with

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288-550: The Hattian cultural period, ere associated with the cult of the Sun goddess. 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 , however, still prefers to distinguish between

312-697: The Hittites from interaction with the Hurrians . During the Hittite New Kingdom , she was identified with the Hurrian -Syrian goddess Ḫepat and the Hittite Queen Puduḫepa mentions her in her prayers using both names: Sun goddess of Arinna, my lady, queen of all lands! In the Land of Ḫatti, you ordained your name to be the "Sun goddess of Arinna", but also in the land which you have made

336-608: The Hurrian Tašmišu ) and Aranzaḫ , the goddess of the Tigris river. Tarḫunna was the chief god of the Hittites and is depicted at the front of a long line of male gods in rock reliefs at the sanctuary of Yazılıkaya . There he is depicted as a bearded man with a pointed cap and a sceptre, standing on the backs of the mountain gods Namni and Ḫazzi and holding a three-pronged thunderbolt in his hand. Later depictions show him with

360-543: 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 , while the best known is the prayer of Queen Puduḫepa, cited above. The most important temple of

384-411: The Sun goddess was in the city of Arinna; there was another on the citadel of Ḫattuša . 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

408-538: The barbarian Kaskas , whom the Hittites blamed for its initial destruction. During Muwatalli II 's reign (c. 1290 BC), his brother and appointed governor Hattusili III recaptured Nerik and rebuilt it as its High Priest. Hattusili named his firstborn son "Nerikkaili" in commemoration (although he later passed him over for the succession). Seven years after Muwatalli's son Mursili III became king (c. 1270s BC), Mursili reassigned Nerik to another governor. Hattusili rebelled and became king himself. Nerik disappeared from

432-509: 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 UTU (Solar deity). As a result, the interpretation of the solar deities remains a subject of debate. 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

456-545: The historical record when the Hittite kingdom fell, ca. 1200 BC. In 2005, Rainer Maria Czichon and Jörg Klinger of the Free University of Berlin began excavating Oymaağaç Höyük . Thus far, this is the northernmost place of Anatolia with remains from the Hittite Empire, including "three fragments of tablets and a bulla with stamps of the scribe Sarini. In addition, mention of the mountains, in which Nerik

480-525: The land of the cedar, you ordained your name to be Ḫepat. 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 was blessed with the privilege of placing the Sun goddess on his lap. Several queens dedicated cultic solar discs to

504-503: The site as Nerik. An inventory list showing tools, including silver trays and golden bullae contained in an unknown shrine, is also among the findings. Tar%E1%B8%ABunna 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 ". Tarḫunna is a cognate of the Hittite verb tarḫu- , "to prevail, conquer, be powerful, be able, defeat"; from

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528-403: Was Tarḫunna who decided whether there would be fertile fields and good harvests, or drought and famine and he was treated by the Hittites as the ruler of the gods. Tarḫunna legitimised the position of the Hittite king, who ruled the land of Hatti in the name of the gods. He watched over the kingdom and the other institutions of the state, but also borders and roads. Tarḫunna is the partner of

552-510: Was located, have been found at the site, as well as features suggestive of monumental Hittite architecture." The team has published a number of articles related to their excavations. According to Czichon, who is currently in the archaeology faculty at Uşak University , many stone and loom artifacts were unearthed during the excavations. Mining tools were found for copper deposits situated at nearby Tavşan Mountain field. The most valuable artifacts are tablets with cuneiform script , which point out

576-479: 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 , to distinguish the Sun goddess from the male Sun god of Heaven, who had been adopted by

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