THE HITTITES AND THEIR WORLD Archaeology and Biblical Studies Andrew G. Vaughn, Editor Number 7 THE HITTITES AND THEIR WORLD THE HITTITES AND THEIR WORLD by Billie Jean Collins Society of Biblical Literature Atlanta THE HITTITES AND THEIR WORLD Copyright © 2007 by the Society of Biblical Literature All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by means of any information storage or retrieval system, except as may be expressly permit- ted by the 1976 Copyright Act or in writing from the publisher. Requests for permission should be addressed in writing to the Rights and Permissions Office, Society of Biblical Literature, 825 Houston Mill Road, Atlanta, GA 30329 USA. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Collins, Billie Jean. The Hittites and their world / by Billie Jean Collins. p. cm. — (Society of Biblical literature archaeology and Biblical studies ; no. 7) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-58983-296-1 (paper binding : alk. paper) 1. Hittites. I. Title. DS66.C65 2007b 939’.3—dc22 2007038041 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free, recycled paper conforming to ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (R1997) and ISO 9706:1994 standards for paper permanence. For Gary Beckman CONTENTS Preface ix List of Figures xi Abbreviations and Keys xiii 1. A Brief History of Hittite Studies 1 2. A Political History of the Hittites 21 3. Society 91 4. Religion 157 5. Hittites in the Bible 197 Afterword 219 Further Reading 225 Subject Index 229 Index of Ancient Texts 246 Index of Modern Authors 251 -vii - PREFACE THE HITTITES RULED A MAJOR EMPIRE during one of the most exceptional peri- ods of human history, the Late Bronze Age. Yet, when they disappeared from history’s radar, they did so completely. No direct memory of them survived outside of a handful of references in the Hebrew Bible; classical sources are entirely silent about them. Although rediscovered in dramatic fashion over the past century, as described in chapter 1, the Hittites are still known to few people. This is understandable given that their contribution to world culture has been difficult to pin down, let alone to package and market to a waiting public, particularly in the face of competition from other great civilizations of the ancient Mediterranean world like Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece, and Rome. Happily, a new interest in the Hittites has arisen in recent years. This is due, first, to the recent availability of excellent popular books, museum exhibits, and documentaries about the Hittites. Also key to their resurgence is the long-overdue recognition within the academy of the value of Hittite stud- ies for understanding the background of classical and biblical—and hence, of Western—traditions. Only a decade ago, a book such as this would scarcely have been possible. Major new finds have allowed Hittitologists to fill in major gaps in the his- torical events of the Late Bronze Age in Anatolia. Although much remains to be learned, so much progress has been made in recent years in reconstructing Hittite history that Bryce’s Kingdom of the Hittites published in 1998 was reissued in significantly updated form only a few years later. Without his extraordinary efforts and those of Horst Klengel in his Geschichte des hethi- tischen Reiches, my task here would have been considerably more difficult. The Hittite kingdom lasted for approximately four hundred years (ca. 1650 to 1180 B.C.E.) but the story hardly begins or ends with these dates. Any history of the Hittites that does not include the formative centuries of the Middle Bronze Age (1800–1650 B.C.E.) and the subsequent Iron Age (1180– 717 B.C.E.) is incomplete at best. Hence, chapter 2 covers all one thousand years of “Hittite” history. This history is presented in brief and is designed for those wanting an overview of political events unencumbered by minutia. Readers requiring a more detailed history are directed to the list of “Further -ix - x the hittites and their world Reading” for excellent detailed histories of the Hittites of the Late Bronze Age, including those just cited. For decades, biblical scholars and Hittitologists alike have eagerly mined the Hittite documents for nuggets of information that could illuminate bibli- cal passages. These excursions have proved overhwelmingly fruitful, and the literature documenting the resulting parallels between the Hittite and bib- lical worlds is considerable. Nowhere, however, have these findings been collected together in one place. This volume is an attempt to fill the need for a comprehensive and up-to-date survey of the contributions of Hittite studies to biblical interpretation. It is directed at anyone interested in viewing the cumulative work on this subject as well as those seeking a succinct introduc- tion to the history, society, and religion of the Hittites. All quotes of biblical passages are taken from the New Revised Stan- dard Version (NRSV). Translations of Hittite and Akkadian passages are acknowledged in the footnotes unless they are my own. For the sake of consistency and simplicity, in this volume I follow the so-called Middle Chronology and the sequence and lengths of reigns of the Hittite kings estab- lished by Bryce in Kingdom of the Hittites. It remains only to thank those who kindly read drafts of chapters and offered helpful comments, namely Trevor Bryce, Gary Beckman, and Brian Schmidt. I am indebted to Itamar Singer for graciously making his paper “The Hittites and the Bible Revisited” available to me in advance of its pub- lication, to Susanne Wilhelm for her excellent maps, and to Katie Chaple for her editorial advice. Thanks also to Andrew Vaughn for inviting me to contribute a volume to the SBLABS series and to my colleagues at SBL, and most especially Bob Buller, for their support and encouragement. Finally, I am beholden to Chris Madell for supporting, cajoling, tolerating, and encour- aging me at all the right times. LIST OF FIGURES CHAPTER 1 Fig. 1.1 Drawing of the central vignette carved onto the face of the rock sanctuary at Yazılıkaya. 2 Fig. 1.2 A section of hieroglyphs from Karkamis containing a dedi- catory inscription by Katuwa (tenth or early-ninth century). 10 Fig. 1.3 The Tarkondemos seal. 11 Chapter 2 Fig. 2.1 Anatolia during the period of the Assyrian colonies. 27 Fig. 2.2 Plan of Hattusa. 34 Fig. 2.3 One of the lions flanking Hattusa’s Lion Gate. 36 Fig. 2.4 The kings of the Hittites. 38 Fig. 2.5 Hatti and its vassals in the Late Bronze Age. 47 Fig. 2.6 A relief carved into a rock face at Firaktin. 63 Fig. 2.7 The Karabel relief with the figure Tarkasnawa, king of Mira. 67 Fig. 2.8 The relief of the Sun-God on the “Südburg” monument of Suppiluliuma II. 74 Fig. 2.9 The Neo-Hittite kingdoms. 79 Fig. 2.10 Warpalawa king of Tuwana with his personal deity, the Storm-God of the Vineyard. 84 CHAPTER 3 Fig. 3.1 Tudhaliya IV in the main chamber of the rock sanctuary at Yazılıkaya. 96 Fig. 3.2 A reconstruction of the citadel at Hattusa. 99 Fig. 3.3 The extensive storerooms attached to the Great Temple. 115 Fig. 3.4 A fragment of the Bitik vase showing newlyweds in a bridal chamber. 125 Fig. 3.5 Orthostat reliefs along the left-hand side of the gate entrance at Alaca Höyük showing a festival procession. 130 -xi - xii the hittites and their world Fig. 3.6 Vase from the vicinity of Inandik depicting a festival cel- ebration. 132 Fig. 3.7 Ceremonial silver vessel in the form of a fist dating to Tud- haliya II or III. 133 Fig. 3.8 The “dagger-god” in the small chamber at Yazılıkaya. 134 Fig. 3.9 Pendant of a womon or goddess wearing a solar headdress. 135 Fig. 3.10 The Hittite ivory from Megiddo bears a distinctively Hittite composition with cosmic scenes. Courtesy of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. 136 Fig. 3.11 Hittite clay towers upon which certain Israelite cult stands may have been modeled. 138 Fig. 3.12 General view of Yazılıkaya’s main chamber. 139 Fig. 3.13 The central scene of the reliefs at Yazılıkaya, depicting Teshub and Hebat with their entourage. 140 Fig. 3.14 A Neo-Hittite orthostat relief from Malatya depicting the cosmic battle between the Storm-God and the dragon Illuyanka. 150 CHAPTER 4 Fig. 4.1 Plans of some of the temples in Hattusa. 161 Fig. 4.2 A silver stag rhyton with a relief depicting the tutelary deity of the field. 176 CHAPTER 5 Fig. 5.1 Hittite seal from Megiddo. 217 ABBREVIATIONS AND KEYS AA Archäologischer Anzeiger AASOR Annual of the American Schools of Oriental Research AB Anchor Bible ABD Anchor Bible Dictionary ÄHK Elmar Edel, Die ägyptisch-hethitische Korrespondenz aus Boghazköi in babylonischer und hethitischer Sprache II. 2 vols. Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag, 1994. AJA American Journal of Archaeology ANES Ancient Near Eastern Studies AOAT Alter Orient und Altes Testament AoF Altorientalische Forschungen ArOr Archiv Orientální AT Alalakh Text BA Biblical Archaeologist BagMitt Bagdader Mitteilungen BAR Biblical Archaeology Review BASOR Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research B.C.E. before the common era BCSMS Bulletin of the Canadian Society for Mesopotamian Studies BiOr Bibliotheca Orientalis BN Biblische Notizen ca. circa CANE Civilizations of the Ancient Near East. Edited by Jack M. Sasson. 4 vols. New York: Scribner’s Sons, 1995. CBQ Catholic Biblical Quarterly CHD The Hittite Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago.