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HAAS, Volkert — Geschichte Der Hethitischen Religion. Sight of Îedammu.3) Since This Same Theme of Someone's (Handbuch Der Orientalistik: Abt

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HAAS, Volkert — Geschichte Der Hethitischen Religion. Sight of Îedammu.3) Since This Same Theme of Someone's (Handbuch Der Orientalistik: Abt 411 BIBLIOTHECA ORIENTALIS LIV N° 3/4, Mei-Augustus 1997 412 HETTITOLOGIE allusion to a period of famine. I wonder whether the behav- iour of Istar might be explained as the goddess's terror at the HAAS, Volkert — Geschichte der hethitischen Religion. sight of Îedammu.3) Since this same theme of someone's (Handbuch der Orientalistik: Abt. 1, Der Nahe und refusal of food and drink that is offered recurs in another Mittlere Osten, 15). (Handbook of Oriental Studies: passage of the Kumarbi cycle in a context which in my view The Near and Middle East, 15). E.J. Brill Publishers is similar to the previous one, this theme might be inter- N.V., Leiden, 1994. (25 cm, XXII, 1032, (2) + 50 Taf. preted as a literary topos. In a passage from the Song of + 1 Karte). ISBN 90-04-09799-6. ISSN 0169-9423. Ullikummi,4) in fact, it is narrated that the Sun, after having In this book of over a thousand pages, enriched with seen Ullikummi from the sky, seized by anger, rushes to detailed illustrative material, V. Haas examines the gods, the Tessob to inform him of the existence of this monstrous myths and the cults of the Hittites, gathering together and creature; the Sun-god, arriving before Tessob, refuses to sit carefully analyzing textual sources and archaeological down, to eat and to drink — most probably because he is sources not only from Anatolia, but more generally from all still upset by the sight of Ullikummi — and accepts the hos- over the ancient Near East. pitality offered to him only after much insistence on the part The geographical and chronological coordinates within of the Weather-god. The use of this topos would have the which the Author has conducted his research, the aim of purpose of emphasizing the uneasiness and anxiety of the which is to reconstruct the development of Hittite religion, person who is refusing the hospitality being offered to him. are widely spaced. V. Haas, in fact, does not limit himself to The chapter on the seasonal myths is followed by an the study of the more specifically Anatolian panthea and analysis of the various traditions associated with the birth of cults, but devotes considerable space also to the examination the cosmos (and with the separation of heaven and earth, a of those belonging to the Syrian region. Furthermore, separation that causes a conflict between the celestial gods although his study concentrates on the Middle and Late and the deities of the underworld), with the deities linked to Bronze Age periods, in the second chapter of the book the the seasons and agriculture, and with the creation of man. Author also deals with the religious beliefs of Anatolian cul- The Author then deals with the theme of kingship in Anato- tures of the prehistoric and protohistoric ages, and at the lia, seen in terms of both its development (from prehistory, same time frequently makes mention throughout the work, to the Hattian tradition, up until the Hittite age), and its var- of those surviving Hittite themes which are identifiable in ious aspects, examining the symbols of kingship and the cults and traditions of Anatolia in the Early Iron Age and describing the rituals that mark the fundamental episodes in in classical periods. the life of the Hittite sovereign, from his enthronement until The book starts with an introductory chapter in which the his death. geographical area involved is defined and an overview of The next two chapters are devoted, respectively, to the the main events in Hittite history is presented. In the second funerary traditions documented in Anatolia and to the wor- chapter the Author outlines a history of the religion of Ana- ship of ancestors. The Author then examines the function of tolia from the Neolithic Age up until the Old Bronze Age. the house, both as a place in which certain cults, like those In the next four chapters V. Haas makes an analysis of the of the ancestors, are practised, and also as a sacred place, Mesopotamian, Syrian and Anatolian myths associated with both in its entirety and in its various parts. the origin and order of the cosmos. The first to be dealt with At this point in the book the study of the Hittite deities are the seasonal myths, those myths whose theme is the cre- begins, a study divided in nine chapters. The first is an intro- ation of the world and which are therefore in some way ductory chapter and discusses the concept of divinity; the related to the celebrations of the new year festivals. Included others, in which the exposition is organized on the basis of in this group of myths is the Hurro-Hittite mythological the characteristics of the various deities or their place of ori- cycle of Kumarbi. In fact, the Author believes that the theme gin, concern, respectively, supraregional deities (in particu- of the separation of heaven and earth — contained in the lar the Weather-god, Istar/Sausga, the war gods, the Moon song of Ullikummi — symbolizes the beginning of the new god), deities of Syrian origin (Îebat, IsÌara, Allani, Kubaba, year in spring, whereas the theme of the birth of Tessob, Lelluri, Maliya), deities connected with horses, the great present in the song of Kumarbi, and the consequent relega- central Anatolian female deities (understood as sun god- tion of Kumarbi (seen as a god of wheat)1) to the under- desses, chthonian deities, mother gods, etc), deities of vege- world alludes to period after the harvest-time. tation (and, therefore, Telepinu), tutelary deities, deified According to V. Haas other themes confirm this interpre- mountains, rivers, springs and the sea, and finally deities tation of the Kumarbi cycle. Indeed, the wars and famines who always appear as a group, usually of two, three, seven or nine, yet are considered as a single deity, a pluralia tan- which Ullikummi, Îedammu and Silver provoke with the 5 aim of subverting the order of the cosmos symbolize emer- tum as V. Haas describes it. ) gency situations and famines occurring or verifiable in the The Author then examines cult objects and temples fur- course of the alternating seasons. nishings, and, in connection with cult vases, analyzes the Many of the episodes of the mythological composition figural representations on the vases of Inandık, and Bitik, on under examination are considered in these terms, as, for the rhyton of the Schimmel collection, on the fist-shaped example, where it is said — in the fifth fragment of the myth vase conserved in Boston, and on the Îasanlu bowl. of Îedammu — that the goddess Istar refuses the food and drink offered to her,2) a refusal which V. Haas sees as an 3) Cf. F. Pecchioli Daddi - A.M. Polvani, La mitologia Ittita, TVOa 4.1, Brescia 1990, p. 133. 4) Cf. H.A. Hoffner, Hittite Myths, WAW 2, Atlanta 1990, pp. 54-55; 1) See the Author's observations on pp. 167-171. F. Pecchioli Daddi - A.M. Polvani, op. cit., pp. 154-155. 2) Cf. J. Siegelova, StBoT 14, pp. 44-45. 5) p. 468. 413 BOEKBESPREKINGEN — HETTITOLOGIE 414 In the next chapter V. Haas illustrates the panthea of the In my view, if we accept this interpretation of Allani's various regions that once formed part of the Hittite king- role — as cup-bearer to the god Tessob and at the same time dom: the north-eastern and north-western Syrian areas, the the architect of his misfortune — we might see here the region of the Euphrates, Kizzuwatna, central Anatolia and application of a topos that was also known in other literary the area of the Black Sea. texts of the ancient Near East, in other words the theme of When dealing with the pantheon of Ebla, the Author the cup-bearer who betrays and brings to ruin the person to devotes a few pages to the literarian composition known as whom he is servant. the “song of the liberation”, that is the Hurro-Hittite bilin- We may recall, by way of comparison, what is written in gual text found in the excavations of the Hittite capital in the the epic mythological cycle, of Hurrian tradition, about the years 1983 and 1985.6) god Kumarbi, and in particular in the “song of Kumarbi”, It is known that this “song” (which was written — as the where we read how the god Alalu was removed from his colophons testify — on at least six tablets) has survived in a position of supremacy among the gods by his cupbearer fragmentary state; the composition, as it has reached us, Anu, who replaced him in the celestial sovereignity. In turn, consists of a preamble (KBo XXXII 11), a series of parables however, Anu was banished and replaced by his cup-bearer (KBo XXXII 12 and 14), a mythological tale describing a Kumarbi.14) banquet organized by Allani in honour of Tessob (KBo This same literary motif, that is, the cup-bearer who XXXII 13) and a narration revolving around the request usurps his master's position, can be seen in the Edict of advanced by Tessob to free the slaves of Ebla (KBo XXII Telipinu,15) where it is stated that king Mursili I was killed 15, 17, 18, 19).7) and replaced by his cup-bearer Îantili.16) Owing to the fragmentary nature of the tablets bearing It may be interesting to point out, finally, that — in addi- the text, the succession of the individual parts and the link tion to the use of the same topos — there are other stylistic- between them is not clear.
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