Hittite & Hurrian Religion

The result was a massive, layered pantheon preserved in thousands of cuneiform tablets from the Hattusa archives — including myths, rituals, prayers, festival descriptions, and oracle texts.[1]

The supreme deity of the Hittite state was the Storm God of Hatti — known as Tarhunna in Hittite and Teshub in Hurrian. Like his Mesopotamian counterpart Adad and the Canaanite Baal, the Storm God was lord of rain, thunder, and the sky. He was depicted standing on a bull, wielding a mace and thunderbolts. His cult center was at Hattusa itself, where the great temple (Temple I) was dedicated to him and the Sun Goddess.[1]

The Hurrian great goddess, consort of Teshub. Hepat was a queenly figure, often shown standing on a lion. Through syncretism with the Sun Goddess of Arinna, she became effectively the supreme goddess of the late Hittite Empire.[1]

Son of Teshub and Hepat. A youthful divine prince, patron of the Hittite king Tudhaliya IV, who is depicted in Sharruma’s embrace at Yazılıkaya.[1]

The disappearing god — a deity of agriculture whose absence causes famine and desolation. The Myth of Telepinu narrates his anger, withdrawal, and eventual appeasement through ritual — a pattern common to several Hittite “missing god” myths.[3]

Originally a male deity, later a goddess — ruler of the underworld in the Hittite tradition.[1]

The Song of Kumarbi (CTHHP 344) is a Hurrian-Hittite succession myth with striking parallels to Hesiod’s Theogony:

1. Alalu rules in heaven; he is overthrown by Anu (the sky god)
2. Anu rules; he is overthrown by Kumarbi, who bites off and swallows Anu’s genitals
3. Kumarbi becomes pregnant with Teshub (the Storm God) and other deities from this act
4. Teshub is born and eventually overthrows Kumarbi to become king of the gods

The parallel with Hesiod — where Kronos castrates Ouranos and is overthrown by Zeus — is so close that most scholars posit a direct transmission of the mythological pattern from the Hurrian-Hittite world to Greece, likely through the intermediary of the Phoenician Levant. See also: Theogony.

The open-air rock sanctuary of Yazılıkaya, near Hattusa, contains the most important visual representation of the Hittite-Hurrian pantheon. Two natural chambers are carved with processions of gods and goddesses:

The Hurrians, centered in the Khabur triangle and Mitanni, exercised enormous cultural influence on the Hittites from the fifteenth century BCE onward. The Hurrian language was adopted for major religious texts; Hurrian deities were incorporated into the state pantheon; and Hurrian mythology (the Kumarbi cycle, the Song of Release) entered the Hittite literary canon. Queen Puduhepa of the thirteenth century BCE was particularly active in systematizing the syncretic Hittite-Hurrian religion.

Hittite religion was dominated by an elaborate festival calendar — hundreds of festivals throughout the year, many requiring the king’s personal participation. Religious practice included: