Religions of Second Millenium Anatolia
Religions of Second Millenium Anatolia By P. Taracha
2009 | 124 Pages | ISBN: 3447058854 | PDF | 13 MB
2009 | 124 Pages | ISBN: 3447058854 | PDF | 13 MB
This book examines Hittite religion from a historical point of view, stressing two basically different stages in its development. The Old Hittite pantheon of the capital Hattusa maintains the indigenous tradition of the Hattians without any trace of Mesopotamian, Hurrian or Syrian influence, although Hittite and Luwian deities were worshipped in the family and house cults. The Hittite religion of the Empire period has been examined from a new viewpoint. At the time there were two official pantheons in the state and the dynastic cult respectively. The former is an amalgam of Hattian, Hittite, Luwian, Hurrian, Syrian and Mesopotamian deities organized on a geographical principle, whereas the latter is purely Hurrian, reflecting religious beliefs of the new royal family of Kizzuwatnan origin that also influenced local pantheons of central and northern Anatolia. Through the Hurrians, Mesopotamian and Syrian cults were adopted. Simultaneously, many aspects of the Luwian religious tradition were absorbed into both the state and local cults.