Celestial Aspects of Hittite Religion
An Investigation of the Rock Sanctuary Yazilikaya
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/jsa.37641Keywords:
ancient calendars, archaeoastronomy, Bronze Age Anatolia, Hittite religion, lunisolar calendar, YazılıkayaAbstract
Regular celestial events assumed remarkable significance for the cultic rituals of the Hittite civilisation (c. 1600-1180 BC) in central Asia Minor. Numerous texts found at the capital Hattuša relate to solar deities and celestial divination reminiscent of Old Babylonian astronomical and astrological practices. Here we suggest that the rock sanctuary of Yazilikaya, which was considered one of the holiest places in the Hittite kingdom, had a calendrical function. It contains more than 90 rock-cut reliefs, dating to the second half of the thirteenth century BC, of deities, humans, animals and mythical figures. The reliefs in Chamber A are arranged in groups to mark the days, synodic months and solar years. Using this system, the Hittite priests were able to determine when additional months were required to keep lunar and solar years aligned. The astronomical and astrological interpretation of Yazilikaya serves as a point of departure for a brief re-examination of celestial aspects in Hittite religion.
Downloads
References
Alaura, S., 2006. »Nach Boghasköi!«: Zur Vorgeschichte der Ausgrabungen in Boğazköy-Ḫattuša und zu den archäologischen Forschungen bis zum Ersten Weltkrieg. Münsterschwarzach Abtei: Deutsche Orient-Gesellschaft.
Alexander, R. L., 1986. The sculpture and sculptors of Yazılıkaya. Newark: University of Delaware Press.
Altmann-Wendling, V., in press. MondSymbolik – MondWissen. Lunare Konzepte in den ägyptischen Tempeln griechisch‐römischer Zeit. Studien zur Spätägyptischen Religion. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
Belmonte, J. A., 2000. “From the Atlas to the Caucasus: The Other Side of the Mediterranean Before Islam”. Archaeoastronomy 15: 78–94.
Belmonte, J. A. and A. C. González-García, 2014. “Astral Symbolism and Time-Keeping in the Hittite Culture.” In Proceedings of the Eighth International Congress of Hittitology, Warsaw 5–9 September 2011, edited by P. Taracha, 110–123. Warsaw: Agade.
Belmonte, J. A. and A. C. González-García, 2015. “The Pillars of the Earth and the Sky: Capital Cities, Astronomy and Landscape”. Journal of Skyscape Archaeology 1(1): 9–38.
Bilgin, T., 2015. “Yazılıkaya”. In The Encyclopedia of Ancient History, edited by R. S. Bagnall et al. John Wiley.
Bittel, K., 1934. Die Felsbilder von Yazılıkaya. Istanbuler Forschungen 5. Bamberg.
Bittel, K., 1975. Das hethitische Felsheiligtum Yazılıkaya. Berlin: Mann.
Bittel, K. and R. Naumann, 1939. “Vorläufiger Bericht über die Ausgrabungen in Boğazköy 1938”. Mitteilungen der Deutschen Orientgesellschaft 77: 1–46.
Bittel, K., R. Naumann and H. Otto, 1941. Yazılıkaya: Architektur, Felsbilder, Inschriften und Kleinfunde. Leipzig: Hinrichs.
Britton, J. P., 2010. “Calendars, Intercalations and Year-Lengths in Mesopotamian Astronomy”. In Calendars and years: Astronomy and time in the ancient Near East, edited by J. M. Steele, 115–132. Oxford: Oxbow Books.
Bryce, T. R., 2002. Life and society in the Hittite world. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Bryce, T. R., 2005. The Kingdom of the Hittites. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Cohen, M. E., 1993. The Cultic Calendars of the Ancient Near East. Bethesda: CDL Press.
De Martino, S., 1998. “Le accuse di Muršili II alla regina Tawananna secondo il testo KUB XIV 4”. In Studi e Testi 1, edited by S. de Martino and F. Imparati, 19−48. Firenze: LoGisma.
Deuschle, U., 2013. “Virtuelle Panoramatafeln” [online]. http://www.udeuschle.de/Panoramen.html
Garstang, J., 1910. The Land of the Hittites. London: Constable and Company.
Gautschy, R., 2017. “Remarks concerning the alleged solar eclipse of Muršili II”. Altorientalische Forschungen 44.
Goetze, A., 1957. Kleinasien. Handbuch der Altertumswissenschaft; 3.1.3.3.1; Kulturgeschichte des alten Orients; Abschn. 3, Unterabschn. 1. München: C. H. Beck.
González-García, A. C., 2016. “Lunar Extremes, Lunar Cycles and the Minor Standstill”. Journal of Skyscape Archaeology 2(1): 77–84.
González-García, A. C. and J. A. Belmonte, 2011. “Thinking Hattusha: astronomy and landscape in the Hittite lands”. Journal for the History of Astronomy 42(4): 461–494.
González-García, A. C. and J. A. Belmonte, 2014. “Astronomy and Landscape in Late Bronze Age Central Anatolia”. In Proceedings of the Eighth International Congress of Hittitology, Warsaw 5–9 September 2011, edited by P. Taracha, 317–330. Warsaw: Agade.
González-García, A. C. and J. A. Belmonte, 2015. “Orientation of Hittite Monuments”. In Handbook of Archaeoastronomy and Ethnoastronomy, edited by C. Ruggles, 1783–1792. New York: Springer.
Güterbock, H. G., 1953. “Yazılıkaya”. Mitteilungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft 86: 65–76.
Güterbock, H. G., 1954. “Carchemish”. Journal of Near Eastern Studies 13 (2): 102–114.
Güterbock, H. G., 1975. “Einschlägige Textstellen”. In: Das hethitische Felsheiligtum Yazılıkaya, edited by K. Bittel, 189–192. Berlin: Mann.
Güterbock, H. G., 1988. “Bilingual Moon Omens from Boğasköy”. In A Scientific Humanist: Studies in Memory of Abraham Sachs, edited by E. Leichty, M. dej Ellis and P. Gerardi, 161–173. Philadelphia: The University Museum.
Haas, V., 1994. Geschichte der hethitischen Religion. Leiden: Brill.
Haas, V. and M. Wäfler, 1974. “Yazılıkaya und der Grosse Tempel”. Oriens antiquus 13(1): 211–226.
Hawkins, J. D., 1998. “Hattusa: Home to the Thousand Gods of Hatti”. In Capital Cities: Urban Planning and Spiritual Dimensions, edited by J. G. Westenholz, 65–82. Jerusalem: Bible Lands Museum.
Horowitz, W., 2015. “Mesopotamian Star Lists”. In Handbook of Archaeoastronomy and Ethnoastronomy, edited by C. Ruggles, 1829–1833. New York: Springer.
Houwink ten Cate, P. H. J., 1992. “The Hittite Storm God: His Role and his Rule according to Hittite Cuneiform Sources”. In Natural Phenomena: Their Meaning and Depiction in the Ancient Near East, edited by D. J. W. Meijer, 83–148. Amsterdam: North-Holland.
Huber, P. J., 2001. “The Solar Omen of Muršili II”. Journal of the American Oriental Society 121: 640−644.
Hunger, H. and D. Pingree, 1989. MUL.APIN – An Astronomical Compendium in Cuneiform. Horn: Berger.
Hunger, H. and J. M. Steele, 2019. The Babylonian Astronomical Compendium MUL.APIN (Scientific Writings from the Ancient and Medieval World). London: Routledge.
Hutter, M., 1998. “Review of D. Yoshida, Untersuchungen zu den Sonnengottheiten bei den Hethitern, Heidelberg (1996)”. Bibliotheca Orientalis 55: 475−478.
Jakob-Rost, L., 1963. “Zu den hethitischen Bildbeschreibungen (II. Teil)”. Mitteilungen des Instituts für Orientforschung der Deutschen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin 9(1): 175−239.
Jeremias, A., 1909. Das Alter der babylonischen Astronomie. Leipzig: Hinrichs.
Kammenhuber, A., 1976. Orakelpraxis, Träume und Vorzeichenschau bei den Hethitern. Heidelberg: Winter.
Klinger, J., 1996. Untersuchungen zur Rekonstruktion der hattischen Kultschicht. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
Koch-Westenholz, U., 1993. “Mesopotamian astrology at Hattusas”. In Die Rolle der Astronomie in den Kulturen Mesopotamiens: Beiträge zum 3. Grazer Morgenländischen Symposion (23.–27. September 1991), edited by H. D. Galter, 231–246. Köln: rm-Druck- & Verlagsgesellschaft mbH.
Koch-Westenholz, U., 1995. Mesopotamian astrology – An introduction to Babylonian and Assyrian celestial divination. Copenhagen: The Carsten Niehbur Institute of Near Eastern Studies.
Krupp, E. C., 2005. “Bedroom Politics and Celestial Sovereignty”. In Current Studies in Archaeoastronomy: Conversations Across Time and Space edited by J. W. Fountain and R. M. Sinclair. Durham: Carolina Academic Press.
Laroche, E., 1952. “Le Panthéon de Yazilikaya”. Journal of Cuneiform Studies 6(3): 115–123.
Laroche, E., 1971. Catalogue des textes hittites. Paris: Klincksieck.
Leitz, C. and H.-J. Thissen, 1995. Altägyptische Sternuhren. Leuven: Peeters.
Leverington, D., 2013. Encyclopedia of the history of astronomy and astrophysics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Masson, E., 1981. Le panthéon de Yazılıkaya nouvelles lectures. Paris: Institut français d’études anatoliennes.
Masson, E., 1989. Les douze dieux de l'immortalité: croyances indo-européennes à Yazılıkaya. Paris: Les Belles Lettres.
Masson, E., 2001. “Le complexe cultuel du ‘Südburg’ (Hattusa): quelques réflexions”. In Akten des IV. Internationalen Kongresses für Hethitologie, Würzburg, 4.-8. Oktober 1999, edited by G. Wilhelm. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
Mouton, A., 2003. “Usages privés et publics de l’incubation d’après les textes hittites”. Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religion 3: 73–91.
Müller-Karpe, A., V. Müller-Karpe and A. Schrimpf, 2009. “Geometrie und Astronomie im Stadtplan des hethitischen Sarissa”. Mitteilungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft zu Berlin 141: 45–64.
Müller-Karpe, A., 2013. “Einige archäologische sowie archäoastronomische Aspekte hethitischer Sakralbauten”. In Tempel im Alten Orient, edited by K. Kaniuth et al., 335–353. Wiesbaden: Harassowitz.
Müller-Karpe, A., 2015. “Planning a sacred landscape. Examples from Sarissa and Ḫattusa”. In Sacred Landscapes of the Hittites and the Luwians, edited by A. D'Agostino, V. Orsi and G. Torri, 83–92. Firenzi: Firenze University Press.
Müller-Karpe, A., 2017. Sarissa –Die Wiederentdeckung einer hethitischen Königsstadt. Darmstadt: Philipp von Zabern.
Naumann, R., 1975. “Die Bauanlagen”. In Das hethitische Felsheiligtum Yazılıkaya, edited by K. Bittel, 91–119. Berlin: Mann.
Neugebauer, O. and R. A. Parker, 1969. Egyptian astronomical texts, III: Decans, planets, constellations and zodiacs. Providence: Brown University Press.
Nolan, J. S., 2015. “Cattle, Kings and Priests: Phyle Rotations and Old Kingdom Civil Dates. Towards a New History for the Egyptian Old Kingdom”. In Perspectives on the Pyramid Age, edited by P. Der Manuelian and T. Schneider, 337–365. Leiden: Brill.
Ossendrijver, M., 2015. “Babylonian Mathematical Astronomy”. In Handbook of Archaeoastronomy and Ethnoastronomy, edited by C. Ruggles, 1863–1870. New York: Springer.
Panckoucke, C.-L.-F., 1820–1830. Description de l’Egypte, ou, Recueil des observations et des recherches qui ont été faites en Egypte pendant l'expédition de l'Armée française. Paris.
Parker, R. A., 1950. The Calendars of Ancient Egypt. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Perryman, M. A. C. et al., 1997. “The Hipparcos Catalogue”. Astronomy & Astrophysics 323: L49–52.
Riemschneider, M., 1954. Die Welt der Hethiter. Zürich: Fretz & Wasmuth.
Rochberg-Halton, F., 1988. Aspects of Babylonian celestial divination the lunar eclipse tablets of Enuma Anu Enlil. Horn: Berger.
Ruggles, C. L. N. ed., 2015. Handbook of archaeoastronomy and ethnoastronomy (3 volumes). New York: Springer.
Ruggles, C. L. N., 2015. “Best Practice for Evaluating the Astronomical Significance of Archaeological Sites”. In Handbook of Archaeoastronomy and Ethnoastronomy, edited by C. L. N. Ruggles. New York: Springer.
Schachner, A. et al. 2016. “Die Ausgrabungen in Boğazköy-Ḫattuša 2015”. Archäologischer Anzeiger (1): 1–47.
Schwemer, D., 2006. “Das hethitische Reichspantheon”. In Götterbilder, Gottesbilder, Weltbilder – Polytheismus und Monotheismus in der Welt der Antike, edited by K. R. Gregor and H. Spieckermann. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck.
Schwemer, D., 2013. “The Cult of the Gods, Magic Rituals, and the Care of the Dead”. In Hittites – An Anatolian Empire, edited by M. Doğan-Alparslan and M. Alparslan. Istanbul: Yapı Kredi Yayınları.
Seeher, J., 2006. Hattusha Guide: A day in the Hittite capital. Istanbul: Ege Yayιnlarι.
Seeher, J., 2011. Gods Carved in Stone – The Hittite Rock Sanctuary of Yazılıkaya. Istanbul: Ege Yayιnlarι.
Seeher, J., 2016. “Yazılıkaya”. In Reallexikon der Asyyriologie und der Vorderasiatischen Archäologie, edited by M. P. Streck, vol. 15, 149–155. Berlin: De Gruyter.
Standish, E. M., 1998. “JPL Planetary and Lunar Ephemerides, DE405/LE405”. Jet Propulsion Laboratory Interoffice Memorandum 312; F-98-048 [online]. ftp://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/pub/eph/planets/ioms/de405.iom.pdf
Steitler, C., 2017. The Solar Deities of Bronze Age Anatolia. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
Stol, M., 1992. “The Moon as seen by the Babylonians”. In Natural Phenomena – Their Meaning, Depiction and Description in the Ancient Near East, edited by D. J. W. Meijer, 245–277. Amsterdam: North-Holland.
Strauß, R., 2006. Reinigungsrituale aus Kizzuwatna. Ein Beitrag zur Erforschung hethitischer Ritualtradition und Kulturgeschichte. Berlin: De Gruyter.
Taggar-Cohen, A., 2006. Hittite Priesthood. Heidelberg: Winter.
Taracha, P., 2009. Religions of Second Millennium Anatolia. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
Ünal, A., 1987. “Compte-rendu de H. Freydank, KUB 55. Hethitische Rituale und Festbeschreibungen (1985)”. Bibliotheca Orientalis 44: 474–486.
Ünal, A., 2013. “Deviation and Prophecy”. In: Hittites – An Anatolian Empire. M. Doğan-Alparslan and M. Alparslan. Istanbul: Yapı Kredi Yayınları.
von Brandenstein, C. G., 1943. Hethitische Götter nach Bildbeschreibungen in Keilschrifttexten. Leipzig: Hinrichs.
Verderame, L., 2015. “Mesopotamian Celestial Divination”. In Handbook of Archaeoastronomy and Ethnoastronomy, edited by C. Ruggles, 1835–1839. New York: Springer.
Weidner, E. F., 1915. Handbuch der babylonischen Astronomie: Der babylonische Fixsternhimmel. Leipzig: Hinrichs.
Weidner, E. F., 1923. “Astrologische Texte aus Boghazköy”. Archiv für Keilschriftforschung 1: 38–43.
Winckler, H., 1907. “Vorläufige Nachrichten über die Ausgrabungen in Boghazköi im Sommer 1907”. Mitteilungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft 35: 1–71.
Woolley, C. L. and R. D. Barnett, 1952. Carchemish: Report on the excavations at Jerablus on behalf of the British Museum, Part III, The excavations in the inner town and the Hittite inscriptions. London: British Museum.
Yoshida, D., 1996. Untersuchungen zu den Sonnengottheiten bei den Hethitern: Schwurgötterliste, helfende Gottheit, Feste. Heidelberg: C. Winter.
