Topic: The Hittites

[Yeshu]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amcowif39mI&t=11s

Vedic uṣás is derived from the word uṣá which means "dawn". This word comes from Proto-Indo-Iranian *Hušā́s ("ušā" in Avestan), which in turn is from Proto-Indo-European *h₂éusōs ("dawn"), and is related to "ēṓs" in Greek and "aušrà" in Lithuanian. It is also the basis for the word "east" in Indo-European traditions, state Mallory and Adams.

The earliest recorded form of the name of this state is Maitanni, composed of a Hurrian suffix -nni added to the Indo-Aryan stem maita-, meaning "to unite" and comparable with the Sanskrit verb mith (मिथ्; lit. 'to unite, pair, couple, meet'). The name Maitanni thus meant the "united kingdom."[17]

Paralleling the evolution of Proto-Indo-Aryan máytʰati lit. 'he unites' into Sanskrit méthati (मेथति), the name Maitanni evolved into the later form Mitanni, where the stem maita- had given way to mita-.[17]

The earliest form of Sanskrit is that used in the Rig Veda (called Old Indic or Rigvedic Sanskrit). Amazingly, Rigvedic Sanskrit was first recorded in inscriptions found not on the plains of India but in in what is now northern Syria.

Between 1500 and 1350 BC, a dynasty called the Mitanni ruled over the upper Euphrates-Tigris basin, land that corresponds to what are now the countries of Syria, Iraq, and Turkey. The Mitannis spoke a language called Hurrian, unrelated to Sanskrit. However, each and every Mitanni king had a Sanskrit name and so did many of the local elites. Names include Purusa (meaning “man”), Tusratta (“having an attacking chariot”), Suvardata (“given by the heavens”), Indrota (“helped by Indra”) and Subandhu, a name that exists till today in India.

https://scroll.in/article/737715/fact-check-india-wasnt-the-first-place-sanskrit-was-recorded-it-was-syria#:~:text=Amazingly%2C%20Rigvedic%20Sanskrit%20was%20first,Syria%2C%20Iraq%2C%20and%20Turkey.

[Yeshu]

Kumarbi, also known as Kumurwe,[1] Kumarwi[2] and Kumarma,[3] was a Hurrian god. He held a senior position in the Hurrian pantheon, and was described as the "father of gods". He was portrayed as an old, deposed king of the gods, though this most likely did not reflect factual loss of the position of the head of the pantheon in Hurrian religion, but only a mythological narrative. It is often assumed that he was an agricultural deity, though this view is not universally accepted and the evidence is limited. He was also associated with prosperity. It was believed that he resided in the underworld.

Multiple Hurrian deities were regarded as Kumarbi's children, including Teshub, who he conceived after biting off the genitals of Anu. They were regarded as enemies. In myths dealing with the conflict between them Kumarbi fathers various enemies meant to supplant the weather god, such as the stone giant Ullikummi. Kumarbi was also closely associated with other deities who were regarded as the "fathers of gods" in their respective pantheons. As early as in the eighteenth century BCE, he came to be linked with Dagan, the head god of the pantheon of inland Syria in the Bronze Age. Both of them were associated with the goddess Shalash, and with the Mesopotamian god Enlil. From the sixteenth century BCE onward, and possibly also earlier, Kumarbi and Enlil were viewed as equivalents, though they were not necessarily conflated with each other, and could appear as two distinct figures in the same myths. A trilingual version of the Weidner god list from Ugarit presents both Kumarbi and Enlil as the equivalents of the local god El. A tentative restoration of a bilingual version from Emar might also indicate he could be associated with Ištaran.

The Hittites referred to their own "thousand gods", of whom a staggering number appear in inscriptions but remain nothing more than names today.[14][15] This multiplicity has been ascribed to a Hittite resistance to syncretization: Beckman (1989)[1] observes "many Hittite towns maintained individual storm-gods, declining to identify the local deities as manifestations of a single national figure."[1]: 99  The multiplicity is doubtless an artifact of a level of social-political localization within the Hittite "empire" not easily reconstructed.

In the 13th century BC some explicit efforts toward syncretism appear in inscriptions. The queen and priestess Puduhepa worked on organizing and rationalizing her people's religion.[16] In an inscription she invokes:

Sun goddess of Arinna, my lady, you are the queen of all lands! In the land of Hatti you have assumed the name of Sun-Goddess of Arinna, but in respect to the land which you made of cedars, you have assumed the name Hebat.

Historians and archeologists know of the Hittites' mythology through a variety of means. Cuneiform tablets feature texts covering these deities, and other artifacts such as statuettes are also revelatory. Furthermore, archaeological sites such as temples and shrines reveal much about religious practices and beliefs. While much is lost to time, it is likely true that not all of the more than 1000 Hittite gods were actually worshipped; a large number were deified kings who were overturned in rapid succession. Many were also local deities worshipped by singular towns.

The capital of the Hittites - Hattusa - was surrounded by massive fortifications when the Hittite civilization had a status of the Near East superpower. The walls were erected using the natural shape of the terrain or completely changing it, depending on the architectural and strategic needs. At least six gates let people enter the interior of the city. The Lion Gate is the first one that can be seen when following the official sightseeing route around Hattusa.

According to the discovered Hittite texts, the city gates were guarded by the representatives of the city administration, controlling the movement of people to and from the capital. At night, the gates were closed, and the seal was attached, and in the morning the seal was broken in the presence of the relevant authorities.

The Lion Gate, built in the early 14th century BCE, is located in the south-western part of the fortifications. It is flanked by two towers and the upper parts between the towers have been destroyed. The gate consists of two access openings of parabolic shape: an internal one and an external one. Once they were mounted with wooden doors that opened inwards. Most probably, the exterior doors were sheathed in bronze to increase their resistance.

The statues of the front halves of two lions that gave the gate its customary name, were carved in huge blocks of rock on both sides of the external doors. The silhouettes of these wild animals with open jaws and wide open eyes probably played a protective function - they were to scare away evil spirits from the city. This explanation has been deduced by the researchers on the basis of the similarity of the lion theme to other such representations, known from Hittite and Mesopotamian architecture.

The eye sockets of the lions were in the past lined with various decorative materials. It is worth to take a careful look at how skilfully these sculptures were carved. Particularly in the case of the right lion that has been completely preserved, it is possible to see its beautiful mane, the fur on its chest and its head. The lion on the left has been preserved survived in much worse condition as it has lost almost the entire head. It has recently been restored, so that the visitors to Hattusa could admire it in all its glory. Above and to the left of the damaged head of the left lion, a few barely visible Luvian hieroglyphic characters can be spotted. The upper blocks of the left tower facade are not smoothed, which testifies to the fact that the gate was never completed.

[Yeshu]

The worship of Kumarbi is attested from sites located in all areas inhabited by the Hurrians, from Anatolia to the Zagros Mountains, though it has been argued that his importance in the sphere of cult was comparatively minor. The oldest possible reference to him occurs in a royal inscription from Urkesh from either the Akkadian or Ur III period, though the correct reading of the name of the deity meant is a matter of scholarly debate. He is also already referenced in texts from Mari from the early second millennium BCE. Further attestations are available from Ugarit, Alalakh, and from the eastern kingdom of Arrapha, where he was worshiped in Azuḫinnu. Furthermore, he was incorporated into the Hittite pantheon, and as one of its members appears in texts from Hattusa, presumed to reflect the traditions of Kizzuwatna. A depiction of him has been identified among the gods from the Yazılıkaya sanctuary. In the first millennium BCE he continued to be worshiped in Taite, and as one of its deities he is attested in the Assyrian Tākultu rituals. He is also attested in Luwian inscriptions from sites such as Carchemish and Tell Ahmar.

Multiple myths focused on Kumarbi are known. Many of them belong to the so-called Kumarbi Cycle, which describes the struggle for kingship among the gods between him and Teshub. The texts usually agreed to belong to it include the Song of Kumarbi (likely originally known as Song of Emergence), the Song of LAMMA, the Song of Silver, the Song of Ḫedammu and the Song of Ullikummi. Kumarbi is portrayed in them as a scheming deity who raises various challengers to depose or destroy Teshub. His plans are typically successful in the short term, but ultimately the adversaries he creates are defeated by the protagonists. Further texts argued to also be a part of the cycle include the Song of the Sea, the Song of Oil, and other fragmentary narratives. Kumarbi also appears in an adaptation of Atrahsasis, where he plays the role which originally belonged to Enlil. Myths focused on him are often compared to other narratives known from the tradition of other neighboring cultures, such as Mesopotamian Theogony of Dunnu or Ugaritic Baal Cycle. It is also commonly assumed that they were an influence on Theogony, especially on the succession of divine rulers and on the character of Kronos. Further works argued to show similar influences include the Phoenician History of Philo of Byblos and various Orphic theogonies, such as that known from the Derveni papyrus.

In standard syllabic cuneiform, the theonym Kumarbi was written as dKu-mar-bi.[4] A byform, Kumurwe, is attested in sources from Nuzi.[1] In Ugaritic texts written in the local alphabetic cuneiform script it was rendered as kmrb (𐎋𐎎𐎗𐎁)[5] or kmrw (𐎋𐎎𐎗𐎆),[6] vocalized respectively as Kumarbi and Kumarwi.[2] A late variant, Kumarma, appears in hieroglyphic Luwian inscriptions, where it is rendered with the signs (DEUS)BONUS, “the good god”.[3] The correct reading has been determined based on a syllabic spelling identified in an inscription from Tell Ahmar, (DEUS.BONUS)ku-mara/i+ra/i-ma-sa5.[7]

Kumarbi’s name has Hurrian origin and can be translated as “he of Kumar”.[8] While no such a toponym is attested in any Hurrian sources,[5] Gernot Wilhelm [de] notes it shows similarities to Hurrian names from the third millennium BCE and on this basis proposes that it might refer to a settlement which existed in the early period of Hurrian history, poorly documented in textual sources.[9] He suggests that its name in turn goes back to the Hurrian root kum,[1] “to pile up”.[10] Examples of other analogously structured Hurrian theonyms include Nabarbi (“she of Nawar”)[11] and possibly Ḫiriḫibi (“he of [the mountain] Ḫiriḫi”).[12] While it has been argued that Aštabi is a further example, his name was originally spelled as Aštabil in Ebla and as such cannot be considered another structurally Kumarbi-like theonym.[13]

Mitanni (/mɪˈtæni/; Hittite: 𒆳𒌷𒈪𒋫𒀭𒉌, romanized: KUR URUMi-ta-an-ni; Mittani or Hittite: 𒈪𒀉𒋫𒉌, romanized: Mi-it-ta-ni), c. 1550–1260 BC, earlier called Ḫabigalbat in old Babylonian texts, c. 1600 BC;[1] Hanigalbat or Hani-Rabbat (Hanikalbat, Khanigalbat, Akkadian: 𒄩𒉌𒃲𒁁, romanized: Ḫa-ni-gal-bat, Ḫa-ni-rab-bat) in Assyrian records, or Naharin in Egyptian texts, was a Hurrian-speaking state with Indo-Aryan linguistic influences in northern Syria and southeast Anatolia (modern-day Turkey). Since no histories, royal annals or chronicles have yet been found in its excavated sites, knowledge about Mitanni is sparse compared to the other powers in the area, and dependent on what its neighbours commented in their texts.

The Hurrians were in the region as of the late 3rd millennium BC.[2] A king of Urkesh with a Hurrian name, Tupkish, was found on a clay sealing dated c. 2300 BC at Tell Mozan.[3][4] The first recorded inscription of their language was of Tish-atal (c. 21st century BC), king of Urkesh.[5] Later on, Hurrians made up the main population of Mitanni, that was firstly known as Ḫabigalbat, at Babylonia, in two texts of the late Old Babylonian period,[1][6] during the reign of Ammi-Saduqa, (c. 1638–1618 BC), in low middle chronology.

The Egyptian official astronomer and clockmaker Amenemhet (Amen-hemet) apparently ordered to write on his tomb that he returned from the "foreign country called Mtn (Mi-ti-ni),"[7][8] but Alexandra von Lieven (2016) and Eva von Dassow (2022) consider that the expedition to Mitanni could have taken place in pharaoh Ahmose I's reign (c. 1550–1525 BC), actually by Amenemhet's father.[9][10] During the reign of pharaoh Thutmose I (1506–1493 BC), the names Mitanni and Naharin are among the reminiscences of several of the pharaoh's officers. One of them, Ahmose si-Abina, wrote: "...His Majesty arrived at Naharin..." Another one, Ahmose pa-Nekhbit, recorded: "...when I captured for him in the land of Naharin..."[11]

After the Battle of Megiddo, an officer of pharaoh Thutmose III (1479–1425 BC), in the pharaoh's 22 regnal year, reported: "That [wretched] enemy of Kadesh has come and has entered into Megiddo. He is [there] at this moment. He has gathered to him the princes of [every] foreign country [which had been] loyal to Egypt, as well as (those) as far as Naharin and M[itanni], them of Hurru, them of Kode, their horses, their armies."[12] In several later military campaigns the Annals of Thutmose III mention Naharin, in particular those of his regnal years 33, 35, and 42.[13] After that time, records become more available from local sources until the empire's end in the mid-13th century BC.[14]

[Yeshu]

https://www.astronomy.com/science/a-new-origin-story-for-king-tuts-meteorite-dagger/

Unlike Egypt, the populations of Anatolia are known to forge iron daggers from octahedral meteorites already from at least around 2300 BC, with the oldest such dagger excavated at Alacahöyük, Turkey. Anatolia’s southeast end formed part of the Empire of Mitanni, whose ongoing diplomatic relations with Egypt of the 18th Dynasty are well-documented through 14 letters between Egyptian and Mitannian royalty, surviving in the Amarna Letters, the diplomatic correspondence archive found in the Palace of Tell el Amarna, where Tutankhamun’s reign probably started. In fact, two of these letters (designated EA 22 and EA 23), both sent from the Mitannian King Tushratta to Tutankhamun’s grandfather, Amenhotep III, contain the description of iron-blade daggers with elements of gold and precious materials. Despite none of these descriptions fit with Tutankhamun’s dagger, the Mitannian King had access to not one but two iron daggers, in an era where iron was a rare material, and Anatolia was part of Mitanni at the time of Amenhotep III and Tushratta. The above elements make researchers suggest that Tutankhamun’s iron dagger might have come as an elite import from Mitanni during his grandfather’s time. “The Ca- bearing gold hilt hints its foreign origin, possibly from Mitanni, Anatolia, as suggested by one of the Amarna letters saying that an iron dagger with gold hilt was gifted from the king of Mitanni to Amenhotep III, the grandfather of Tutankhamen” they state. “At that time in Egypt, iron was considered an element that fell from the sky on rare occasions and was about 80 times more valuable than gold. Tutankhamun probably inherited his grandfather’s iron dagger and it was placed in his tomb when he died at a young age.”, adds team leader Takafumi Matsui, who is also the president of the Chiba Institute of Technology.

But their chemical analyses of the dagger’s blade and gold hilt, combined with historical knowledge of ancient manufacturing techniques, now cast doubt on whether it was crafted in ancient Egypt at all. Instead, Matsui and his colleagues propose that the king of the nearby Mitanni empire gave the dagger to King Tut’s grandfather as a wedding gift.

Like the majority of traditional Tibetan metal instruments, the kīla is often made from brass and iron. 'Thokcha' (Tibetan: ཐོག་ལྕགས) means "sky-iron" in Tibetan and denote tektites and meteorites which are often high in iron content. Meteoric iron was highly prized throughout the Himalaya where it was included in sophisticated polymetallic alloys such as Panchaloha for ritual implements.

Thokcha (Tibetan: ཐོག་ལྕགས, Wylie: thog lcags;[2] also alternatively Tibetan: གནམ་ལྕགས, Wylie: gnam lcags[3]) are tektites and meteorites which serve as amulets.[4] Typically high in iron content, these are traditionally believed to contain a magical, protective power comparable to Tibetan dzi beads.

Meteorite DZI bead "9 eyes" carved from Aletai iron meteorite
The use of meteoric iron has been common throughout the history of ferrous metallurgy. Historically, thokcha were prized for the metallurgical fabrication of weapons, musical instruments, and sacred tools, such as the phurba. Thokcha are an auspicious addition in the metallurgical fabrication of sacred objects cast from panchaloha.

Writer Robert Beer[6] regards meteoric iron as "the supreme substance for forging the physical representation of the vajra or other iron weapons." It was believed that these amulets had been tempered by the celestial gods before falling to Earth. Beer describes the metal falling from space as a metaphor for "the indivisibility of form and emptiness."[7] Many meteorite fragments can be found in Tibet due to its high altitude and open landscape.[7]

the triple-edged blade of the #kila symbolizes the severance of the three root poisons of ignorance, greed and aggression. Its flaming triangular shape and #vajra nature represent the realization of emptiness as the vajra-wrath that burns and cuts through hatred. The blade issues from the open mouth of a #makara in the form of a ‘ferocious striker’. Here the head of the makara symbolizes the ferocious power and tenacity of the #phurba. #naga #serpents descend from the mouth of the makara in each of the recesses of the three blades. These nagas collectively represent the six perfections, the symbolism which is also embodied in the six arms of #vajrakilaya