Hattian Religion

The Hattians were an ancient Bronze Age people that dwelled the land of Hatti in central Anatolia (modern Turkey). They spoke a distinctive Hattian language, which was neither Semitic nor Indo-European in origin. Their main city was Hattush. Confronted by the expansion of the Hittite Empire beginning about 2,000 BCE, Hattians became gradually absorbed into this new early Iron Age political and social order. Hattian religion can be traced back to the Stone Age. It involved worship of the earth, personified as a mother goddess whom the Hattians honored to ensure bountiful harvests and their own well-being. The Hattian pantheon of gods included storm-god Taru (represented by a bull), sun-goddess Furušemu or Wurunšemu (represented by a leopard), as well as a number of other elemental gods. Later, the Hittites incorporated much of the Hattian pantheon into their own religious beliefs. Indigenous Anatolian religion revolved around the concept of water-from-the-earth. Writings and imagery lead to the conclusion that the deity of paramount importance to the inhabitants of Anatolia was the terrestrial water-god. Many of these gods are connected with the earth and water. Hittite legends of Telipinu (patron of agriculture, but also revered as a storm god) and the serpentine dragon Illuyanka were drawn from the Hattian civilization. In the legend (which would be more appropriately located immediately below in the summary of Hittite religion ) Telipinu fights with dragon Illuyanka and loses, so Illuyanka takes Telipinu eyes and heart. To avenge himself, Telipinu marries the daughter of a poor man. This marriage produces a son, Sarruma, who grows up and marries the daughter of Illuyanka. Telipinu instructs his son to ask for the return of his eyes and heart as a wedding present from the father of the bride, so his eyes and heart are restored to him. Telipinu again confronts and battles Illuyanka. Just at the point where Telipinu is about to the dragon, his son learns of the the battle and realizes that he was born for the sole purpose of ensuring that his father could take vengance upon the dragon. Sarruma demands that his father take his life along with that of his father-in-law, Illuyanka. Telipinu then kills both of them.