Hittite Plaque with Winged Sun-disks (Cat. no. 3) (original) (raw)
Related papers
Celestial Aspects of Hittite Religion, Part 2: Cosmic Symbolism at Yazilikaya
Journal of Systems Architecture, 2021
Evidence of systematic astronomical observation and the impact of celestial knowledge on culture is plentiful in the Bronze Age societies of Egypt, Mesopotamia and Europe. An interest in astral phenomena is also reflected in Hittite documents, architecture and art. The rock-cut reliefs of 64 deities in the main chamber of Yazilikaya, a Hittite rock sanctuary associated with Hattusa, the Hittite capital in central Anatolia, can be broken into groups marking days, synodic months and solar years. Here, we suggest that the sanctuary in its entirety represents a symbolic image of the cosmos, including its static levels (earth, sky, underworld) and the cyclical processes of renewal and rebirth (day/night, lunar phases, summer/winter). Static levels and celestial cyclicities are emphasised throughout the sanctuary – every single relief relates to this system. We interpret the central panel with the supreme deities, at the far north end of Chamber A, as a reference to the northern stars, th...
This paper researches the significance of the enigmatic hieroglyph and its variations, which represent the egg sign with the young bird inside. It presents related matters of its significance; hieroglyphic structure in comparison with similar hieroglyphs and its metaphorical connections. The paper discusses the complete attestations of the hieroglyph (vars. , ) within its context. Therefore, the allusion to these forms can be interpreted through their relevant texts; other texts serve to explain the allusion expressed in this hieroglyph. Mainly, this paper aims to reveal the assimilation of this hieroglyph with the iconography of the child sun god inside his disk, i.e., in the First hour of LdJ. This assimilation is to assume and interpret through the ideas of the sun god who emerges from his egg, and the metaphorical resemblance of the sun disk to the egg, and the related texts that are citied here.
Symbol of Sun (11th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East)
Symbols are visual images representing an idea, a signal, or a sign of a universal truth. People have symbolized and used the objects and forms that are important to them. The symbol that constitutes the subject of this study has been referred by various researchers with different names such as '' signe royal '', '' Cappadocian symbol '' and 'sun symbol'. Several comments have been made about whether this symbol is part of a kingdom's administrative mechanism or that it is a "symbol" that must be evaluated within the belief system of the time. The symbol is first seen in Anatolia at the early stages of the Assyrian Trade Colonies Period. It is thought to be derived from the Mesopotamian solar disk and has been introduced to Anatoliathrough Assyrian merchants. The motif which bears unique Anatolian features is seen on ceramics, stamps and weapons during the late stages of the Assyrian Trade Colonies Period. During the Late Bronze Age, it appears on medallions in the settlements both in and outside of Anatolia. The aim of this study is to reveal new interpretations of the symbology related to the sun through the typological classification of the symbols, the re-evaluation of the archaeological material within its contexts and assessment of different opinions about the meaning of the symbol.
Celestial Aspects of Hittite Religion, Part 2: Cosmic Symbolism at Yazılıkaya
Journal of Skyscape Archaeology, 2021
Evidence of systematic astronomical observation and the impact of celestial knowledge on culture is plentiful in the Bronze Age societies of Egypt, Mesopotamia and Europe. An interest in astral phenomena is also reflected in Hittite documents, architecture and art. The rock-cut reliefs of 64 deities in the main chamber of Yazılıkaya, a Hittite rock sanctuary associated with Ḫattuša, the Hittite capital in central Anatolia, can be broken into groups marking days, synodic months and solar years. Here, we suggest that the sanctuary in its entirety represents a symbolic image of the cosmos, including its static levels (earth, sky, underworld) and the cyclical processes of renewal and rebirth (day/night, lunar phases, summer/winter). Static levels and celestial cyclicities are emphasised throughout the sanctuary - every single relief relates to this system. We interpret the central panel with the supreme deities, at the far north end of Chamber A, as a reference to the northern stars, the circumpolar realm and the world axis. Chamber B seems to symbolise the netherworld.
Presented at the conference "Theonyms, Panthea and Syncretisms in Hittite Anatolia and Northern Syria – March 25-26, 2022", 2022
Within the study of the history of ancient Near Eastern religions, it has become commonplace to assign deities to typological categories that transcend geographical areas and historical periods. Common examples are the Ištar-goddesses or the Storm-gods, where the typology was endemically manifested through the application of a widely understood label – such as a logogramm or foreign name – in order to identify a deity whose significance may have been limited to a particular location or region. This can certainly be said of the Anatolian solar deities, who were most commonly labeled DUTU; however, by no means can we assign all of the Anatolian solar deities to a single typological category. Instead, very distinct types can be identified among the “solar deities”, implying that this category was more “semantic” than “typological”. A broader approach to the analysis of panthea is that, which identifies certain spheres of competency possessed by individual or groups of deities: fertility, fecundity, family, childbirth, magic, nature, war, royal authority, etc., most of which reflect various aspects of the organization and limits of human society. A deity can, of course, possess more than one competency: the Storm-god is responsible for rainfall and is thus associated with agricultural fertility; but at the same time he is one of the most significant deities for the Hittite royal ideology. Since the category of solar deities is in itself very heterogeneous, it is not suprising that the various solar deities, when compared to one another, possess very different spheres of compentency. Perhaps the most counter-intuitive of these is the association of a solar deity with the chthonic realm – the best-known example being the “Sun-goddess of the earth”. This paper will explore the origins and development of the overlap of the “solar deity” category with the type of the “netherworld goddess”. Some have claimed this phenomenon to be inherent to ancient indigenous Anatolian Hattian religion. Others explicitly rule out this possibility, and seek to pinpoint the origin of the solar deity of the netherworld in Syria or Mesopotamia. Simultaneously, other Anatolian goddesses are also connected with the chthonic sphere, such as Lelwani. Some constellations of chthonic deities include a solar deity alongside other deities whose names – at the etymological level at least – are closely related to the names of Anatolian solar deities, e.g. šiwatt- (cf. Luwian Tiwad- ‘Sun-god’), which can also be written logographically with the sign U₄ ‘day’ (which can also be read as UTU ‘Sun’), or Izzištanu, which likely contains the Hattian name of the solar deity (Ištanu-, the Hittite variant of Hattian Eštan). Are these simply arbitrary or inadvertent connections with the solar deity, and thus of no great significance? Or were these overt attempts to underline the role of a particular solar deity in the netherworld? This paper will serve as a case study exploring the effectiveness and accuracy of categorizing deities typologically or according to spheres of competency, and what alternatives might exist to describe more complicated or unusual phenomena, as for example the solar deities.
Celestial Aspects of Hittite Religion: An Investigation of the Rock Sanctuary Yazılıkaya
Journal of Skyscape Archaeology, 2019
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 Ḫattuša relate to solar deities and celestial divination reminiscent of Old Babylonian astronomical and astrological practices. Here we suggest that the rock sanctuary of Yazılıkaya, 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 Yazılıkaya serves as a point of departure for a brief re-examination of celestial aspects in Hittite religion.
Stela of Pa-di-Isis before the Sun God
Immortal Pharaoh: The Tomb of Thutmose III, 2005
t'u, i.],r, , i-,, , Third Intermediate Period Period, Twenty-second to Twenry-third Dynasty (c. 800 nco) Limestone Height: 42.5 cm, width: 33 cm, depth: 9 cm Kestner-Museum Hannover Acq. No. 1935.200.210 (Provenance: Baron von Bissing Collection)
The Hidden Celestial Sanctuary of the Hittites
Popular Archaeology, 2019
A re-investigation of the enigmatic monumental rock-cut sanctuary suggests a new interpretation of the ancient site. Yazılıkaya appears to be the place where the Hittite priests kept their calendar. They most likely indicated the current day, month, and year with moving markers in the form of stone or wood columns. Proceeding in this way they could determine the most important dates of the year: New Year, the solstices, the equinoxes, and monthly festivals. After all, with the Hittites never missing an opportunity to serve one of their countless deities, the priests had the challenge of setting the dates for as many as 165 festivals per year.
Men have always been fascinated by the vault of heaven. The stars have been synonymous with immortality with their continuous and cyclical presence. Because of their immortality stars and planets were considered heavenly images of gods. With the rise of the Kassite dynasty, in the second half of the 2 nd millennium BC, a transformation happened in the religious thought and in the representation of the gods. A gradual but continuous transformation in their depiction could be noticed, with the introduction of the symbolic representation that substituted the anthropomorphic one. Symbolic divine representations are the main subject of the decoration of the kudurrus, the Babylonian boundary stones. Between them the crescent, the eight pointed star and the sun-disk take a prominent place, always being placed in the upper part of the kudurrus. Analyzing each symbol represented it is thus possible to note an iconographical change and some differences in their relative positions. The aim of this paper is to identify recurring symbolic patterns on Kassite kudurru reliefs, and to understand their meaning. Reconstructing the heavenly vault of the Kassite period, it is possible to make a comparison between the patterns identified and astral conjunctions. These patterns represent not only divine symbols, but also a probable time image of the sky, with its own specific meaning.
Loading Preview
Sorry, preview is currently unavailable. You can download the paper by clicking the button above.