A Magical Ritual Concerning the West Anatolian Foe Kukkulli (original) (raw)
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From Kizzuwatna to Troy? Puduhepa, Piyamaradu, and Anatolian Ritual in Homer
The sixth book of Homer's Iliad has long attracted attention for its embedded narratives, including traditions that sound native to Anatolia. When Glaukos of Lycia meets Diomedes in battle, their family histories prevent them from engaging as enemies, once they recognize each other as guest-friends (Il. 6.119-236). A long digression on Glaukos's ancestors recounts the stirring story of his grandfather, the hero Bellerophon, and the monster Chimaera, set in Lycia in clearly Hellenized tales of a "snake-slayer" (slayer of the illuyankas-serpent) long native to Anatolia. 1 Like the death and transport to Lycia of Sarpedon in Iliad 16, narrated in Anatolian language, or the funeral of Patroklos with its close convergences with Hittite royal burials, this passage reveals how Greek epic poetry can incorporate foreign traditions for ritual procedures set on Anatolian soil. 2 Another Iliad 6 episode long seen as Hellenic-the Trojan propitiation of Athena-allows us to unpack its connections with Bronze Age ritual in Anatolia, in tribute to the model of "demic diffusion" articulated so well by the late Calvert Watkins. For in addition to teaching us how to kill a dragon, and how to be a dragon, this book of the Iliad teaches Hellenic heroes and poets how to stop an enemy in Anatolian fashion. The propitiation of Athena by the women of Troy is an episode long suspect to Hellenists for its highly Athenian details of cult. In this essay, I will try to demonstrate that the motivation for this special prayer, its supervision by the queen, performance by a priestess, assistance by female elders, and special phrases all shadow closely patterns in Anatolian royal and ritual procedures, seen in both text and art, in both East and West.
Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 2024
Western Anatolian ritual pits provide valuable insights into socio-cultural, economic and symbolic practices during the Early to Middle Bronze Age. Findings in feasting pits, such as carbonized seeds and animal bones, indicate a strong link between ritual and food. Standing stones, altars and carefully arranged artefacts suggest a symbolic and sacred dimension beyond mere ceremonies. The pits from this period contain carbonized seeds and fragments of wood, indicating the presence of small fires during certain rituals. Changing features in ritual pits from the Early to Middle Bronze Age reveal a dynamic relationship between spatial arrangements and religious practices. The study shows that in the first half of the second millennium BCE several ritual activities known from different regions reached western Anatolia for the first time. Interregional trade involved not only goods, but also the dissemination of rituals over a wide geographical area. This cultural interaction reveals western Anatolia as a dynamic and influential centre in this historical period. By exploring the ritual practices of second-millennium BCE western Anatolia, this paper presents new perspectives on the rituals of the region.
This book examines the epigraphy and history of transmission of the cuneiform sources of the Maqlû anti-witchcraft ritual, one of the major compositions of ancient Mesopotamian exorcistic lore and a masterpiece of Babylonian literature. The performance of Maqlû, ‘Burning’, stretched over a whole night and included the recitation of almost a hundred incantations. In the course of the ritual, the victim of witchcraft is transferred from a state of imminent death back to life; he is purified and his bound state undone. The witches are assigned the fate they had intended for their victim by sending the witchcraft back to them. The book consists of three parts: First, an introduction to the Maqlû ceremony as a Babylonian anti-witchcraft ritual is provided; it includes an attempt at giving a step-by-step reconstruction of the ritual drama of Maqlû based on the instructions for its performance and the texts of its recitations. Next, a set of more specialized studies is devoted to various aspects of the cuneiform transmission of Maqlû: the history of the text’s reconstruction; the types of manuscripts; their specific provenance and historical context; variation in the textual transmission as well as spelling conventions and linguistic characteristics. Finally, the manuscripts are presented in ‘hand-copies’ (technical drawings) on the plates in the second half of the book.
INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON MYTHOLOGY ULUSLARARASI MİTOLOJİ SEMPOZYUMU PROCEEDINGS BOOK
NİZÂMÎ’NİN İSKENDERNÂMESİ’NDE GEÇEN EFSANEVÎ SU: ÂB-I HAYAT, 2019
Nizâmî-yi Gencevî, yaklaşık 535-540 (1135-1145) yılları arasında Büyük Selçukluların hâkim olduğu dönemde, Gence’de dünyaya gelmiş ve yaklaşık 597-611 (1201- 1214) yılları arasında aynı yerde vefat etmiş; Fars, Türk, Arap ve hatta bütün dünya edebiyatlarına etki etmiş, ünü dünyaya yayılmış büyük şairlerden biridir. Hamse geleneğinin kurucusu sayılan şairin son mesnevisi olan İskendernâme, İskender ya da yaygın bir diğer adıyla İskender-i Zülkarneyn hikâyesine yer veren bir eserdir. Şair eserini kurgularken pek çok mitolojik unsurdan faydalanmıştır. Bu unsurlardan biri de neredeyse bütün dünya mitolojilerinde var olan âb-ı hayat kavramıdır. Hayat suyu ve ölümü yenecek ilaçlar düşüncesi en eski dönemlerden beri çeşitli uygarlıklarda görülmüş ve bu düşünce etrafında tarihsel ve efsanevî kahramanlar oluşturulmuştur. Genellikle Hızır’a ve İskender’e atfedilen bu su, âb-ı Hızır ve âb-ı İskender gibi isimlerle de bilinir. İskender’in hayat suyu arayışı, özellikle İskendernâmelerde efsane olarak ele alınan ve bütün milletlerin edebiyatında sembol olarak görülen önemli hikâyelerden biridir. Çalışmada âb-ı hayat kavramına değinildikten sonra Nizâmî’nin Farsça kaleme almış olduğu İskendernâme’de geçen hayat suyu efsanesi, şairin edebi dehasıyla yazmış olduğu örnek beyitler Türkçeye çevrilerek açıklanmaya çalışılacaktır.