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Some Aspects of Hittite Religion
Parallels between Hittite civilisation and the Old Testament belong largely to the field of religion. In the first of his three Schweich lectures (delivered in 1976) Professor Gurney traces the historical development of the Hittite pantheon, while in his second and third lectures he selects some aspects of Hittite religion which can be compared with ancient Hebrew and Canaanite institutions. The second lecture describes the cult, both local and official, and the purpose of the open-air temple at Yazilikaya. The third is devoted to Hittite rituals of elimination and substitution and the mortuary ritual for the King. Parallels are drawn with the biblical masseba as a cult object and with the scapegoat ritual of Leviticus.
88 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 1977
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July 18, 2016
A high-level examination of the (apparently quite complicated) religion of the Hittites. The first portion is primarily an encyclopedic list and chronology of the various Hittite gods - which change substantially over the era. Gods are added over time, some are removed (less common), they take on new names, become gods of different aspects of life, and even their genders swap in some cases.
This is a subject I am very interested in, and I'm generally satisfied with the breadth of these lectures. So why only four stars? Gurney prepared these lectures for people who were already advanced in their studies of Hittite culture, so he doesn't bother to give ANY context for his well-researched findings (footnotes abound). So I was lost for a lot of it, BUT it gave me some phenomenal jumping off points for further studies (which gods do what, important social values of the culture, and my favorite part: the names of some of the sagas/legends of the Hittites).
The first section is "The Pantheon." The second section is "The Cult." The third section is "Magic Rituals."
The third section is my favorite as it lets us peek inside the temples of a society that we can barely even imagine today. We see things like:
"The Old Woman takes a balance. Into one scale she puts gold, silver, and all kinds of precious stones. Into the other she puts mortar (mud). The Old Woman says to her companion - indicating the deceased by name: 'Who is going to bring so-and-so? And her companion answers: 'The Hittites, the uruhha-men, will bring him.' But the first one says: 'They shall not 'bring' him. Her companion answers: 'Take the silver and gold!' But she says: 'I will not take it.' She says this three times. And at the third time the first one says: 'I will take the mortar.' Then she breaks the balance and lays it in front of the Sun-god."
This is one of the more complex funerary rituals, but there are many others that are akin to ritual sacrifice and scapegoating described in Torah (with some key differences). There are many other examples throughout of festivals and sacred events that take place in temples and open-air shrines (often both) including the role of the king, queen and community members.
If you are interested in ancient history that DOESN'T involve aliens (although, this could be twisted and contorted to support that theory as well), this is a must-read book.
This is a subject I am very interested in, and I'm generally satisfied with the breadth of these lectures. So why only four stars? Gurney prepared these lectures for people who were already advanced in their studies of Hittite culture, so he doesn't bother to give ANY context for his well-researched findings (footnotes abound). So I was lost for a lot of it, BUT it gave me some phenomenal jumping off points for further studies (which gods do what, important social values of the culture, and my favorite part: the names of some of the sagas/legends of the Hittites).
The first section is "The Pantheon." The second section is "The Cult." The third section is "Magic Rituals."
The third section is my favorite as it lets us peek inside the temples of a society that we can barely even imagine today. We see things like:
"The Old Woman takes a balance. Into one scale she puts gold, silver, and all kinds of precious stones. Into the other she puts mortar (mud). The Old Woman says to her companion - indicating the deceased by name: 'Who is going to bring so-and-so? And her companion answers: 'The Hittites, the uruhha-men, will bring him.' But the first one says: 'They shall not 'bring' him. Her companion answers: 'Take the silver and gold!' But she says: 'I will not take it.' She says this three times. And at the third time the first one says: 'I will take the mortar.' Then she breaks the balance and lays it in front of the Sun-god."
This is one of the more complex funerary rituals, but there are many others that are akin to ritual sacrifice and scapegoating described in Torah (with some key differences). There are many other examples throughout of festivals and sacred events that take place in temples and open-air shrines (often both) including the role of the king, queen and community members.
If you are interested in ancient history that DOESN'T involve aliens (although, this could be twisted and contorted to support that theory as well), this is a must-read book.
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