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Writings from the Ancient World #2
Hittite Myths
This work contains the first English translations of a collection of Hittite myths. The translations are based on the original tablets on which the myths were written, and take into account recent textual discoveries and published studies on the texts. Revised and augmented, this second edition includes additional introductions to each myth and a newly published Hurrian myth, "The Song of Release," dealing with legal and social institutions in ancient Babylonia and Israel. Accessible to nonspecialists, the translations also preserve column and line count for the convenience of scholars.
120 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1990
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About the author
Harry A. Hoffner Jr.
45 books4 followersHarry Angier Hoffner, Jr. American professor of Hittitology, worked for many years until his retirement at the University of Chicago.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
January 20, 2022
The late Harry A. Hoffner, Jr. was an expert in Hittite Linguistics. While he authored a great many texts, one of his seminal works was HITTITE MYTHS.
In this book, Hoffner provided a number of translations for old Anatolians myths and Hurrian myths, along with a Canaanite myth, all of which were incorporated into Hittite mythology. Hoffner took great pains to address the missing cuneiform scripts and included many important notes for readers regarding each translation.
Although Hoffner will be sorely missed, his scholarship and the role he played in Hittite studies will live on in his published books and peer-reviewed articles. HITTITE MYTHS is one if the best resources for understanding this extinct culture. For anyone interested in Hittite culture, this book should be at the top of your go-to list.
In this book, Hoffner provided a number of translations for old Anatolians myths and Hurrian myths, along with a Canaanite myth, all of which were incorporated into Hittite mythology. Hoffner took great pains to address the missing cuneiform scripts and included many important notes for readers regarding each translation.
Although Hoffner will be sorely missed, his scholarship and the role he played in Hittite studies will live on in his published books and peer-reviewed articles. HITTITE MYTHS is one if the best resources for understanding this extinct culture. For anyone interested in Hittite culture, this book should be at the top of your go-to list.
September 5, 2023
Well. That was interesting.
Hittite myths are only available to us in deeply, deeply fragmentary cuneiform tablets, even more than others elsewhere. Not just that, they are also not all that well composed, and with many I am almost certain that they were not meant as literature period, but rather as being ritual texts, much like the story of Horus-the-Child getting stung by a scorpion/snake, which is a framing device for a spell for that exact same thing. I say this because these are sometimes followed by measurements for rituals, i.e. X amount of Y, Z amount of A, etc.
That said they're still interesting and entertaining, mostly because of their weirdness: the archetypal "Storm God defeats draconic water serpent of primordial chaos" myth here features the snake, Illuyanka, be perfectly civil and have a human daughter (I guess that the genes of PRIMORDIAL DRACONIC CHAOS are recessive), and the Storm God Teshub's plan to getting his heart and eyes back from it by having a son with a "poor woman" and having the son marry the daughter and ask for the eyes and heart back as a wedding gift, which Illuyanka casually accepts. Teshub goes to fight Illuyanka again, but his son, who must now answer his father-in-law above his father for whatever reason (to my knowledge, this was something that happened to women, not men, but perhaps it's due to the social status since his mother is poor) and so he must kill him too if he's to kill Illuyanka. So he, literally just does.
Beyond that, obviously the standout myths here are the famous so-called Kumarbi Cycle - the comparison's with Hesiod's Theogony and thus with the whole of Greek myth are so strong as to border on the undeniable, though the imagery here is, again, quite amusing: per example, the titular Kumarbi (very clearly just the later Greek Kronos) fucks a rock and impregnates it. Not a rock deity, or demon, or a statue, no, it is just a huge boulder, out of which comes an enormous boulder baby which is "tall as the sky", Ullikummi, which has no hearing or seeing capability nor does it feel human emotion. Tall as the sky is a standard stock description in ANE literary texts, but we're actually given the exact measures and turns out they aren't joking because our Sega Genesis golem made of spherical stones-core enemy here turns out to b 14484 kilometers tall: tall as the skies indeed!
They are also very fragmented unfortunately, but as far as literature goes, it is certainly the best the Hittites did: it holds up today mostly for their supreme silliness, but is no doubt of interest to students of comparative mythology and literature as well as the history of religion: that the Hittites and the wars they had with the Mycenean Greeks, the Ahhiyawa as they called them, served as a point of contact between Greece and Near Eastern culture seems clear just from it, but of course on that you must do much more reading than just some myths.
As it stands, this is a small collection: it is not bilingual, let alone a critical edition, it has nearly no commentary, etc. It is just the translation of the myths. It is a good edition for students of mythology getting into Hittitology, however.
Hittite myths are only available to us in deeply, deeply fragmentary cuneiform tablets, even more than others elsewhere. Not just that, they are also not all that well composed, and with many I am almost certain that they were not meant as literature period, but rather as being ritual texts, much like the story of Horus-the-Child getting stung by a scorpion/snake, which is a framing device for a spell for that exact same thing. I say this because these are sometimes followed by measurements for rituals, i.e. X amount of Y, Z amount of A, etc.
That said they're still interesting and entertaining, mostly because of their weirdness: the archetypal "Storm God defeats draconic water serpent of primordial chaos" myth here features the snake, Illuyanka, be perfectly civil and have a human daughter (I guess that the genes of PRIMORDIAL DRACONIC CHAOS are recessive), and the Storm God Teshub's plan to getting his heart and eyes back from it by having a son with a "poor woman" and having the son marry the daughter and ask for the eyes and heart back as a wedding gift, which Illuyanka casually accepts. Teshub goes to fight Illuyanka again, but his son, who must now answer his father-in-law above his father for whatever reason (to my knowledge, this was something that happened to women, not men, but perhaps it's due to the social status since his mother is poor) and so he must kill him too if he's to kill Illuyanka. So he, literally just does.
Beyond that, obviously the standout myths here are the famous so-called Kumarbi Cycle - the comparison's with Hesiod's Theogony and thus with the whole of Greek myth are so strong as to border on the undeniable, though the imagery here is, again, quite amusing: per example, the titular Kumarbi (very clearly just the later Greek Kronos) fucks a rock and impregnates it. Not a rock deity, or demon, or a statue, no, it is just a huge boulder, out of which comes an enormous boulder baby which is "tall as the sky", Ullikummi, which has no hearing or seeing capability nor does it feel human emotion. Tall as the sky is a standard stock description in ANE literary texts, but we're actually given the exact measures and turns out they aren't joking because our Sega Genesis golem made of spherical stones-core enemy here turns out to b 14484 kilometers tall: tall as the skies indeed!
They are also very fragmented unfortunately, but as far as literature goes, it is certainly the best the Hittites did: it holds up today mostly for their supreme silliness, but is no doubt of interest to students of comparative mythology and literature as well as the history of religion: that the Hittites and the wars they had with the Mycenean Greeks, the Ahhiyawa as they called them, served as a point of contact between Greece and Near Eastern culture seems clear just from it, but of course on that you must do much more reading than just some myths.
As it stands, this is a small collection: it is not bilingual, let alone a critical edition, it has nearly no commentary, etc. It is just the translation of the myths. It is a good edition for students of mythology getting into Hittitology, however.
June 11, 2025
Honestly a tad boring, and just too fragmentary to be interesting at times, more so than with other literature from the Ancient Near East.
December 13, 2023
me reading the parables of ungrateful deer and cups when they say "But this is not an [x]. It is actually a man.": 🤯
don't ask me how you impregnate a giant stone. i like the bee stories
don't ask me how you impregnate a giant stone. i like the bee stories
January 12, 2011
This slender volume, part of the excellent Writings from the Ancient World Series, contains translations of most (perhaps all) of the currently available Hittite myths. Hoffner is immensely knowledgeable on the subject. He is the editor of the Oriental Institute's Chicago Hittite Dictionary and the preeminent Hittite philologist.
The myths exist on clay tablets written in cuneiform. Hoffner's translations indicate breaks or unreadable portions throughout and he strives for literal, scholarly translations. This is certainly not an easy book to digest, but is an excellent entrance into Hittite culture and way of thinking. His brief introductions to each myth provide an essential framework for understanding these challenging primary sources. For other information about Hittites see http://www.judithstarkston.com/
The myths exist on clay tablets written in cuneiform. Hoffner's translations indicate breaks or unreadable portions throughout and he strives for literal, scholarly translations. This is certainly not an easy book to digest, but is an excellent entrance into Hittite culture and way of thinking. His brief introductions to each myth provide an essential framework for understanding these challenging primary sources. For other information about Hittites see http://www.judithstarkston.com/
June 9, 2023
Unfortunately, most of the myths and stories featured in this collection are just too fragmentary to even attempt to read. Even if the start of the story has a coherent narrative flowing, it can just break up completely spontaneously and erode any comprehension of the latter half of the text. With that said, many of the tales were still quite enjoyable for what they are. But the one I found particularly fascinating was the Canaanite myth at the end (I assume recorded in Hurrian or possibly Hittite instead of Ugaritic) which featured another Baal story I hadn’t previously come across. While the entire second half of the text was almost unreadable (reminds me of the Ugaritic ‘Baal and Anat’) the picture it presents of Baal is far more multifaceted than the typical protagonist he is portrayed as in the Baal Cycle. I wonder if it was a translation of a poem originally composed in Ugaritic or another Canaanite language.
May 18, 2022
A few interesting but incomplete stories.
The book gives an interesting look at a mythology I've only seen mentioned in the Bible.
The explanations of how the text were acquired and translated were dry and probably too cerebral for me. The myths were as mad as in any mythology. Gods quarreling, scheming, and mating with inanimate obects. They kept me entertained as I read and made me wonder what was said in the many missing lines lost to time.
It's disappointing we can't read the full stories, but I'm glad the stories were represented as accurately as possible. Hoffner even shares interpretations of some of the texts that conflict with how he represented them.
There's a healthy list of sources at the end of the book if you want to do your own research into the topics. I won't be reading them, but it's nice they're included.
The book gives an interesting look at a mythology I've only seen mentioned in the Bible.
The explanations of how the text were acquired and translated were dry and probably too cerebral for me. The myths were as mad as in any mythology. Gods quarreling, scheming, and mating with inanimate obects. They kept me entertained as I read and made me wonder what was said in the many missing lines lost to time.
It's disappointing we can't read the full stories, but I'm glad the stories were represented as accurately as possible. Hoffner even shares interpretations of some of the texts that conflict with how he represented them.
There's a healthy list of sources at the end of the book if you want to do your own research into the topics. I won't be reading them, but it's nice they're included.
April 29, 2018
This series of translations of ancient texts is very well done. Great introduction, useful notes. I really loved the inclusion of the parable stories. Great addition to my collection of ancient texts. Would recommend to those interested in the ancient Near East, comparative mythologies, or Classical Studies.
March 31, 2022
It’s surprising that Brown would co- sign this level of academic quality (I shouldn’t have been surprised, the ancient language podcast that recommended it regularly spouts born again euphemisms). Anyway, the idiom of sharing a cup and how it’s been passed down into Christianity is the interesting thing.
September 22, 2019
The gaps make this quite an awkward and frustrating read. But honestly, that should be expected from reading ancient works.
February 2, 2023
Thus far, this is my favorite translation of various Hittite, Hattic, and Hurrian mythological texts. The texts felt like they were easy to understand.
June 29, 2025
Dry, and usually incomplete with many lacunae, these ancient stories shed light on the roots of Greek Mythology, much of which is clearly borrowed, as well as many Biblical metaphors.
June 29, 2016
These are the Hittite myths as found on clay tablets in present day Turkey and were written down somewhere between 1600 and 1200 BC. Many of the stories aren't complete. Sometimes the tablet was broken and a part is missing and at other times scholars simply don't know the translation of certain parts yet. Still, it was a fascinating read.
I think these stories are especially interesting for someone who is familiar with classical mythology. The Kumarbi cycle, for example, is surprisingly similar to the story of Zeus' childhood and fight for supremacy in the kingdom of the gods. I, for one, had no idea that the Greeks drew on even older sources for their mythology, but now I do know, I'm able to see Greek culture in a much wider scope.
I think these stories are especially interesting for someone who is familiar with classical mythology. The Kumarbi cycle, for example, is surprisingly similar to the story of Zeus' childhood and fight for supremacy in the kingdom of the gods. I, for one, had no idea that the Greeks drew on even older sources for their mythology, but now I do know, I'm able to see Greek culture in a much wider scope.
March 7, 2016
Time has not left us with very polished or complete version of these myths. If your looking for good stories in the modern sense of story telling this isn't what you are looking for. However, if you're looking for a collection of what has been found of these myths, even with all of the gaps and awkwardness, then this is it.
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January 6, 20231740-1725 BC, Anitta text, the oldest known text in the Hittite language
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews