Ever since the diachronic study of Hittite writing has allowed us to establish the chronology of Hittite sources with more precision, it has become possible to distinguish the linguistic and writing characteristics of each phase of Hittite history. In turn, this has allowed us to reconstruct the evolution of Hittite culture from its earliest developments to the innovations linked to the administration of this vast empire. However, the dating of a number of sources to the Old Hittite kingdom has revealed the aspects of Hittite culture that developed in its earliest phases. In this way, it has become possible to see a considerable degree of cultural continuity until the fall of the empire. Even Hittite involvement outside Anatolia is already attested in the reign of Hattusili I and Mursili I, especially in terms of their interest in Mesopotamian heroes (from Gilgamesh to Sargon), law codes and so on.
The intensification of contacts outside Anatolia therefore led to an increase in foreign influences on Hit-tite culture. Contacts with prestigious, yet distant, lands, such as Egypt, Babylonia and Assyria, remained relatively modest. They mainly affected scribal culture, which saw in the Babylonian centres the origins of cuneiform culture. Alongside the diffusion of Babylonian scribal texts (such as bilingual word lists and so on) and literary texts, Hatti experienced the spread of deities such as Marduk of Babylon, Shamash of Sip-par, or even the healing powers of Ishtar of Nineveh. Moreover, foreign mantic techniques and practices began to be implemented and some specialists even came to Hatti, from sculptors, physicians, exorcists and so on.
In case of areas directly under Hittite control, such as the Syrian vassal states (speaking Hurrian or Canaanite) and Kizzuwatna, the situation was different. The thirteenth century bc was marked by a strong Hurrian influence departing from Kizzuwatna, Mitanni and the north Syrian states and reaching the Hittite capital, well beyond its original region. One of the main reasons for this diffusion was the prestige of some sanctuaries, myths and rituals in the region. In more practical terms, however, the influence of certain functionaries and priests of Hurrian origins must have facilitated the spread of this phenomenon. The most famous example of this is Puduhepa, wife of Hattusili III and priestess of the goddess Hebat at Kummani (in Kizzuwatna). She greatly influenced her husband in the inclusion of Hurrian cults. The traditional divine triad in the Hittite state cult was made of the solar goddess, Arinna, her husband, the Storm-god of Hatti, and their son, the Storm-god of Nerikka and Zippalanda. The Hurrian counterpart of this triad thus became Hebat, Teshub and Sharruma.
This interest in incorporating Hurrian religion within Hittite state religion was a consequence of the century-long effort in making Anatolian culture (Hittite and Pre-Hittite) a sort of official syncretism of different local cults and traditions. A monumental expression of this desire to assimilate Hurrian religion within the official Hittite pantheon is the sanctuary of Yazilikaya (Figure 18.5). The latter was located
Figure 18.5 The sanctuary of Yazilikaya, near Hattusa. Above: Reconstruction of the exterior from the south; Centre: The main room; Below: A procession of deities.
Right outside Hattusa and linked to it through a processional way. The sanctuary had a set of gateways and stairs leading to the main entrance, and a complex of sculpted stone gorges. On the latter, there are several depictions of the processional meeting between female and male deities. This was a typically Hurrian interpretation of the pantheon, as indicated by the names given to the figures, each represented through his or her main characteristics (from attributes, to clothes and symbolic animals). The sanctuary was built during the reign of Tudhaliya IV, son of Puduhepa and Hattusili.
The Hittite archival tradition reveals a similar attempt to assimilate the composite tradition of Anatolia. Hittite cult inventories are already an interesting example in this regard. These inventories of cultic objects provided a description of cultic statues (of either local or foreign origins). They therefore were a bureaucratic manifestation of that iconographic knowledge at the heart of sanctuaries such as Yazilikaya. This knowledge was normally obvious within one’s own culture, but was far more complicated in the case of Hatti and its constant foreign influences. Even more typical is the category of texts describing cultic festivals. These were long, detailed day-to-day descriptions of the actions to be performed by each participant, the offerings to provide, and the words to be said during religious festivals. The latter were part of the cultic calendar of a series of localities. Some of these rituals became part of the capital’s cultic calendar. However, even if they were not included, they were still important, since the king had to personally travel and officiate at the ceremonies.
Rituals were not only written in Hittite, but also in Hattic (either in part or through the use of some Hattic words), Luwian and Hurrian. This aspect shows how the presence of a variety of local cults was made even more difficult by the variety of languages in use (partly spoken and partly present in the form of cultic residues). The same can be said concerning mythology. Having absorbed some Mesopotamian elements during the Old and Middle Hittite kingdom, the fourteenth and thirteenth centuries bc saw the assimilation of Hurrian myths (from the Song of Ullikummi to the Myth of Kumarbi). These myths were normally set in Upper Mesopotamia and northern Syria. There was even a myth of West Semitic origins (El-kunirsha), a clear assimilation from the more distant Syrian vassals.
Considering the aggravating depopulation of the centre of the empire, the persistence of local cultures, the extraordinary extension of the empire, and the growth of its capital, the syncretism of cults and foreign cultures also had a political value. The wider population spoke Hittite and mainly lived in the capital and its surroundings, but was constantly reduced in number by the Kaska incursions and the continuous wars. Consequently, the empire’s population saw the increasing influence of Luwian people, especially from Arzawa to Kizzuwatna, and of Hurrians, from Kizzuwatna to Hanigalbat. Hittite culture did not manage to prevail over these other cultural waves and was forced to accept their influence by making them ‘official’. After all, within Hatti itself, Hattusa, despite its size and power, never managed to complete the process of unification and centralisation. Local cults therefore survived, local functionaries continued to stay in power, and temples kept their lands. This forced the Hittite kings to forge a purely formal cultural unification, concentrating several local cults in the capital, and travelling throughout the land to confirm their priestly role in all of the kingdom’s cults.
World History
