The Hurrians occupied the land between the Hittites and Assyria, having descended from the mountains south of the Caspian Sea. They ruled the kingdom of Mitanni. In the late 15th century B.C. the Hittite empire's beginning is marked by an influx of Hurrian names into the royal family. Tudhalyas I (1420 B.C.) reunited Western Anatolia under Hittite rule, and retook Allepo but lost the Black Sea coast to the Kaska tribes. After some difficulty with the Mittani the Hittites resurged under King Suppilulimas around 1344-1322 taking a firmer hold on Syria. With Egypt, they dominated the lands of Canaan and the Levant during the 1200's. Their prosperity came to a sudden end when the invasion of the Sea Peoples coincided with increasing trouble from the Kaskas. While Hittite culture continued through about 700 B.C., the Empire was shattered into several kingdoms and pressures such as the growing Assyrian Empire helped keep it from uniting again.
The Hittites were a patriarchal, highly agricultural society. They had rich iron deposits which they mined and traded with the Assyrians. They also used it for weaponry and were rather successful in the use of a three-man chariot. Through trade and conquest the languages and cultures of their neighbors seeped into Hittite society. Babylonian and Hurrian deities were worshiped along-side or assimilated with the native Hittite deities. This merging of cultures and free use of foreign languages is rather fortuitous. Parallel Hittite and Akkadian treaties and similar texts helped in cracking the Hittite hieroglyphic code. Unfortunately, while the ability to translate Hittite hieroglyphics has improved, the pronunciation of several Hittite ideograms, and hence their transcription into English, remains elusive. Often, as in the case with the Storm-god, we must resort to a descriptive name, or else use the appropriate Hurrian or Akkadian name.
You will notice that many of the names carry an optional 's' as a suffix, which comes from the nominative case ending for Hittite.
During a plot to overthrow the Storm-god, he lay with a Rock as if it were a woman. He instructs Imbaluris, his messenger to send a message to the Sea, that Kumarbis should remain father of the gods. The Sea hosts a feast for him and later Kumarbis' Rock gives birth to Ullikummis. Kumarbis announces that his son will defeat the Storm-god, his city Kummiya, his brother Tasmisus and the gods from the sky. He charges Imbaluris to seek out the Irsirra deities to hide Ullikummis from the Sun-god, the Storm-god, and Ishtar.
She recommends to the Storm-god that he pay the Sea-god the bride-price for the Sea-god's daughter on her wedding to Telipinu.
Apparently she also disappears in a fit of anger and while she is gone, cattle and sheep are stifled and mothers, both human and animal take no account of their children. After her anger is banished to the Dark Earth, she returns rejoicing. Another meeans of banishing her anger is through burning brushwood and allowing the vapor to enter her body.
After Inara consulted with her, she gave her a man and land. Soon after, Inara is missing and when Hanna hanna is informed thereof by the Storm-god's bee, she apparently begins a search with the help of her Female attendant a. She appears to consult with the Sun-god and the War-god, but much of the text is missing.
He sent rain after the fallen Moon-god/Kashku when he fell from heaven.
Alerted to the imminent arrival of the Sun-god, who in some myths is his son, he has Tasmisus prepare a meal for their guest and listens to his report about the sudden appearance of the giant Ullikummis. He and Tasmisus then leave the kuntarra and are led to Mount Hazzi by his sister, Ishtar, where they behold the monstrous creature. He looks upon Kumarbis' son with fear and Ishtar chides him. Later, emboldened, he has Tasmisus prepare his bulls and wagon for battle, and has him call out the thunderstorms, lightning and rains. Their first battle resulted in his incomplete defeat. He dispatches Tasmisus to his wife, Hebat, to tell her that he must remain in a 'lowly place' for a term. When Tasmisus returns, he encourages the Storm-god to seek Ea in the city Abzu/Apsu and ask for the 'tablets with the words of fate' (Tablets of Destiny? 'me'?). After Ea cleaves off Ullukummis' feet, he spurs Tasmisus and the Storm-god on to battle the crippled giant. Despite the diorite man's boasting, the Storm-god presumably defeats him.
He fought with the Dragon Illuyankas in Kiskilussa and was defeated. He called the gods for aid, asking that Inaras prepare a celebration. She does so and when the dragon and his children have gorged themselves on her feast, the mortal Hupasiyas binds him with a rope. Then the Storm-god, accompanied by the gods, sets upon them and destroys them.
In another version of that myth, he looses his eyes and heart to Illuyankas after his first battle. He then marries a poor mortal woman and marries their son to Illuyankas daughter. He has the son ask for his eyes and heart. With their return, he attacks the dragon again. When his son sides with Illuyankas, the Storm-god kills them both.
When his son, Telepinus, is missing he despairs and complains to the Sun-god and then to Hannahannas, who tells him to search for him himself. After searching Telepinus' city he gives up.
In other versions of this myth, it is the Storm-god who is missing. One is almost exactly the same, and in another, he journeys to the Dark Earth in his anger, and is returned with the help of his mother - here Wuruntemu/Ereshkigal/the Sun-goddess of Arinna.
He sends Telipinu to recover the Sun-god who had been kidnapped by the Sea-god. The Sea-god is so intimidated that he gives Telipinu his daughter in marriage but demands a bride-price from the Storm-god. After consulting with Hannahanna, he pays the price of a thousand sheep and a thousand cattle.
He notices his daughter, Inara, is missing and sends a bee to Hannahanna to have her search for her.
He spies the Sun-god approaching and informs the Storm-god that this visit bodes ill. At the Storm-god's command he has a meal set up for their visitor. After the Sun-god's tale, he and the Storm-god depart and are met by Ishtar, who takes them to Mt. Hazzi near Ugarit, where they can see Ullikummis. The Storm-god has him take his bulls up Mt. Imgarra and prepare them for battle. He is also ordered to bring forth the storms, rains, winds, and lightning. After their defeat, he is dispatched by the Storm-god to Hebat, to tell her that he must remain in a 'lowly place' for a term. He returns and encourages the Storm-god to seek Ea in the city Abzu/Apsu and ask for the 'tablets with the words of fate' (Tablets of Destiny? 'me'?). After Ea cleaves off Ullukummis' feet, he spurs Tasmisus and the Storm-god on to battle the crippled giant.
He is asked by his father to recover the Sun-god from the Sea-god, and so intimidates the Sea-god that he is given his daughter as a bride.
After fifteen days he grows enough so that he stands waist deep in the sea when the Sun-god and he notice each other. Alerted by the Sun-god, the Storm-god eventually prepares for battle atop Mount Imgarra, yet their first battle results in an incomplete victory. He drives Hebat from her temple, cutting off her communication with the other gods. Astabis leads seventy gods on attack against him, attempting to draw up the water from around him, perhaps in order to stop his growth. They fall into the sea and he grows to be 9000 leagues tall and around, shaking the heavens, the earth, pushing up the sky, and towering over Kummiya. Ea locates him and cuts off his feet with the copper knife that separated the heaven from the earth. Despite his wounds he boasts to the Storm-god that he will take the kingship of heaven. Presumably, he is none-the-less defeated.
When Telepinus disappears, bringing a famine, he arranges a feast, but it is ineffective in assuaging their hunger. At the Storm-god's complaint, he dispatches an eagle to search for the god, but the bird is unsuccessful. After the bee discovers Telepinus, he has man perform a ritual. In another version of the missing god myth, he is one of the missing gods. He keeps several sheep. At the end of the day, he travels through the nether-world.
He was kidnapped by the Sea-god and released when Telipinu came for him.
In a longer version of that story, the Sea-god caught him in a net, possibly putting him into a Kukubu-vessel when he fell. During his absence, hahhimas (Frost) took hold.
He questions the fire in its role in one of Kamrusepa's healing spells.
She then gives Hupasiayas a house on a cliff to live in, yet warns him not to look out the window, lest he see his wife and children. He disobeys her, and seeing his family begs to be allowed to go home. Gurney speculates that he was killed for his disobedience.
She consults with Hannahanna, who promises to give her land and a man. She then goes missing and is sought after by her father and Hannahanna with her bee.
In another version of the myth, he defeated the Storm-god and stole his eyes and heart. Later, his daughter married the son of the Storm-god. Acting on the Storm-god's instruction, his son asked for the eyes and heart. When these were returned to him, the Storm-god vanquished Illuyankas, but slew his son as well when the youth sided with the dragon.
The ritual of his defeat was invoked every spring to symbolize the earth's rebirth.
After Telepinus has been found, yet remains angry, she is set to cure him of his temper. She performs an elaborate magical ritual, removing his evil and malice.
In another tablet, she performs the spell of fire, whic removes various illnesses, changing them to a mist which ascends to heaven, lifted by the Dark Earth. The Sea-god questions the fire on its role.
He attends Kumarbis and fetches that god's son to be devoured as a means of releaving Kumarbis pains from the Storm-god. He advises Kumarbis to have experts work 'poor' magic to aid him in his distress, bringing bulls and sacrifices of meal. This magic helps secure Kumarbis's 'tarnassus'.
He is prevailed upon by the Storm-god following his defeat by Ullikummis. He and presumably the Storm-god present a case against Kumarbis' for his creation of Ullikummis before Ellil. Rebutting Ellil's defense that Kumarbis is well behaved regarding worship and sacrifices, Ea proclaims that Ullikummis 'will block off heaven and the gods holy houses.' He seeks out Upelluri, and after interviewing him, locates Ullukummis feet on Upelluri's shoulder. He charges the olden gods to deliver the copper knife with which they severed heaven from earth, in order to cut through Ullukummis' feet. He then spurs Tasmisus and the Storm-god on to fight the crippled giant.
She spies her brothers, the Storm-god and Tasmisus, leaving the kuntarra following word of the appearance of Ullikummis. She leads them by hand, up Mount Hazzi, from which they can view the giant. When the Storm-god is vexed and fearful at the site of Kumarbis' son, she chides him. Later, she takes up her galgalturi/harp and sings to the blind and deaf Ullikummis, but her folly is exposed to her by a great wave from the sea, who charges her to seek out her brother who is yet to be emboldened to the inevitable battle.
She was loved by the serpent Hedammu.
The olden gods built heaven and earth upon Upelluri. They had a copper knife which they used to cleave the heaven from the earth, after which they stored it in ancient storehouses and sealed them up - only to open them and retrieve it for use on Ullikummis.
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homepageChristopher B. Siren - cbsiren at alum dot mit dot edu