As a means and a way of contacting the gods and influencing their decisions. Cel-

ebrating divine cult was tantamount to regulär Service, both everyday and during

Festivals taking place in accordance with a calendar cycle or being addressed to

A given divinity. Magical practices, bolstered by the power of incantations which were

Ordinarily accompanied by sacrifices to the gods, were kept for emergency situations,

In the face of danger or disaster, when appropriate magic teehniques and insistent

Persuasion in the form of spells, appropriate ‘compensation and sacrifices wert- sup-

Posed to induee and even force the gods to change their decision or to take a posi

Tive one in specific matters. It is natural that magic played a particularly signifi-

Cant role in everyday life.

•k k 'k

Much has been written on the subject of Hittite religion. Pioneering studies appeared

2

In the 1930s. Emanuei Laroche’s Recherches sur les noms des dieux hittites was of

prime importanee for further studies.'* Later discussions of Hittite religion ränge from

Brief encyclopedic items to eomprehensive monographs.

2 Götze 1933: 122ff.; Delaporte 1936: 241ff.; Purlani 1936. Cf. also R. Dussaud apud Dhorme -

Dussaud 1945: 333ff.

Laroche 1946-1947.

4 See, e.g., Göterboek 1950; 1964b: Gurney 1952: 132ff,; 1977; Otten 1964; Vieyra 1970; di Nola

1971; Hartmann 1972; Kümmel 1973a; Ringgren 1979: 185ff,; Oelsner 1984; Ebach 1986; Hoffner

1987a; 1989; Beckman 1989; Laroche 1991; Gönnet 1992; Pecohioli Daddi - Polvani 1994; Bryce

Ff.; Beckman 2003-2005b; 2005a; 2007; Collins 2007: 157ff.; Taracha 2008c,

Introduction

4

The 1990s saw two monographic studies on Hittite religion written by eminent

Scholars. In 1994 Volkert Haas published his monumental Geschichte der hethitischen

Religion. This exhaustive study eollected valuable Information on different catego

Ries of gods, pantheons and cults, but It was criticized by reviewers for what seems

To be a lack of clear focus on the Hittite sources themselves for an understanding of

Hittite religion and ifcs temporal development.^ Maciej Popko’s Religions of Asia

Minor, which came out in 1995, presente an innovative approach, discussing the

Changes in Hittite religion from a historical point of view, according to the common

Division into three main periods: Old Hittite, Middle Hittite and Empire. 0 These two

Monographs have remained a principal source of knowledge on Hittite religion for the

Past decade or so. Meanwhile the past ten years have seen a rapid flow of studies

On specific issues, as well as further monographs, the most important one being

Ben van Gessel’s richly informative Onomasticon of the Hittite Pantheon,' an indis

Pensable tool for present and future scholars of Anatolian religions in Hittite times.

Synthetic approaches to a study of Luwian 5 6 7 8 9 and Hurrian 10 beliefs should also be

Noted.

Any religious development, whether of local or state pantheons, as well as changes

Of cult, should be perceived as a dynamic process and as such, treated from a dia-

chronic point of view. This book has therefore been structured af'ter Popko’s Relig

Ion» with the reservation that the only break that exists in Hittite history and the

History of Hittite religion in particular is the break between the Old Hittite and the

Empire period. 11 Chapter one, which essentially expands on this Introduction, Sketch

Es the roots of Anatolian beliefs and religious Systems from the earliest times through

The beginning of the historical age at the outset of the second millennium BC. There-

By, it was deemed necessary for a better understanding of the later religions of Hittite

Anatolia to outline in brief the processes of the embodiment of the gods, the

Haas 1994a. See also reviews of Haas’s book by Popko 1995b; Beckman 1997a; Hoffner 1997b.

Popko 1995a.

All new literature could be incorporated into the test of this book until April 2008.

Van Gessel 1998.

Hutter 2003.

Tremoisilie 1.999a; 2000a.

Empire period into Middle and New Hittite is based on Hnguistie