Ion and the traditions of local cults in central and northern Anatolia did not change

In any fundamental way all through the existen.ee of the Hittite state, then the in

Formation on local cults contained in the later texts can be used in part for the Old

Hittite period, too.

Haas 1994a: 6 i 1 f.; Popko 1995a: 73, 1131: cf. also Yoshida 1996: 99 with rei cnces.

60

HlTTITE ANATOLIA

The god could take on an anthropomorphic or zoomorphic shape, but could also be

venerated in other, aniconic forma.”'' 1 A deity was identified with its image. Anth.ro-

Pomoiphic figures were usuaily no taller than 20—30 cm, facilitating their carrying

Around during ceremonies and in procession or cult-related joumeye. The gods were

Washed and dressed, fed regularly and paid obeisance to. The only descriptions of

Divine representations come from the Empire period,” 0 ” but the god’s figures are

Very likely to have looked much the same in Old Hittite times. Many of them de-

Picted a god Standing on bis sacred animal. The descriptions confirm that war-gods

Had lions, tutelary gods had stags, and nature goddesses, usuaily shown seated, had

A mountain goat and/or a bird. Animal figures could have also stood in the adytum

806

Next to other symbols and attributes of a given deity.

Storm-gods were occasionally worshiped in the form of a bull.' This was what

Many of the local storm-gods looked like. Texte from the Empire period mention

Figurines of bulls as cult objects made of silvered 308 or tinned” 0 ” wood, as well as of

Iron 310 or silver; 311 occasionally, a silver bull could be gilded, as in the case of the

Storm-god of Heaven in Karahna, who was worshiped there in the late Empire pe

riod together with the Sun-goddess of Arinna as part of the state cult.' Storm-

Gods represented by a bull statue can be seen, among others, on the cult vase from

inandiktepe (see below) and in a relief by the Sphinx Gate in Alacahöyük (3.2.6).

Live animals also played a role in the cult. The sacred bull of the Storm-god was

Kept in a special enclosure and was led in a ceremonial procession during some

Festivals. 313 Later texte bring Information on a deer cult. In the thirteenth Century BC,

304 Cf. Güterbock 1983; Popko 1993; Hazenbos 2003: 173ff. with references; Collins 2005.

Von Brandenstein 1943; Jakob-Rost 1961; 1963; van Loon 1985: 30t; Hazenbos 2003: 176ff.

On zoomorphic cults and animals of gods, see, in general, Lebrun 1986.

307 Güterbock 1983: 211t Fragments of terracoita bull figures and vessels in the shape of a bull

are known from Hattusa, Inandiktepe, Magst Höyük, and Kugakli; cf. Alaura 2001: If. with

n. 5-9 (references). On stone bull figurines from (Jadir Höyük and Ali§ar, see below.

KuT 27 obv. 14’, Hazenbos 1996: 100.

KOB 38.6 iv 15 (with its duplicate KUB 38.10 iv 1), Jakob-Rost 1961: 188, 196; KBo 2.1 i 28,

Carter 1962: 52, 61,

310 KBo 2.1 ii 9-iii 8, iv lff„ Carter 1962: 54ff„ 58, 68ff„ 68;»offner 2002: 68t; KBo 2.13 obv. 21,

Carter 1962: 107, 112.

KBo 2.1 i 34, Carter 1962: 52, 61. J

312 KUB 38.12 ii 12t, Güterbock 1983: 211.

313 Taracha 2002: 13ff. Cf. also KUB 20.10 iv 9’ffi, ‘gong of the bulls’ rendered by women of Nerik

In the cult of the local Storm-god during a procession (?) with the participation of the king, Haas

1970: 272ff; Groddek 2ÖÖ4f: 20; Schuol 2004: 40f., 136; Stivala 2007: 222ff.;|

The Old Hittite Period 61

An enclosure for deer was part of an open air (?) cult place on the Pi/uskurunuwa

Mountain. The program of the spring festival of the AN.DAH.SUM plant (see 3.2.6)

Expected the king’s visit on this mountain, where he poured a sacrificial libation to

the deer. 3 * 4 A votive text from the reign of Hattusili III suggests that a similar en

Closure for sacred deer of the Sun-goddess existed in Arinna.” 10

Animal or animal-head rhyta were also used in cult practices. 316 Two silver bull’s

Head vessels were in Service during the rituals observed for the Storm-god and

Wasezzili during the KI.LAM festival, while leopard- and boar-shaped vessels played

A role in the cult of Inar and Habandali. Empire-period texts bring many other

Mentions of rhyta in the shape of a bull or a bull’s head being used in the worship of

Storm-gods (also as a cult image); lion-shaped or lion’s head vessels were Associated