Tamian beliefs appear through the Hurrian mediation, deeply changing the world

Outlook of the inhabitants of Hittite Anatolia, especially as far as the power elite

Was coneerned. This new religiosity found reflection in multiplying divine beings

Through the deification of all entities associated with the gods and their attributes,

As if the gods anger could be aroused by unintentional omittance of any especially

Favored aspect of his nature or attribute. The concept of divinity grew to encompass

Weather phenomena like winds, clouds, lightning and tbunder (all treated as if they

Were beings associated with the gods), as well as some abstract concepts like good-

Ness, law and Order, wisdom, joy, health. and others. These concepts wpe represented

Occasionally ander the guise of symbolic figures, for example, objects of metai.

The inhabitants of Asia Minor imagined the world of the gods in likeness to the

real world around them. 424 “By and large the gods... were human beings on a grand

scale, They were subject to the same ränge of emotions, like love, anger, fear, jeal-

Ousy; they sometimes neglected their responsibilities, they could deceive and be

Deceived, they enjoyed the pleasures of the flesh, and they liked a variety of enter-

Tainment.” 425 One text puts the case very clearly: “Are the desires of gods and men

different? In no way! Do their natures differ? In no way!” 4 “”

Kinship and the hierarchy in the pantheon structure closely resembled actual

Social relations. The gods were immortal, but no different from humans in terms of

Behavior and mental states. They were the mastere, depending on people to serve

Them with subservience and willingness to satisfy their needs. And like a bad

Servant, a man or woman remiss in his/her duties could expect to be punished. As the

God was deeply interested in being served, however, he took care of man, knowing

See, e.g., Steiner 1957-1971; Haas 1994a: 294ff.; Popko 1995a: 13111.; Beckman 1999a: 519ff.;

Bryce 200.2: 139.

426 KU ß 13.4 i. 21f., translated by Bryce 2002: 139.

•3.2. The Empuik Pebiüd 81

That otherwise the gods would suffer. Underetanding this opened the way to nego-

Tiating with a deity by showing the discrepancies in her behavior. Simiiarly as in

Mesopotamia, relations with the gods were pereeived m legal terms. Prayers bring

many examples of this Mnd of argumentation,’“' ‘ supported by vows of additional

Rieh offerings to the deity, including the erection of a new temple or cult Image

(see 3.2.7).

The cool rationalism of the Old Hittite period in relation to the gods was replaced

With time by an emotional attitude wbich is pointedly expressed in prayers and

Hymns edited according to Mesopotamian modele. One of the constituent parts was

A negative confession, listing sins wbich evidently demonstrates the adoption by the

Hittites of the Mesopotamian underetanding of guilt as a violation of divine laws,

But not at all in the sense of modern moral Standards. At the same time the bond

Tightens between man and god or a group of personal divinities. The one of a kind

Text of Hattusili III (1267-1237), commonly referred to as his Apology, is a veritable

Covenant made by the king with Sauska of Samuba. 1 The elevation of the god-

Dess is best reflected in the words: “I will celebrate Sauska’s divine providen.ee. Let

(every) man hear it and may in the future my son, grandson and further royal de-

Scendants honor Sauska among (all) the gods.” ’ The text is an invaluable source

In the debate on the origins of henotheism, which had been maturing already for

Some time in the religious thinking of elites from different lands of the Ancient

Near East and which found its first prominent representation in the reforms of

Akhenaton. Hattusili IIFs bond with Sauska constitutes an interesting parallel for

The covenant between Yahweh and Israel, which Stands at the root of henotheism in

the Israelite religion of the age of Moses. 4 “' 0