Longer have such solid foundations as held up to now and, indeed, one might speak

of the ‘Cycle of Tessub’ or the ‘Cycle of the Storm-God.’ We are therefore led to be-

Lieve that the different accounts might bear one and the same epilogue: the advent

Of the Storni-Cod at the head of the pantheon.” 41 Seeking an explanation for the

Importance of the Kumarbi cycle for the Hittite royal court, we now reeognize that

A more adequate Interpretation of these myths lies in the royal ideology of the Empire

Period. The Kumarbi cycle as a whole, which deseribes Tessub’s victory over Ku

Marbi, once the ruler of the world, and various representatives of chaos, is indeed

Part of the narrative tradition of the Chaoskampf in Syrian and Mesopotamian

Mythical and epic texts. 479

Hittite kings referred to one of Tessub’s hypostases in a special way as Tessub

(of Halah) of Kummani, place of origin of the dynasty. In the Hittite Capital he was wor-

Shiped as Tessub of Halab of Hattusa (3.2.6). His allomorphs were the Storm-god

477 KUB 21.27 i 3ff., Lebrun 1980: 330, 336; Sürenhagen 1981: 1081.; Garria Trabazo 2002; 356f.

With n. 7; Singer 2002a: 102. See also Wilhelm 2002a: 69: Arehi 2006: 148.

Corti 2007: 120.

This is also in accordance with Wyatt’s Interpretation (2007: 43ff.) of tiie Ugaritan Baal cycle

And his general Statement (p. 45) that the Chaoskampf “had an intimate relationship with rituale

Of kingship, new kings reeeiving from the gods a charter gnaranteeing divine sanciion in their

Mtlitary campaigns, so that all warfare was seen as the ongoing confiict hetween cosmos and

93

The Empire Period

muwattalli ‘Mighty’‘* Su and the Storm-god pihassassi ‘of Lightning,’ 481 conceived by

Mursili II and Muwattalli II respectively to become their personal gods (cf. 3.2.3),

The Luwian epithets that the Hurrian Storm-god was endowed with on this occa-

Sion come as no surprise, for in the Luwian milieu, which dominated in Hittite

Anatolia at the time, he bore the Luwian name Tarhunt; the Hittites called him

traditionally Tarhuna/i. ‘ 82 The Hurrian Storm-god had a significant influence on his

Luwian counterpart, but he also came to stand at the head of many local pantheons

In Southern Anatoiia as a result of a progressing Hurrianization of Luwian beliefs

(3.2.4 & 5).

The Hurrian-Kizzuwatnean pantheon of gods worshiped by the royal family as

Part of the dynastic cult also illustrates the beliefe of the Anatolian Hurrians and

Their kith and kin from northern Syria (3.2.5). The reliefs from the rock sanctuary

At Yazilikaya, less than a kilometer from Hattusa, constitute a valuable iconographic

Source. ” Contrary to what has been written on the subject, 484 Yazilikaya was not

480 Popko 2001b; cf. also Taracha 2004b: 454; 2005a: 96t; contra Hutter 2003: 221 (a Luwian gad).

Kluger 1996: 186ff., esp. 189; Popko 1998: 121ff; 2005a: 85; Taracha 2005a; 97; in contraat to

1 lütter (1995: 79ff.; 2003: 223), who considera the Storm-god of Lightning a Luwian god; cf. also

Sieger 2003.2006: 560 (“the Luwian Storm-god pihasms.ti”); Lebrun 2007: 462 (“une hypostase

Louvite du dieu de Torage de premiere importance”).

Cf., e.g., the kaluti-hst in the ritual of the priest Ammihatna (CTH 471), at the top of which we

imve the Storm-god Tarhuni (D ISKUR-m) and the ‘sacred brother of the Storm-god’ (°ISKUK

SES suppi), i.e. Tasmisu/Suwaiiyat; see Güterbock 1961a: 4; Wegner 2002: 64f., 297ff.; Strau ß

2006: 226t, 239f. Cf. also the evocation ritual for Tarhun(a), Hebst and Öarrumma (CTH 486),

Haas - Wilhelm 1974: 211 ff; Haas 1998: 106ff. (nos 53-59). On the other hand, in texts belonging

to the cult of ÖauSka of Samulja (KUB 27.1 i 47ff. with its duplicate KOB 47.64 ii 17ft, Wegner

C: 33f, 37 (no. 1), 56f. (no. 2)), all of the Anatolian storm-gods bear the name of Tessub

(B U -ub) according to their interpretatio hurritica.

Bittel - Naumann — Otto 1941; Bittel (ed.) 1975; Kohlmeyer 1983: 48ff. with references; Ehring-

Haus 2006: 14ff. Por the processions of gods, see Laroche 1948: 114ff; 1962a; Otten 1959b: 1967;

Laroche 1969a; Bittel 1975; Güterbock 1975a; 1982; Gurney 1977; 19ff.; Massen 1981; Haas

A: 633ff.

See, among others, Laroche 1952a; 1969a; 1991: 222 (“A Century later at Yazilikaya, the imperial

pantheon of Suppilukuma I was replaced by the Kizzuwatnean... pantheon of the royal couple

Hattusili and Puduhepa.”); Gurney 1977; 17 (“In the thirteenth Century, when Hattusili married