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Šimige (in

Ugaritic Ugaritic () is an extinct Northwest Semitic language, classified by some as a dialect of the Amorite language and so the only known Amorite dialect preserved in writing. It is known through the Ugaritic texts discovered by French archaeologis ...

: ''ṯmg'') was the

Hurrian The Hurrians (; cuneiform: ; transliteration: ''Ḫu-ur-ri''; also called Hari, Khurrites, Hourri, Churri, Hurri or Hurriter) were a people of the Bronze Age Near East. They spoke a Hurrian language and lived in Anatolia, Syria and Northern ...

sun god. From the 14th century BC he was also worshiped by the

Hittites The Hittites () were an Anatolian people who played an important role in establishing first a kingdom in Kussara (before 1750 BC), then the Kanesh or Nesha kingdom (c. 1750–1650 BC), and next an empire centered on Hattusa in north-centra ...

as the

Sun god of Heaven The Sun god of Heaven ( Hittite: nepišaš Ištanu) was a Hittite solar deity. He was the second-most worshipped solar deity of the Hittites, after the Sun goddess of Arinna. The Sun god of Heaven was identified with the Hurrian solar deity, Ši ...

. In the Hittite cliff sanctuary at

Yazılıkaya :'' Yazılıkaya, Eskişehir, also called Midas City, is a village with Phrygian ruins.'' Yazılıkaya ( tr, Inscribed rock) was a sanctuary of Hattusa, the capital city of the Hittite Empire, today in the Çorum Province, Turkey. Rock reliefs ar ...

, he is depicted as one of the chief deities. Šimige was closely connected to the Mesopotamian sun god,

Šamaš Utu (dUD "Sun"), also known under the Akkadian name Shamash, ''šmš'', syc, ܫܡܫܐ ''šemša'', he, שֶׁמֶשׁ ''šemeš'', ar, شمس ''šams'', Ashurian Aramaic: 𐣴𐣬𐣴 ''š'meš(ā)'' was the ancient Mesopotamian sun god. ...

, from whom he took his consort the goddess Aya Ikaltu, whose epithet Ikaltu or Nikaltu derived from the

Akkadian Akkadian or Accadian may refer to: * Akkadians, inhabitants of the Akkadian Empire * Akkadian language, an extinct Eastern Semitic language * Akkadian literature, literature in this language * Akkadian cuneiform Cuneiform is a logo- syllabi ...

word ''kallātu'' ('bride'). Two of his servants were also borrowed in this way:

Bunene The ancient Mesopotamian deity Bunene, inscribed in cuneiform sumerograms as dḪAR and phonetically as d''bu-ne-ne'', was a subordinate to and '' sukkal'' ("vizier") or charioteer of the sun-god Šamaš, whom he drove from the eastern horizon at da ...

and Mišaru; a third servant was named Lipparu. Šimige drove a chariot pulled by four horses. On either side, he was accompanied by Bunene and Mišaru, as well as the personifications of "Respect" and "Awe". Children were ascribed to Šimige. A Hurrian oath from Mari mentions the seven daughters of Šimige and a fragmentary text lists his sons, who performed evil deeds. The Hittite may also be among his followers.

Bibliography

Volkert Haas Volkert may refer to: People *Edward Charles Volkert (1871–1935), American painter *Georg Volkert (1945–2020), German footballer * Stephan Volkert (born 1971), German rower *Volkert Doeksen (born 1963), Dutch money manager *Volkert van der Graa ...

: ''Geschichte der hethitischen Religion'' (= '' Handbuch der Orientalistik.'' Sect. 1''Der Nahe und der Mittlere Osten.'' Bd. 15). Brill, Leiden u. a. 1994, . {{DEFAULTSORT:Simige Hurrian deities Solar gods

See also

Bibliography