The ''Story of Appu'' is a mythological
Hittite text (CTH 360). The text is fragmentary, and the sequence of events in the story is a reconstruction.
The text is usually taken as an account of a
Hurrian myth, but it does not itself contain any Hurrian names or other vocabulary to support this judgement. The geographical setting is in
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the ...
.
The reconstructed argument of the text is as follows:
Appu is a rich man, but he is unhappy because he has no son.
The text hints at the possibility that Appu doesn't know anything about
sex
Sex is the trait that determines whether a sexually reproducing animal or plant produces male or female gametes. Male plants and animals produce smaller mobile gametes (spermatozoa, sperm, pollen), while females produce larger ones ( ova, of ...
. He sacrifices a
lamb
Lamb or The Lamb may refer to:
* A young sheep
* Lamb and mutton, the meat of sheep
Arts and media Film, television, and theatre
* ''The Lamb'' (1915 film), a silent film starring Douglas Fairbanks Sr. in his screen debut
* ''The Lamb'' (1918 ...
to ask the help of the gods. The
sun-god appears and advises him to get drunk and then have sex with his wife.
Eventually, Appu's wife gives birth to a first son, named () "bad, evil". At this point the text alludes to a rite of
name-giving, paralleled in the ''
Song of Ullikummi'', where the newborn is
set on the knee of the father.
Appu's wife later gives birth to a second son, named () "good, righteous".
When both sons have reached adult age, Idalu suggests that they divide the paternal estate among them.
He argues that, as each of the gods has
his own city, so should they also each have their own
property
Property is a system of rights that gives people legal control of valuable things, and also refers to the valuable things themselves. Depending on the nature of the property, an owner of property may have the right to consume, alter, share, r ...
. Idalu tricks his brother, taking most of the estate and leaving him only with a barren
cow
Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus ''Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult ma ...
. But the sun-god blesses the cow and restores her
fertility
Fertility is the capability to produce offspring through reproduction following the onset of sexual maturity. The fertility rate is the average number of children born by a female during her lifetime and is quantified demographically. Fertili ...
. At this point the first tablet ends and the rest of the story is very fragmentary.
It appears to deal with litigation between the brothers; Idalu seems to take Handanza to court before the sun-god at Sippar. When the god rules in favour of Handanza, Idalu curses, and the sun-god refuses to conclude the case, sending the brothers to
Ishtar
Inanna, also sux, 𒀭𒊩𒌆𒀭𒈾, nin-an-na, label=none is an ancient Mesopotamian goddess of love, war, and fertility. She is also associated with beauty, sex, divine justice, and political power. She was originally worshiped in Su ...
at
Nineveh to conclude the case.
[Gwendolyn Leick, ''A dictionary of ancient Near Eastern mythology'' (1991).]
References
*Geoffrey William Bromiley, ''International Standard Bible Encyclopedia'', vol. 4, {{ISBN, 978-0-8028-3785-1, 1995, p. 82.
Hittite texts
Hurrian mythology
Works set in Mesopotamia