Earth and Heaven (Eše Hawurni) were worshiped by various
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 ...
communities in the
Ancient Near East
The ancient Near East was the home of early civilizations within a region roughly corresponding to the modern Middle East: Mesopotamia (modern Iraq, southeast Turkey, southwest Iran and northeastern Syria), ancient Egypt, ancient Iran ( Elam, ...
. While considered to be a part of 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 ...
pantheon, they were not envisioned as personified deities. They were also incorporated into the
Mesopotamian pantheon
Deities in ancient Mesopotamia were almost exclusively anthropomorphic. They were thought to possess extraordinary powers and were often envisioned as being of tremendous physical size. The deities typically wore ''melam'', an ambiguous substa ...
, possibly during the period of
Mitanni
Mitanni (; Hittite cuneiform ; ''Mittani'' '), c. 1550–1260 BC, earlier called Ḫabigalbat in old Babylonian texts, c. 1600 BC; Hanigalbat or Hani-Rabbat (''Hanikalbat'', ''Khanigalbat'', cuneiform ') in Assyrian records, or ''Naharin'' in ...
influence over part of
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 F ...
, and under the names Hahharnum and Hayyashum appear in a variety of texts, including the myth ''
Theogony of Dunnu''.
Earth and Heaven in Hurrian religion
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 ...
term referring to the concept of a divine Earth and Heaven was ''eše hawurni''. The deified Earth appears alongside the deified Heaven as a pair. According to Piotr Taracha, the Earth-Heaven pair should be considered "pan-Hurrian," similar to
Teshub
Teshub (also written Teshup, Teššup, or Tešup; cuneiform ; hieroglyphic Luwian , read as ''Tarhunzas'';Annick Payne (2014), ''Hieroglyphic Luwian: An Introduction with Original Texts'', 3rd revised edition, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, p.& ...
,
Šauška
Šauška (also Shaushka, Šauša, Šawuška) was a Hurrian goddess who was also adopted into the Hittite pantheon. Her name has a Hurrian origin and means the great or magnificent one.
Character and iconography
Shaushka was a goddess of war and ...
,
Kumarbi
Kumarbi was an important god of the Hurrians, regarded as "the father of gods." He was also a member of the Hittite pantheon. According to Hurrian myths, he was a son of Alalu, and one of the parents of the storm-god Teshub, the other being Anu ...
,
Šimige __NOTOC__
Šimige (in Ugaritic: ''ṯmg'') was the Hurrian sun god. From the 14th century BC he was also worshiped by the Hittites as the Sun god of Heaven. In the Hittite cliff sanctuary at Yazılıkaya, he is depicted as one of the chief deities. ...
and
Kušuḫ
Kušuḫ, also known under the name Umbu, was the List of Hurrian deities, Hurrian god of the moon. He is attested in cuneiform texts from many sites, from Hattusa in modern Turkey, through Ugarit, Alalakh, Mari, Syria, Mari and other locations in ...
, and as such can be found in religious texts from all areas inhabited by Hurrians, from
Kizzuwatna
Kizzuwatna (or Kizzuwadna; in Ancient Egyptian ''Kode'' or ''Qode''), was an ancient Anatolian kingdom in the 2nd millennium BC. It was situated in the highlands of southeastern Anatolia, near the Gulf of İskenderun, in modern-day Turkey. It enc ...
in modern
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
to the
Zagros Mountains
The Zagros Mountains ( ar, جبال زاغروس, translit=Jibal Zaghrus; fa, کوههای زاگرس, Kuh hā-ye Zāgros; ku, چیاکانی زاگرۆس, translit=Çiyakani Zagros; Turkish: ''Zagros Dağları''; Luri: ''Kuh hā-ye Zāgro ...
. However, they were not regarded as personified deities. In offering lists, they typically appear at the very end, alongside mountains, rivers, springs, the sea (
Kiaše
Kiaše, also spelled Kiaže or Kiyaši was a Hurrian deity representing the sea. Sometimes in modern scholarship, he is simply referred to as "the Sea" or "the Sea God."
Based on evidence from Ugarit, Alalakh and Hattusa, it is assumed that he wa ...
), winds and clouds. They are also present in incantations. It has been argued that figures number 28 and 29 from the
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 are ...
reliefs, a pair of
bull-men, are holding a symbol of Heaven and standing on a symbol of Earth.
The name is derived from the Hurrian word ''eše'', "earth."
The Hurrian myth ''Song of
Ullikummi __NOTOC__
In Hurrian mythology, Ullikummi is a giant stone monster, son of Kumarbi and the sea god's daughter, Sertapsuruhi, or a female cliff. The language of the literary myth in its existing redaction is Hittite, in cuneiform texts recovered a ...
'' mentions that the separation of heaven and earth occurred in the distant past, at the beginning of time. The tool used to accomplish this is most likely employed again to defeat the eponymous stone monster. According to the same myth, heaven and earth rest on the shoulders of the giant
Upelluri
Upelluri or Ubelluri was a primordial giant in Hurrian mythology.
He is only known from the ''Song of Ullikummi'', which is one of the few Hurrian texts offering a view of this culture's cosmology. It was believed that Upelluri was already alive ...
.
A double deity from
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 ...
offering list, Arsu-wa-Shamuma (
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 ...
: "Earth and Heaven") reflects the Hurrian tradition about Earth and Heaven.
As part of a broader phenomenon of assigning new names to Hurrian figures incorporated into
Hittite religion
Hittite mythology and Hittite religion were the religious beliefs and practices of the Hittites, who created an empire centered in what is now Turkey from .
Most of the narratives embodying Hittite mythology are lost, and the elements that wo ...
, the Hurrian Earth and Heaven occur in
Hititte texts under the
Hattic names Yaḫšul-Ištarazzil ("Heaven and Earth").
Mesopotamian reception
The Hurrian Earth and Heaven were also incorporated into the Mesopotamian pantheon. Their names are written as ''
dḫa-mur-nim'' and ''
dḫa-a-a-šum'' in the ''
Marduk
Marduk (Cuneiform: dAMAR.UTU; Sumerian: ''amar utu.k'' "calf of the sun; solar calf"; ) was a god from ancient Mesopotamia and patron deity of the city of Babylon. When Babylon became the political center of the Euphrates valley in the time of ...
Prophecy''. They are transcribed as either Hahharnum and Hayyashum, Hamurnu and Hayašu or Ḫamurni and Ḫayašu. The ''Marduk Prophecy'' is a literary account of history prior to the reign of
Nebuchadnezzar I
Nebuchadnezzar I or Nebuchadrezzar I (), reigned 1121–1100 BC, was the fourth king of the Second Dynasty of Isin and Fourth Dynasty of Babylon. He ruled for 22 years according to the ''Babylonian King List C'', and was the most prominent monar ...
, narrated by the eponymous god. The discussed pair occurs in the very first line, where they precede the well known gods
Anu
Anu ( akk, , from wikt:𒀭#Sumerian, 𒀭 ''an'' “Sky”, “Heaven”) or Anum, originally An ( sux, ), was the sky father, divine personification of the sky, king of the gods, and ancestor of many of the list of Mesopotamian deities, dei ...
,
Enlil
Enlil, , "Lord f theWind" later known as Elil, is an ancient Mesopotamian god associated with wind, air, earth, and storms. He is first attested as the chief deity of the Sumerian pantheon, but he was later worshipped by the Akkadians, Bab ...
and
Ea in an enumeration of deities.
Hamurnu and possibly Hayašu also appear in a text known as the ''
Theogony of Dunnu'' or the ''Plough Myth''. Both of them are assumed to be male, and Hamurnu is apparently presented as the father of Hayašu, with
Belet-Seri possibly being the mother.
Wilfred G. Lambert
Wilfred George Lambert FBA (26 February 1926 – 9 November 2011) was a historian and archaeologist, a specialist in Assyriology and Near Eastern Archaeology.
Early life
Lambert was born in Birmingham, and, having won a scholarship, he was edu ...
proposes that the successor of Hamurnu could have also been his servant rather than descendant. Based on the presence of the two figures of Hurrian origin, Frans Wiggermann proposes in a recent publication that while the myth is known only from a single tabled, dated to the period between 635 and 330 BCE, it might have originally been composed between 1500 and 1350 BCE, when the Hurrian kingdom of
Mitanni
Mitanni (; Hittite cuneiform ; ''Mittani'' '), c. 1550–1260 BC, earlier called Ḫabigalbat in old Babylonian texts, c. 1600 BC; Hanigalbat or Hani-Rabbat (''Hanikalbat'', ''Khanigalbat'', cuneiform ') in Assyrian records, or ''Naharin'' in ...
was culturally influential.
Both Hamurnu and Hayašum are also present in a fragment of an otherwise unknown
Middle Assyrian god list (VAT 10608) from the collection of the
Vorderasiatisches Museum Berlin
The Vorderasiatisches Museum (, ''Near East Museum'') is an archaeological museum in Berlin. It is in the basement of the south wing of the Pergamon Museum and has one of the world's largest collections of Southwest Asian art. 14 halls distrib ...
, where they are explained as Anu and Enlil, respectively. The same tablet mentions other foreign deities, including
Simut
Simut or Samut (“Son of Mut”) was an ancient Egyptian priest who held the position of Second Prophet of Amun towards the end of the reign of Pharaoh Amenhotep III. He is known from a number of objects, including his (now lost), Theban tomb ch ...
(the
Elam
Elam (; Linear Elamite: ''hatamti''; Cuneiform Elamite: ; Sumerian: ; Akkadian: ; he, עֵילָם ''ʿēlām''; peo, 𐎢𐎺𐎩 ''hūja'') was an ancient civilization centered in the far west and southwest of modern-day Iran, stretc ...
ite counterpart of
Nergal
Nergal ( Sumerian: d''KIŠ.UNU'' or ; ; Aramaic: ܢܸܪܓܲܠ; la, Nirgal) was a Mesopotamian god worshiped through all periods of Mesopotamian history, from Early Dynastic to Neo-Babylonian times, with a few attestations under indicating hi ...
),
Tilla
Tilla Satellite Launch Centre, primary known as Tilla Range, is a spaceport west of Jhelum city in Punjab (Pakistan). The facility is also known as Mashhood Test Firing Range (MTFR). The spaceport has been used as a launch site for the Hatf and ...
(a Hurrian god from
Nuzi
Nuzi (or Nuzu; Akkadian Gasur; modern Yorghan Tepe, Iraq) was an ancient Mesopotamian city southwest of the city of Arrapha (modern Kirkuk), located near the Tigris river. The site consists of one medium-sized multiperiod tell and two small sing ...
, here seemingly equated with
Adad
Hadad ( uga, ), Haddad, Adad (Akkadian: 𒀭𒅎 '' DIM'', pronounced as ''Adād''), or Iškur ( Sumerian) was the storm and rain god in the Canaanite and ancient Mesopotamian religions.
He was attested in Ebla as "Hadda" in c. 2500 BCE. ...
), Ḫilibe (a god of unknown origin) and Zanaru (an uncommon name of
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 S ...
derived from the
Elamite
Elamite, also known as Hatamtite and formerly as Susian, is an extinct language that was spoken by the ancient Elamites. It was used in what is now southwestern Iran from 2600 BC to 330 BC. Elamite works disappear from the archeological record ...
word ''zana'', "lady"), and the primordial Mesopotamian god
Lugaldukuga
Lugaldukuga ( Sumerian: "lord of the holy mound") was a Mesopotamian god primarily understood as a theogonic figure. He is best attested as the father of Enlil, the head of the Mesopotamian pantheon, though other traditions about the parentage of t ...
. Hamurnu alone appears in a copy of the god list ''
Anšar = Anum'', where he is also explained as a name of Anu. However, Anu was incorporated into Hurrian tradition under his own name.
The correspondence between the Hurrian words ''eše'' and ''hawurni'' and Mesopotamian deities ''
dḫa-mur-nim'' and ''
dḫa-a-a-šum'' has been established by Wilfred G. Lambert. Prior to the discovery that their names have Hurrian origin, they were described as "little known primordial deities."
It has additionally been proposed that ''hawurni'' and the name of the
Kassite god Ḫarbe are cognates. However, according to Wilfred G. Lambert his name might be an appellative meaning "lord."
References
Bibliography
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Hurrian deities
Mesopotamian gods
Conceptions of heaven