Tašmišu (Tashmishu) was a

Hurrian god The Hurrian pantheon consisted of gods of varied backgrounds, some of them natively Hurrian, while others adopted from other pantheons, for example Eblaite and Mesopotamian. Like the other inhabitants of the Ancient Near East, Hurrians regarded th ...

. He was regarded as a brother of

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.& ...

, and it is assumed he had a warlike character.

Character

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 ...

proposed that Tašmišu's name was derived from 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 ...

word ''tašmi'', which he translates as strong. The suffix -''šu'' is also known from the name of one Teshub's bulls, Šerišu, and various Hurrian personal names, such as Anniwašu or Ekammešu. Tašmišu was one of the multiple warrior gods in the Hurrian pantheon. Other such deities were Ugur,

Aštabi Aštabi ( uga, 𐎀𐎌𐎚𐎁, ''aštb''), also known as Aštabil, was a god worshiped in the third millennium BCE in Ebla, later incorporated into Hurrian beliefs in locations such as Alalakh and Ugarit and as a result also into the religion o ...

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 ...

and Ḫešui. In myths, his position appears to be that of a subordinate of his brother

, and in one passage from the ''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 ...

'' he outright addresses him as "my lord." He served as his sukkal (attendant deity), though as noted by Daniel Schwemer this role in ritual texts could also be attributed to the god Tenu. He proposed that the latter was adopted from the religious tradition of ancient Aleppo, where a month was named after him. However, Alfonso Archi ascribes Hurrian origin to Tenu.

Associations with other deities

Tašmišu was regarded as the "pure brother" of Teshub. Their sister was the goddess

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 ...

. Their parents were Anu 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 ...

. Tašmišu's wife was the goddess

Nabarbi Nabarbi was a Hurrian goddess worshiped in the proximity of the river Khabur, especially in the city Taite. It has been proposed that she was associated with the Syrian goddess Belet Nagar. Name Attested spellings of the name include '' dNa-b ...

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 ...

identified Tašmišu with their god Šuwaliyat, who had old Anatolian ( Hattian) origin. However, Tašmišu never acquired the latter's association with vegetation. Both of them could be associated with Mesopotamian Ninurta. As a result, instances where Tašmišu's name is written logographically as ^dNIN.URTA are known. Another attested logographic writing is ^d URAŠ. Furthermore, a god list from

Emar ) , image = View_from_the_Byzantine_Tower_at_Meskene,_ancient_Barbalissos.jpg , alt = , caption = View from the Byzantine Tower at Meskene, ancient Barbalissos , map_type = Syria , map_alt = , map_size = 200 ...

identifies him with

Papsukkal Papsukkal () was a Mesopotamian god regarded as the sukkal (attendant deity) of Anu and his wife Antu in Seleucid Uruk. In earlier periods he was instead associated with Zababa. He acquired his new role through syncretism with Ninshubur. C ...

Worship

In Hurrian offering lists, Tašmišu usually follows Teshub. Worship of him is best attested from the Hurrian kingdom of

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 ...

, where he appears in various festivals related to Teshub of Šapinuwa. He is also attested among the gods worshiped in

Lawazantiya Lawazantiya was the cultic city of the goddess Šauška. It is mentioned in Old-Assyrian documents as Luhuzantiya. In Hittite texts the city is known as Lawazantiya (also: Lahuwazantiya, Lauwanzantiya or Lahuzzandiya), in Ugarit as Lwsnd and in A ...

. In Emar, both Tašmišu and Tenu were worshiped as members of the entourage of Teshub.

Mythology

The first myth of the so-called "Kumarbi cycle" describes the birth of Tašmišu. Like his brother, he was born after Kumarbi bit off the genitals of Anu. In the ''Song of

'', Tašmišu joins his siblings Teshub and Šauška when they go to see eponymous stone giant after being warned by the sun god

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 ...

. Later he reveals Teshub's fate after the initial confrontation with the monster to his wife Hebat. He also suggests to his brother that to find a way to defeat the new adversary they need to meet with the god Ea in his dwelling,

Abzu The Abzu or Apsu ( Sumerian: ; Akkadian: ), also called (Cuneiform:, ; Sumerian: ; Akkadian: — ='water' ='deep', recorded in Greek as ), is the name for fresh water from underground aquifers which was given a religious fertilising qual ...

, in the Hurrian myth assumed to be a city rather than a body of water. After Ea agrees to listen to them, Tašmišu shows his gratitude.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * {{Hurrian mythology Hurrian deities War gods