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Tiwaz (stem: Tiwad-) was the

Luwian The Luwians were a group of Anatolian peoples who lived in central, western, and southern Anatolia, in present-day Turkey, during the Bronze Age and the Iron Age. They spoke the Luwian language, an Indo-European language of the Anatolian sub-fa ...

Sun-god A solar deity or sun deity is a deity who represents the Sun, or an aspect of it. Such deities are usually associated with power and strength. Solar deities and Sun worship can be found throughout most of recorded history in various forms. The ...

. He was among the most important gods of the Luwians.

Name

The name of the Proto-Anatolian Sun god can be reconstructed as ''*Diuod-'', which derives from the

Proto-Indo-European Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. Its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-European languages. No direct record of Proto-Indo-E ...

word '' *dei-'' ("shine", "glow"). This name is cognate with the Greek

Zeus Zeus or , , ; grc, Δῐός, ''Diós'', label=Genitive case, genitive Aeolic Greek, Boeotian Aeolic and Doric Greek#Laconian, Laconian grc-dor, Δεύς, Deús ; grc, Δέος, ''Déos'', label=Genitive case, genitive el, Δίας, ''D� ...

, Latin

Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined, but ...

, and Norse Tyr. While Tiwaz (and the related

Palaic Palaic is an extinct Indo-European language, attested in cuneiform tablets in Bronze Age Hattusa, the capital of the Hittites. Palaic, which was apparently spoken mainly in northern Anatolia, is generally considered to be one of four primary sub ...

god

Tiyaz Tiyaz or Tiyad was the sun god of the Palaians, regarded as the third most important deity in their pantheon. He was also incorporated into Hittite religion. He appears in a ritual written in Palaic, though presumed to belong to a Hittite corpus, ...

) retained a promenant role in the pantheon, the Hittite cognate deity, was largely eclipsed by the Sun goddess of Arinna, becoming a god of the day, especially the day of death. In

Luwian cuneiform Luwian (), sometimes known as Luvian or Luish, is an ancient language, or group of languages, within the Anatolian branch of the Indo-European language family. The ethnonym Luwian comes from ''Luwiya'' (also spelled ''Luwia'' or ''Luvia'') � ...

of the Bronze Age, his name appears as ''Tiwad-''. It can also be written with the

Sumerogram A Sumerogram is the use of a Sumerian cuneiform character or group of characters as an ideogram or logogram rather than a syllabogram in the graphic representation of a language other than Sumerian, such as Akkadian or Hittite. Sumerograms are no ...

^dUTU ("God-Sun"). In

Hieroglyphic Luwian Hieroglyphic Luwian (''luwili'') is a variant of the Luwian language, recorded in official and royal seals and a small number of monumental inscriptions. It is written in a hieroglyphic script known as Anatolian hieroglyphs. A decipherment was pr ...

of the Iron Age, the name can be written as ''Tiwad-'' of with the ideogram (DEUS) SOL ("God-Sun") Tiwaz rarely appears in personal names. The oldest example derives from 19th century BC

Kültepe Kültepe ( Turkish: ''ash-hill''), also known as Kanesh or Nesha, is an archaeological site in Kayseri Province, Turkey, inhabited from the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC, in the Early Bronze Age.Kloekhorst, Alwin, (2019)Kanišite Hittite: ...

, a person called "Tiwatia". The hieroglyphic Luwian name ("Beloved of Tiwaz") is the root of the

Pamphylia Pamphylia (; grc, Παμφυλία, ''Pamphylía'') was a region in the south of Asia Minor, between Lycia and Cilicia, extending from the Mediterranean to Mount Taurus (all in modern-day Antalya province, Turkey). It was bounded on the north by ...

n town of

Aspendos Aspendos or Aspendus ( Pamphylian: ΕΣΤϜΕΔΥΣ; Attic: Ἄσπενδος) was an ancient Greco-Roman city in Antalya province of Turkey. The site is located 40 km east of the modern city of Antalya. It was situated on the Eurymedon ...

. The local name of the town, according to the legends on its coins was ''Estwedi-'' (ΕΣΤϜΕΔΙΙΥ). Unlike other Luwian gods' names, Tiwaz is not attested in southern Anatolian personal names of the

Hellenistic period In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in 3 ...

. A Lycian women's name, Tewid arma (Τευδιαρμα; "Sun-Moon") and a Lydian patronym, Tiwdalis, are derived from Tiwaz. The name also appears in ^ḪUR.SAGTiwatašša, the Hittite name for a mountain located somewhere in southwestern Anatolia.

Role

Tiwaz was the reflex of the male sky god of the

Indo-European religion Proto-Indo-European mythology is the body of myths and deities associated with the Proto-Indo-Europeans, the hypothetical speakers of the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European language. Although the mythological motifs are not directly attested � ...

, Dyeus, who was superseded among the Hittites by the Hattian Sun goddess of Arinna. In Bronze Age texts, Tiwaz is often referred to as "Father" (cuneiform Luwian: ''tatis Tiwaz'') and once as "Great Tiwaz" (cuneiform Luwian: ''urazza-'' ^dUTU''-az''), and invoked along with the "Father gods" (cuneiform Luwian: ''tatinzi maššaninzi''). His Bronze Age epithet, "Tiwaz of the Oath" (cuneiform Luwian: ''ḫirutalla-'' ^dUTU''-az''), indicates that he was an oath-god. In this role he received sacrifices of sheep, red meat and bread. The Luwian verb ''tiwadani-'' ("to curse") is derived from Tiwaz's name. According to Hittite sources, Tiwaz and

Kamrušepa Kamrušepa was a Hittite and Luwian goddess of medicine and magic, analogous to Hattic and Palaic goddess Kataḫzipuri. She is best known as one of the deities involved in the Telepinu Myth, in which her actions were crucial to pacify the an ...

were the parents of the tutelary god of . Like Kamrušepa, Tiwaz is closely associated with sheep. The god Hapantali, who worked with Kamrušepa in purification rituals, looked after his sheep in the myth of

Telipinu Telipinu was the last king of the Hittites Old Kingdom, living in 16th century BC, reigned c. 1525-1500 BC in middle chronology. At the beginning of his reign, the Hittite Empire had contracted to its core territories, having long since lost all ...

.Volkert Haas: "Die Göttin Ḫapantali(ja) und die Schafe." In: Piotr Taracha (Ed.): ''Silva Anatolica. Anatolian Studies Presented to

Maciej Popko Maciej (Polish pronunciation: ) is a Polish given name, the etymological equivalent of Matthias. Its diminutive forms are Maciek, Maciuś. Namedays according to Polish calendar: 30 January, 24 February, 14 May Maciej may refer to: Arts and e ...

on the Occasion of His 65th Birthday''. Agade, Warschau 2002, , pp. 143–146. His followers include the , who generally appear in bad situations.

Sun god of the Earth

In the Hittite and

Hurrian religion The Hurrian religion was the polytheistic religion of the Hurrians, a Bronze Age people of the Near East who chiefly inhabited the north of the Fertile Crescent. While the oldest evidence goes back to the third millennium BCE, is best attested in ...

s the Sun goddess of the Earth played an important role in the death cult and was understood to be the ruler of the world of the dead. For the Luwians there is a Bronze Age source which refers to the "Sun god of the Earth" (cuneiform Luwian: ''tiyamašši-'' ^dU''-za''): "If he is alive, may Tiwaz release him, if he is dead, may the Sun god of the Earth release him" (Boğazköy cuneiform inscription, 35.48 ii 19.23).

Depiction

There are no known Bronze Age depictions of the Luwian Sun god. There are two reliefs from the Iron Age, which show Tiwaz with the moon god Arma. He is marked out by a

winged sun The winged sun is a solar symbol associated with divinity, royalty, and power in the Ancient Near East (Egypt, Mesopotamia, Anatolia, and Persia). Ancient Egypt In ancient Egypt, the symbol is attested from the Old Kingdom (Sneferu, 26th cen ...

above his head. The image from Arslantepe closely resembles the depiction of the Sun god from the Hittite 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 ...

References

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 ...

: ''Geschichte der hethitischen Religion'' (= '' Handbuch der Orientalistik.'' Band 1.15). Brill, Leiden 1994, . *

Manfred Hutter Manfred Hutter (born 6 June 1957) is a professor of Bonn University The Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (german: Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn) is a public research university located in Bonn, North Rhine-Westpha ...