Ziparwa, originally known as Zaparwa, was the head of the pantheon of the Palaians, inhabitants of a region of northern

Anatolia Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...

known as

Pala Pala may refer to: Places Chad *Pala, Chad, the capital of the region of Mayo-Kebbi Ouest Estonia * Pala, Kose Parish, village in Kose Parish, Harju County * Pala, Kuusalu Parish, village in Kuusalu Parish, Harju County *Pala, Järva County, vi ...

in the

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

. It is often assumed that he was a

weather god A weather god or goddess, also frequently known as a storm god or goddess, is a deity in mythology associated with weather phenomena such as thunder, snow, lightning, rain, wind, storms, tornadoes, and hurricanes. Should they only be in charge of ...

in origin, though he was also associated with vegetation. Information about the worship of Ziparwa comes exclusively from Hittite texts, though some of them indicate that formulas in

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 ...

were used during festivals dedicated to him held in Hittite cities such as

Hattusa Hattusa (also Ḫattuša or Hattusas ; Hittite: URU''Ḫa-at-tu-ša'', Turkish: Hattuşaş , Hattic: Hattush) was the capital of the Hittite Empire in the late Bronze Age. Its ruins lie near modern Boğazkale, Turkey, within the great loop of t ...

Name and character

Ziparwa was the head of the "extremely heterogenous" pantheon of the Palaians, speakers of

, a language closely related to Hittite and

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 ...

. In the

they inhabited

, a northern region of

which later came to be known as

Paphlagonia Paphlagonia (; el, Παφλαγονία, Paphlagonía, modern translit. ''Paflagonía''; tr, Paflagonya) was an ancient region on the Black Sea coast of north-central Anatolia, situated between Bithynia to the west and Pontus to the east, and s ...

. The original Palaic form of Ziparwa's name, Zaparwa, was spelled in

cuneiform Cuneiform is a logo-syllabic script that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Middle East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. It is named for the characteristic wedge-sha ...

as ''^dZa-pár-wa_a(-a)-'', while the standard Hittite spelling was ''^dZi-pár-wa_a(-a)-''. The signs with subscripts, such as ''wa_a'', constituted a Hittite invention, and it is assumed that they reflected " Hattic

syllable A syllable is a unit of organization for a sequence of speech sounds typically made up of a syllable nucleus (most often a vowel) with optional initial and final margins (typically, consonants). Syllables are often considered the phonological "bu ...

s beginning with the sound /f/ or /v/". On this basis it is presumed that Ziparwa's name had Hattic roots. It might have originally been pronounced as /Zaparfa/. Hittite scribes apparently considered Ziparwa to belong to the category of

s. It has been proposed that in Palaic context, the

logogram In a written language, a logogram, logograph, or lexigraph is a written character that represents a word or morpheme. Chinese characters (pronounced ''hanzi'' in Mandarin, ''kanji'' in Japanese, ''hanja'' in Korean) are generally logograms, as ...

^d10, used to designate such deities, can be read as Ziparwa's name, but there is no certain proof in favor of this interpretation. Piotr Taracha has suggested that his name might have originally been an epithet applied to a weather god bearing a Palaic name. This assumption relies on the proposed relation between his name and Taparwašu, a title of the Hittite storm god. Both might be variants of the same Hattic term in origin. Taracha assumes that under Hattian influence, a Palaic god received a new title, and that his original name was close to Hittite Tarḫunna and Luwian

Tarḫunz Tarḫunz (stem: ''Tarḫunt-'') was the weather god and chief god of the Luwians, a people of Bronze Age and early Iron Age Anatolia. He is closely associated with the Hittite god Tarḫunna and the Hurrian god Teshub. Name The name of the Pro ...

. Daniel Schwemer notes that another possibility is that might have been an epithet of Hattian Taru in origin. It is presumed Ziparawa also functioned as a god of vegetation. He appears in a Palaic myth assumed to be analogous to the Hittite composition about

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 ...

. , a Hattian goddess most likely comparable to or outright identical with

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 ...

was likely regarded as Ziparwa's spouse. They were regarded as the main pair of deities in the Palaic pantheon.

Worship

The religion of the Palaians is only known from Hittite accounts. As a result, most of the available information about Ziparwa comes from Hittite texts, though there is no indication that he was ever a "pan-Anatolian" deity, and it is presumed his

cult In modern English, ''cult'' is usually a pejorative term for a social group that is defined by its unusual religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals, or its common interest in a particular personality, object, or goal. This ...

was centered in Pala. At some point he was incorporated into the Hittite pantheon, and a temple dedicated to him existed in

. Deities worshiped in association with him by the Hittites came chiefly from Palaic or

milieus, with well attested examples being (the Palaic

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 ...

), or Hašamili. Celebrations in honor of Ziparwa formed a part of a state festival dedicated to the Sun goddess of Arinna and the "gods of Hatti" as a whole, established during the reign of

Šuppiluliuma I Suppiluliuma I () or Suppiluliumas I () was king of the Hittites (r. c. 1344–1322 BC (short chronology)). He achieved fame as a great warrior and statesman, successfully challenging the then-dominant New Kingdom of Egypt, Egyptian Empire for con ...

. They took part on the twelfth and thirteenth days, and the king was expected to visit his temple on both. The text

CTH CTH or cth may refer to * CTH Public Company Limited, Thai cable and satellite TV company * Calum Thomas Hood * Chalmers University of Technology * Honduras Workers' Confederation - Confederación de Trabajadores de Honduras * China General Aviati ...

750 had often been described as an account of a separate Hittite festival of Ziparwa following a proposal of

Emmanuel Laroche Emmanuel Laroche (11 July 1914 – 16 June 1991) was a French linguist and Hittitologist. An expert in the languages of ancient Anatolia (Indo-European and Hurrian), he was professor of Anatolian studies at the Collège de France (1973–1985 ...

from 1971, However, according to Hannah Marcuson it might have been a part of the spring and fall ''nuntarriyašḫa'' celebrations, rather than a separate one dedicated specifically to this god. The rites involved the recitation of "the words of the bread loaves" in Palaic. The related text CTH 751 mentions a sacrifice of a bull during which the formula "Hey Ziparwa! A bull! A bull!" had to be recited. An old woman speaking in Palaic had to reassure the god that the animal he was provided with was of best quality. The text also explains which body parts were not suitable for an offering to Ziparwa.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * {{refend Hittite deities Hattian deities Palaic mythology Sky and weather gods Nature gods