Aštabi (, ''aštb''), also known as Aštabil, was a god worshiped in the third millennium BCE in
Ebla
Ebla (Sumerian language, Sumerian: ''eb₂-la'', , modern: , Tell Mardikh) was one of the earliest kingdoms in Syria. Its remains constitute a Tell (archaeology), tell located about southwest of Aleppo near the village of Mardikh. Ebla was ...
, later incorporated into
Hurrian beliefs in locations such as
Alalakh
Alalakh (''Tell Atchana''; Hittite: Alalaḫ) is an ancient archaeological site approximately northeast of Antakya (historic Antioch) in what is now Turkey's Hatay Province. It flourished as an urban settlement in the Middle and Late Bronze Age ...
and
Ugarit
Ugarit (; , ''ủgrt'' /ʾUgarītu/) was an ancient port city in northern Syria about 10 kilometers north of modern Latakia. At its height it ruled an area roughly equivalent to the modern Latakia Governorate. It was discovered by accident in 19 ...
and as a result also into the
religion
Religion is a range of social system, social-cultural systems, including designated religious behaviour, behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, religious text, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics in religion, ethics, or ...
of the
Hittite Empire
The Hittites () were an Anatolian peoples, Anatolian Proto-Indo-Europeans, Indo-European people who formed one of the first major civilizations of the Bronze Age in West Asia. Possibly originating from beyond the Black Sea, they settled in mo ...
.
Name and origin
The attested writings of the name are Aštabi (in
Alalakh
Alalakh (''Tell Atchana''; Hittite: Alalaḫ) is an ancient archaeological site approximately northeast of Antakya (historic Antioch) in what is now Turkey's Hatay Province. It flourished as an urban settlement in the Middle and Late Bronze Age ...
and
Hattusa
Hattusa, also Hattuşa, Ḫattuša, Hattusas, or Hattusha, was the capital of the Hittites, Hittite Empire in the late Bronze Age during two distinct periods. Its ruins lie near modern Boğazkale, Turkey (originally Boğazköy) within the great ...
), Aštabil/Ašdabil (in Ebla and
Mari), ''aštb'' and possibly ''`ṭtpl'' and ''`ṭtpr'' (alphabetic spellings from
Ugarit
Ugarit (; , ''ủgrt'' /ʾUgarītu/) was an ancient port city in northern Syria about 10 kilometers north of modern Latakia. At its height it ruled an area roughly equivalent to the modern Latakia Governorate. It was discovered by accident in 19 ...
).
Aštabi is regarded as one of the so-called "Syrian
substrate deities" by researchers. While present in the Hurrian pantheon and in earlier documents from Ebla, names of members of this group are assumed to have pre-
Hurrian
The Hurrians (; ; also called Hari, Khurrites, Hourri, Churri, Hurri) were a people who inhabited the Ancient Near East during the Bronze Age. They spoke the Hurro-Urartian language, Hurrian language, and lived throughout northern Syria (region) ...
and most likely pre-
Semitic origin.
Initially Hurrian origin had been ascribed to Aštabi by researchers based on the similarity of his name to those of
Kumarbi
Kumarbi, also known as Kumurwe, Kumarwi and Kumarma, was a Hurrian god. He held a senior position in the Hurrian pantheon, and was described as the "father of gods". He was portrayed as an old, deposed king of the gods, though this most likely ...
and
Nabarbi
Nabarbi or Nawarni was a Hurrian goddess possibly associated with pastures. She was one of the major deities in Hurrian religion, and was chiefly worshiped in the proximity of the river Khabur, especially in Taite. It has been proposed that s ...
, but this is no longer regarded as plausible due to the existence of earlier forms ending with -''bil'' rather than -''bi''. While a
Semitic origin of the name has also been proposed, with a reconstructed hypothetical original form Yaštabi-El ("
El has satisfied himself"), it is regarded as implausible due to reliance on assigning presently unattested sign values to
Eblaite spellings of the name.
Functions
In the Hurrian (and by extension Hittite) pantheon Aštabi was a war god. This aspect of his character is also well attested in
Ugaritic texts. However, despite a considerable number of mentions in known documents, his original role in the pantheon of Ebla cannot be presently determined. The available information does not point at the warlike character known from later sources, as unlike
Adad he did not receive weapons as offerings, though Alfonso Archi does not consider it fully implausible that theoretically he could have been a war god in the third millennium BCE already.
Worship
The worship of Aštabi is well attested in documents from Ebla, and it was widespread in the area under the control of the city, with the names of at least three cult centers of this god appearing in records: ''Ba-še
ki'', ''Du-ub
ki'' (later Tuba), and ''Ìr-ku
ki''. However, it is Ebla itself which was the primary site associated with him.
One Eblaite document mentions statues of Aštabi and Baradu-madu. Both of them are also involved in a purification ceremony meant to return the health of the prince Ir'aq-Damu.
According to Alfonso Archi, after the fall of Ebla Aštabi was among the gods who did not retain their former position in the religion of the
Amorites
The Amorites () were an ancient Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic-speaking Bronze Age people from the Levant. Initially appearing in Sumerian records c. 2500 BC, they expanded and ruled most of the Levant, Mesopotamia and parts of Eg ...
, who became the dominant culture in
Syria
Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...
. He lists
Adamma,
Ammarik,
Šanugaru and
Halabatu as other similar examples. He assumes that they were reduced to the status of deities of at best local significance, and as a result were easily incorporated into the religion of the
Hurrians
The Hurrians (; ; also called Hari, Khurrites, Hourri, Churri, Hurri) were a people who inhabited the Ancient Near East during the Bronze Age. They spoke the Hurrian language, and lived throughout northern Syria, upper Mesopotamia and southeaste ...
when they arrived in the same area a few centuries later. In some cases, direct influence of earlier Eblaite tradition was nonetheless still present in later tradition, for example a "month of Aštabi" known from the Eblaite calendar is still attested in texts from Alalakh from the second millennium BCE.
In
Yazilikaya he's represented as one of the gods following
Teshub
Teshub was the Hurrians, Hurrian weather god, as well as the head of the Hurrian pantheon. The etymology of his name is uncertain, though it is agreed it can be classified as linguistically Hurrian language, Hurrian. Both Phonetics, phonetic and L ...
in procession (figure 33); in front of him stands
Šimige and behind him Nupatik.
Associations with other deities
In 3rd millennium BCE Ebla he was sometimes associated with ''
dBa-ra-du ma-du'', possibly to be read /BarD-u(m)/, who was possibly his spouse. She is sparsely attested in known texts, but Alfonso Archi notes this stands true for spouses of other gods as well,
Barama associated with
Kura and Halabadu (Hebat) associated with Adad. While her character is uncertain, it is possible she was a divine representation of a river flowing near the city of Ebla, possibly
Queiq.
In Hurrian sources he sometimes formed a triad with
Ugur (who in this context appears under the epithet "Šaumatar") and
Nupatik
Nupatik, in early sources known as Lubadag, was a Hurrian god of uncertain character. He is attested in the earliest inscriptions from Urkesh, as well as in texts from other Hurrian settlements and Ugarit. He was also incorporated into Hittite rel ...
, according to Volkert Haas based on their shared association with warfare. The character of Nupatik is generally regarded as uncertain, though Haas is not the only author to ascribe the role of a warrior god to him, and especially the fact he received items related to
archery
Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a Bow and arrow, bow to shooting, shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting ...
as offerings is considered to be possible evidence supporting this theory.
In god lists Aštabi was equated with a variety of other deities of similar characters. An
Ugaritic
Ugaritic () is an extinct Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language known through the Ugaritic texts discovered by French archaeology, archaeologists in 1928 at Ugarit, including several major literary texts, notably the Baal cycl ...
"polyglot" list equated him with the local god
Attar
Attar, also known as ittar, is an essential oil derived from botanical or other natural sources. Most commonly these oils are extracted via hydrodistillation or steam distillation. Attar can also be expressed by chemical means but generally n ...
and Mesopotamian
Lugal-Marada (a war god whose cult center was
Marad, analogous in part to both
Nergal
Nergal ( Sumerian: d''KIŠ.UNU'' or ; ; Aramaic: ܢܸܪܓܲܠ; ) was a Mesopotamian god worshiped through all periods of Mesopotamian history, from Early Dynastic to Neo-Babylonian times, with a few attestations indicating that his cult surv ...
and
Ninurta
Ninurta (: , possible meaning "Lord fBarley"), also known as Ninĝirsu (: , meaning "Lord fGirsu"), is an List of Mesopotamian deities, ancient Mesopotamian god associated with farming, healing, hunting, law, scribes, and war who was f ...
), while a
Babylonian god list equated "Aštabinu" with the war god
Zababa. In Yazilikaya he's identified by the logogram "NIN.URTA."
According to Meindert Dijkstra, in
Hittite sources he was sometimes equated with
Tašmišu
Tašmišu (Tashmishu) was a Hurrian god. He was regarded as a brother of Teshub, and it is assumed he had a warlike character.
Character
Volkert Haas proposed that Tašmišu's name was derived from the Hurrian language, Hurrian word ''tašmi'', ...
, older brother and
sukkal
Sukkal (conventionally translated from Sumerian as "vizier") was a term which could denote both a type of official and a class of deities in ancient Mesopotamia. The historical sukkals were responsible for overseeing the execution of various com ...
of Teshub. However, both appear in the procession of deities in Yazilikaya.
Alfonso Archi considers it possible that
Nergal
Nergal ( Sumerian: d''KIŠ.UNU'' or ; ; Aramaic: ܢܸܪܓܲܠ; ) was a Mesopotamian god worshiped through all periods of Mesopotamian history, from Early Dynastic to Neo-Babylonian times, with a few attestations indicating that his cult surv ...
's name, found in early Hurrian inscriptions from
Urkesh, could be an ideographic stand-in for Aštabi's (similar to how
Shaushka's name was ideographically represent as
dIŠTAR and
Teshub
Teshub was the Hurrians, Hurrian weather god, as well as the head of the Hurrian pantheon. The etymology of his name is uncertain, though it is agreed it can be classified as linguistically Hurrian language, Hurrian. Both Phonetics, phonetic and L ...
's as
dIŠKUR), though he notes that it's also been proposed that the god represented by it might be Kumarbi, and that it cannot be ruled out the Mesopotamian god might not merely be a logogram, as his sukkal Ugur is well attested in the Hurrian pantheon, making it plausible he was himself worshiped by the Hurrians.
A number of ritual texts from Ugarit feature both Attar and a god bearing the name 'ṭtpl or 'ṭtpr, commonly identified as Aštabi by researchers. It has been proposed that their origin is not necessarily Hurrian, but rather Semitic, and that they are responsible for the equation of these two deities in god lists.
Mythology
Aštabi appears in only one Hurro-Hittite myth, the so-called ''Song of
Ullikummi'', part of the cycle of myths centered on the struggle between Teshub and Kumarbi. After the initial defeat of Teshub in combat with the eponymous stone monster, the other gods provide Aštabi with chariots. Alongside his 70 unnamed allies he confronts the monster, but fails and as a result falls into the sea, while his adversary continues to grow until he reaches the city of the storm god, Kummiya. Eventually Teshub, rather than the war god, vanquishes Ullikummi. The reference to "seventy gods" is unique in the light of known Hurrian and Hittite sources, and according to Noga Ayali-Darshan most likely represents a borrowing from western Semiticliterature, as similar terms are known from Ugarit ("seventy sons of
Athirat") and
Emar ("seventy gods of Emar").
References
Bibliography
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Astabi
Eblaite deities
Hurrian deities
Hittite deities
Ugaritic deities
War gods