KIZZUWATNEAN RITUALS UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF THE LUWIAN AND HURRIAN CULTURES

Authors : Fatma KAYNAR

Pages : 97-114

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Publication Date : 2019-07-25

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :Kizzuwatnean rituals occupy an important place among the Hittite magical rituals. These rituals are encountered in Hittite archives since the Middle Hittite period. Kizzuwatna is a transitional and a culturally diverse region because of its geographical location. This cultural diversity reveals itself in Hittite magical rituals. The region is home to Hurrian and Luwian communities. The two Kizzuwatnean rituals presented in this study are Hurrian and Luwian rituals. The first of these rituals, the Šalašu Ritual is Hurrian, meaning that the incantations recited in the ritual are in Hurrian language. Some of the Hurrian passages are relatively easy to understand due to the existence of a Hurrian-Hittite bilingual copy of the incantations insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(KBo 19.145);.  The remaining incantations exist in monolingual Hurrian copies insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(e.g. KBo 11.19); and are much more difficult to interpret. The Šalašu Ritual also featured cultural elements of the Mesopotamian region, demonstrating the cultural diversity of the Kizzuwatna region. The second ritual treated in this study, the Kuwatalla Ritual insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(šalli aniur);, is a Luwian ritual, i.e. written in Hittite but with Luwian incantations. The ritual contains two separate sub-rituals insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(hit. katta walḫuwaš/luw. dupaduparša and ḫalliyattanza);. The Kuwatalla ritual may be identified as Kizzuwatnean because of some of the elements it contains. The study concludes with a general comparison of the dominant ritual practices in these two rituals belonging to the same region, but to two distinct cultural traditions. 
Keywords : Hittite, Ritual, Hurrian, Luwian, Šalašu