{"id":4518,"date":"2026-05-13T19:21:48","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T19:21:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iwell-guard.com\/hittite-anatolian-tarhunna-thousands-of-gods-and-protective-practice\/"},"modified":"2026-06-04T09:34:52","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T09:34:52","slug":"hittite-anatolian-tarhunna-thousands-of-gods-and-protective-practice","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/iwell-guard.com\/en\/hittite-anatolian-tarhunna-thousands-of-gods-and-protective-practice\/","title":{"rendered":"Hittite-Anatolian: Tarhunna, Thousands of Gods and Protective Practice"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Hittite gods, Teshub, Hebat and the pantheon of Hatti<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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The Hittite Empire ruled large parts of Anatolia between the 17th and 12th centuries BCE and rose to become a great power of the eastern Mediterranean, on a par with Egypt and Babylonia.<\/p>

Its religion<\/span> was highly syncretic; the \u201cthousand gods of the land of Hatti\u201d integrated Hattic, Hurrian, Luwian, Akkadian and Syrian elements into a liturgically differentiated system.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Hittite religion developed in Anatolia<\/strong> out of Indo-European, Hattic and Hurrian strands.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t

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Historical development of the Hittite Empire<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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The Hittites spoke an Indo-European language (Nesite) and adopted the pre-Hittite substrate of the Hattic people in central Anatolia. The imperial capital Hattusa (modern Bo\u011fazkale) was founded at the beginning of the 2nd millennium and developed into a metropolis.<\/p>

Under Suppiluliuma I (around 1350 BCE) the empire became a great power; the Battle of Qadesh against Ramesses II (1274 BCE) and the peace treaty between the Hittites and the Egyptians (the first fully preserved state treaty in history) are central pieces of evidence.<\/p>

Around 1190 BCE the empire collapsed in the context of the Sea Peoples upheavals.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Pantheon, the Thousand Gods<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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At the top stands Tarhunna, the weather god (in Luwian form Tarhunzas, in Hurrian Teshub), as the supreme imperial god. His consort is the sun goddess of Arinna, venerated as the \u201cmother of the land\u201d.<\/p>

Telipinu, son of the weather god, is an agricultural vegetation deity<\/span>; his wrath and his return form the central myth<\/span>.<\/p>

Alongside them appear hundreds of further gods: from the Hurrian pantheon<\/span> (Kumarbi, Hebat), from the Luwian (Runtiya, Santas), and from the Akkadian heritage (Ishtar, Anu). In the open sanctuary<\/span> of Yaz\u0131l\u0131kaya near Hattusa, the procession<\/span> of the gods is immortalised in reliefs.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Kumarbi cycle and mythology<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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From the Hurrian substrate comes the Kumarbi cycle, a series of myths about generations of gods and struggles for the heavenly throne. Kumarbi wrests the throne from his father Anu, swallows his genitals and from them gives birth to the weather god Teshub.<\/p>

In later compositions Teshub wrestles against monsters such as Ullikummi and Hedammu. These narratives show structural kinship with Hesiod\u2019s Theogony, evidence of the Anatolian-Greek transfer of myths.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Rituals and protective traditions<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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Hittite religion was strongly ritualised, with more than 200 rituals preserved in cuneiform texts. Important genres include: festival rituals (the spring festival AN.TAH.SUM, the autumn festival nuntarriyasha), healing rituals (against illness, infertility), protective rituals (purification of the house, protection of the king) and mouth-washing rituals.<\/p>

Magical<\/span> practice knew \u201cold women\u201d (SAL \u0160U.GI) as ritual<\/span> specialists. Portable protective objects included divine figurines of gold and silver and seals bearing images of the gods (the royal seal of Tudhaliya IV is a famous example).<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Frequently asked questions about the Hittite gods<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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How many Hittite gods are there?<\/h3>

The Hittite tradition<\/span> itself speaks of a thousand gods of Hatti, a deliberately hyperbolic way of describing the multitude. In fact, around 200 to 300 gods are known by name.<\/p>

The Hittites integrated the gods of conquered peoples, Sumerian, Akkadian, Hattic, Hurrian and Luwian, into their pantheon<\/span>. The principal gods are Teshub (weather), Hebat (sun), \u0160arruma (son), \u1e2autena\/\u1e2autellura and Telipinu (vegetation).<\/p>

Who is Teshub?<\/h3>

Teshub is the Hittite thunder god and chief god of the empire, analogous to Zeus, Indra and Thor. His myth<\/span> of the dragon combat against Illuyanka is probably the oldest dragon-combat mythology<\/span> recorded in writing and the model for later dragon battles from Marduk to Saint George.<\/p>

What is Yaz\u0131l\u0131kaya?<\/h3>

Yaz\u0131l\u0131kaya (Turkish for \u201cinscribed rock\u201d) is the most famous Hittite rock sanctuary, about 2 km north-east of the capital Hattu\u0161a (modern Bo\u011fazkale, Turkey).<\/p>

On two rock chambers are reliefs of the entire Hittite pantheon, gods and goddesses in solemn procession, led by Teshub and Hebat. The sanctuary<\/span> was created in the 13th century BCE and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.<\/p>

What happened to Hittite religion?<\/h3>

The Hittite Empire collapsed in 1180 BCE during the Sea Peoples upheaval. The religious tradition continued in the Neo-Hittite city-states of northern Syria (Karkemi\u0161, Malatya, Tabal) until about 700 BCE.<\/p>

With the Assyrian conquest the Hittite heaven of the gods came to an end, but many myths lived on in Greek and Semitic literature (the dragon combat, the succession myth of Kumarbi-Anu-Teshub as a model for Hesiod\u2019s Theogony).<\/p>