Lelwani or Leluwani was a Hittite deity of the underworld of Hattic origin. While originally regarded as male and addressed as a "king," due to influence of Hurrian beliefs on the Hittites, Lelwani started to be viewed as female in later periods.
23-458: Lelwani was originally a male Hattic chthonic god incorporated into Hittite religion, referred to as "lord" and "king" ( Hattic : katte , logographically: LUGAL - uš ). However, due to syncretism with female deities during the period of growing Hurrian influence on Hittite state religion, Lelwani started to be regarded as a goddess instead. The change happened no later than during the reign of Ḫattušili III . An early attestation of this phenomenon
46-460: A Proto-Yeniseian word for "stone"). No document has been found in which native Hattic-speakers wrote their own language. Scholars must rely on indirect sources or mentions by their neighbours and successors, the Hittites. Some Hattic words can be found in religious tablets of Hittite priests that date from the 14th and the 13th centuries BC. The passages contained, between the lines of the text signs,
69-492: A collective plural by attaching the prefix fa- : fa-shaf "gods". The genitive case was declined with the suffix -(u)n ( fur "land" but furun "of the land"). Some linguists like Polomé and Winter have claimed that the accusative case was marked with es- and give the example of ess-alep "word", but that has been identified by others as a pronominal clitic, meaning "their". Some known Hattic words include: Kussara Kussara ( Kuššar )
92-556: A council on his own succession. The language or dialect of Kussara is neither found nor described in either the Assyrian or Hittite texts, but from the evidence of Old Assyrian trade tablets, it is known that a palace and a karum (Assyrian trade station) existed in the city. The Kings of Kussara became the Kings of Kanesh in the Karum IB period of Kanesh. Hattusili I and Hattusili III mentioned
115-449: A deity representing "Propitious Day," a euphemism for the last day of a person's life, the fate goddesses Ištuštaya and Papaya , Urunzimu, who was the cthtonic aspect of the Sun goddess of Arinna , and deities represented by the logogram U.GUR , among others. In a ritual performed in relation to the construction of a new royal palace Lelwani was invoked alongside Ḫašamili , the blacksmith of
138-554: Is a Hattic incantation for the festival at Nerik . One key, if fragmentary, bilingual is the story of "The Moon God Who Fell from the Sky". (There are additional Hattic texts in Sapinuwa , which had not been published as of 2004.) Hattic has been claimed to form conventional plurals with a le- prefix: "children" = le-pinu ; however, most specialists today consider it to be a possessive pronominal clitic, meaning "his" or "their". It formed
161-808: Is known from a text attributed to queen Puduḫepa . Allatum, originally the Akkadian form of the name of the Hurrian underworld goddess Allani, could denote Lelwani in Hittite texts. However, Hurrian Allani and Mesopotamian Ereshkigal were associated with the Hittite and Luwian Sun goddess of the Earth rather than Lelwani. Additionally, Allani and Lelwani coexisted as separate deities in god lists and in rituals, with Allani's name written logographically as EREŠ.KI.GAL and Lelwani's as Allatum . The Hattian and Hittite underworld deities, such as Lelwani, were not regarded as analogous to
184-828: The Hittite Empire . The Hittites referred to the language as "hattili" (there are no attestations of the name of the language in Hattic itself), related to the Assyrian and Egyptian designation of an area west of the Euphrates as "Land of the Hatti" (Khatti). The heartland of the oldest attested language of Anatolia before the arrival of Hittite-speakers, ranged from Hattusa , then called "Hattus", northward to Nerik . Other cities mentioned in Hattic include Tuhumiyara and Tissaruliya. Hittite-speakers conquered Hattus from Kussara to its south in
207-417: The anti-Taurus region, on or near one of the main trade routes from Assyria and perhaps in the vicinity of modern Şar ( Comana Cappadocia )". Another proposal for a location is in the mountainous area west of Elbistan . Pithana and his son Anitta , forerunners of the later Hittite kings, are the only two recorded kings of Kussara. Their exploits are known chiefly from the so-called Anitta Text, one of
230-590: The 18th century BC. They absorbed or replaced the Hattic-speaking ruling class ( Hattians ) but retained the name Hatti for the region. The name of the inhabitants of that area is likewise identified with the Biblical Heth , from which, in turn, the English word Hittite is derived. Certain similarities between Hattic and both Abkhazo-Adyghean and Kartvelian languages have led to proposals by some scholars about
253-419: The Hurrian enna amatenna , so-called "ancestral gods" or "former gods" who inhabited the underworld, even though similar Hittite terms could be applied to both groups. Lelwani's primary function was that of the ruler of the underworld. It is assumed that as such he was responsible for determining human lifespans alongside the fate goddesses . It has been proposed that an analogous association between Allani and
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#1733085928120276-481: The city of Kanesh or Nesa) was the language of the ruling officials. It is assumed that the language of Kussara was Indo-European , because if it were not, many more non-Indo-European elements would be expected in its apparent successor, Hittite. Craig Melchert concluded in the chapter "Prehistory" of his book The Luwians (2003–17): "Hittite core vocabulary remains Indo-European". The Anitta Text records that when Pithana captured Kanesh, he did no harm to it, but made
299-458: The context of Kussara, and since the city disappears out of political history at a very early date when? , the records of the Old Assyrian traders still constitute the only real indication for the location of the city. The borders of Kussara remain unknown, and the old city of Kussara has not yet been found. Several proposals for its placement have been advanced. Massimo Forlanini, an expert in
322-492: The earliest inscriptions in the Hittite language as yet discovered. Pithana took control over Kanesh (Neša) and its important trade centrum in roughly 1780 BC. The people later revolted against the rule of his son, Anitta, but Anitta crushed the revolt and made Kanesh his capital. Kussara itself, however, appears to have retained ceremonial importance. Anitta also defeated the polities of Zalpuwa and Hattum , after which he took
345-478: The explanation "the priest is now speaking in Hattic". Roots of Hattic words can also be found in the names of mountains, rivers, cities and gods. Other Hattic words can be found in some mythological texts. All published Hattic documents are catalogued in the Catalogue des textes hittites (CTH). Documents from Hattusa span CTH 725–745. Of these CTH 728, 729, 731, 733, and 736 are Hattic/Hittite bilinguals. CTH 737
368-496: The fate goddesses Hutena and Hutellura is the reason behind their association in Hurrian sources. A variety of secondary functions are attributed to her in Hittite texts. Annals of Tudhaliya indicate that Lelwani was also one of the deities assumed to accompany rulers during military campaigns; in a number of prayers she is considered capable of granting long life and good health; palace officials swore oaths in her name to guarantee they will perform their tasks correctly. Lelwani
391-473: The geography of ancient Anatolia, has stated that Kussara was probably situated southeast of Kanesh , but presumably north of Luhuzzadia/Lahu(wa)zzandiya , between Hurama and Tegarama (modern day Gürün ), perhaps on a road which was crossing another road to the north in the direction of Samuha . Professor Trevor Bryce wrote "[t]he city of Kussara probably lay to the south-east of the Kizil Irmak basin in
414-574: The gods. Queen Puduḫepa prayed to Lelwani to secure long, healthy lives for her family, as evidenced by the text KUB 21.27(+) III 31-38. Hattic language Hattic , or Hattian , was a non- Indo-European agglutinative language spoken by the Hattians in Asia Minor in the 2nd millennium BC . Scholars call the language "Hattic" to distinguish it from Hittite , the Indo-European language of
437-545: The origins of the Kings of the land of Hatti as Hattusili I styled himself: "man of Kussara . . . Great King Tabarna , Hattusili the Great King, King of the land of Hatti ." No other town or land was ever mentioned by a King of Hattusa as the origin of the Kings of Hattusa. Because the Kings of Kussara and their clan formed the base of the Old Kingdom of the Hittites, the Hittite language (known as 'Nesili' to its speakers after
460-625: The possibility of a linguistic bloc from central Anatolia to the Caucasus . According to Alexey Kassian, there are also possible lexical correspondences between Hattic and Yeniseian languages , as well as Burushaski language ; for instance, "tongue" is alef in Hattic and alup in Kott , "moon" is kap in Hattic and qīp in Ket , "mountain" is ziš in Hattic and ćhiṣ in Burushaski (compare also with *čɨʔs –
483-476: The title of Great King . Most scholars also accept a further king, Labarna I , to be a member of the Kussaran dynasty. It is notable that Hattusili I , recognized as one of the first Hittite kings , referred to himself as "man of Kussara", although his capital (from which he likely took his name) was Hattusa . Again, Kussara seems even then to have retained some importance, since this was where Hattusili called
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#1733085928120506-642: Was a Middle Bronze Age kingdom in Anatolia . The kingdom, though apparently important at one time, is mostly remembered today as the origin of the dynasty that would form the Old Hittite Kingdom . Kussara is occasionally mentioned (as Ku-ša-ra) in the clay tablets of the Old Assyrian traders in Anatolia, and less often in the early Hittite Kingdom (as KUR URU Ku-uš-ša-ra). Hittite sources have little to offer on
529-488: Was worshiped during festivals associated with the so-called ḫešta -house, to which the priest of this deity was attached. One example of such a celebration was purulli , described in the Hittite text CTH 645. Much like Lelwani, it had Hattic origin. While it was connected to the renewal of life in spring, the invoked deities were linked to the underworld and in addition to Lelwani included the Hittite Šiwat (or Izzištanu in Hattic),
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