An innovative translation and analysis of Hittite local festivals and of their economic and social dimensions for students and scholars This English translation of the Hittite cult inventories provides a vivid portrait of the religion, economy, and administration of Bronze Age provincial towns and villages of the Hittite Empire. These texts report the state of local shrines and festivals and document the interplay between the central power and provincial communities on religious affairs. Brief introductions to each text make the volume accessible to students and scholars alike. Features: Critical editions of Hittite cult inventories, some of which are edited for the first time, with substantial improvements in readings and interpretations The first systematic study of the linguistic aspects of Hittite administrative jargon An up-to-date study of Hittite cult images and iconography of the gods Michele Cammarosano currently leads a Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft-funded project on Hittite cultic administration at Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg. His research interests focus on cuneiform palaeography and Hittite religion.

The so-called cult inventories are of fundamental interest for our understanding of the Hittite local cults. They contain lists of temple inventory, offerings and personnel, but they succinctly describe religious festivals as well and sometimes even offer descriptions of idols. This study contains a text edition of many significant cult inventories, mainly connected with the Hittite 13th-century cult reorganization. It also uses these and other texts to draw a picture of the background and the administrative and geographic aspects of this operation.

The festivals presented in this book are worth to be studied by scholars of religion and cult in Hittite Anatolia. These festivals were performed in one of the Hittite cities cultivating Hattian cult traditions. The traditional cult calendar was based primarily on the vegetation and agrarian cycles, with festivals in the spring and fall being of special importance. The present volume deals with one of these local spring festivals (CTH 647.II-III). The participation of the crown prince indicates that the festival was part of the state cult, indirectly attesting to the importance of the center in the structure of the Hittite state and its relationship to the capital Hattusa. Almost 40 cuneiform texts (including five hitherto unpublished) belonging to 13 different exemplars have been newly arranged, carefully edited and translated. The surviving documents permit the festival's history to be traced for a period of about two hundred years, showing continuity and change from the mid-15th to the 13th century BC. In the late 13th century, it was transformed into a local festival of the AN.TAH.sUM plant (CTH 647.I) that became a new symbol of the beginning of spring vegetation. The latter festival is preserved as just one copy of which about half of the original text can be restored. Successive chapters attempt to identify the city where the festivals were celebrated, describe the local pantheon (including deities of which little has been known until now) and discuss the inner hierarchy of the priestly college, providing new information about indigenous religious beliefs and cult traditions.

An accessible introduction to the Bronze Age culture in Asia Minor. Famed for their warriors, the Hittites flourished in the region of modern Turkey from the seventeenth to thirteenth centuries BC. In this book, archaeologist Damien Stone explores the rich history of the Hittite civilization beyond their skill in battle, from religious reverence for the sun and storms to eclectic rock carvings which survive to this day. Stone describes the colorful succession of Hittite rulers, complete with assassinations, intrigue, and an evil stepmother, but he also parses the development of the Hittite language and considers the Hittites’ legacy in religion, art, and culture today. In short, The Hittites is a wide-ranging, accessible introduction to this vibrant ancient culture.

This book takes a bold new approach to the prehistory of Homeric epic, arguing for a fresh understanding of how Near Eastern influence worked.

The rediscovery of the ancient empire of the Hittites has been a major achievement of the last hundred years. Known from the Old Testament as one of the tribes occupying the Promised Land, the Hittites were in reality a powerful neighbouring kingdom: highly advanced in political organization, administration of justice and military genius; with a literature inscribed in cuneiform writing on clay tablets; and with a rugged and individual figurative art, to be seen on stone monuments and on scattered rock faces in isolated areas. This classic account reconstructs, in fascinating detail, a complete and balanced picture of Hittite civilization, using both established and more recent sources.

The Hittites, one of the most powerful peoples of the ancient Near East, successfully challenged all other nations, including almighty Egypt, from their Anatolian stronghold. Then, their empire collapsed, was consigned to oblivion, and lay forgotten. Three thousand years later, a motley group of scholars, archaeologists, and adventurers rediscovered the Hittites in an enterprise spanning a century and weaving through the worlds of German kaisers, Turkish sultans, and even the Nazis. This is the history of the rediscovery of the Hittites, a story packed with intrigue and played out against a compelling historical backdrop. It involves colorful characters like an explorer fluent in 29 languages and an archaeologist who slept in royal tombs, along with Victorian historians, cuneiform experts, code-crackers, and grave robbers. These unlikely sleuths uncovered the very roots of the Hittite Empire.

Why did the Anatolians remain illiterate for so long, although surrounded by people using script? Why and how did they eventually adopt the cuneiform writing system and why did they still invent a second, hieroglyphic script of their own? What did and didn't they write down and what role did Hittite literature, the oldest known literature in any Indo-European language, play? These and many other questions on scribal culture are addressed in this first, comprehensive book on writing, reading, script usage, and literacy in the Hittite kingdom (c.1650–1200 BC). It describes the rise and fall of literacy and literature in Hittite Anatolia in the wider context of its political, economic, and intellectual history.