Sun goddess of Arinna
Chief goddess of the Hittite state and queen of all lands.
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The Sun goddess of Arinna, also known as Arinniti, is the chief deity of the Hittite pantheon. She was the companion of the weather god Tarḫunna and served as the protector of the Hittite kingdom, often called the 'Queen of all lands.' Her primary cult center was the sacred city of Arinna.
Quick Facts
- Cult center
- Arinna
- Consort
- Tarḫunna
- Daughter
- Mezulla
- Granddaughter
- Zintuḫi
- Other children
- Weather god of Nerik
- Weather god of Zippalanda
- Telipinu
- Messenger
- Eagle
- Sacred animal
- Deer
Facts from the source article.
Family and myths
The Sun goddess of Arinna and the storm god Tarḫunna were the top divine couple in the Hittite state religion. Their daughter Mezulla gave them a granddaughter, Zintuḫi.
Other offspring included the Weather gods of Nerik and Zippalanda, plus the vegetation god Telipinu. An eagle acted as her messenger. She appears seldom in myths; one Hattian fragment tells of building her house in Liḫzina, and another mentions her apple tree.
Origin and development
The Sun goddess of Arinna originated among the Hattians, who worshipped her as Eštan. During the Hittite Old Kingdom, she became the chief goddess of the state.
The Hittites transcribed her Hattian name as Ištanu and Urunzimu, and also invoked her as Arinitti ('The Arinnian'). The epithet 'of Arinna' appeared only in the Hittite Middle Kingdom to distinguish her from the male Sun god of Heaven, adopted from Hurrian interaction. In the New Kingdom, she was identified with the Hurrian-Syrian goddess Ḫepat.
Royal ideology
From the Old Kingdom, the Sun goddess of Arinna, together with Tarḫunna, legitimized the king's authority. The land belonged to the two deities, who established the king; the king addressed her as 'Mother.' King Ḫattušili I was granted the privilege of placing the Sun goddess on his lap.
Queens dedicated cultic solar discs to her in Taḫurpa. During the New Kingdom, she was said to watch over the king and kingdom, with the king as her priest and the queen as her priestess. The king offered daily prayers to her at sunset.
Cult
The most important temple of the Sun goddess was in Arinna, with another on the citadel of Ḫattuša. She was depicted as a solar disc; in Tarḫurpa, several such discs donated by queens were venerated. King Ulmi-Teššup of Tarḫuntašša annually donated a sun disc of gold, silver, and copper, along with a bull and three sheep.
She was also shown as a woman, and statuettes of a seated goddess with a halo may represent her. The deer was sacred to her; Queen Puduḫepa promised to give her many deer. Cultic deer-shaped vessels were likely used in her worship, and Early Bronze Age golden deer statuettes from the Kızılırmak River are associated with her cult.
More in Hattian Deities
Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Sun goddess of Arinna (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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