Hittite Religion

The religion of the Hittite Empire, the “land of a thousand gods”.

c. 1650 – 1180 BCE · Anatolia · Ancient Near East

The Hittites of central Anatolia gathered gods from many peoples into one state religion, led by the king as high priest. Their Kumarbi Cycle, about gods overthrowing their fathers, closely resembles Hesiod’s Theogony and may have influenced it. The sanctuary of Yazılıkaya shows a procession of gods carved in rock.

Key figures

• Tarhunt, the storm god
• The Sun goddess of Arinna
• Kumarbi

Texts

• Archives of Hattusa
• The Kumarbi Cycle

Beliefs

• The land of a thousand gods
• The king serves as chief priest
• Storm gods defeat serpents of chaos

Rituals

• Festivals led by the king
• Rock-cut sanctuaries such as Yazılıkaya
• Rituals to remove impurity

Grew from

• Proto-Indo-European Religion
• Mesopotamian Religion

Connections in the atlas

• The Plague Prayers of Mursili II
• Shimige
• The hidden sun
• Winged sun disc
• ▶ When the Bronze Age fell
• ? What caused the Late Bronze Age collapse?
• The Indo-Aryans
• The Song of Kumarbi
• Shaushka
• The spinners of fate
• Teshub
• The dragon-slayer and the maiden