Hurrian religion
[32] The evidence from eastern Hurrian centers is comparatively rare, and pantheons of cities such as Nuzi and Arrapha have to be reconstructed only based on administrative texts.
[37] As noted by Beate Pongratz-Leisten, transfer of deities likely easily occurred between people who shared a similar lifestyle, such as Hurrians and Mesopotamians, who both were settled urban societies at the time of their first contacts.
[40] Another term borrowed from this language was entanni, referring to a class of priestesses, derived from entu, itself an Akkadian feminine form of the Sumerian loanword en, "lord.
"[41] Gernot Wilhelm highlights that "undue importance has long been attached to the historical significance" of the presence of speakers of an early Indo-European language in the predominantly Hurrian Mitanni empire.
[44] At the same time, Mitanni princesses bore theophoric names invoking Ḫepat,[43] king Tushratta referred to Šauška as the "mistress of my land,"[29] and as in the other Hurrian areas, the state pantheon was headed by Teššub.
[73] It has been proposed that the general structure of the Hurrian pantheon was modeled either on its Mesopotamian or Syrian counterpart, with the former view being favored by Emmanuel Laroche and Wilfred G. Lambert, and the latter by Lluís Feliu[79] and Piotr Taracha.
[55] The structure of individual local variant pantheons was not necessarily identical, for example in the east and in Hurrian texts from Ugarit Šauška was the highest ranked goddess, but in western locations that position could belong to Ḫepat instead.
[89] Additionally, the equation between Teššub, the Ugaritic weather god Baal and the goddess Imzuanna is assumed to be an example of scribal word play, rather than theological speculation.
[94] The kaluti of Ḫepat included her children Šarruma, Allanzu and Kunzišalli, as well as the following deities: Takitu, Hutena and Hutellura, Allani, Išḫara, Šalaš, Damkina, (Umbu-)Nikkal, Ayu-Ikalti (the Mesopotamian dawn goddess Aya), Šauška with her servants Ninatta and Kulitta, Nabarbi, Šuwala, Adamma, Kubaba, Hašuntarhi, Uršui-Iškalli and Tiyabenti.
[35] Of the few which have been excavated, these in the east, for example in Nuzi, follow the so-called "bent axis" model well documented in Mesopotamia from the third millennium BCE onward, while the western ones in Syria often adhere to a local plan with an axially arranged forecourt, a cella with a niche for a statue, and an antecella.
[110] While typically temples were dedicated to major members of the Hurrian pantheon, such as Teššub, Allani or Išḫara, they often also housed multiple minor deities at the same time.
[128] The oldest known records of the temple of the moon god located there do not provide it with one, but sources from the reign of Shalmaneser III, Ashurbanipal and Nabonidus confirm that it was known as Ehulhul, "house which gives joy.
[134] Another major sanctuary was located in a rocky area near Hattusa, known today as Yazılıkaya (Turkish: "inscribed rock"), though it is uncertain if it can be considered a temple in the strict sense of this term.
[139] Deities who received offering during it included "Teššub Manuzi," Lelluri, Allani, Išḫara, two manifestations of Nupatik (pibithi - "of Pibid(a)" and zalmathi - "of Zalman(a)/Zalmat") and the Anatolian goddess Maliya.
[141] In the earliest sources from the third millennium BCE, when the city was known as Gasur, the local calendar was similar to these from Ebla, Mari, Abu Salabikh and Eshnunna, and the month names used at the time originate in Semitic languages.
[154] A similar practice is known from Mesopotamia, where the examination of a sheep's liver was commonly understood as a way to gain answers to questions directed as the gods Shamash and Adad.
[170] Names combining Hurrian elements with Sumerian, Akkadian or Anatolian ones are uncommon, but some examples are known, among them Lu-Šauša and Ur-Šauša from Girsu in Mesopotamia (both meaning "man of Šauša," a variant form of Šauška), Eḫli-Addu ("save, Addu!")
[94] The standard twelve members of the group were Nara, Napšara, Minki, Tuḫuši, Ammunki, Ammizzadu, Alalu, Anu, Antu, Apantu, Enlil and Ninlil.
[190] They are conventionally referred to as "cycle," but Alfonso Archi points out that this term might be inadequate, as evidently a large number of myths about the struggle between Teššub and Kumarbi existed, and while interconnected, they could all function on their own as well.
[206] He curses Ea because of this, but one of his bulls rebukes him for it[205] because of the potential negative consequences,[206] though it is not clear whether he considers him a particularly dangerous ally of Kumarbi or a neutral party who should not be antagonized.
[207] The beginning of the Song of LAMMA is lost, but the first preserved fragment describes a battle in which the participants are Teššub and his sister Šauška on one side and the eponymous god on the other.
[210] The wind brings his words to Ea, who meets with Kumarbi, and tells him they need to dethrone LAMMA because his actions resulted in people no longer making offerings to the gods.
[217] Apparently a confrontation between gods occurs, but Ea breaks it up and reminds both sides of the conflict - the allies of Teššub and of Kumarbi - that the destruction caused by their battles negatively impacts their worshipers, and that they risk having to labor themselves to survive.
[245] The cast includes the weather god Teššub, the goddess of the netherworld Allani, Išḫara, the tutelary goddess of Ebla, as well a number of human characters: the Eblaite king Megi (whose name is derived from mekum, the royal title used in Ebla[246]), Zazalla, the speaker of the Eblaite assembly, Purra, the representative of the subjugated citizens of Igingalliš, and Pizigarra, a man from Nineveh whose role in the story remains unknown, even though he is introduced in the proem.
[248] The king relays this message to the senate, but the speaker, Zazalla, refuses to fulfill the request,[248] and apparently derisively asks if Teššub is himself poor if he makes such demands.
[270] However, such equations were not necessarily widely recognized, for example Piotr Taracha doubts that the notion that the Sun goddess of Arinna was the same as Hurrian Ḫepat, known from a prayer of queen Puduḫepa, was a part of the beliefs of the general populace of the empire.
[272] It has been pointed out that the Hittite interest in myths about Teššub was likely rooted in the structure of their native pantheon, also headed by a weather god, and on his role in royal ideology.
[275] Denis Perdee notes that the impact of Hurrians had on the religious life of this city makes it possible to differentiate the system of beliefs of its inhabitants from these known from coastal areas further south, conventionally referred to as Canaanite religion.
[289] She proposes that Egyptians relied on a text written in a Western Semitic language, not necessarily identical with the Ugaritic Baal Cycle, which also describes a similar conflict.
[289] It has been suggested that the succession of primordial rulers of the gods described in the Song of Kumarbi was an influence on Hesiod's Theogony,[189] though according to Gary Beckman it is not impossible that both texts simply used similar topoi which belonged to what he deems a Mediterranean koine, a shared repertoire of cultural concepts.
