Luwian religion

Luwian religion was the religious and mythological beliefs and practices of the Luwians, an Indo-European people of Asia Minor, which is detectable from the Bronze Age until the early Roman empire. It was strongly affected by foreign influence in all periods and it is not possible to clearly separate it from neighbouring cultures, particularly Syrian and Hurrian religion. The Indo-European element in the Luwian religion was stronger than in the neighbouring Hittite religion. The Luwian religion can be divided into two periods: the Bronze Age period and the Iron Age or Late Luwian period. During the Bronze Age, the Luwians were under the control of the Hittites. They spoke the Luwian language, a close relative of the Hittite language. Although a hieroglyphic script existed in the Bronze Age, which was used for writing Luwian, there are only a few known religious texts of the Luwians from the Bronze Age. After the collapse of the Hittite empire, several Late Luwian states formed in northern Syria and Southern Anatolia, which came partially under Aramaean influence and were conquered by the Assyrians by the 8th century BC. Important Luwian centres in this period included Carchemish, Melid, and Tabal. The Luwian religion is attested up to the early Roman period in southern Anatolia, specially in Cilicia, mostly in theophoric personal names. The earliest evidence of the Luwians comes from the Old Assyrian archive of traders at the Karum of Kaneš (c. 1900 BC), where some people bear clearly Luwian names, including theophoric names. These indicate that Šanta and Runtiya were worshipped as deities in this period. In Hittite text, pieces of Luwian language often appear in magic rituals, intended to bring rain or heal the sick. These give an important role to the goddess Kamrusepa. However, local cults are also attested, like Ḫuwaššanna of Ḫubišna (modern Ereğli, Konya). The pantheon of the city of Ištanuwa, which is thought to be in the area of the Sakarya River, belongs to the Luwian religious zone.

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Related concepts (16)

Kamrušepa

Kamrušepa was a Hittite and Luwian goddess of medicine and magic, analogous to Hattic and Palaic goddess Kataḫzipuri. She is best known as one of the deities involved in the Telepinu Myth, in which her actions were crucial to pacify the anger of the "missing" vegetation god. Kamrušepa was the goddess of both magic and medicine. She was regarded as the inventor of various procedures, subsequently passed on to humans, as attested in mythical explanations attached to ritual texts. She could function as a divine midwife as well.

Hurrian religion

The Hurrian religion was the polytheistic religion of the Hurrians, a Bronze Age people of the Near East who chiefly inhabited the north of the Fertile Crescent. While the oldest evidence goes back to the third millennium BCE, it is best attested in cuneiform sources from the second millennium BCE written not only in the Hurrian language, but also Akkadian, Hittite and Ugaritic. It was shaped by the contacts between Hurrians and various cultures they coexisted with.

Tarḫunz

Tarḫunz (stem: Tarḫunt-) was the weather god and chief god of the Luwians, a people of Bronze Age and early Iron Age Anatolia. He is closely associated with the Hittite god Tarḫunna and the Hurrian god Teshub. The name of the Proto-Anatolian weather god can be reconstructed as *Tṛḫu-ent- ("conquering"), a participle form of the Proto-Indo-European root *terh2, "to cross over, pass through, overcome". It has cognates in Hittite tarḫu-, Latin trans-, Dutch door, German durch, and English through.