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. As a result, the Hurrian pantheon included both natively Hurrian deities and those of foreign origin, adopted from Mesopotamian, Syrian (chiefly Eblaite and Ugaritic), Anatolian and Elamite beliefs. The culture of the Hurrians were not entirely homogeneous, and different local religious traditions are documented in sources from Hurrian kingdoms such as Arrapha, Kizzuwatna and Mitanni, as well as from cities with sizeable Hurrian populations, such as Ugarit and Alalakh. Hurrian religion was one of the best attested influences of Hittite religion. The Hurrian pantheon is depicted in the rock reliefs from the Hittite sanctuary at Yazılıkaya, which dates to the thirteenth century BCE. Hittite scribes also translated many Hurrian myths into their own language, possibly relying on oral versions passed down by Hurrian singers. Among the best known of these compositions are the cycle of myths describing conflicts between Kumarbi and his son Teššub and the Song of Release. Hurrian influences on Ugaritic and Mesopotamian religion also have been noted, though they are less extensive. Furthermore, it has been argued that the Hurrian myths about a succession struggle between various primordial kings of the gods influenced Hesiod's poem Theogony. Hurrians were among the inhabitants of parts of the Ancient Near East, especially the north of the Fertile Crescent. Their presence is attested from Cilicia (Kizzuwatna) in modern Turkey in the west, through the Amik Valley (Mukish), Aleppo (Halab) and the Euphrates valley in Syria, to the modern Kirkuk area (Arrapha) in Iraq in the east.

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Concepts associés (22)

Siduri

vignette|Izdubar prenant congé de Sabitu et Šiduri. Siduri est un personnage de lÉpopée de Gilgamesh qui est une brasseuse, la cabaretière des dieux et une sage divinité féminine associée à la fermentation. Au début de la tablette X de l'Épopée de Gilgamesh, Siduri accueille dans sa taverne Gilgamesh après une marche épuisante et tente de le dissuader de poursuivre sa quête. Elle fini par indiquer à Gilgamesh comment trouver pour qu'il poursuive sa quête. Comme l'explique Jean Bottéro, historien assyriologue et traducteur de L'Épopée : Selon Jean Bottéro : .

Teshub

Teshub (Teššub,Teshup, Teššup ou Tešup) est le dieu principal du panthéon hourrite, le roi des dieux. Il est le dieu de l'Orage, c'est-à-dire des phénomènes climatiques comme la pluie, le vent, la foudre, le tonnerre, qui sont ses armes. Teshub est donc à rapprocher d'autres divinités similaires occupant elles aussi une place importante dans leur panthéon, comme Adad (Mésopotamie), Addu (Amorrites), Hadad/Baal (Canaan), Tarhu (Hittites), Seth (Egypte) ou encore Teisheba (Urartu).

Kumarbi

Kumarbi, also known as Kumurwe, Kumarwi and Kumarma, was a Hurrian god. He held a senior position in the Hurrian pantheon, and was described as the "father of gods". He was portrayed as an old, deposed king of the gods, though this most likely did not reflect factual loss of the position of the head of the pantheon in Hurrian religion, but only a mythological narrative. It is often assumed that he was an agricultural deity, though this view is not universally accepted and the evidence is limited.