Hittite Texts and Greek Religion : Contact, Interaction, and Comparison

by: Rutherford, I.

Hittite Texts and Greek Religion
Contact, Interaction, and Comparison
Ian Rutherford
Presents a significant new evaluation of the relationship between Greek and Hittite religion
Advances new models for instances of influence and establishes the conditions under which it be inferred
Addresses the idea of comparativism in ancient religion, laying out a methodological paradigm for using comparative data

Description
Our knowledge of ancient Greece has been transformed in the last century by an increased understanding of the cultures of the Ancient Near East. This is particularly true of ancient religion. This book looks at the relationship between the religious systems of Ancient Greece and the Hittites, who controlled Turkey in the Late Bronze Age (1400-1200 BC).

The cuneiform texts preserved in the Hittite archives provide a particularly rich source for religious practice, detailing festivals, purification rituals, oracle-consultations, prayers, and myths of the Hittite state, as well as documenting the religious practice of neighbouring Anatolian states in which the Hittites took an interest. Hittite religion is thus more comprehensively documented than any other ancient religious tradition in the Near East, even Egypt. The Hittites are also known to have been in contact with Mycenaean Greece, known to them as Ahhiyawa. The book first sets out the evidence and provides a methodological paradigm for using comparative data. It then explores cases where there may have been contact or influence, such as in the case of scapegoat rituals or the Kumarbi-Cycle. Finally, it considers key aspects of religious practices shared by both systems, such as the pantheon, rituals of war, festivals, and animal sacrifice. The aim of such a comparison is to discover clues that may further our understanding of the deep history of religious practices and, when used in conjunction with historical data, illuminate the differences between cultures and reveal what is distinctive about each of them.

Table of Contents
1:Introduction
2:Hittite Religion and its Reception in Anatolia
3:Greek Religion in the LBA and EIA
4:Working with Comparative Data: Historical and Typological Approaches
5:Anatolian-Greek Religious Interaction in the LBA. Modes of Contact
6:The West Anatolian Contact Zone: Arzawa and Scapegoat Rituals
7:Generations of Gods and the South East
8:Becoming Cybele: Phrygia as an Intermediate Culture
9:Comparing pantheons
10:War-Rituals
11:Amphictiones and the Calendar
12:Animal Sacrifice: Understanding Differences
Epilogue

Hittite Texts and Greek Religion : Contact, Interaction, and Comparison

by: Rutherford, I.

• ISBN-13: 9780199593279 / 978-0-19-959327-9
• ISBN-03: 0199593272 / 0-19-959327-2
• Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2020