| Illuyanka In the Hattian Purulli festival in Anatolia, held in the spring, the ritual is dedicated to the destruction of the dragon Illuyanka by the storm god Teshub. The corresponding Assyrian festival is the Akitu of the Enuma Elish. (39) In the Anatolian-Hittite myth of Illuyanka, the storm god is featured once more, but this time, he battles a serpent. Here is part of the story or myth: (1) This is the text of the purulli, for the […] of the Storm-god of Heaven, according to Kella, [the “anointed priest”] of the Storm-god of Nerik: When they speak thus - (2) “Let the land grow (and) thrive, and let the land be secure! – and, when it grows and thrives, then they perform the festival of purulli. (3) When the Storm-god and the serpent came to grips in (the town of) Kiskilussa, the serpent smote the Storm-god. (4) Thereafter the Storm-god summoned all the gods (saying): “Come in Inara has prepared a feast!” (5) She prepared everything in great quantity- vessels of wine, vessels of the (the drink) marnuwan (and) vessels of (the drink) [wa]lhi. In the vessels she ma[de] and abundance. (6) Then [Inara] went to Zigarrata and encountered Hupasiya, a mortal. (7) Inara spoke as follows to Hupasiya: “I am about to do such and such a thing. You will with me!” (8) Hupasiya replied as follows to Inara: “If I may sleep with you, then I will come and perform your heart’s desire!” [And] he slept with her. (9) Then Inara transported Hupasi[ya] and concealed him. Inara dressed herself up and invited the serpent up from his hole (saying): “I’m preparing a feast, come eat and drink!” (10) Then the serpent came up together with his [children], and they ate (and) drank – they drank up every vessel and were sated. (11) They were no longer able to go back down into (their) hole, (so that) Hupasiya came and tied up the serpent with a cord. (12) The Storm-god came and slew the serpent. The (other) gods were at his side. (13) Then Inara built a house on a rock (outcropping) in (the town of) Tarukka and settled Hupasiya in the house. Inara tells Hupasiya not to look out the window or he will see his family. He does this and she gets very upset and it appears, although the text is fragmented, that she kills him after that. In this previous myth, there appears to be a very distinct similarity between the story of Ishtar and Gilgamesh and Enkidu, the difference being, immediately, that Gilgamesh is offered to sleep with Ishtar and refuses, and this upsets Ishtar. Also, this myth is similar to the fairy Melusine who warns Raymondin not to look at her while she is bathing. (40) |
Telepinu In the Telepinu Myth, which is the Anatolian/Hittite version of the Babylonian Ishtar/Tammuz and the Sumerian Inanna/Dumuzi dying god/resurrection mythos, the storm god Tarhun’s son, Telepinu has become upset and left town with the ripening grain harvest for the year. Everything went to hell pretty much. This upset the whole world of nature. The logs in the fireplaces would not burn. The animals would no longer mate with each other. The pregnant could not even give birth. All the vegetation dried up and nothing new grew in the fields. A famine arose and the people and even the gods feared they would starve to death. The greater and lesser gods began a search for Telepinu. The sun god sent forth an eagle to find Telepinu, but the eagle returned to the sun god without success. Tarhun then approached the Mother Goddess, Hannahanna (the “grandmother,” whose name was written with the ideogram of the Sumerian Mother-goddess Nintu), who eventually sent out a bee who found Telepinu sleeping in the meadow and stung him. Telepinu became more enraged and the sun god declared, “Let the Goddess of Healing and Magic calm Telepinu’s anger with her sacred chants! And fetch a male human being. Let him use his magic to purify Telepinu!” After some gifts of essence of cedar, corn and figs, and prayers from the human male, Telepinu’s heart grew warm again and he returned to town and the crops grew again and the animals returned to their mating habits and there was abundance in the land again. (41) Phoenicians and the Land of Canaan The Phoenician people lived in the coastal area we now call Lebanon. They are said to have invented the alphabet around 1500 BC. (42) According to Cyrus Gordon, in Before the Bible: “The Phoenician alphabet of 22 letters is derived from the Ugaritic alphabet of 30 letters. … The Greek alphabet is derived from the Phoenician. Latin is one more step removed. Whole blocks of fixed letters (such as j, k, l, m, n, o, p, q, r, s, t) appear in the same fixed order in the Latin, Greek and Hebrew alphabets.” (43) The Carthaginians were Phoenicians, therefore, it is the conclusion of some scholars that their worship was the worship of Moloch, mentioned in the Bible. (44) The later Canaanite/Phoenicians would worship Cronos as Moloch and Hercules as Melkarth. (45) (39) Gaster, Thespis, pp. 317ff); Wiki –https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puruli (40) Jealous Gods, p. 81-82; The Anatolian Myth of llluyanka, Gary Beckman, Yale University) (https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/ 2027.42/77487/Illuyanka.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y (41) Cult of the Mother Goddess, p. 90-92 (42) Jealous Gods, p. 18 (43) Before the Bible, p. 129 (44) The History of the Devil, p. 72, notes (45) The White Goddess, p. 232 |