Hitit Yazılı Kaynaklarında Nehir Tanrıları

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Thesis Type: Doctorate

Institution Of The Thesis: Istanbul University, Institute of Social Sciences, Edebiyat Fakültesi Bölümü, Turkey

Approval Date: 2023

Thesis Language: Turkish

Student: Sezer Seçer Fidan

Supervisor: Meltem Alparslan

Open Archive Collection: AVESIS Open Access Collection

Abstract:

"River Gods in Hittite Written Sources" was the subject of many scholarly works, however most of these studies handled the topic in a superficial way. The most important reason behind this is the contradictory or incomplete definitions of "River Gods" in the cuneiform texts; thus, it is a very difficult subject to deal with. Most of such studies approached the subject by taking all text groups associated with River Gods into account, but regardless of their contents. This approach resulted in a variation of definitions of River Gods both according to the different periods and to the tablet subjects where their names were mentioned. In this thesis, all aspects of the River Gods have been discussed and some of the features that have caused aforementioned controversies have been evaluated in this context. It also offers a different perspective on the current descriptions of the River Gods. This study deals not only with the River Gods phenomenon, but also covers the water cult in Hittite religion and the Gods directly or indirectly associated with the places. The Gods related to other water sources such as springs and lakes are also considered to achieve a holistic approach of the subject. While Hittite cuneiform text constitute the core and primary sources of this study, rock monuments have been also taken into account. Thus, it was possible to gain information about the names, counts, and genders of the River Gods; the details of the offerings for the gods or the rituals performed for them, which manifested as one of the biggest problems about the River Gods. In addition, another part of this study attempts to determine the names and the localizations of the rivers that have been referred as sacred and divine in cuneiform texts. Through the geolocation studies, it was possible to define the borders and limits of cultural spread areas of the River Gods in terms of regional densities. Following a thorough examination of cuneiform texts, in which River Gods were mentioned, the rock monuments and sacred pools that are thought to be related to the rivers and the concept of the rivers within the Hittite Water Cult were studied in detail. Final chapter include a synthetic conclusion and present some new propositions about the place and importance of the River Gods within the Hittite religion.