| Kušuḫ | |
|---|---|
 An ancient Anatolian depiction of the moon godArma, displaying iconography patterned after Kušuḫ's.[1]Museum of Anatolian Civilizations,Ankara. | |
| Other names | Umbu[2] |
| Major cult center | Šuriniwe,[3] possibly Kuzina (Harran?)[4] |
| Consort | Nikkal |
| Offspring | |
| Equivalents | |
| Mesopotamian | Sin |
| Ugaritic | Yarikh |
| Luwian | Arma |
| Hattian | Kašku |
Kušuḫ, also known under the nameUmbu,[2] was thegod of the moon inHurrian pantheon. He is attested incuneiform texts from many sites, fromHattusa in modernTurkey, throughUgarit,Alalakh,Mari and other locations inSyria, toNuzi, located near modernKirkuk inIraq, but known sources do not indicate that he was associated with a single city. His name might be derived from the toponym Kuzina, possibly the Hurrian name ofHarran, a city inUpper Mesopotamia, but both this etymology and identification of this sparsely attested place name remain uncertain. He was a popular, commonly worshiped god, and manytheophoric names invoking him are known. In addition to serving as a divine representation of the moon, he was also associated with oaths, oracles and pregnancy. Some aspects of his character were likely influenced by hisMesopotamian counterpartSin, while he in turn was an influence on theUgaritic godYarikh andLuwianArma.
InHurrian mythology, Kušuḫ appears as one of the allies of the weather godTeššub in his struggle againstKumarbi, but known compositions do not provide much information about his individual characteristics. It has also been proposed that the Ugaritic compositionMarriage ofNikkal and Yarikh was based on a Hurrian myth about Kušuḫ, well attested as the husband of this goddess.
Kušuḫ, usually writtendKu-uš-uḫ incuneiform,[7] was the primary name of the Hurrian moon god.[2] There is no agreement if transcriptions of Hurrian words should reflect theories about the possible presence ofvoiced andunvoiced consonants in them; conventional spelling of Kušuḫ's name in modern publications reflects the view that leaving the disputed ones unvoiced is preferable.[8] The alternate spelling Kušaḫ is attested inAlalakh and uncommonly in texts fromHattusa.[9] According to Manfred Krebernik the form Ušu is also known, though he does not list the location where sources it occurs in were found.[10] Two separate writings of Kušuḫ's name in theUgaritic alphabetic script are attested,kḏġ andkzġ,[11] vocalized as Kuḏuġ and Kuzuġ, respectively.[12]
In addition to these spellings, the name could be also represented by thelogogramsd30 (the numeral associated with the moon[13]) anddEN.ZU, like that of the Mesopotamian moon godSin.[14] For example, according toGary Beckman Kušuḫ might be among the deities designated by the former logogram in texts fromEmar.[15] Forms combining logographic and phonetic versions,d30-uḫ anddEN.ZU-uḫ, are also known.[7]
It has been proposed that Kušuḫ's name is an adjective derived from thetoponym Kuzina,[9][16] possibly theHurrian name ofHarran.[1] However, in the treaty betweenŠuppiluliuma I andŠattiwaza, Kušuḫ and the moon god of Harran appear as two separate deities.[9][17] It has also been noted that Kuzina is only known from a single attestation in the so-calledTale of Appu, whose Hurrian origin is disputed, and researchers such asItamar Singer consider it to have Hittite roots instead, though this view is not universally accepted either.[18] This text does mention that a moon god was believed to reside in Kuzina,[19] though according toVolkert HaasArma might be the deity meant.[20] At the same time, he does find the theory that Kuzina was the Hurrian name of Harran plausible.[4]
In addition to Kušuḫ, a secondary name of the moon god in Hurrian sources was Umbu,[2] also spelled Umpu, Umpa and Umpi.[21] It might have been originally in use somewhere inSyria or southernAnatolia as a part of a distinct local tradition, which would mean it only came to be adopted by the Hurrians at some point in their history.[22][2] However, it is also possible that it has Hurrian origin, as arootumb- (meaning presently unknown), is attested in the Hurrian language.[23] It has been proposed that Umbu functioned as the name of a specific manifestation of Kušuḫ, perhaps representing thefull moon, though this remains speculative.[2]
Mauro Giorgieri notes that attestations of Umbu as a fully independent deity are uncommon, and that he almost always appears alongsideNikkal.[21] In early scholarship it was assumed that Umbu was anappellative referring to Nikkal, analogous to the second element in the full Ugaritic form of her name, Nikkal-wa-Ib, but according to Giorgieri this is not plausible in the light of more recent research.[23] The latter epithet is most likely a cognate of eitherAkkadianinbu, "fruit," orebbu, "bright" or "pure," rather than Umbu's name.[23]
Kušuḫ was functioned as the god of the moon in the Hurrian pantheon.[24] It is possible that his character was at least in part influenced by that of his Mesopotamian counterpart,Sin.[25] Like him, he was associated withpregnancy, and could be invoked in birth incantations.[2] However, a well attested role of Kušuḫ which according to Gernot Wilhelm sets him apart from his Mesopotamian counterpart was that of a protector of oaths, otherwise commonly associated withunderworld deities in Hurrian culture.[9]Ugaritic texts refer to him as the "king of the (oracular) decisions" as well, marking him as a deity associated with oracles.[11]
A depiction of Kušuḫ is known from the reliefs showing a procession of deities in theYazılıkaya sanctuary, with the figure representing him being assigned the number 35 in scholarly treatments of this site.[26] He is depicted as winged, and his pointed cap is adorned with a lunar crescent.[27] A possible artistic portrayal of Kušuḫ has also been identified on thegolden bowl of Hasanlu, sometimes assumed to be a late example of art inspired by motifs from Hurrian mythology, on which a moon god is shown traveling in achariot drawn bymules.[13][24]
Kušuḫ 's wife wasNikkal, derived from the Mesopotamian goddessNingal.[9] Umbu, either an alternate name of Kušuḫ or a separate deity assimilated with him, appears alongside Nikkal in Hurrian texts too.[2] InUgarit, she was recognized as the wife of both Kušuḫ and the local godYarikh,[22] but since she is best attested in texts written in Hurrian rather than in Ugaritic, Gabriele Theuer concludes that she was most likely only introduced to the city by the Hurrians.[28] She also reached theHittite pantheon through Hurrian mediation.[2]Kušuḫ was also associated with Ishara due to their shared role as divine protectors of oaths.[4] Piotr Taracha points out that it might be significant that she was already linked with another lunar god,Saggar, in the third millennium BCE in Ma-NEki, as attested in texts fromEbla.[29]
A passage labelingTeššub as a son of Kušuḫ is known,[30] but as it is entirely isolated and no further known documents refer to such a connection between these two gods, Daniel Schwmer remarks that it is difficult to evaluate its significance.[6] In a tradition most likely influenced by Mesopotamian views on divine genealogy,Šauška, usually the sister of Teššub, was regarded as the daughter of the moon god too.[5]
It has been proposed by Meindert Dijkstra that the god Tapšuwari was regarded as the sukkal (attendant deity) of Kušuḫ,[31] though he has also been interpreted as one of the members of the circle of Kumarbi.[32] Attestations of Tapšuwari are limited to a single fragment of the Hurrian version of the mythSong ofUllikummi, and a single other literary passage, both of which also mention Kušuḫ.[32]
Kušuḫ was regarded as the Hurrian counterpart of MesopotamianSin.[30] InUgarit, he was additionally regarded as analogous toYarikh.[33] However, in the ritualKTU3 1.111 the two moon gods, accompanied by Nikkal, appear together and receive separate offerings, with instructions pertaining to Kušuḫ (and Nikkal) written in Hurrian, and these instead referring to Yarikh - in Ugaritic, possibly reflecting thebilingualism of the scribe.[34]
Especially in Kizzuwatna, the character of the Luwian moon god Arma were heavily influenced by Kušuḫ's.[1] He also came to be portrayed identically to his Hurrian counterpart, in a pointed cap with a crescent symbol and with wings on his shoulders.[1]
Kušuḫ s name is sometimes linked by researchers with that of theHattian moon god, conventionally assumed to bear the nameKašku, which might point at early contact between speakers of Hurrian andHattic.[9] However, Daniel Schwemer notes that it is possible the Hattian god was instead named Kab, as suggested in a recent alternate reading of the same passage on which the older assumption about his name relies.[2]
Kušuḫ was a high-ranking, commonly worshiped god,[35] and he is regarded by researchers as one of the "pan-Hurrian" deities, present in the pantheons of all areas where the Hurrian language was in use, fromKizzuwatna in modern Turkey to theZagros Mountains, similar toTeššub,Šauška,Kumarbi orNabarbi.[9][36][37] He appears intheophoric names from both eastern and western Hurrian cities.[38] Examples include Eḫlip-Kušuḫ ("Kušuḫ saves"), attested inMari (Tell Hariri) andTigunani,[39] Arip-Kušuḫ ("Kušuḫ gave"), known from the former of these sites,[40] and Ḫazip-Kušuḫ ("Kušuḫ heard"), with a wide distribution, including attestations from Mari,Chagar Bazar, Shekhna/Shubat-Enlil (Tell Leilan), and Tigunani.[41] Names with Umbu as a theophoric element are known too, examples include Mut-Umpi from Mari and Arip-Umpi fromNuzi.[21]
According to Gernot Wilhelm, there is no indication that Kušuḫ was particularly strongly associated with any specific city.[9] A double temple dedicated to him and Teššub existed in Šuriniwe in the eastern Hurrian kingdom ofArrapha.[3] He was one of the principal deities in the state pantheon ofMitanni as well,[42] and in the treaty betweenŠuppiluliuma I andŠattiwaza appears right behind Teššub, the head of the pantheon.[24] In offering lists from western Hurrian centers, he appears as a member of the circle of deities (kaluti) of the same god.[43]
The worship of Kušuḫ is well attested in Hurrian documents from Ugarit.[4] In offering lists, he appears betweenKumarbi and Iya (Hayya).[33] Once he instead occurs between the latter deity andDadmiš.[44] A single ritual text indicates that he could be worshiped side by side with local moon god Yarikh, which is one of the examples of the well attested phenomenon involving combining Ugaritic and Hurrian elements in the religious practice of this city.[34] Kušuḫ is also attested in theophoric names from Ugarit, with a total of six individuals bearing them presently known, though one of them was apparently not an inhabitant of the city.[45] The name Eḫli-Kušuḫ occurs the most commonly.[46]
Kušuḫ was incorporated into theHittite pantheon alongside other Hurrian deities.[4] He is among the members of the Hurrian pantheon depicted in theYazılıkaya sanctuary, where he is placed between Šauška's handmaidensNinatta and Kulitta and the sun godŠimige in the procession of deities following Teššub.[47] Hurrian deities, such as Kušuḫ, commonly appear in theophoric names of rulers in areas under Hittite influence.[48] For example, Hittite princePiyaššili after being appointed the king ofCarchemish by his father Šuppiluliuma I took theregnal name Šarri-Kušuḫ,[49] "Kušuḫ is (my) king."[46]
The name Umbu is attested in Hurro-Hittite context too: examples include oath formulas, where he paired withŠarruma, and texts pertaining theišuwa festival.[21] As a pair, Umbu and Nikkal appear in the entourage ofḪepat in offering lists.[21]
While Kušuḫ does appear inHurrian myths, according to Gernot Wilhelm they do not provide much information about his individual character.[9] In a cycle of myths focused on the conflict betweenKumarbi andTeššub, the so-calledKumarbi Cycle, he belongs to the group of allies of the weather god.[50] He is mentioned in theSong of Silver,[51] presumed to be a part of the aforementioned cycle.[52] The eponymous antagonist, Silver, a son of Kumarbi and a mortal woman,[53] who seemingly temporarily becomes the ruler of the god, at one point brings Kušuḫ and the sun godŠimige down from heaven, and apparently intends to kill them.[54] They bow down to him and ask to be released, arguing that otherwise Silver will have to rule in complete darkness.[54] The conclusion of the composition is not preserved.[54] Kušuḫ is also mentioned briefly in another myth dealing with the same conflict, theSong ofUllikummi, where Kumarbi states that he has to hide the eponymous stone monster somewhere where the allies of, including the moon god, will not be able to find him while he continues to grow.[55] Additionally, he plays a role in the tale ofKešši (CTH 361).[56]
It is sometimes assumed that the Ugaritic myth about the marriage of the local moon godYarikh andNikkal (KTU 1.24) had Hurrian origin,[57][58] and according to Nicolas Wyatt it is possible that in a hitherto unknown earlier version the protagonist was Kušuḫ instead.[59] Researchers do not agree if the Ugaritic text was a direct translation, as assumed for example by Aicha Rahmouni,[60] an adaptation of motifs from Hurrian mythology,[61] and also if the proposed Hurrian version was in turn based on an unknown Mesopotamian myth, or if the Ugaritic text was additionally independently influenced by Mesopotamian tradition.[62]
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