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CLT3378: Ancient Mythology: East and West
Summer C 2017
Lecture 4: The Kumarbi Cycle
Historical Background
We encountered the Hittites in our last lecture (Lecture 3), where we saw the Hittites
sacki ng Babylon in around 1600 BCE. The Hittit e king in charge of the raid
on Babylon was Mursilis I; his father and predecessor as king, Hattusilis I, had founded what
would become the Hittite Empire, which la sted from around 1700 to 1200. Hat tusilis had
established Hattusa (pronounced “hah -TOO -sha ”), located in the heartland of the Hittites in
central Anatolia (modern day Turkey), as the capital city of his new realm, and had even
renamed himself “Hattusilis” (or “m an of Hattusa ”) in its honor. Murs ilis had been away
from Hattusa for two years campai gning in the east when he descended on Babylon. The attack
on Babylon seems to have been an opportunistic afterthought for Mursilis; his real objective had
been the kingdom of Aleppo in modern day Syria, which had managed to resist Hattusilis’
atte mpts at conquest. Mursilis did what his father could not and destroyed Aleppo, and it was
only then that Mursilis set his s ights on Babylon to the south. For centuries afterward, Hittites
still proudly recounted Mursilis’ capture of the wealthy city of Babylon. Mu rsilis himself,
however, did not get to enjoy his victories for long. On the way back home from
Babylonia, Mursilis’ army was nearly overwhelmed in northern Mesopotamia by the Hurrians, a
people who had only recently built up an empire of their own called Mitanni. Once he had
escaped back to Hattusas, Mursilis found that his prolonged absence had strained the internal
stability of the new Hittite kingdom; he was soon killed in a pala ce coup by his brother -in-
law. Mursilis’ murder ushered in a period of anar chy among the Hittites. Seizing upon both the
destruction of Aleppo, which left a power vacuum in Syria, and the weakness of the Hittites,
whose rulers were now paralyzed by palace intrigue, the Hurrians increased their empire
in Mitanni even further.
Map of the Near East. Note that Mitanni is between Assyria (to east) and the Hittite Empire (to west).
The name “Hittites” comes from the Bible, where it is used to refer to the inhabitants of
minor kingdoms in Syria during t he early first millenn ium BCE. This was all scholars knew
about the Hittites until the late nineteenth century CE, when arch aeologists excavated Hattusa . In
the royal library at Hattusa were found thousands of clay, cuneiform documents written in
several different languages, in cluding Akkadian. (Remember that cuneiform is not a language; it
is just a script or method of writing. Different languages could use the same cuneiform
script.) Documents written in Akkadian, which scholars could already read at the time, quickly
revealed the existence of Hattusilis, Mursilis, and the kings who succeeded them in the Hittite
Empire. The Hittites’ own language was soon deciphered and turned out to be an Indo -European
language. (Originating probably in eastern Europe [c. 3000 BCE] , the Indo -Europeans are the
hypothetical linguistic ancestors of most of the languages of Europe — the Germanic languages
such as English, Latin and the romance languages, and ancient Greek — and also of Sanskri t in
India.) It was discovered that the name which the Hitti tes themselves applied to their land and
empire — and which we also find in nati ve Assyrian records — was Hatti. Scholars finally
renamed the Hittites in the Bible Neo -Hittites to distinguish them from their more notable
forebears.
After the tem porary decline in Hittite fortunes upon the death of Mursilis, the Hittites
rebounded a nd even extended their empire. The height of Hittite prosperity occurred between
1400 -1200, during which time the Hittites and the Egyptians were the two “ superpowers” o f
the Near East and eastern Mediterranean. Around 1286, the Hittites under their
king Muwatallis fought a momentous battle against Ramesses II and the Egyptians at the Syrian
city of Kadesh (or Qadesh); the two sides would each declare victory, but the Hit tites seem to
have actually come out ahead.
Map of the Hittite Empire at its furthest extent.
Map showing places mentioned in Hittite documents.
The Assyrians took advantage of the Hittites’ preoccupation with the Egyptians, however, to
move in an d conquer the Hurrian king dom of Mitanni for themselves. Alarmed at the increasing
power of the Assyrians on the Hittites’ eastern frontier, Muwatallis’ successor, Hattusilis III, in around 1260 made a peace treaty with Ramesses II that still survives t oda y in copies found
at Hattusa and on the walls of Ramesses’ temple the Ramesseum in Egypt. This is the earliest
treaty in existence. To cement the treaty, Hattusilis would even give his daughter to Ramesses in
marriage.
This copy of the peace treaty bet ween the Hittites and Egyptians, often called by scholars the “Treaty
of Kadesh,” was found at Hatussa . It is written in Akkadian (using the cuneiform script) , the international
diplomatic language, or lingua franca , of the day.
Around 1200 the Hittit e E mpire came to a sudden end. Hattusa was burned and was never
inhabited again. The fall of the Hittite Empire was one of a series of destructions that swept over
the eastern Mediterranean area between 1200 -1100. Scholars are still trying to figure out the
causes of the destructions, which were accompanied by mass migrations of peoples. Was it
famine, drought, climate change, or political and economic collapse? (There is evidence that the
Hittite kingdom was embroiled in civil war at or ne ar the end of its hi story.) Egypt was one of
the few pla ces that survived the turmoil. Hordes of what Egyptian inscriptions call “Sea
Peoples” — perhaps consisting of dispossessed Hittites and other peoples — attempted to invade
Egypt by sea, and the Egyptians barely managed to w ard them off in several battles.
Hittites and Hurrians
The documents found at Hattusa reveal the polyglot nature of the Hittites. Palace scribes,
at the very least, could read and write Sumerian and Akkadian, Hittite and several other
Anatoli an languages, and Hurrian. Texts written in Sumerian and Akkadian, such as the Epic of
Gilgamesh (see Lecture 13), were duly copied by Hittite scribes; the presence of such texts far to
the west in the land of Hatti demonstrates just how influen tial Mesopo tamian culture was. As
much as the Hittites may have been influenced by Mesopotamian literature and mythology, the
culture of the Hurrians had perhaps an even g reater effect on the Hittites. As the power of Mitanni grew, so did Hurrian influence on Hittite culture. In the last years of the Hittite
Empire, queen Puduhepa, wife of Hattusilis III, who was herself of Hurrian origin,
spurred Hurrian influence on the Hittites still further. The Hittites increasingly
adopted Hurrian gods and myths. In fact, the be st preserved and most literary of the non -
Mesopotamian mythological texts found at Hattusa are Hurrian in origin. Scholars sometimes
term such texts and the myth s they tell “Hurro -Hittite.” Such are the myths in the so -
called Kumarbi Cycle of poems , which include the Song of Kumarbi and the Song of Ullikummi ,
the two text s we read for today’s lecture. (The word “cycle” here just means a “group of
poems.”) Featured prominently in the Kumarbi Cycle is the Hurrian storm
god, Tessub (pronounced “TEH -shoob.”) (N ote that, just as with Marduk, the storm
god Tessub is NOT binatural.)
This Hittite stone pillar depicts the Hurrian storm god Tessub; in his upraised right hand Tessub holds an
axe or mace, and in his left hand he holds a thu nderbolt. In ancient icono graphy, a thunderbolt was not
depicted as a jagged line (such as appear s on Harry Potter’s forehead). Instead, thunderbolts were three
pronged object s, with a handle in the middle.
Song of Kumarbi
The Song of Kumarbi is a very fragmentary poem (as I am s ure you noticed in your reading of
the text!) that tells of the rise (and fal l) of t he Hurrian god Kumarbi. Kumarbi overthrows the
king of the gods, and then at the end of the poem appears to be overthrown himself. Thus, the
poem is struct ured around a suc cession myth. When the poem opens, Kumarbi’s father Alalu
(a Hurrian god associated with the un derworld) is king of the gods. Alalu only reigns for 9 years
before he is overthrown by Anu. (Who is Anu? Yes, he’s the same Mesopotamian god that is
featured in the Enuma Elish . Why would a Mesopotamian god appear in a Hurrian literary work,
the Song of Kumarbi ?) Defeated, Alalu flees to the “Dark Earth,” which seems to mean the underworld; remember that Alalu is an underworld god. (This does not mean that Alalu is THE
god of the underworld; he is merely a god associated with the underworld.) Anu in turn rules for
9 years befor e he is overthrown by Kumarbi. When Kumarbi attacks, Anu tries to
escape Kumarbi by fleeing . (To where does Anu try to escape? ) Kumarbi pu lls Anu down ,
however, and for good measure bites off and swallows Anu’s genitals. What are two possible
reasons for why Kumarbi castrates Anu?
Anu warns Kumarbi not to gloat too much in his actions, however, because, by
swallowing Anu’s geni tals, Kuma rbi has made himself pregnant. (In ancient times, the
reproductive role of women was improperly u nderstood. Often women were seen just as
“in cubators” for the seed of men. Now, Kumarbi takes on this role for Anu’s seed.) According
to Anu, Kumarbi is pregnant with several gods i ncluding the storm god Tessub. Kumarbi tries to
spit out Anu’s semen onto the earth, which apparently results (the text is fragmentary at this
point) in the birth of at least one god. At this point, the god Ea enters the sce ne; Ea will act as an
advisor to Kumarbi and even as a sort of midwife to the pregnant king. (Who is Ea? Why is it
appropriate that Ea act as an advisor? ) When Ea arrives, it seems (again the text is fragmentary)
that Kumarbi believes he has already given birth to Tessub because he commands Ea, “Give me
my child that I may eat him up. . . . Give me Tessub.” Instead, Ea gives Kumarbi a stone (the
“basalt” in the translation), which Kumarbi attempts to eat, thinking it is Tessub, but the stone
only hurts Kuma rbi’s teeth. (Has Ea tried to trick Kumarbi with the stone? Again, the text is too
fragmentary to be sure of Ea’s intentions here.) Finally, Tessub is born from Kumarbi’s “good
place,” which is apparently a e uphemism for Kurmarbi’s penis. The ending of t he poem is
fragmentary, but we can fairly safely assume that Tesssub overthrows Kumarbi and becomes
king of the gods in his place since Tessub is king in all the subsequent poems in the Kumarbi
Cycle (including the Song of Ullikummi ). Thus in this successi on myth we have an alternation
betwe en sky gods and underworld gods. Who are the two sky gods, and who are the two
underworld gods in this scheme?
Song of Ullikummi
W hen the Song of Ullikummi opens, Tessub is firmly installed as king of the
gods. The Song of Ullikummi appears to depict events that are later chronologically than the
events in the Song of Kumarbi , even though several other (even more fragmentary) poems in
the Kumarbi Cycle may have intervened betw een the two poems in question. The basic p lot of
the Song of Ullikummi is centered on the attempt of Kumarbi to ge t his throne back
from Tessub. In order to accomplish this, Kumarbi plans to use a monstrous child of his to storm
heaven.
To produce his child, Kumarbi impr egnates a hug e, three mile long rock.
(Note Kumarbi’s attempt to eat the sto ne that he thought was Tessub. Just what is it
with Kumarbi and rocks?) Kumarbi names the child that results from the sexual union between
himself and the rock Ullikummi. Kumarbi wants this “s tone child” to grow up unnoticed
by Tessub and the gods allied to him; accordingly, he has Ullikummi taken down
to Ubelluri. Ubelluri is the Hurrian -Hittite sky supporter ; Atlas is the sky supporter in Greek
mythology. Whereas Atlas just holds up the sky ( and not the earth), Ubelluri has the sea floor
resting on his head (probably) , and in this way holds up both earth and sky. Kumarbi has gods
attach the little Ullikummi to the giant Ubelluri’s right shoulder. Ullikummi grows rapidly. Istanu, t he sun god sees the stone child rising up menacingly toward Tessub’s realm in
the sky and alerts Tessub to the danger. (Why is the sun god an appropriate ally for Tessub? )
Ea, who in the Song of Kumarbi helped king Kumarbi, now serves as a helper to
king Tessub. He g oes to Ubelluri to question him. (Why is it fitting that Ea figures out exactly
where Ullikummi is attached? ) Ubelluri says: “Whey they built heaven and earth up on me, I was
aware of nothing. And when they came and cut heaven and earth apart with a copper cutting too l,
I was even unaware of that. But now something makes my right shoulder hurt, and I don’t know
who this god is.” (For more on the idea, found in several ancient cultures, that the sky and earth
were once joined as one, see Lecture 6.) Ea peers around at Ubelluri’s shoulder and sees the feet
of the now enormous Ullikummi firm ly attached there. Using the very copper cutting tool
that Ubelluri had mentioned, Ea cuts Ullikummi off of Ubelluri’s shoulder; this is presumably
because Ullikummi will be easier for Tessub to defeat that way. The text of the Song
of Ullikummi breaks off just after Tessub and Ullikummi have begun to engage in battle against
one another. The end of th e poem is therefore missing. Why can we safely conclude that it
is Tessub , who comes out victorious ?