![]() ![]() Hitherto, research on the Hittites has been highly specialised and often separated by discipline: history, philology and archaeology (in which natural sciences are taking a more prominent role). Damaging the image, an indexical sign that served as a portal to its referent, meant disconnecting the image from its referent, thereby making the referent invisible and powerless."" In the absence of profound shifts in society however, small scale and isolated mutilation of images such as attested in Hittite society, may serve a different purpose: it tries to convince the addressee of the image that part of the message of the image has become de-activated. ![]() We tend to think of iconoclasm in terms of political or religious upheavals. The near absence of destruction might be coincidence, but the combination of the famous Hittite religious “tolerance” (out of political opportunity, not piety) with the late appearance of images of power is not favorable to the occurrence of iconoclasm. The image of either Urhi-Tessub or Kuruntiya at Sirkeli was defaced and 'denamed', and the title of Kuruntiya on the Hatip relief was changed. The Bronze Tablet, a treaty between Tudhaliya IV (1239-1209 BCE) and his cousin Kuruntiya of Tarhuntassa, was found buried under the pavement near the Sphinx Gate rather than melted down, presumably after Kuruntiya had temporarily usurped the throne in Hattusa. Hittite texts only once mention the intentional destruction of images. The non-survival of especially larger scale statuary makes an archaeological and iconographic approach very difficult, but textually there is not much evidence either. ""There is almost no evidence for iconoclasm in Hittite society. The spread of this rite to those cultures where kings were not at the head of the religious hierarchy boosted the secondary association of divine anointment with empowerment rather that purification. I am arguing that anointment with oil was extended to both Hittite priestly kings and certain other categories of Hittite priests, and that the underlying purpose of this act was ritual cleansing. The second part of this paper, which is meant to be accessible to all the historians of religion, discusses the anointment as a rite of passage among the Hittites, as well as the relevant parallels in other Ancient Near Eastern cultures. A counterpart to this nontrivial concept is well known from the Hebrew Bible and is inherited by the Christian tradition. This is the only clear evidence that the gods were thought to be personally responsible for the anointment of Hittite kings. ![]() According to my interpretation, the Sun-god is requested to anoint the Hittite king and to exalt him. The first part of my account contains linguistic and philological discussion that concludes with a new translation of the scrutinized fragment. The aim of this paper is to improve our understanding of a difficult Palaic invocation to the Sun-god, and to elucidate its implications for the study of Hittite religion. ![]()
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