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Sylvia Rose

Hurrian Bronze Age Gods & Goddesses

Updated: Dec 17, 2024

The Hurrians establish the Kingdom of Urkesh c. 4000 BCE, with the creator God Kumarbi as patron deity. Their greatest power arises with the Kingdom of Mitanni c. 1600 BCE. The Hurrians are contemporaries of another warlike force, the Hittites. It's an uneasy situation.



Warrior woman with sword in graveyard
Friend or Foe?

The two powers are stronger together in the face of an ever-increasing threat, the Egyptians. At the Hittite capital of Hattusa a number of Hurrian deities appear on god lists. This presents the gods of the Hurrians, thus the Hurrians themselves, as allies.


Also known as offering lists or kaluti the god lists are traditionally inscribed in clay. The lists contribute to modern understanding of spiritual beliefs and practices. Queen Puduhepa of the Hittites is instrumental in organizing an overwhelming number of deities and entities.



clay tablet looks fired
20,000 inscribed clay tablets are found at Ebla, baked hard by fires of war 2300 BCE.

By c. 2000 BCE the Hittites have already assimilated most of the gods of the pre-existing people, the Hatti or Hattians. They cultivate equivalents from the neighboring Hurrian pantheon and even change Gods into Goddesses to make them synch.


In ancient Mesopotamia and Anatolia it's a cosmopolitan world. Cultures clash and burn but can also rise to towering empires. As new technology develops, old gods of nature such as Ea merge with gods of civilization, such as Nabu the Scribe God.



shower
Ea - god of water, knowledge, crafts & creation

Since early times everyone acknowledges a Sun God or Goddess, and all people have dieties equated with the Earth or Underworld. With some shifting of deific alliances, weddings and partnerships between gods, recurring divinities reflect or merge into others.


Major Hurrian Deities


Teshub - Weather God & head of Hurrian Pantheon

Šauška (Shaushka) - the Great Soddess

Kumarbi - Hurrian Father of the Gods

Hebat (Hepat) - Sun Goddess

Šimige - Hurrian Sun God

Kušuḫ - Moon God with oracular attributes

Allani - Underworld goddess

Ishara - Goddess of death & desire

Ea (Enki, Haya) - God of water, knowledge, crafts & creation

Hutena and Hutellura - Fate Goddesses & divine midwives

Nabarbi - Rustic Goddess of pastures, meadows, fields & flocks

Nergal - God of war, disease and death

Nupatik - a God, role uncertain

Tillia - a Bull God especially worshipped in the east



Nabarbi is the goddess of pastures, fields, flocks
Nabarbi, Rustic Goddess of Pastures

Minor Hurrian Deities


Adamma - goddess incorporated into Hurrian pantheon after the fall of Ebla

Allanzu - a daughter of Hepat and Teshub

Ammarik - mountain god, from Ebla

Anat - warlike Ugaritic goddess

Aranzaḫ - divine personification of the river Tigris

Aštabi (Attapar) - warrior god

Ayakun - god equating to two Mesopotamian deities - Goddess Ninsun & God Alammuš

Ayu-Ikalti - dawn goddess Aya when shown as wife of Sun God Shamash



blonde woman with blue background
Aya, Goddess of Dawn

Belet-Nagar - "Lady of Nagar", Syria

Dadmiš - healing goddess and/or underworld deity

Damkina - wife of Ea (Enki); associated with ritual purification

Daqitu - attendant of Hepat

DINGIR.GE6 (logographic) - goddess of night & dreams, a dyad with Pinikir

Ebrimuša - "lord of justice"

Hašuntarhi - goddess, with Kubaba & Adamma in Kizzuwatna

Ḫabūrītum - goddess of River Khabur; may relate to Nabarbi, Belet Nagar

Ḫešui - war god, analogous to Zababa

Ḫupuštukar - sukkal of war god Ḫešui

Impaluri - sukkal of sea god Kiaše

Iršappa - god of markets & commerce

Irširra - seven Hurrian goddesses associated with healing & midwifery

Iškalli - goddess in the court of Sun deity Hepat; may be a dyad with Uršui

Izzummi - Hurrian translation of Isimud (Ušmu), the sukkal of Ea

Karḫuḫi - tutelary god of Carchemish c. 1320 BCE; associated w deer & Kubaba

Kiaše - Hurrian god of the sea



sea god in foam
Kiaše God of the Sea

Kubaba - goddess relating to lawsuits, affiliated w Ishkalli (Iškalli) & Adamma

Kunzišalli - one of two daughters of Ḫepat and Teššub

Kurri - a god worshipped in the temple of Allani during hišuwa festival

Kurwe - tutelary god of Azuhinnu

Lelluri - Hurrian mountain goddess worshipped with Manuzi

Lipparuma - sukkal of Sun God Šimige

Maliya - mother of wine & grain, artisanship & leatherwork, originally from Kanesh

Manuzi - mountain god, husband of Lelluri; associated with eagles

Milkunni - Ugaritic underworld god

Mukišānu - god, sukkal of Kumarbi

Mušītu - goddess of Emar, in the court of Teshub

Mušuni - goddess, 'she of justice' in dyad with Hepat; may relate to Underworld

Namni and Ḫazzi - mountain gods, seen as brothers or twins; in court of Teshub



two mountain gods who are brothers
Namni & Hazzi, mountain gods

Namrazzuna - goddess in court of Šauška (Shaushka); relates to moon, moonlight

Nikkal - form of Sumerian goddess Ningal, wife of moon god Umbru (Kušuḫ)

Ninatta and Kulitta - handmaidens of Šauška

Nupatik - psychopomp god

Pairra - group of seven gods, may be demonic or benevolent (sing. Pairi)

Partaḫi - Hurrian god invoked in oaths

Pendigalli - goddess associated with palaces

Pinikir - astral goddess; dyad w goddess of night & dreams, (logographic) DINGIR.GE6

Pišaišapḫi - god of the mountain Pišaiša

Saggar - god from Ebla, associated w Singar Mountains, the moon & Ishara

Samnuha - tutelary god of Šadikanni; takes part in a ritual w Kumarbi & Nabarbi

Sarie - god of Apenaš, Arrapha

Šaluš - goddess, cult center Piten, possible wife of Kumarbi

Šarrēna - group of diefied Hurrian Kings

Šarruma - son of Teshub & Hepat; relates to bull & mountains; may ride a leopard

Šeri and Ḫurri - two divine bulls who pull the chariot of Teshub



two divine bulls
Rhytons (drinking vessels) of Seri & Hurri

Šinan-tatukarni - one of four deities who bring bad luck, with Ari, Halzari and Taruwi

Šintal-irti - 'seven breasted'; a deity of good luck, w Ninatta, Kulitta and Namrazunna

Šintal-wuri - 'seven eyed' - goddess, appears on offering lists w Šintal-irti

Šuruḫḫe - god, mentioned in treaties

Šuwala - Hurrian Underworld Goddess

Takitu - Ugaritic goddess sukkal of Hepat - travels on behalf of Hepat

Tapšuwari - sukkal of Kušuḫ or courtier of Kumarbi

Tašmišu - brother & primary sukkal of Teshub; husband of Nabarbi

Tenu - a god of Aleppo, Syria; possible sukkal of Teshub

Tirwi - a god of Azuhinnu, Arapha

Tiyabenti - a sukkal of Hepat; 'one who speaks favorably'; gender unknown

Ugur - a sukkal of god Nergal, Hurrian god of war and the Underworld

Undurumma - best known as the goddess sukkal of Shaushka

Uršui - appears in a dyad with Iškalli

Zarwan - patron god of Apenaš & Azuhinnu in the kingdom of Arrapha



stone
Šarruma (Sharruma) son of Teshub & Hepat

Non-Fiction Books:


Fiction Books:

READ: Lora Ley Adventures - Germanic Mythology Fiction Series

READ: Reiker For Hire - Victorian Detective Murder Mysteries






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