In the Bronze Age, the Hurrian people 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 in 1600 BCE in today's Turkey.
The Hurrians ascend to greatness in the ancient world about the same time as another warlike force, the Hittites. It's an uneasy situation.
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The two powers are stronger together in the face of an ever-increasing threat, the Egyptians. At the Hittite capital of Hattusa (central Turkey) 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 are instrumental in the modern understanding of the spiritual beliefs and practices of local cultures. Puduhepa Queen of the Hittites is instrumental in organizing the overwhelming number of deities and entities.
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By c. 2000 BCE the Hittites have already assimiliated 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 Anatola 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.
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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 (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
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Minor Hurrian Deities
Adamma - goddess incorporated into Hurrian pantheon after the fall of Ebla
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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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
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In 1258 BCE a young woman sets out alone on a dangerous journey. Kah'ni travels from her northern homelands near the Baltic coast, down the Amber Roads into the brilliant cities and bloody battles of Late Bronze Age Europe, Anatolia, Mesopotamia, Greece, Egypt, Syria and the fabled Land of Punt.
Kah'ni must conquer unknown challenges and face her deepest fears to succeed in her quest. She has to find her sister, stolen by a mysterious people known only as the Cult of the Fire God.
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