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Sylvia Rose

Tarhunna (Tarḫunna) Storm God of the Hittites

Updated: Jan 29

Tarhunna (Tarḫunna) is the Storm and Weather God of the Hittites, a warrior people who occupy much of Anatolia in the Bronze Age. Tarhunna is leader of the Gods, naturally stepping into the role. He's often equated with Hurrian Storm God Teshub. His consort is the lovely Sun Goddess of Arinna.


Read: Cult of the Fire God - Bronze Age Quest Adventure


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A god of several names depending on region, he's also called Tarhun, Tarhunda, Tarhunza, Taru, Tarhunt and Tarḫunz. Tarhunna is a warlike deity and his power is ferocious. He's thought to originate from the Hatti people as Taru.


Read: Cult of the Fire God - Bronze Age Quest Adventure


He can send light rain to nurture the thirsty crop or unleash a tempest of destruction. His weapons are lightning bolts. His voice is thunder. He often wields an ax or mace and wears armor of leather and shining bronze.


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He's King of the Gods in Hittite religion. As weather god he holds dominion over the clouds, rain, storms and fertility of the earth. Tarhunna decides whether a region has drought or prosperity. He determines the success of agriculture.


In this way he relates to Thunder God Thor of later Norse mythology. Like Thor he's given offerings, praises and pleas in times of famine.


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Tarhunna is often portrayed standing on the backs of mountain gods Namni & Hazzi. Earlier depictions show him as a bearded man with pointed cap and scepter.


As weapons he has three-pronged thunderbolts. Later he's shown with a battle ax in the shape of an adze. As King of the Gods Tarhunna also legitimizes the rule of the mortal Hittite monarch, making him King by divine decree.


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The children of Tarḫunna and the Sun Goddess are Telipnu, god of agriculture; Kammamma, tutelary protective deity; and Mezulla, who with her daughter and mother forms a Divine Trinity.


Read: Cult of the Fire God - Bronze Age Quest Adventure


Another of his children is Inara, goddess of wild animals. She's a separate deity from Inar/Inarra, Hittite god of wild animals. Inara is later equated with the Greek Artemis (Roman Diana).


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He also fathers the Weather God of Zippalanda and the Weather God of Nerik. He has two brothers. Šuwaliyat is a vegetation god.


Aranzaḫ is the Hurrian brother of Tarhunna. He's the deific personification of the Tigris River. He's born from the blood and sperm of the god Anu, the oldest god, after Kumarbi bites off his testicles and is sent to the Underworld or Dark Earth of the Hittites.

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Tarhunna's Hurrian equivalent is Teshub (Teššub, Teššop). In Canaanite myth he equates with Baal. The god's name appears in personal names. The oldest example is "Tarḫuan", from a 19th-century BCE Hittite text at Kültepe.


As ruler of the Hittite gods, Tarḫunna is depicted in front of a long line of male gods in rock reliefs at the sanctuary of Yazilikaya. He is personally worshipped as a tutelary god by King Ḫattušili III and Queen Puduḫepa in the 13th century BCE.


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In the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD, a Roman revival period brings Tarhunna to the fore once more. He's identified with the Armenian and Roman god, Jupiter Dolichenus.


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