Version 2 comprises several fragments that belong to the small group of texts produced specifically for the nuntarriyašḫa- festival, rather than – as is more often the case – representing autumn festivals that were at some point incorporated into the Festival of Haste. Ms. A further indicates that it was written during the reign of Tudḫaliya IV, the only king apart from Muršili II whose name is mentioned in the nuntarriyašḫa- festival corpus.

At the core of Version 2 is IBoT 4.54+ (ms. C) now augmented by the new join CHDS 5.79. This tablet, with over 180 clauses preserved or reconstructed, describes exclusively the culminating scene of the great assembly in the ḫalentu- complex, namely the god-drinking ceremony. Remarkably, the three-column tablet must have been carefully structured, since it begins with the very first deity toasted during the ceremony (Tauri(t)) and concludes with the end of the great assembly and the king’s departure for the temple of the Storm-god. The final sentence informs the reader that the following celebrations were described on a separate tablet. Moreover, the colophon of IBoT 4.54+ identifies it as the third and final tablet of this series. Accordingly, this version ends with the royal couple leaving the ḫalentu- complex.

As a consequence, fragments that are duplicate/parallel to IBoT 4.54+ but whose text distribution suggests that they originally included descriptions of events following those in ms. C, have been reassigned to other versions.

• H. Roszkowska-Mutschler, DBH 16, 2005: 53
• M. Nakamura, PIHANSt 94, 2002: 213; 286f.

Most texts included in this version were edited by Nakamura M. 2002a: 208–247, although the present edition differs considerably in its selection (see the comments in the main Introduction to DAY 6). It also incorporates fragments that were joined or identified after Nakamura’s publication.

All manuscripts of this version appear originally to have been three-column tablets, with one exception: ms. E, which, after joining, shows a substantial column width (ca. 12 cm) and appears to have originally been a two-column tablet. Note, however, the reservation regarding the proposed join in Soysal O. – Yılıdız Gülṣen B. 2019a: 208.

Although at least one of the tablets was written during the reign of Tudḫaliya IV, none of the mss. shows the characteristic IIIc sign forms typically associated with the Late New Script and with that king’s reign.