Cult inventory

(CTH 526.31)

Textual tradition

A

A1

KUB 44.42

Basis of the edition

The present edition is based on the photographs available at the Mainzer Photoarchiv of the Hethitologie Portal Mainz, as well as the available hand-copies and relevant secondary literature up to 2019. When the original manuscripts have been collated, this is noted in the commentary.

Commentary

Previous editions: Hazenbos 2003: 127-31.

The obverse is edited based on the hand copy only.

This badly abraded fragment contains the inventory of at least two towns, one being Šuwašuwa. Based on the mark indicating the thickest point of the tablet in the copy, it can be stated that ca. the upper half of the obv. and the lower half of the rev. are missing, but it unclear whether the tablet was single- or two-columned. The paragraphs in obv. 1′-22′ preserve the end of a description of a festival for mount Kurḫazušsara and the “triad” represented by Storm god, Sun goddess and Stag god. With obv. 23′ a new section begins, the first paragraph of which consists of a single line apparently containing the name of the inventoried town only (Šuwašuwa). The following paragraph begins, as usual, with a cult image description and proceeds to festival descriptions. The only extant DN is that of the deity Šuwenta (obv. 24′), treated in KUB 55.14 (+) KUB 57.102 as well. If the cult of this deity was localized and if the two inventories refer to the same deity, then the geographical setting of KUB 44.42 should be in the area of Zippalanda (see commentary on KUB 55.14 (+) KUB 57.102 for discussion). When the text resumes on the reverse, we find festival descriptions which again pertain to mount Kurḫazuššara (likely an autumn festival, rev. 1′-6′; spring festival, rev. 7′-24′). As in the festival treated on the obverse, both ḫazkara-women and lion-men take part in the rite; both they and “the whole town” wear garlands (rev. 20′). With rev. 25′ a new paragraph begins, devoted to a spring festival, this one for the deity Kunnaniya.

obv. 10′: The space available in the gap does not seem sufficient to accommodate the restoration of Dkur-ḫa-zu-uš-ša-ra-a at the end of the line.

obv. 5′: For this tentative reading, cf. KBo 26.220 ii 4′.

obv. 6′-7′: Cf. rev. 13′ and KBo 26.182 i 8.

obv. 15′: Cf. KUB 56.39 iv 25.

obv. 22′: The interpretation of this line is unclear. Hazenbos (2003: 128) reads D⸢UTU⸣?? [ ␣␣] e-eš-z[i?]; but a reference to “His Majesty” seems more probable. A reading e-eš-š[a-i], however, would imply the participation of the king in the local festival, which would be unparalleled in the corpus.

rev. 8′: Cf. KUB 25.27 rev. iii 12: lu-⸢uk-kat-ti-ma⸣ šu-up-pa ŠE.NAGA-ar. The occurrences of ŠE.NAGA-ar are unfortunately always in fragmentary context within the corpus of the cult inventories, and the available space in the gap does not support a restoration lu-kat-ma.

rev. 11′, 20′: On the rare verb kililai- see Cammarosano 2018: 125 with literature.

rev. 12′-13′: Cf. obv. 6′-7′ with commentary.

rev. 14′: Cf. KBo 2.13 obv. 13, KUB 42.91 ii 9-10.

rev. 15′: To assume the presence of a second deity beyond mount Kurḫazuššara is admittedly problematic, since the mountain is the only deity attested throughout the festival description and the text refers consistently to a single deity (DINGIR-LUM, rev. 19′, 21′; DINGIRMEŠ in rev. 21′ is dubious). But the signs read AN KUR, not BAL. Perhaps does the text erroneously repeat the mention of the offering due to the mountain?

rev. 26′: The god Dku-un-na-ni-an is attested in KUB 55.37 iii 16 (and as Kuwannaniya in KBo 13.236 obv. 6, see van Gessel 1998: 275); cf. the spring Kuwannaniya/Kuwannaliya.

CC BY-SA 4.0 Michele Cammarosano | Produced as part of the research project Critical edition, digital publication, and systematic analysis of the Hittite cult-inventories (CTH 501-530), funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) – project number 298302760, 2016–2020.