Maliya

Maliya was a goddess worshiped by

It is assumed that a similarly named goddess attested in Lycian texts from the first millennium BCE corresponds to earlier Hittite Maliya. She was worshiped in Rhodiapolis and in other cities in Lycia, and might have been a war goddess. Malis, known from Lydian sources and from references in Greek literature, is also assumed to be a derivative of Maliya by most authors. A text from Lesbos describes her as a weaver. The Lycian and Lydian forms of Maliya were regarded as analogous to Greek Athena, though it remains a matter of debate among researchers how was the correspondence between them initially established. Malis also survived in Greek sources as the name of one of the naiads responsible for kidnapping Hylas, or alternatively as a slave of queen Omphale.

Second millennium BCE

Maliya originally belonged to the pantheon of

It is presumed that Maliya might have originally been the numen of the river sharing the same name,^[5] as indicated by the occasional spelling of her name in cuneiform with the determinative ÍD.^[6] It has been proposed that the river Maliya might correspond to either Parthenios (Παρθένιος) in historical Phrygia or to Melas (Μέλας) near Caesarea in Cappadocia.^[7] The etymology of the name is unclear.^[4] It has been argued in the past that Maliya can be considered "proto-Luwian",^[8] but according to Manfred Hutter's more recent study she did not have Luwian origin.^[9] Calvert Watkins proposes connecting her name with the noun māl-, "inner strength" or "mental force", attested both in Hittite and Luwian.^[10] This etymology is also accepted by Mary R. Bachvarova.^[11] Matilde Serangeli interprets Maliya's name as "goddess of thought" relying on a similar assumption.^[12] In early scholarship, attempts were made to prove Maliya was a Kassite deity in origin instead.^[4]

Hittite attestations

The worship of Maliya continued in

Maliya was commonly associated with Kamrušepa, the goddess of magic and midwifery.[15] In a narrative introduction to a healing formula, Maliya is one of the deities who make sure the information about the patient's state reaches Kamrušepa.^[32] In other Hittite sources, Maliya is accompanied by helpers known as Maliyanni, whose name is the plural of a diminutive form of her own name, Maliyanna, "little Maliya".^[33] According to Volkert Haas, similarly to other groups of deities whose names were constructed analogously, such as Ninattanni (Ninatta and Kulitta) or Šarrumanni, they should be considered a group of two.^[34] Piotr Taracha assumes that they were hypostases of Maliya herself.^[35] In one case, they appear in a ritual meant to secure the prosperity of a vineyard.^[35] Comparisons have been made between them and later Greek nymphs.^[4][36] Another group of deities associated with Maliya were the "male gods of Maliya" (^dmaliyaš DINGIR.LÚ^MEŠ), presumed to be minor deities comparable to the concept of genius loci linked to specific natural features, for example rivers and springs, and possibly patterned on Hurrian traditions which reached the Hittite Empire through Kizzuwatna.^[6]

Luwian attestations

Maliya was incorporated into

Maliya was also worshiped in the "Hurrianized" religion of Kizzuwatna, where she had a temple in the city of Kummanni.^[15] A partially preserved text states that it also housed the statues of six groups of other deities, including Ninatta and Kulitta, Hutena and Hutellura, a dyad referred to as Tiyabenti, Kuzzina-Kuzpazena, Kunizizi (paired with a deity whose name does not survive) and Ānnaliya (possibly mentioned alongside Ishara).^[40] Kuzzina-Kuzpazena were a group of Hurrian deities associated with her in local tradition.^[15] According to Volkert Haas, they most likely functioned as her helpers.^[41]

In the texts from the reign of Puduḫepa which describe the annual ḫišuwa festival meant to guarantee the well being of the royal family, Maliya is listed alongside other deities of Kummiya: "Teshub Manuzi", Lelluri, Ishara, Allani and a pair of manifestations of Nupatik.^[42] Sussane Görke argues her presence in this text might be a result of Luwian influence, though she also remarks very little other evidence for it can be identified.^[43] The entire ceremony lasted nine days.^[42] Maliya is mentioned in the end of the tablet dealing with the second day,^[43] where a ritual ablution of her statue as well as a clothing ceremony during which it received a red garment and belt is described.^[44] Another one, describing the third day, mentions rites taking place in her temple.^[45] One of them involved a divine horse, Erama.^[46]

First millennium BCE

While many deities belonging to various

Many attestations of Maliya are available from Lycia, where she was regarded as the tutelary goddess of Rhodiapolis.^[13] In this city, she was known under the epithet Wedrenni, while in Phelos she was called Eriyupama, possibly either "the highly exalted" or "who overcame the enemy", with the latter interpretation making it possible to interpret her as a warlike goddess.^[52] Trevor R. Bryce notes the view that the Lycian form of Maliya possessed such a role is also supported by an inscription from Xanthos and by a sarcophagus lid depicting her alongside Amazons in a battle scene.^[48] Maliya is also referenced in the tomb inscription of a certain Iyamara, which might designate him as the priest of this goddess.^[53] In some of the Lycian cities, Maliya was worshiped alongside the local weather god, Trqqas.^[54]

In Lycian tradition the

It is agreed that Maliya was a forerunner to the Lydian goddess Malis.^[59][13] She was understood as analogous to Greek Athena, as indicated by a Greek-Lydian bilingual text from Pergamon and by a number of literary references identified in works of authors such as Hipponax and Hesychius.^[60] The aforementioned bilingual is one of the only Lydian texts which were not found in the proximity of Sardis, and is substantially later than the rest of the corpus, with the most estimates dating it to the late fourth century BCE, specifically to the period between 330 and 325 BCE based on the fact that it mentions that a certain Paitaras was a donor responsible for funding the column it was inscribed on, erected during the construction of the local temple of Athena.^[61] Paitaras is not known from any other sources, though the fact his dedication is bilingual might indicate that Pergamon had an influential and prosperous Lydian community at the time.^[62]

While Greek literary tradition presents the kings of Lydia as sponsors of the cult of Athena, she does not appear in sources from Sardis predating the rule of the

A literary fragment from Lesbos portrays Malis (Μᾶλις) as a weaver, and according to Annick Payne might be an indication the goddess was also worshiped by Greeks.^[13] Rutherford notes that if this description reflects an Anatolian tradition, it might have been the reason behind the frequent equation between Malis and Athena, though he also considers it possible that it was a Greek invention relying on a preexisting equation.^[66] At the same time, he tentatively speculates that since the myth of Arachne is not recorded in sources predating Ovid, according to whom the contest between the mythical weavers took place in Hypaepa in Lydia, it might have originally been a Lydian myth about Malis, if the hypothesis that she was a weaver goddess is accepted.^[67] Payne in her analysis of available evidence notes that a figurine of a weaver in Lydian headwear found at Ephesus might also be evidence of Greek worship of Malis as a deity of such character.^[13] Hipponax, an early Greek poet who apparently spoke both Greek and Lydian, left behind a short invocation addressed to Malis (Μαλὶς):

O Malis, help me (?), and since it is my lot to have a demented master I beg of you that I not get a beating.^[66]

A water

In a different Greek tradition Malis, while associated with Lydia, was only regarded as a slave of Omphale, a mythical queen of this realm.^[59][54] This view can be found in the works of Stephanus of Byzantium and Hellanikos.^[13] According to the latter of these two authors, she had a son with Heracles, Akeles, which might reflect a tradition in which the goddess Malis was worshiped alongside Sandas, an Anatolian god identified with the Greek hero, though there is no certain evidence in favor of this interpretation,^[69] and no known texts from the second millennium BCE associate them with each other.^[2]

Attempts have been made to connect the supposed theonym Damalis, present in Life and Miracles of Saint Thecla from the first century CE alongside Sandas, to Malis, but they are not regarded as plausible, and the "city of Sandas and Damalis" mentioned in this text might be a reinterpretation of Dalisandos in Isauria.^[69]

References

Bibliography