Nupatik
Nupatik | |
---|---|
God of uncertain character | |
Other names | Lubadag, Nubadig, Nubandag |
Major cult center | Urkesh, Carchemish |
Nupatik, in early sources known as Lubadag, was a
Name
Nupatik's name is attested for the first time in an inscription of the Hurrian king
Both the meaning and origin of Nupatik's name are unknown.
Character and attributes
Nupatik's character, functions and genealogy are unknown.[6] He is also absent from known Hurrian myths.[3] According to hittitologist Piotr Taracha , Nupatik was regarded as a member of the category of Anatolian tutelary gods in Hurro-Hittite contexts.[7] It is accepted that the logogram dLAMMA might refer to him in some cases.[8][a]
According to a Hittite ritual text the items offered to him were a bow, arrows and a quiver.[3] Gianni Marchesi and Nicolò Marchetti propose that he was a warrior god based on this evidence.[10] This view is also supported by Volkert Haas, who notes that he belonged to a triad of gods which also included Ugur (under the epithet Šaummatar) and Aštabi, who were known for their warlike character.[11] Suggestions that Nupatik can be identified with the Mesopotamian war god Zababa can be found in literature, but according to Gernot Wilhelm this assumption is incorrect, and the latter corresponded to Ḫešui instead in the Hurrian pantheon.[3] Jean-Marie Durand proposed that "Nubandag" (Nupatik) worshiped in Carchemish according to texts from Mari is to be identified with Nergal, but Marchesi and Marchetti reject this theory due to Nupatik and Nergal being distinct deities in Hurrian sources, such as an inscription of Tish-atal.[10]
Manfred Krebernik notes that in one of the Hurrian ritual texts from Ugarit (CAT 1.125) Nupatik appears to play the role of psychopomp, a deity leading the dead to the afterlife.[12]
Worship
Nupatik was one of the "pan-Hurrian" gods, and as such was worshiped by various Hurrian communities all across the ancient Near East, similarly to Teshub, Šauška or Kumarbi,[13] He was already venerated in Urkesh in the third millennium BCE under the name Lubadag.[14] The local king (endan) Tish-atal mentions him in a curse formula in an inscription commemorating the erection of a temple of Nergal, alongside Belet Nagar and Hurrian deities such as Šimige.[15] In Carchemish in the Middle Bronze Age he was known as Nubandag, and was one of the most commonly worshiped deities of the city, alongside Nergal and Kubaba.[16] A letter from the merchant Ishtaran-Nasir to king Zimri-Lim of Mari mentions that at one point, a festival of Nubandag took priority over mourning the death of king Aplahanda, and the latter event were only revealed to his subjects and foreigners present in the city after it ended.[17]
In the kingdom of Kizzuwatna, Nupatik was worshiped in settlements such as Parnašša and Pišani.[3] In a list of offerings to gods from the circle of Teshub (so-called kaluti ) from this area, he appears between Aštabi and Šauška.[7] In other texts belonging to this genre, he is placed between Aštabi and the war god Ḫešui.[3] During the Kizzuwatnean ḫišuwa festival, which was meant to guarantee good fortune for the royal couple, two hypostases of Nupatik (pibitḫi - "of Pibid(a)" and zalmatḫi - "of Zalman(a)/Zalmat") were venerated alongside "Teshub Manuzi", Lelluri, Allani, Ishara and Maliya.[26] Both of these epithets have Hurrian origin, though the locations they refer to are otherwise unknown.[3] According to Gernot Wilhelm , pibitḫi might be connected to bbt, the name of a "god of the house" mentioned in a single Ugaritic ritual text.[3] Manfred Krebernik instead suggests that bbt might refer to a place name, Bibibta, which in texts from Ugarit appears as a location associated with the worship of Nupatik and, more commonly, Resheph.[12] In another ritual (KUB 20.74 i 3–7, KBo 15.37 ii 29–33) both Nupatik hypostases are linked with Adamma and Kubaba.[27]
From the middle of the second millennium BCE onward, Nupatik was also worshiped by the Hittites in Hattusa.[28] Figure 32 from the procession of gods from Yazılıkaya, which arranged deities similarly to Hurrian kaluti, might represent him.[29]
It is commonly assumed that Umbidaki, a god worshiped in the temple of Ishtar of Arbela in Neo-Assyrian times, was analogous to Nupatik, possibly introduced to Arbela after a statue of him was seized in a war by the Assyrians.[30]
Notes
- Karḫuḫi, a tutelary god from Carchemish.[9]
References
- ^ a b Archi 2013, p. 11.
- ^ Krebernik 2014, p. 316.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Wilhelm 1987, p. 173.
- ^ a b Válek 2021, p. 53.
- ^ a b Lambert 1978, p. 134.
- ^ Wilhelm 1989, p. 53.
- ^ a b Taracha 2009, p. 118.
- ^ Rahmouni 2008, p. 230.
- ^ Archi 2009, p. 217.
- ^ a b Marchesi & Marchetti 2019, p. 530.
- ^ Haas 2015, p. 377.
- ^ a b Krebernik 2013, p. 201.
- ^ Archi 2013, pp. 7–8.
- ^ Taracha 2009, p. 119.
- ^ Pongratz-Leisten 2015, pp. 93–94.
- ^ Marchesi & Marchetti 2019, p. 532.
- ^ Sasson 2015, p. 336.
- ^ Pardee 2002, p. 89.
- ^ Pardee 2002, p. 90.
- ^ Pardee 2002, p. 93.
- ^ Pardee 2002, p. 95.
- ^ Pardee 2002, p. 96.
- ^ Pardee 2002, p. 98.
- ^ van Soldt 2016, p. 104.
- ^ van Soldt 2016, p. 106.
- ^ Taracha 2009, p. 138.
- ^ Hutter 2017, p. 115.
- ^ Haas 2015, p. 850.
- ^ Taracha 2009, p. 95.
- ^ MacGinnis 2020, p. 109.
Bibliography
- Archi, Alfonso (2009). "Orality, Direct Speech and the Kumarbi Cycle". Altorientalische Forschungen. 36 (2). De Gruyter. S2CID 162400642.
- Archi, Alfonso (2013). "The West Hurrian Pantheon and Its Background". In Collins, B. J.; Michalowski, P. (eds.). Beyond Hatti: a tribute to Gary Beckman. Atlanta: Lockwood Press. OCLC 882106763.
- Haas, Volkert (2015). Geschichte der hethitischen Religion. Handbook of Oriental Studies. Section 1: The Near and Middle East (in German). Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-29394-6. Retrieved 2022-03-11.
- Hutter, Manfred (2017). "Kubaba in the Hittite Empire and the Consequences for her Expansion to Western Anatolia". Hittitology today: Studies on Hittite and Neo-Hittite Anatolia in Honor of Emmanuel Laroche's 100th Birthday. Institut français d'études anatoliennes. OCLC 1286359422.
- Krebernik, Manfred (2013). "Jenseitsvorstellungen in Ugarit". In Bukovec, Predrag; Kolkmann-Klamt, Barbara (eds.). Jenseitsvorstellungen im Orient (in German). Verlag Dr. Kovač. OCLC 854347204.
- Krebernik, Manfred (2014), "dUm-bi-da-ki", Reallexikon der Assyriologie (in German), retrieved 2022-03-11
- Lambert, Wilfred G. (1978). "The Mesopotamian Background of the Hurrian Pantheon". Revue hittite et asianique. 36 (1). PERSEE Program: 129–134. S2CID 249685773.
- MacGinnis, John (2020). "The gods of Arbail". In Context: the Reade Festschrift. Archaeopress Publishing Ltd. S2CID 234551379. Retrieved 2022-03-11.
- Marchesi, Gianni; Marchetti, Nicolò (2019). "The Deities of Karkemish in the Middle Bronze Age according to Glyptic and Textual Evidence". Pearls of the past: studies on Near Eastern art and archaeology in honour of Frances Pinnock. Münster: Zaphon. OCLC 1099837791.
- Pardee, Dennis (2002). Ritual and cult at Ugarit. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature. OCLC 558437302.
- Pongratz-Leisten, Beate (2015). Religion and Ideology in Assyria. Studies in Ancient Near Eastern Records (SANER). De Gruyter. ISBN 978-1-61451-954-6. Retrieved 2022-03-11.
- Rahmouni, Aicha (2008). Divine epithets in the Ugaritic alphabetic texts. Leiden Boston: Brill. OCLC 304341764.
- Sasson, Jack M. (2015). From the Mari Archives. Penn State University Press. S2CID 247876965.
- Taracha, Piotr (2009). Religions of Second Millennium Anatolia. Harrassowitz. ISBN 978-3447058858.
- van Soldt, Wilfred H. (2016). "Divinities in Personal Names at Ugarit, Ras Shamra". Etudes ougaritiques IV. Paris Leuven Walpole MA: Editions recherche sur les civilisations, Peeters. OCLC 51010262.
- Válek, František (2021). "Foreigners and Religion at Ugarit". Studia Orientalia Electronica. 9 (2): 47–66. ISSN 2323-5209.
- Wilhelm, Gernot (1987), "Lupatik, Nupatik", Reallexikon der Assyriologie (in German), retrieved 2022-03-11
- Wilhelm, Gernot (1989). The Hurrians. Warminster, England: Aris & Phillips. OCLC 21036268.