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Hittite Texts and Greek Religion: Contact, Interaction, and Comparison

Online ISBN:
9780191890543
Print ISBN:
9780199593279
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
Book

Hittite Texts and Greek Religion: Contact, Interaction, and Comparison

Ian Rutherford
Ian Rutherford
Professor Classics, University of Reading
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Published online:
22 October 2020
Published in print:
22 September 2020
Online ISBN:
9780191890543
Print ISBN:
9780199593279
Publisher:
Oxford University Press

Abstract

There has been a lot of interest in recent decades in the question of whether ancient Greek religion was influenced by the religions of the Ancient Near East. This book examines the relationship between Greek religion and the religious system of the Hittites, as we know it from cuneiform texts perserved in the Hittite archives. The question seems worth exploring partly because the Hittite texts are such a rich source for religion, documenting religious practices of many cultures Anatolia in the Late Bronze Age (e.g. the Luwians), and partly because the Hittites are known to have been in contact with Mycenaean Greece, known to them as Ahhiyawa. Greek religion of the 1st millennium BC may also show influence from Hittite religion, either inheriting it from Mycenaean religon or borrowing it from the successor cultures of Anatolia. The book is divided into three parts: Part 1 (chapters 1-4) is introductory, setting out the evidence and a methodological paradigm for using comparative data (chapter 4). Part 2 (chapters 5-8) look at cases where there may have been contact or influence: contact in the Late Bronze (chapter 5), the case of scapegoat rituals (chapter 6), Cybele (chapter 7) and the Kumarbi-Cycle (chapter 8). Part 3 looks at some key aspects of religion shared by both religious systems: the pantheon (chapter 9), rituals of war (chapter 10), festivals (chapter 11) and animal sacrifice (chapter 12).

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