Hebat also transcribed a Kheba or Khepat, was the mother goddess of the Hurrians, known as "the mother of all living". She was the consort of Teshub and the mother of Sarruma. The name can be transliterated in different versions; Khebat with the ending -t is primarily the Syrian, and Ugaritic, version. The name written in cuneiform script allows the name to be pronounced with either /b/ or /p/, though in the Hurrian language Hepa is the most likely pronunciation. The sound /h/ in cuneiform is in the modern literature sometimes transliterated as kh.
Later assimilated with Hebat was the Hittite sun goddess Arinna. A prayer of queen Puduhepa makes this explicit: "To the Sun-goddess of Arinna, my lady, the mistress of the Hatti lands, the queen of heaven and earth. Sun-goddess of Arinna, thou art queen of all countries! In the Hatti country thou bearest the name of the Sun-goddess of Arinna; but in the land which thou madest the cedar land thou bearest the name Hebat. "[1]
Hebat was venerated all over the ancient Near East. Her name appears in many personal names. A king of Jerusalem mentioned in the Amarna letters was named Abdi-Kheba or Abd-Hebat, possibly meaning "Servant of Hebat".
The mother goddess is likely to have had a later counterpart in the Phrygian goddess Cybele.
See also
References
- ^ Bach, Alice Women in the Hebrew Bible Routledge; 1 edition (3 Nov 1998) ISBN: 978-0415915618 p.171
Christopher Siren [1]
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