Kumarbi is the Hurrian god, son of Anu, and father of the Weather-God Teshub.
In the cuneiform text given the modern name Kingship in Heaven, Alalu was overthrown by Anu who was in turn overthrown by Kumarbi. When Anu tried to escape, Kumarbi bit off his genitals and spat out three new gods. In the text Anu tells his son that he is now pregnant with the Teshub, Tigris, and Tašmišu. Upon hearing this Kumarbi spit the semen upon the ground and it became impregnated with two children. Kumarbi is cut open to deliver Tešub. Together, Anu and Teshub depose Kumarbi.[1]
In another version of the Kingship in Heaven, the three gods, Alalu, Anu, and Kumarbi, rule heaven, each serving the one who precedes him in the nine-year reign. It is Kumarbi's son Tešub, the Weather-God, who begins to conspire to overthrow his father[2].
From the first publication of the Kingship in Heaven tablets[3] scholars have pointed out the similarities between the Hurrian creation myth and the story from Greek mythology of Uranus, Cronus, and Zeus.[4]
The Song of Ullikummi
The tablets of the Song of Ullikummi were first published by H.G. Güterbock in 1952.
See also
Notes
- ^ Leick, Gwendolyn. Dictionary of Ancient Near Eastern Mythology. Routledge: 1998. p. 106.
- ^ Hopkins, David, ed. Across the Anatolian Plateau: Readings in the Archaeology of Ancient Turkey. American Schools of Oriental Research: 2001. pg. 112.
- ^ H.G.Güterbock, 1946. Kumarbi: Mythen um churritischen Kronos.
- ^ M.L. West, Hesiod Theogony (1966:18-31; G.S. Kirk, Myth: Its Meaning and Function in Ancient and Other Cultures (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1970:214-20.
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