Ḫepat

Ḫebat (Hurrian: 𒀭𒄭𒁁, DHe-pát), also transcribed Khepat, was the mother goddess of the Hurrians, known as "the mother of all living".[1] She was a popular deity, and her name appears in many theophoric personal names. A king of Jerusalem mentioned in the Amarna letters was named Abdi-Heba, possibly meaning "Servant of Ḫepat".[2]

Hebat
Other namesKhepat, Hepit
Spouse(s)Teshub
ChildrenSarruma
Alanzu

Origin

Alfonso Archi assumes that her Hurrian name was derived from an earlier form known from Ebla: dHa-a-ba-du, "she of Halab," already associated with a weather god (the Semitic Hadda rather than Hurrian Teshub) in some offering lists.[3]

Mythical family and associated deities

Hurrians, who incorporated a number of preexisting Syrian deities into their own pantheon, regarded their head god Teshub as Hebat's husband. The mountain god Sarruma, already part of her circle in earlier times, was reinterpeted as their son as a result, and in cult he functioned as a dyad with his mother.[4] They also had a daughter, Alanzu.

Lluís Feliu in his study of Dagan argues that Hebat was likely viewed as his daughter and as such as a sister of the storm god of Aleppo (Hadad).[5]

Her vizier was the goddess Takitu/Takiti.[6]

Syncretism

The Hittite sun goddess Arinniti was later assimilated with Hebat within the state cult of the Hittite Empire. 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.[7]

Piotr Taracha however doubts if this theological development was adopted into everyday religious practices of the general Hittite population.[8]

See also

References
  1. Beckman, G.: Pantheon A. II. Bei den Hethitern. In: Edzard, D. O. et al. (Hrsg.): Reallexikon der Assyriologie und Vorderasiatischen Archäologie. Munich, 2010.
  2. Donald B. Redford, Egypt, Canaan, and Israel in Ancient Times, Princeton University Press, 1992 p.270.
  3. A. Archi, Studies in the Pantheon of Ebla, Orientalia NOVA SERIES, Vol. 63, No. 3, 1994, p. 250-251
  4. P. Taracha, Religions of Second Millennium Anatolia, 2009, p. 94
  5. L. Felieu, The God Dagan in Bronze Age Syria, 2003, p. 302
  6. G. Wilhelm, Takitu [in] Reallexikon der Assyriologie und vorderasiatischen Archäologie vol 13, 2011, p. 417
  7. Bach, Alice Women in the Hebrew Bible Routledge; 1 edition (3 Nov 1998) ISBN 978-0-415-91561-8 p.171
  8. P. Taracha, Religions of Second Millennium Anatolia, 2009, p. 92
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