Ninatta and Kulitta
Ninatta and Kulitta were two goddesses always invoked together who formed the core of the entourage of the Hurrian goddess Shaushka,[1][2] the equivalent of Mesopotamian Ishtar. Like many Hurrian deities they were incorporated into the Hittite pantheon, and are among the gods depicted in the Yazilikaya sanctuary.[3][4] The veneration of Ninatta and Kulitta as a pair is an example of a process common in Hurrian religion, in which a pair of related gods was believed to act as an unity and was therefore venerated together.[5]
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Ninatta and Kulitta were regarded as divine musicians.[6] In a myth known as Song of Hedammu (part of the so-called cycle of Kumarbi) they assist their mistress during her attempt at subduing the eponymous monster with a love potion.[7]
They were also incorporated into the entourage of Ishtar in her temple the city of Ashur[8] under the Akkadian names dNi-ni-tum and dKu-li-it-tum.[9]
References
- G. Frantz-Szabó, Kulitta, Ninatta und [in:] Reallexikon der Assyriologie und vorderasiatischen Archäologie vol. 6, 1983, p. 303
- P. Taracha, Religions of Second Millennium Anatolia, 2009, p. 123
- G. Frantz-Szabó, Kulitta, Ninatta und [in:] Reallexikon der Assyriologie und vorderasiatischen Archäologie vol. 6, 1983, p. 304
- P. Taracha, Religions of Second Millennium Anatolia, 2009, p. 95
- P. Taracha, Religions of Second Millennium Anatolia, 2009, p. 128
- G. Wilhelm, The Hurrians, 1989, p. 52
- G. Frantz-Szabó, Kulitta, Ninatta und [in:] Reallexikon der Assyriologie und vorderasiatischen Archäologie vol. 6, 1983, p. 304
- G. Wilhelm, The Hurrians, 1989, p. 52
- G. Frantz-Szabó, Kulitta, Ninatta und [in:] Reallexikon der Assyriologie und vorderasiatischen Archäologie vol. 6, 1983, p. 304
