Ziparwa

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Ziparwa
Head of the Palaic pantheon, god of the weather and vegetation
Other namesZaparwa
Major cult centerPala
Personal information
SpouseKataḫzipuri

Ziparwa, originally known as Zaparwa, was the head of the pantheon of the Palaians, inhabitants of a region of northern Anatolia known as Pala in the Bronze Age. It is often assumed that he was a weather god in origin, though he was also associated with vegetation. Information about the worship of Ziparwa comes exclusively from Hittite texts, though some of them indicate that formulas in Palaic were used during festivals dedicated to him held in Hittite cities such as Hattusa.

Name and character[edit]

Ziparwa was the head of the "extremely heterogenous" pantheon of the Palaians,[1][2] speakers of Palaic, a language closely related to Hittite and Luwian.[3] In the Bronze Age they inhabited Pala,[4] a northern region of Anatolia which later came to be known as Paphlagonia.[5]

The original Palaic form of Ziparwa's name, Zaparwa, was spelled in cuneiform as dZa-pár-waa(-a)-, while the standard Hittite spelling was dZi-pár-waa(-a)-.[6] The signs with subscripts, such as waa, constituted a Hittite invention, and it is assumed that they reflected "Hattic syllables beginning with the sound /f/ or /v/".[7] On this basis it is presumed that Ziparwa's name had Hattic roots.[6] It might have originally been pronounced as /Zaparfa/.[8]

Hittite scribes apparently considered Ziparwa to belong to the category of weather gods.[8] It has been proposed that in Palaic context, the logogram d10, used to designate such deities, can be read as Ziparwa's name, but there is no certain proof in favor of this interpretation.[9] Piotr Taracha has suggested that his name might have originally been an epithet applied to a weather god bearing a Palaic name.[10] This assumption relies on the proposed relation between his name and Taparwašu, a title of the Hittite storm god.[11] Both might be variants of the same Hattic term in origin.[8] Taracha assumes that under Hattian influence, a Palaic god received a new title, and that his original name was close to Hittite Tarḫunna and Luwian Tarḫunz.[11] Daniel Schwemer notes that another possibility is that might have been an epithet of Hattian Taru in origin.[8]

It is presumed Ziparawa also functioned as a god of vegetation.[1][12] He appears in a Palaic myth assumed to be analogous to the Hittite composition about Telipinu.[13]

Kataḫzipuri, a Hattian goddess most likely comparable to or outright identical with Kamrušepa[11] was likely regarded as Ziparwa's spouse.[6][14] They were regarded as the main pair of deities in the Palaic pantheon.[15]

Worship[edit]

The religion of the Palaians is only known from Hittite accounts.[11] As a result, most of the available information about Ziparwa comes from Hittite texts, though there is no indication that he was ever a "pan-Anatolian" deity, and it is presumed his cult was centered in Pala.[16] At some point he was incorporated into the Hittite pantheon,[2] and a temple dedicated to him existed in Hattusa.[11] Deities worshiped in association with him by the Hittites came chiefly from Palaic or Luwian milieus, with well attested examples being Tiyad (the Palaic sun god), Ilaliyantikeš [de] or Ḫašamili.[11]

Celebrations in honor of Ziparwa formed a part of a state festival dedicated to the Sun goddess of Arinna and the "gods of Hatti" as a whole, established during the reign of Šuppiluliuma I.[17] They took part on the twelfth and thirteenth days,[18] and the king was expected to visit his temple on both.[19] The text CTH 750 had often been described as an account of a separate Hittite festival of Ziparwa following a proposal of Emmanuel Laroche from 1971,[20] However, according to Hannah Marcuson it might have been a part of the spring AN.TAḪ.ŠUM [de] and fall nuntarriyašḫa celebrations, rather than a separate one dedicated specifically to this god.[18] The rites involved the recitation of "the words of the bread loaves" in Palaic.[21] The related text CTH 751 mentions a sacrifice of a bull during which the formula "Hey Ziparwa! A bull! A bull!" had to be recited.[14] An old woman speaking in Palaic had to reassure the god that the animal he was provided with was of best quality.[22] The text also explains which body parts were not suitable for an offering to Ziparwa.[23]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Beckman 2005, p. 311.
  2. ^ a b Taracha 2009, p. 38.
  3. ^ Taracha 2009, pp. 18–19.
  4. ^ Haas 2015, p. 611.
  5. ^ Taracha 2009, p. 37.
  6. ^ a b c Schwemer 2016, p. 319.
  7. ^ Yakubovich 2022, p. 8.
  8. ^ a b c d Schwemer 2016, p. 320.
  9. ^ Schwemer 2008, pp. 18–19.
  10. ^ Taracha 2009, p. 47.
  11. ^ a b c d e f Taracha 2009, p. 58.
  12. ^ Haas 2015, p. 438.
  13. ^ Haas 2015, p. 707.
  14. ^ a b Sasseville 2019, p. 24.
  15. ^ Taracha 2009, p. 114.
  16. ^ Yakubovich 2022, p. 16.
  17. ^ Taracha 2009, p. 139.
  18. ^ a b Marcuson 2011, p. 71.
  19. ^ Marcuson 2011, p. 64.
  20. ^ Marcuson 2011, p. 63.
  21. ^ Sasseville 2019, p. 22.
  22. ^ Sasseville 2019, p. 28.
  23. ^ Sasseville 2019, p. 26.

Bibliography[edit]

  • Beckman, Gary (2005), "Pantheon A. II. Bei den Hethitern · Pantheon A. II. In Hittite tradition", Reallexikon der Assyriologie, retrieved 2022-12-05
  • Haas, Volkert (2015) [1994]. Geschichte der hethitischen Religion. Handbook of Oriental Studies. Section 1: The Near and Middle East (in German). Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-29394-6. Retrieved 2022-12-04.
  • Marcuson, Hannah (2011). "The Festival of Ziparwa and the AN.TAḪ.ŠUM and nuntarriyašḫa-Festivals". Altorientalische Forschungen. 38 (1). Walter de Gruyter GmbH: 63–72. doi:10.1524/aofo.2011.0003. ISSN 0232-8461. S2CID 163784528.
  • Sasseville, David (2019). ""To show" in Hittite and Palaic Rituals". Altorientalische Forschungen. 46 (1). Walter de Gruyter GmbH: 22–32. doi:10.1515/aofo-2019-0003. ISSN 2196-6761. S2CID 198490660.
  • Schwemer, Daniel (2008). "The Storm-Gods of the Ancient Near East: Summary, Synthesis, Recent Studies: Part II". Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions. 8 (1). Brill: 1–44. doi:10.1163/156921208786182428. ISSN 1569-2116.
  • Schwemer, Daniel (2016), "Ziparwa", Reallexikon der Assyriologie (in German), retrieved 2022-12-05
  • Taracha, Piotr (2009). Religions of Second Millennium Anatolia. Dresdner Beiträge zur Hethitologie. Vol. 27. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag. ISBN 978-3447058858.
  • Yakubovich, Ilya (2022). "Peoples and Languages". Handbook of Hittite Empire. De Gruyter. pp. 3–44. doi:10.1515/9783110661781-002. ISBN 9783110661781.
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