Hurrian and Luwian Elements in the Kizzuwatna Religious Texts

Abstract

Abstract Kizzuwatna, roughly the area around the present-day Turkish city of Adana in the plains of Cilicia in Southeastern Turkey, is known to be the origin of several magical ritual texts that were found in the archives of the Hittite Capital, Ḫattuša, in Central Anatolia. These texts are characterized by varying amounts of Luwian and Hurrian elements and rites in them. This article, however, aims to foreground festival texts with connections to Kizzuwatna and adjacent regions, namely the “Festival for Teššub and Ḫebat of Lawazantiya (CTH 699)” and the “Cults for Teššub and Ḫebat of Aleppo (CTH 698)”. Both festivals reveal very little Luwian, but they do exhibit obvious Hurrian influences. This article offers first thoughts toward an interpretation of the lack of Luwian in these texts, along with other texts with an alleged origin in Southeastern Anatolia or Northern Syria.