INTERPRETATION ON SOME POSSIBLE DEPICTIONS OF THE HITTITE TUTELARY DEITY OF THE COUNTRYSIDE

Abstract

This paper focuses on the depictions of deities on stag seen in Anatolia and its surroundings during the second millennium BC. DLAMMA.LĺL “Tutelary Deity of the Countryside” can be considered as one of the deities represented by the name rendered as DKAL. Although the deity is identified with the hunting deity and the Stag-god (Ku)Runtiya and Innara/Annari in the Assyrian Colony Period, as suggested earlier, further support for this identification is rendered in this paper. Additionally, there are criticisms on the differentiation in the iconographic appearance of the deity during the second millennium BC and other depictions associated with this deity. Concordantly, the deity is depicted on a stag in the Assyrian Colony Age, with a bird in his hand emphasizing the deity’s hunting character and a lituus in the other hand. The iconographic features of the deity seem to have been preserved during the transition from the Colony Age to the Hittite Period. The depictions associated with the deity in Hittite Period can be divided into three groups. The first group comprises imagery whereby the deity holds a lituus in his hand, which may be related to the deity's rise to prominence in the state cult. The only difference in the second group, which is other similar to the first group, is that the deity stands on the ground instead of standing on a stag. The deity, assumed to be equated with the Tutelary Deity of the Countryside and included in the descriptions that can be called the third group, is depicted in a typical libation scene, sitting on a cross stool and holding a bird in his hand. However, this latter deity must obviously be a different deity in terms of its iconographic features. The Stag-god, who is the deity of wildlife and hunting in the Late Hittite Period art, stands on a stag. However, the hunter title of the deity is represented sometimes by a bird he holds in his hand, and sometimes by a bow and spear. This can also be associated with hunting. It is during this period that the winged sun disk (instead of lituus), can be interpreted as a continuation of the custom also regarding the deity in the state cult, as it began to appear in the depictions of the deity.