Takitu

Takitu or Takiti[1] was a Hurrian goddess who served as the sukkal of Hebat. Her name is usually assumed to have its origin in a Semitic language, though a possible Hurrian etymology has also been proposed.

Name

Multiple spellings of Takitu's name are attested in Hurrian and Hittite texts, alternating between ta and tu and da and du, which results in alternate forms such as Dakitu or Dakidu.[2] In the Ugaritic alphabetic script it was spelled as dqt.[2]

On the basis of the Ugaritic form of the name it has been proposed that it was derived from the Semitic root dqq, "small."[2] Meindert Dijkstra instead suggests that it might be connected with the Hurrian word taki, "beautiful."[3]

Character

Takitu fulfilled the role of Hebat s servant and vizier (sukkal).[1][2] Volkert Haas characterizes her as Hebat's closest confidante in myths.[4]

While myths the role of Hebat's attendant belongs to Takitu, in some ritual texts it instead belongs to Tiyabenti,[5] a deity whose gender is unclear according to Gary Beckman,[6] but identified as a goddess by Marie-Claude Trémouille.[5] According to Alfonso Archi, Tiyabenti's name has Hurrian origin and means "he who speaks favorably" or "she who speaks favorably."[7] Takitu and Tiyabenti coexist in offering lists, where both can accompany Hebat, which most likely means that theories according to which one of them was merely an epithet of the other are unsubstantiated.[5]

One offering lists of the circle of Hebat refers to Takitu as Taki-Takitu, "the beautiful Takitu."[8] According to Volkert Haas, she was imagined as a youthful deity.[4]

Worship

Takitu belonged to the circle of deities associated with Hebat, and appears in kaluti (offering lists) dedicated to her.[9] In Yazılıkaya, she is depicted right behind Hebat's children Šarruma, Allanzu and Kunzišalli, in front of Hutena and Hutellura.[10] A Hurrian religions text mentions that during one ritual involving Kumarbi and the so-called "former gods," Takiti should sit next to Hebat, on her left side.[11] Another, which identifies her as a gatekeeper (Hurrian: amummekunni) similarly prescribes seating her to the left of her mistress.[12]

Locations where she was worshiped include Hattusa, where a staff serving as a cultic utensil connected to her was held,[13] Lawazantiya in Kizzuwatna,[14] and Ugarit.[15]

Mythology

In a myth preserved on the tablet CTH 346.12 Takiti is described as traveling through the lands of Mitanni to distant Šimurrum on behalf of her mistress.[16]

She also appears in the Song of Ullikummi, where Hebat tasks her with finding out the fate of her husband Teshub after his initial confrontation with the eponymous monster.[1] Later Hebat's servants have to hold her to make sure she does not fall from the roof while Teshub's brother Tashmishu brings her information.[1]

References
  1. Bachvarova 2013, p. 173.
  2. Wilhelm 2013, p. 417.
  3. Dijkstra 2014, p. 92.
  4. Haas 2015, p. 388.
  5. Trémouille 2014, p. 31.
  6. Beckman 1999, p. 37.
  7. Archi 2013, p. 7.
  8. Haas 2015, p. 383.
  9. Taracha 2009, p. 119.
  10. Taracha 2009, p. 95.
  11. Haas 2015, p. 257.
  12. Haas 2015, p. 906.
  13. Haas 2015, p. 512.
  14. Haas 2015, p. 581.
  15. Haas 2015, p. 558.
  16. Wilhelm 2013, pp. 417–418.

Bibliography
  • Archi, Alfonso (2013). "The West Hurrian Pantheon and Its Background". In Collins, B. J.; Michalowski, P. (eds.). Beyond Hatti: a tribute to Gary Beckman. Atlanta: Lockwood Press. ISBN 978-1-937040-11-6. OCLC 882106763.
  • Bachvarova, Mary R. (2013). "The Hurro-Hittite Kumarbi Cycle". Gods, heroes, and monsters: a sourcebook of Greek, Roman, and Near Eastern myths. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-064481-9. OCLC 967417697.
  • Beckman, Gary (1999). "The Goddess Pirinkir and Her Ritual from Ḫattuša (CTH 644)". Ktèma: Civilisations de l'Orient, de la Grèce et de Rome antiques. PERSEE Program. 24 (1): 25–39. doi:10.3406/ktema.1999.2206. hdl:2027.42/77419. ISSN 0221-5896.
  • Dijkstra, Meindert (2014). "The Hurritic Myth about Sausga of Nineveh and Hasarri (CTH 776.2)". Ugarit-Forschungen. Band 45. Münster: Ugarit Verlag. ISBN 3-86835-086-1. OCLC 1101929531.
  • Haas, Volkert (2015). 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 2022-04-02.
  • Taracha, Piotr (2009). Religions of Second Millennium Anatolia. Harrassowitz. ISBN 978-3447058858.
  • Trémouille, Marie-Claude (2014), "Tijabenti", Reallexikon der Assyriologie (in French), retrieved 2022-04-02
  • Wilhelm, Gernot (2013), "Takitu", Reallexikon der Assyriologie (in German), retrieved 2022-04-02
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