RT Article
T1 The Material Culture of Hittite ‘God-drinking’
JF Journal of ancient Near Eastern religions
VO 14
IS 2
SP 164
OP 185
A1 Heffron, Y.
LA English
PB Brill
YR 2014
UL https://www.ixtheo.de/Record/1562027174
AB The elusive Hittite cultic phrase DINGIR eku-, “to drink a god,” has long been controversial as regards its precise meaning: Did the phrase refer to a mystical act (comparable to the Eucharist), or was it simply a turn of phrase for toasting the divine? Commentators have thus far remained almost exclusively on philological ground, drawing their conclusions from syntactic arguments and paying little attention to archaeological evidence. This paper offers a new approach to the question of ‘god-drinking’ by focusing primarily on its paraphernalia, namely the vessels themselves, particularly those that are zoomorphic (BIBRU in Hittite texts). The evaluation of zoomorphic vessels centres on the early second millennium forerunners of Hittite BIBRU, namely the large and varied repertoire of the kārum period (20th–17th century b.c.),1 which is exceptionally well-represented at the site of Kültepe-Kaneš/Neša. Also included in the discussion are anthropomorphic vessels and their potential place in cultic drinking. Situating zoomorphic (and anthropomorphic) ritual vessels as part of a continuous tradition throughout the second millennium thus offers a wider scope for understanding their use in the Hittite cult, and their specific function(s) in relation to god-drinking.
K1 Hittite religion : zoomorphic vessels : anthropomorphic vessels : drinking rituals : Anatolia : karum period
DO 10.1163/15692124-12341261