Ḫepat
Ḫepat was a goddess associated with Aleppo, originally worshiped in the north of modern Syria in the third millennium BCE. Her name is often presumed to be either a feminine nisba referring to her connection to this city, or alternatively a derivative of the root ḫbb, "to love". Her best attested role is that of the spouse of various weather gods. She was already associated with Adad in Ebla and Aleppo in the third millennium BCE, and in later times they are attested as a couple in cities such as Alalakh and Emar. In Hurrian religion she instead came to be linked with Teshub, which in the first millennium BCE led to the development of a tradition in which she was the spouse of his Luwian counterpart Tarḫunz. Associations between her and numerous other deities are described in Hurrian ritual texts, where she heads her own , a type of offering lists dedicated to the circle of a specific deity. She commonly appears in them alongside her children, Šarruma, Allanzu and Kunzišalli. Her divine attendant was the goddess Takitu. In Hittite sources, she could sometimes be recognized as the counterpart of the Sun goddess of Arinna, though their respective roles were distinct and most likely this theological conception only had limited recognition. In Ugarit the local goddess Pidray could be considered analogous to her instead.
The oldest evidence for the worship of Ḫepat comes from texts from Ebla, though she was not a major goddess in Eblaite religion. In later times she was worshiped in the kingdom of Yamhad, as well as in Emar. She was also incorporated into Hurrian religion, though most of the related evidence comes exclusively from western Hurrian polities such as Kizzuwatna, where her cult center was Kummanni. In Ugarit, as well as among the eastern Hurrian communities, her importance was comparably smaller. She was also incorporated into Hittite and Luwian religion through Hurrian mediation, and as a result continued to be worshiped in the first millennium BCE in states such as Tabal and Samʾal. The goddess Hipta, known from Lydia and from later Orphic sources, is sometimes presumed to be a late form of her. A less direct connection between her and another figure known from classical sources, Ma, has also been proposed.
Name and character
The theonym Ḫepat was written in cuneiform as or, while in the Ugaritic alphabetic script as ḫbt. Romanizations with the middle consonant rendered as both p and b can both be found in modern literature, with the former being an attempt at representing unvoiced consonants present in the Hurrian language. The breve under the first consonant is sometimes omitted. A variant of the name without t is attested in primary sources. It occurs particularly commonly in theophoric names. Examples include the names of Mittani princesses Kelu-Ḫepa and Tadu-Ḫepa, Hittite queen Puduḫepa and Abdi-Heba, a ruler of Jerusalem known from the Amarna correspondence. In Egyptian texts, it could be rendered as ḫipa. In older publications this variant is sometimes romanized as Khipa.According to Alfonso Archi, the theonym dḫa-a-ba-du known from Eblaite texts can be considered an early form of Ḫepat's name and indicates it should be interpreted as a nisba, "she of Ḫalab ". He romanizes the Eblaite theonym as Ḫalabatu. He concludes that the later form of the name developed through the process of velarization, with the loss of the l resulting in a change from a to e, similarly to cases of loss of ḥ, ʿ or ġ well documented in various Akkadian words. An alternate proposal is to interpret it as Ḫibbat, "the beloved", from the root ḫbb, "to love". Lluís Feliu notes it is not impossible both options are correct, which would reflect a case of polysemy. Doubts about the validity of both etymological proposals have been expressed by, though he also supports interpreting the Eblaite goddess as an early form of Ḫepat. The assumption that both names refer to the same goddess is also supported by other researchers, for example Gary Beckman and.
In early scholarship attempts have been made to show a linguistic connection between the theonym Ḫepat and the biblical given name Ḥawwat, but as stressed by Daniel E. Fleming they are phonologically dissimilar.
Various epithets could be employed to designate Ḫepat as a deity who held a high position in the pantheon, for example "queen", "lady of heaven" and "queen of heaven". The last of them occurs in Hittite treaties. She could also be linked to the institution of kingship. A Hurrian ceremony dedicated to her was concerned with the concept of allašši, "ladyship", in analogy to Teshub's ceremony of šarrašši, "kingship". Ḫepat also had maternal characteristics, and could be invoked in rituals connected with midwifery. While this aspect of her character is only directly documented in texts from Hattusa, Thomas Richter argues that it might have already been known in Syria in the Old Babylonian period, as she was invoked particularly commonly in Hurrian theophoric names attributing the birth of a child to the help of a specific deity, one example being Uru-Ḫepa, "Ḫepat let the girl exist".
Associations with other deities
Ḫepat and weather gods
Ḫepat's best attested characteristic was her status as the spouse of various weather gods, especially those associated with Aleppo. It is possible that this connection went as far back as the twenty seventh century BCE. It is assumed that she and Hadda of Aleppo were already viewed as a couple in the Eblaite texts. Outside of this area, this tradition was also followed in Alalakh. Evidence is also available from Emar, where she occurs alongside the local weather god in a festival focused on the NIN.DINGIR priestess. Daniel E. Fleming argues that he was also linked with Ashtart in local tradition, rather than exclusively with Ḫepat, though he accepts that the ritual texts only acknowledge the latter pair. suggests that two pairings, one belonging to the tradition of Aleppo and the other reflecting coastal beliefs, coexisted in Emar. Further east in Mesopotamia the spouse of the weather god was usually Shala instead. Additionally, in Upper Mesopotamia in the Old Babylonian period local goddesses might have been recognized as his partners, for example Bēlet-Apim or Bēlet-Qaṭṭarā. Schwemer suggests that Ḫepat might have nonetheless been recognized as his spouse in the Mesopotamian kingdom of Mari, though he admits there is no evidence that she was worshiped in the local temple dedicated to him. Shala is attested in theophoric names from this city, though all of them are Akkadian and belonged to people hailing from neighboring Babylonia.In Hurrian tradition Ḫepat's spouse was Teshub. The earliest evidence for this pairing has been identified in Old Babylonian sources from Mari. However, according to Lluís Feliu it is not impossible that among eastern Hurrian communities Shala was regarded as Teshub's wife instead, which might explain her appearance among Hurrian deities in the treaty between Šuppiluliuma I and Šattiwaza. In Ugarit, Ḫepat was recognized only as the spouse of Teshub, venerated there as the god of Aleppo, while the local weather god, Baal, was most likely considered to be unmarried.
In Tabal in the eighth century BCE Ḫepat was paired with the Luwian weather god Tarḫunz, which reflected the development of a new tradition presumably dependent on considering him analogous to Teshub. She also retained her role as the spouse of the weather god in Carchemish in the first millennium BCE, and in inscriptions from this city Tarḫunz appears alongside "Ḫipatu".
of Ḫepat
In Hurrian sources various deities were included in the, or offering lists, dedicated to Ḫepat, and as such formed a part of her circle: her son Šarruma, her two daughters Allanzu and Kunzišalli, Takitu, Hutena and Hutellura, Allani, Ishara, Shalash, Damkina, Nikkal, Ayu-Ikalti, Šauška, Nabarbi, Shuwala, Adamma, Kubaba, Hašuntarḫi, Uršui-Iškalli, Tiyabenti, as well as "ancestors of Ḫepat" and various cultic paraphernalia connected with her. A similar group of deities follows Ḫepat and her family on the reliefs from the Yazılıkaya sanctuary: Takitu, Hutena and Hutellura, Allani, Ishara, Nabarbi, Shalash, Damkina, Nikkal, Aya, Šauška and Shuwala are identified by name in accompanying inscriptions, while six other goddesses are left unnamed.Ḫepat could also form a dyad alongside one of her children, usually Šarruma, though attestations of Allanzu and Kunzišalli in this context are known too. Another deity who in ritual texts could form a dyad with her was Mušuni, "she of justice." assumes that she can be considered a personified attribute or epithet of Ḫepat. However, it has been proposed that she was a separate goddess associated with the underworld, and in one case she appears in a ritual alongside Allani and Ishara. Another dyad consisted of Ḫepat and the otherwise unknown deity Ḫašulatḫi.
Two deities are attested in the role of Ḫepat's sukkal, Takitu and Tiyabenti. While only Takitu appears in myths, she and Tiyabenti coexist in ritual texts, where both can accompany their mistress, which according to Marie-Claude Trémouille indicates that the view that one of them was merely an epithet of the other is unsubstantiated.
Sun goddess of Arinna and Ḫepat
In an effort to harmonize the dynastic pantheon of the Hittite kings, which was influenced by Hurrian religion, with the state pantheon consisting of Hattic and Hittite deities, attempts were made to syncretise Ḫepat and the Sun goddess of Arinna. The best known source attesting it is a prayer of queen Puduḫepa, the wife of Ḫattušili III:However, considers it impossible that this idea was adopted into everyday religious practices of the general Hittite population. Gary Beckman refers to it as a "rare and exceptional" example. notes that the character of the goddess of Arinna was dissimilar to that of Ḫepat, and that unlike the latter she had a well established individual role in the pantheon. Furthermore, Ḫepat never replaced her in her traditional position in treaties and similar documents.